ED MCCULLOCH PLANS TO RETIRE FROM DRAG RACING
Ed McCulloch will tell you drag racing has been awful good to him for four decades. With that said the 
veteran nitro racer who morphed into one of drag racing’s most talented crew chiefs plans to fade away into the sunset.
Forget what has been posted as speculation on other drag racing websites or message boards. McCulloch has had his fill of drag racing. It’s not a bitter departure at all for the Indianapolis-based McCulloch, he’s just ready to move into life after drag racing.
“I will not be returning to Don Schumacher’s,” McCulloch told Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com in an exclusive interview Friday afternoon. “I have no other deals. I have nothing going on with anyone else. I plan to fade into the sunset, I guess you could say.”
Ed McCulloch will tell you drag racing has been awful good to him for four decades. With that said the veteran nitro racer who morphed into one of drag racing’s 
most talented crew chiefs plans to fade away into the sunset.
Forget what has been posted as speculation on other drag racing websites or message boards. McCulloch has had his fill of drag racing. It’s not a bitter departure at all for the Indianapolis-based McCulloch, he’s just ready to move into life after drag racing.
“I will not be returning to Don Schumacher’s,” McCulloch told Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com in an exclusive interview Friday afternoon. “I have no other deals. I have nothing going on with anyone else. I plan to fade into the sunset, I guess you could say.”
McCulloch searched his heart repeatedly in making the decision, and each time, ends up with the same end result. The sport has changed to the point that he’s at peace with passing the torch to the next generation of drivers and tuners without regret.
“I’ve talked about this a lot,” McCulloch admitted. “Everything that goes with these positions, jobs out here, all of the politics, everything that goes along with it, the pressures and expectations … you’re always looking over your shoulder. I’m not badmouthing anybody. I’m just making the statement that I am not returning to Schumacher’s. I don’t have anything in place and I’m not looking, either.”
Drag racing has long been a sport about opportunity and the right deal. However, for McCulloch the right deal just might not be enough this time.
“I’m not sure I even want to do this any longer,” he admitted. “I would need some time to have to think about everything that’s come down and how it’s come down. [I’d have to think about] whether I really want to undertake anything further or do I want to go on and spend what time I can with my wife and my family going further down the road.”
McCulloch understands he’ll have more than his share of spare time minus the rigors of traveling a 23-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule. He has basically nothing pressing to consume his time. Life’s moments will be managed on his terms now.
“If I had some passionate hobby, which I don’t, [that] would be good,” McCulloch said. “What am I going to do? I really don’t know. I’m from the west. I know that I am going out there next week and I am going to be looking around out there.
“I’ve said for a long time when I was not doing this that I wouldn’t be living in Indianapolis. I love Indianapolis. The people here are great. It’s a good place to communicate out of. You can get in and out of here easily. You’re not gone away from home that much being based here. I am from the west coast. That’s where I was raised and I feel better out there. I’m going to go back out there and take a look.
“I have some property out there. My intentions long ago were to build my home out there. I’m going to go revisit that and look around.”
Come February when the NHRA begins the celebration of its 60th anniversary, McCulloch is unsure of how he will approach retirement. He’s fairly certain that he won’t make a good spectator.
"The guys that I worked with, I think the world of them. I wish them all of the best. [Ron] Capps is like a son to me. I wish the best for him. Ronnie Thompson, he’s a wonderful kid. That’s drag racing’s future. Tommy DeLago … I worked with him for years and what he’s done and finally he got a shot [at a championship] and he’s proven himself.”
Then McCulloch paused.
“They are going to learn the pressure that is coming,” McCulloch cautioned. “They still have a lot of that to learn. A lot of this [sport] is mental. You have to be mentally prepared to do this. I’ve been working on this for the last few months. I think mentally I am good to go.”
What McCulloch leaves behind is a drag racing career chock full of stats and success. His finest statistic - winning the NHRA’s U.S. Nationals a remarkable six times among his 22 NHRA triumphs. Four of those victories came behind the wheel of a Top Fuel dragster.
McCulloch also raced on the IHRA tour where he won eight races in eleven finals rounds.
For his efforts, McCulloch was recognized as a member of the 1973 and 1988 Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Teams as a Funny Car Driver.
The talented McCulloch was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame as a driver in 2000.
Needless to say, McCulloch firmly believes drag racing was really good to him.
“Drag racing’s my life,” McCulloch confided. “Drag racing has been my life. My family has probably paid a big price for me to be able to do what I’ve done. I owe a lot to my family for sticking with me and being behind me and supporting me in what I’ve done. I put everything I did in front of everything. And … that’s not really right.
“If I had anything to do over different, I would probably try to be a better person. I would probably try to be better to my family. The decisions I’ve made and the things I have done … where I’ve gone … the things I have done … I don’t know that I would change a lot of that. Drag racing has been good to me. It’s been very good to me.
“Had I not have had drag racing, who knows where I would have been. Drag racing has been my life.”
Now, drag racing will be his past life.
Jon Asher contributed to this report.
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