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And on the Subject of the Motorplex...
The word around Indianapolis Raceway Park was that Funny Car great and
Texas Motorplex owner Billy Meyer is done with drag racing, and that
the Motorplex will be for sale after the O'Reilly event…
Car Craft Banquet Quickies…
The 2000 Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Team Banquet was hosted
at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis and was typical of what
is one of the sport's biggest social gatherings. The thing that got
everyone's attention this year was the TNN-produced film and photo video
screened for the crowd just before the awards were handed out. The first
video covered flash images of the 12-month period of July 1999 to July
2000 and really ripped. Bettering that by a hair was a nostalgia video
that followed with flashes of the 1990 season. Memory floggers like
Lori Johns, Jim White, Maynard Yingst, Mark Oswald, Frank Hawley, Kenny
Delco, Darrell Gwynn, and, of course, evergreens like John Force were
represented and the crowd ate it up. (Would it be that the same energy,
creativity, and spirit could be captured in the TV shows, any drag racing
TV show.) The Car Craft Banquet producers should be commended here because
this was not the first time they've put a lollapalooza on screen. To
the CC editors, those two videos would not be a bad little subscription
bonus item. Just a thought.
Dale Creasy Jr. loses Friday night 4.97
By all rights, Dale Creasy Jr.'s 4.97 during Indy Friday night should
have made him No. 2 qualifier, but no cigar. The run was thrown out
by NHRA officials after reviewing the incrementals of the run and declaring
that the Dale & Linda Creasy/Mad Magazine Firebird could not have run
that e.t. based on the numbers. Creasy Jr. said they picked up 68-mph
in the last eighth-mile and that was a big factor in the ruling. It
should be noted that from what we heard, nothing like a hot dog wrapper
or something like that, triggered the clocks. Our opinion? He shoulda
been given the time if nothing extraneous was found. Creasy's car has
run a 5.01 best, so a 4.97 is not something out of the question here.
A Note on Shirley
 We're
not sure how long three-time Winston Top Fuel champ Shirley Muldowney
(seen above with U.S. Nationals Grand Marshall, actor Richard Dreyfus)
continues to want to race, but she does seem happy match racing and
meeting her fans, and that's what triggers this note. Hands down, she
was the Top Fuel fan favorite at Indy. Every time she and the Goosehead.com
dragster pushed back to the pits from a run, win, lose, or draw, the
crowd went nuts, standing O's, the whole deal. And we've written here
about her autograph lines. It's DRO's opinion that if she ever got the
capital to make a tour (and again, we're not sure she would want to
tackle a whole tour) she would represent thousands at the gate. You
better believe that the one thing people will remember about Top Fuel
Indy 2000 was her wild first-round race and hair-raising wheelstand
against Doug Kalitta. That was a run that very likely would've imperiled
a lesser driver and shows that she's as sharp as ever behind the wheel.
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