Johnny Ringo
Nitro Member
Larry passed away yesterday.
Larry Payne’s resume reads like that of a decathlon athlete with successes in every event he has participated in. Larry’s venture into drag racing has its roots in the very establishment of the sport. He fielded a series of dragsters dubbed “Gang Green”, pitting himself against the touring pros of the day, Gordon Collett, the Ramchargers, and Lou Smith’s “Probe”. His involvement came as a logical expansion of his machinist skills and an opportunity to build his Madison Heights, MI based business. Larry built a reputation of producing some of the sports most desirable performance parts; innovative and race tested. He built and serviced superchargers for virtually all the top teams in the Midwest including Connie Kalitta and was one of the first performance supercharger builders to install Teflon striping on the blower rotors, simultaneously reducing friction while increasing blower pressure. His innovative thinking was harnessed by Dick Maxwell and the Ramchargers crew to solve oil pump issues with the early Chrysler 426 Hemis. Larry fabricated a simple but ingenious solution to enable the pump to maintain pressure above 5000 rpm, something that the standard pump would not do in race conditions. The solution was so dominate that Larry found himself packing boxes and boxes full of the modified pumps to sell to racing’s top teams including Don Garlits and Petty Racing Enterprises.
As the Funny Car scene began to expand, Larry teamed with famed track owner Gil Kohn to launch a team of eight funny cars to compete weekly at Kohn’s Michigan tracks. Larry did double duty, both driving one of the nitro-powered Chevy Camaros and servicing the fleet’s superchargers. All the while he would continue to deliver requests for machining from the sport’s top teams.
In 1980 a discussion with John Spitzer, owner of the Green Lantern Lounge sparked Larry’s interest in the restaurant business and before long he had his first bar and restaurant. That business would eventually expand to four locations, two on Woodward Ave.: Duggan’s Irish Pub and Payne’s, and in Waterford, MI, Larry owned as second Duggan’s and Woody’s in Royal Oak, MI.
Today Duggan’s Irish Pub on Woodward Ave. is one of Southeast Michigan’s most popular locals, especially during the month of August when the Woodward Dream Cruise is in top gear. For the weekend of mid-August, Woodward is the host of what is dubbed as the World’s largest free car event with over a million and half visitors. Woodward veterans know that Duggan’s is the hangout for those “car crazy” visitors with real fuel in their blood. Larry and his establishment were key in launching the summer event in 1984. The pub provides headquarters for the cruise’s official radio broadcaster, WOMC-FM as well as the anchor location for WXYZ-TV, the ABC network’s local affiliate. Larry is a regular guest with both media giants providing his insights on the automotive history of Woodward and S.E. Michigan.
Larry worked together with Al Bergler to restore his final “Gang Green” dragster in 2007 and made several appearances with the car including the 53rd US Nationals “Cacklefest” at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.
Larry’s 7200 sq. ft. shop houses his machine shop, his vintage car collection, the team’s three dragsters and truck and transporter.
Larry Payne’s resume reads like that of a decathlon athlete with successes in every event he has participated in. Larry’s venture into drag racing has its roots in the very establishment of the sport. He fielded a series of dragsters dubbed “Gang Green”, pitting himself against the touring pros of the day, Gordon Collett, the Ramchargers, and Lou Smith’s “Probe”. His involvement came as a logical expansion of his machinist skills and an opportunity to build his Madison Heights, MI based business. Larry built a reputation of producing some of the sports most desirable performance parts; innovative and race tested. He built and serviced superchargers for virtually all the top teams in the Midwest including Connie Kalitta and was one of the first performance supercharger builders to install Teflon striping on the blower rotors, simultaneously reducing friction while increasing blower pressure. His innovative thinking was harnessed by Dick Maxwell and the Ramchargers crew to solve oil pump issues with the early Chrysler 426 Hemis. Larry fabricated a simple but ingenious solution to enable the pump to maintain pressure above 5000 rpm, something that the standard pump would not do in race conditions. The solution was so dominate that Larry found himself packing boxes and boxes full of the modified pumps to sell to racing’s top teams including Don Garlits and Petty Racing Enterprises.
As the Funny Car scene began to expand, Larry teamed with famed track owner Gil Kohn to launch a team of eight funny cars to compete weekly at Kohn’s Michigan tracks. Larry did double duty, both driving one of the nitro-powered Chevy Camaros and servicing the fleet’s superchargers. All the while he would continue to deliver requests for machining from the sport’s top teams.
In 1980 a discussion with John Spitzer, owner of the Green Lantern Lounge sparked Larry’s interest in the restaurant business and before long he had his first bar and restaurant. That business would eventually expand to four locations, two on Woodward Ave.: Duggan’s Irish Pub and Payne’s, and in Waterford, MI, Larry owned as second Duggan’s and Woody’s in Royal Oak, MI.
Today Duggan’s Irish Pub on Woodward Ave. is one of Southeast Michigan’s most popular locals, especially during the month of August when the Woodward Dream Cruise is in top gear. For the weekend of mid-August, Woodward is the host of what is dubbed as the World’s largest free car event with over a million and half visitors. Woodward veterans know that Duggan’s is the hangout for those “car crazy” visitors with real fuel in their blood. Larry and his establishment were key in launching the summer event in 1984. The pub provides headquarters for the cruise’s official radio broadcaster, WOMC-FM as well as the anchor location for WXYZ-TV, the ABC network’s local affiliate. Larry is a regular guest with both media giants providing his insights on the automotive history of Woodward and S.E. Michigan.
Larry worked together with Al Bergler to restore his final “Gang Green” dragster in 2007 and made several appearances with the car including the 53rd US Nationals “Cacklefest” at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.
Larry’s 7200 sq. ft. shop houses his machine shop, his vintage car collection, the team’s three dragsters and truck and transporter.
