Raymond Beadle dies

Raymond Beadle, the famous American drag racer and auto racing team owner, died this morning. He had a heart attack in July. He would have been 71 in December.

Beadle was perhaps best known as the driver and owner of the "Blue Max" Funny Car. Beadle won three consecutive NHRA Funny Car championships from 1979 to 1981 and three IHRA Funny Car championships, 1975-6 and 1981.

In NASCAR, Beadle owned a NASCAR Winston Cup Series team from 1983 to 1990, winning the 1989 Winston Cup Series Championship with driver Rusty Wallace. His team's car number was always #27 and his car was usually a Pontiac.

He also owned a World of Outlaws Sprint car racing team, driven by Sammy Swindell.

The man lived an incredible life and forged himself a career both in drag racing and business that the rest of us stand in awe of. He was a man who saw the sport of drag racing differently than most did in his era. He took a floundering Blue Max operation and in the span of less than a year he established the car as a stout runner and by the end of the decade he and Harry Schmidt had the most dominant and all conquering funny car in the world.

They figured out that performance and marketing went hand in hand and the faster they went, the harder they promoted themselves. The plan worked and for a time, they were probably the most famous car/driver/tuner trio in the world.

Beadle was voted the 20th greatest driver in NHRA history, he is in the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, he has been honored at drag races across the country and will forever be held among the true greats of the sport both in the driving and the promotional sense. They didn't make many like Raymond Beadle and they never will. His presence at the track and in the sport will be missed.