Wed, 29 May 2013, 15:59 PM One Of The Majors

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2013 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Larry Dixon at won E-town in 1995

They have it in golf and tennis so why not drag racing? I'm talking about the "majors," a tournament, or in this case a race, that is set apart from the others. In golf, which has absolutely no connection or similarities at all with drag racing, there is the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship. In tennis, which also doesn't have a lot in common with drag racing, the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open are all considered "majors" and they all get a lot more attention than the other tournaments during the year. Even horse racing, which you only hear about a few weeks a year has the "Triple Crown," the three biggest races of the season. Of course with no possible Triple Crown winner this year the last race of the three, the Preakness Stakes, might as well just be cancelled, but that's another story altogether. My point is that several sports have events that are set apart from all the others. They get more media attention, more fan support and, in the long run, more money. Now I'm not the one paying the bills but I have always wondered why can't we have that in drag racing?

Amato celebrates win in 1998.

I bring this up because this week they will hold the 44^th running of the race at Englishtown, New Jersey. This year it is called the Toyota Summernationals, but it has had other names throughout the years, and it has been a fixture on the NHRA calendar for, well, forty-four years. In my mind, along with the Winternationals, Indy and Gainesville, the race at Englishtown is or should be one of the "majors." Ask some of the real veterans like John Force, Larry Dixon or Warren Johnson about the significance of this race and they will tell you that is has a long and storied history and it's one race that they all want to win. For the record, did you know that Larry has won there six times and that ties him with Hall of Fame driver Joe Amato for the most in the Top Fuel class? Along with Kenny Bernstein John has won it four times and that places him second behind Hall of Fame driver Don Prudhomme (6 wins) in the Funny Car ranks. Warren (and Bob Glidden) won it four times and that's second only to Greg Anderson (5) who was on the crew with Warren when he was winning in New Jersey. The point is that all of the greats of the sport have raced at the New Jersey track and most have carved a little niche for themselves, made a little history there or otherwise had an impact on the history of the sport because of what took place in the Garden State. By the way, if you fly into Newark or New York and drive to Englishtown you may wonder why we are called the "Garden State." "What do you grow, smokestacks?" one touring professional racer asked me once. But if you come south of the track you will find beautiful farms, lovely beaches and lots of wildlife and you'll know how we got the name. But I digress.

The "blow-over" by "Big Daddy" in 1986. Photo copyright 2013 NHRA

When you think about the race in New Jersey a couple of things come right to mind and they both feature two of the great stars of our sport. The first would be "Big Daddy" Don Garlits and his spectacular blowover that took place on July 12, 1986. Now that's when the race was really the "Summernationals," complete with hot temperatures, oppressive humidity and lots of fans. In fact one of the real treats back then was just hanging around the pits to see what people did to keep cool. Anyway, Don did what he called "the first blowover" in a race with Darrell Gwynn and it's still fun today to listen to "Big" tell the story of that summer day. Of course one of the great lines of all time was uttered during an interview with the late Steve Evans. After he climbed out of the car and was talking to Steve Don was asked if the car could be repaired. "No, this car can't race at this event," Don said. And then he started to walk away but he turned back to Steve and said with a smile, "I'm not that crazy!".Don's blowover was immortalized in a beautiful bronze statue that he has prominently displayed in his office, and if you're ever lucky enough to be invited into his inner sanctum you'll see it along with a host of his other cherished possessions. To this day Don will tell you that day in New Jersey was one of the most memorable of his career and it, along with the footage of the incident, are part of drag racing history and an event that people still talk about almost thirty years later..Did you know that a racer by the name of Jerry Marconi got into the field to replace Don at that event and he won his first round match against Eddie Hill, a guy who would have his own famous blowover years later? And did you know that was Jerry's one and only round win at an NHRA national event?

