Fri, 24 Sep 2010, 09:38 AM Enjoying The Best Of Both Worlds

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Rich Carlson

Dan Cyr

One of the great things about this country is that there is something for everyone. Our country is like one big Baskin-Robbins store, that is, we have chocolate, vanilla, Pralines 'n cream, Creole cream cheese and black walnut. In short, you can have your choice of almost anything you want. When it comes to cars there are those who love drag racing and those who love NASCAR, and even a few, a very few, who like both. There are Chevy fans and Ford fans and very few who like both. There are race cars and show cars, and when it comes to the show cars you have the drivers and the trailer queens. When it comes to racing you have the Super categories and the classic eliminator classes and you have people who like both. But with all of those choices the simple fact is that most folks pick one or the other, chocolate or vanilla, race cars or show cars, but not Dan Cyr. Dan is a guy who has been involved with drag racing since the mid 1960's and who has also been heavily involved with some of the classic and biggest car shows in the country.

Dan Cyr

It all began back in 1965 for Dan who, along with his partner, the late Terry Nelson, built a classic 1948 Anglia that ran in the B/A class. "It had a 396 cubic inch, 425 horsepower engine and it ran in the low 10's. That may not seem very quick now but it was pretty good back then." The car, which ran at the peak of the "gasser wars," had fuel injection, a straight axel and ran along with some of the top names in the class. "We ran when the King Kong car and the Kohler Brothers were running and it was a lot of fun." Dan ran that car until 1969 when he decided to step up in class, elapsed time and speed. "We bought a Top Gas engine from one of the top teams in the Northwest and ran that for a couple of years. It had a 420 cubic inch engine and was pretty competitive."

After racing that car for a few years Dan found another love besides cars. "I married Charlene in 1973 and she had what I call a 'Model-T' garage. By that I meant you could only put a short car in it." So what did he do? What every resourceful drag racer would have done, he bought a short car. "It was an A.C. Cobra and we ran that in the econo-altered class. Nick Betts from New York built a 402 cubic inch engine for it and we ran that until 1979." After setting the record and holding it for, according to Dan, "about a week," Dan decided to take a break from drag racing. "I was a little burned out on it and I started going to some car shows and I really enjoyed them." That's when Dan's second career was born. "I had been in the computer business, you know, selling parts, computers, maintenance contracts and things like that. It's funny now that I think about it, your cell phone probably has more capacity than some of the computers I sold back then."

Dan's second career would take him to the exciting world of street rods and car shows, very big car shows. "I bought a '40 Ford, started going to shows and hanging out with some of the guys in the car clubs. In 1989 the local council of the club I was in was looking for a promoter for their shows. I raised my hand, got the job and I did that from 1990 thru 1997." Like everything else he has done Dan immersed himself in the job, and over the course of the next few years, he took the Portland Roadster Show from an annual attendance of about 16,000 to close to 40,000. "After that I purchased a few more shows and in the end I was running four of the best roadster shows on the West Coast. I guess you could say that my hobby turned into my job."

When his stint with the car shows was over Dan got back into drag racing and today he runs a pair of cars, one in Stock Eliminator and one in Super Stock. The Stock class car is a car that could be right at home in one of Dan's car shows. "I guess you could say that, except for a little trailer rash it's in pretty good shape. It's a 'Hugger Orange' '69 Camaro with a 427 / 425 horsepower engine in it. The Super Stock car is a Chevrolet Nova that runs in the SS/CS class. The folks at Rick Watters Enterprises did the 316 cubic inch engine for that car. In this class you are limited to a 750 cfm carburetor and you have to weight 10.5 pounds per cubic inch. It's a nice class and the car is a lot of fun to drive." When I caught up with Dan at Portland International Raceway a few weeks ago he was making his last racing appearance of the season, and that was for a couple of reasons. The weather and NHRA schedule were factors, but there was something much more important than that. "We lost Charlene two weeks ago," he said of his wife of thirty-seven years. "She had cancer back in 2002 and she beat that and then got ovarian cancer in 2006. We sold the cars shows so we could spend time together." Dan said that, after her passing, he needed to get back to the track, be among friends and get out of the house. "It's nice to be here and to see all the familiar faces. After being with someone for so long, it's hard to go back to the house."

For a guy who has been around the sport for over fifty years, Dan has made a lot of friends and he enjoyed being with them in Portland and he said that he has some goals for his drag racing future. "I have already completed one half of my dream tour. In 2006 I went to Atlanta, Bristol, Topeka, Chicago and Brainerd. Next I'd like to follow the "Western Swing" and then go back to Indy." As surprising as it may be, for all the years that he has been involved in the sport, Dan has never been to the Mecca of drag racing, Indianapolis. "You have to have everything together when you go to Indy. Right now my cars aren't fast enough to qualify there, but they will be next year."

Dan Cyr really is a man for all seasons, a real car guy who loves anything with wheels and who has accomplished a lot in his life. And while he comes to grips with the loss of his wife he is still focused on his other love, drag racing. "I enjoy this and I look forward to next year." And who knows, he just may drive one of his classic cars, show stoppers in their own right, to the races, climb out and race in Stock and Super Stock. You can do that when you love show cars and race cars, and nobody loves both of them more than Dan does.

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