020-021 Scrapbook Dunn - NHRA.com

One of the reasons why Mike Dunn has been so successful
as a color commentator for ESPN’s televised coverage of
NHRA national events is that he established a “been
there, done that” reputation throughout his long and successful
driving career. Dunn enjoys a tremendous relationship with the
racers, and he can ask them tough questions and offer a more
candid analysis of their performances because competitors regard
him as one of them, a racer who paid his dues.
Dunn’s accomplishments as a driver are credited to him
growing up in a racing environment and learning the craft from
his father, “Big Jim” Dunn. Because of his family’s racing
background, Mike began competing as a teenager with bicycles and
go-karts before obtaining a Top Alcohol Dragster license at age 20
in 1976 and a fuel Funny Car license the next season. By winning
10 national events in Funny Car and 12 in Top Fuel, he joined Don
Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, and Gary Scelzi as the only drivers
to have won 10 or more events in both nitro categories.
During his driving career, Dunn recorded 12 top 10 finishes,
four in Funny Car and eight in Top Fuel. His best year was 1991,
when he ran the full NHRA schedule for the first time and
finished third. His four victories in 1999 with Darrell Gwynn’s
Mopar-backed Top Fuel team were a career high.
Known as a fitness buff, Dunn has been an avid bicycle
enthusiast for nearly 10 years and rides between 4,000 to 5,000
miles on an annual basis. He recently took time out from his busy
schedule to share his thoughts and recollections on his experiences
with National DRAGSTER Associate Editor John Jodauga.
(Above) “Long before I began driving, I helped my dad on his race cars.
This was his first Funny Car that he ran in 1971. He wanted it designed
as much like his Top Fuelers as possible, so he ran it with a 4.56:1 highgear-only
configuration and a pedal clutch, as opposed to most of the
other cars that still had automatic transmissions. He would push in the
clutch at the 1,000-foot mark, then coast across the finish line to save
parts. It never recorded much speed that way, but it was still pretty
quick because the car was very light. I went through a big learning
curve in those days.” (Right) “After I earned my Funny Car license in
1977 and had worked for a couple of years on Roland Leong’s crew, he
helped me get my first ride, in Bill Schifsky’s Beartown Shaker Ford
Mustang II. We raced mostly on the match race circuit.”
“I returned to Roland’s team in 1981 as the driver of his
King’s Hawaiian Bread Dodge Omni, and I got my first
national event win with it at the inaugural Golden Gate
Nationals in Fremont, Calif. That was the best showing
that I had with any of Roland’s cars. It seems like
everything was a disaster after that.”
20 ✦ National DRAGSTER
(Above) “In 1982, I drove Roland’s Hawaiian
Dodge Charger. During that season, I encountered
severe tire shake and had a crash that knocked
me out. After that, I had the roll cage moved closer
to my head so that it wouldn’t bounce around so
much and added more padding.” (Left) “This was
my crash at the 1983 World Finals with another
one of Roland’s cars. On this run, the crankshaft
was blown out of the engine, and after my visor
was oiled, my vision was blinded, and I hit the left
guardrail. While I was trying to bring the car to a
stop, the engine fell out on the left side and
hooked the front A-arm, which triggered a couple
of barrel rolls. During this period, I was known for
being upside down and on fire a lot.”
(Above) “Gene Mooneyham and Joe Pisano helped me land
the job driving Greg Artz’s Knighthawk Dodge in 1985. Our
first race that year was the Bakersfield March Meet, where
we reached the semi’s.” (Below) “A big turning point in my
career was when I began driving for Joe Pisano in 1986 and
won the U.S. Nationals that season with his Oldsmobile
Firenza. Winning Indy was very big for Joe because he ran
races east of the Mississippi only once in a while, and my dad
never did, except in 1971 for our six-week summer vacation.”

“Joe and I broke the speed record three times in 1987 with the
Firenza. We were the first Funny Car team to break 270 mph
with a 270.43-mph national record in Englishtown. We upped it
to 274.64 in Indianapolis, then broke 280 mph with a 280.72-
mph record in Dallas, where this picture was taken.”
