Tue, 14 Apr 2009, 09:58 PM Leave It To John Force & Bill Bader

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Bob Hesser

Before getting into this week's column, I wanted to join the many racing fans across the country who were stunned and saddened by the loss of Bob Hesser. Bob passed away unexpectedly last week after a very short illness. Bob provided a lot of the pictures that were used in many of my columns and his work always made my stories look so much better. Bob worked as the Division 3 photographer for years and was also part of the Auto Imagery family as well as the FastNews Network, the parent company for DragRaceCentral.com. Bob was not only a great photographer but a very nice guy who brightened our days, whether it was at the track or just bench-racing after a long day of racing. I spoke to several people in his home town of Winchester, Indiana and they all had glowing comments about him. "He was part of our community and our family," one woman told me. "Everybody really liked him." Our condolences to his wife, Vicky and their four children and I know I speak for all of us at DragRaceCentral when I say that the races just won't be the same without him.

Force "Night Stalker" collectable.

Those of us who have had the opportunity to tour the John Force Racing shop in California always leave there in awe of the entire operation. All the cars, the Funny Car bodies, the special awards, the "Wallys," the pictures and the entire operation is all very impressive. And for those of us who have been around the sport for a while we are amazed at how far the sport has come since the "early days." Since I like and appreciate the history of the sport I like to check out some of the smaller items in shops like John's and I remember seeing a picture on the wall of the "Night Stalker" Funny Car. Try as I might, I couldn't remember that particular car and its place in drag racing history, so I did what anyone would do, I asked John about it. Well, about an hour later I had the story of an unbelievable car, a wild night and a car that really is a part of drag racing folk lore, for better or worse. The "Night Stalker" was a rear-engine Mustang that was originally built by one of the greats of the sport, Jack Chrisman. In theory, it was a wonderful idea. Put a rear-engine Funny Car together, mount the engine sideways, use a chain-drive and you should have very competitive car. Or so the theory went. Well, even the great Jack Chrisman couldn't get the car to work so he sold it to a young racer by the name of John Force. John took it to Irwindale in 1973 and, when the chain literally came apart and spread links all over the track, John was asked to leave...and not come back. As we know, he did come back, but not with that car and the rest, as they say, is history. Fast forward to 2009 and John will have a special "Night Stalker" tribute car that he will run at the upcoming "Night Under Fire" race at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio and, in true John Force and Bill Bader fashion, fans will be able to buy a special, limited edition collectible version of the car. "It's a collectible car from John Force Racing with a very unusual story behind it," said Bill Bader Jr., president of Summit Motorsports Park. "And after John runs the tribute car on August 1 he will never run it again." Collectible cars have been a big part of drag racing for a while and nobody offers more or has more fans of his collectibles than John Force. There are three versions of the car, a "White Gold" edition that includes just twenty pieces, a "Color Chrome" edition with only 200 pieces and a "Collector Grade" edition with 2,000 pieces. Fans can order the cars by calling Summit Motorsports Park at 419-668-5555 or by going online at www.SummitMotorsportsPark.com. And if you want to learn more about the original car, look through your old Hot Rod Magazines and find the November, 1971 issue. Jack Chrisman's original car is on the cover and there is a great story inside about it. It's always nice to see two of the best at what they do, the Bader's and John, team up for a special promotion that can be really special and a lot of fun for their fans. Of course, if you're keeping score, that August 1 date will count as a test date for John...Another "Big" name in the sport made some news this past week, although it probably went unnoticed by a lot of folks. Don Garlits has an entire new look to his web site and I think it's something you should all check out. The site, www.Garlits.com, is now a lot easier to navigate, has a lot of historic pictures on it and it also

Clare Sanders

gives you a quick tour of the Don Garlits Museum in Ocala, Florida. You can check out the history of "Big Daddy," order some souvenirs and keep up to date with all the happenings in the Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Hey, you could be the first on your block to know who will be in the class of 2010 when "Big" announces it later this year. Anyway, the site is very nicely done and was re-designed by one of the first Funny Car winners in NHRA history. I'll give you a hint, he won the 1969 Winternationals, and it wasn't "Jungle" Jim Liberman, although that's who Keith Jackson congratulated when this driver got out of the car after his final round win over Ray Alley. You guessed it, Clare Sanders is the guy who updated Don's web site. Nice work, Clare. I guess you have time to do that in the great northwest over the winter, after all, it's kind of tough to go golfing up there in the snow. By the way, if you want to go to a really cool site, check out Clare's site at www.claresanders.com. Did you know that before he drove for "Jungle," Clare drove one of the most beautiful Funny Cars ever built, the "Lime Fire" Barracuda?

