Tom “T.C.” Lemons, Top Fuel legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits’ most celebrated crewmember, was found dead Jan. 11 at his home on the grounds of Garlits’ Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Fla. He was 74.

Lemons was instrumental in perfecting Garlits' Swamp Rat 14, the rear-engine dragster that revolutionized the sport in 1971. He was involved in the construction of 19 Swamp Rats and restored many of the race cars in the museum. It has been said that Lemons had as much talent outside the car as Garlits had in it.

Tom “T.C.” Lemons, Top Fuel legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits’ most celebrated crewmember, was found dead Jan. 11 at his home on the grounds of Garlits’ Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Fla. He was 74.

Lemons was instrumental in perfecting Garlits' Swamp Rat 14, the rear-engine dragster that revolutionized the sport in 1971. He was involved in the construction of 19 Swamp Rats and restored many of the race cars in the museum. It has been said that Lemons had as much talent outside the car as Garlits had in it.

“I was closer to Tom than I was to my brother,” said Garlits, who discovered Lemons’ body. Lemons had lived on the museum grounds for the past five years as he battled cancer and then heart problems brought on by the chemotherapy, according to Garlits.

“I really enjoyed having him here because we’d go to town and talk about old times on the ride,” Garlits said. “It was just so enjoyable. He was always ready to go at the drop of a hat.

“We were peas right out of the same pod. We were both just a little right of Attila the Hun. We were so in tune about everything. There was hardly anything that he believed in that I also didn’t believe in. It was an unbelievable thing. He was never afraid to tell me what he thought. A lot of my crew guys were intimidated by me and were afraid tell me what they thought. T.C. wasn’t afraid to tell me, ‘Old Man, we need to put some clutch in this thing.’ "

Lemons went to his first drag race in Tulsa, Okla., in 1954 and raced his own Chrysler-powered ’32 Ford at the 1957 NHRA Nationals in Oklahoma City. He raced with the best in the 1960s, including Southwest terrors Bob Creitz, Jimmy Nix, and Bennie Osborn. In 1968, he and Connie Swingle went to Tampa, Fla., with the intention of helping Garlits build cars and trade labor for a chassis. Except for brief periods, they never went home to Oklahoma, and both became lifelong friends of Garlits. Swingle died in 2007.