Many of today's drag racing fans know the name Gary Burgin. After all, Gary went to the finals at six different NHRA national events and he pulled one of the biggest upsets in drag racing history when he beat the unbeatable Don Prudhomme in the finals at Indy in 1976. Most of Gary's success on the national scene came from the mid 1970's through the early 80's, but he had a life before the days of his Orange Baron cars, in fact he had a very good drag racing career long before Funny Cars were even a class.

In the 1960's the big attraction at a lot of tracks was often a match race between a couple of AA/GS entries and one of the best was the Braskett and Burgin car from Southern California. Dave Braskett, who was an automotive paint salesman, and drag racer Gary Burgin, teamed up to field one of the best cars of the gasser era. From their modest beginning they evolved into one of the best teams in the country and their cars could run with the best in the sport. When the two saw that the end was near for the supercharged gas class they did what so many other AA/GS teams did, they jumped to the new, highly sought after Funny Car category. Gary, who lived near Chuck Finders and Gary Densham, two guys who built and raced supercharged gas cars, decided to take a chance on a new chassis builder who had just moved to southern California, a young man by the name of John Buttera. John, who had already built cars for Don Schumacher and Don Prudhomme, built his third car and it went to the team of Braskett and Burgin. At first the car was a Chevrolet Camaro, but it was later changed to the sleeker Vega body style. Originally it had independent front suspension and that was also updated a year later to make the car more competitive. As a Chevrolet Vega with a Chrysler engine the car ran at most of the big Funny Car races in Southern California and it was extremely competitive.

At the beginning of the 1972 season the Braskett and Burgin car went to Orange County Raceway and began competition in the four race All Pro series. In a field that included Pat Foster and Mike Snively, the Braskett and Burgin car ripped off a series of six-second runs and won the title by beating Jim Dunn in the final round. Two weeks later the team headed to Lions Drag Strip where they promptly lowered the national record to a stunning 6.72 and they followed that up with a win at the final All Pro race which clinched the series championship for them. And even though they didnt achieve much notoriety after that 1972 season the team of Braskett and Burgin left a legacy that is among the best of the early southern California Fuel Funny Cars. - Bob Frey