“Mike was a man with a great heart, and a willingness to help anyone anytime. I'm so glad that those smiles will be my enduring memory of him. During our last time together a couple of weeks ago, we pored through a couple of dozen photos that I brought along with me, and I'll never forget the big smiles they brought to his face. “There's simply no way that I can truly express what our partnership has meant over the past 51 years, but I'm sure you can understand what a huge loss his passing is for me. “The last few weeks were very difficult for him and, in my mind, he's in a much better place now,” said Olson. Kuhl’s last few years of life were tough ones, his memory ravaged by Alzheimer’s Disease and his body by kidney issues, and a recent fall left him in severe pain that finally ended with his passing. The duo was honored by NHRA in 2007 with a Lifetime Achievement Award and enshrined –- together - in the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2012. Kuhl kept busy, expanding his engine-building business to also include superchargers before getting into the nostalgia racing business in a big way in 2001, doing restorations and recreations of famous drag cars and becoming heavily involved in the Cacklefest exhibitions. While Olson remained active with the car and Kuhl with a slew of hired drivers, Olson went on to have a long career at the NHRA and SEMA. 1 qualifier spot, and a spot in the exclusive Cragar Five-Second Club -– before Olson pulled the ‘chute on his driving career at season's end. Nationals and went on to win the March Meet together in 1974 –- running the table with low e.t., top speed, the No. Within a year, they’d won the NHRA Winternationals and were runners-up at the fabled Bakersfield March Meet, won several IHRA national events and the IHRA world championship, and won The Last Drag Race at Lions Drag Strip - all in 1972. in nitro cars in varying levels of partnerships with guys like Bill Stecker, Jack Ewell, and Don Bowman -– but when they joined forces in March ’71, the chemistry of a talented engine maestro and a studious pilot yielded magic. Louis transplant who worked his way from blown gassers into Top Fuel, where he hired drivers like Steve Carbone, Bill Tidwell, and Dick Rosberg, and launched a very successful engine-building business, and C.O. I wrote extensively about their partnership in a column here seven years ago and, like I said, while each had a great career before their partnership –- Kuhl, a St. You probably could have one without the other –- they started their racing careers that way –- but why would you? Together they formed not only one of the great Top Fuel teams of the early 1970s but one of the great friendships that endured long long after the racing ended, and right up until June 23, the day we lost Kuhl at age 82. In retrospect, the kit should have included one of partner and tuner Mike Kuhl, too. The model measured more than 16 inches long and came with a bonus figure of driver Carl Olson. Most of the ones I built were the traditional 1/25th scale, but I splurged once on one of the 1/16th-scale models, emptying my meager paper-route piggybank for the giant Kuhl & Olson “Da Revell Fast Guys” Top Fueler. I was, of course, already a drag racing fan and there were plenty of drag models to build, especially from our friends at Revell. When I was a teenager, like a lot of boys that age, I was assembling plastic kit models - getting airplane glue everywhere and learning just how sharp an Xacto knife was (four stitches!).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |