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Sections News
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4 1/2 Minues ... with Dave DeAngelis Welcome to what we hope will be a regular part of Northeast Drag Racing/East Coast Drag News. For our inaugural segment Mike and I asked Division One Alcohol Dragster racer Dave DeAngelis if he wouldn’t mind being our guinea pig for our very first 4 1/2 Minutes. Dave, in addition to driving the Public Enemy Alcohol dragster, is also an award winning photographer whose work has graced the pages of many drag racing magazines, web sites, and newspapers. DeAngelis, who is a contractor, lives in northern New Jersey with his wife Michelle and their son David Jr. Dave jumped at the chance to be interviewed and I caught up with “Diamond” Dave at the recent NHRA Winternationals in Pomona CA. East Coast Drag News: Why Drag Racing? Why not some other sport? Dave DeAngelis: When I was in kindergarten my dad took me to Englishtown in 1969 for a match race. It was Don Garlits against TV Tommy Ivo. Even at that young age I was hooked. ECDN: So now you’re hooked, how did the photography fit in? DD: I had been shooting pictures from the stands at E-town for what seems like forever and at the Summernationals of 1987 I ran into Gil Rebilas. Gil saw some of my work and told me I had a talent for this kind of stuff. He also told me if I ever got out to the Phoenix area he would like me to help him out. My mom moved west right after that and I hooked up with Gil at one of the NHRA Fall Nationals at Firebird. ECDN: And the rest is history. Let’s first get some numbers out of the way. What is your all time best ET and MPH in Alcohol Dragster and where did it happen? DD: It was in the first round of the Matco Tools Nationals last year. I ran a 5.57 at 255 losing to Division Two racer Jason Cannon’s 5.55. ECDN: How well did you do last year in the Northeast division? DD: We were runner-up at the Lebanon Valley point’s race and went to the semifinals three times in 2002. We ended up 5th in the Division and 38th in the Lucas Oil World Championship. I have to give credit to Leonard Cantrell for letting me drive his car at the Gators that gave me 32 additional points nationally. ECDN: How did the Chicken Chokers deal come about? DD: Leonard’s regular driver Tim Slagle had a medical problem diagnosed right before the race and was unable to drive the car. Leonard called and asked if I would be interested in driving the car at the Gators. I said “you don’t have to ask me twice” and I threw my helmet and driving suit in with my camera gear and headed for Gainesville.
DD: Cliff’s dad Rich is helping Mark Albert in the Advance Auto Parts car and you should see a big improvement with that car. Rich McPhillips didn’t run good in 2002 but he could get it all together. Another racer to watch is Shelia Tafur in her A/FD. Shelia has Mike Kopchick from Rage Racing turning the wrenches and they could be a factor. Mike builds a lot of his parts from scratch and it may take the team a while to get it sorted out but they will. ECDN: If you were writing the NHRA rulebook, instead of just adding weight to the Nitro cars, what would you do to get things back to a level playing field in Alcohol Dragster? Is there and easy fix or is it much more difficult than that? DD: No, there is an easy fix to get the blown cars to run faster. By upping the overdrive like we used to have would help. The problem is that the NHRA feels that the blowers were spinning too fast and it became a safety issue. Here’s the dilemma, the NHRA does not want the cars going any faster. You will never see rules made to let the Alcohol cars catch up to the Nitro cars, if anything you see them trying to slow down the fuel cars. ECDN: But that has not worked in the past. Adding weight didn’t slow them down and in some cases the Nitro cars ran quicker with the added weight. DD: For sure, the Nitro cars make at least 1000 more horsepower than the Alcohol cars do. It’s like a Top Fueler, the rules try to slow them down and in a year or two they are running as fast if not faster then before the rule change. But here is my solution. The A/FD cars are a lot more sophisticated with the timing and the fuel. Why these things are running so good lately is that the teams have finally figured out the fuel and timing curves. These cars are mini Top Fuelers as far as how the teams set the cars up to run. The timing is set to retard and advance during a run so the cars don’t blow the tires off. Now it’s a little less radical than a Top Fueler maybe around 9-10 degrees of change and it’s the same with the fuel system. They richen and lean the motor out as it goes down the track. They have also figured out how to manage the clutches. The A/FD racers cannot run timers on the clutch unlike the Top Fuelers can so that to me sounds a lot tougher to tune and adjust than a normal deal. I give those guys a lot of credit for figuring it all out. It is my understanding that these timers on the Nitro cars are what are getting them consistent. My solution is, now don’t get me wrong, Alcohol cars have timers too, but if you want to make it fair for all the racers not just the blown cars, take all the timers off all the cars. Everybody just runs the same basic setup and the differences will be in the compression, the cams, and combinations that you run. ECDN: Well the way things are starting out it looks to be a Tony Bartone year. DD: Yes and no. It hasn’t gotten hot yet. The only really consistent A/FD I saw run good in the hot weather was Art Gallant and he won the World Championship. So I really don’t know. At this race (The Winternationals) the Nitro cars were running great but the air is awesome and the track is too. But when they start getting into a higher elevation and hotter temperatures things could change. Art Gallant was smart last year. He did what I have always said is the way to go. He picked the races he felt his car would run the best at. He did not try and run all the NED or Division 2 races. He went to a Division two race early in the year and ran great and then he came up here and picked the division races he wanted to race at. He didn’t go to Delmar, he didn’t go to Numidia. And he did the same with the National events. He picked the races he knew the car would perform the best. He didn’t roll the dice and say I’m just going to race Division One and see what will happen. Art planned his season out and it paid off in a National Championship. ECDN: Now Art didn’t exactly set the world on fire with his ET’s like Ormsby did. Gallant ran 30’s and that’s all it took. DD: Yeah but did you notice the speeds Art ran when he was running the 5.30’s? It looked to me like he was shutting that car off early. I’ve been at the finish line when Art runs a 5.33 and clicks it early and only runs 246 when it should be running 266. His car is capable of running 5.20’s but Art is very smart. He’s one of the smartest racers I know, He doesn’t always show his hand and he picks his races and knows what he’s doing.
