Rich Guasco
March 11, 1937-April 14, 2025
Pleasanton, California
Hall of Fame Drag racer Rich Guasco of Pleasanton, California passed away peacefully with his family by his side Monday April 14th. He was 88. Few racers brought more national attention to Northern California than Guasco.
In a rodding and racing career that spanned seven decades, Guasco found his passion for fast cars as a post war teenager growing up in the family salvage yard in Tri-Valley region of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Hot rods, roadsters in particular, were Guasco’s passion. He built two iconic versions - a purple 1929 Ford that won the coveted Americas Most Beautiful Roadster award in 1961. Ironically, Guasco wasn’t able to attend the event as he was serving in the armed forces in Germany at the time.
What followed the trophy show car was a more popular roadster. Both powerful and fast, Guasco’s Pure Hell 1932 Austin bantam “altered” literally altered the course of the drag strip as one never really knew which direction it would go once the throttle was mashed and the clutch fully engaged down track. Despite being unruly, it won or set performance records at nearly every race in which it was entered..
With a supercharged V8 engine pumping out incalculable horsepower, Pure Hell roared down drag strips and took fans breath away. Driver Dale Emery thrilled race fans with impromptu wheelies, tire smoke and 200mph top speeds . One afternoon at Fremont Raceway, it went upside down into an irrigation ditch. Rebuilt in just two weeks, it set a class record later that spring in Los Angeles.
After the bantam was retired following a crash during transport, Guasco switched gears. His purple Dodge Demon funny car was a popular entry on the national event trail and won the Funny Car Championship at the 1973 NHRA Springnationals in Columbus, Ohio.
In the late 1970s, Guasco transitioned into a mechanic role for some of drag racing top professional teams. He joined his former driver Dale Emery on Raymond Beadle’s Blue Max Funny Car before joining Dan Pastorini’s Coors Light Top Fuel dragster all while raising his children Gina, Rusty and Jill with his late wife Dody.
In the 1990s Guasco sold the salvage yard property, pulled Pure Hell out of storage and had original builder Pete Ogden update the car’s safety features to run it on the nostalgia drags circuit. With Larry Huff driving, the car displayed its famed ill-handling characteristics.
Rich parked the original car and had longtime ally Dave Uyehara build a modern version which enjoyed tremendous success, even winning the top fuel class at regional races.
Just like the 60s and 70s, Guasco barnstormed the entire country with the new Pure Hell. With Brian Hope at the wheel the car achieved its best performances eventually running as quick as 5.92 seconds on the quarter mile with a blistering speed of 244.7 miles per hour.
When Rich and his daughter Jill weren’t racing, he was driving his hot rods going as far as New York from his Pleasanton, California home.
Despite aging and dealing with numerous health issues, some of which stemmed from a brutal 1964 racing accident, Guasco found strength in keeping Pure Hell’s legacy alive running the car at select events during the racing season.
Guasco fell ill earlier this year. Throughout his final days, he fought hard just like he raced. In fact, for the last decade of his life, he had lost all feeling in his feet but soldiered on undeterred. He was the toughest man many had ever known. Not only did he never complain or let his failing body hold him back, he was extremely gracious to his caregivers, and thousands of fans.
On his death bed, and to the surprise of no one, the television was tuned to NHRA drag racing. While he was internationally known for racing, his love for family and his willingness to share his passion for fast cars brought the hot rodding community together for a lifetime.
In a testament to his legacy Guasco is enshrined in Don Garlits’ International Drag Racing Hall of Fame as well as the Grand National Roadster show Hall of Fame. He was honored as Grand Marshal for dozens of historic races and other events including the California Hot Rod Reunion. It was one Hell of a run.
Rich Guasco is survived by his daughters Gina and Jill and their spouses Jeff and Phil, his son Rusty, grandchildren Dante, Grace, Hannah, Will and long time girlfriend Annie Taylor.
A public celebration of his life will be announced as soon as details become available.
