My first Indy 1990 ran C/SA with 71 Cuda, white with 383 blue billboard. All the Union Hill, Tn. folks were parked in the "Triangle". We were squeezed in with our truck and off color camper shell complements of Jerry Bennett. Open trailer with shade provided by the umbrella borrowed from our lawn furniture. Across the road and down a couple of spots, but well within viewing distance, was the the C/SA of Dale Shannon. I think Dale won Class and the race at the Gators. His car had the all the "Good Stuff".
In Tech was a long hot day, heck it could have been cool, but I was sweating it. Made it through Tech no problem. The cool thing was the weight sticker 440 ci. 385 hp, not the 440 ci 390 hp that the 70 Cuda's and Challenger"s had to run with.
We had a four round race for class, man that was so cool. I can't remember everyone that was in the class, but here is who I remember. Darrell Stiger, John Foxbower, Manning from Michigan, Dale Shannon and others.
Being new to racing I received several pieces of advice, some good, some bad. It was all said to try to help me be a better racer. Richard Carter long time stick racer from "The Hill", advice: Hold a little bit and don't show'em what you got. Then when you need it, use it, and it will be like you hit them in the head with a hammer". The other piece of advice is from Ronnie Veatch, "There is a lot a ways to win a race without having the faster car, get in their heads."
So it was with that advice I approached Indy. We kept an eye out for Dale and crew. When they were out I would have Chris bring me some tools and go through the motions of adding or removing weight. Making sure that they noticed. Even if we just adjusted 5 pounds I would carry the weight in front of me like it was 50 pounds. You know walking stiff legged like the guy on the "Munster's" TV show. Then change shift points to slow down or speed up accordingly.
I knew I had one chance to surprise the racers for class. Talking to John Foxbower a few years later he said people were curious as to who the tall guy was with the straw hat. I get by Darrel in his Super Bee round one, he was runner up that year. Don't remember the second round race. I raced 1989 Class champ, John Foxbower, in the semi's. We had just enough time to put the weight adjusting show on one last time, This time I made two trips to the truck to make it look like we removed a hundred pounds or so. Dale and company took notice because they were in the finals also.
We had one more trick in the bag. Greg Luneack earlier in the year told me about this new thing called a 2 Step. It was faster but it made the #9 'Stones spin badly in the hot. Also another drawback I was Red or Dead Late, but it was 2-3 quicker.
With the sun going down, car at minimum weight, and the bleachers shading the track, maybe this 2 step thing will work. It worked and I got by Dale's 428 CJ Mustang to get my first class win at Indy.
Over the years we would talk and laugh about that Indy race. At that race Dale a made statement that to this day holds true.
During the first part of the week at Indy before anyone went down the track, the Ladies that used a pole in their dance routine would hand out free admission tickets to the clubs. Well Dale, not married, and crew used their tickets one evening. He said a good time was had by all. Dale said that the girls had so much cheap perfume on that if you were married "You would have to burn your shirt to keep from getting a divorce for it smelled real bad"
I wonder what happened to all the cars in class that year. Greg Gay has Darrell's car, John Foxbower has his 68 CJ, and I have mine. It would be cool to find out what happened to the other cars
