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A long ago page cutout from that 'Ol Favourite
Ontrack Magazine - Featuring Danny Sullivan's Marlboro Team Penske PC19 Chevrolet at Laguna Seca
Raceway. (The Tomaso Collection)
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NO! That AIN'T no reference to the Stupendous
"Hollywood Hotel" 'O Roundy-round fame! As just thought of this after
the fact, when trying to come up with an Oh, So catchy title for a story that
was originally centered around the years five, i.e.; 1985-75-65, etc. How could
I be remiss to not include the Mighty Mach 5; Hooah!
Can
I-T already be 30 Years Ago...
This thought has been gnawin' at Mwah awhile
now, presumably since it seems to be the definition of when I began my current
craving 'O motorsports, as I tend to believe that it was the first Indy 500
race I watched Solo, being a young lad
who'd just left thy Parent's Nest-egg. Which perhaps is why its bugging me that
nary a peep's been made 'bout I-T having been three decades ago now that some Kentuckian
Spun 'N Won his way into history!
As I have a few personal remembrances of 'Ol
Hollywood, whom I think cemented the moniker after his cameo upon that long
forgotten Hip' TV Show Miami Vice, where appropriately Danny Sullivan played a
racing driver, albeit a Sports Car Ace - Ironically utilizing the long
forgotten Tami Ami Park's temporary racecourse in Miami as a backdrop.
And its kinda maddening what Father Time does
to your memory, And the Tricks I-T plays upon it! Since I cannot quite place
which of the two years it was? (1988-89) Therefore, I'll go with my fading
memory since I recall that being the one year I drove home before race-day!
Pretty certain the year was 1988? Or was it
'89" Since my lone ticket stub for the only time I purchased 3-day tickets
for Portland International Raceway's East End Grandstands is dated June 25,
1989 - With Danny's Mug upon I-T for winning the preceding year's event.
Having begun my Portland Int'l Raceway baptism
in the West End Grandstands, while exploring the different vantage points
before settling into a long stint in the West End's Top Row, and then
ultimately "Flying Solo" at the Festival Chicane during Thy Chump Car
Dazes!
As A-L-L of this
was some two decades before Portland INt'l Raceway would be celebrating its
Centennial - When I could still S-E-E the racecars...
Having arrived bright 'N early for Friday
morning's first practice session and parking Black Beauty in the track's
adjoining parking lot, I was ultra surprised when returning and think the door
was unlocked? But my real surprise came when I tried to insert Thy key into the
ignition for which NOTHING happened! And finally figured out something was
horribly amiss when noticing the inside dome light wasn't working either.
Long story short, I'd been at the track less
than two hours and somebody had tried stealing my black 1981 Nissan 280ZX by punching
out the ignition lock, along with absconding with Tomas Senior's 35mm camera
he'd loaned me for the occasion; SHEISA!
After collecting myself, I walked to the
infield tower complex, presumably where the media centre was located, as its
still funny that's the only time I've ever been inside the lone building in
over 25yrs of tramplin' round PIR! When said building sported a huge clock upon
it...
Trudging over Thar' to report the attempted
theft for which I got to ride in the back of a Portland Police Car afterwards, as
they'd promptly towed my toasted vehicle to a nearby gas station where I
awaited the arrival of a locksmith who replaced the ignition switch, along with
getting the battery jump started!
Still being somewhat shocked over the occurrence
I promptly drove back home to Washington that afternoon, missing that year's
race, as DON'T even think I watched it on Thy Telie?
As perhaps Thy Memory-banks always associated
this with Sullivan's '88 victory at PIR
in what has always been my most favourite liveried IndyCar he drove, followed
closely by the beautiful Molson bleu of latter years, since the East End
Grandstand ticket sports his facsimile, eh?
Yet 1988 was indeed the season that Danny
claimed four victories, nine Poles and eleven Top-5 finishes en route to his
lone CART/PPG (IndyCar) World Series crown for 'El Capitano, nee Roger Penske
aboard his sparkling gold Miller High Life Penske PC17 Ilmor. (Chevrolet)
The win was Danny's first of the season, the
year the fairly new 2.65-liter "Blown" V-8 Chevy thoroughly decimated the series, capturing
A-L-L 15 Pole positions, 14-of-15 race victories including Penske's Front Row
lockout at Mother Speedway where Rocket Rick Mears won the third Indy 500 of
his career.
As I've spent countless hours with Blogmeister
Miguel as Tour Guide ogling over
Danny's, Rick and the Unser's Indy 500 winning machinery at the Penske Racing
Museum in Scottsdale, AZ which I'll hopefully go visit again shortly. Having previously
chronicled the first of my many visits in;
Yet how many people remember that Sully' was
a Formula 1 competitor before his time in the Spotlight at Penske Racing, eh?
