Drag Racing “Is All I Have”

Dale Creasy is hobbling around after having replacement surgery for both knees.

“Not a smart move to do ’em both at once,” the NHRA Funny Car fan favorite said. “It’s getting better. It was quite a bit more than I expected it to be. So I’m walking as much as I can and trying to get everything back to normal — well, back to where it doesn’t hurt to walk.”

Time was, following a catastrophic driveline failure in his race car during an 2008 IHRA event at Edmonton, Alberta, that he had to overcome a crushed and compound fracture in his left leg and multiple fractures in his right foot. The recuperation time for that was months. So this setback for Creasy is mild, compared to that.

But what put the 64-year-old racer from Beecher, Ill., again at a crossroads in his career was a mid-October high-speed collision with competitor Dave Richards in the opening qualifying session of the NHRA’s Texas FallNationals, near Dallas. Although neither driver suffered injuries worse than bruising, both cars were wrecked beyond repair and both racers were done for the season. Neither had a back-up car, and Creasy told Competition Plus, “We don’t have any money. All of our stuff is broken. Right now, all I can do is cry.”

Creasy blamed himself for the crash at first and said, “It was all my fault. I went across the centerline. Maybe it’s time to retire.” But he put aside his angst and once again proved that this racer nicknamed “Peanut” (because as kid he tagged along to the racetrack with Funny Car pioneer dad Dale Creasy Sr.) is one tough nut to crack.

It’s not in me to give up. I don’t think people understand the commitment that I’ve put into this for the last 30 or 40 years that it’s a hundred percent. – Dale Creasy Jr.

But he isn’t quitting, isn’t retiring.

“The older I get, the more I think about that, because you don’t have a lot of time left as far as driving a race car. So I figure after a certain amount of time, it’s probably time, just age-wise. But I figure I got another five years in me,” Creasy said. “And I’m not saying that I’m too old to do what I’m doing physically. It’s if you’re not excited about what you’re doing, it might be time to find something else. I talk about it and the hair stands up on my arms.”

“It’s not in me to give up,” he said. “I don’t think people understand the commitment that I’ve put into this for the last 30 or 40 years that it’s a hundred percent….