The IHRA’s Pro Modified division was filled with pioneering drivers. Some are well known and others seemingly forgotten when the credits roll.
Walter Henry’s omission as one of the greatest drivers has nothing to do with his personal character and everything to do with his mortality
This door slamming legend lost his life showcasing the new Pro Modified division during a 1989 exhibition in Atco, New Jersey. Consequently, Henry never saw the fruits of his efforts ripen.
Henry beat the drum for the supercharged combination’s existence in the Top Sportsman Quick Eights and later for inclusion within the IHRA’s initial Pro Modified class blueprints.
Others benefited from his groundwork, such as Tommy Howes and Fred Hahn through team owner Jim Oddy. What Henry did in those pre-Quick Eight days was to put the supercharged combination on the radar screen of IHRA promoters. He simply wouldn’t allow them to forget. He fought alone for inclusion until others arrived on the scene.
He was the early gladiator for the blown doorslammers and it cost him his life …
The IHRA’s Pro Modified division was filled with pioneering drivers. Some are well known and others seemingly forgotten when the credits roll.
Walter Henry’s omission as one of the greatest drivers has nothing to do with his personal character and everything to do with his mortality
This door slamming legend lost his life showcasing the new Pro Modified division during a 1989 exhibition in Atco, New Jersey. Consequently, Henry never saw the fruits of his efforts ripen.
Henry beat the drum for the supercharged combination’s existence in the Top Sportsman Quick Eights and later for inclusion within the IHRA’s initial Pro Modified class blueprints.
Others benefited from his groundwork, such as Tommy Howes and Fred Hahn through team owner Jim Oddy. What Henry did in those pre-Quick Eight days was to put the supercharged combination on the radar screen of IHRA promoters. He simply wouldn’t allow them to forget. He fought alone for inclusion until others arrived on the scene.
Walter was one of those individuals that didn’t understand the word conservative. He held nothing back and what was on his mind got said. There were no buffers and no restraints. You just had to know Walter to know how he was. He had been through a lot in life and when you understand that, you understand his reasoning into situations in life. He was a true racer and didn’t get the accolades that he deserved. – CHARLES CARPENTER
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Henry’s lobbying efforts always struck the nerve of those who didn’t want or understand his combination. He lived in Huntersville, North Carolina, literally in the middle of the nitrous combination’s base camp. Putting a blower in a perfectly good doorslammer was nothing short of blasphemy in those circles.
He carried a name of self-appointed royalty; “Henry the Eighth” was his preferred moniker. Those who knew him were very much aware of its importance. He wanted to be the king of all drag racers, especially of the doorslammer domain.
Henry had a way of making his foes shake their head. All he needed to do was flash that trademark grin while chewing on a cigar. That was his way of saying, in not so many words, “trust me.”
Henry was fearless and that was evident by the way he pushed a car beyond the edge of the envelope. It was inevitable, or so it seemed, that his fearless manner would eventually come back to bite him.
Knowing an event was merely an exhibition didn’t prevent him from being the showman he’d always been. The newly christened doorslammer division had already developed a reputation for being volatile, but fatality free until Henry’s untimely passing.
Henry’s memory lives on through those who remember the contributions he made in the ramp-up to Pro Modified. The legacy also lives through his son Gary, who serves as a crew chief on the father/son IHRA Pro Stock team of Dean and Cary Goforth.
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Gary said that his father lived life with the same gusto that he approached racing. He carried a strong regimen of work in the pursuit of excellence and bravery.
Simply put, Henry was a man game for any challenge. He was determined to make it to the finish line one way or another. Being a decorated Vietnam veteran added to his logic at times.
“I don’t think I ever feared for his safety,” Gary said. “I think it was more of a rush for him. He was fearless and went out there and did what he had too. I think that spilled over into me, and watching him drive didn’t concern me. We knew it was a wild deal and we tried to never let fear set in.
“It was just part of the game and an associated risk. I saw the pictures and heard the stories of what went on in Vietnam. When you compare that experience to one of these racecars the racecar pales in comparison. He had respect for the car just as much as the helicopters that he used to fly.”
