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Friday, May 18
Ready for a big weekend in Englishtown
By Chuck Etchells
Special to ESPN.com
The Chuck Etchells Racing Team will officially kick off its 2001 season at this weekend's Matco Tools Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J. I know many of you are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, because, as everyone knows, this weekend's race will be the eighth event on the NHRA schedule, and our team has participated in each one of them. However, Englishtown will be the first race since our changeover to Sunoco, where our crew will be sufficiently staffed for both cars to make every qualifying run. As you can guess, this is a very important race for us for many reasons.
But before I talk about the significance of this weekend's race to our team, I need to recognize a very important person who will be missing. Vincent Napoliello, known to all as Vinnie Napp, lost his battle with cancer late last year. Anyone who has ever drag raced on the East Coast can tell you about Vinnie Napp, and what he has done for our sport.
I started running a Funny Car after I bought one of Bruce Larsen's cars in the fall of 1978. In March of 1979, I went to Raceway Park to get my Funny Car license, which was the first time I ever sat in a Funny Car. I met Vinnie Napp that weekend, and from that point forward he was really supportive of my efforts. Back then I was just a little guy whose racing existence depended on how many match races I could run. Well, I came to Englishtown to race for Vinnie 16 times a year for many years.
Vinnie was the driving force behind Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, which was drag racing's premier facility when he built it, and today is still one of best on the circuit. There were many times over the years Vinnie could have sold this place for millions of dollars, but never did.
Three miles from the track you will find developments with million-dollar homes, and Vinnie paid an ungodly amount of money in legal fees fighting to keep the track open when some people in the area tried to close it down. Vinnie simply loved the sport, and it was a lot more important to him than the money.
I want to see us have a great race this weekend, because I know Vinnie will be up there watching us. I'm sure his family will carry on his tradition of having a magnificently prepared track for us so we can go out and have our best race of the year.
As for the Etchells Racing team, we have a stiff challenge ahead of us. Although we'll have enough crew guys on hand to run both cars, some of them are pretty inexperienced. That could make it interesting Sunday if both cars start to go rounds. It could be a struggle, but we are also fortunate to have some great senior guys on the crew to help make sure we get the job done.
I'm feeling pretty good about this weekend, because I have a pretty good tradition in this type of circumstance. The first NHRA national event I ever won was in 1990, when I came with a one race deal with a local company named Mother's Performance. In 1992, I came back to New Jersey with my first major sponsor, Nobody Beats the Wiz, and again took home the trophy. So, as you can see, I have a pretty good track record coming here with a new sponsor.
Hopefully that history will carry over this weekend, because we'll have a lot of key people here from Sunoco and General Motors. In addition, it is a Matco Tools race, which gives us even more reason to do well. (Heck, if I lost to another tool company's car, I could get fired!) It's a big weekend, but everybody on the team understand the importance of this event, and we're going to do everything we can to make our sponsors proud.
Chuck Etchells, driver and owner the Sunoco/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 Funny Car, provides a diary to ESPN.com throughout the NHRA season. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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