Tue, 11 Mar 2008, 05:40 PM We'll Miss Lew Arrington

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc. & Bob Johnson Photography

By Chuck Carman

Before I talk about the Gatornationals I would like to mention the passing of Lew Arrington. Lew drove the Brutus Funny Car and was one of the real pioneers in the Funny Car class. Lew started out with a B/MP Studebaker (really) with a Pontiac engine. He later upgraded to an A/MP car but it still had his trademark Pontiac engine. From there he began a partnership with a kid by the name of Jim Liberman. The two raced together for a while before embarking on their own careers in the Funny Car world. In 1967 they came east together, toured together, lived together and made their reputations together as two of the best in the business. In the early days, Jim actually drove the Brutus car and I have a time card from Fresno Dragway to prove it. The year was 1966 and Jim ran 8.59 at 163.93 in that race. I also have the beautiful painting that James Ibusuki did of the two racing at Maple Grove Raceway. The details are marvelous and it captures the essence of these two great pioneers. I also have, on my wall, the famous picture by Hall of Fame photographer Steve Reyes of the spectacular transmission explosion that Lew had at the East-West Funny car Championship at Lions Drag Strip in 1967. The explosion was awesome and so is the picture. Anyway, Lew and Jim were also the first real west-coast Funny Car stars that I got to know personally. In fact, one of my favorite pictures is the one of me standing by the Brutus Funny Car in the staging lanes at Atco Dragway.

Frey with Brutus

That picture was taken in 1967 and, if you notice, the car has working doors. Or at least it had one working door. You have to remember that this was in the formative years of the class. The car, like most of Lew's early rides, was a Pontiac GTO and this one featured a steel body, and, to a young, impressionable kid, it was the neatest thing I had ever seen. Lew and Jim had just made their way from the west coast, where they had already made a name for themselves, and were about to embark on their east-coast match race tour. I was at Atco when they made some test runs, Lew in the Brutus car and Jim with his Chevrolet-powered Nova. It was such a kick. Over the years, while they blazed a path across the country, they would come back to their base in Pennsylvania and I would stop by to visit them at their shop. Oh the stories I could tell. And while Lew rocketed (an interesting word since he later drove a rocket car) to stardom, he was always so kind and friendly to the skinny, geeky announcer at Atco and I really appreciated that. I also have to admit that I missed that GTO when Lew switched to the new Firebird body in 1968. He also switched from the chassis that he had built to a new Logghe chassis and he replaced the Pontiac engine with a Chrysler. He had all the best stuff on that new car including a Fiberglass Trends body and beautiful metal work that was done by Al Bergler. With his new car and his familiar orange paint job, and with Goodies Speed Shop logo on the side, Lew hit the road. Later in his career Lew would drive a variety of machines, including the aforementioned rocket car, but he would be remembered mostly and fondly, at least by me, for his line of Brutus entries. They, like Lew, had a personality and they, like Lew will be missed. Lew's son, Lew III, works on the John Force team and has for years, so if you get a chance at Gainesville this week (if he's not too busy) stop by and offer your condolences. And if you were lucky enough to have seen his dad race, tell him that because I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

Swamp Rat 12

I spoke with a lot of folks this week, racers and fans alike, and surprisingly the sentiment was almost the same. With two weeks off and with the first two races taking place out west, they seemed to feel that the drag racing season really doesn't start until the Gatornationals. This year, the AC Delco-sponsored event should play to another standing room only crowd like it did last year and that's always fun. With motorcycles, Pro Mods, alky classes and hundreds of racers, the Florida event is always special. If you ever want to take a look at how far the sport has progressed over the years, think of this. Did you know that at the first Gatornationals in 1970, "Big Daddy" Don Garlits was the number one qualifier in Top Fuel? Sure you did, but did you know that his qualifying time was 6.55? Fast forward to 2007 when Greg Anderson was the number one qualifier in Pro Stock. Did you know that his qualifying time was 6.56? Imagine that, a Pro Stock car today running as quick as the baddest Top Fuel car in the country did in 1970. The 16^th qualifier in Top Fuel at that first Gatornationals was Mike Martini who ran 7.09 and that wouldn't be quick enough to make the Pro Stock field this year. I can hear the late Steve Evans doing a commercial right now for the match race. "Sunday, Sunday see "Big Daddy" Don Garlits take on Greg Anderson in a best two-out-of three match race."....As good and quick as he was at that first Gatornationals, Don Garlits did not win the event. And as much as we have talked about the number one jinx in Top Fuel lately, you might want to give this some thought this weekend. Did you know that in the thirty-eight year history of this event the top qualifier in the dragster class has won a grand total of seven times?...I always mention that while you are in Florida a side trip to the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing should

