From a modest initial goal of simply wanting to do well enough to see his name printed in National Dragster, Port Arthur’s Coleman Roddy blazed a path of driving glory that twice took him to the pinnacle of the National Hot Rod Association’s drag racing scene. Instead of merely being mentioned in National Dragster, Roddy wound up featured on its cover for winning back-to-back NHRA Winston Competition Eliminator titles in 1983 and 1984 — something no other driver has accomplished before or since.

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Roddy might have set the bar even higher, but he retired after the 1984 championship to devote more time to the Port Arthur and Nederland used car dealerships — R&R Auto — which he operated with his father. Roddy’s meteoric rise onto the national racing scene began in the late 1970s behind the wheel of a 1968 Camaro. His first significant win came in 1976, when he captured Modified honors at the Division 4 Winston Series race at State Capitol Dragway in Baton Rouge.

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The escalation to the big time came five years later when the NHRA eliminated the Modified Eliminator class, leading him to switch to a 1965 Corvette gasser and move into the Competition Eliminator category. There would be another car change after the 1983 title — this time to a 1984 Pontiac Firebird — but nothing slowed Coleman Roddy’s pursuit of greatness. In addition to his NHRA Winston Competition Eliminator titles in 1983 and 1984, his three-year stretch of domination included twice winning the Winternationals, being named Sportsman Racer of the Year, and earning the Quaker State Sportsman Cup.