Dick Harrell funny car @ Etown

[sYc]

WOW, what a weekend! Knew it was going to be fun when I realized that we would be piting next to Bruce Larsen and his '68 USA-1 Camaro. Besides being a former World Champion, Bruce is just an all around nice guy.

Saturday AM, as we opened the trailer to unload, Dave Libby arrived with a big grin on his face (he had taken a peek inside the trailer the night before). Watching Dave as he looked over the car was special. At about 11;00am, Valerie Harrell, Dale Pulde and her son Michael arrived at the track/trailer. The look on Val's face as she approached the car was priceless. The words of gratitiude from both Dave and Val made all of time and effort spent restoring the car seem trivial.

The rest of the day Saturday was spent watching everyone look at and photograph the car, Valerie and Dale sign autographs and get their pics taken with the car, Dave Libby recalling the past, on and on. With Valerie, Dale and Dave attending the reunion to be with the car, I would not be surprised if the DH car was the most photographed car at the reunion.

Sunday we arrived at the track early, to check things over. Once Dale arrived, we fired the car. This was a special moment, with Dale in the car controlling things and Dave squirting gas in the injectors. Everything seemed to be OK, except the sterring a little off, which we knew about, but could not remedy at the track. Next came the cacklefest, where the cars are towed to the track and all fired at once. What a sight/sound.

At about 2:00pm Sunday, it was the moment of truth, time to race. Mo and I checked the car one more time as Dale put on his driving suit. Then it was off to the staging lanes, with Dale in the car, Mo and Val hanging out the back of Craig's SUV, Micheal filming and Dave and I in the back seat. Slowly we made our way towards the tower, which you pass under right before the burnout area. Then it was our turn. Mo lowered the bodied, I pulled the pins for the chute and fire bottle, it was time. The car was fired, everything looked/sounded good, show time. Dale pulled out from the shadows of the tower into the bright sunshine for the world to see, first time in over 30 years. On the microphone was our good friend, Andrew Hinkley. (Do not know about anyone else, but I was shaking as Dale moved towards the water box.) He slowly passed through the water, and then preceded to do a burnout, funny car style. Even though there was little smoke, due to Dale going easy on the untested engine, the car looked awesome (at least to me), moving down the track. Good weight transfer, as the tires bit the track surface hard. Now came the only downer of the whole weekend. Valerie had agreed to go onto the track and back Dale up, but a known problem appeared. As he put the car into reverse, the car shook, do to too much caster in the front wheels. So, all Dale could do was put the car into a forward gear and motor on down the track and on to the return road. At this point, I was so nervous, I was headed to the pits until Mo reminded me that we needed to go get Dale and the car. Opps. Back at the pits, the car, Dale, Valerie, all of us associated with the car were swarmed by spectators, photographers, etc. Once again a Dick Harrel car had made an favorable impression with racing fans.

Thanks to Mo, for his tireless work on the car, before and at the track, Dale for taking the risk of driving an untested car down the strip, Valerie, Dave and Michael for being there, Criag for all of his help, Beth and Diana, for allowing us to enjoy our hobby and of course, Rob and Jon, who covered for me while away playing. This was one weekend I hated to see end.

A couple of side notes. Michael, age 12, Valerie's son, is the grandson of two very well known and respected funnycar pioneers, Dick Harrell and Al "The Flying Dutchman" Vanderwoude.

On Saturday, Mo, me, Craig and Marlin were sitting around a table looking at pictures with Dave, when he asked ME a question. Had my car been patched inside the driver's side front wheelwell, as he remembered the car being damaged here (I think from hitting a guard rail). Maybe Dave will chime in and tell us how/where. I could not remember seeing a patch, but as Mo returned to the car, guess what? Patch panel exactly where Dave said it would be. Talk about validating a car.