Monaco Las Vegas presents...

I first had the pleasure of meeting Jerry Baltes at the 2006 York US30 Reunion. His absolutely gorgeous dragster was on display in the convention center and I was lucky enough to have vendor space pretty close to it. During the weekend Jerry and I had a number of times to chat about his storied career. I found it ironic that I meet this legendary drag racer at a show in York, PA thousands of miles from my home in Las Vegas and even further from Jerry's original drag racing stomping ground, San Diego, CA.

Jerry made his mark on the drag racing community in the early sixties. In 1964 he went on a national tour and proceeded to break NHRA and Standard 1320 speed records for AA/Fuel Dragster as well as securing the number three position on the Drag News Mr. Eliminator List. His '64 season came to a glorious end with a win at the World Series of Drag Racing and firm number 2 in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. The fuel dragster team of Baltes, Lavato, and Croshier showed the drag racing world they were made of the right stuff.

Although very successful the team was finished. After more than two years of non-stop travel and competition it was time to throw in the towel. In mid 1965 Baltes ran an ad in Drag News putting the Croshier-Baltes-Lavato dragster up for sale. Shortly after the ad ran Jerry sold the car and shipped it to its new owner in Toledo, Ohio.

Jerry conitnued to pilot top fuel dragsters as well as the "Tom & Jerry" Funny Car. He remained involved in racing but focused most of his efforts on his truck washing business with his wife Pat. Jerry shared that he never walked away from drag racing entirely even though his participation in the sport became nearly non-existent. Then in 1992 Jerry attended the California Hot Rod Reunion and took note of 60s fuelers being restored. His first thought was to seek out his old car and do the same!

Baltes searched for his original car for 10 long years. Having zero success he decided to build the car from memory and from scratch. In 2003 he enlisted the help of Rod Peppmuller to start the chassis exactly like the one he ran in 1964. With no plans and no original car, Rod went on a search of his own to find someone with a car similar to Jerry's. He was able to connect with a collector that happened to own a complete car very similar to Jerry's. After measurements were taken and new plans drawn the chassis was under way. Meanwhile, Jerry enlisted the help of master fabricator Tom Hanna for the body. He also got Bob Kreitz, Carl Johnson, and Steve Carbone were busy putting together a blown, nitro burning 392 Hemi for the car to "cackle at its best".

At the York show Jerry's dragster took home a "Best of Show" and from what I have heard since '06 it continues to clean house at just about every event it is in. Now you might think the story ends here but the truth is the story is just getting started! At the 2007 Hot Rod Reunion in Columbus, Ohio I saw Jerry and the dragster. This time the cowl was unfinished prompting my question, "what happened?"

After 25 years out of the seat and the additional 10 years he spent looking for the car Jerry received a phone call that someone had found the original dragster. The way it came about was Ohioan Don Moyer posted "64 FED FOUND HANGIN IN SHOP, HELP WITH HISTORY". The post was on the website called HAMB (a nostalgia drag racing organization). The long and short of it was Moyer found the dragster hanging from the ceiling in Jim Urbanek's shop after he picked up a street machine he just had painted. Moyer found out the car had been hanging there for 15 years.

Although skeptical Jerry contacted Moyer to get more information and photos. Once given the photos Jerry confirmed the car was in fact his legendary dragster. In 2007 Jerry and his wife Pat made the trip to Urbanek's shop near Cleveland. Jerry set eyes on his original car, a masterpiece he hadn't seen in over 41 years. The crowning moment of this unbelievable tale...the cowl on the car at the 2007 Hot Rod Reunion was the cowl from the original. All parties involved in the rebuild did such an amazing job of recreating every inch of the car that the ORIGINAL cowl fit the recreation!

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