Garrett Waddell did participate in a rain cast event in Texas International Speedway, in 1971. This event was one of the very first events to be run by IMSA at that time. This race turned out to be a parody of a race as weather conditions were dreadful. This race was marred by many accidents due to the horrendous conditions. It started at 7PM to finish at midnight! Most of the entrants had no windshield wiper so the race conditions were quite terrible for most of them. Garrett entered the race with a 1969 L88 Chevrolet Corvette set on street tyres, he had seen an ad from John Bishop looking for entrants at this event and he had sent his entry.
Garrett Waddell's Corvette was nearly stock
Photo courtesy Garrett Waddell and George Eby
He received conditional acceptance from the Bishops since he could drive safely without hurting himself or anyone else. The race was to be a 150Miler, and this event did accept Nascar Baby Grand cars that would make the field a decent one. The track consisted of a banking and an infield course, totaling 7 turns. He set his car to a racing condition as he replaced the differential, installed a rollbar, scattershield, headers and racetyres plus a 4" harness and that was it. He had hired some friends to act as pit crew, mainly Texas A&M students, Tom Wedel, Kerry Bonner, Roy Tribbey and Bill Jermyn. As the practice session proved satisfying, he was allowed to run the night session, mainly to check out the headlights. The weather conditions were mitigated, and he decided for the race that he would run very conservatively. He did not want to wreck or damage his car. The night session made him relax and he ran faster, but he requested the race direction to start on the last spot, because he did not feel very secure within a tight field of cars, mainly on the first turn.
Prior to the start
Photo courtesy Garrett Waddell and George Eby
At the start of the race, the cars that were before him(in fact, every car), went to a stop. An accident had occured involving Tiny Lund and another driver and the race had to be stopped to clear the track. As it took almost two hours for this to be performed, it was quite dark when the race resumed! And what a race! At the restart, a car hit the wall at turn 7 and Garrett avoided it. The rain was getting worse, and the only goal for Garrett and every driver was to stay on the course and make it to the finish without damaging one's car. It proved to be a very hard task for the most of them. The tyres were OK, so he could go well on the banking, about 155mph, that was pretty well. During the race, George Eby, a friend of Garrett running on a Lotus Elan, was fighting for position with H.B Bailey, on a Pontiac Trans Am and they were fighting hard. At one moment, they went into the mud and Bailey's Trans Am hit the tiny Lotus by the passenger's side. George was miraculously unhurt, but he was very lucky.
George Eby refueling
Photo courtesy Garrett Waddell and George Eby
He went back to the pits and his crew made some minor repairs with tape. The pits were scarcely lit and every pit stop was some kind of nightmare for the pit crews and the racers. A car in the pits next to his went right into the wall and did not hit anyone, but it was a pure miracle. He was quite exhausted, as the weather conditions did not improve at all, and he considered quitting more than once. But he was the only GTO driver staying on the track, so he was sure to win his category if he made it to the finish, which he finally did. He had decided to retire, but did not find his pit, as the weather conditions did get worse. So he went on to the finish, and won GTO. The race lasted 5 hours, for a 150 Miler, which was quite slow. But he made it. The next day, he received a $150 check for winning the race. One year later, he received a package from Camel Cigarettes containing the trophy for winning the race. It was really other times and the true beginnings of the series. Garrett is proud to have been involved in this great racing series. Later on, he did participate occasionally in some other few races until 1977.
