The specialty-equipment industry lost two innovators this past week with the passing of safety pioneer Jim Deist and SoffSeal’s Gary Anderson, a founding member of the Automotive Restoration Marketplace Organization (ARMO). Deist was 80, Anderson 64.

JIM DEIST

Raised in Glendale, California, the son of a service station owner, Jim Deist was an innovator in racing safety equipment. He pioneered the use of parachutes to slow dragsters while working at Irving Air Chute, a Southern California manufacturer of military parachutes.

Deist’s supervisors laughed when he proposed the company make commercial chutes for the growing local drag racing scene, says Deist’s son-in-law Joe Hansen. But increased interest in his chutes among racers, and a chance meeting with Mickey Thompson, led Deist to forming his company Deist Safety in 1958.

Deist and Thompson would later find greater glory in the latter’s "Challenger" at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Deist soon started making safety belts, and in 1961 produced his first firesuit—a suit credited with helping driver Tommy Dryer survive a fiery wreck.

His chutes and their design evolution would become an industry standard, beginning with ribbon chutes, then ring slot, crossform and finally quadform chutes. Deist’s aviation background helped him design products used by the Air Force, NASA and the Los Angeles Police Department.

Deist was also instrumental in developing the “Meets SEMA Specs” program, which later spun off into the SFI safety standards now used by most major racing sanctioning bodies.

"He lived and died safety,” says Hansen. “He always had an idea of how he could do it better, and he was sharp as a tack.”

Deist’s work with Thompson was a key point in his career.“He and Mickey designed and built just about everything you could think of,” Hansen says. “He took a lot of technology, things that nobody even thought of, from an airplane to a car.”

Deist’s many honors include Most Valuable Man of the Year at Bonneville (1981); 200 MPH Club’s Man of the Year (1982); Dry Lakes Racing Hall of Fame (1995); and induction into the SEMA Hall of Fame (1984).

“Jim Deist left a legacy of innovation that continues to make racing safer today,” says SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting. “As a forefather of SEMA, he helped forge a strong association that supports the industry we all enjoy today. He was a great guy and a friend to so many, and we will miss him all the more for it.”

He is survived by wife Marian; son Don; daughter Darlene Hansen; four grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and other family Judy Deist and Joe Hansen. Details on funeral services are pending. A memorial tribute will be held at either the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Musuem in Pomona, California, or the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, according to Hansen.

GARY ANDERSON
    
For 29 years SoffSeal, Inc. has led the way in the automotive restoration rubber market and each of those years the company was led by its founder and President, Gary Anderson.  Unfortunately, on Saturday March 7, Gary lost his long battle with heart disease.

Anderson had been involved in the automotive hobby his entire life and was one of the founding members of ARMO, an active member of NSRA, NHRA, Goodguys, AACA and many trade organizations.  He was also an avid drag racing fan and participant; attending his first national drag racing event in 1960 at the NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis, an event he attended with his father.  Anderson’s love for speed continued his entire life, as owner of SoffSeal he helped catapult Rob Vandergriff and his 1957 Chevrolet Top Sportsman car to becoming one of the first Pro/Mod cars in existence.  The duo went on to set numerous national records and held the title as “Worlds Fastest 57 Chevy” for many years.  His dedication to the sport and promotion of Pro Modified cars is reflective in their popularity today.  His days on the track were some of his finest.
   
His business successes paralleled his on track successes.  SoffSeal’s constant “Attention to Detail” was more than a company slogan, it truly was how Gary lived his life.  His peers honored him in 1999 as the ARMO Person of the Year.  The national Race Against Drugs program has also honored him for his years of tireless dedication to the youth in the racing hobby.  There is no way to express the ways that Gary Anderson affected the automotive hobby, his contributions were far and wide and the number of lives he touched was vast. 

Services will be held this Friday (March 20) in Cincinnati.  Calling hours will be from 10-12 at the Dalbert, Woodruff, and Isenogle funeral home at 2880 Boudinot Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45238.  Gary will be laid to rest immediately following a service at the funeral home at the Arlington Memorial Gardens at 2145 Compton Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45231.

Gary Anderson is survived by his wife, Donna Lee, his daughter Rebecca, step-son Jeffrey (Jennifer) Hubert and  step-daughter Vanessa (Bret) Anderson,four grandchildren, one brother, alvin, plus many nieces and nephews. Gary will be also dearly missed by all his friends made through his many years in the automotive industry, drag racing and street rodding, and through his community work

In lieu of flowers the family has asked that if you desire, contributions can be made to the American Heart Association, or the Lifelink Department of the Tampa General Hospital in Gary’s name.

(Courtesy SEMA/SoffSeal, Inc.)