George Klass looks back on drag racing’ s‘ ultimate era’ By Brandon W. Mudd

and with his calm, casual demeanor. George is smoother than a Miles Davis solo, more laid back than your favorite recliner, and cooler than a night run at the Winternationals.

The first time I hung out with him at Las Vegas

for the Street Car Super Nationals, I was two weeks away from a heart attack that would send me to the hospital. This most recent time, I was a couple months removed from a quintuple bypass. George is nearly twice my age and easily in better shape, physically and mentally. I forgot to pack extra underpants for that trip( seriously); he would tell me in detail about the first time he went to a drag strip in the 1950s.

“ I was 13 or 14 and I talked to my dad into taking

me to Saugus drag strip and I watched the cars,” he said.“ I remember very vividly the Top Eliminator was a fenderless’ 34 Ford that went 113 mph. I thought that was the greatest thing I’ d ever seen.”

It was the moment that Klass, the director of marketing for AccuFab, would recognize he was tainted … tainted with the addiction of drag racing.

“ You know,” he continued,“ I was reading the magazines and you know just talking to friends‘ cause I was born in Hollywood so I had tons of people that were, you know, a little older than me and they were hot rodders, so you know there was always plenty of people I could talk to. And then on my 16th birthday which was in 1955, I drove a car over to the Santa Ana drag strip. It was the first time I went down a drag strip with my flathead’ 40 Ford coupe. I felt like Don Garlits must have felt!”

His career in drag racing just sort of happened after that. No plans, no blueprint, Klass simply knew he was going to be involved in the sport somehow. Getting behind the wheel of a dragster wasn’ t his thing even though he gave it a shot. He just wanted to be involved in some capacity.

“ I don’ t think there was ever a plan as to what’ s coming next,” said George.“ I was never building to some kind of a future thing, that would eventually lead me somewhere‘ cause I really didn’ t know, I was just having a wonderful time, I mean you know I was growing up, all these things were going on. This superstar world was starting, factory experimental cars were starting, all these things were going on and we worked on everything.”

Which brings up a good point. In motorsports, more than any American sport, fans are of the belief things were always better at least 20 years prior to now. Some, like former NHRA announcer Bob Frey, disagree, saying while the car count was higher, the level of both safety and competition we see now are far better than NHRA’ s supposed golden age of the 1970s.

Klass, though, has some definite opinions on the best era of drag racing. While he agrees safety has come a long, long way, the 50s and 60s will always be special for the Ontario, California native.

“ That was the ultimate era,” he said.“ There was a lot of creativity, a lot of ingenuity, a lot of things were done and I’ m not even talking about national events like NHRA. You gotta remember,

PHOTO: DYAN LOVER