I hate these kinds of threads. Especially when it's a friend. I got word last night that Glenn Solano, the longtime owner of The Invader Corvette funny car, passed away yesterday in Springdale, Arkansas.
I've told the story before but, I first saw The Invader run at the old Tucson Dragway in the late '60s. It was driven by "Mighty" Mike Van Zant.
My family moved us from Tucson to Arkansas in 1970. Fast forward to 2002 at a Dodge dealer in Springdale for an all-Mopar show. I'm part of the Mopar club hosting the show and was working a table for signing up new members.
This guy comes up with a registration form and handed it to me. I looked over his form and noticed he had a '70 AAR 'Cuda and a Dodge Daytona funny car. When I saw his name I asked if he ran The Invader at Tucson in the late '60s. He took a step back, wondering who the heck I was. He said he raced there several times, and moved from California to Arkansas a few years earlier to take care of his elderly parents. He and I hit it off right then.
About 5 years later, I happened by his shop and told him I'd like to come back when the crew is there so I could do some photography of what they were doing. It was then I noticed he had gotten rid of the Daytona body and went back to a '69 Vette, for old times' sake.
I went there a couple of times before Glenn asked if I wanted to help work on the car. I jumped at the chance and stayed with the team for five years. Glenn was running the car out of his own pocket. We usually ran only once a year. But, we spent every Tuesday at his shop working on the car. It gave me a whole new perspective on the work involved with a blown nitro car. I could only imagine what a big show crew goes through.
Because of Glenn, I got to meet several other old time racers. For that I'll always be grateful.
Glenn was a crusty old coot and didn't suffer fools long. But, it was hard not to like the guy.
The one thing I remember most about him was his supersonic hearing. For the 50+ years he ran funny cars he never wore ear protection. Yet, to the very end, his hearing amazed me. He could be at one end of his shop and, you could be on the other end standing behind a running four foot shop fan, and he could still hear what people were saying. It was a long standing, unspoken, rule around the shop that if you wanted to talk about Glenn or the way the car was being run, you'd better not be within eyesight of Glenn because he could hear what was said.
He never won a national event but he raced all over California and, as mentioned, in Arizona back in the day.
Glenn used to say he raced Mickey Thompson's funny cars four times while out in California, and lost only one time because of a broken rear end. He was proud of that.
I left the team about four years ago after I retired and my wife and I moved away. But, I kept up with the team. Glenn wanted to run the car somewhere this year, but, sadly that is not going to happen now.
RIP Glenn.
I've told the story before but, I first saw The Invader run at the old Tucson Dragway in the late '60s. It was driven by "Mighty" Mike Van Zant.
My family moved us from Tucson to Arkansas in 1970. Fast forward to 2002 at a Dodge dealer in Springdale for an all-Mopar show. I'm part of the Mopar club hosting the show and was working a table for signing up new members.
This guy comes up with a registration form and handed it to me. I looked over his form and noticed he had a '70 AAR 'Cuda and a Dodge Daytona funny car. When I saw his name I asked if he ran The Invader at Tucson in the late '60s. He took a step back, wondering who the heck I was. He said he raced there several times, and moved from California to Arkansas a few years earlier to take care of his elderly parents. He and I hit it off right then.
About 5 years later, I happened by his shop and told him I'd like to come back when the crew is there so I could do some photography of what they were doing. It was then I noticed he had gotten rid of the Daytona body and went back to a '69 Vette, for old times' sake.
I went there a couple of times before Glenn asked if I wanted to help work on the car. I jumped at the chance and stayed with the team for five years. Glenn was running the car out of his own pocket. We usually ran only once a year. But, we spent every Tuesday at his shop working on the car. It gave me a whole new perspective on the work involved with a blown nitro car. I could only imagine what a big show crew goes through.
Because of Glenn, I got to meet several other old time racers. For that I'll always be grateful.
Glenn was a crusty old coot and didn't suffer fools long. But, it was hard not to like the guy.
The one thing I remember most about him was his supersonic hearing. For the 50+ years he ran funny cars he never wore ear protection. Yet, to the very end, his hearing amazed me. He could be at one end of his shop and, you could be on the other end standing behind a running four foot shop fan, and he could still hear what people were saying. It was a long standing, unspoken, rule around the shop that if you wanted to talk about Glenn or the way the car was being run, you'd better not be within eyesight of Glenn because he could hear what was said.
He never won a national event but he raced all over California and, as mentioned, in Arizona back in the day.
Glenn used to say he raced Mickey Thompson's funny cars four times while out in California, and lost only one time because of a broken rear end. He was proud of that.
I left the team about four years ago after I retired and my wife and I moved away. But, I kept up with the team. Glenn wanted to run the car somewhere this year, but, sadly that is not going to happen now.
RIP Glenn.
