He got a sponsorship from Pabst Blue Ribbon and got rid of the 392 and put an elephant in it."Īfter spitting the crank out of the Pabst car and crashing it, Long drove one of Schumacher's two Wonder Wagon 'Cudas, replacing Bobby Rowe, who had a falling-out. "He said I could, even though I only had made five license runs, and I was able to borrow an old truck from Schumacher, and boom-boom-boom, I was a Funny Car racer. "When that deal went away, I was out on the road with Leroy Goldstein, at the Holiday Inn in Racine because we were running at Union Grove, and Charlie Proite and his driver, Gary Bailey, got into a fight, and I asked if I could drive his car," said Long, now 57. When he earned his license in 1972 in the ex-Tom McEwen Arkansas Razorback Duster of Pat Brinegar, he was the youngest licensed nitro pilot at age 19. Long's racing career was short – just six years – but filled with highlights. I told him later that while we were running that makeshift hospital, it was worse than running Indy every day for a month." He said he would, and he later told me that they had been looking into flying down there when we got hauled out. "The day before we left, I had called him to ask if it was OK to give his phone number to the church so that if we got into any trouble while we were down there he could send his jet to get us. Long drove one of Shoe's Wonder Wagon Barracudas in 1973. The congregation met them at the church, where more news stations awaited, and a huge welcome-home party ensued.Īmong those welcoming Long home was his former car owner, Don Schumacher. On Sunday, they flew first class on American Airlines nonstop from San Juan to Los Angeles, where they were greeted by news crews. After a quick meal and some medical care, the group was hustled onto a flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The group finally was able to board its plane and was flown to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The group's anxiety continued as, two minutes before its twin-engine Beechcraft rescue plane was to arrive, the airport was shut down to accommodate the arrival of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. At 5 in the morning, they snuck us to the airport, and up walks Geraldo Rivera to interview me!" Friday night, we went from the orphanage over to a safe house by the airport. "By Friday, our church had hired a group called SOS International to evacuate us. What was worse, the group had no way to tell their loved ones back home that they were OK until Thursday, when one was able to reach out through Facebook to spread the good news. Their friends were happy to have them home! By the end of that night, we were pretty worn out and out of food and water." On Wednesday, some people were trying to incite a riot, and there were even rumors of a tsunami coming. Some doctors finally arrived, and we helped as best we could to set up a makeshift hospital. There was a constant flow of people showing up badly injured, missing arms and legs … it was more than you could imagine. "We got them onto a soccer field, where we slept for three nights. I got my knee beat up a little bit and hurt one finger, but otherwise OK. The house right next to the orphanage went right to the ground. It was late in the afternoon, and it seemed like the world was coming to an end. "We arrived on Friday, the 8th, in Port-au-Prince and met the kids and worked with them for a few days, and the earthquake hit on Tuesday. "240" shot me Long's phone number, and earlier today I reached a happy-to-be-home Long. "240 Gordie" Bonin and others tipped me off to a great story about former nitro Funny Car racer Russell Long, driver of, among other fine machines, the Chi-Town Hustler and several cars owned by "Jungle Jim" Liberman, who returned home to Southern California last night from Haiti, where he and nine fellow missionaries from Mission Viejo Christian Church had been helping children at an orphanage when last week's monster 7.0 earthquake struck the impoverished country. Former Funny Car racer Russell Long with orphans in Haiti
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |