 Perennial
Pontiac racer Arnie "The Farmer"
Beswick now sits with nine others
among those recognized in the
International Drag Racing Hall of
Fame for contributions to the sport.
A true pioneer in the popular
pastime, Arnie began in the early
fifties at nearby Cordova Drag Strip
amid his Morrison, Illinois farming
chores. Cordova later hosted the
popular ongoing World Series of Drag
Racing event.
There have been other famous Pontiac
drag racing names and certainly
bigger budgets but Arnie Beswick was
always there....usually more than a
little ahead of the pack due to his
ingenuity and smart use of very
limited racing dollars. For some
folks, his nickname was an early
lame attempt at a demeaning label
but it soon became a respected
identification. Arnie won many Top
Stock Eliminator titles with 1960-64
Super Duty engine Pontiacs at
Daytona's annual Speed Week
competition and elsewhere eventually
becoming know as the "King of the
Stockers". He raced what was likely
Pontiac's first 4 speed transmission
car in '60, one of fourteen "swiss-cheese"
frame/aluminum body component cars
in '63 and a factory lightweight '64
GTO project car. Arnie was also a
winner in the first NHRA Nationals
ever held at Great Bend, KS in 1955.
It is amazing what Arnie has
accomplished through sheer
determination with such limited
funding and outside
support...staying with Pontiac
hardware long after others jumped to
more lucrative arrangements.
Loyalist appreciated this, trusting
that he would continue to cover the
nameplate with glory and he did not
disappoint. His '64 GTO racer was
the first stock bodied car into the
nine and then eight second quarter
mile brackets. And for every Pontiac
enthusiast saying: "way-to-go,
Arnie", there were many more
"brand-x" folks moaning: "go-danged
farmer"...he put a lot of the know
factory money cars back on the
trailers. Arnie was an
"independent". He was a determined
primitive giant-killer and race
promoters loved him because they
always knew he came to race and fans
were going to see high level
competition at its rambunctious
best. |
