Bret K., I was trying to remember his name. My eyes lit up at dinner at
Bonneville one night when saw him come in to eat at the "Rainbow Room". He
took a
table next to ours. Eventually I could not take it anymore and I approached
him with eager anticipation. Sporting my Bonneville shirt I said " did you
bring
a car" He said "a rental, why do you need a ride?" in the most offensive tone
of voice I ever heard. I readjusted and said, " no I mean, are you here for
the races", and he looked at me with the most disgusted look and said "only for
the 22nd consecutive year", I tried to say more, then he turned around and
went toward the buffet. I guess he and I looked at each other with much
different expectations. He sure does a fine job with the "color commentary"
for
ESPN. Probably gets tired of people approaching him expecting a warm response.
Anyway I had no clue he was so knowledgable about Bonneville. Bruce thanks
for sharing the info on him, there is always more than meets the eye.
Joe :) :)
FastmetalBDF@aol.com wrote:
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> Message-ID: <39B64F36.A8A4F760@hotrodder.com>
> Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 09:05:42 -0500
> From: "Vickie/HotRodder.Com" <webmaster@hotrodder.com>
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> To: Bruce <FastmetalBDF@aol.com>
> Subject: Speedweek
>
> Well I have to tell ya, your sending me that Speedweek update when you
> did was really weird. I was just heading for Cordova Dragway in
> Illinois to meet up with my friend Bret Kepner, who'd be doing the
> announcing for the World Series of Drag Racing that weekend. Bret's
> probably second to Louise in knowledge of the Bonneville races. He's
> gone to every one for the last 20 some years. And if you know Bret, he
> could probable tell you every ET from every car that has been there
> since. That man's amazing! If you don't know Bret, he's a race / car
> show commentator on ESPN2 and he's been a journalist since he was 17 and
> started writing for Super Stock and Drag Ill. And he's a veritable
> walking encyclopedia of anything drag or race related.
>
> Anyway after the race at Cordova that Friday night, we went out to eat
> and I was asking him about Bonneville. He went there this year with Ed
> O'Reilly, the former IHRA nat'l event announcer. When they go to
> Speedweek, it's traditional to rise before the sun and set up 'camp' on
> the flats to watch the sunrise, then stay till the last car leaves in
> the evening. Well, I happened to mention that I received your email
> and wondered if he saw your car there. Omigosh! His eyes lit up like
> I've never seen. Now Bret has seen and done it all in his days & there
> isn't much that can impress him anymore, but when I mentioned the Black
> Radon car he got very animated. He was absolutely fascinated with it
> and said it was his favorite car there this year! Said something about
> how the engine made this incredible 'noise' you'd swear it was gonna
> blow up but it powered that car like nothing else. And he even gave me
> all your stats before I had a chance to tell your story myself :-)
> Well, I thought it was kinda interesting that it all fell into place
> like it did.
>
> I really admire the folks who get out to run the flats. Haven't decided
> yet if they're incredibly courageous or totally insane, though. :-)
> I think what is most unique about it is that the teams can use
> everything available to make their car go fast. A real challenge to the
> ingenuity of man. Whereas in regular sanctioned drag racing, with all
> the class rules & stuff, a man can't even try out new stuff these days.
> You have to build within the rules and stay put. I watched the
> documentary about the salt flats racing this last spring... I think it
> was on A&E. It was great! I've never been there, but it's my goal now
> to get to one before I have one foot in the grave.
>
> While we were at Cordova, Bret did the announcing like I said, but
> instead of doing it from the tower, he does it from the starting line in
> the middle by the starter. He invited me up there with him, and I had
> my camcorder running during some of the pro rounds in the evening. Got
> some great shots of the UDRA alky cars, and the nitro altereds, and the
> jet cars. Now I've been around nitro cars when they warm up in the
> pits, but have never been stuck standing between two of them on the line
> like that! Oh man, to try taping and breathing at the same time was
> really tricky! :-)
>
> Well the little Speed Sport roadster fuel altered car pulls into lane 1
> and Rex does his burnout and suddenly the supercharger and who knows
> what else explodes into this fireball right in front of me. It was
> apparent that he couldn't shut off the car at it kept creeping forward,
> popping parts and fire everywhere. I was so close but I couldn't think
> of ducking for cover, much to the anxiety of the track operator, I'm
> sure, and I got most of the whole ordeal on tape. But anyway, the
> officials grabbed fire extinguishers and kinda put the fire out but the
> car just kept going. Since it was an open cockpit, Rex was able to free
> himself just after it started coasting past the tree and right after he
> jumped out, the car just took off down the track, crossed the center
> line and bumped the guardrail on the other side as it came to a soft
> stop. Bret, with his jaw hangin, walks up to Rex as he pulls of his
> helmet and commented "Well, folks, Rex has to win the award for being
> the first driver in the history of drag racing to stand at the starting
> line and watch his own car go down the track!" It was incredible!
>
> Well, there you have it & more. Thanks for sending me the other
> stories. They're fascinating. (Got a good laugh out of the Classified
> Ads one.) I always like to keep up with other folks' stories.
>
> Vickie
>
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