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Well this is sad new today, one of the great Funny car guys has left us.
The Blue Max has left to run another race, he passed on at age 70
Raymond Beadle, who resurrected the Blue Max Funny Car and turned it into a dynasty, then went on to field a serious NASCAR effort winning the 1989 Winston Cup Series Championship with driver Rusty Wallace, has died.
When Beadle teamed with Harry Schmidt, who had originally started the Blue Max Funny Car team, the match was lit for a take over of IHRA and NHRA Funny Car Championships. With Schmidt tuning and Beadle driving and handling the business side of things, the Blue Max team could not be stopped, winning NHRA championships in 1979, 1980 and 1981, and IHRA in 1975, 1976 and 1981. By 1977 Beadle owned the Blue Max operation entirely. Beadle’s last big Funny Car win was at the 1985 Nationals with Lil John Lombardo driving.
In 1983 Beadle also started a NASCAR team, with driver Tim Richmond. With Richmond moving over to Hendrick in 1986, Beadle put Rusty Wallace in the seat, winning the NASCAR championship in 1989 with the #27 car. Wallace stayed with Beadle through the 1990 season, when Beadle sold his NASCAR operation to Penske at the end of the year.
As if drag racing and NASCAR triumphs weren’t enough, Beadle also fielded a World of Outlaws team with Sammy Swindel driving, and in later years bred grand champion quarter horses.
Beadle was voted the 20th greatest driver in NHRA history, is in the Motorsports Hall of Fame, the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, and is the recipient of countless other awards and honors tied mainly to his dominance and huge popularity in drag racing throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
The Blue Max has left to run another race, he passed on at age 70
Raymond Beadle, who resurrected the Blue Max Funny Car and turned it into a dynasty, then went on to field a serious NASCAR effort winning the 1989 Winston Cup Series Championship with driver Rusty Wallace, has died.
When Beadle teamed with Harry Schmidt, who had originally started the Blue Max Funny Car team, the match was lit for a take over of IHRA and NHRA Funny Car Championships. With Schmidt tuning and Beadle driving and handling the business side of things, the Blue Max team could not be stopped, winning NHRA championships in 1979, 1980 and 1981, and IHRA in 1975, 1976 and 1981. By 1977 Beadle owned the Blue Max operation entirely. Beadle’s last big Funny Car win was at the 1985 Nationals with Lil John Lombardo driving.
In 1983 Beadle also started a NASCAR team, with driver Tim Richmond. With Richmond moving over to Hendrick in 1986, Beadle put Rusty Wallace in the seat, winning the NASCAR championship in 1989 with the #27 car. Wallace stayed with Beadle through the 1990 season, when Beadle sold his NASCAR operation to Penske at the end of the year.
As if drag racing and NASCAR triumphs weren’t enough, Beadle also fielded a World of Outlaws team with Sammy Swindel driving, and in later years bred grand champion quarter horses.
Beadle was voted the 20th greatest driver in NHRA history, is in the Motorsports Hall of Fame, the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, and is the recipient of countless other awards and honors tied mainly to his dominance and huge popularity in drag racing throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
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