Shirl Greer, 74 F/C champ Ill.

Shirl Greer ,1974 f/c champ is in the hosp in tn, in a coma. Brian Greer ,his youngest son, says he is going in surgery again today. This is all I know.

 

Prayers sent..........

 

Didn't he drive some altered wheelbase cars ( Mopars ) in the mid 60's ????

 

Prayers sent.
Always had great looking rides.

 

I just read that Shirl died this morning. Check Phil Burgess's column on NHRA.com

http://www.nhra.com/blog/dragster-insider/

 

RIP Shirl Greer. You entertained many....and those many will not forget you. Another sad day for drag racing fans worldwide.

 

Aaah Man, so sorry to hear this. I remember reading about him driving the "Chain Lightning" F/C after being badly burned in qualifiying. He had his hands totally bandaged, but got back in the next day anyway. RIP Shirl...

 

Man that sucks he's a local legend. He ran funny cars. He still has his old car

 

TENSION was the name of his AWB Dodge, awsome driver, awsome car

 

Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes, Shirl was my uncle/hero. We all will miss him. His son's Van, Brian, and Rusty all appreciate the thoughts.
He had undergone surgery and had complications from that and fought long and hard but it was just too much.

 

RIP Shirl

 

R.I.P. Shirl

 

I enjoyed meeting Shirl Greer several years ago at E'Town's Funny Car Reunion event... On our Funny Car Reunion Raw DVD, there's a beautiful close-up shot of Shirl, smiling, sitting in his Mustang, being pulled through the staging lanes... Shirl was quite a character-- I also remember he had a colorful crew guy with him, unfortunately I don't recall the crew guy's name, but those two guys were lots of fun to be around... Shirl Greer dressed himself like Hawaiian lounge singer, Don Ho, with "loud" printed shirts... Shirl backed up his "flamboyant" sense of style with solid driving skills-- As many of you know, he won the NHRA Funny Car Championship in '74... My sincere condolences to his family... I believe that hardcore drag racing fans will remember Shirl Greer for a long time-- I know that I certainly will... Diana

 

I last saw Shirl at the Bowling Green NHRR but first met him in 1988 when I was working for Paul Smith and Chuck Etchells.
Smith was one of the drivers that he beat for the memorable F/C championship and Smith was one of the guys that helped Greer's crew get the car back together for Sunday's eliminations--Shirl was that well liked.
Going to Bristol to race was always a treat as Shirl and his kids would always be there and we spent quite a bit of time together. In 1989 he drove the Tosti Asti backed F/C with the Batten overhead cam engine package. The team was struggling a little and Smith went over to help with the tune-up but after one cam seized in the head and pitched the cam drive pulley past Smith's head Paul told Shirl that although he liked him he did not like him enough to get killed in the pits.

Roo

 

The first year I went to the Bowling Green NHRR 2 years ago, I bought a shirt for my son who was 2 then. Got each shoulder signed. One shoulder by Don Garlits and the other shoulder by Shirl Greer. I was glad to have got to meet him. He was a local guy that did well.

 

<TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD class=contentheading width="100%">BRISTOL DRAGWAY HONORS SHIRL GREER </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD vAlign=top><TABLE class=artinfo_block width="100%"><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD vAlign=center>Written by David McGee Wednesday, 17 March 2010 19:33 </TD><TD class=buttonheading vAlign=top align=right> </TD><TD class=buttonheading vAlign=top align=right> </TD><TD class=buttonheading vAlign=top align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>

With NASCAR fans in Bristol setting up their campers for this weekend's NASCAR Food City 500, about 75 people turned out for a unique memorial service for Funny Car legend Shirl Greer at Bristol Dragway.

Shirl Greer died March 12 after a brief illness.

Following a graveside service at the Mountain Home Veterans Affairs Cemetery in Johnson City, Greer's three sons Van, Rusty and Brian led a caravan to Thunder Valley, where they fired up the 1974 NHRA World Champion's vintage "Chain Lightning" Funny Car.

It was a poignant moment when each son walked over and rapped the throttle, with their father's helmet and old-style breather mask sitting in the car's seat.

Greer won multiple events at his home track and was the first driver down the old Bristol drag strip when it first opened in 1965.

"Thank you all for coming," Brian Greer told the family, friends and fellow racers. "This is how a Greer says goodbye. You're all part of the Greer family."



</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

Here's som really bad phone pics of my tribute on canvas that I'm sending to Brian. I'll post better pics when I get it scanned.

 

Gonna miss you Shirl!