Thu, 30 Oct 2008, 09:08 PM Happy Halloween

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Bob Frey

In my column on Tuesday I was asking the rhetorical question, "Which pro driver has had the best single year in history?" That is, of course, based on the spectacular year that Tony Schumacher is having this year. The discussion could go on for hours about that just like it did when NHRA released their list of the top fifty drivers of all time. I know that I spoke with several people who couldn't believe that certain drivers were ranked so high on the list while others were surprised that some drivers were on the list at all. It's all very subjective and always fun to have those discussions with your friends. It's a lot like discussing politics. Anyway, as Halloween approaches and as the kids get ready to go trick or treating at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, I am torn between what to wear for my Halloween costume. I've ruled out dressing up as one of Santa's helpers because that's what I was last year. The tiara that I wore a few years ago has already been sent to the old drag racing announcer's museum in Camden, New Jersey so that's out. And since Stevie Wong took the cow suit that I wanted to wear I can't use that. So I guess I'll dress up this year as the top sportsman racer of all time. Now let's see, who would that be?

Jim Hughes

I went to the neighborhood Halloween super store and asked the clerk to point me in the direction of the best sportsman racer's costumes. "You're kidding me, right?" he said. Or it could have been "she said," I'm not really sure because "he" was wearing a costume. At least I hope it was a costume. Whatever. He sent me to a big part of the store, right next to the super heroes costumes and there they were, hundreds of costumes featuring sportsman racers from the past fifty years. "Wow," I said to myself. "This is going to be a lot tougher than I thought." The first thing I saw was a huge selection of outfits that included Dave Boertman, Jim Hughes (the '83 & '89 Stock World Champion Jim Hughes) Jay Hamilton and Hank Taylor. When I asked the person how many of those Hank Taylor outfits they had sold he said, "Not many, just a few to some young folks in Texas." Figures. As I moved along that same wall I saw a nice collection of costumes that I hadn't seen in quiet some time. Among them were the popular (with Mopar fans) Ed Miller and Ron Mancini ones and a Wiley Cossey outfit. Like I said, this isn't going to be easy, so I think I need a way to narrow the list down a bit.

Scotty Richardson

I think simply going by the numbers may be a good way to limit my choices. So I asked the kid to show me the most popular costumes this year. "Well, the Dan Fletcher costume is always a big seller and this year it comes with a bonus. Buy one costume and get a trip to the Lucas Oil World Championship banquet free. Wow, sounds like a bargain to me. "And our Peter Biondo model is always a big seller. Heck, if his family alone all buys one we could sell out and I could quit my job and go back to working on my Rhodes Scholarship." I knew the "Terminator" ones would be big but I still wasn't any closer to narrowing things down. I walked by the Lang family costumes and they looked good, especially since they were on sale. "If you buy a Jody Lang one we'll throw in a Toby Lang one at no extra charge," the kid said. "And of course, if you'd like to get one of our classic, best sellers, you can't go wrong with a John Lingenfelter or the David Nickens one." Nice, but still way too many choices so how can I trim the list down even more. I know, I'll go to the section where they sell the most popular ones, the ones based on multiple national event wins in a variety of classes.

Dave Boertman

When I went to that section it really helped trim the selection. I began with the choice of guys who have won in four classes, so that made me select from only six models, Jeff Taylor, Edmond Richardson, Gary Scelzi, Gene Snow, Gary Stinnett and that Dan Fletcher guy. "How come there is only one Scelzi one left?" I asked. "Well, ever since he announced his retirement there has been a big run on them. We had the same thing happen in 1987. Go figure." I tried to tell him that Gary isn't retiring but he was busy text-messaging his friends by then. "What else do you have?" "Well, dude (he actually called me dude) the ones over here are all very popular and they seem to sell well year after year for some reason. These are the ones who have won national events in five different classes, but it's a very small selection." Indeed. When I got there all I saw were the Scotty Richardson, David Rampy, Jeg Coughlin and Greg Stanfield models. I put one of the Rampy ones in my shopping cart because that came with a free Boo Weekley golf hat. Hey, how could I turn that down? "This is our newest one because we just added the Stanfield one to the group," Sparky said (probably not his real name, his real name was probably Boaz or something like that). I liked all of them and couldn't really pick so I moved on...again.

Gene Snow

I knew this would be tough but I had no idea of just how hard it would be to select the top sportsman racer of all time. Over the years there have been so many great sportsman racers and you could make a case for dozens of them being the best. The contemporary drivers seem to have an advantage for several reasons. First, the number of races and the number of classes make it a little easier to compete and win races. And since a lot of the racers compete in two classes at each race they have a much better opportunity to win races than their earlier counterparts. Plus, there are people in the sportsman ranks who now do this for a living, so they should win more often than racers from back in the 1960's or '70's. Nonetheless, we have been blessed with hundreds of great sportsman racers from all generations and I don't know if I could single any one out as "the best." Having said that, I decided to move on and just pick a more conventional costume this year. As I was walking around the store I saw a big glow coming from one corner of the store and I asked Sparky about that. "Hey, dude (I actually called him dude), what's that section over there, the one with all the lights on it and the big crowd near it?" "Oh, that's a special section, one that we keep separate from all the rest. That's the Frank Manzo section. He must be pretty good because we sell tons of them every year." Yeah, I thought, he is pretty good. Funny, when I checked out that section there was also a purple dinosaur costume there. Hmmm!!

Pete Shadinger

PS. Please don't send me notes and say, "Dude, I can't believe you didn't mention (fill in name of driver here). I didn't intend to and couldn't possibly mention all the great sportsman racers because that would be impossible. There are so many and I'm glad that I have been able to watch a lot of them race. Oh, by the way, in the end I decided to pick the Pete Shadinger costume. Really!! Happy Halloween.

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