1973 NHRA Top Fuel world champion Jerry Ruth passes away
Jerry Ruth, whose amazing Top Fuel career spanned 20 years and included the NHRA Top Fuel world championship in 1973, passed away July 1. He was 87.
Ruth, dubbed the “King of the Northwest“ in 1965 by a local sportswriter, ruled the nitro ranks in the region for years. Always a self-promoter, Ruth later joked, “When I won the world championship in 1973, I changed it to ‘King of the World.’ “
Ruth's first recognized Top Fuel car was in 1964 after previously campaigning a twin-engine gas dragster, and later added a Funny Car, and was successful in both, and was proud of it.
“People asked me if a Funny Car was harder to drive than a dragster,” he said in a 2017 interview. “Not for me. They were both the same. I’m a natural driver. It’s been my great calling. People asked me which car I liked best. That's an easy answer: whichever one could win.”
From 1964 to 1972, Ruth dominated NHRA’s Division 6, capturing eight Top Fuel championships and three Funny Car titles — two as a driver and one as a team owner. In both 1971 and 1972, he pulled off the rare feat of winning Division 6 titles in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, becoming the first driver to ever score victories in two Professional categories at the same event.
From 1964 to 1972, Ruth dominated NHRA’s Division 6, capturing eight Top Fuel championships and three Funny Car titles — two as a driver and one as a team owner. In both 1971 and 1972, he pulled off the rare feat of winning Division 6 titles in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, becoming the first driver to ever score victories in two Professional categories at the same event.
Ruth truly ruled the Northwest, winning the region’s two marquee races — the N.W. Fuel and Gas Championship in Puyallup, Wash., and the Travel-Ons Fuel and Gas Championship in Arlington, Wash. — three consecutive years, but his influence reached far beyond his home turf.
In 1968, he claimed the prestigious Professional Dragsters Association (PDA) Championship at Lions Dragstrip in Long Beach, Calif., and went on to win three NHRA national events, including the 1973 NHRA World Finals in Amarillo, Texas, where he clinched the NHRA world championship.
In 1968, he claimed the prestigious Professional Dragsters Association (PDA) Championship at Lions Dragstrip in Long Beach, Calif., and went on to win three NHRA national events, including the 1973 NHRA World Finals in Amarillo, Texas, where he clinched the NHRA world championship.
After getting knocked out by tire shake at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in 1979, Ruth commissioned Al Swindahl to build a revolutionary dragster cockpit for 1980, designed around a shoulder hoop off of a Funny Car for the roll cage. The style was quickly adopted by many in the class, and Swindahl became the 1980s’ go-to dragster chassis builder.
“People told me it looked like crap, that it was ugly; I didn’t care,” Ruth said. “I needed to fix this thing or my career was over. I made Al rich and helped him realize his dream of a lifetime, to build a car for the big guns.”
“People told me it looked like crap, that it was ugly; I didn’t care,” Ruth said. “I needed to fix this thing or my career was over. I made Al rich and helped him realize his dream of a lifetime, to build a car for the big guns.”
Ruth won the NHRA Mile-High Nationals that year and made the first mile-high five-second pass. That 1980 Denver win was the last NHRA victory of Ruth's career, and he retired after the 1984 season.
Though Ruth’s racing career concluded then, his legacy as one of drag racing’s most formidable competitors continues to resonate. He was a regular guest at the NHRA Northwest Nationals, where he would display and cackle one of his vintage front-engine dragsters.
Ruth is survived by his wife, Cindy, and predeceased by brothers Bill and John.
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