Wednesday, August 29 7:30 PM:

I'm on my way. The plane has left on time and I should be in Indy by 9:00 PM. I have a connection through Pittsburgh, which is a USAir hub. With a 1/2-hour layover, this should be enough time to get to the lounge and have a beer before my last leg.

The lounge I chose at Pittsburgh is one of the only places people are allowed to smoke at the airport. And apparently every person who needs to light up is at the bar. Between trips to go out to the concourse to breathe, I manage to suck down a Sam Adams that looks and tastes suspiciously like a Budweiser. I guess they have four taps and one keg underneath. Anyway the connecting flight is on time and Indy is only one hour away.

As the plane descends into Indianapolis, I can see the main terminal on my left as we are about 200 feet off the ground. The plane lands and then goes about another mile down the runway. I had the feeling we went way past the terminal and I was right. One of my fellow passengers has pointed out that when using the runway we touched down on, the plane takes about 15 minutes to taxi back to the concourse.

And me, anxious to get to my room and get ready for tomorrow am already "chucking a wobbly". We taxied for what seemed like hours, finally getting into the terminal. The airport terminal at Indy has been remodeled and is quite nice. There is an Indy 500 kind of look to the place with little checkered flags and racing inspired gift shops everywhere. I am not in the mood to shop and I head downstairs to the baggage claim.

I get my bags and go outside to the curb to hop on the shuttle for the rent-a-car area. Twice I saw the Dollar Rent a Car shuttles go by. Finally I yelled at the third shuttle and he stopped. He graciously pointed out that I was standing in the incorrect pick up area. I was in an area marked "Dummies Only". Oh well. Stupid me.

At the counter, the associate (or whatever title they go by now) informed me they were low on the compact cars and would I be interested in a mini van for the same amount of $$$. Well, I ain't dumb, stupid maybe, but not dumb and took the gentleman up on his offer. $18.00 a day for a new van. Too cool. It was a loaded Chrysler Mini Van with room for about 8 adults. I, however, was traveling alone so most of the seating was used for camera equipment and beer.

By the time I got checked in my room it was almost 10 PM and I was tired and hungry. There is a chain of restaurants in the Midwest and South called Steak and Shake. They're no In-N-Out Burger but they are open 24 hours a day and I was starving. One large Steak Burger, fries and chili a few beers and I was done for the day.

Thursday, August 30 7:00 AM:

Get up, take a shower, take advantage of the continental breakfast and head out to the track to pick up my credentials. NHRA for 2001 has all of its photographer's wear a gray vest that identifies them from the rabble. That way the photo police can pick out any ner' do well that does not belong out on the starting line.

I like the policy, I just don't like wearing the vest on top of what I already have on. It gets kinda hot. Last year NHRA used a heavy blue vest that looked like you should be selling peanuts at the ballpark instead of taking pictures.

In addition to getting a photo pass that George Pease from Drag Racing News had arranged for me, I got a pit-parking pass too. The parking pass is almost worth the price of admission. Indy is big.... No it's huge. It's got to be twice the size of Pomona which is pretty darn big in its own right. It is exhausting walking from one end to the other.

The pits are on both sides of the track. The Stockers, Super Stock and Truck along with the 0.90 cars are on the West Side. The East Side is reserved for all the Pros along with Competition Eliminator. There were so many cars that they used the circle track adjacent to the strip for overflow pit parking. Cars and trailers are lined up on top of each other. Too much...

There were over 1100 cars entered for Indy 2001. That's not counting the over 20 Pro Mods that are running for an 8 car field that is called an Exibition. My guess is soon NHRA will be making ananoouncement for 2002 the Pro Mods will be part of the show. They don't want to show their hand too soon after droping Pro Stock Truck though.

Tons of Division 3 cars of course, but I see Division 5 and 2 well represented too, along with my home Division the land of NED (Division 1). There is even a decent amount of West Coast cars in attendance. Super Stock champ Jimmy DeFrank is there along with Doug Lambeck Jr.

In Federal Mogul Dragster, David Baca, Marshall Topping along with Duane Shields and Paul Jones are on hand. Federal Mogul Dragster is practically a who's who of the class with only Rick Santos, Cliff Bozzelli, and a few other hitters not showing up. Santos has been here before. He should be here now. This is the US Nationals, fer God's sake, Rick.

In Federal Mogul Funny Car, Frank Manzo and Bucky Austin along with Jay Payne will lead what ends up as a bit of a weak field. Only 18 Funny Cars attempt to qualify. Compared with the 28 Federal Mogul dragsters that are in the pits, Funny Car is not the cream of the crop.

