Memories of INDY Part Two

This edition is going to be short and sweet. My plan is to do a huge photo recap of both Indy and the IHRA race at Epping this weekend. I promise. But it will take time.

Earlier, I told you about my first time at a drag race in 1966. For this edition of Fear & Loathing, I would like to tell you about my first trip to Indy. If you are easily bored by these "My first Time" stories, go right to the photo gallery.

Sherman, set the wayback machine.... the year was 1973. I was 21 years old and had been married for about four months. Old enough to vote. Old enough to rent a car. And old enough to buy beer. Life was good. Disco had not been invented yet and groups like Foghat and Led Zeppelin ruled the airwaves. I had long hair and bell bottom jeans. I weighed around 140 lbs. Like I said, life was good.

My friend Geoff and I had begun hanging around the local Steve Kanuika Speed Shop outside West Chester, Pennsylvania and had gotten to know the manager George pretty good. George Arbiter had the job to die for. Sitting in his chair dispensing opinions on drag racing and selling high performance parts all day long. George had it made.

What was even better was that Funny Car stars Jungle Jim Liberman and Lew Arrington had moved to the West Chester area in the early 70's and were regular customers. Arrington actually had his shop and racecar right down the street from Kanuika's. You couldn't help but see the orange "Brutus" Mustang Funny Car on the trailer as you sped by on Route 202.

At that time the East Coast was a hot bed of match racing. In the 50's and 60's all the good speed parts came out of the West Coast. Keith Black. Ed Pink, etc. were all located in California. But things changed in the 70's and it was possible to have the best equipment wherever you lived in the USA. Teams from Texas, Ohio, Washington State; you name it. There were hitters in just about any place in the nation.

Jungle and Arrington moved to the East to be closer to the match race action that they both relied on for their living. Neither made many national events. Their bread and butter were the weekly action at tracks like Atco and New England Dragway. Two, four, and eight car shows were held all up and down the East Coast.

We would hang around Kanuika's bench racing with George and now and then hoping to catch a glimpse of our Gods. And Jungle was God. Liberman could pack the stands at any track. Arrington's "Brutus" Funny Car was no slouch either but he was no Jungle Jim. I can't imagine John Force being what he is today if it weren't for people like Jungle Jim Liberman.

But let's get back to the story. George was going to Indy in the summer of 1973 and he asked my buddy Geoff if he wanted to go. Well once I heard that Geoff was going, there was no way I wasn't going too. George had invited two other people to travel with him in addition to Geoff. He had asked his girlfriend Carol or Linda (it's been too long to remember everybody's name) and a guy named Tony.

Tony was a tire wiper extraordinaire. This guy was not your garden variety Jungle Jim groupie. He was an uber groupie. He would do things like pick up extra blower gaskets or plugs on the way to the track just in case Jungle needed them that night at Maple Grove or Atco. Tony really never traveled with Jungle's team officially. But he probably had enough spare parts in his trunk to supply a Top Fuel team.

We nicknamed him "Tony Redunzio". There must have been some character in a movie or TV with that name and it seemed fitting. He knew it all. Been there, done that kinda guy. Tony could grate on your nerves in very short order.

So after talking George into letting me tag along, I went home to inform my new bride of my plans for the upcoming Labor Day weekend. I was going to Indy for the Nationals with a bunch of people she had never met in her life. This revelation went over like a wet fart in church.

To say she did not take it well is an understatement. She told me in no uncertain terms that I was not going. Over her dead body. No way. She eventually cooled down to the temperature of a smoldering volcano and we talked it over. She never agreed I could go, she just told me that if she was not there when I got home to not be surprised. I personally believe you have to have your priorities straight. Drag racing first.... New wife second... No wonder that marriage didn't last. Darn, I miss that girl . . . . yeah, sure.

Well, George and the crew arrived at my apartment in his van around dinnertime on the Thursday before the race. I had not told them of my predicament at home. I had my pride, you know. By this time my wife realized I was really going and she was actually quite nice to me. No packed lunch mind you, but we were at least speaking again. I had packed my bags and camera after she went to bed the night before just in case she wanted a round two of arguing.

I kissed her goodbye, piled my stuff in the van and we took off for Indy. Vans were hot in the 70's. You know the look. Long wheelbase Chevy V8, Side Pipes, Cragar Mags with fat tires, shag carpeting, eight track. The usual 70's van. The five of us had never been all together before in our lives. But after a few hundred miles and a few hits from the bong (it was the 70's you know) we were old buds. The eleven hour drive to Indy was uneventful and we arrived the next morning ready for action.

