Fri, 3 Mar 2006, 08:27 AM

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2006 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Rampy and Barry Davis

David Rampy has accomplished a lot in the sport of drag racing and his performance at Phoenix this past weekend was just the latest chapter in a great career. "I have to say that I have been extremely blessed," David said after winning both Competition Eliminator and Stock Eliminator at the Arizona event. "You have to surround yourself with the right people and do all the right things but I honestly believe that I've been blessed to do what I've done." And we've been blessed to be able to watch one of the top racers of this or any other generation as he goes about his business of wining races. And make no mistake about it, for David Rampy, it is a business.

Unlike so many racers who got their start because their father raced, David began in spite of his dad's thoughts and misgivings about drag racing. "He thought it's just a sport where you go out and tear up a lot of stuff," he said. And then he added, "We do tear up some stuff but that's not what it's all about." Now, after winning two classes at the same race for the third time in his career and for the second time in the past four national events, David has the respect and admiration of his father and of anyone who has ever watched him compete. "Dad really respects what I have done and he takes a lot of pride in my success," David said. He should also take great pride in the fact that five years ago David was recognized for his achievements by being named number forty-two on drag racing's all time Top Fifty list. Quite an accomplishment for a guy from a quiet little town in Alabama, isn't it?

David admits to being very competitive as a kid and to enjoying racing almost anything. "Even as a kid I would get on my bike and pedal it as fast as I could," he said. "I just always had this fascination with cars and with going fast." In the late 1970's he began racing seriously, and by "seriously" he means four to five nights a week at tracks all over Alabama. "We raced mostly brackets but we were pretty serious about it," he said. "We'd go to Montgomery, Gadsen, Phenix City and a lot of little tracks that don't even exist today." While David raced people started to take notice of this kid who was winning a lot, and one of them was a racer by the name of Don Young. "He was a friend of mine who actually got killed in a racing accident but he meant the world to me. I was wandering around with no real direction and he noticed me and taught me so much. I owe a lot to Don." He also owes a lot to Harold Stout, his long time friend and sponsor who has been with him for over a decade. "Harold saw something in me and decided it was worth it to help me out and we've been together for a long time. I have to thank him for a lot of my success."

Another man who had a big impact on David's development is Sonny Ray. Sonny, who raced at a lot of the same tracks that David frequented, asked him to drive one of his cars in the early eighties. "Sonny had a couple of cars and he wanted to know if I would drive one of them. I liked his cars but I really liked his daughter more. One night when I was at his house he said, 'Rampy, it's getting late and I'm going to bed.' His wife just looked at him and said, 'I don't think Rampy's here to see you Sonny,' and she was right." David did get to drive some of Sonny's cars and the two met in competition at the Division 2 race at Atlanta in 1981. Sonny beat David there and when they squared off a week later at the Gatornationals David was so pumped up and so eager to beat Sonny that he fouled out. He hasn't done that much since then but he did have the last laugh when he married Sonny's daughter Kelly, and the two have been married for twenty years now. The couple has a fourteen year old son, Chase, and the obvious question is does he want to be a drag racer? "He was watching that Valvoline commercial the other day and he turned to me and said, 'Dad, if you get me a Pro Stocker I'll drive it.' But we'll see what happens when he's a little older," David said. He added that if Chase wants to race he'll support him but he

Rampy and Harold Stout

won't steer him into it. "You have to be really dedicated to this to do it," he said. "If you're not ready to commit everything to it, you won't be successful." Apparently David had made that commitment because there are very few racers who are as successful as he is.

When David began racing full time he spent a lot of his time at the IHRA tracks down south. He first raced there in 1982 and over the next three years he won three IHRA world championships. "As good as that was I knew that if I wanted to get noticed and make a living at this I had to come over and race at the NHRA events." He did go to a couple of NHRA events during his IHRA run and one of them was the 1983 Cajun Nationals in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. At that event he drove one of Sonny's cars, a 1972 Pontiac GTO to the Super Stock title, his first on the NHRA circuit. Along the way he beat some of the top racers in the region including Larry Dumas, Steve Bagwell and Terry Pearson before stopping Don Brown's Barracuda in the finals. At that same race, his future father-in-law, Sonny Ray, was runner-up in Competition Eliminator and he said after the race that he and David were "good friends." If he only knew!! David would then go six more years before making it back to a final round at an NHRA national event and almost seven years before his next national event win. But since that time, since 1990, he has been to at least one final round in every year over the last sixteen seasons and he has won at least one race, and usually more, in fifteen of those years. He has amassed a grand total of sixty-one national event wins, thirty-two more division wins, five division championships and three Lucas Oil World Championships. He is also one of only two racers to win NHRA national events in five different classes. Plus, he has "doubled-up" at three events and built a reputation as one of the top money racers in the sport. "The money is nice," David said, "and you can't race without it. When I began I did it because I loved to compete, but if you don't have sponsors now you just can't race at this level and I've been very fortunate to have good, loyal sponsors over the years." Among those sponsors are Freedom Roads, his current major sponsor and Winnebago which has been with him for thirteen years. Hoosier Tire, Patterson Engines, Carolina Machine Engines (for his Stock Eliminator car), Valvoline, K & N, Summit Racing and others are also on the side of his race cars. "Harold Stout has been such a good friend and supporter and when I was wondering at the end of last year if I was going to have a sponsor this year or not he told me that I was running well, driving well and not to worry about next year. He's the best. And I have to thank God, because like I said, I think he has really blessed me." And David also wanted to thank his good friend and crew chief, Barry Davis. "We were talking back in 1997 and Barry was in a job that looked like it wasn't going anywhere and I asked him if he'd like to help me. He was from a racing family and he said that he had nothing to lose by quitting his job and coming with me. It's one of the best things that ever happened to me in my racing career. He knows everything about the cars and the tracks and he makes me so much better."

From his humble beginnings in the bracket classes down south, David Rampy has evolved into one of the top racers of all time. Whether it's in his Comp car, a Stock, Super Stock or a bracket car, when David comes to the starting line he has to be considered a favorite to win. And he's also still a favorite with Sonny Ray, even if he did take his daughter away from him.

NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]

Jul 28- FEATURE- Jimmy Lewis
Jul 27- FEATURE- Did You Know? by Bob Frey
Jul 26- DENVER - Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Wrap Up
Jul 25- DENVER - Special Awards
Jul 25- DENVER - Sunday Wrap Up
Jul 25- DENVER - Championship Points
Jul 25- DENVER - Bonus Points
Jul 25- DENVER - Summary of Eliminations in Top Fuel
Jul 25- DENVER - Summary of Eliminations in Funny Car
Jul 25- DENVER - Summary of Eliminations in Pro Stock



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