Henry served with the 7th Air Cavalry during his two tours as a helicopter pilot. He was shot down twice and suffered a broken back in one.
Henry’s actions on the racetrack may have made him look fearlessly foolish but acquaintances say it was merely a passion for life. He had a tendency to come across as blunt and kept no buffers on his comments. Some say, Henry even confided that he was living on borrowed time because he’d survived the crashes in Vietnam.
According to those lucky enough to know him, it was why Henry always tried to stay ahead of the curve in everything he did. He was a visionary for supercharged doorslammers and saw them as the future of doorslammer racing. For all who liked what the say in his vision, there were enough who felt just the opposite.
“They would try to ban us at the tracks that we went to,” Gary said. “Blower cars were taboo in this area.”
But they always were fast. Henry’s cars always had to be that way, according to Gary, because that was his trademark.
“Even his early years in racing, his cars were fast,” recalled Gary. “He was the first car in the [eighth-mile] four-second range around home. I can remember a Vega that was street legal and ran in the ten-second range. Dad always wanted to be on the cutting edge of technology – that was just his nature.”
Henry had two other children aside from Gary and growing up, the drag strip became a part of their lives. However, it was Gary that stayed with it as he aged.
“I can remember going to Piedmont Dragway with him,” Gary said. “I don’t even remember how old I was. I just knew I was young and my duties were to change the tires. I was probably about seven or eight and the tire was larger than I was. Racing was always a family affair for us. At first it was my Mom and Dad and my older brother and sister and then they quit going. I kept going to the races.”
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Henry relocated south from Baltimore. Md., in the early-1980’s and fielded a series of potent econo dragsters. He experimented with nitrous injection after leaving the IHRA’s Modified eliminator and while he was quick – it just wasn’t quick enough. Top Fuel and the Top Alcohol ranks weren’t practical for his location, so he bolted on a blower for the local brackets.
Henry took a job with the Denver Distribution Racing team and prepared the horsepower for their 9.90 cars – a 1966 Chevelle and a 1985 Corvette. He became particularly fond of the Corvette and eventually took over the driving chores of the Alston-chassis machine.
Henry drove the big block Corvette for a short time in its slower configuration to get used to driving a doorslammer. That was a short-lived experience as he ditched the carburetors and added a blower. The jade green Corvette was a sinister looking machine for its time.
“That car was one wicked looking piece,” Gary recalled. “It shouldn’t have gone quick as it did. We ran it on the small dumpy tracks and its short wheelbase didn’t help either. It barely had any kind of a roll cage, if any.”
Henry’s repertoire with the locals running nitrous oxide took a serious hit when he engaged them in a game of one-upmanship. He hadn’t scored any brownie points during his days of the dragster, either. It must be noted – no matter how much he angered them – nobody could dislike him.
Charles Carpenter, a man whose legend with ’55 Chevy doorslammers is well documented, remembered Henry as the true definition of a drag racer.
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“Walter was one of those individuals that didn’t understand the word conservative,” reflected Carpenter. “He held nothing back and what was on his mind got said. There were no buffers and no restraints. You just had to know Walter to know how he was. He had been through a lot in life and when you understand that, you understand his reasoning into situations in life. He was a true racer and didn’t get the accolades that he deserved. He was one of the first doorslammer pilots with a supercharger in the Carolinas. That was unheard of in this neck of the woods.”
Henry just couldn’t stop from leaning on the locals. At times, he appeared to be having too much fun with it. Those locals included early Pro Modified hitters like Carpenter, Michael Martin, Ed Hoover, Tommy Mauney and Blake Wiggins. As much as Henry taunted them with his actions, such as bringing out a new Jerry Bickel racecar, they fired back at him.
Gary remembers a time when the other drivers during the 1989 IHRA WCS event at his local track in Charlotte tried to ban his father’s car. There was a vote to ban Henry’s Corvette from participating in the traditional Quick Eight. All the racers got together to vote and ironically it was Scotty Cannon that cast the deciding vote. Then a nitrous racer, Cannon pointed out that he thought the blower cars had an unfair advantage, but he was not going to vote to keep a man from racing. Henry got to race.
