Folks Of Interest Sadly Dick Kraft Passed On

Unfortunately Dick passed away on January 16, 2009. You can send your condolences to his wife of 35 years, Margarita, at 1660 W. Broadway, #138, Anaheim, Ca 92802. He was such a character and lived life to the fullest....actually many lifetimes! He will be greatly missed for his personality and knowledge. R.I.P.


***Dick's memorial service is Saturday, January 24, 2009(his 88th birthday) at the Downey Zrelak Family Mortuary, 10229 Paramount Blvd., Downey, Calif (562) 927-2644***

 

WOW! Sorry to hear this. RIP Dick!!!! Lot of the old timers are leaving us lately...

 

RIP Dick. My prayer to your family.

 

Really an Icon in our world. That pic of him in the Bug grinning is the epitome of cool.

 

damn...RIP...

 

Rip

 

Sad to here..... RIP Dick

 

Thanks for everything, Dick. My hot rod adventure is way easier than it could have been, thanks to your efforts.

 

I only met Dick once it was summer of 89 , aussie steve and I (we both lived in oz then) went to visit with Creighton Hunter and as we walked out to the garage we passed an older man painting the house , creihton turned and said, hey! you guys want to meet Dick Kraft we spent that afternoon visiting with two of hot roddings legends , sad for the loss ,but good memories.

 

Sad to hear... Us young guys have to soak up all the info and stories we can from the old timers before they are gone. Here is a website about Dick.

http://www.dickkraft.com/

 

Very sad. A big loss of someone who was truly passionate about something he loved.

 

THIS is hot rodding............................

 

RIP with your pedal to the floor, Dick.

 

A legend has left us. And a "home town boy" to me as i grew up in Anaheim and had the pleasure of hanging at Stan Betz,s shop as a kid. Dick was a great guy and paved the way for us all !! ............R.I.P.

 

His T roadster was on the cover of the 2n'd or 3rd issue of Hot Rod I bought in 1961. Never had the pleasure of meeting him, but his cars sure were impessive, RIP.

 

Something strikes me as I look at the picture of him aboard the Bug. See that impish grin? To me that means he was having a ball doing what he did and just maybe it's telling us to have fun and not take ourselves too seriously. RIP Dick, you'll be long remembered.

Frank

 

Sorry to hear of the sad news that we have lost a great racer, Dick Kraft !
R.I.P. Dick and drive " The Bug " FOREVER !

 

nicley put were only here to visit for a short time , RIP Dick

 

Sad News. We lost a true pioneer

 

Thanks for the inspiration Dick, RIP. Rocky

 

one of my favorites!!! RIP KRAFTY!!! will someone please write a book about this dude!! we've got to get all the street fights/surfing/hot rodding stories on paper!!!

 

Rip...

 

A legend...

 

Dick was one of the greatest guys and most interesting characters I have ever known. The quintessential "Free Spirit" for sure. Always had that engaging grin. I am saddened to hear he is gone. Dick liked to party hard but was always fit and health conscious. I recall going with him to the old Hula Hut drive-in in Anaheim; after downing his burger he would always thoroughly rinse his mouth with water and spit it on the asphalt lot. Had to maintain that smile.

My friend Bill Watters lived 2 doors down from Dick's home on Adele St. in Anaheim, we always called him Richard. We were just high school kids and Dick was our hero. We spent a lot of time at his place helping out when he was building his famous red '25 T show car and "The Bug". Bill and I were along that day at the Santa Ana Drags when that famous picture of grinning Dick sitting in "The Bug" was taken. Few people probably remember this, but Dick even bought a race horse once, a quarter horse, and kept it in his back yard for a short time. He figured his horse was all set to kick ass at Vessel's quarter horse track at Los Alamitos. What a character. Dick had a terrific sense of humor and was an awesome story teller. He had all kinds of original little catch phrases like " OK Buckley" and his most famous one, "I'd rather have a sister that was a whore than a brother that did what ever the guy did that he was saying it to and trying to piss-off". I still use that one today.
There was a little Mexican kid about six yeas old that lived next door. Dick called him "Chompo" and would jive with him in Spanish, the kid loved it.

We spent many hours in his upper flat eating guacamole on toast from the big avocado tree in his back yard and hearing his tales about running cars at El Mirage, street racing and his days as a cook in the Merchant Marine during WW II and about Australia, he was a first class cook. He had a whole table full of trophies from running his machines at Harper and El Mirage dry lakes. When things got too loud his invalid mother who lived downstairs would rap on the ceiling with her cane.

Dick would let Bill and I take out the show car for the day as a reward for helping him work on it.

Stanley Betz is Dick's nephew. Bill and I spent the spring and summer of '53 with Stanley building his flathead V-8 60, 25 T, A Mod Roadster which we ran at Bonneville that year. Set a record @ 127+ mph

I moved away from SoCal to go to college in 1961, which was the last time I saw Dick. When I told him I was married and going to college he remarked, " Jon, you're not one of those college a--holes are You?" I told him I was going go to dental school. "Ah, that's OK then, being a doctor is alright", he approved. I really appreciated his approval, would have hated to have him consider me an A--hole.

I am sincerely proud to have been an acquaintance of Richard Kraft, he will be missed by all who had the fortune to have known him.


Dr. Jon R Wagner aka "Little Jon"
Pensacola, Florida

 

Catching up on the HAMB today and came across this thread...Although I knew it was coming, I still could not believe it.
It is not often that you get to converse with one of your heros. Dick was a great guy. Loved to hear his stories about growing up. More than just the cars, he loved to talk about the merchant marines, growing up on the orchard, hanging out with Jack McGrath and the Potvin Bros, etc...
In one of the last phone conversations we had, he called me a 'good friend'. I will always cherish that.
I also want to take this time to thank all of you who sent cards to Dick during his illness. I know that he GREATLY appreciated hearing from all of you. He was amazed that people who he did not even know would take the time to write him.

While the above picture of dick grinnin' is cool in so many ways, I stumbled across this one online sometime back and always felt it fit Dick better, muscles tight, wind in his hair, having a ball going as fast as possible...IMO the true definition of a hot rodder.
GOD BLESS YOU DICK KRAFT

 

Rip

 

As more of the older guys pass on, it becomes more important that we do all we can to preserve their history. We owe it to them to make sure they are not forgotten.

 

Very sad to hear, but glad he lead life to the fullest..........

RIP Dick

 

Hello to all Dick Kraft's friends, on behalf of my aunt Margarita Kraft I would like to thank you for all your condolences and loving words for Dick. She is greatly appreciative and knows that he would have loved all of your kind words and support. I will forward all emails and kind words to my aunt. If you would like to email her my email is: cynthia_medina84@yahoo.com. Thank you so much! She says, "Long live the bug"

 

speed. r.i.p.