Friday, August 31 6:00 AM:

Well, the cold front has moved in. It's not really a cold front, it's more of a front that has brought close to one inch of rain in the last hour to the Indianapolis area. Since around 5:30 AM it looks like someone turned the shower on high and left it there. I make a field decision to go back to bed for another hour. The noise from the storm keeps me from a deep sleep. Thundershowers in the morning are weird.

After I get up for the second time the sky looks better. Not blue, more of a grey, but it's not raining. I pack up the van with all the essentials and head out to the track. Friday is one of the biggest racing days of the weekend. As if you really could choose which day has more action scheduled at Indy. The SS/AA shootout is scheduled today along with the first professional qualifying session of the weekend.

When I get to the track it looks like an Indian monsoon has hit. There is flooding everywhere. Gate #2 (the competitors gate) is closed because of a small lake that has formed right inside the entrance. Where the Pro Mods are pitted is a quagmire. There are places in the pits that will not dry out for the entire weekend.

The rains have delayed the start of Super Gas round #1 by about two hours. Since NHRA is on a tight schedule today, something has to give. What gives is one Pro Mod and Competition eliminator session. Comp and Pro Mod were scheduled for two shots on Friday. Too bad; I like both classes.

I park the van and head up to the staging lanes. Darlene Staub, who won the Cecil County points race in Super Gas the week before is in the lanes. She at first does not recognize me. Once I tell her that I was one of the photographers at Cecil, she breaks into a grin and starts gushing about how last week's Federal Mogul win was her first of her racing career.

Bernie, her husband, joins us and we shoot the breeze until the call to fire the first pair of Super Gassers comes over the PA. Darlene has an easy win when her competition is about two seconds late on the tree. She breezes to a low 10-second time and goes back to the pits. The second round will be later in the weekend.

About halfway through Super Gas, Super Stock round #1 is called to the lanes. The schedule is to run the odd classes of Super Stock first. When I say odd, I mean the SX classes or cars like the low qualifier SS/DS Camaro of Richard Oakes. Richard's Camaro is essentially a tube framed Comp car with a V6. He has qualified low at numerous Division One races this year but his car belongs in Competition Eliminator, not Super Stock. Oh well, Phil get off the soapbox.

The SS/AA's are last to run. This year with Chrysler involved there will be no snafus like in 2000 when two of the SS/AA cars got stuck in the staging lanes trying to return for the second round. Last year Joe Teuton and Bucky Hess both had mechanical problems after first round and when they tried to get back to the staging lanes, the Super Comp cars had already been called up and both racers were caught with their pants down.

Teuton went as far as to go down the return road on the West Side to get to the starting line. Starter Rick Stewart said "no way Jose" and threw Joe out. Tempers flared and Joe was threatened with disciplinary action but in the end all was well and Joe was not reprimanded. Anyway, this year the SS/AA cars got all but a police escort to the staging lanes. The class eliminations went off without a hitch.

Seventeen SS/AA cars made the first round call. The last car in line, the low qualifier, Richard Beshore, from Mason, Michigan, broke his beautiful 'Cuda before staging and was pushed back to the pits. This left an even 16 cars and a perfect ladder to the finals. A major upset in the first round was Harry Holton, who had ran a great 9.094 in qualifying, losing to the much lower qualified car of Jim Keyes, 9.43 to Harry's slowing 9.52.

Keyes would continue his string of good luck to the finals where it finally deserted him and he lost to Bucky Hess, 9.07 to Keyes' slowing 21 second run. Bucky pockets a cool $10,000. Now since Keyes' car had not run enough below the index to qualify for the final 128, he was done for the weekend. Jim did however get the SS/AA runnerup prize of a new Hemi block. Not a bad departing gift. And Richard Beshore, who broke in the first round, did qualify his beautiful Hemi 27th (in the Super Stock field) with a 9.08 on the 10 flat index.

The Comp field is pretty much set after Friday's lone session and with only 72 cars trying to get into a 64 car field, all the serious racers are qualified. There are two A/ND's in the field and Brian Olsen's nostalgia car is actually in the top half of the field at # 6 with a .559 under 7.321.

