“My favorite race that I’ve run was always the last one that I won – Bruce Larson.”

Mason Dixon Dragway – One of the honored and legendary famous personalities in attendance at the 12^th Annual Rocking Chair Nationals at Mason Dixon Dragway was Mr. USA-1 himself, Bruce Larson. Bruce is well known for his USA-1 Chevrolet Funny Cars although it was in an Oldsmobile-bodied Funny Car that he won an NHRA Championship. Most fans know him from his funny car exploits, but the more serious of his fans will know he first gained national attention behind the wheel of a ‘63 Shelby Cobra, winning multiple national events in that car. Also lost on many fans was Bruces’s brief foray into the fledgling class of Pro Stock. Bill Pratt (of Draglist.com fame, also a legend of the sport in his own right) took the opportunity to ask Bruce about that brief adventure in Pro Stock.

The Pro Stock class was really gaining traction with the fans at this time and as it often happens, a single event caused Bruce to take a closer look at the class. According to Bruce, “I had a fire with my ‘71 Camaro funny car at Budd’s Creek, burned it to the ground and I looked around it and I didn’t like that. It gets a little hot in there.” Bruce noticed that fellow PA drag racer Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins was having a lot of fun (and success) with his Vega Pro Stocker and thought he might like to try like that, so he gave Jenkins a call. As it would turn out, the Grump still had his 1970 Camaro that had been very successful sitting in the back of the shop. Jenkins offered to rent the car to Bruce, thus starting Larson’s short-lived Pro Stock career. They put the USA-1 paint job on it and Bruce ran it for a bit and then ordered a car just like Jenkins’ from SRD Race Cars. While that car was being built, Bruce was out having fun with the Camaro. And just how did that go? According to Bruce, “We had a lot of success with the 70 Camaro because it had a mountain motor in it. We were doing a lot of match racing and Nicholson (Dyno Don) and Sox (Ronnie) and all those guys were involved in match racing but they also ran a lot of legal races so they had to have legal engines and my Camaro had a mountain motor in it. They didn’t like that at all. So we had a lot of fun beating them.” One would think that success would lead to a long career in the class, but that was not to be. As Larson would state, “I really didn’t like Pro Stock. I got the Vega and for some reason I couldn’t get it to run as good as Jenkins’ car and then I tried a ‘74 Vega that had a 4-link suspension and I was able to work better with that. I always say the Pro Stock cars are harder to work on, they don’t make as much noise, they don’t smell right, and they’re harder to drive…all those reasons, so I went back to fuel funny car.”

On this day as a special treat, Bruce had his Olds-powered “Mr. Clean” hot rod on hand to display for everyone to enjoy. This was one of his race cars from the days before he became a national force in the sport and to the delight of all who got a chance to see, he also made a pass down the track with it, more than 60 years since the last time this same car had been down this particular track. I guess driving those cars that make a lot of noise and “smell right” must keep one young. If you ever get a chance to see Bruce and/or his cars, don’t pass it up (hint: there’s one in the Smithsonian, too). He and the cars are definitely a huge part of drag racing history!