Raymond Beadle

[yoda]

A lot of E-Town memories with that man and his car... Rest in Peace, Mr. Beadle

 

[Brian]

Very Sad. RIP Raymond.

 

[none]

Sad news, indeed. RIP Raymond

 

[Nunz]

One of the best ever. RIP Raymond
http://competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/29319-raymond-beadle-1943-2014

 

[D]

Very sad news to wake up to. RIP.

 

[Bluey]

Condolences to his family. A true legend of the sport.

 

[cat]

RIP Mr Beadle. Thanks for all the great memories.

 

[cantdrive55]

Thankful I had the opportunity to watch the Blue Max race the Snake, the Mongoose, the Hawaiian, Bernstein, Ed the Ace, Segrini, and many others. My thoughts and prayers to the Beadle family.

R.I.P. Raymond

 

[FABMAN]

Nobody knows what our next adventure will be, sure hope it includes a Drag Strip and all our great racers

Thanks Blue Max for all the match races and memories.

R.I.P. Raymond Beadle

 

[Bubba]

Rest in peace, Mr. Beadle. Your battles with the Snake in the mid-to-late 70s were epic.

 

[ScojoDak]

May the man Rest In Peace.

If I may share a fond memory of Raymond when I worked the Infield Fire & Rescue crew in the early 70's. Whenever he'd toured SoCal (Irwindale & OCIR), we'd ask him before the race what his procedure was if he caught fire. He'd say something like "I'm just gonna stop the sumbitch as fast as I can". He wasn't kidding! If he lit it up in the lights, he'd stop that car quicker that any other driver we knew. We always knew where Raymond would stop the car every time. He'd get out and when Waterbed Fred rolled up, he'd say with that Texas twang something like "damn thing just blew up". He was always very grateful to us for helping him out after a jam. A well liked gentleman.

 

[stitcherbob]

 

[none]

Bob, that last picture you have is of Beadle and Richard Schroeder taken at Firebird Raceway in Boise at the Nightfire 500 race (`78 probably). I was there. Classic pic, brings back great memories! He and Bonin are match racing again, I'd like to think

 

[rocketman]

One of the sports greatest gone RIP Blue Max.

 

[stitcherbob]

Beadle, Bonin and Goeske.....3 stars of the best Funny Car era

 

[rckymtn3]

Whenever someone says "Funny Car", Raymond Beadle is the first image in my mind, and it will continue to be so. A lot of smiling, laughing, and fun always surrounded the man. What a tremendous loss for his family, and the community of racing. May he rest in peace.

 

[Speed1288]

The Blue EXP was one of the prettiest funny cars, RIP.

 

[George.]

If anyone questions the mystique that the NHRA has lost, just flip through the pics in this thread. Still gives me goosebumps.
It seems that a trip through the pits in the 80's was a walk through wall to wall greatness. Superstar legends at each trailer.

I think the last time I saw the Blue Max run was when it was red, and it had the injector covered within the body with John Lombardo at the wheel.

The flip at Gainesville with Raymond emerging with both fists in the air was still one of the greatest moment in all of racing

 

[Huge]

One of my favorite memories was when they cut the roof off of Kenny Bernsteins car and put it on Beadles car.

 

[stitcherbob]

"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" !