Long-time Funny Car racer Mike Van Sant passes away
Starting almost from the onset of the class in the mid- to late-1960s, "Mighty Mike" had a long list of successful rides in high-profile cars, including driving for Mickey Thompson, Stone, Woods & Cooke, and Roland Leong. He started out partnering with Glen Solano on a Corvette-bodied car called "Invader," a name that Van Sant would use for decades while driving his own race cars, which he began doing in earnest in the mid-1970s after years of being a hired driver, continuing through the id-1980s before retiring.
