DECATUR - There were "Big Daddy" Don Garlits cups, T-shirts, model drag race cars, posters and other memorabilia from his racing days.

But it was the opportunity to hear Garlits reminisce about his racing days and talking shop that those who stopped by his tent at the Decatur Celebration will treasure most.

"He is such a legend, and it's awesome that he is in town," said fan Jeremy Gasow, 23, of Mount Zion.

The 76-year-old legend set the mark for drag racing back in the 1950s and 1960s and enjoyed a career that included 17 world championship titles.

His last race was in September 2003.

"I was at the U.S Nationals in Indianapolis and drove 310 mph in 4.7 seconds," Garlits said.

After retiring, he became a television commentator for ESPN and several network affiliate television stations in Nashville, Tenn.

He said he stopped traveling as much because of his wife's bout with Parkinson's disease.

Under the race car cap that he wore, his eyes widened as he got excited talking about his start in drag racing.

"After high school, I used to wear a nice white shirt and worked in accounting for Mass Brothers Department Store in Tampa, Fla., making $39 a week. Now that was enough to get married on back then," he said, "but my stepfather told me, 'Don, a good job and pay isn't important. It's doing something you love.' "

Garlits quit his job and started working in a body shop learning the skills of sanding and spot-painting cars.

At the same time, he still was drag racing for fun against friends at old government airports in Florida that were abandoned after World War II.

In 1955, Garlits decided to enter a regional championship drag racing event in Florida and won. That gave him the incentive to continue racing, he said.

Garlits' legendary journey to becoming the father of drag racing came after he won his first national title at the American Hot Rod Association's event in Great Bend, Kan., in 1958.

But it was in Cordova in 1957 that Garlits gained his racing fame after being paired against the country's champion from California.

"That first round, I outraced him. Beat him in the second round. And then I had engine trouble in that third round and lost," Garlits said. "But the rest is history, and I've never looked back."

Steve Jackson came to the Celebration on Saturday with an album of photos he had taken of Garlits racing in Assumption in 1979.

"I have followed his career. I even wrote about him in school and how he was my hero," Jackson said.

Dwayne Mathews had his hat signed by Garlits.

"He is one of the best. And I have a lot of memories of Big Daddy racing."

So how did he get the name Big Daddy?

"It was in 1962, and I went to the race in Indianapolis. I was 30 years old at the time, and all the guys were much younger. I had my two daughters, who were toddlers, with me. They started teasing me and saying there is daddy with his girls and can't run a gas dragster," Garlits said.

"Well, I ended up setting the world record at 180.36 (mph) at the U.S. Nationals race in Indy that year. The announcer came on the speaker and said, 'Don Garlits just set a new world record, and I guess we'll have to start calling him Big Daddy.' That hit every newspaper and wire service."

Sheila Smith can be reached at sheilas@herald-review.com or 421-7963.