As Danny, who'd cut his racing teeth at the Jim Russell Racing School contested
a single season for "Uncle Chopper's" (Ken Tyrrell) Benetton backed
Tyrrell Organisation in 1983 alongside Michele Alboreto. As Danny would score a
fine fifth place finish in the Principality, ergo Monte Carlo - His only career
F1 points scored, when fifth place equaled two points.
Having actually
swooned over his Benetton liveried Tyrrell Cosworth DFV racecar during my lone
outing to Watkins Glen for an most enjoyable outing at the Zippo Historics
'Wayback in 'Twenty-oh-Seven; Gulp!
Meanwhile during the year that Sullivan 'N
Crew had transitioned into the fabled
Penske Marlboro red and white, I spent the Labour Day weekend Up North Eh! At
the Molson Indy Vancouver, BC race fretting over whether or not my Nissan 280ZX
would be recovered?
As thief's had finally successfully stolen
I-T after a further three-tries! And upon returning home, I'd be informed it
had been "Dumped" at Cody's
restaurant in Bellevue, WA. Which was the restaurant of the late Wayne Cody,
one of the original Procostinators 'O Seahawks Football; but I digress...
Next, in what was an unwise move, Sully
joined the floundering Patrick Racing Alfa Romeo program in its final season,
before Danny left to replace Meesh's favourite team owner "Booby
Ruble" at Gales Racing alongside 'lil Al in '92.
Which sparks another enjoyable memory for
Mwah, when Sully punted team-mate and de facto team leader Al Unser, Jr. from
the lead at Long Beach in '92 when 'lil Al was angling for his fifth
consecutive victory at the "Beach!"
Having already
pronounced my admiration for thou resplendent Molson blue racing car above, is
probably why I've long had a framed, autographed print depicting said race
hanging in Thy dining room forever! Not
to mention the belated Northwest connection those Galmer chassis have...
Yet without doubt, my most cherished memory
of Daniel John Sullivan III is the single time I met him briefly! As Danny was
hired to give our fledgling IndyCar team PacWest Racing some notoriety, joining
the Pacific Northwest squad for its second full season campaign, with ex-Formula
1 driver "Big Mo," aka Mauricio Gugelmin as Sully's Wingman, or was
it visa-versa?
Know I've recounted the story here at No
Fenders before, but, team owner Bruce McCaw and Tom Armstrong were heavily
involved with contesting SOVREN's 4th 'O July Historics race, held yearly at
Pacific Raceways and wallah! Or was it Wall Smack; THUD! As the PacWest IndyCar
drivers also were on hand as featured guest participants...
Danny subsequently shunted team boss McCaw's
Can Am car and afterwards I went B-I-G' GAME Hunting in search of collecting
Sullivan's "John Hancock" on a Molson Indy Vancouver race poster
print utilizing past IndyCar starter Jim Swintal's painting.
Having finally corralled Danny in the
Paddock, he asked me to be patient while he signed a kid's request first. Then
putting his hand upon my shoulder he Quipped: "If I had a buck' for every
time I signed one of these. I think I've signed them All!" Telling me he'd
originally signed just a "limited edition" as souvenirs.
Holy Crap! Hard to believe that was twenty years
ago, for which it ALSO been hanging on
the wall almost that long
Then at Michigan, he broke his pelvis amongst
other injuries and announced his retirement from Open Wheel Racing, leaving with
17 career wins in 170-starts including his 1985 Borg Warner trophy and '88 PPG
Cup, before he collectively fell off my radar screen after his few years as a
Colour Commentator for ABC's IndyCar races.
NO idea why I still remember Danny's last(?) competitive
major race outing, albeit probably having something to do with la rosso chariot
he was driving.
With Sullivan contesting le Circuit de la
Sarthe in '04, when at the spry age 'O 54, Sullivan co-drove one of the totally
unknown to Mwah Baron Connor Racing's normally aspirated six liter V-12 Ferrari
575GTC entries with the Netherlands
John Bosch and Italy's Thomas Biagi co-driving. As the No.
61 GTS entry finished 36th overall after being classified as Did Not Finish.
(DNF)
As hard to believe that Monsieur Sullivan, as
seem to recall he was living in France with his wife? (Since
apparently in 2010 whilst commemorating the 25th anniversary of collecting Thy
Borg Warner trophy, he talked 'bout just chillin' at home in Pebble Beach and
watching via the Telie' instead of attending the Indy 500 in person...) Has
just become an offical' Senior Citizen this March when he celebrated his 65th
birthday! While his name occasionally pops-up at a Formula 1 race as a guest
Racing Steward, which apparently he's done three times.
Alas, as 'Ol
Hollywood's star was fading, a new constellation was sweeping over IndyCar,
simply known as Mansell Mania!