Being different drew attention, Gary said, and many felt their substantial investments threatened the other teams.
“I don’t think he was unfairly treated,” Gary said. “I think anyone who does something different is going to get treated different. I think the guys we were running against were afraid that they would be way behind because our deal would be so good. I think just being the way those guys were made it better for all of us. It made us sort of the rebel car.”
The more Henry got used to the Corvette, the harder he would drive it. That made him a feared competitor to some, but not because of their safety – but because it pushed him to be at the top of his game.
Henry wanted to go out a champion and the opportunities were fading. He was preparing for the future by planning to pass the torch to Gary in 1990. That exhibition event in Atco, New Jersey was to be his last hurrah.
“We knew Pro Modified was going to be cool,” Gary said. “With all of the controversy swirling around, we always ran a small motor, small injector and small blower so we could run. When the word came out for Pro Modified, he ordered a Donovan block, larger supercharger and stuff. We were going to have the best stuff.”
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Gary was going to be the one going for the glory under his father’s watchful eye. That day never came for the Henrys. Instead, Gary could only watch in horror as his dad’s car made an abrupt turn and struck a concrete abutment at the finish line head- at well over 180 miles per hour. He spent much of the fateful run trying to correct the errant racecar, but just ran out of time and real estate.
The fatality left the racing community in a state of shock. At the first IHRA Pro Modified event in Darlington, SC, the entire class placed black tape through their numbers in honor of their fallen comrade.
While some may have cursed the sport, Gary knew that death was one of the risks that his dad faced by getting behind the wheel. He always felt his dad was invincible but his death was a shock, however the tragedy did little to shake his love for the sport.
“I didn’t resent it,” confided Gary. “I just thought he couldn’t get hurt. At the time, I had to learn to cope with him being gone. In a situation like that, you can’t convey how that feels. I think it took a lot of people by shock because we had a good racecar and it was supposed to be a good track. It was a bad deal. I went to work with another team right after that. I don’t know if that was God’s way of putting me back into another thing to keep me in here. It was the only thing I could do to make a living at.”
Two-time NHRA Pro Modified champion and current nitro Funny Car driver Mike Ashley witnessed the incident from his spot next in line. He refused to let Gary fall from the sport and called shortly after the incident to offer a job. How fitting it was they stormed to the top qualifying spot at the very first Pro Modified national event.
“Going out to my first race after that was tough,” explained the younger Henry. “It was tough because I was working for someone else and this was the first year of Pro Modified. The cars were pretty wild back then and when they got out of shape, I looked at them in a different way. When it got weird, it sent thoughts through your mind and you always knew what could happen, but it was heavy in my mind then.”
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Gary was scheduled to attend Frank Hawley’s driving school before his dad’s passing. He never attended and it doesn’t bother him that he let the opportunity pass. He’s driven a few IHRA Pro Stockers but has settled into his familiar role as a tuner/crew chief.
That’s a role he’s handled well considering in 2001 that he and driver Gene Wilson teamed up to win a championship for team owner Charlie Hunt. They scored an incredible eight victories in ten races.
The memory of Walter Henry still brings a great deal of pride to the hearts of those that knew him. One of his close friends was not a racer, but a photographer. Dave Bishop said Henry’s death left a void in the drag racing world.
He was a one of a kind person,” Bishop said. “He always believed in staying one step ahead of the current technology. Walter always believed in pushing the envelope, regardless of what kind of racing he was doing. He was a fierce competitor and a good friend to many of the racers out there. He is truly missed. If he were alive today, he would have been at the front of the pack today. You could count on that.”
In a roundabout way, Henry is – through Gary.
“I know he’s proud of me,” explained Henry. “I’ve have been fortunate over the years. I am thankful that it has allowed me to get recognized. I know he looks down on me and smiles. I have always tried to think like he did and ask myself what he would do in a certain situation. It pushed me to do better. I knew that I couldn’t always do things in the same way he did, but I could always use his method of solving a problem.”
