Glen Stokey

My good friend and neighbor, top fuel drag racing legend, Glen Stokey died earlier this evening. Rarely seen without his trademark pipe, he was a pioneering builder and driver in the 1950s and 60s, and was a member of the first class of racers to break the 200 mph barrier on the quarter mile.

When he got all of the power he could out of a single engine, he paired two supercharged Chevy V8s front to back, and also experimented with alcohol and nitrous fuel mixtures. His competitiveness, inventiveness and fearlessness brought him many victories and a few spectacular wrecks:

Glen Stokey also went through the infamous Willow Street barrier with a dragster, and the first person on the scene was an elderly man, who saw the blossoming parachute and rollcage bolt from the sky and asked safety personnel, "When did they start dropping these out of airplanes?"

After retiring from driving, he continued to build and develop Chrysler Hemi powered dragsters through the 1970s.

He lived life fully to the very end, building custom canvas stretcher bars and frames for local artists in his workshop, doting on my children, and always ready to share a story from his racing years or his time stationed on New Caledonia.

He still had a full head of hair, although his pipe now sat on a shelf in his house. A couple of days ago he was among the group of friends who ambushed me at Capone's Pub with a surprise birthday party. Over beers he joked that his lively 71 year-old wife kept him young. I teased Glen that she kept him out of trouble.

I feel very fortunate that my family and I got to know him these last few years, and we will all miss him greatly.