(Above left) “We switched to this black Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme body with yellow trim in 1988, and to this day
I think that this was the best-looking Funny Car I ever drove. It also ran real well, and I got my first back-to-back
wins with it in Houston and Phoenix near the end of that year. I drove with Joe for four seasons, and I felt pretty good
about that because a lot of other drivers didn’t last with him that long. Joe could be pretty intimidating, but I had
known him while I was growing up, and we got along pretty well. We won five races together and finished in the
top 10 three times without ever running the full schedule.” (Above right) “I signed on with Jack Clark for a threerace
deal at the beginning of 1992 with the hopes that it would help him land a major sponsor. We ran the fastest
speed at the time, 297 mph, in Houston. We thought we maybe had an outside chance of breaking 300 mph at the
next race in Gainesville, but ignition problems slowed the car down, and Kenny Bernstein beat everyone else to it.”
“I began the 1990 season without a ride, but later I got a
call from Ed Abel, who owned a construction business in
York, Pa. He managed to put together a deal with Snickers,
and he had me move back to Pennsylvania [where Dunn
still resides today] to work out of his shop. We had to start
from scratch and order a new Firebird Funny Car, towing
rig, and tools. My dad was hired as the crew chief, and
after our debut at Maple Grove Raceway, we were runnerup
at the next race in Topeka, then won the following event
in Dallas. We switched to a Dodge Daytona body in 1991
and won three races for a third-place finish.”
“This is Blaine Johnson, near lane, and I running
the first side-by-side 300-mph clockings at Maple
Grove in 1994. It was a close race, and we were
fortunate enough to win with a 4.820, 304.66 to
Blaine’s 4.841, 300.40. In 1995, we won three races
and finished fourth in the standings.”
“After my three-race deal with Jack Clark ended, I spent
the rest of 1992 working on potential sponsors. Late in
the year, I got a call from Darrell Gwynn, who still had
several associate sponsors after he lost his major backing
with Coors. I was able make a deal with La Victoria, and
between the two of us, we were able to field a car at the
start of 1993. We won in Denver and Dallas that year to
finish fourth in the standings.”
“The Yankee sponsorship came about when Hank
Steinbrenner, the son of team owner George, gave Jerry
Gwynn a call in the middle of 2000. Apparently, both Hank
and George had followed drag racing very closely
because they knew a lot about what Darrell and I had
accomplished during our careers. We unveiled the car
with the Yankee paint scheme at the U.S. Nationals that
year, then raced at the final three events before running
the full schedule in 2001. When the Yankees announced
the termination of the program near the end of the season,
everyone on the crew decided to pursue other interests,
and the team was dissolved. I had a few offers for other
rides, but after auditioning for the ESPN gig, I decided to
try it for a year, and the rest is history.”
(Above) “There were some changes in 1996 after we
acquired the Mopar sponsorship deal, and after Frank
Bradley left the team following the Atlanta race, Ken Veney
came on board as the new crew chief. Just four races after
Ken joined the team, we won Memphis and finished as
runner-up in Seattle.” (Below) “Our last year of the Mopar
sponsorship was 1999, which was my best season with four
wins. We were leading in the points when Mopar announced
that they were ending their support earlier in the year, and I
can’t remember that ever happening before. Still, we ended
the year on a positive note by winning the World Finals.”
“These are my current hot rods, a Giant NRS Composite
mountain bike, on the left, and a Seven Odonata Ti road
bike. I first started riding mountain bikes in 1996, and
then I got together with Whit Bazemore when he was
riding to recuperate from his accident. I switched to road
bikes around 2000, and I would like to try downhill bike
racing next, but it’s hard to do with the busy ESPN
television schedule. I have kept my Top Fuel license
current, and I still enjoy making runs on an occasional
basis. I’m often asked if I’d ever return to driving again,
but I’m pretty happy with the job I have.”
October 17, 2008 ✦ 21