Only one Pro Mod car attempted to qualify in Comp, that being the Corvette of California's Randy Hagerty. The ex-Mike Castellana Vette is not on his game and can only muster a 7.09 on a 7.07 index. The last car in the field, Terry Little's beautiful E/EA is only a tenth under his 9.13 index. First round will be Saturday morning.

Indy has got to be the only daytime race where the first professional qualifying session is at night on Friday. The racers don't like it for obvious reasons (not raceday conditions) but the spectators eat it up. And for the first time NHRA has scheduled the Saturday night session under the lights too! I don't think there are too many fans that don't get excited seeing two Top Fuelers or Funny Cars go through the traps with flames stretching over top of the rear wings.

The Pro Stock Trucks and Cars usually have their best times in the cool nighttime qualifying sessions too. The only downside is by Sunday when it's bump time few carburetor cars get in the show in the heat of the day. If you don't have the right set up early during the night sessions you may be on the trailer on Monday.

Friday night is an emotional one on many levels. First, before the Fuelers come out, Darrell Gwynn arrives on the starting line in a custom built go-cart/junior dragster that is controlled electronically by Darrell himself. This is the first time since Darrell's 1990 accident that he has been down the track under power by himself. There's not a dry eye in the place.

Right behind Gwynn is Big Daddy himself getting ready to make a shakedown pass in his Fueler. It is Garlits' first Indy in 15 years. Top Fuel driver and owner Gary Clapshaw has graciously allowed Garlits to race his car for the weekend and Big is making the most of it. First, he has the car painted black, then he somehow got MAC Tools rival Matco Tools to sponsor the car for the weekend.

This, along with Shirley Muldowney having MAC Tools on her Pink car, is great PR. Big, having never driven the Clapshaw car in competition, must make a half track pass before he can go full bore. The crowd is on its feet as Big does his burnout and backs the car up. He leaves hard, pedals it, and then shuts off to a 5.32 at 190 mph.

Shirley is up next and lays down a career best 4.647 at 319.98 that gets her solidly in the field. By the end of the night five cars will have run in the 4.50's. The last pair down the track are the #1 and #2 cars in the points chase, Larry Dixon and Kenny Bernstein.

Neither disappoints with side by side 50's. The Bud King runs 4.540 - 323.58 for low ET for the time being and Dixon moves to the third spot behind Doug Kalitta's 4.580 with a 4.585 - 316.97. Top Speed for Friday is set by Mike Dunn in Gwynn's car with a track record 325.69 mph. Neither time will hold up over the course of the weekend.

Funny Car is led by none other than John Force at 4.810, with Whit Bazemore second at 4.820. All in all, ten Funny Cars post sub-4.90 runs on Friday. Pro Stock ran earlier and Mark Osborne in the Dodge Neon ran a 6.903 to pace the field.

I don't know if it's my imagination, but the crowd wasn't as hopped up as I would have thought when Pro Mod came up. It was a wild show, with IHRA World Champ Fred Hahn going 6.234, that was light years ahead of second qualifier Rickie Smith who ran a not too bad 6.363. It's hard to believe that 24 cars were vying for eight spots. The Pro Mods have two more qualifying sessions this weekend.

After the Fuelers run I have to make a decision. Beat feet out of the track and get ahead of the traffic or stay around and relax and have a cold one. I opt for the latter. I decide to cruise the pits and see "wassup". Lincoln Morehead has his Super Stock Camaro up on jack stands and he and his brother Ron are tugging on the transmission. After class was run that afternoon, they have chosen to put in a "softer" trans for final eliminations.

Lincoln is one of the most hospitable racers in Divison One and invites me to stop in for a cold brewski. I park the van, grab a beer, and help Lincoln and Ron the best way I know: I don't get near a wrench. Tools and me don't go together too well if you know what I mean. I went to an automotive technical school after high school and I learned early to stay far away from the mechanical end of race cars. I would rebuild carburetors and have parts left over. Parts such as diaphragms and springs, which I guess, have some purpose in a normally aspirated engine.

After a beer or two I notice that the traffic has died down and I thank the Moreheads for their kindness and go back to the room for the night.

Saturday, September 1st 8:00 AM:

Sunny and warm is the name of the game. Competition Eliminator round one, along with Super Stock are on deck for today.

