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06/04/2026

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06/04/2026

What will be your legacy??

Lee Beard is widely regarded as one of the greatest crew chiefs in drag racing history. Often described as “a crew chief’s crew chief,” Beard earned a reputation for meticulous preparation, organization, and technical excellence. His introduction to drag racing came through his high school industrial arts teacher, Ed Renck, who owned a front-engine Top Fuel dragster. By 1969, Beard was spending his free time helping maintain the race car, quickly developing a passion for the sport that would shape the rest of his life.

In 1972, Beard purchased his own supercharged Chrysler-powered AA/Fuel Dragster and competed successfully through 1977. He won numerous local and NHRA Division V events and made a notable appearance at the 1973 NHRA U.S. Nationals, advancing to the third round before being eliminated by eventual winner Gary Beck. After moving into the driver's seat of Jerry Ruth's Funny Car in 1978, Beard continued racing before transitioning into what would become his legendary career as a crew chief.

Beginning in 1980 with Jerry Ruth’s Top Fuel dragster, Beard established himself as one of the most successful tuners in NHRA history. Over the following decades, he worked with many of the sport’s biggest names, including Gary Ormsby, Larry Minor, Joe Gibbs, Kenny Bernstein, David Powers, Don Schumacher, and Cruz Pedregon. During his career he guided 14 different drivers to victory, accumulating 55 NHRA national event wins, 66 number-one qualifying positions, and seven NHRA national speed or elapsed-time records.

Beard’s championship résumé is equally impressive. He tuned Gary Ormsby to the 1989 NHRA Winston Top Fuel Championship and helped Cruz Pedregon secure the 1992 NHRA Funny Car Championship. As team manager for Don Schumacher Racing, he played a key role in championship-winning campaigns in both Top Fuel and Funny Car categories. His success extended internationally as well, working with Rapisarda Autosport International, where he guided drivers such as Larry Dixon, Cory McClenathan, and Dom Lagana to multiple Australian national victories and championship success.

Throughout his career, Beard received numerous honors recognizing his contributions to motorsports. He earned Car Craft Magazine’s Hi Riser Award in 1984 and was named both Crew Chief of the Year and Person of the Year in 1989. Later, he was inducted into both the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. He also achieved membership in the prestigious Cragar 4 Second Club, Slick 50 300 MPH Club, and Venolia Pistons 3 Second Funny Car Club—an accomplishment unmatched by any other crew chief.

Although retired from active competition, Lee Beard remains deeply involved in the sport. He serves as a technical analyst for NHRA broadcasts on Fox Sports and continues sharing his expertise with fans and racers alike. Living near Breckenridge, Colorado, he enjoys snow skiing and fly fishing, but his legacy remains firmly rooted in drag racing, where his influence helped shape some of the most successful teams and drivers in the sport’s history.

06/04/2026

Ted Dzus Jr., affectionately known as “The Quarter Turn Man,” played a major role in bringing the famous Dzus Fastener from the aircraft industry into the worlds of motorsports and custom automotive performance. The fastener, commonly referred to simply as the “Dzus Fastener,” was originally invented by Ted’s grandfather, William Dzus, a Ukrainian immigrant engineer who worked for an aircraft company on Long Island during the 1930s. Designed to secure aircraft body panels that tended to loosen and rattle during flight, the fastener used a simple but highly effective over-center locking system consisting of a spring wire and button shaft mechanism that locked or released with only a quarter turn.

Following World War II, Army and Navy aircraft mechanics who had become familiar with the fastener’s strength and convenience began adapting it for race cars. One of the earliest recorded uses in motorsports came from the famed Justice Brothers team in California, who installed the fasteners on a Kurtis-Kraft midget race car. As the racing world recognized the value of quickly removable body panels, the Dzus Fastener rapidly became a standard component across many forms of motorsports.

Ted Jr. worked alongside his grandfather and father in the family business during the 1960s, and his passion for high-performance automobiles helped expand the company’s reach far beyond aviation. After Ted Dzus Sr. became president of Dzus Fasteners in 1964 following William’s death, Ted Jr. later assumed leadership of the company in 1982. Under his guidance, the Dzus Fastener became deeply embedded in drag racing culture, especially after racers such as Don Garlits and many others adopted the product. Companies such as Mr. Gasket and Moroso helped market the fasteners to racers and hot rodders everywhere.

Ted Jr. also promoted the fasteners through his own automotive projects, which included drag race cars such as a 1973 Vega, a 1980 Chevette, and a 1955 Chevy, along with custom street rods including a 1951 Mercury and a 1951 Kaiser Henry J. Beyond racing applications, he developed specialized versions of the Dzus Fastener for valve covers, radiator hose clamps, battery mounts, and hood pins.

The innovation did not stop with motorsports. Ted Jr. expanded the technology into the medical field by creating a variation of the fastener used in orthopedic procedures to repair complex long bone fractures. Through decades of innovation and promotion, Ted Dzus Jr. helped turn a simple aircraft component into one of the most recognizable and widely used fastening systems in automotive racing history.

06/02/2026

Fresh off his 114th career win, Greg Anderson reflected on a lesson from the late Kyle Busch that has stayed with him. The six-time world champion added another trophy to his historic résumé at the inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals, but his post-race perspective was about far more than the win itself.

Read More ⬇️
https://dragillustrated.com/greg-anderson-takes-hendrickcars-com-chevrolet-to-114th-win-of-his-career-at-nhra-potomac-nationals/