KENNY SAFFORD DRIVER

The Safford-Ratican-Gaide team won 17 out of the first 22 Top Fuel races it attended but also was hard on parts. So the first Safford national tour was a success, and like his Road Kings buddies, he returned to California for the winter. X Newsletter Sign Up. Kenny set low e. They were my three musketeers, that I had more fun with in my life.

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Rod Peppmuller, another lifelong friend, did the chassis and built the Road Kings club dragster as well. Kenny Safford passed away in at the age of There were lots of smiles and good times, but no one smiled more than Kenny Safford, the gregarious, big-hearted ksnny.

Ivo, who shared shop space with the team. I prefer to receive internal offers and promotions. Well, he did, and when the bike started with a roar, I went head over heels, cartwheeling down the hill.

Tommy Ivo Remembers Kenny Safford and Rod Pepmiller | Hotrod Hotline

As a professional drag racer, he won big on small budgets. It was a Ford with stout Buick V8 power, just the kind of ride a kennny needed if he was going to date at Hollywood High. As the racing season got underway, Dyer was busy building a Zafford Stock Hemi Colt while also making superchargers for pro drag racers as well as the street-machine contingent.

With a potential sale in the works, Kenny went out to kenmy garage to air up the tires so he could load the car in its trailer. If Kenny played it fast and loose as a teen, he matured rapidly and became known as someone you could count on to do the right thing. That was my last motorcycle outing.

Quick to Make Friends and Reach the Finish Line, Road King Kenny Safford was Drag-Racing Royalty

But it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go fulltime professional. One by one, car dealers kneny the neighborhood that had counted on Performance for machine work closed their doors, and Performance Auto Parts, after a run of more than 30 years, was no more.

Later we rode up a hill and my bike stalled. Campaigning the successful Olds fueler was a large part of what made life so wonderful.

All of the Road Kings were pals. He was nice as could be and warned me about some issues that turned out to be accurate. They were buddies to the end. Zafford was powered by a carbureted Chrysler, and the guys took turns driving it.

Drag Racer Kenny Safford Passes Away | SEMA

We were a bunch of kids. It was all in good fun, but there was often some gentle razzing that led to kehny, particularly from Gaide.

Battle of the Network S I even forgive Kenny for crossing my wires on my funny car, when he went to Pomona with me, to make test runs with it.

X Newsletter Sign Up. A really neat guy. But somehow I guess he liked that old car. The car premiered late in the season. More changes were soon to come as Gary Dyer was having safdord thoughts about his return to the cockpit. Gary Dyer, who would eventually become a close friend and business partner, helped straighten things out.

I met Gary Dyer, and he told me he was looking for a guy to crew his Hemi Colt. Shark bit off some big numbers, and Kenny was rolling again.

Rod was my strong right arm and a little bit of my left, ever since I started racing. He was an outstanding mechanic, machinist and tuner. We all took junkyard parts and turned them into something special, but Safford had a knack for doing it well.