Mike Gunderson

be on everyone's list. It's a wonderful way to spend a day and, while you're there, visit Don's antique car museum, too. Don has an unbelievable collection of cars, and while it may not be Jay Leno's garage (as seen on the recent ESPN telecast from Phoenix), it's not bad. Don will be the Grand Marshall at the event and I hope he gets a standing ovation when he is introduced....We should see some new faces at this race, or at least one new face in the Top Fuel class. Mike Gunderson is on the entry list and, if he does attend, he'll become one of twenty drivers tying to make the field. As you know there have been seventeen cars at each of the first two races and, with the tour heading east, I don't expect to see Steve Chrisman or Mike Strasburg in Florida (although I tried to talk Mike into it this weekend in Tucson) so it's up to Mike, Urs Erbacher and Doug Foley to raise the number of cars to sixteen or more. Did you know that in the history

Joe Amato

of the event the shortest field ever in Top Fuel was in 1984 when there were just 16 cars on the property?....Joe Amato, with his four wins, has won Gainesville more times than any other Top Fuel driver and there are three others all tied for second place. Eddie Hill, "Big," and Larry Dixon all have three wins and, if you notice, every one of those drivers except Larry is in the Hall of Fame. I guess they're just waiting for Larry to retire to add his name to the best TF drivers ever. And they will, although I think it'll be several years before Larry decides to give up the driver's seat on Don Prudhomme's entry. In addition to his wins did you know that Larry is one of only three dragster drivers to ever "sweep" the Florida event. Larry qualified number one, recorded low elapsed time and top speed along with winning the race in 2002, and besides "Big" and Joe he is the only one to accomplish that in Top Fuel....Antron Brown will compete in Top Fuel at the first event where he has actually competed before. After stints at the Winternationals and in Phoenix, two events that he never entered before on his motorcycle, "AB" will return to the site of his very first professional drag race when he pulls into Gainesville. It's also the only place where Antron was not in the starting lineup at a race that he attended. Did you know that since that race Antron has qualified for 147 consecutive races and that's the second longest streak currently in the sport. Only Angelle Sampey, with 166 straight, has qualified for more consecutive events than Antron has.

Ron Krisher

This should be an interesting weekend in Pro Stock in Florida. Ron Krisher made a big move by buying one of Dave Connolly's old cars and "hiring" Tommy Utt to serve as his crew chief. Tommy is technically "on loan" I guess, since he still works for Victor Cagnazzi and he hopes to be back to work with Dave before too long. Call me crazy, but I have a feeling that Victor will get something in place real soon and that we'll see Dave back out maybe as soon as Atlanta. At least that's my feeling right now. Jim Yates and a lot of the Pro Stock teams are in Bradenton, Florida this week doing what Pro Stock teams do.testing. Jim is still looking for that right engine / car combination to move his Wiley X car along, which right now means to qualify. With the quality of cars in the class right now that's not an easy thing to do these days.I received a nice letter last week from Steve Bubb, a writer for the Area Auto Racing News and he told me about a meeting last year between his niece, Margie, and several

