The 12 Days of Mix-I-Go: Day #11 - Big Daddy

The name "Big Daddy" Don Garlits is familiar to anyone who knows even a little bit about the sport of drag racing.  Don is considered by most to be the greatest drag racer of all time and even the father of drag racing itself.  His record-breaking race car "Swamp Rat III" is even enshrined at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. 

Don Garlits is an American icon.

When Don was traveling around the country and winning drag races at the peak of his powers in the 1980s, Mix-I-Go was traveling with him.

Don used to do a syndicated column in national newspapers across the country, the Ask Don  Garlits column.  In this forum, Don would share advice from his vast knowledge of mechanical expertise with readers who needed help with their cars and trucks. In the late 80s, Don started to mention that he and his team were actually using Mix-I-Go in their vehicles as they transported their team around the country for competition. Don told his readers that this Mix-I-Go gas additive gave his team more miles, more pulling power for the heavy loads they were transporting and cut down on the nasty emissions that vehicles in their line of work tended to have.

The funny thing is, at the time, Bell Performance had never even met Don Garlits.  Don had simply come across a bottle of Mix-I-Go at some point, tried it, and liked it enough to sing its blessings in front of a national newspaper audience.

As you can imagine, phones started ringing off the hook at this Longwood, FL company, with people across the nation wanting to know about this product Mix-I-Go that Big Daddy liked so much.  This was the state of a wonderful friendship between Mr. Garlits and Bell Performance that still goes on to this day.  Don has been retired from drag racing for a number of years now and currently runs the Drag Racing Hall of Fame in Ocala, Florida.  If you're ever in Central Florida and you have an interest in things that go really fast, it would be well worth a visit.