Gary Cagle, the Tough
Ol' Bird, Makes One More Pass
by Don Prieto - 1994
The first I ever heard of Gary
Cagle, like most people, I got him confused with Clark Cagle
who, of course was of no relation. Gary had just set the Drag
News 1320 fuel dragster record at 180 mph eclipsing the existing
record of 176 held by one Don Garlits. Drag Racing was just coming
into its' own and Cagle was quick to take advantage of his new
record by booking and traveling to the East to do some match
racing--such as it was.
This trip proved to be a big
hardship on Cagles future. You see he crashed heavily at a dragstrip
in Kansas exiting through the bottom of the car as it tumbled
well past the finish line. The dragster was destroyed and Gary
was broken up pretty bad--bad enough to affect his walking for
the duration.
After a lengthy recovery period
he was back in the drivers seat like nothing had ever happened.
And over the years he drove all kinds of cars-- Dean Moon's Mooneyes
old dragmaster car-- he had a modified roadster-- a full bodied
dragster that he ran with partner Spike Briggs-- he drove Bonneville
in Studebakers, roadsters, belly tankers--he did El Mirage in
just about every shape car known to man--he did it all. But with
no real financial success. Oh he won his share but he never was
on top. His racing luck was average but his personal luck was
horrendous. I mean he broke himself up bad in the above crash,
but he also lost a leg to gunshot when he was a policeman---AND
he lost an arm and an eye to a motorcycle accident. Like I said,
he was a tough Ol' bird.
Besides being tough, he was often
cantankerous and he was certainly not shy or intimidated when
it came to dishing out his opinion about an issue or an event.
I remember one incident at Lions Drag Strip he came to the starting
line in that old yellow T roadster bodied dragster with blown
Chrysler belching fire and the TorkMaster drive train causing
it to lurch at every other turn of the engine (it was a difficult
combination to control in the best of hands). Something happened
to cause Cagles opponent to get a single run and the starter
made Cagle shut off. Of course he felt he was wronged and he
came out of the car with helmet, gloves and goggles flying bent
on doing damage to the starter and C.J. Hart (then strip manager).
It took several big guys to calm him down and keep him from punching
someone.
One night at the UDRA (United
Drag Racing Association) meeting at the old Tahitian Village,
Cagle was being particularly vocal about his position regarding
the purses to be paid out as he was the spokesman for the competition
class (coupe and roadster bodies on dragster chasses) along with
Butters & Gerard-- Bill Coburn--Frank Pedregon etc. His point
to the board, dominated by Top Fuel owners and drivers, was that
the comp class should get a share of the prize money because
they were also fuel burners and it cost just as much to run them
as it did a top fueler. Of course this brought about boos from
the mostly top fuel crowd. On the other side of the room the
late Dave Zeuschel yelled out "Little guy's suck" meaning
that anyone who had a race car that did not run in top fuel was
a little guy. This made Cagle crazy but he could see that he
was greatly out numbered and didn't jump to his feet (foot) and
take 'em on. He just sat there and steamed. When Daws Wafer and
I had the "Little Guys Suck" t-shirts made and distributed
he threatened to kill me, but he never caught me.
Eventually Gary drifted away
from drag racing, but he remained active in the SCTA (Southern
California Timing Association) where he was an official at the
dry lakes meets and at Bonneville.. He did everything--every
job he was asked to do. He was the guy who ran the wires, help
erect the timing tower, look after the generator, laid out the
course, mark the lanes--in effect, it would have taken a lot
more help to get off a dry lakes meet had they not had Cagle
to do all the grunt work--but he loved it.
A while back, Gary was coming
home to L.A. from a meeting with the Bureau of Land Management
on the future of the dry lake bed at El Mirage when he felt dizzy
and had some chest pains. He pulled his motorhome over to the
side of the road where he expired.
His son had his remains cremated
and spent alot of time thinking about how best to dispose of
the ashes and where. He hit upon an idea in a conversation with
Larry (Engine Eddie) Huff driver of the Pure Hell Roadster. They
agreed to take the ashes to Bakersfield for this years March
Meet, sight of some of Cagles drag racing success. Huff and Owner
Rich Guasco placed the ashes in the parachute pack.
With little ceremony, Huff brought
the hot little roadster to the starting line with the headers
cackling. He made a big smoky burnout and then an awesome pass--straight
as a string- in the mid sixes with a speed in the
240s. It was the fastest pass Cagle had ever made. When the chute
blossomed.... |