From Division One only Bob Newberry, James Libby and Frank Manzo show up. Marc White who is leading the Division Three points race in Funny Car opted to not show up at Indy. Too long of a week was the reason I was told. I think the prospect of having to face Bucky and Frank put the fear of god into him.

The Federal Mogul Dragster bump will eventually be a stout 5.659, held by Shawn Bowen's A/FD. And The flopper bump will be a paltry 6.025 by Bobby Martin's Chrysler backed Dodge Avenger.

Stock Class eliminations are starting this morning. Tim Bishop, who is Dave (Competition Photo) Bishop's cousin is competing in C/S with a 1997 Pontiac Firebird. I have known Tim for about two years now since I started working for his cousin Dave. The motor in Tim's Poncho is getting weaker on each run. There are only two cars in C/S and Tim must beat the other driver to get into the 128 car Stock Eliminator. Tim's qualifying times are too slow to get in unless he takes class.

As it turns out, Tim loses in the class runoff to Eric Waldo from Richland, Washington. Eric has been running at least a tenth better all during time trials so it was no big surprise. Tim is done for the weekend and puts the Firebird in the trailer. Bishop has a new motor being built and it should be ready for the Keystone Nationals in two weeks.

In addition to running Stock Class today, the Super Stockers are getting their last time trials and qualifying in before Friday's class eliminations. The big news of course is the SS/AA runoff. Chrysler has put up $10,000 for the winner of the class. The runner-up will get a new Hemi block. Not too shabby. It is the 50th anniversary of the 426 Hemi motor as we know it.

There are 23 Hemi SS/AA Darts and Barracudas in the pits. Twenty Three!! Of this original 23, three will fail tech, three will pack up and go home, and 17 will show up on Friday for the chance to be the baddest SS/AA in the country. Next to Big Bud and Shirley and Garlits, the Hemi Shootout has everyone, including me, frothing at the mouth.

I remember when Chrysler Corporation commissioned Hurst to build 100 of these behemoths in 1968. Chrysler released 50 each of the Hemi Darts and Barracudas to what were probably their best racers and or customers at the time. Sox and Martin, Dick Landy and Butch Leal all put them to good use.

These cars could go so far under the index that I remember one year, two weeks before Indy, Chrysler staged their own eliminator to decide which Hemi would take the class and which cars would lay down during qualifying so as to get as many of these beasts into Super Stock Eliminator. It was that good.

Chevy had their 427 Camaro and Corvette and Ford their Cobra Jets, but nobody had a pure race car like the 1968 Cuda or Dart. The fact that they are still so popular today show how right on Chrysler was in designing and building such a car.

One round of Federal Mogul qualifying is run today and the top spots are taken by Las Vegas' Duane Shields with a 5.541 in his blown Hadman dragster with Jay Meyer a half a tenth behind with a 5.592. Claremont, California's Jay Payne led the Alcohol Floppers with a 5.699 in his Valvoline sponsored Funny Car, followed by Frank Manzo and ex-NHRA employee Todd Veney.

It's hot today, real hot. Over 90 degrees with humidity to match. At one point I feel like I am ready to pass out from the heat. I am an indoor person. I work in a temperature-controlled lab. Six hours of this heat has beaten me down. After qualifying is completed, I head back to the motel for a little R&R at the pool. Beer and burgers from Steak and Shake again!

There is a cold front moving into the Indianapolis area and offers a cool relief along with morning showers. I hope the showers come early and I wake up to a beautiful sunny day.

More to follow.

Left: Tim Bishop's C/SA '97 Firebird finished as 23rd alternate for the 128-car Stock Eliminator field with a best of 10.937
Right: Stan Holt's '00 Corvette fared no better, finishing as 27th alternate with a best of 11.009 (nearly .70 under the C/SA index)


Left: Joe Teuton Jr. wheelied into the third round of SS/AA class eliminations, with a best of 9.15 - 144.63 mph
Right: A pair of identical '63 Corvettes faced off in Comp qualifying. It's Mike Smith in the near lane and Pat Bennett on the far side... I think


Left: Bill Reichert went all the way to the final round, where he lost on a holeshot to fellow injected nitro racer, Keith Stark
Right: Jay Payne similarly made the final, where he lost a very close race to perennial winner, Frank Manzo, by less than a car length

Any questions, complaints or gripes, please e-mail me at Philip_R._Hutchison@dadebehring.com