Raymond’s father Eugene was an outspoken member of the Civil Rights movement and is said to have been a ‘noted and respected member of the white community against racial inequality.’ The author of several essays and an outspoken supporter of the Freedom Riders who assembled in Washington DC amid the Boynton v. Virginia trial in 1960, Eugene pronounced a candid disapproval of the state and federal government. In 1963, Eugene refused to acknowledge his tax obligations and became a minimalist, selling his car citing his refusal to adhere to state and federal-promoted dependence on man-made infrastructure.
Despite Eugene’s strong will,
Meanwhile Raymond’s father, now out of the penitentiary, succumbed to elongated periods of depression and eventually alcoholism. Without a car, Eugene rode his lawn mower back and forth between his Jackson Mississippi apartment and the bar. In 1974, a particularly inebriated Eugene DeLaughter crashed his lawn mower into a sign promoting the Coast Coliseum Crawfish Festival and received a sentence of eighteen months in prison. Upon his parole, the 61-year old Eugene was to enter the custody of minimum-security retirement complex, The Jackson Twilight Years Corrections Home.
Guilt-ridden over his father’s fate, Raymond vowed to dedicate himself to Eugene’s happiness while in custody. With the permission of the staff warden, Raymond sought to organize a national Geriatric Olympiad for Aging Convicts (The GOAC), a competition which would keep his father occupied. To date, Raymond had secured patents on several inventions of minimal consumer impact (the most successful was a hat with a fan on the bill, used by soup-eaters while consuming particularly hot soup) but he worked fastidiously in engineering equipment for the Geriatic Olympiad’s main event: The Wheelchair Joust. By 1980, his wheelchair/jousting lance combination was complete and he had commitments from Geriatric Correctional Facilities from 47 states to participate in the games. The competition was set to take place in June of 1981 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
It didn’t take long for disaster to strike. Amid the marketing campaign, Raymond’s games immediately came under fire from the American Geriatrics Society following this sign promoting the Geriatric Wheelchair Jousting event:

Issues were further complicated when one of the female Rascal-Luge participants was found in violation of the stipulation that ‘all female participants MUST be menopausal’ after she was impregnated by an event-judge from Arizona. The youthful 58 year-old was immediately suspended but the poor publicity continued when Raymond’s own father Eugene suffered a stroke while vying for the Bronze medal in checkers. The games were officially cancelled upon Eugene DeLaughter’s death on June 19, 1981, just five days into the planned two-week long event.
With his wheelchair-lance left in the dust of the shambles of the failed games, Raymond retired to his foster famil
Dejected but not defeated, DeLaughter then sought support from local investors to fund his project and found a buyer in Australian professional golfer Greg Norman. ‘The Shark,’ as Norman was called, loaned DeLaughter $275,000 to complete the project, which occurred triumphantly in 1989. Together, DeLaughter and Norman strategized the best venue to unveil the robot-dinosaur and Norman volunteered to promote the behemoth at an upcoming tour event which was guaranteed to draw a large captive audience. Ultimately, they chose the most prestigious golf tournament in the world, The Masters Tournament to bestow Robosaurus to the viewing public. The robotic reptile's premier showcase was scheduled to coincide with the tournament's end, during the trophy ceremony.
Again disaster struck. With Robosaurus waiting patiently in the parking lot
Predictably, DeLaughter and Norman immediately had a falling out and the star-crossed relationship came to an end with Robosaurus being put up for sale. On February 12, 1990, the official auction date was set with the tagline ‘How much is that Robosaurus in the window?’ and was sold to Monster Robots Inc. The fire-breathing car-snacking fiend is now featured at Monster Truck Rallies and Motocross events nationwide and is a particular favorite of children.
Currently, Raymond DeLaughter lives in Arkansas and is an avid Republican. He and Greg Norman have since reconciled to launch a vintage wine series.