Success at Indy No Stranger to Dunn

Drag racing Hall of Famer Jim Dunn can reach in his memory bank and pull from more than a few successful appearances at O'Reilly Raceway Park as he prepares his CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Funny Car for driver Jerry Toliver at this weekend's 55th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at ORP. Unlike most, though, those successes at NHRA's most prestigious race have come as both a driver and then as a team owner/crew chief.

At the 1981 U.S. Nationals Dunn drove his Dodge Omni all the way to the Funny Car finals before losing to Raymond Beadle. Dunn matched that effort as a team owner and crew chief in 1994 when driver K.C. Spurlock advanced to the final round of Funny Car before losing to Cruz Pedregon.

"When I drove I raced against the best and the worst, and I've been classified as both," Dunn quipped. "But I loved the driving. The working-on-it part you had to do if you wanted to run because you didn't have a bunch of mechanics. We just did it in our garages. I enjoyed working on them but I enjoyed winning better. A win's a win, no matter if it's the U.S. Nationals or just a local dragstrip."

Dunn did himself one round-win better at the '99 U.S. Nationals when he wrenched his own Pontiac Firebird with driver Frank Pedregon past Jim Epler for the Funny Car crown. Ironically, Epler was driving a second WWF-sponsored car for team owner/driver Jerry Toliver. Dunn even found success in the now-defunct Big Bud Shootout, a special event held on U.S. Nationals weekend where the top-eight drivers who earned points through qualifying throughout the previous year battled for the $100,000 winner's check. In 1997 Kenji Okazaki won the Shootout in a Dunn-tuned Dodge Avenger when he defeated Tony Pedregon in the finals with a 4.972 elapsed time at 308.32 mph.

"The U.S. Nationals win in '99 with Frank Pedregon when he beat Jim Epler was a big one," Dunn said, "but they are all big. The one I'm probably the most proud of was when we won the Big Bud Shootout with Kenji Okazaki in 1997. The last round he ran in the 'fours' and at that time there were only about five guys that had run in the 'fours,' so I think I enjoyed that one the most."

The Jim Dunn Racing team is coming off Toliver's advancing to the quarterfinals at Reading two weeks ago and look to build on that performance and create some memories of their own at O'Reilly Raceway Park this weekend.

ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise more than 10 hours of coverage of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil beginning with a two-and-a-half-hour qualifying show on Sunday, Sept. 6, at 11:30 a.m. (ET). A two-hour qualifying show will air later that day on ESPN2 at 5:00 p.m. (ET). On Monday, Sept. 7, ESPN2 will televise a one-hour NHRA Race Day from the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals preview show at noon (ET), followed by a five-hour eliminations show starting at 1:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks