Fri, 10 Jun 2011, 11:24 AM It's Nice to Have Goals

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2011 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Ernie Kendall does a burnout in '04.

When I announce at the races I always say there are two things that I try to do, entertain and inform. Entertain because it is a show, a racing show but a show nonetheless. There are always your hard-core fans at the races but there are also those who are there for the first time, and as such I don't want to alienate them with too much technical talk. Have some fun, tell them about the drivers and get on with it. Inform, obviously, because if the fans don't know what's going on it's a lot harder for them to follow and enjoy the races. Again you avid fans know what's happening and why we are doing certain things, but your casual fan does not. With that in mind I always try to give them a little basic "drag racing 101" every week. This includes information about the running procedures, qualifying routines and things like that. But as much as I try to let them know what's happening, at every race I always get asked about two things. How can a slower car beat a quicker car (as in a holeshot), and what are those cars with the throttle-stops doing. For some reason, the second question is usually asked after a round of Super Comp cars, I guess they are the more obvious of the two, between Super Gas and Super Comp. Even the great John Force couldn't understand it when his daughters were learning to drive the 8.90 cars. There is one car running out there that may invoke questions about the holeshots, depending on how the day goes, but definitely invites queries about the throttle-stops and that's Ernie Kendall.

Kendall last weekend at E-town.

Ernie Kendall has been married for forty-six years and has been racing for longer than that. Today he is well known for his unique Super Comp dragster, the one that runs over 200-miles per hour, but years ago he was famous for racing motorcycles. "Yeah, I ran bikes in the 1980's but when I made one run and got two time slips I figured, and my wife figured it was time to get something with four wheels." That's a reference to a run Ernie made when he fell of his bike and the bike went through the timers in one lane and he slid through in the other. "When you survive a fall at over 130-miles per hour and live to tell about it I think you've accomplished something," Ernie said. By the time he gave up his motorcycle racing career Ernie had already competed in a wide variety of racing activities. "I was in the service and got to travel around so I raced at a lot of different tracks," he said. One of those tracks was in New York state where he ran his 1956 Chevrolet Corvette. "I competed in the A/SP class and I ran against someone you may have heard of, her name is Shirley Muldowney. The action took place at South Glen Falls Dragway in New York, and if I remember correctly, I beat her that night." I guess we'd have to get Shirley's side of the story to see if that's how it happened, but that's how Ernie remembers it. "Besides drag racing I did some dirt racing, high-speed hill climbs and I even did some ice racing. I guess you could just say that I was a wild G.I. having a lot of fun." A lot has changed since then, Ernie is not "wild" any more, although some may dispute that, he has settled down and now confines his racing to the drag strip. One thing that hasn't changed is the fact that he still has a Corvette. "I always loved Corvettes, always had one and always will," he said. Of course, in his later years, Ernie has added a Dodge Viper and a new Ford Mustang to his collection. "Years ago I had a Corvette that I bought for my wife. She thought it was too flashy and it might get stolen so I traded it and got her a Blazer. And then that got stolen."

Kendall in 1997.

Like so many other racers Ernie was out of the sport for a while and when he got back in he decided to race in Super Comp. His first car was a conventional rear-engine, big block Chevrolet powered dragster. "Ed Quay built the car, and he has built all of my dragsters. His cars don't have a lot of bells and whistles but they do perform well and they are very safe." That initial car had a 468-cibic inch engine, and like very racer, Ernie continually wanted to go quicker and faster, so his engines got bigger. He went to 500 and then even 600-cubic inches, but that's not all that changed. "About fourteen years ago I ran into John Spar and he changed my life." The two met at Roy Hill's Drag Racing School, and at that time John was running one of the few supercharged cars in Super Comp. "He told me that I had to go faster, and I believed him," Ernie said. "He was chasing that 200-mile per hour barrier and I thought it looked like fun so I went along." A bigger engine and a supercharger were all Ernie needed to begin his quest for 200-miles per hour. And that was followed by an even bigger engine and a bigger supercharger until he ended up with is current car that sports a 640-cubic inch engine and a 14:71 supercharger. "This is a real fun ride and I've been as quick as 6.36 with it at 227-miles per hour, but what he hasn't done is win a national event. "I know it will happen, but I've got this ego that I always want to be the first guy to the finish line. I've had perfect 8.900 runs and perfect reaction times and I went six rounds at the Division 1 race at Maple Grove two weeks ago but I've yet to win one." At Englishtown this past week he lost in round two when he broke out. "We sat in the lanes for a while after that dragster accident and the weather and the track changed and I didn't adjust. It was my fault."

When Ernie's car runs it has a long pause after coming off the starting line, and that's because it's going to run those big speeds. It's times like that when folks want to know, just what are those cars doing? It's hard to explain, especially when a car like Ernie's is off the throttle for about 2.75 seconds. "It's just the way I choose to run. I can and have run the car in the Top Dragster class but I really like Super Comp." And even though he hasn't won with the car, Ernie has accomplished his goals. "I set out three goals for myself a few years ago. First, I wanted go to 200-miles per hour. Second, I wanted to run in the 6's. And third, I wanted to race this car when I was 70-years old. I've accomplished all three of those goals so I consider myself a lucky guy." The fact that he considers himself lucky shows you what kind of person Ernie is. After battling cancer a few years ago he has had some news lately that has him a little wary. "Yeah, I got some bad news the other day that there might be a recurrence of the cancer. We'll keep an eye on it and see what happens."

For a man his age to be racing and enjoying himself, despite some health problems, should give us all something to think about. Plus, he is still active in his business that he now operates with his son, Brett. "We run MX Industrial, a company that sells non-destructive testing products all over the world. I've owned the business for over twenty-six years and now my son is involved. I have a great wife and I get to race, so, yes, I am a lucky guy." And we're lucky to get to see his car in action, even if it does make it tough for me to explain to the fans exactly what's going on when he's on the track.