Folks Of Interest Who was "Big Daddy" first? Roth or Garlits

I was kicked back this evening having a Mohito diluted with a bit of cranberry, and dropped into an Ed Roth internet rabbit hole. I got to wondering which of the two, Roth or Garlits, was first known as Bid Daddy. It seems they both were tagged with that moniker sometime around 1963. Ed was given the nickname by a Revell employee, and Bernie Partridge, the track announcer at the 1963 Indy Nationals first referred to Garlits as "Big Daddy.

After a bit of searching Don "Big Daddy" Garlits himself answered the question. Ed is referred to as "Don Roth" in the following article, but it does answer the question.

http://www.mybestyears.com/ARCHIVES/Garlits/3-021507Nickname.html

 

Big Daddy is sort of a beatnik moniker, isn't it? It probably got tagged on a lot of folks in the 50's and early 60's. It came along with weird poetry, finger snapping and bongos... nifty.

 

I was the first big daddy. Named from the nurses when i was born in 55.

 

The next words they muttered was Bad to the bone. LOL

 

Exclaimed the nurse doing a physical.

 

Burl Ives from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

 

Well, I was born in '52 so I so I should have beat you...but all I got from the nurses was "Big Disappointment"

 

I was born in 54 and all I heard was PUT IT BACK! PUT IT BACK!

 

Beatnik speak wasn't "Big Daddy" it was "Daddio" I was there.

 

Well... I still feel Big Daddy was in there too. My dad was shocked but learned to accept that I started calling him Pops! Till his last days. I think he really loved it.

 

Did Garlits sign autographs as "Big Daddy"?
I know that Ed Roth did, from at least the early sixties.

 

Garlits!.....

 

Millions of Ed Roth's model cars were sold, for which he received one cent royalty for each one, and a corporate publicist gave their 6ft 4in tall inventor the nickname Big Daddy, which he loved. He first became known in 1958 with a car he called the Beatnik Bandit, followed, a year later, by a hot-rod, the Outlaw.

Don Garlets Big Daddy came around 1962 Though not the beginning of his story, He was Already married with two daughters, other drivers jokingly referred to him as “Daddy” Don Garlits at the racetrack. Playful joke turned to long-lasting endearment the later referred to him as “Big Daddy” because of all the wins, setting numerous speed records.

Both shared the same moniker for different reasons, Ed Roth for his stature at 6' 4" & Don Garlet's for being a father & older than most of the drivers.

Roth & Garlets are both giant's in their fields. HRP

 

Big Daddy Don Garlits.

 

Technically it`s Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. And It`s Big Daddy Don Garlits. So it`s Don with Big Daddy comes first in his name. .

 

I don't know where you got that piece from, but they spell the guy's name incorrectly most of the time. Yep, both wrong and inconsistent.

 

Is there any record of the two of them meeting? That would make a heck of a picture . . . .

 

sure.

 

Hello,

The term "Daddy" came from Little Orphan Annie Comic Books. It referred to someone who is wealthy and had the name "Daddy Warbucks." It was in the 1940's. We used to read the comic strips and the comic books and ***ociated a wealthy guy as "Big Daddy."

It was not until Roth in the custom world and Don Garlits in the drag racing world that the moniker "Big Daddy" was used on a regular basis. Having grown up in the Westside of Long Beach's different world of the late 40s and early 50's so-called "Beatnik World," perhaps the "Daddy-o" term was a slang used to describe the tall Ed Roth in his circle of friends. He even had the Beatnik goatee and paraphernalia to go along with the act.

But, in drag racing circles as early as he started setting records, Don Garlits was known as "Big Daddy."

Jnaki

So, it depends on who or what is actually written down in various websites as to the origin. We could see the influence of the "Beatnik World" and the goatee, acting crazy, etc. during the Ed Roth days. So, there is an early start to this question. There were several locations in the Westside that were "Beatnik" hangouts.

The smoky scene inside, the dark rooms, the funky jazz music and the guys hanging around with mustaches and goatees acting rather cool to a young person's eyes. The smoke level was down about half way in the rooms as most in the establishment smoked. It was an illusion and was portrayed in the newspapers as a way for young people to express themselves.

Our fake goatees during play, came from the Three Muskateers, not those Beatniks in smoky places. Beatnik Bandits? HA!

 

Didn't I hear you were so ugly when you were born, the doctor slapped your mother? I have you all beat. Was born in '48!

 

Ho dit. I thought "big daddy" was @Lloyd's paint & gl***

 

And Steve Angus did the paint and scallops on the Bandit while he worked for Ed.

 

There was one other Big Daddy in the early 60's. His name was Russ Mathews, raced a 59 or 60 Buick (convertible I think) at the Nationals.

 

[QUOTE="HOTRODPRIMER, post: 13926523, member: 1182

Both shared the same moniker for different reasons, Ed Roth for his stature at 6' 4" & Don Garlet's for being a father & older than most of the drivers.

Roth & Garlets are both giant's in their fields. HRP[/QUOTE]

I'd say that that is the whole nine yards right there. So called for entirely different reasons and by almost entirely different groups of people. What gets me is why anyone even thinks it matters who got called by the nickname first or why.
As far as "first" I can remember wanting to order a Big Daddy Ed Roth sweatshirt out of the back of a magazine around 59 or 60 and not having the money to do it while a school Friend's older brother would paint a design you asked for on the back of a new white sweatshirt that you took him for a few bucks. Even that was kind of spendy in those days on a 5o cents a week allowence and what work a 13 year old Jr High kid could manage.
I watched Garlets race at Pacific Raceways in 1960 either at the opening weekend or not long after when there was a pretty big drag meet. I was only 13 or 14 and can't remember if he was just Don Garlets or Big Daddy then though. Met him at Bonneville in 1988 when I was visiting with Bruce Crower as he was working on his roadster at Bonneville and a rental K car came flying up and out jump Don and his Wife. Somewhere in the Garlets photo archives from that weekend there is probably a photo of me standing by Bruce with a glazed look on my face.

 

Guys, it’s Garlits!

 

And the prize for being first is ..... ?

 

Who cares.. In my neck of the woods there a lot more called “***hole” than big daddy. Just try it sometime. Just say “hey ***hole” and I’ll bet over 90% of the guys will turn around.

 

On this side of the pond, Big Daddy was wrestler!
Grew up watching World of Sport on the telly at my Nan's house on a Saturday afternoon - he always defeated his great rival Giant Haystacks!
Always wondered how he'd fit in a slingshot as he was m***ive - but then I realised it's a different Big Daddy!