NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The last time that NHRA race fans saw Dale creasy Jr. at a national event was last October at the Texas NHRA FallNationals in Dallas, where he crossed the centerline during qualifying right into the path of Dave Richards in a two-car wreck that destroyed both machines. It wasn’t just a car that had been damaged on that day—it was a dream, a career, and a piece of his identity.

The crash in Dallas had shaken him, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and, obviously, financially. Looking at a six-figure investment for a new chassis and mounted and tinned body, he contemplated hanging up the driving shoes he’d been slipping on since 1997.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d ever race again,” he admitted. “I wasn’t sure that I still had it in me to keep going. I’m not young anymore (65), and the costs were astronomical, but John Force told my guys to go pick up one of his old cars. He gave us a good deal and we still had our backup body.”

It took almost nine months for the Illinois-based team to get everything back together.

‘I’m lucky because over the years, I've always been a good saver, and all the t shirt money we ever earned, I'd saved. So over 30 years, it was almost enough to pay for everything, but it was all the money we had left in the bank

“Getting it all back together was mostly stress, just like, ‘How am I going to do this?’ But I couldn’t walk away. I’ve been in this game too long, and there’s still something left to prove.”

The team had hopes of making their first appearance at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk in June, plans that were scotched by a bad test session right here at Lucas Indianapolis Raceway Park a week before that event.

“NHRA said I had to make six runs renew my license and to prove I could still handle the car, but we had some issues at Indy that showed us we weren’t ready mechanically, but every time I got behind the wheel, it felt more like I was back where I belonged.

“Everything is new, and the gas pedal is different, the steering is closer—it’s all better, but it takes time to adjust. It’s a better car, no doubt, but I had to get used to it.”

Creasy got the licensing runs done a few weeks later at Summit Motorsports Park’s Night Under Fire event, where he and his team defeated a four-car field that included world champs Ron Capps, Jack Beckman, and Cruz Pedregon. The track was a little tricky that weekend, which played into the veteran match-race team’s hands.

“We just made fewer mistakes,” he said humbly. “That’s what it comes down to — whoever makes the least mistakes wins. But it was a big ego boost, something we really needed after Dallas.”

After deciding to skip the Lucas Oil NHRA National in Brainerd, the Cressy team raced again last week and won another four-car match race at Cordova Drag’s World Series of Drag Racing, fending off Daniel Wilkerson, Jack Wyatt, and John Lawson, running a best of 4.08.

Among the new items on the car is a Pro3 data recorder -- a far cry from when Creasy’s father, Dale Sr. refused to run one on his car when he campaigned it in the early 1990s -- and newer and bigger fuel pumps that he expects will help them better their 3.96 best. At last year’s U.S. Nationals, they qualified impressively in the No. 12 spot with a 3.97, so hopes are high for this year’s Big Go. As always, they have longtime backers Tek-Pak, Beaver Shredding, and Summit Racing Equipment riding on the flanks supporting them.

The data they accumulate with the new recorder will help them in the future, and they have a new Dodge Hellcat body in the works, too, for the NHRA Midwest Nationals and, hopefully, a return to the Dallas event.

“I have to go back to the scene of the crime,” he said. “That will be the last part of the healing process.”