Margie and V. Gaines

of the NHRA drag racing stars, especially V. Gaines. They were at the national event at Maple Grove and Margie, a big NASCAR fan, was making her first trip to an NHRA POWERade event. They walked through the pits and saw "V" and his team working on the car. "V" came over, talked with her, posed for some pictures, spent some time answering questions and signed some autographs. They then went and saw Cory McClenathan who was also very nice and the trip ended with a chance encounter with John Force. When Margie asked John to sign her scrapbook, he was more than happy to do so (of course he signed it on the cover). At the end of the day she was so impressed with the way the drivers had reacted to her, a complete stranger, that she instantly became a drag racing fan. When "V" won in Phoenix Margie was so happy you might have thought that she won the race. I mention this because it's one of the many stories that I constantly hear about how surprised people are when they come to an NHRA event for the first time. They're obviously impressed with the performance of the cars, but even more so they are in awe of the way they are treated by the drivers and the teams. Pictures, autographs, conversations and random meetings with the drivers all just serve to reinforce how much we have to offer. And it's folks like Margie who help to spread the word about what a great opportunity you have when you come to the drag races. Thanks to Steve for the nice story and I hope to see him and Margie at Englishtown or Maple Grove later this year. They'll probably be hanging out with "V."

I had a few moments like that this past weekend when I was at Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson. While shooting a few segments for the Inside Drag Racing show on the new ION network, I came across several fans who were making their first trip to a drag race. They enjoyed the racing (which was great), but more importantly they told me how much fun they had walking through the pits and talking with the racers. With almost twenty alcohol cars on hand they had a chance to meet some of the top racers from the Division 7 area and they told me they really enjoyed it. I only mention that because sometimes we take for granted how enjoyable a day at the races can be, whether it's a national event or a

John Shoemaker at OCIR in '74

divisional race, and the folks at SIR put on a nice show and they've worked very hard to make the track both racer and fan friendly. Plus the racing at night was extra special because of the wonderful lighting system they have at the track....One sad moment came this weekend when I heard about the death of John Shoemaker at Bakersfield. I knew John for years and I was there when he won his national events in Sonoma in 2004 and at the Winternationals in 1998 and I could see the joy in his face that went along with beating a lot of the top stars in the sport while racing with a lot less resources. With his wife Judee and the American flag he waved when backing up from his burnouts, he became a fan favorite and he was the epitome of what a drag racer was all about. He didn't have a lot of money but he enjoyed racing and it showed. Ironically, while at SIR for the D-7 race, I spent some time talking with Mike Austin who was there racing his Top Alcohol Dragster. Mike had worked with John for many years, in fact, besides Judee, Mike was the entire crew at a lot of the races. We talked about John hours before we even heard about the accident and I was stunned when I heard the news. I even spoke with Mike after I heard about John's accident and I couldn't bring myself to break the news to him because he was preparing for his first round match and I thought he needed to concentrate on that. After the run Mike Rice, the Division 7 director, broke the news to Mike. I've never been a big fan of that over-used expression about someone who "died doing what he loved," but in the case of John Shoemaker I have to say that it was true.

Jim Cowan

The racing in Tucson saw a couple of drivers add to their early season success. Jim Cowan, the winner in Competition Eliminator at the Pomona national event, backed that up with a win at the division race while Jimmy DeFrank, the Super Stock winner in Phoenix did likewise in Tucson. I know there are a lot of races to run yet but putting two wins on the board this early is pretty good..Terry Ruckman, in only his second race, won the Top Alcohol Funny Car class while Jim Whiteley took top honors in the dragster class. Let me say this about Jim, he has assembled a great team with Norm Grimes leading the way and with Alan Russell and the rest of the team and his 5.31 in the final round was amazing. He will make a serious run at the Lucas Oil World Championship this year and, right now, he looks like he has the best blown car in the country. Of course I haven't seen Marty Thacker or Ken Perry yet this year although I expect to see both of them this weekend in Florida. In addition to his alky dragster, Jim also had a pair of really cool altered cars in his pit area that ran in the Top Dragster class in Tucson, and the two drivers of these cars were Annie, Jim's wife, and Anita her twin sister. Nice job by the entire Y-Not Racing team this weekend.

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