Harry Haig, Drag-And-Drive Personality, Passes After Car Accident In Australia
On August 24, 2024, a single-vehicle crash in Mooroopna North, Victoria, Australia claimed the lives of drive-and-drag personalities Harry Haig and his friend Andrew Baumgartner, while a third passenger in the car, AJ John, was airlifted to the hospital.
Harry is best known for his exploits on Hot Rod Magazine’s Drag Week: he and his crew dragged a 1969 Chevelle SS 396 from where it had been resting in peace for about twenty years and had pushed the nearly dead Chevy into the 14-second range with heroic doses of nitrous. They then proceeded to turn the car into a legitimate eight-second racer over the next year, with chassis modifications, the proper engine, and two turbochargers standing proudly above the hood line, in the breeze. That was no tough feat for a man who had plenty of experience in the rev-head scene of Australia, where he was famous for winning Street Machine’s Drag Challenge (an analogue of Drag Week), as well as winning awards for “power skids” (burnouts for distance) and for being one of the founders of the Hardass 1000, a combination of a drag-n-drive event, pub crawl, and vacation.
Ask anyone who ever met him, and they would tell you the same thing: that was just the way he was. Harry was the guy who would spend the night after the races partying like there was no tomorrow, would fall asleep at the track, and would be up the next morning ready to go like there was nothing wrong. He was the personality wherever he went. He was the energy, the drive, the secret ingredient you didn’t know you were missing from your adventure until you discovered it. He wasn’t just pure id, however. Harry was a successful businessman, a successful racer, and was known to be a master of managing chaos…even if he brought half of it with him wherever he went.
You can remember a person’s name or face easily enough. In our world, sometimes it’s the car better remembered. But to focus not on their achievements, but instead their spirit, their energy, and their unrelenting drive to enjoy every minute of life with whoever happened to be around…that’s rare. And that’s exactly what Harry Haig will be remembered for: The mohawk. The antics. The humor. The car full of friends out roaming the roads, looking for a race, a party, and a cold one with friends. As many who knew him agree, that’s what they will miss about him the most.
Thanks to Jacob Davis for providing the photos.
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