The Day Funny Car's Don Gay, Jr. Nearly Died At Denver 30 Years Ago

Contents:

• THE DAY FUNNY CAR’S DON GAY, JR. NEARLY DIED AT DENVER 30 YEARS AGO
• DON GAY RACED AT DD
• DON GAY
• TRAVIS SHUMAKE STRIV TO BEE FIRST OPENLY GAY NHRA FUNNY CAR DRIVER
• DON GAY JR VS. ED MCCULLOCH

THE DAY FUNNY CAR’S DON GAY, JR. NEARLY DIED AT DENVER 30 YEARS AGO

Among those the p area was a young Don Gay, Jr., whose father, Don, Sr. The send-generatn Gay had peted prevly Competn Elimator and Top Alhol Funny Car, where he’d won three tim before steppg up to the nro ranks 1989.

The then-20-year-old Gay, Jr.

DON GAY RACED AT DD

Wh mimal experience a vehicle of this liber unr his belt, Gay, Jr. The Safety Safari, unaware that Gay, Jr. In a still-ighteng scene all the years later, the fire bottl the nose of the chassis, which were never released by Gay, Jr., me unr creasg prsure om the heat of the fire and epted like a pair of bombs — thankfully dog so before the Safety Safari uld return to the scene.

In a heroic move, Pdhomme, still clad his fire su and helmet, climbed om his mache and dove to what remaed of the burng Pontiac, assistg the Safety Safari removg Gay, Jr. The footage ptured at the scene went far closer to the panmonium than what was shown on the Diamond P verage, pturg great tail the Safety Safari’s race agast time to brg Gay, Jr. Gay, Jr.

His brother, Shane Gay, later raced Super Comp and Top Alhol Dragster. ’s reer-endg accint, the Gay fay had teamed wh the Angel brothers to found the Hoton Raceway Park, another of the new super-tracks of the sport along wh the all-new Bandimere facily.

DON GAY

The Gay fay remaed volved at the Hoton track until the early 2000s. Don Gay, Jr. The day Don Gay, Jr.

This is the story of Don Gay’s awful funny r fire at the 1989 NHRA Mile High Natnals and is as tough to watch now was was 30 years ago. As you will see, Gay Jr. The r went and hammered the wall, drivg Gay’s skull to the roll ge and knockg him out.

TRAVIS SHUMAKE STRIV TO BEE FIRST OPENLY GAY NHRA FUNNY CAR DRIVER

The heat of the enge igned the fiberglass and an unnsc Gay was at the helm of a flamg ghost ship of a r as slowly wanred across the track and h the other wall.

Now havg been on fire for a long time, the r rolls to a stop and jt as safety crews were g up onto , the still charged fire bottl, which Gay had not been able to release, explod a fury that pletely fished off the body and ma his suatn even worse than had been earlier. The NHRA Safety Safari along wh a still firu clad Don Pdhomme extracted Gay and credibly he was able to make a full revery om this. Longtime drag racg fans know well the story of Meyer, how the Texas lad began racg nro Funny Cars as a teen and went on to bee a huge succs and today owns the fabled Texas Motorplex, but before we get to his story and the stori of the others the lumns ahead, let’s take a step back a earlier to another Texas teenage terror, Don Gay, who wowed fans Funny Car and, cintally, also beme a racetrack owner.

DON GAY JR VS. ED MCCULLOCH

He passed away June 30, 2007, at age 60, but his legacy liv ’s parents, Carl and Marie, owned the succsful Gay Pontiac alership Dickson, Texas, on the Gulf Highway halfway between Galvton and Hoton.

As Detro began focg on high-performance rs, the Gays echoed their support by purchasg nearby Freeway Drag Strip, which they rechristened Hoton Drag Raceway (and later beme known as Hoton Int’l Speedway, then Hoton Int’l Raceway; check out a tribute to the track here) Don had been a fe athlete junr high, playg both baseball and basketball, but his terts changed the day that his father booked Hayn Profft and his Mickey Thompson-owned, 421-powered alumum Pontiac Catala factory experimental at the Hoton track 1961. (Above) The Gay Pontiac fleet nsisted first of a tr of rs, an A/Stock Pontiac Catala sedan, an A/Modified Productn Catala statn wagon, and a B/Stock GTO. (Below) Don Gay won A/S class honors Indy Dickson High School stunt stunned everyone by wng A/S class Indy 1964, back when wng class was as big as (and, for some people, bigger than) wng the natnal event might well have stayed the Stock ranks had his father not changed his life aga by bookg Pontiac powerhoe Arnie Bwick and his blown GTO to the track 1964.

” (Gay later admted that his first choice for the r’s name was Satan’s Chart. A lot of those same veterans would n at the Hoton track, wh full hospaly om the Gay fay. "For the 1966 season, the Gays ntracted famed chassis builr and racer Jay Howell to provi a new full tube-chassis r wh a fiberglass body (aga a GTO), and Roy got the hand-me-down origal r.