DON YOUNG
Acknowledged as one of the sport's best bracket racers
during the 1970s and early 1980s, Don Young rose to the pinnacle of IHRA
sportsman racing before being killed in a 1985 racing accident at the age of
38.
Young captured consecutive Winston championship titles in 1984 and 1985 and remains the only drag racing champion to be honored posthumously. A husband and father, Young's success on the drag strip had also transferred to an expanding auto repair and machine shop business in Carrollton, Ga., just west of Atlanta.
Remembering The Man Who Taught David Rampy How To Win
Acknowledged as one of the sport's best bracket racers during the 1970s and early 1980s, Don Young rose to the pinnacle of IHRA sportsman racing before being killed in a 1985 racing accident at the age of 38.
Five-time (2 NHRA, 3 IHRA) drag racing champion David Rampy, Young's protégé and traveling companion for nearly ten seasons, believes it would be hard to predict just how far Young's career could have gone if he had survived.
"Don was so smart. He was a good mechanic and knew what made the cars work," Rampy said. "He didn't have much money. If he'd had the money that a lot of people had, there's no doubt he could have run Pro Stock. He was just so knowledgeable. He thought about stuff that nobody else did at that time. He was keeping up with the weather and checking the barometer and the temperature when nobody else did. That was unheard of back then."
Besides being a thinking man's racer, Young could also get the job done on the track, as Rampy recalled.
"Don was very tough. He always had real good, consistent cars and he knew so much about them. He was a good starting-line racer, a good finish-line racer. His cars were always fast, which made them harder to judge. He just had the whole package."
And Young beat the best. Top Sportsman, circa 1985, contained as much driving talent - top to bottom - as any division in drag racing.
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A former Modified Eliminator racer, Young found a home in big-time bracket racing. He began running IHRA races in the early '80s and scored his first national event win in September, 1983, at Rockingham, N.C. The Georgia native drove his blue and yellow Monza through the quickest field in history at that time, to punch out two-time defending champion Fuzzy Norton in the final.
Young decided to chase points the following year, but worried if he could qualify consistently. IHRA rule makers solved that dilemma by allowing full-bodied cars to add nitrous oxide to make them more competitive. Young installed a Compucar nitrous oxide system and fuel injection to his Monza and regularly qualified on the bottom half of the ladder.
He earned his first championship by coming from behind late in the season. Young defended his U.S. Open Nationals title, reaching the finals of a points race at Darlington and forcing the issue at the season's last race.
To win the crown, Young had to go at least four rounds and win the final race at Music City Raceway in Nashville. The race was postponed three times due to rain, but on a cold, November Sunday, Young marched through the needed rounds and won the event.
But there was little time to celebrate. The class formerly known as Quick Rod would now be known as Top Sportsman. The class was quickly becoming IHRA's signature division and the new title meant new prestige. Young knew he would have to step up if he was to defend his championship.
That plan involved pulling the injected Rat motor out of the trusty Monza and transplanting it into a new, short wheelbase dragster built by Woody's Race Cars. The car, wrapped in Young's trademark blue and yellow colors, was more than two feet shorter in the front than other dragsters in the class. And it caused quite a stir when he unveiled it at the 1985 Pro-Am Nationals at Rockingham.
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Much to the dismay of his competition, it didn't take Young long to get his new ride dialed in. His debut lasted until the semi-finals, he returned to the winner's circle at a points race in Cincinnati three weeks later and took the points lead the following week with a win at the Winston Spring Nationals.
After qualifying fourth at "Thunder Valley" (8.04,166), Young put together a string of low 8-second runs to advance to the final and a showdown with Charles Carpenter's fan-favorite nitrous '55 Chevy. Don notched his third career IHRA win, and his first of 1985, with an 8.175, 163.04 mph pass that overshadowed Carpenter's 8.376, 162.74.
Young's lead in the standings ballooned during an amazing July-August stretch when he won three straight races, including national events at St. Louis and Cincinnati, along with a points race win at Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip near Chattanooga.
When the tour returned to Bristol in September, Young sported a comfortable 3,300-point lead and was coming off a points race win at Huntsville, Ala. He looked to lock up the title during a stretch run of three national events in three states in three weeks.
Young qualified 16th for the 32-car Bristol field and won a first-round match over arch-rival Carpenter. He also took the second round win-light, but his front disc brakes appeared to lock at the finish line. Young's dragster veered sharply to the left, crossing behind his opponent, and slamming into the guardrail and support post. Officials said he was thrown from the vehicle and died instantly.
Powerlessly watching it all unfold, 1,320 feet away, was best friend David Rampy.
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"I remember going down there. I don't know how I got down there, but I remember going down. And I remember I saw his belt loop. When I saw that I knew this was a done deal and I didn't need to go any further," Rampy said.
When he returned from the top end, Rampy went to a pay phone and called Don's brother-in-law to break the news to the family.
"For some dumb reason we had had a conversation that something could happen to one of us one day. And because we usually traveled by ourselves, what would happen. Back then, we usually drove all night to get to the races and get home. And we always figured that was way more dangerous than the racing part," Rampy said. "But when that happened to him, it was like we'd already had this discussion."
After seeing what was left of Young's dragster loaded up, Rampy did the only thing he knew to do -- get back into his own racecar. He advanced to the finals before losing, but said those few moments in the car allowed him to escape the horror of that day.
"I even took some crap for that. But that was what we did. He loved it, I love it. I know he would have wanted me to keep going that day," Rampy said.
Rampy donated his Bristol winnings to Don's widow Pam. Within hours, IHRA racers and officials began organizing fund-raising events to assist the family. Young's accomplishments were recognized at the remaining national events that season, and several tracks held benefit races and donated the profits.
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Rampy raced his Super Rod-conquering Opel GT in Top Sportsman at the season's final points race in Atmore, Ala., both in Young's honor and to ensure that nobody could catch him. Fittingly, he won.
A few months later, an emotional Pam Young stood on the stage of Asheville, North Carolina's Grove Park Inn and accepted Don's championship honors. Speaking before a crowd of more than 500 people, Pam thanked the couple's friends, the other racers, and members of the sport's extended family for their support. She delivered a stirring speech that evoked chills, tears and a standing ovation from the packed house. She later posed for the annual world championship photo, seated in the group's center next to Rampy.
Pam Young died of cancer less than 10 years later, but the couple's children April and Scott still live in Georgia.
While much time has passed, and Rampy's travels have taken him to the far corners of the country and the top of NHRA sportsman racing, the Alabama native still remembers his friend and mentor.
"Don was one of a bunch of Georgia guys that came to Alabama to race. I was just starting out and one day he was parked next to me," Rampy remembered. "I tore something up that day and we got to talking. He said 'I can help you with that if you bring it to my shop.' Well, the few times I'd been to the track, he'd done real well so I decided to go. I just got to know him and we became friends.
"I think about that some times. That day changed my whole course of life in racing. I didn't know what I was doing, but he was always there to help me," he added. "I give him full credit for where I am at today. Had I not met him that weekend, my life would be totally different, as far as racing goes."
Both men were passionate about the sport, according to Rampy.
"Don came from a very proper family. He went to college, but he was kind of a rebel because he wanted to race. Everything he did was about racing, even his business was to help support his racing," Rampy said. "He sacrificed so much for racing, just like real racers do. He gave up a lot to go racing."
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