Driver-builder

The Pennsylvanian gained national attention at the wheel of a 1963 Shelby Cobra, setting NHRA A/Sport and AA/Sport records and winning his class at the Winternationals, Springnationals and Indy U.S. Nationals. In the mid-‘60s, Larson became a top Funny Car match racer with the first in a series of iconic red-white-and-blue USA-1 Chevy Funny Cars. He set a new FC ET record [7.41] in 1968 with his flip-top Camaro, then won the prestigious 1969 Super Stock Nationals. Larson quit FC in ‘72 after a fire and raced Pro Stock for two years. He returned in the ‘80s and blitzed the 1989 NHRA Funny Car championship, leading the class from start to finish, collecting six national wins, five runners-up and the Car Craft Funny Car Driver of the Year award. His championship-winner is one of two drag cars in the Smithsonian Institution collection, the other a Don Garlits rear-engine dragster. Larson drove for Garlits from 1992-95, winning four IHRA national events. He was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2006.