Today I can't imagine going to a race without hotel reservations and a rental car. But in 1973 we didn't make any arrangements at all and ended up staying in a dumpy motel in a town named Anderson. Anderson was probably 20 or 30 miles from the track which wasn't too bad considering we just drove on out to the Big Go East... We had no tickets for the race, although George had a racer's pass through the speed shop. I still have my tickets from 1973 and the first day's ticket with pit pass was $4.00.

Once inside the track we were like kids in a candy store. There were Fuelers and Funny Cars everywhere. The Funny Cars and Pro Stockers were pitted on the west side while the Fuelers and Competition and Modified Eliminator cars were on the east. I can't remember the exact car count but I think there were around 50 Floppers and a little more than 70 Dragsters on the grounds. The Top Fuel field in 1973 was a 32-car show. There aren't 32 Top Fuelers in the whole country now!

But first, a brief history lesson if you please. The year before (1972) Don Garlits, John Wiebe, and a host of other "Professional" drag racers had gone to the NHRA and told them that the purses (Payout) at the NHRA National Events were way too low. The amount ($$$) the winners got for the major races like Indy had not increased in years. The racers thought it was time for a change. They would have had more luck asking their Dutch Uncle for a loan. Wally and the boys in California shrugged and said "don't let the door hit you on the way out".

Well, AHRA President Jim Tice had a kinder ear and agreed that the payout was not commensurate with the times. The AHRA agreed to bankroll a rival race and scheduled it against the US Nationals on Labor Day weekend 1972. The payout (winner's share) was a whopping $25,000 for the Fuel cars and $10,000 for Pro Stock. The racers (PRA) and the AHRA felt the race should be somewhere in the central part of the USA and decided that Tulsa, Oklahoma would be the site for the inaugural PRA race. It was dubbed the "National Challenge" by the racers and press.

The race was a success on various levels. First, nearly all the big names showed up at Tulsa for a full 32-car field in all three Pro Classes. Since there were over 100 Top Fuelers in the country at the time, both Indy and Tulsa had full fields. Although neither show was as good as it would have been if the other were not on the same weekend.

The bottom dwellers were not the cream of the crop by any means, but isn't that the case now in Top Fuel? Second, it was the largest payout offered to racers in the history of drag racing. Third, it in some measure taught NHRA a lesson about racer unity and economics. The NHRA purses were raised somewhat after the National Challenge.

The PRA race in 1972 diluted the Indy race enough that the press did not give the "propers" to the winners that they thought they deserved. With Ray Allen winning Pro Stock at Indy in 72, they weren't too far off. Gary Beck did win Top Fuel in 1972 along with Ed the Ace in Funny Car, but too many stars were racing in Tulsa to call it a true US Nationals in my mind.

So with the somewhat weak field at Indy in 1972 I was relieved to learn that for 1973 the PRA race would be held the week before Labor Day, allowing the Pro teams time to repair/regroup and make the tow to Indy.

Absent from Indy '73 were Jeb Allen and John Wiebe in Top Fuel. Both were involved in a horrendous wreck in the opening round at Tulsa the week before. Kansas John got a little squirrelly off the line and crossed into Jeb's lane, colliding with the Revell sponsored dragster of Allen, destroying both cars and sending Allen and Wiebe to the hospital. Jeb had burn injuries and Wiebe had a severely broken leg that would sideline him for the remainder of 1973.

So much for Drag History 101; let's get back to my recollections. There were still plenty of stars in Top Fuel to make up for Jeb and Wiebe's absence. On hand was Chevy star Jim Bucher who was low qualifier at a 6.09. Plus, 1972 winner Gary Beck, Big Daddy, Warren and Coburn, Randy Allison, Carl Olsen, Hank Johnson, and the list goes on.

In Funny Car, NHRA regulars such as Prudhomme, Tom McEwen, Don Schumacher, and Ed the Ace McCulloch were joined by not so regulars like Richard Tharp in Rich Guasco's Pure Hell Demon and Jungle Jim's Vega. From the Pacific Northwest there was the Green Elephant and Twig Zeigler with his Pizza Haven entry. Add to the mix the Candies and Hughes 'Cuda, Pisano and Matsubara's Revell Vega, and Pat Foster in Barry Setzer's beautiful Vega. I had never seen so much fiberglass in my life!

