The name John Lingenfelter has become a legend in the world of performance engineering. The ambitions and aspirations of many engineers and enthusiasts, the world over, were represented almost casually in his daily life and actions. For over 30 years, Lingenfelter has been synonymous with world-class performance, taking great cars and trucks and reinventing them with legendary precision.
John Lingenfelter won 13 NHRA national event titles - 9 in Comp, 3 in Super Stock, and 1 in Pro Stock Truck.
John’s racing career spanned more than four decades where John raced everything from Super Stock and Comp door cars to Econo dragsters, Pro Stock Trucks & Sport Compact. John was the first Comp driver to break the six-second quarter-mile barrier.
In 1997 John Lingenfelter returned to NHRA drag racing, competing in exhibition races in NHRA's fledgling Pro Stock Truck class. He finished second in the Pro Stock Truck point’s standings in 1998, which was the first official year of competition for the new class. John’s Pro Stock Truck was powered by a normally aspirated Chevrolet V8 that was capable of 7.617 @ 175.91 MPH in the quarter mile.
In 2002, John took on a new challenge: sport compact racing. He fielded a GM ECOTEC four-cylinder-powered GMC Sonoma and later a Chevy Cavalier in the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series. In his first year racing in this series he won one national event and had two runner-up finishes. The Cavalier was powered by a turbo charged Ecotec 2.2 L 4-cylinder engine that was capable of quarter mile speeds in excess of 187 MPH.
At the October 2002 Mazda NHRA Sport Compact World Finals in Pomona, California during the semifinals, John lost control of his Cavalier and crashed into the concrete retaining wall. John sustained serious injuries in the accident and passed away as a result of complications from subsequent surgeries on December 25, 2003 at age 58.
It's hard to believe that it has been 5 years already. Not a day goes by without sharing great memories of John. He was an incredible leader, and a great friend to many. We miss you John!!!
John was a great guy. I had the pleasure of meeting him several times at his shop.
I remember sitting back in the shop one day when his brother called him from Carlisle. He was telling John what some of the guys were asking for their LPE cars. He was happy they could still get top dollar years after he had worked on them.
Here he is working on my Z06 about a month before the tragic accident.
John has alway been flat out the nicest professional racer I have ever met, or will probably ever meet.
I met John at the Indy US Nationals, I think it was around '92. He was running an inline 6 dragster. I forget the exact class, but remember it was a pretty unique engine for the class.
My friend and I were walking past John's pit area on one of the race days. My friend knows someone who was also a friend of John, so he was looking around to see if his buddy might be hanging out in John's pit. Then John pops out of the trailer and says hello. My buddy asked if his friend happened to be around. John said - no not today, he might come tomorrow -- you guys want something to eat.
Holy smokes, we were just friends of a friend and he's offering us lunch. We tried to politely decline, but he said - eat up, we've got tons of food here. So we had lunch and shot the bull with John, how cool was that. As we are leaving John pops in his trailer and brings out two Lingenfelter T-shirts and gives them to us.
I couldn't tell you anything else that happened at the US Nationals that year, but I'll never forget meeting John.
The name John Lingenfelter has become a legend in the world of performance engineering. The ambitions and aspirations of many engineers and enthusiasts, the world over, were represented almost casually in his daily life and actions. For over 30 years, Lingenfelter has been synonymous with world-class performance, taking great cars and trucks and reinventing them with legendary precision.
John Lingenfelter won 13 NHRA national event titles - 9 in Comp, 3 in Super Stock, and 1 in Pro Stock Truck.
John’s racing career spanned more than four decades where John raced everything from Super Stock and Comp door cars to Econo dragsters, Pro Stock Trucks & Sport Compact. John was the first Comp driver to break the six-second quarter-mile barrier.
In 1997 John Lingenfelter returned to NHRA drag racing, competing in exhibition races in NHRA's fledgling Pro Stock Truck class. He finished second in the Pro Stock Truck point’s standings in 1998, which was the first official year of competition for the new class. John’s Pro Stock Truck was powered by a normally aspirated Chevrolet V8 that was capable of 7.617 @ 175.91 MPH in the quarter mile.
In 2002, John took on a new challenge: sport compact racing. He fielded a GM ECOTEC four-cylinder-powered GMC Sonoma and later a Chevy Cavalier in the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series. In his first year racing in this series he won one national event and had two runner-up finishes. The Cavalier was powered by a turbo charged Ecotec 2.2 L 4-cylinder engine that was capable of quarter mile speeds in excess of 187 MPH.
At the October 2002 Mazda NHRA Sport Compact World Finals in Pomona, California during the semifinals, John lost control of his Cavalier and crashed into the concrete retaining wall. John sustained serious injuries in the accident and passed away as a result of complications from subsequent surgeries on December 25, 2003 at age 58.
It's hard to believe that it has been 5 years already. Not a day goes by without sharing great memories of John. He was an incredible leader, and a great friend to many. We miss you John!!!
I am an artist, send me an image of his most favortite car. Hopefully I can come up with something good.
Also some of his pics.
Email me at: csltransportation@hotmail.com
I drove across the country to get to the ZR-1 gathering in Bowling green and the highlight of the trip was listening to John speak at the drag racing event....he will be greatly missed....rest in Peace Big John,,,,a true innovator, a pioneer and a Legend !!!
Location: ...Southampton, PA I love you & miss you Linda
Kevin
I can not believe it has been 5 years. John WAS an amazing person in this industry and am sure a wonderful man outside of the performance vehicle industry.
He will never be forgotten by oh so many people.
Rest in Peace, John.
<== There are so many people John is now with to help him smile and I'm sure he's also bringing smiles to them..
I didn't know he died as a result of a wreck, for some reason I thought he had died of a heart attack. Always wanted to meet him in person.
I had heard the same thing. Maybe the heart failure was during one of the subsequent surgeries. In any case, he was a great Engineer and died pursuing his passion.
I watched John race from the late 60's. I remember that green C3 Super Stocker he races in the early 70's. He would bring that car to one of Kil Kar dragway Super Stock meets and take home the money. May he rest in peace.
There will never be another man like him he loved the sport and the cars that made it. I still remember his taking off his coat and jumping up on the Dyno in Bloomington to help Doug Rippe get the last bit of power from a car that neither one of them even knew the owner but wanted to help him out, I don't think the owner of that car will ever forget it, but for John that was just the way he was, a real "giver "RIP" Big guy.
Corvette Store
In loving memory of John Lingenfelter
Hope to send my Z06 to the Lingenfelters some day
