16 year-old Harmon Dragon drove a ’41 Buick coupe to victory in the first feature race he ran. He later ran a ’37 Chevy “Sportsman” car with a 283, competing against the touring modifieds with their 327 CI engines. At Catamount Stadium, Beaver became the first sportsman driver to win a race against the more powerful modifieds, beating legends like Pete Hamilton, Jerry Cook, Bugs Stevens, and the late NEAR Hall of Fame member, Don MacTavish.
Dragon moved from the coupes to the Thunder Road “Flying Tigers”, where he won the 1966 Vermont Flying Tiger Championship. Moving on to late models, he competed regularly in the NASCAR North Stroh’s Tour and American Canadian Tour, notching over 50 feature wins. He finished out his career in the NASCAR Busch North Series. Dragon is a recipient of both the Burlington Free Press Most Popular Modified Sportsman Driver and the Don MacTavish Award. He took down 9 feature wins on the Busch North Series in 1979, on his way to winning the championship in both ’79 and ’80.
Beaver has competed numerous times in Grand National races. In 1974, Bob and Dick Bahre hired him to drive their Chrysler hemi powered car at Daytona. On the plane ride down, Beaver partook of “three or four beers”. Arriving at Daytona, he showed up for a physical by the track doctor, to be told his blood pressure was too high. Upon learning about the drinks on the plane, the doctor’s advice was, “Take this medicine, go back to the hotel, and don’t drink any more beer.” The following day, Beaver passed his physical with flying colors, took a 40th place provisional starting spot, and notched a solid top 20 finish on the high banks of Daytona. He drove the same car for the Bahre’s twice at Charlotte, where he also competed in a ride set up for him by Humpy Wheeler.
From the ¼ mile tracks like Thunder Road to the 2½ mile Daytona superspeedway, Beaver Dragon has had an impressive career.
Today, we welcome him into the NEAR Hall of Fame. |
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Beaver Dragon accepts induction from Racing Promoter Tom Curley.
Howie Hodge Photo
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