Found this today and thought some of you might enjoy another reminder of just what a racer this guy's always been.
"Danny Ongais got a bad rap from a lot of people. Of all the guys who drove dragsters in those days, Danny was probably the most shy and introverted. The other side of that coin was that he didn't suffer fools, or foolish questions, and he had no problem dealing with either by simply ignoring you.
For a gentle soul, Danny sure was mighty hard in a race car. And I don't think anything ever bothered him, except losing. I remember being down at the far end at Irwindale one night when Danny lost the car and barrel-rolled it through the shut-off area at 200 and something. The repeated impacts narrowed the back of the car, and it took some time to spread it apart enough for him to get out. When he stepped out, he looked like he'd just been down to the grocery store.
Danny was part of a group that went to England, for demonstration runs at Santa Pod, in an attempt to get the sport moving there. It rained, as it tends to in England, but the crowd was there and so Danny made his runs. Jim Kelly had gone along to document the affair, and he once showed me a photo he shot of Danny coming off the line, rooster tails of spray trailing from both tires. Danny's only concession to the conditions was to remove his goggles, so he could blink away the moisture."
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Enjoy!
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