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Goodbye Kenney
By Phil R. Elliott
Photos by Rich Carlson & the author
When I met Kenney Goodell, I was just a kid – probably 15 – but then, he wasn’t that much older than I was at the time. Maybe he was 20 or 21.
He had a AA/FA, a Bantam roadster with a Columbia Racing Engines Chrysler on fuel. We had good engine builders around Seattle, but the baddest of the bad from Portland and Vancouver came out of Columbia.
Next, teamed with Art Whipple, came a AA/FD, then arguably the most dominating funny car the northwest ever saw. It was a 67 Mustang, built by Ronnie Scrima and Pat Foster, and it had another of those Columbia Chryslers under its flip nose.
At the time, a funny car event was a hodge-podge of older cars, both blown and unblown, as well as state-of-the art fliptops. Although Goodell’s mount was a flip-nose car with opening doors, it was absolutely the best money could buy. And it ran like it too, virtually dominating every northwest event for a whole season. Except for a broken transmission or two, that Mustang served Kenney well.
Through 1968 and ’69, a fliptop Barracuda was his mount, while 70/71 saw his Action Man name carved with a Woody Gilmore Challenger. The Challenger was well turned out, as were all of his cars, and it rode on a large Dodge crew-cab ramptruck. The whole package was impressive as it rolled through the gates wherever it roamed. In 1970, Goodell played second fiddle to the dominating ways of the Whipple & (Ed) McCulloch Duster, while the next year, he seemed to always be the bridesmaid to Jerry Ruth’s Mustang or Charlie Allen’s Charger.
It was in that Challenger that Kenney had a very memorable moment, and one I will never forget. It was a late round on a Saturday night in the right lane at Kent when Kenney faced Allen, and it appeared as if he’d finally whipped his foe when a valve-cover gasket let go and a combination of Valvoline and Wynn’s poured on the headers and caught fire.
The single pole lighting system at SIR was genius. At virtually any point on the track, one could read a book. But, as a racecar hurtled away from the light source, ever-lengthening shadows were disorienting to the driver. On fire and in the dark, things could be downright disconcerting!
At that moment, Kenney Goodell was faced with some serious decisions. The fire bottles had not knocked out the flames, and though he had slowed the car to somewhere around 100mph, he had no idea where on the shutdown he was. The brakes were failing, the chute had long since burned off, and things were getting mighty hot.
Right there hurtling into the darkness, Kenney Goodell chose to step away. He laughed later when he told me, “What did I have to lose?” He gave a mighty yank on what remained of the brakes and bailed out the right side of the funny car, still doing what most figured to be 70mph! He rolled down the asphalt and came to a stop with a broken arm and some major bruises. Meanwhile, the fire in the Challenger went out, the car knocked down a fence and ended up in some tall weeds on the left side of the track. When the fire crew arrived on the scene seconds later, figuring the worst, they found a smoldering car but when they lifted the body no driver! They beat the bushes for several minutes to no avail, until a message came over the radios that the driver had been found. It seems one of the pushtrucks – or it may have been the ambulance – had nearly driven over him!
Kenney would return for a few more fires, a major crash that nearly took his arm, but for many a better day as well, including numerous major victories. He was always in impeccable equipment, a fan favorite wherever he raced, a friend to his competitors and a very nice man. He will be sorely missed.
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