08/20/2022
From David Freiberger
The worst. Pat Ganahl died today in an incident of unknown cause at Riverdale Raceway in his Ike Iacono dragster that he restored years ago. With Pat went an irreplaceable mind loaded with facts and contacts from the history of rods and customs. In the magazine world, Pat was on the first staff of Street Rodder and became the editor, he worked for Sunset mag, then was hired onto Hot Rod where he eventually became the editor with the second-shortest tenure, and he later revived Rod & Custom magazine before leading Rodders Journal. He wrote many books and freelance stories about our hobby, and he maintained a huge inventory of vintage photos. Pat can be credited with popularizing the nostalgia drag racing movement in the ‘80s. He was the first person I knew personally who painted his own cars—well. He restored the dragster and built a number of VWs, fat Chevys, drag cars, and hot rods including the Nitti-inspired roadster in the first pic. He drove the yellow F1 everywhere. As far as I last knew, he only drove old cars. He inspired me before I ever knew him, but now I have more Ganahl publishing stories than will fit in this space. Here’s the one that most affected my life. In 1991 I had a job interview with Jeff Smith and Pat Ganahl simultaneously, Jeff for Hot Rod and Pat for Rod & Custom. Pat later said that he told Jeff, “if you don’t hire him, I will.” Jeff did, and hence my whole career. Ganahl mentored me along the way and enjoyed causing me just a bit of trouble. I’m one of many 100s of thousands of people who gathered knowledge, entertainment, and inspiration from Pat Ganahl. Godspeed, and much sadness for his wife Anna and son Bill.