Shawn Gann

With all the talk about the economy, and there is no doubt that it has affected every form of motorsports, the field of Pro Stock Motorcycles that is entered for Atlanta this week is amazing. Even with a few of the "big names" in the class absent this year, there is still a large contingent entered and it includes some first-timers. Bailey Whitaker and Katie Sullivan are both entered for the race which would be the first NHRA national event for both of them. Katie has raced sportsman bikes for a while and Bailey has been riding Harley-Davidsons. Katie's entered on a Suzuki while Bailey has the popular S & S configuration and will be running out of Shawn Gann's Rum Bum racing team. Shawn, who hooked up with the Rum Bum folks in Houston, will be flying the Rum Bum colors for the rest of the year and Bailey will be racing at all of the remaining events this year, too. He recently got his NHRA license and tested in Virginia and went 7.20 which isn't too bad for a new rider in the class. Rum Bum has sponsored drivers in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car series and it's great to see them over on the NHRA Full Throttle side of things..Douglas Horne is also entered this week and I can't wait to see how the Houston runner-up does. Douglas qualified for his first two races and made it to the final round in just his

Douglas Horne

second start and that's pretty impressive. With all of the talk about the deep talent pool for this year's Rookie of the Year, you might want to keep your eye on Douglas and see how he stacks up against the likes of Shawn Langdon, Matt Hagan and Spencer Massey, to name just a few..The motorcycles have been part of the Atlanta race since 1988 and it was the exclusive property of Dave Schultz for a long time. Did you know that Dave won the race in seven consecutive years, from 1990 through 1996? Add in his 1988 win and that gives Dave eight wins at the track, twice the amount of the next best in the class, Angelle Sampey..In the history of the race and the motorcycle class I would have to say that there has never been what you would call a huge upset winner, and with Matt and Andrew Hines, John Myers and Antron Brown among the winners I think you would agree..Ryan Schnitz will be in Atlanta this week riding the Kawasaki of Rob Muzzy. As that team continues to work with and make progress with the "green machine" it should be noted that at one time Kawasaki's were the dominant bike in the class. Did you know that at that first race in 1988 in Atlanta there were seven Kawasaki's in the field, including the top qualifier, Mr. Schultz? And did you know that Steve Johnson, who will be in Atlanta this week, was one of those seven? Just for the record, the others were Steve Miles, Keith Gray, Paul Ray, Wendell Daniels and Bruce Dickson.

McClenathan last year.

The "Southern Nationals," as the race was originally called, began back in 1981 and it featured, believe it or not, just eight-car fields in the pro classes. Because there were only eight spots available, some pretty big name drivers missed the cut in each class in those early years. Did you know that in Top Fuel, among the drivers who failed to qualify in 1981 were Mark Oswald, Dick LaHaie, Gary Beck and Connie Kalitta. Did you know that the number one qualifier in TF at that race was Mike Tarter, and it was the only time that he ever led the field in qualifying in his entire career? Being number one is certainly not a guarantee that you'll do well in Atlanta. Did you know that is has been fourteen years since the last number one qualifier won in TF? Cory McClenathan won the race in 1995 from the top spot and nobody has done it since. And do you remember who was number one last year? Right, Cory McClenathan ...Another driver who missed the 5.877 bump spot at that first race week was Jim Head and he will be in Atlanta this week driving his own car. I say that because there have been a lot of rumors going around that someone else may be behind the wheel this week, but from what I've heard, it will be Jim....Since I mentioned the favorites winning in the bike class, a look at the winners in

Gary Scelzi from '99.

Top Fuel looks like a Hall of Fame roster. Shirley Muldowney won the first one in 1981 while Don Garlits, Kenny Bernstein, Connie Kalitta, Joe Amato and Gary Scelzi are among the dragster winners. Darrell Gwynn (1987) and Antron Brown (2008) also won in Atlanta and that's not the only connection that those two have. Antron's car owner, Mike Ashley, was in attendance at the Barrett-Jackson car auction in Palm Beach, Florida this past weekend to donate his 2007 Indy-winning Funny Car (again) to Darrell's charity. The car, which was auctioned off in 2008, sold that year for $140,000 and the winning bidder, Ron Pratt, donated it back so that it could be auctioned off again.

Mike Ashley's Funny Car

Well, Mike flew down to Palm Beach on Friday, made a very nice presentation about the car and, along with Darrell, who is always a crowd favorite, they raised another 100 grand for Darrell's foundation. Like I always say, there are a lot of really nice people in this sport and Mike and Darrell are certainly among them..Antron is the defending event champion and he'll be looking to join Larry Dixon, Doug Kalitta and Gary Scelzi as the only back-to-back Top Fuel winners at this race..Another web site you should check out this week is the Team Kalitta one. Each week they have a trivia question on the site that is about that week's national event. In addition to having a lot of fun guessing, the winners receive a 50^th anniversary Team Kalitta shirt and a pair of boots from one of the team's sponsors, Rocky Boots. To take part in the fun, and maybe win stuff, go to www.teamkalitta.com. Because trivia is my life, I'm going to see if I can answer this week's Team Kalitta question even before they post it. Let's see, I'm going with 1994. Good luck to me. The folks at Red Line Oil also help out with the prizes.