During the racing action, one of the NHRA reps comes up to me and asks me if I have a few minutes to help him. Help him do what? Well, he tells me to get on the back of his golf cart and off we go. On the way, Rick (that's his first name) tells me it's Frank Manzo's birthday tomorrow and also his wedding anniversary. Rick would like me to take some picture for National Dragster and the Manzo's.

I would do just about anything for Frank Manzo. He is as solid a person as you will ever meet. He's a supporter of DRAW. Frank would give you the shirt off his back in a heartbeat. Last year when one of our fellow Division One racers crashed his car at a points race, Frank donated his winnings to help get the racer back on his feet. That's the kind of guy Manzo is.

I get to Frank's trailer and I meet his lovely wife Michelle and she has a wild looking cake that fellow Alcohol Funny Car racer Fred Mandoline's wife has baked. I am at a loss to remember Fred's wife's name; I think it might be Pam; but she has made the cake to look like the Kendall Dodge Avenger. On one side it says "Happy Birthday Frank" and on the other "Happy Anniversary".

Also enjoying the festivities is racer on the mend Bob Gottschalk. Bob, who had a horrendous wreck last year, looked great and all the ladies were kissing and hugging the big lug.

Suffice it to say Saturday was nearly a carbon copy of Friday except for the fact that the Pros got two shots and they ran the Holley Pro Stock Bike Shootout. I will just say this. I do not like Pro Stock Bikes. I will go back to my car and check the air pressure of the tires before I watch them run. I used to love Top Fuel Bikes. I did not vote for, nor support, Pro Stock Bikes.

If NHRA did a poll and found the Trucks were so unpopular, where in the heck did the bikes finish? There are only two words on why NHRA keeps the bikes and they are: Angelle Savoie. If it weren't for her, nobody but nobody would watch these things run. And do they really use Holley Carbs?

That is all I am going to say about the bikes in this article.

Whit Bazemore blew everyone's mind with a quickest ever in the sport 4.75 at 325.69 mph. Force remained second with his earlier 4.81. Tomorrow is the Big Bud Shootout and Whit looks hot. At least under the lights. Let's see how he runs in the sun.

In Top Fuel, NHRA pulled a few strings and had Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney up against Garlits in the nighttime session. Shirley put Big away with a 4.67 after Garlits smoked the Goodyears. Don has but two shots left to qualify for the race, run his first four, and clock a 300-mile an hour pass. Time may be running out for the Swamp Rat.

As well as having Garlits, Muldowney, and the Greek on hand for the Nationals, NHRA invited ex-starter Buster Couch to come out and launch the Garlits and Muldowney qualifying shot. The racers definitely liked seeing their old friend Buster out there, especially after some of the health problems he has had in the past few years.

It's late and I'm tired. I will fill you all in on Sunday and Monday's action tomorrow. Thanks for listening....

Left: Garlits returned to Indy, with a vengeance: 4.72 at 303 mph
Right: Karamesines fell short of qualifying with a 4.84 at 301 mph


Left: Jim Epler's solid 4-second, 300 mph timeslips evaporated in a cloud of tire smoke in the second round of eliminations
Right: Dean Skuza had a less than memorable weekend, qualifying in the bottom half of the field, then crossing the centerline in round one


Left: Gary Densham set career bests at 4.79 and 322.96 mph to qualify #2, but smoked the tires against teammate Tony Pedregon in round two
Right: Californian Frank Grossi qualified his '01 Grand Am (GT/BA) well into the Super Stock field at 9.64 and lost in the 2nd round


Left: Michelle and Frank Manzo celebrate his birthday and their wedding anniversary with a cake provided by the Mandoline's
Right: Recovering from last year's crash, Bob Gottschalk gets in some quality bench racing time with old friend and competitor Manzo


Left: Dean Mink's '68 Cuda lost in the first round of SS/AA class eliminations (and the 1st round of Super Stock) with a best of 9.221
Right: Darrell Marvel's Hemi-Cuda had similar luck, losing in the first round both times, with a best of 9.212 in qualifying


Two pics of the SS/AA class winner, Bucky Hess, who turned a steady string of 9.0 timeslips into a $10,000 win. He lost in round two of Super Stock eliminations though and finished the weekend with a best of 9.054


Dave Barton had mixed success in his '68 Dart. He went to the second round of SS/AA class eliminations and the third round of Super Stock eliminations, but turned the quickest "AA" times of 9.016 and 9.021

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