You struck a nerve!
I drag raced ( door slammer, FED) for a lot of years. The car was a '48 Olds. I ended up getting invited to a lot of exhibition/nostalgia type races. It wasn't uncommon to bump in to Don Garlits there.
The last time I saw Don Garlits was in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 2009 at a nostalgic racing event. It was a big annual deal and a swap meet type thing would spring up in the pits. It's was a place to bring out your most rare/obscure parts to sell because the folks who would appreciate it would be at that place.
There was a fella there selling some really rare old Roots style blower. I wasn't familiar with it and don't remember any details, but it was like a magnet- there was a constant crowd around that thing. I remember checking it out and it was pristine. It'd never seen fuel or a wrench in it's life. He was asking $5,000-6,000 for it, I don't remember exactly.
Well, that little piece of drag racing history caught Don's eye, but he wasn't willing to pay for it. I was there when Don was giving the owner the flowing speech of how this was such a great piece and how it really needs to preserve for future generations to enjoy, etc etc.....so donate it to my museum.
The guy wasn't willing to donate it. On e Don realized he wasn't going to get it for free he started murmurs that it was a fake and ( from my perspective) targeted prospective buyers in order to scare them off. Don really wanted that blower, and he really wasn't going to pay a dime for it. It was so bad and so obvious that people started openly mocking Don right on the spot.
It was truly one of those, "Never meet your heroes" situations. Long story short, Mr Garlits and his museum can pound sand.