# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/don-garlits
# Generated: 2026-08-13T16:03:21.733Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/don-garlits"
name: "Don Garlits"
slug: "don-garlits"
description: "Donald Glenn Garlits is an American race car driver and automotive engineer. Born in Tampa, Florida, Garlits is considered the godfather of drag racing, he is known as \"Big Daddy\" to drag racing fans around the world. A pioneer in the field of drag racing, he perfected the rear-engine Top Fuel dragster, an innovation motivated by the loss of part of his foot in a dragster accident. This design was notably safer since it put most of the fuel processing and rotating parts of the dragster behind the driver. The driver was placed in front of nearly all the mechanical components, thus protecting him and allowing him to activate a variety of safety equipment in the event of catastrophic mechanical failure or a fire. Garlits was an early promoter of the full-body, fire-resistant Nomex driving suit, complete with socks, gloves, and balaclava."
tagline: "American drag racing driver"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Still_having_fun_after_all_these_years_(1171261374).jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
birthDate: "1932-01-14"
livingStatus: "LIVING"
scores:
  popularity:           48.36
  momentum:             0
  historical:           5.648970666666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     35
  profileCompleteness:  50
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Garlits"
    title: "Don Garlits"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B3"
    title: "دون جارليتس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Garlits"
    title: "Don Garlits"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Garlits"
    title: "Don Garlits"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Garlits"
    title: "Don Garlits"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Garlits"
    title: "Don Garlits"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4352705"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump