This from Don Garlits: Dear Friends, My long life buddy, partner and friend died at home this morning at 6 AM. This was the final result of an Airboat accident several years ago, Art was injured severely and never fully recovered. I talked to him on March 27th and he was in good spirits, thought he had lost a lot of weight. The brute of a man was down to 175 pounds, my weight! His wife Sandra was at his side. It grieves me to write this, but I must as Art and I go a long way back, in 1942 we rode the Twin Lakes School bus together, became friends and never had a quarrel. Art was younger than I, but a tall boy and timid at that young age. I once beat up a bully that was picking on him and we have been very close ever since. Art initially started racing round track cars and I once borrowed a flathead Ford engine out of his stock car to run an event while my engine was being repaired, I won with Art’s engine, but he continued to race the round tracks. Then in 1959, I was burned severely and Art and his wonderful late wife Lorraine came to the hospital and he offered to drive the Swamp Rat I car while I recuperated. Art took to Drag Racing like a “Duck to Water”, setting the new Drag News 1320 Record at his first outing in Sanford Maine, 183,66 MPH, breaking my old record set at Houston TX the week before the Chester fire. Art continued to raise the 1320 record several times and in 1960 built his own car at Al Williams shop in Kansas. He won the US Fuel and Gas Championships held in Bakersfield CA in 1963 with his own home-built car, Ed Iskenderian was his Crew Chief! He set the oval track record of 181.561 MPH at the Daytona Speedway on August 28th 1961, receiving the $10,000.00 prize posted by Bill France of NASCAR fame for the first person over 180 on a closed course, driving the “Mad Dog” a winged version of an Indy car, built by the late Bob Osiecki from Chester SC. The “Mad Dog” now rests in the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing as a tribute to this man’s many accomplishments. We teamed up again in 1984 putting “Garlits and Malone” on Swamp Rat 26, a car removed from the museum and refitted with modern parts purchased by Art to be able to run the 1984 NHRA US Nationals, we won the race, the competitors were calling us “Dinosaurs”, we then proceeded to the NHRA World Finals, winning again! Art and I then won the NHRA World Championships two years in a row, 1985 and 1986. Art was inducted into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1997 and he supported the Museum from the very beginning. This is just a brief summary of Art’s life, as it would take an entire book to list it all, he was a man’s man and will be missed by all racing fans and competitors. Please circulate widely. Thanks, Don Garlits CEO Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing Inc. 13700 SW 16th Ave.
Art came to our Jr High School in the early 60's, on a national school assembly tour, he spoke about racing at Indy, quite inspirational! Here is a shot of Art in the "Mad Dog", RIP Art.
Art Malone in "Swamp Rat" - Riverside Raceway 1959 Art Malone in "Swamp Rat" (circa 1959) Art Malone's "Golden Rod" at the 1961 March Meet Art Malone's "U.S. 1" at Lions in 1966
When I moved from st louis to Florida in 1986,I started racing at sunshine drag strip in st petersburg.Art teched my car the first trip ,very nice man. R.I.P. Art
I interviewed Art about 20 years ago about him setting the World Closed Course record of 181 MPH at Daytona in 1961 in Bob Osiecki's "Mad Dog IV" Chrysler powered Indy car. He said that was his most lasting accomplishment and still raised goosebumps thinking about it. "The canard wings were right beside me and I knew if I crashed I would be decapatated". A truly giant figure in motorsports. RIP
r.i.p. art, thanks for all that you have done, and all the people you touched. you were quite the guy.
Flagged him and Don Garlits many times at the old Golden Triangle drag strip in Oldsmar, FL. He drove for and against Don many times. Great driver and super nice guy.
seeing what garlits wrote makes it all seem like yesterday, he was lucky to have such a friend as art malone---we were all lucky to have met him...
Very sad news, he was an original. There are lots of stories to tell about Art, but one in particular stands out, i think it was '63, Malone was racing at Fontana, and right before he ran a guy ran his '34 Ford sedan, that broke before the lights and was stuck on the track. The starter did not see it and flagged Malone, who saw the car just before he hit it, probably at around 180. The car was destroyed, and Art was hurt worse than he knew, head began to swell, face badly lacerated. We heard about the accident that night, and went to Lefty Mudersbach's place, where Art was staying...the remains of the car were in a trash barrel outside Lefty's shop, that is how bad the crash was...it was a week or two before Bakersfield, but Art was a racer, and took his engine, all that was left of his car, and put it into Lefty's chassis, just to run Bakersfield. I remember seeing him work on the car at Ernie Hashims'face covered with scabs, eyes still swollen pretty much shut, but there he was at around 1:00 in the morning working on the car. He didn't win, but with such injuries, he was still racing...says a lot about the kind of racer he was. RIP, Art Malone
I am helping organize a memorial race for Art on November 2, at Bradenton Motorsports Park. We are trying to make it a meaningful tribute and are planning a few special things. I am hoping to get together some hot cars and have a large turnout Please spread the word..
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