Ashley vs. John Force

Since this is the place where Ashley Force won her first race last year, look for a lot of coverage of her final round meeting with her dad on the ESPN show. Ashley, who won a few weeks ago in Houston, comes into the race in third place in the points behind only Ron Capps and Matt Hagan. While the Atlanta race has had a lot of big name winners, there have also been some surprising finalists, too, including Lucille Lee, Dan Pastorini and Ron Capps. Now I know what you're thinking, how can Ron Capps be a surprise finalist? Well, that's because the race I'm talking about was in 1995 and it came in Top Fuel. Ron was making just his fourth start in a TF car and he beat Connie Kalitta, Kenny Bernstein and Scott Kalitta before losing to Cory McClenathan in the final round. Ron would get his revenge when he would beat Cory at the Seattle race that year to win his first NHRA national event. While there have been a couple of drivers who have won in both fuel classes in Atlanta, Ron holds the distinction of having lost in the finals of both fuel classes in Atlanta, and I'm sure he's glad that I'm pointing that out right now. Ron comes into the race as the hottest driver in the FC class

Ron Capps

with three wins in the first five races of the year. The NAPA car is running very well and since Ron's crew chief, Ed McCulloch, has won three times at Atlanta Dragway, I like their chances of going rounds again this weekend. Ed beat Jim Head in 1986, John Force in 1988 and Paul Smith in 1990. With all the talk about short fields and things like that this year I would like to point out that the 1988 field had just fifteen cars and the '90 field had sixteen..Paul and Mike Smith have just entered the Atlanta race although there could be a driver change in their car before the event gets underway..John Force loves coming to Atlanta, it's his favorite track. Or, as John would say, it's his favorite track until he gets to the next track. Whatever. Did you know that John has won in Atlanta seven times and that's more than any other pro driver except Dave Schultz?...Ashley will try to do what only her dad has done in Atlanta and that is win the event in consecutive years in a Funny Car. Five drivers have won in Atlanta more than once but only John ever did it in back-to-back years and he won it every year from 2002 through and including 2005.

Mike Edwards

Who has the best Pro Stock car or team in the class right now? Jeg Coughlin can certainly make a case for himself and his Victor Cagnazzi-owned team while Jason Line, Mike Edwards and Greg Anderson could also say they are the best. Regardless of who you think it is I think you have to agree that at every race almost any of the drivers who qualify can win in Pro Stock and it hasn't always been that way. In the days when Bob Glidden was dominating the class he often qualified ahead of the second guy by about the same amount as we now have from number one to sixteen. Did you know that when Bob won the Atlanta race in 1987 he qualified with a 7.381 while the second guy, Jerry Eckman, ran 7.468. The 16^th guy in that field was Larry Morgan and he checked in with a 7.583 and really didn't have much of a chance to win. Actually, a look at the records will show you that the number sixteen qualifier doesn't have much of a shot at wining in Pro Stock in Atlanta no matter who is at the top of the pack. Did you know that in the

Rodger Brogdon

entire history of this race the sixteenth Pro Stock qualifier has won exactly twice in round one. Twice. And let's see how good your memory is. Do you remember who was the 16^th qualifier in Pro Stock last year? How about Billy Glidden?....Mike Edwards is the defending event champion and he may have the best car, from a performance standpoint, in the class right now. Mike's elapsed time and top speed numbers have been very impressive this year and I expect to see him win a race soon, very soon. Mike, like Tom Hammonds, has embarked on an in-house engine program and it seems to be paying dividends. Now if they could just turn those dividends into round and race wins....While he works on his engine program, Rodger Brogdon will use a Victor Cagnazzi motor in his Pontiac for the rest of the season. Along with car owner, Steve Kent, Rodger has made some real progress over the past few races and he could bump into the field this week.

Congratulations to all of the sportsman winners in Las Vegas this past weekend. Shawn Cowie won his second divisional race of the year when he beat Jim Whiteley in the Top Alcohol Dragster final while Sean O'Bannon also won his second race when he beat the defending D-7 champ, Terry Ruckman in the alky Funny Car final round. The more I look at the results in the alky classes the more I think that this year's battle for the Lucas Oil World Championships will be among the best ever. Stay tuned..

NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]

Nov 06- LAS VEGAS - Top Alcohol Funny Car Final, Round 4 Eliminations
Nov 06- LAS VEGAS - Competition Eliminator Final, Round 5 Eliminations
Nov 06- LAS VEGAS - Top Dragster Final, Round 5 Eliminations
Nov 05- POMONA 2 - Event Preview
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Competition Eliminator
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Super Stock
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Stock Eliminator
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Super Gas