Bob Frey Remembers... "One of the great Top Fuel car owners of all time was "Terrible" Ted Gotelli. The owner of Gotelli's Speed Shop in Southern California, Ted Gotelli ran a series of dragsters from 1960 through about 1972 and his cars were always among the best in the country. Few people outside of Southern California knew much about them however, unless they read "Drag News" or a new paper called "National Dragster," and that's because Ted never really traveled very much with the car. After going through a succession of drivers, Ted finally put a young man by the name of Kenny Safford behind the wheel and, together, they terrorized the Southern California tracks for about three years. Kenny, an original member of the legendary "Road Kings" car club, remembers getting a call from Tom McEwen who suggested that he contact Ted about the ride. "Ted had a match race with Prudhomme on Sunday in Fontana, and he wanted me to drive the car on Saturday night at Long Beach to see how I would do." Well, apparently he did pretty well, because the team went right from the "Beach" to Fontana where they whipped the "Snake" in a best two-out-of-three match race, and how many teams can make that statement? After the race, Kenny told Ted that he didn't have another ride and that he'd love to drive for him regularly and the partnership began. The car started out as a short car, with no body on it before Kenny talked Ted into stepping up into the beautiful full-bodied entry that most fans remember. After driving for Ted for about three years, Kenny decided that he wanted to go on tour, and since Ted still wanted to race mostly on the west coast, Kenny left the dragster's seat to go drive something called a "Funny Car." But he'll be back, because those Funny Cars are probably just a passing fad, don't you think? Kenny was inducted into the "Drag Racing Hall of Fame" in 2002." - Bob Frey Bob Frey Remembers... "One of the great Top Fuel car owners of all time was "Terrible" Ted Gotelli. The owner of Gotelli's Speed Shop in Southern California, Ted Gotelli ran a series of dragsters from 1960 through about 1972 and his cars were always among the best in the country. Few people outside of Southern California knew much about them however, unless they read "Drag News" or a new paper called "National Dragster," and that's because Ted never really traveled very much with the car. After going through a succession of drivers, Ted finally put a young man by the name of Kenny Safford behind the wheel and, together, they terrorized the Southern California tracks for about three years. Kenny, an original member of the legendary "Road Kings" car club, remembers getting a call from Tom McEwen who suggested that he contact Ted about the ride. "Ted had a match race with Prudhomme on Sunday in Fontana, and he wanted me to drive the car on Saturday night at Long Beach to see how I would do." Well, apparently he did pretty well, because the team went right from the "Beach" to Fontana where they whipped the "Snake" in a best two-out-of-three match race, and how many teams can make that statement? After the race, Kenny told Ted that he didn't have another ride and that he'd love to drive for him regularly and the partnership began. The car started out as a short car, with no body on it before Kenny talked Ted into stepping up into the beautiful full-bodied entry that most fans remember. After driving for Ted for about three years, Kenny decided that he wanted to go on tour, and since Ted still wanted to race mostly on the west coast, Kenny left the dragster's seat to go drive something called a "Funny Car." But he'll be back, because those Funny Cars are probably just a passing fad, don't you think? Kenny was inducted into the "Drag Racing Hall of Fame" in 2002." - Bob Frey
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