THE MICHIGANDER

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"This is a bad disease and it does not go away.  You can't get too old for it to go away."  This is how Bud Barnes describes his life behind the steering yoke of a nitro burning, front engined top fuel dragster.

Bud Barnes and Bob Gladstone, partners for over 40 years in the Michigander dragster, have done a little bit more than what the average drag racer would have done in their brief careers.

Bud and Bob began drag racing in the mid-'50s in Central Michigan.  Bud started with a 1956 Chevy with a 265 Vette motor and Bob ran a 1951 V8 Studebaker that was an automatic.  They raced on a dirt strip at an old airfield until it was finally paved to give them a ribbon of asphalt to play on.

Read the rest of this article in ISSUE 10: FAMOSO SPEED SHOP GASSER