"Jungle" Jim Liberman

One of the other most talked about moments in the long history of this event came in 1974 when "Jungle Jim" Liberman made it to the final round to race Al Segrini, and this may be one of the few times in NHRA history that the loser got more publicity than the winner. After beating Paul Smith, some guy by the name of Don Schumacher and Tommy Grove, Jim was in his first NHRA national event final round. By the way that is despite what you may have read about the 1969 Winternationals. Anyway, Al had already stopped Ed McCulloch, Billy Meyer and Don Prudhomme and he was ready to meet "Jungle" in the final round. After a few wild and smoky burnouts (were there any other kind in the '70's?), the two staged and when the green light came on "Jungle" went into a big wheelstand, stayed with it for a while, but eventually had to get off the gas and came back down to earth. History will show that Segrini got the win, and I honestly believe that every time someone tells the story these days Jim's wheelstand gets longer and longer. Maybe we'll get a little glimpse into just how long it was on the ESPND 360 show this week because I understand that "Jungle Pam" may be part of the broadcast. Anyway, regardless of how long or how high it was it always will be part of the history of this race. Did you know that "Jungle" came back next year and won the Englishtown race and that was the only NHRA national event that he ever won? "Jungle" beat Tom Prock, the father of Jimmy Prock who is the crew chief on Robert Hight's car today. I should mention that Tom will be honored at the upcoming National Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green in three weeks, so congrats to him for this well deserved recognition as well as for his part of Englishtown history.

Herb McCandless vs. Bill Jenkins in 1972. Photo copyright 2013 NHRA

In addition to the Garlits and "Jungle" spectaculars there have been lots of other great moments at Englishtown over the years, and while I (and any other honest drag racing fan) would be less than forthcoming if I didn't say that the race may have lost some of its luster in recent years, it should still be ranked among the 'majors" on tour, and with the New York market to draw from it could be and probably should be one of the biggest races of the year. Also, and I firmly believe this, over the course of the years and the long history of this track, from national events to special shows and match races, there have probably been more race fans who have watched more drag races and who have seen more cars go down the track at Englishtown than any other track in the country...Among some of the other unforgettable moments at E'town are the huge wheelstand, and it really was huge, by Herb McCandless in 1972. Facing Bill Jenkins in the semi-finals Herb took off and, according to reports, broke a wheelie bar and that resulted in the car going sky high. Needless to say Herb lost the round, and since it was 1972 it's also needless to say that the "Grump" won that race, since he won almost everything except the Kentucky Derby in 1972. Did you know that the 1972 Englishtown race featured a thirty-two car Pro Stock field? Among those in the field were Sonny Bryant, Alban Gauthier, Pat Marchitto and Jerry Miller...Another part of racing lore at the New Jersey track is the instant rain storms and cloud bursts that seemed to hit the track almost every year. In 1973 such a storm hit the track and it forced officials to wait until the wee hours of the morning to finish the event. "Drag Racing's Longest Day" was the headline in National DRAGSTER after the race and it also proclaimed wins by Clayton Harris, Leroy Goldstein and Bill Jenkins. Did you know that was Clayton's only NHRA national event win? And did you know that he did something that no other Top Fuel driver has ever done when he won the race after failing to qualify for the field? He wasn't even the first alternate, he was the second, but he got in the show and made the most of it and ended up beating Jim Bucher in the final round.

Krawiec and team celebrate win last year.

