Connie Swingle, one of the true pioneers of drag racing, passed away Sept. 29, peacefully in his home in
the city of his birth. He was 72. Swingle had health problems for the
last 10 years and finally succumbed to cancer. His faithful nurse,
Virginia, was at his side.
After serving in the Air Force in the late 1950s, he moved to
and arrived at Garlits Automotive Inc. in 1960 and began welding and
became one of the best welders in the world. Don Garlits’ Swamp Rat
III-A had been started, so “Swingle,” as he liked to be called,
finished the project and took the new chrome moly car on tour. Swingle
won many races with the car, the biggest being the Hot Rod Drags at
Riverside Raceway in 1962.
Swingle was instrumental in the success of the Garlits chassis
business from 1961 through 1964, at which time Garlits relocated to
Swingle went west and joined up with the
“Old Master,” Ed Pink. Driving Pink’s AA/FD, Swingle enjoyed his
biggest win at Fontana Dragstrip in the fall of 1965, when he beat
Garlits in the final for the Mickey Thompson 200 mph Meet and took home
all the gold, about $10,000, a very large purse for that era.
He also won the Drag News Invitational in 1962, held at Dragway 42
in Ohio, held the Drag News #1 spot several times, and also the Drag
News 1320 E.T Record of 7.88 seconds at 198.22 mph. Swingle also was
Garlits’ crew chief during the Drag Racer Magazine Number One Spot held
at Half Moon Bay in 1966, which Garlits won.
When the weather “got to Garlits” in Detroit and he moved back to
Florida to his longtime based in Seffner, Swingle returned from
California and rejoined the chassis business. Together Swingle and
Garlits built some outstanding slingshot dragsters. The best and
fastest one, Swamp Rat 13, blew the transmission at
According to Garlits, Swingle always referred to SR14 as a “front
driver” car, which it technically was. After must frustration and many,
many tests, Swingle told Garlits, “If you think the steering is too
fast, why don’t we slow it down?”; the rest is history and the drag
racing world now had a successful, working rear engine dragster.
"We can all give Connie Swingle a great big ‘Thank You’ for his
participation in this endeavor that took drag racing to the next
plateau," said Garlits.
Swingle finally wanted to slow down, so he opened a small shop in
"As I look back, he was probably getting sick then and didn’t have
the energy to go the way I was racing," said Garlits. "The last job
that he did was the re-creation of Swamp Rat IV, with the blown Dodge
wedge on gas. He did a beautiful job, but I could see he was all done
welding as his hands shook too much for welding. We all got together
and moved him back to
Swingle was installed into the Southeastern NHRA Drag Racing Hall of
Fame in 1991 and the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1998.
"Connie was a tireless worker, could go for days without sleep and
always had a new idea on how to go fast," concluded Garlits. "He left
his mark on our sport and he will be sorely missed."
Swingle is survived by his son, Theodore “Teddy” Swingle, named after his grandfather.
