"Big John" Rafteseth RIP

1547 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by mikekend, Aug 25, 2020

sstripes96

Discussion Starter · Aug 5, 2020

Many of you here on the forums know “Big John” Rafteseth. He was one of the original members of the Southeast Impala Lovers (SEIL) which later morphed into GASSIT. John was the original Big Dog. If you’ve ever been to a Southern Super Heavy Shootout you would have seen John pull the front tires launching his flamed Impala to a sub 10 second run.

I’m sorry to say that Big John has passed away. He was living in Louisiana with his wife and suffered a heart attack sometime in early July. I’m told that he never recovered from the heart attack.

His wife, Mary, has reached out to Bill Brady in an effort to try and sell Johns Impala. Bill, who owns Bill Brady Racing Engines, has known John since 1996 and built the engines that powered Johns wicked fast Impala.

Bill has offered to be the point of contact in an attempt to help find a buyer for Johns Impala. He can be reached at 770-339-3944 and his website is www.bradysenginemachineservice.com. Bill knows more about Johns Impala than anyone else.

I will also keep an eye on the forums to help anyway I can.

Rest in Peace Big John.

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mikekend

· #7 · Aug 25, 2020

Wow! So sad to hear... Condolences to his wife & family.
I met John at the first Impalapalooza in Bowling Green KY. back in 1997! We were parked next to each other
at the track at Beech Bend Raceway for the car show portion of the event. I thought I had done some pretty wild (at the time) mods to my car (`95 DCM) with the cowl induction hood, chromed stock wheels,
SLP headers & Callaway cat back, etc... THEN, I went to check out John`s car & he had already bored & stroked his LT1 to 409 c.i. and a ton of other mods that I couldn`t believe! And his car was barely a year old!
Over the years we met up at the annual Impala gatherings in various places (Michigan, St Louis, Pocono, etc.) and each time his car would be bigger & badder than the last! He was always chasing the dream to be
the fastest & quickest. He was in my book! RIP, John.

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