There have been other late-but-great races in New Jersey and with ninety degree weather forecast for this weekend you could see those pesky rain showers and thunderstorms pop up again, but after all the wet weather we have already had this year let's hope it stays dry.The bikes return to action this year and they have been a fixture at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park for years. In fact, since the bikes became part of the official NHRA tour in 1987 the motorcycles have raced in New Jersey every year. Did you know that long before that they had motorcycles as part of the big show at Englishtown? In 1974 they raced Top Fuel bikes there and Danny Johnson beat Dick Prime in the final round... Eddie Krawiec is the defending Mello Yello Champion as well as the defending event champion and he'll be playing a home game this week when he returns to the track where he used to work and race. When Eddie won last year he was part of something that had only been done twice before in the history of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class and something that hadn't been done in any pro class since 2005. Did you know that Eddie was the top qualifier last year and his final round opponent, Hector Arana, was the number two qualifier? Of course you did but that wasn't the amazing part. Also in the semi-finals were the number three and four qualifiers Hector Arana Jr. and LE Tonglet, while the quarter-finals included the number five through eight qualifiers. What I'm trying to say is that for just the third time in class history every top qualifier won every match in every round on Sunday and that has only happened two other times in the bike class, at the 1993 Brainerd race and the 1989 NHRA Finals. Isn't that amazing? And how about this? Did you know that since 1970 when they became part of the full NHRA tour the Funny Car class has never had a race where all the higher qualified drivers won in every round? Never, and that includes 717 races..Eddie and the rest of the bike riders, who have made sporadic appearances so far in the 2013 season, will now race at seven of the next ten races and thirteen of the next sixteen so we should get an idea of who has the best bike and who, if anyone, is the best threat to replace Eddie as the champion. Right now you would have to say that it is Hector Arana Jr. because he has won the first three bike races of the season, but it's a long year, isn't it?

Mia Tedesco Photo copyright 2013 Robert Grice

One of the other interesting things that will take place at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park this week is the annual DRAW auction, or at least one of them. The affair, which is aimed at raising money to help injured racers across the country, will be held in the Don Schumacher hospitality area on Saturday night after the races. Special auctioneers will be the Mello Yello Funny Car Champion Jack Beckman and Steve Libby, who as the release states, is with the Ozark Modeling Group. Let's see if I have this right; it took four guys to replace me as the announcer and a world champ and a male model to replace me at the auction. Maybe I should have just asked for more money!! Only kidding..There are always a lot of great items up for grabs so I hope you plan to attend. It's for a good cause, you'll have a lot of fun and maybe, just maybe, you'll come away with that special drag racing item you have always wanted.A friend of mine, Bill Dean, donated the blower belt off of Tony Schumacher's 1999 championship Top Fuel car. It's signed "Tony Schumacher..Winston Champion," and since it's from Tony's first championship year it would be a nice thing to add to your drag racing collection.Good luck and who knows, I just might see you there.

Todd Veney vs. Frank Manzo Photo copyright 2013 David Smith Photos

One final thing. I received a lot of comments on the story I did last week about the Mecum auction of Bill Jenkins' items and most of it centered around two things. First, the amazing prices that the items sold for, and second, the reference to Bob Tedesco. Turns out that Bob was not only a Pro Stock racer but now he runs Pittsburgh Raceway Park and his niece, Mia, is a pretty good racer in her own right. Did you know that Mia went to the finals in both Super Comp and Super Gas at the Gatornationals this year and she won Super Gas at the Division 2 race in Atlanta this past weekend? Of course you knew that because you checked the results right here on www.DragRaceCentral.com didn't you? Plus, with her good start to the year, Mia is in the top ten in the national points. Thanks to everyone for checking in and good luck to Mia and Bob both at the track and on the track during the 2013 season..Frank Manzo did it again. Frank beat Todd Veney in the final round at the Division 1 race at Maple Grove and that gives him an unbelievable 118 divisional wins and that is, by far, the most for any racer in history. Frank wasn't in the top ten in points going into the weekend but he is now and something tells me he will be there for the rest of the year...Very few racers have done more at Englishtown than Frank and he is as much a part of the history of that race as anyone, and it's a shame that the alky class cars aren't part of the event anymore. Did you know that Frank won the New Jersey race an amazing thirteen times and went to the final round another six times? Over the course of the years he was an amazing 82-17 at his home track. Frank was also part of one of the most spectacular final rounds when he beat Bob Newberry in 1985, and just as they crossed the finish line Bob's car exploded and, eventually, burned to the ground...Yes indeed, this race and this track have given us some many great moments over the years and that's why it should be one of the "majors." Oh, and earlier in this column I mentioned the fact that it wasn't my money and that's because I think that if you win three of the majors in one year you should get a bonus of one million dollars. Hey, just a thought.