Al Swindahl fan club page (Chassis Components race cars)

12/25/2025

https://www.faceboo
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12/22/2025

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12/22/2025

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Live to race and race to live.

11/29/2025

From Al Swindahl (Chassis Components Race Cars) page: Merry Christmas to you all. Wishing you a happy New Year. May your passion for racing continue to thrive.

06/26/2025

Well another great drag racer and Owner passed away today. So sad he was one of the good old guys. Larry will be missed. He is gone but not forgotten.

Larry Minor, the Southern California potato magnate who rose from his sand drag racing roots to become a successful multi-car team owner in NHRA competition and even an event-winning Top Fuel driver, passed away June 25.

11/06/2023

The drag racing world loss another good old guy/drag racer/Owner of (Walt Austin Racing).
He is gone but not forgotten. We will miss you Walt.
We were at Walt Austin celebration of life this last Saturday at their race car shop. So many past racers were there and friends and family. It was so special to reconnect with everyone.

11/04/2023

A story all about Walt Austin Racing and his struggle with cancer.

When it comes to famous Walts in the world, movie lovers have Walt Disney, bookworms have Walt Whitman, and basketball fans have Walt Frazier. Drag racing recently lost two of its favorite Walts, Walt Austin and Walt Stevens, within a month over September and October.

11/04/2023

Walt Austin life story and about his passing away September 2023.

When it comes to famous Walts in the world, movie lovers have Walt Disney, bookworms have Walt Whitman, and basketball fans have Walt Frazier. Drag racing recently lost two of its favorite Walts, Walt Austin and Walt Stevens, within a month over September and October.

06/12/2023

https://www.nhra.com/news/2017/racer-s-scrapbook-jerry-ruth #:~:text=%E2%80%9CThis%20is%20the%20car%20that,%2C%20but%20he%20didn't.
“This is the car that changed all of drag racing. 1980. A lot of people think that Al [Swindahl] designed it, but he didn’t. I designed it. There was a reason for every tube, and every tube thickness on it. The year before, I got knocked out by tire shake in Indy because I hit my head on the cage – it broke my arm and ripped a finger off when I crashed off the end of the track-- so I designed this car using a shoulder hoop off of a Funny Car for the rollcage. People told me it looked like crap, that it was ugly; I didn’t care. I needed to fix this thing or my career was over. I wanted to have Don Long build it because he was my guy, but it was going to cost a lot of money. If he could have done that for me, he’d probably still be building chassis. I would have made him rich. I made Al rich and helped him realize his dream of the lifetime, to build a car for the big guns.”

“People might have called it ugly, but they never called it slow. I won the Mile-High Nationals with this car, and was the first car in the fives up there. I beat [Gary] Beck in the final. Before long, everyone wanted a Swindahl car. I eventually sold it to Richard Holcomb, and he made it the third car to run in the fours.”

That 1980 Denver win was the last NHRA victory of Ruth's career, and he retired after the 1984 season, but left behind an incredible legacy of performance and innovation. People think of places like Southern California or Texas being the hotbed of Top Fuel, but being "King of the Northwest" was no easy feat racing guys like Herm Petersen, Gary Beck, Hank Johnson, Gaines Markley, Rob Bruins, and Graham Light every week, I think he's earned that crown.

Thanks, Jerry, for taking us along on your ride down Memory Lane. You’re still The King.

Phil Burgess can be contacted at [email protected]

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