Month: March 2017

By David G. Firestone

The son of former top alcohol funny car driver Jerry Gwynn, Darrell Gwynn knew from a young age he wanted to race dragsters. When Darrell Gwynn hit the NHRA as a second generation top alcohol dragster driver in 1980, his talent and drive caught the eye of a lot of people. In 1981, he won three events, and became the first second generation top alcohol dragster national event winner. In 1983, he won two events, and became the first second generation top alcohol champion.

In 1985, after winning 10 top alcohol event wins, he got his “nitro license” and joined the top fuel ranks. While his first season was unremarkable, he would win four races in 1986, and come close to beating Don Garlitts for the top fuel championship. From then on, he would win a total of 18 races from 1986 to 1990. He would be a factor in the championships in all of those seasons. His last win was at the 1990 Gatornationals.

Sadly, his career didn’t have a happy ending. In 1990, at an event at Santa Pod Raceway in Podington, Bedfordshire, England, he was racing, when his car broke, and crashed at 240 MPH. Darrell survived, but was left paralyzed, thus ending his racing career. Gwynn would continue in the NHRA, not as a driver, but as an owner. He would race with Frank Hawley, Mike Brotherton, Mike Dunn, Andrew Cowin and Cory McClenathan, and earn 15 national event wins. In addition, he works for the benefit of those with spinal injuries.

I’ve discussed the history of the Wally before. Basically, the Wally is given to the winners of NHRA national events. Every class has one winner. One discussion among drivers and fans is that there is a Wally that is given out to the best looking car at every NHRA national event. There are many who feel that the best looking car Wally devalues the Wally as a whole. Yet the NHRA continues to give them out. The best looking car Wally is the participation award of the NHRA. I thought this was a recent thing, but this dates to at least 1985.

At the 1985 Southern Nationals, Don Garlitts beat Joe Amato to take the event Wally, but the best looking car Wally would go to Darrell Gwynn, in his 1985 Dave Uyehera made top fuel dragster. I recently acquired the Wally from the event, which Darrell has autographed.It’s in great condition, and shows some light signs of age and wear. Darrell has signed the base in black Sharpie. When it comes to the idea that the best looking car is little more than a participation award, I do think it could be seen as such. However, in this day in age, teams and sponsors spend a large amount of time making their cars look good, so to be the best looking car can be seen as validation of this design effort. Either way, the Wally for best looking car isn’t going away anytime soon.

In many ways Darrell Gwynn’s story is the same as many other drivers. A hugely talented and driven individual gets to the big leagues, shows a lot of talent, impresses a lot of people, then has a big wreck, and his career either ends, or is never the same afterwards. It’s a sad fact of auto racing that there are many drivers who haven’t had the careers they should have because of bad wrecks. Darrell’s story should be heard by many young drivers, since it could happen to them. Next week, we’ll look at a shirt worn by an underappreciated top fuel legend.

By David G. Firestone

Last week, I discussed the first of two pit crew suits from Robby Gordon’s pit crew during his 1994-1995 SCORE seasons. This week I will discuss the second version. Last week I discussed Robby Gordon, this week, I’ll discuss the races.

Founded in 1973 by the late great Mickey Thompson, SCORE races take place between two points. The Baja 500 for example is a loop from Ensenada to Ensenada, with the course remaining the same for most years. The Baja 1000 has changed from a Ensenada-Ensenada loop to an Ensenada -La Paz California straight shot. Both races are about 800 miles. The Dakar Rally is similar to SCORE in terms of the basic premise, though The Dakar Rally is overseen by the Amaury Sport Organisation.

One of the more unusual aspects that drivers and teams have to deal with is the possibility of booby traps. Since the routes are well known, fans will arrive prior to the start of the race, and plant booby traps to watch the trucks and motorcycles hit them. While drivers can avoid them, sometimes they hit the traps, and suffer damage or injuries. Should a driver avoid the trap, they will radio the location, and officials will deal with the situation.

This is the second pit crew suit, worn between 1994-1995. Unlike the previous suit, this one is made of Nomex, but isn’t SFI certified.The front collar is a Velcro design with a FORD logo embroidered into it.The cowl tag is a Simpson non Nomex variation, with two flag tags. One is a size tag indicating S, the other is a made on tag indicating it was made in 5/93.Here is the first indication that this was used in SCORE, The right chest patch features an ULTRA CUSTOM WHEEL patch sewn into it.Evidence indicating that these suits date to 1994-1995 is on the left chest. Sewn into the material, which feels rather unusual, almost like a dipped polyester, is a VALVOLINE patch, and a SHILO INN patch. These two logos are clearly visible in all photos of Robby’s CART rides in 1994 and 1995. All of the chest logos are also visible in what few photos I’ve been able to find of Robby’s SCORE rides in 1995.The front torso doesn’t have any logos adorning it, nor does the belt. The legs are unadorned, and have standard cuffs.The shoulders have no adornment, and the sleeves have no adornment at all. The left sleeve has a SIMPSON patch. The back of the suit shows some light wear.The back of the neck has no adornment at all.The back torso has a large FORD blue oval patch sewn into it.I discussed why I’m convinced that this is a SCORE pit crew suit, but everything I said has to be reiterated. The lack of customization is a telling piece of evidence. Between photos and videos, I’ve been able to determine that Gordon wore a blue suit in CART. While there is evidence that Gordon at the very least wore a suit with some customization, for a SCORE crew in that era, it doesn’t seem so far fetched that they would wear a cheap suit with some patches while working on the truck. Based on all of the above evidence, I can safely say that this is a SCORE pit crew suit from 1994-1995, more than likely 1995.

Next week, I discuss the NHRA equivalent of the participant award.