During qualifying, Shirley Muldowney lit up her Plymouth Funny Car, requiring a trip to the hospital for burns to her hands and face. Shirley was okay but her flopper was toast.

At Indy 1973 the Pro Stock field was 32 cars big. Thirty-Two Car eliminator! Bob Glidden had debuted his small block Pinto the previous year and by Indy 73, he was the man to beat. Glidden reset the NHRA speed record repeatedly over the course of the weekend finally leaving it at 152.54. Bob was also low qualifier with a 9.03 with Chevy's Great White Hope Bill Jenkins third at a 9.06. The Chryslers were there in '73 with my favorite, Butch Leal, in the #5 slot with his Duster. In the all-Ford final Bob beat #2 qualifier, Wayne Gapp, 9.085 to a super close 9.092. They don't have 'em like that anymore.

Beck won Top Fuel for the second year in a row over Carl Olsen. Gary also ran the first five at Indy with a 5.96 in the semis. Poor Don Garlits had the unfortunate task of racing Beck in the first round after qualifying 17th to Beck's #1 spot. Big ran a 6.13 to Beck's 6.01. It would be the beginning of quite a rivalry in the coming years. Also losing in the first round was low qualifier Jim Bucher in his crowd favorite Rat powered dragster.

In Funny Car, Prudhomme who had won at Tulsa the week before, doubled up and beat Ed the Ace McCulloch in the final denying the Ace his third Indy win in a row.

Now, I will not go into detail who won the Sportsman eliminators in 1973; just get your old copies of Dragster out of the attic and see for yourself.

After Indy 1973 my wife and I did speak again. In fact we stayed married until 1980 when she decided to date other people. I wish she had thought about that in 1972! No, seriously, my divorce was very amicable and we remain friends to this day. I have been married to my second wife ten years next month and she just loves the drags. She just doesn't go to them, watch them on TV or read about the drags. Other than that she just loves the sport.

As far as my fellow travelers, Geoff and I are still best friends although we don't see each other as much as we would like. I ran into Tony at the food store about two years ago and he remembered our trip to Indy in the van. I don't think he attends the races as much as I do.

George Arbiter, well George went to the big staging lane in the sky shortly after our return from Indy. He and a buddy were out in a convertible 1968 Camaro one night and lost control of the car and tagged a tree at over 100 mph. George and his fellow passenger were killed instantly. I never did see George's girlfriend again after Indy. Jungle is gone too, along with Jim Bucher and Jim Tice.

I ran into Lew Arrington two years ago at the Keystones. His son was on Whit Bazemore's Winston Funny Car team at the time. I at first did not recognize him but he saw me talking to Gary Scelzi and came up and introduced himself. I reminded him of the old shop on Route 202 and Kanuika's. He told me he still lives on the East Coast and works on engines for a living (I think).

I hope you have enjoyed my little trip down memory lane. So much for short and sweet. Once I got going I could not stop. Also I did not nor could not remember all the facts and figures I spouted in the above story. I had to dig out my December 1973 issue of Super Stock and Drag Illustrated to jog the gray cells. Darn, I miss that magazine.

The two Drag Magazines that are out now aren't too bad, but I can read one of them during a single trip to the bathroom. It took me over two hours to read my December 1973 issue of Super Stock last night. It was just that jam packed with stuff!

If anyone else has a story about Indy and would like to tell it to either Bob (Northern Thunder) or myself please e-mail one of us. I love to hear other people's take on their Indy experience.

Next race: the IHRA President's Cup at Budds Creek, Maryland. If you happen to go, please look me up on the starting line or in the pits. I do not look anything like the picture of us in 1973. I am much handsomer now. I gained 50 pounds and lost most of my hair.

As usual, send your gripes and adoration to:
Hutch@delanet.com or Philip_R._Hutchison@dadebehring.com

Left: Reid Whisnant - '73 Duster Pro Stock
Right: Twig Zeigler - Pizza Haven Funny Car


Left: Dale Pulde - Mickey Thompson's Funny Car
Right: James Warren - Rain for Rent Top Fuel Dragster


Left: Al Hanna - Eastern Raider Funny Car
Right: Terry Capp - Wheeler Dealer Top Fuel Dragster