March 7, 1908 - March 26, 1984
"Bullet" Joe Garson
Garson was originally from the East Coast and won the 1938 Eastern Midget Racing Alliance title before heading West. Garson was one of the most successful AAA Midget drivers in the immediate post-war years when the sport was at a peak of popularity. In the 1939 150-mile race at Roosevelt Raceway he placed 2nd before a crowd of 61,256. He won the AAA Pacific Coast title in 1948 and again in 1950. He was fifty years old and USAC had replaced AAA when he had perhaps his greatest season, winning the 1958 Turkey Night classic and the Pacific Coast Midget title for the third time. One of his famous rides was the Rex Mays Offy.
Joe Garson died on March 26, 1984. He is a member of The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
I saw Joe Garson out-qualify A.J. Foyt at Ascot (LA) in 1962 "Turkey Nite" Midget race. At that point he'd been racing since before Foyt was born.
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