Great Lakes Dragaway owner set track up to thrive after his death

Randy Henning was a kid living on the northwest side of Milwaukee when he met Don Garlits.

Garlits was still relatively young too but on his way to becoming the godfather of drag racing.

“He blew a tire on his trailer, and my dad helped him fix his tire because it was right down the street from his house,” the older of Henning's two sons, Roy, said, recalling a story he’d heard and shared many times.

That chance meeting sparked an interest in a sport that would become a passion, first as a competitor and then as a track owner who would bring Garlits back to Great Lakes Dragaway for match races and promotional appearances for decades to come.

“He had Don sign this picture of him or something,” Roy Henning said. “And then over the next 60 years, he had Don sign it again, like every 10, 15 years when he would see him. So I think he got like six signatures from Don over the span of 60 years of being a little kid to being the owner of the racetrack that Don was racing at.”

Randy Henning died in January at age 77 at his home in the Town of Paris.

A celebration of life is scheduled from 2-6 p.m. Feb. 14 at the fabled racetrack in Union Grove. Great Lakes was near and dear to his heart for more than 60 years, and among his final accomplishments was ensuring it would be in good hands for the future.

“When he was younger, he started racing cars actually down at Great Lakes Dragaway in 1964,” Roy Henning said. “That was when he was 16. Now, who knows if he snuck down there before that and told my grandparents that he was just heading out with friends.”

Henning, a graduate of UW-Milwaukee and a longtime east sider, went from delivering fish for Smith Bros. to building an import car parts  business that reached enthusiasts around the country and serviced cars at four Milwaukee locations, Roy Henning said.

Although MoFoCo lost ground to the proliferation of chain stores in the 1980s it continues as a performance custom shop specializing in air-cooled Volkswagen engines at its longtime location on North Lydell Avenue.

Success in that business helped Henning further pursue racing and led to him owning Great Lakes with a series of partners, purchasing it in 1994 from legendary promoter “Broadway Bob” Metzler. Opened in 1955, Great Lakes has become the longest continuously operating drag strip in the country.

Henning was the consummate hands-on owner/operator, said his widow, Claire, who worked alongside him.

He spent 16 hours a day and worked seven days a week in season and offseasons were spent planning for the following year and hosting smaller events on the grounds.

“He's done every job here,” Claire Henning said. “He’s been the starter. He's picked up garbage. He's scrubbed toilets, and he's worked the gates, letting people in, so ... he understood every aspect of the job.”

Henning even became an EMT so he could further understand safety issues and assist. The facility was a true labor of love.

“He put everything back into the track to make it and keep it the best that it could be,” Claire Henning said. “He mentored students. He always got involved with the high school kids where they'd have shop programs or whatnot and always gave them a deal getting in so that they could come and see how to do things the right and the safe way rather than riding out on the street.”

As Henning grew older, one of his biggest goals in life was to ensure the track would survive and be in a position to thrive after he was gone, Claire and Roy Henning both said.

Before Henning died, he laid groundwork for a sale that may be complete before his memorial service. The buyer, who has been a racer, has not yet been publicly identified, pending closing of the deal.

“The buyer, Randy was very pleased with him,” Claire said. “Several different times they got together and talked for an hour to three hours each time. And he is committed.

“He has pretty much the same vision for the track as Randy did.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Owner Henning set Great Lakes Dragaway up to thrive after his death