Tommy Ivo is considered one of the most innovative and pioneering racers of the early years of the NHRA. Born April 18, 1936 in Denver Colorado, Ivo’s mother had him tap dancing about the same time he started walking and acting in talent shows soon after. Like many people back then with physical and medical ailments affected by cold and damp climates, his mother moved them out west to lessen the pain of her severe arthritis.

They moved to Burbank, California where he kept performing all over Los Angeles. Before he turned 9 years old, Tommy’s experience and acting talents landed him a credited role in a Hollywood movie called Earl Carrol’s Vanities.

He went on to appear in dozens of movies and TV shows before 1952, when a friend took Tommy out to the drag racing scene in nearby Santa Ana. Tommy was hooked and hooked big.

The next trip to the races Tommy was racing his ’52 Buick he bought brand new just a few short months before and was already modified and fast. From that day on he juggled acting with his need for speed.

His acting career spanned for 19 years and included hundreds of acting roles in movies and on television, which is how he got the nickname “TV” Tommy Ivo out on the track. His drag racing career lasted even longer with 30 years in 12 different classes with 36 different race cars.

In racing, he’s best known as being the “Master Showman.” With his background in Hollywood, Tommy Ivo was his own promotions department. Everything he did (still does) was a performance or a way to get attention and have fun.

He got plenty of attention when his beautiful and fast Buick powered roadster graced the pages of many different hot rod publications and won him more than 50 trophies from numerous drag strips.

It wasn’t long before he built his first Buick Nailhead powered dragster with one engine. He wanted more, so he built a dragster with two fuel injected Buick Nailheads and took it on the road for his first nationwide tour in 1960 with his crew man Don Prudhomme (before he was “The Snake”).

Tommy was always trying to figure out what to do bigger and better the next year. In 1961 Tommy had built the mother of all dragsters, an AWD dragster powered by four fuel injected Buick Nailhead engines! It was aptly dubbed, Showboat.

Two engines powering the front wheels and the other two driving the rear wheels and it was a sight to see. It would burn all four tires down the quarter mile and turned an unprecedented 170 mph in 9.14 seconds. Tommy’s new machine went on a nationwide tour with pal and crew chief Don Prudhomme at the helm due to the TV studio telling Tommy they’d can him if they caught him racing.

Tommy's four-engined dragster was famous and dubbed "Showboat."

Subsequently, after that season, Showboat was sold to a previous pit crew member who installed a station wagon-looking customized body. Years later it got TV Tommy Ivo’s name back on the car and was campaigned for exhibition for many years.

After the show got canceled in 1962, Tommy was back in the driver’s seat. Meanwhile, NHRA lifted a ban on Nitro Methane so Tommy built a Top Fuel dragster powered by a blown and injected HEMI! Hot Rod Magazine nicknamed the car “Barnstormer.”

It was a very successful car and recorded the first 7-second run at San Gabriel in October, 1962. Tommy and the Barnstormer even campaigned in England in 1964.

Tommy being the Master Showman, his tow rigs were legendary too. He said that he got tired of opening the trailer doors to show off his dragsters so he custom-built all his trailers after 1965 with glass sides so everyone could see his beautiful race cars.

Always thinking of how to outdo himself, Tommy even started racing Top Fuel funny cars and even jet cars up until 1982 when he broke his back and decided to hang up his racing helmet.

You can read all about Tommy’s life and a see huge pictorial history of his drag racing career in the book titled, “TV Tommy Ivo – Drag Racing’s Master Showman.”