50 YEARS UNDER HIS BELT – SONNY TINDAL CONTEMPLATES LIFE AFTER DRAG RACING

 

Racing legend, Sonny Tindal, will be the first to admit that he’s been around the block in drag racing and even did a second lap. This off-season the cagey veteran doorslammer from Cayce, South Carolina will contemplate whether he’s up for racing a 51st season in the eighth-mile Quick Eight events throughout the Carolinas.

 

Tindal says he can still cut a light with the competition; it’s just the between-rounds demands that have put a strain on his 70-year old body.

 

“I still love to drive them although I don’t like to work on them as much as I used to,” Tindal said. “Working on them is harder on me now than it used to be.”

 

Make no bones about it. Tindal has a strong following at those events as well as his few stops on the American Drag Racing League tour.

 

“I still have a lot of fans but I think the car might have a lot to do with it,” Tindal said. “I still have pretty decent reaction times and that makes me enjoy it. It keeps me competitive and sometimes when you aren’t competitive – then you don’t have a lot of fun.”

 

Tindal says his racing is fun because it remains a family affair. His wife and daughter still accompany him to the races.

 

The local scene works well for Tindal because he admits he was never one for the national events.

 

“When you work for a living, you really can’t take off all the days you need to do that,” Tindal said. “The expense adds to all of that and makes it tough on guys like me.”

 

Tindal last pursued the IHRA championship in 1982 and finished sixth.

 

“Since then I’ve run stuff around the Carolinas,” said Tindal.

Everyone keeps asking me when I am going to retire and that makes me want to do it more. - Sonny Tindal

 

Tindal has exemplified the term no fear when running many of those tracks. He won’t admit it, but those around him testify some of those facilities have been less than top quality.

 

“That comes from a long time ago,” Tindal said. “When someone would get a car they weren’t quite sure of, they’d get me to test it out. I’d jump in there and make sure it was all right for them. I’ve just done that through the years. I love going down that track.”

 

Tindal said he straightened out more cars than he condemned to the graveyard.

 

“We had a way of making them work from that point on,” Tindal said.

 

Tindal is also credited with winning the first pre-Quick Eight ever hosted at the defunct Shuffletown Dragway outside of Charlotte, NC. Three weekends later, he suffered one of the worst crashes in the track’s history. Not only did he barrel roll the car, he also took out a utility pole by striking it halfway up.

 

“I broke a hip and messed up my shoulder pretty bad,” Tindal said, recalling his injuries. “Someone told me I was supposed to quit after that but I was out there a few weeks later. I dropped my crutches and was back in a car. I forgot to look at the light pole I struck, so I was okay from that point on.”

 

Tindal said he was going to quit after last year but his daughter talked him into coming back for 2007.

 

“I am planning on retiring next year,” Tindal told his daughter in 2006. “She said we’d talk about it next year. I’m gonna go pretty hard next year and make it my final one.”

 

“Everyone keeps asking me when I am going to retire and that makes me want to do it more,” Tindal said. “These cars require you to have a fresh motor every time you go to the race. There are so many things on these cars that need to be checked and I just can’t do it. We’re trying to run at least twice a month now.

 

“This is still expensive and I need to do a lot of electrical work just to pay the local racing. It all goes together. If I don’t work I can’t race. If I don’t race, I don’t have to work.”

In a world that demands individuals act their age, Tindal admits he’s found that difficult to do.

 

“I don’t feel like a 70 year old,” Tindal said. “I see people younger than me that can’t do the things I do. I feel very fortunate to be able to do this. I’m not sick often and that all works well for me.”

 

Tindal credits his work ethic for ensuring he’s still able to race after all these years.

 

“I get up and leave for the shop every morning at 7:30,” Tindal said. “I’ve had to work hard for much of my life and that has done more to keep me in shape for all of my life.”

 

Does Tindal have any regrets about racing for a half-century?

 

“No regrets,” Tindal said. “I’ve always run the top class. When we got to the Quick Eight, I felt like that was the top of the line for me. This Pontiac that I drive has been a good car to me.”