Ed
"Big Daddy" Roth, the famed genius custom car builder
and artist passed away on April 4, 2001 from a heart attack.
Roth was one of a tiny handful of car artists that got
rolling in the very late 1940s and 1950s and created t-shirts
and customs that revolutionized performance car art. For
all intents and purposes, it was the talents of Ken "Von
Dutch" Howard, Stanley Mouse, and Roth that created the
category.
Roth's most famous cartoon character was the "Rat Fink,"
a ratty-pear-shaped looking and fly infested rat. Among
his most renowned custom cars were the "Beatnik Bandit,"
"the Outlaw, "the Orbitron," "Rotar," and "the Mysterion."
His one foray into drag racing came in 1965 when he put
together the year's most garish and wild-looking Top Fuel
Dragster, the yellow-hued, spacey "Yellow Fang" entry
driven by George "the Bushmaster" Schreiber. The car didn't
run all that well, but it didn't need to. Its style carried
the day and held sway, much like its creator.
Photo from the Ed Roth collection, published in "Driving
Me Wild; Nitro-powered Outlaw Culture" by Leah M. Kerr
(Juno Books, 2000). Reviewed in Volume II No. 5 of Drag
Racing Online. Check our archive.
Copyright 1999-2001, Drag Racing Online
and Racing Net Source
Ed
"Big Daddy" Roth, the famed genius custom car builder
and artist passed away on April 4, 2001 from a heart attack.
Roth was one of a tiny handful of car artists that got
rolling in the very late 1940s and 1950s and created t-shirts
and customs that revolutionized performance car art. For
all intents and purposes, it was the talents of Ken "Von
Dutch" Howard, Stanley Mouse, and Roth that created the
category.