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Wednesday, March 14
Etchells and Co. back in business
By Chuck Etchells
Special to ESPN.com
After an unusually long layoff, the NHRA finally gets back to racing this weekend in Gainesville, Fla. It's been a while since we've all heard the unmistakable cackle of a Fuel Funny Car, and I know we're all raring to get back on the track. Even so, I have to say the last four weeks have been pretty productive for Etchells Racing.
|  | | Chuck Etchells, right, with Mötley Crüe's Vince Neil, is ready to rock 'n' roll at Gainesville, Fla. |
As I told you in last week's column, the crew has been in the drag racing equivalent of training camp, working on their routine to service Jim's and my race cars. With the limited time allowed between rounds, everything has to be second nature, with no wasted motion. I know Terry has been working them hard, and we'll see the results this week, but I expect things will go much smoother in Florida.
Personally, the most interesting part of this break in the action came earlier this week. On Monday, I flew out to the West Coast to meet with the Tosco Corporation, who is the new parent company for Kendall Motor Oil. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce them to our team and the sport of NHRA Winston Drag Racing.
Accompanying us to the meeting were Tom Compton and Bob Wagner of the NHRA and Bob Jacobsen from Racing Champions. Listening to them speak, and watching everybody's reaction, I feel good about the future of our sport. I know there's a lot of work to be done, and we're far from where we want and need to be, but potential is there, but I think we're on the right track.
After things wrapped up at Tosco, I spent the rest of the day with Vince Neil, lead singer for Mötley Crüe, and Jeff Varner from the Left Bank Organization, management for the band. As we announced earlier this week, Jim Epler's Camaro will be carrying a killer Mötley Crüe-themed paint scheme for the next three races, a commemorative model of which will be available in the near future. We're pretty excited about the association, and think it could be a real home run for everybody involved.
Just from our conversations on Tuesday, I could tell Vince is pretty pumped. After he came out to spend the day with us in Dallas last year, we knew he was a huge drag racing fan, and having a Mötley Crüe car only makes it that much better for him. He's already made plans to go to Las Vegas, and is not only going to the pre-race news conference, but will be at the track every day taking it all in.
After our meeting was over, Vince took me to the Havana Club for what I have to say was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The place was packed with all sorts of movie stars and rock stars, and we ended up talking to most of them. Best of all, we had everybody talking about drag racing.
But now the Etchells Racing team's focus is squarely on the Sunshine State. This race is important to me for several reasons. It's the first East Coast race of the season and the one I used to go watch as a spectator. I've always wanted to win there. There's no doubt that Gainesville is one of our best racing surfaces. It's nearly at sea level elevation, which makes for great air for the motors, and track is really smooth. We'll have to have both my Kendall/Matco Camaro and Jim's Mötley Crüe/Matco Camaro jacked up and flying, because this weekend could be another record setting event.
As I told someone last week, Gainesville Raceway and Indianapolis Raceway Park are two of my favorite tracks -- and the ones I hate the most because I haven't won them. The closest I've come so far in the Gators was making it to the final in '96, and I'm counting on all the work that Terry (Manzer), Larry (Meyer) and the team have done to take care of fixing that this weekend. It's a serious business, and I'm going there to drive hard, because I want to win -- bad.
Chuck Etchells, driver and owner the Kendall Oil/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 Funny Car, will provide a diary to ESPN.com throughout the NHRA season. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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