DD: Tracy Waters. Tracy has a name for everybody. So that name came about after I told him that I wanted to run Top Fuel and he said” Oh no, another Diamond Dave Miller”. ECDN: Speaking of Top Fuel. You once told me that driving a Fuel car was the original plan. What happened? DD: I talked to Paul Smith about driving a Top Fuel car and he told me it would cost $15,000 for a Top Fuel license. So I said “I can do that” and I saved up the cash. I go back to Smith with the money and he asks me if I already have an Alcohol license and I tell him no. Paul tells me “Dave, if you have an Alcohol license you can upgrade to a Fuel license. Then all you have to do is make two half-track passes then two full track passes to get your Fuel license. Without having an Alcohol license you will have to make double the runs and it will cost you twice the money. It’s gonna cost you $30,000 to get your Top Fuel license”. Paul Smith did however, gave me a little advice. He suggested I go to Frank Hawley’s school and get my Alcohol license but it could still cost you some long green. Paul also suggested that with all the contacts I made selling pictures that I might get someone to let me drive their car and get my license that way. So that’s what I did. Steve Zavor gave me the chance to drive his car after the season was over at Maple Grove and I ended up getting my Alcohol License for $2500. Steve liked what he saw and over the winter we talked and agreed that I would take over the driving chores from his regular driver Gil Christen who wanted out. At the time Steve’s dragster needed a few more competitive parts so I figured the money I saved getting my license I would put into the car. Steve agreed and we worked up a 50/50 deal on expenses and I would see where it went from there. Well as much as I would love to run Top Fuel the numbers speak for themselves. If you look at the field here at Pomona there are only 20 cars and a Top Fuel gig is hard to land. I made the right choice. After driving Steve’s car for three years finishing 10th, 9th, and 8th respectfully in Division 1, I had to make a decision. Although Steve’s car did a great job for us it was a little outdated. Everyone around us was stepping up and we realize that to not just be competitive, but to win we would also have to step up. I looked Rick Santos’ car over at Pomona and I decided I wanted what he had. I bought a newer Heads Up chassis from Wayne Celko in NJ and a Brad Anderson motor and things turned around. We finished #5 in division 1 our first year out in the car with absolutely no testing. ECDN: What’s new for the team in 2003? DD: Over the winter I bought a Brad Anderson short block for a back up. And just last month took delivery on a new 40 foot fifth wheel Haulmark trailer I got through Bruce Litton in Indianapolis. We plan on making our first appearance at the Matco Tools race in May. I never realized the time and money it takes to get all of the building blocks you need to make a run at the Championship. ECDN: What kind of performance do you expect out of the dragster in 2003? DD: This car should run 5.40’s. Steve wasn’t even touching the fuel system in 2002. The key to making these cars run is leaning on them. Pushing them to the limit performance wise. We were rich, rich, rich all year long for the air and what the computer was saying. Steve would set the car rich so not to hurt the motor, and he was very successful, as we didn’t spend a whole lot of money on broken parts. This year with the spare motor if we burn a piston or kick a rod we won’t feel so bad. We want to start getting at the fuel system and the clutch a little more.
DD: First the members of the team: My dad Allyn DeAngelis and one of my best friends Joey Pilla. And I would also like to thank the Michael Mandelbaum at the Fort Washington Expo Center for supplying some financial assistance. Fellow Alcohol racers Steve, Kevin and Joe Cantrell have been great with helping with the tune up and Steve is always willing to give me driving advice. Norm and Roger at PSI are always willing to offer some advice .Two other people I have to give credit to are Allen Bridges from Simpson and Mike Gruber from Valvoline. I would be remiss if I did not thank all of my photo buddies. They are always cheering me on. Steve Zavor in addition to turning the wrenches watches my wallet. He’s the sensible one of the group. I told Steve, if we were in the finals at Indy I would blow the car up to win. Steve would then say, “If you blow all the parts up, what are you going to run at the Keystones ?” Finally I would like to thank my wife Michelle and my little guy David Jr. for letting me follow my dreams. ECDN: Well Dave we went over 4 and half minutes but I think the end results will justify the time we spent together. Good luck in 2003 and I will see you at the Gators in March…
Postscript: Although Dave DeAngelis will not be racing in Alcohol Dragster at the 2003 Gatornationals, he will be there photographing the race and who knows, maybe Dave will get a call a few days before the race asking him once again to jump in and help out a team that needs an experienced driver. Stranger things have happened.
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