Drag Illustrated Issue 113, September 2016 | Page 26
Dirt
thin layer of rubber on the racing lanes. “You can
also bring them back from the dead when they’re
oiled down because you can scrape and you can
always bring back the rubber. So the beginning
was Larry Crispe’s rotator. The tracks are crazy
good. Between the new tire and the rotator, the
tracks are just unprecedented.”
The crew chief in Head loves the innovative
developments in those regards, and the idea man
in Head can’t get enough of it, but the historian
in him takes some convincing at times. He recalls
when the left lane in Seattle was nearly impossible to get down, meaning it was a matter of if
you could “figure out how to skin the cat.” It’s
a dilemma that idea-man
Head and old-school-racer
Head battled over at times,
but ultimately, the innovation and improvement side
of him wins out.
“As a crew chief, you
think ‘I don’t miss that,’
but yet as a participant in
the sport for 50 years it’s almost like something we’ve
lost,” Head said. “That’s a
hard one for me. I don’t
like one-lane race tracks
by any means because if
you don’t have lane choice
you’re screwed. But on the
other hand, our race tracks
are perfect. Seattle was a two-lane race track, absolutely. Nobody could tell the difference between
those two lanes and I felt the same way about
Sonoma, quite frankly.
“I can’t remember the last time I really cared
about lane choice,” he claims. “Every once in a
while there will be something, but it’s not much.
From a level playing field, that’s cool, but on the
other hand, when the race tracks are stinkin’ perfect, I don’t know. Yeah, as a crew chief I guess
I would rather have a perfect race track for sure.
But it does take a lot out of the game. Years back,
the guy that could skin a cat could sometimes
win a race.”
Head was that guy from time-to-time during
his racing days, which were preceded by earning a
civil engineering degree from Ohio State Univer-
sity in 1971. Thirteen years
later, he became the owner
of Head, Inc., a contract
company specializing in
airfield paving, coincidentally about the same time
he switched from Top Fuel
to Funny Car.
The innovations didn’t
stop in the new class, putting his first timer on the
car in 1986. It then became
12 timers and then 24 timers, and then a programmable controller. There
was room for unlimited ideas, with many of
Head’s ideas helping to shape the direction of the
class. But even he agrees it was wise of the NHRA
to finally put a limit on what was happening.
“I don’t criticize the sanctioning body for stopping us because it was going to go too far,” Head
says. “Being that as it may, I really enjoyed the
development. It didn’t matter what it was, I had
a ball and I was on the cutting edge of it. I was
never very good and I never beat anybody with
my ideas, but I had a hell of a lot of them.”
Those ideas haven’t slowed down in the slightest. With restrictions have come innovations in
different areas and Head remains steadfast in
staying on the cutting edge in any area he can.
One of those continues to be driver safety, which
has always been one of his biggest passions. With
his son now behind the wheel, it’s arguably taken
on even greater importance.
Head remains a staunch supporter of 1,000foot racing and believes there have been other
huge safety improvements in recent years. But he
is always pushing forward and especially in this
aspect. There is more padding and more absorbing materials in his driver’s compartment—one
reason his Funny Car is heavier than others—and
Head is working on even more safety in that area.
That’s a passion that will never cease, even as
Chad has picked up some of the same driving
habits his father had.
“When I drove it, I tried to make it as safe as I
could,” Head says. “A lot of safety has a lot to do
with a driver’s right foot and Chad does a good
job at that. If he didn’t, he would be done. He
drives it conservatively, just like I did. As far as
me tuning it different, I don’t think I’ve ever done
anything particularly different now that he’s driving it versus when I drove it. I’ve got confidence
in him to know when to say when.”
But when it comes to saying “when” in this
sport, Head isn’t even close to that point. In fact,
with the way his ideas flow, that day may never
come. “I always look forward to the next race and
I really enjoy racing,” he says. “I have as much
passion today as I’ve ever had and I’ve always
had plenty, that’s for sure.”
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Issue 113
PHOTOS: NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER, DRAG ILLUSTRATED ARCHIVES
JIM HEAD