Chester “Chet†Herbert, a member of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame who helped develop an exhaust header that blew smoke away from a dragster’s rear tires to improve traction, died Thursday. He was 81.
Herbert died of pneumonia at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, according to Sara Fensterer, a spokeswoman for Herbert’s son, Doug, who followed his father into professional drag racing. The elder Herbert lived in nearby Villa Park.
Herbert was stricken with polio at age 20 and lived the rest of his life in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the chest down.
“My grandmother told me he was so wild about racing, that if he didn’t have polio to slow him down, he probably would have died,†Doug Herbert said in a statement. “When my dad was 12, my grandma bought him a trumpet and hoped he’d learn to play. But he traded the trumpet for a Cushman motorscooter and it was life in the fast lane ever since.â€
Lying in a hospital iron-lung for six months in 1948, Herbert developed ideas for manufacturing racing parts in his head…Â Details