Thu, 2 Sep 2010, 07:58 PM There's More to Indy than the Pros

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Gene Snow in "Rambunctious" Dodge at the '67 Finals

In the interest of fair reporting, as I often say, the majority of the folks who come to O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis this week will be there to see the drivers in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, aka, the professional racers. Schumacher, Dixon, Cory Mac, Force (both of them), Hight, Wilkerson, Jeg, Greg, Mike and others will be the focus of most of the attention. For the two-wheel fans it will be Arana, Hines, Smith, Johnson and a host of other riders gunning for the Indy tile and a fast start in the "Countdown." But from the first time that I came to Indy in 1967, and for a decade before that, the "Nationals" has featured a lot more than just professional racers and I'm looking forward to see the class of 2010 at Indy. At that 1967 "Nationals" I saw Gene Snow pick up a win in his "Rambunctious" Dodge, the incomparable Joe Law win in Competition Eliminator and Dave Kanners beat Sam Cunningham for the Modified title. I also saw a guy by the name of Bill Jenkins win the Super Stock crown and Ben Wenzel stop the Gunning Brothers for the Stock crown. I also watched about a thousand other sportsman racers go at it for the better part of a week in order to have a shot at Indy glory and I expect to see about the same number do the same thing this week.

Larry Pritchett

Racers in every class will tell you that winning Indy can make your career, and that's a good thing because there are a lot of racers who have won only one race and that one race was the U.S. Nationals. Several top names fall into that category and a lot of them raced in one of the most exciting categories in the sport, Competition Eliminator. My second trip to Indy was 1968 and I remember seeing Harry Luzader in his '32 Ford wade through a tough field to make it to the finals in Comp, a final that would find him matched up with Carl Roland. Harry, who was an East Coast guy and a Division 1 racer, went the distance to get the win, a very popular win with the fans, and for Harry the only national event win in his NHRA career. By the way, that final was so close for Carl who didn't win and who didn't make another final round in his career. Oh what might have been. Another great Comp racer who won Indy is Steve Ambrose. Steve, who has gone on to a lot of national event final rounds as well as a bunch of divisional wins, grabbed the Comp title in 1988. Not only was the win Steve's first but he did it in style. In the last three rounds he ran through a "Murder's Row" of Comp Eliminator stars the likes of which are rarely seen. In the last three rounds Steve beat David Nickens, Todd Patterson and Larry Kopp to get the win. Winning Indy is great, making it your first win is even better and doing it by beating three of the best in the sport makes it just about as good as it gets.

Glenn Treadwell vs. Vinnie Deceglie in '05 Indy final.

For years when I announced at Atco in New Jersey I used to really enjoy it when the gassers would come to town. Once a year Atco hosted the East Coast Gas Championships and the best gas, coupe and sedan cars from the East would all come to New Jersey to battle it out for the championship. One of the drivers who came to town was a New Yorker by the name of Jim Oddy. Jim has gone on to great things in the sport, both as a driver, an engine builder and one of the pioneers in Pro Mod. Well, at Indy in 1972 Jim was driving one of his famous cars, a BB/GS Opel, really, an Opel. Jim made it to the final round where he would meet Don Bonfanti in an A/A, and when Don broke Jim sailed onto the win, his only NHRA national event title. Jim then came back to Atco and continued to dominate there both at the divisional races and those special gasser championship events.

Doug Kjono vs. Ron Baker in '84 Indy Final.

In 1984 Don Garlits, Warren Johnson and Brad Anderson added to their legacies by winning NHRA's premier event, but so did a guy by the name of Doug Kjono. Doug, driving his classic F/ED, made his way through the big Comp field to get to the final and a match with Ron Baker's Mustang. Doug got the win, and like so many others it was his first, and, to date, only national event victory. Doug has appeared at a few races in recent years, mostly in Brainerd, Minnesota, and I keep waiting for him to come back to Indy and try to win race number two. More recently, in 2007, another longtime racer, Jason Coan, found the winner's circle at an NHRA race for the first time when he won the "Big Go." Driving a little G/EA Jason made his way to the semi-finals where he faced Rodger Brogdon, and when he won that encounter he earned the right to meet Scotty Richardson who had already won Indy three times. The two were very evenly matched, but at the end of the track Jason got the win light by about one foot and he picked up his first "Wally."

Don MacCallum vs. Jeremy Duncan in the '94 Indy Final.

One of the other featured attractions at this year's Mac Tool U.S. Nationals will be the "Hemi Shootout." Started back in 2001, this year's event looks like it is going to attract the biggest field ever. The big, honkin' Hemi cars always put on a great show, and even before the "Shootout" format began they have been a big part of the "Nationals." Just winning the SS/AA class was a big thing and few people did that more often than John Friel. John won in 1992, '93 & '94 to become the only driver to win three consecutive SS/AA crowns. On the other side of the coin, in 1994 Don MacCallum didn't win the class but he did go on and win the overall eliminator title when he beat Jeremy Duncan. Speaking of the "Shootout," look for a special guest appearance by Herb McCandless this year. Herb will help out with the commentary during the "Shootout" and he will also be honored on the 40th anniversary of his Pro Stock win. That's right, the first year that Pro Stock was held at Indy it was not Bill Jenkins, Ronnie Sox or any of the other superstars of the day in the winner's circle at Indy, it was Herb. "Mr. 4-Speed" beat "Akron" Arlen Vanke in the final round, and just to keep the theme of this column going, that Indy win was the only Pro Stock NHRA title for Herb.

Vonnie Mills

There have been so many other great moments in the history of the sportsman ranks at Indy, including Santo Volpe's win in 2001, Larry Prichett's back-to-back wins in 2002 & 2003, David Rampy's three Comp wins and Vonnie Mills two near-misses in 1996 & 1997. 2010 will see Dan Fletcher and Peter Biondo running in Super Gas, Bill Reichert going for an unprecedented third win in Top Alcohol Dragster, Alexis DeJoria trying to become only the fifth woman to win at Indy and much more. Whatever happens you can be sure that the sportsman racers will put on a great show and the winners will be as much a part of Indy as anyone in the professional classes.

By the way, I would like to send condolences to Frank Manzo on the passing of his dad. The original "Ace" Manzo passed away on Monday and the funeral will be held on Friday. Because of that, from what I've heard, Frank will not be racing at Indy this year. Our thoughts and prayers are with Frank and his family.