It was one of the proudest moments of Trevor Larkin’s life.
Standing in the pit area at Irwindale Dragstrip, he just stood there looking at the former Top Gas front-engine dragster. But this was no ordinary rail.
The dragster was the same one his dad Tommy Larkin campaigned in the late 1960s to early 1970s and sold in 1972. It’s one of the most impactful memories he has of his dad, who passed away in 2011.
“I teared up when I saw it,” Larkin admitted. “[Tom McIntire], who owns it, doesn’t bring it out too much, but it is a blessing when he does bring it out because the people appreciate it. They appreciate the history, they appreciate the stories that go with it, and they say, ‘Oh, I’ve missed this car.”
With minimal urging, Larkin is too willing to share the details.
“This is the sister car of the Howard Cam Rattler,” Larkin explained. “From my understanding, they were built either side by side or along the same time. This car was campaigned by my father in Top Gas through the early seventies.”
Burbank, California’s McIntyre has kept the car in the same state it was when his father sold it. As Larkin sees it, the cherished dragster is in good hands.
Before McIntyre’s purchase, the car was socked away in a tomb of sorts.
“A guy in the mid to late eighties called my family’s house and asked, ‘Hey, is this Tom Larkin?” Larkin recalled. “He goes, ‘Is this little Tommy Larkin?”
“My dad goes, ‘Well, I haven’t been called that in 25 years.”
Larkin said the caller revealed they had found what they believed was the Top Gas dragster, which was painted by “Wild” Bill Carter.
The elder Larkin inquired about the car’s condition, and the caller agreed to send pictures. This was long before cell phones and jpegs. They came in print form via snail mail.
“My dad goes, ‘Well, that’s how it was when I sold it. How is it now?” Larkin said of his father’s conversation, “Sir, I took those pictures. That’s exactly how it was.”
The restoration merely consisted of rubbing and waxing, and that’s it.
In 1990, the Larkin Family was reunited with the car at the inaugural California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield.
The paint was as beautiful as ever, confirmed the second-gen Larkin.
“This car is so unique, and you couldn’t replicate this if you tried,” Larkin said. “The way he has the fades and all the colors and all that stuff, it’s just so amazing.”
Larkin sadly notes the car isn’t for sale, but if it ever does, he’s determined to be the first and only option.
“I told him, ‘If you ever need to get rid of this car, I hope I’m your first call and I will do whatever I got to do to get it,” Larkin said.
“I still have his original helmet, though, so I bring that with me to do Cackle Fest and stuff,” Larkin said. “It’s such a staple because I’ve seen the pictures of it on my dad’s office walls all growing up. Then all of a sudden, it became we know where this car is, and it became it’s not just a picture; it’s an actual car. So it was kind of fun to be reconnected with it and have some visuals to go with the stories.”
