Thu, 25 Jan 2007, 03:10 AM O, Canada ... Why Dale Creasy Jr. Likes It North of the Border

By Jim Samuel Photo copyright 2007 BME Photography and Pontiac Racing

Gilbertson vs Creasy at Grand Bend.

Dale Creasy, Jr. likes Canada.

It's not because of Tim Horton's donuts or Molson's Golden Ale. It's probably not even the loonies and twoonies that Canadians carry instead of dollar bills. The real reason Creasy likes Canada is because he won the IHRA Knoll Gas-Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Funny Car championship in 2006 on the strength of three national event wins and all those wins came north of the border.

The first win came in Grand Bend, Ontario, the second in Edmonton, Alberta and the third in the rain-delayed IHRA Canadian Nationals at Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga, Ontario.

"We are undefeated in Canada," Creasy said of his three wins. "We even ran a match race at Grand Bend (against Jack Wyatt) and we won all the rounds."

Creasy, the son of longtime Funny Car owner Dale Creasy, Sr., got his first win of the season with a final-round victory over Bob Gilbertson in Grand Bend, an event he described as one of the highlights of his season because of the number of firsts it contained.

"It was the first time I ever qualified with the low ET," Creasy said. "It was the first time I had a bye in the first round. It was the first final round. And it was the first win. It was a lot of firsts."

Creasy vs Wyatt at Edmonton

The 2006 season was not the first time the 47-year old Creasy had raced in IHRA competition. He competed in 1989, when IHRA had a Nitro Funny Car class, and he entered a few events in 2005 as a Top Fuel driver. But for the past several years, he had been running the NHRA Funny Car circuit on a part-time basis because of budget constraints.

But that changed for Creasy and his Creasy Family Motorsports last season when IHRA brought back the Nitro Funny Car class and he began racing under Evan Knoll's Torco Racing Fuels banner. Creasy Family Motorsports is based in Beecher, Illinois and includes crew chiefs Steve Creasy and Allen Meyer. "It was a new beginning for us and we could be competitive," Creasy said of the Torco backing and the return of Funny Cars to IHRA competition in 2006.

Creasy got his start as a Funny Car driver, something he wanted to do since he was in high school, by hanging around his father's Funny Car team when Gary Bolger drove for Dale Creasy, Sr.

Creasy at Virginia in '98.

"I began traveling with the team and did mostly cleanup work, like polishing the wheels and all of the gofer stuff that everyone does when they join a Funny Car operation," Creasy told National Dragster in 2004. "Gary (Bolger) helped me earn my license when our family was running a Ford Cobra-bodied car in the 1980s." When Bolger retired as a driver in 1997, the younger Creasy got into the driver's seat.

The low point of the 2006 season for Creasy came during the IHRA season opener in San Antonio. There he lost to Frank Pedregon in the first round of eliminations after qualifying sixth for the event. Pedregon shook the rear tires of his car hard and it looked as if Creasy was headed to his first round win of the season.

"We just couldn't do anything right," Creasy said. "I had Frank beat but then I had the throttle stick and I crossed over the center line."

Wyatt vs Creasy at Rockingham

Creasy's five-point win over Wyatt in the Nitro Funny Car championship was the slimmest margin of victory in IHRA professional racing history. Going into the season finale in Rockingham, NC, Creasy had a narrow 22 point lead over Wyatt. And, as might be expected in a tight championship race, it all came down to the last quarter mile to determine the championship.

"It came down to the last run," Creasy said, explaining that even though he did not have to win the race to clinch the championship, he only had to make it down the track without incurring a points penalty for an oildown.

"I knew if we didn't make a mistake, we were going to win whether we lost or won the race," Creasy said. "I didn't want to think about it because there were still ways we could lose it. It was all in our hands." Creasy lost the race on a red light start but had a clean run to take the season championship. "He (Wyatt) made it tough but I wouldn't have expected anything else from him."

Going into the 2006 season, Creasy was eager to take advantage of the new opportunity that IHRA's return to Nitro Funny Car racing would bring him, but he did not expect to win the championship.

Creasy, IHRA Funny Car Champ

"I didn't expect to do as well as we did," he said. "Everybody expected the opportunity to be there. We just didn't expect it to be as good for us as it was."

Creasy said that the level of competition in the IHRA was as tough as any he had faced throughout his career. "There were three or four of us who could still win the championship up until there were only four races left in the season," he said, mention Bob Gilbertson as another tough competitor.

"There were races he wasn't supposed to be at," Creasy said of Gilbertson's schedule, "but then with rain delays, he was able to show up." Gilbertson's plans at the beginning of the season called for him to run a mix of IHRA and NHRA events in 2006. But rain delays and postponements let Gilbertson rearrange his schedule and run more of the IHRA Funny Car schedule than he had planned.

"We ran NHRA and it was hard," Creasy said. "This (IHRA) was just as hard. The tracks were all new. Learning the new surfaces was tough for everybody. The pressure in IHRA is just as much and the quality of racing is great."

Creasy said that when the 2007 racing season begins, he expects to pick up right where he left off. "We have a new chassis coming from McKinney," he said. "We have a new body on the way but it might not be ready until the third race of the season."

One thing that won't change for 2007 is the team's sponsor. Shortly after the 2006 season ended, Creasy was able to announce that Torco Race Fuels would renew it sponsorship and help Creasy defend his championship title.

"Evan (Knoll) told me early enough that we knew what we could do to get ready for the next season," Creasy said, explaining that the commitment from Torco Race Fuels meant he could plan for the upcoming season knowing he would have the funding he needed. Other sponsors who will be on the sides of Creasy's Funny Car include Tek Pak, Beaver Shredding, Oakley and VSI.

"We plans to test but we're not sure where right now," he said. "We want to make sure that whatever track we test at is prepped like a national event. If you can't run your car like you would at a national event, you don't get anything out of testing."

Funding and testing will be more important as more NHRA Funny Car drivers begin to enter IHRA events," Creasy said. That crossover, he said, will be good for the fans, good for the drivers and good for the sport. "It needs to happen for a long time."

More crossovers between NHRA and IHRA drivers will also help improve the level of competition at IHRA events, Creasy predicted. "A lot of (NHRA) guys are going to cross over again if the schedule allows. When you see them pull in, you know the racing is going to be more exciting."

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