Thanks, all. A day filled with exquisite highs and excruciating lows. As you probably have heard by now, Top Fuel, Top Alcohol, and chassis building veteran John Shoemaker lost his life in a top end crash this morning. Without prejudging the outcome of the autopsy, it appears that John became incapacitated somehow during the run because none of the 'stopping' controls were attempted at all -- that includes chutes, brakes, or fuel shutoff. The car did what you'd expect a 250 mph missile to do when it hits the end of a controlled space. Suffice to say that losing John put a damper on the racers at the event. To my knowledge, the crowd was not informed of John's passing, although it was reported that he had been airlifted to the hospital. The news will be available soon enough. Indeed, I had emails on my Blackberry from the mailing lists before dusk. (And I just saw it as the lead in promo for the local ABC 11pm news.)
A definite high was our own Rapid Randy Baker getting into the Fuel Funny Car B field on his last shot. He launched the Rear Gears Maverick hard and legged it through but suffered a blower bang and a slight fire on the top end. Nonetheless, Randy got a 6.27 at 218 to get him in the show after two disappointing earlier runs. The crew got to work on rebuilding the motor as folks left for the day. Rapid was elated as was the rest of the crew.
The day began with a few aspirin and Tums purchased from the Flying J Truck Stop (getting too old for these late night beer binges), then off to the track. It was bumper to bumper from Highway 99 to the track, so they had a great crowd. It was packed in there all day. Good for the promoters.
First pair I saw were great guys Dave and Sky Wallace. Their folks sure did a great job with these guys as they are some of the nicest folks you'd ever want to meet. 45 minutes later, we decided that we'd all better part and get the day rolling. Dave will be inducted into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame in Florida next weekend (as will our own Jon Lundberg). Congrats guys, well deserved on both counts! While I was talking to the Wallaces, Jr. Fuel and Dry Lakes veteran Barry Kaplan rolled up. This added several great stories to the bench racing session. And as we were breaking up our conversation, it was a nice surprise to see Scott Gaulter and his wife drive up! They had come to check out the action, but I didn't know if the Nitro Madness car was there.
I made my way through the Grove today and was happy to find old friends Ora Mae and Robin Millar, the wife and daughter of the late Pete Millar. Ora Mae and Robin keep the legendary cartoonist's work alive through their booth at nostalgia events. The pair made sure I was well taken care of (spoiled, really) with a place to sit and relax, some banana bread, some lentil soup, some rolls, some water (and even a little sip of Tequila). Ladies, you are too good to me. One piece of great news that they shared with me was that the Pasadena Museum of California Art will devote a full exhibit to Pete Millar's drag racing cartoons and art from June 1 to September 14, 2008. What a fitting tribute to a man who really shaped perception of this sport for many years. I will post the full piece on that in a front page story.
Got to chat with the legendary Wavemaker -- Don Prieto -- who was there with his cacklefest dragster. If you don't know Don, he is super outspoken (thus his name) and he has sometimes been a thorn in the side of the powers at that be (as Pete Millar often was). One of these days I need to bribe Pete to fix our early dragster lists... Lord knows, he knows more about those teams than anyone.
Right next to the Drag CarToons booth was Don Gillespie selling his outstanding Lions DVDs. Working with Don were Steve Reyes and Jere Aldaheff, two of the best photographers ever to hold a camera. This offered an ideal opportunity for a great bench racing session. Steve said that I could call him with anything Draglist ever needs. That's a huge offer we will gladly take advantage of! Here's a scoop... the guys will have a new Fuel Altered photo book out later this year.
Visited with the eternally lovely Cindy Gibbs, who is ramrodding the effort to raise funds for Pat Foster, who suffered a heart aneurysm and is undergoing extensive hospitalization. The efforts are on track, but Cindy can use more help. Check out the postings on Dragblog.com for details. It was also nice to meet legendary Top Fuel racer James Warren at the Pat Foster area. James was helping Cindy with the promotion. This man, who dominated Division 7 Top Fuel action throughout the 70s, was a most gentle, unassuming guy who seemed very modest and glad to help.
Had a nice visit with Mousie Marcellus and partner Jack McDonald. Mousie is always great to talk with. There is no room for modern era decals on the period correct Winged Express, but that didn't stop the guys from allowing me to put a Draglist.com decal on the back of the Winged Express GOLF CART! So now, we are part of the action on this fantastic car.
Caught up with other great guys, too, including Jim Sorenson of Awful, Awful Fuel Altereds, the Ewald Brothers from WeDidItForLove.com, and Darr Hawthorne from Drag Racing Online (and PR guy for lovely Mendy Fry and her fuel FC team). Great conversations, all. Also talked to Troy Martin and Kyle Wurtzel, who dominate nostalgia fuel funny car racing in the Midwest themselves. The guys were just here to spectate this weekend and came to congratulate Rapid Randy on his qualifying run. It was also great talking our friend and business partner Jamie Jackson of Jackson Bros. Videos. Jamie got some film of Pete Gemar and me on the starting line while the cars were running. I was yapping, but you couldn't hear half of it. I hope the camera didn't break!
Pete and I were about to leave to grab that steak we were talking about yesterday when Rapid came walking up with a massive plate full of food. It turns out that the Sequoia Dutch Ovens club was on hand in the pits cooking for one of the fuel car teams. They made so much food, however, that they were inviting everyone over to fill their plates. Pete and I went over and met those folks who were terrific and offered up heaping plates of Chicken Cordon Bleu, Lasagna, Pulled Pork Sandwiches, several desserts, and more. This club loves to get together and cook in their big old cast iron Dutch Ovens. We even learned some history of the Dutch Ovens, such as the fact that Paul Revere invented the indented cover of these ovens so that hot coals could be placed on top without sliding off. Cool... here's a link to our hosts... THANK YOU, SEQUOIAS!
http://sequoiadutchovens.com/
Since we no longer had to get dinner, Pete and I just went out for drinks. We went to the Double Tree, but the thumping bass and crazy, sampled crucifying of our beloved 70s rock songs limited us to two beers apiece! We bolted and headed back to our respective hotel rooms for some recuperation time... this post is how I spent mine! Check out Drag Race Central for the actual race results. I'll post more when I think of it! bp