Doug Duell has made quite a life thriving where there is great challenge. He weathered a multitude of transitional storms running the car dealership originally purchased by his father, Dave Duell, in 1980. He plunged deep into the ocean several hundred miles off the coast of Mexico, scuba diving amongst whale sharks and manta ray. He rappelled off buildings, returned to skateboarding in his late 50s, and – most relevant to this story – has poured heart and soul into the brutal world of drag racing for decades. Doug Duell not only welcomes a challenge, he chases it relentlessly, and always with an enormous, genuine smile upon his face. |
This season has brought a fresh round of battle and a whole new reason to grin for Duell, who has stepped into something he’ s been itching to try for a long while: competing in NHRA’ s Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series. He’ s been involved in Super Stock and Stock for eons, following in dad Dave’ s footsteps in Chrysler / Plymouth entries both old and new, so of course he wheeled a Dodge Challenger Drag Pak into the fray.
“ I’ ve enjoyed the class and followed it, and I’ ve always wanted to do it,” says Duell, who admits that he talked himself out of it four years ago, then was encouraged by a friend not to step in amidst rule changes a couple of years later. But as the years ticked by, it became an itch he simply
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had to scratch.
“ Last summer, I was like, I’ m turning 64. I don’ t want to get later in life and say,‘ I coulda done that and didn’ t.’ That’ s why I’ m here,” he says.
Duell caught sight of the striking black-andflame detailed Drag Pak previously piloted by Josh Hart on the block at a Mecum Auction, and when it was still available after the auction closed, it was fate giving him a nudge. Duell phoned Hart and a deal was made for the Drag Pak and the engines to go with it. Enlisting the help of friend Kevin Helms— a four-time world champion as a driver in Stock and a championship crew chief in the Factory Stock Showdown— Duell set to work learning to drive a car that was unlike any
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY KELLY WADE / WINLIGHT COMMUNICATIONS |