Fort Oglethorpe native Donnie Holbrook is known to many in the world of drag racing. Formalizing his many accomplishments and contributions, he recently was inducted into the National Hot Rod Association Hall of Fame.
Over his 31-year career, Holbrook won two world championships, set four world records and started a business still used today by top dragsters around the world, Holbrook Performance Parts.
In January, Holbrook posthumously received the Don Garlits Pioneer Award, which recognizes the best of the best in drag racing. A private pilot for 20 years, he died in an airplane crash in 2012.
Holbrook started his racing career in 1980, racing his blue 1972 Plymouth Cuda from red light to red light on Lee Highway in East Brainerd. When his father told him to take it to the Brainerd Optimist Dragstrip – a safer place for a teenager to race cars – he realized he just couldn’t go fast enough.
“Donnie said, ‘Every pass, I want to be faster,'” his younger brother, Steve Holbrook said. “He was always about the next pass.”