…By Following a Straight Line
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JOHN LOMBARDO JR. COMINGCOMING FULLFULL CIRCLE…CIRCLE… …by Following A StrAIGHT LINE STORY SUSAN WaDE PHOTOS JOHN DIBARTOLOMEO obert Hight was closing in on his first NHRA Funny where…there’s absolutely no racing.” But that’s where both Young John Lombardo had soaked in the sights and sounds of the Car championship as he celebrated last September dreamed Texas-sized notions about following their hearts, heady world of big-time drag racing, and Hight was fascinated. Billy Meyer R27 at the Texas Motorplex, near Dallas. Standing be- about drag racing and winning. and Chris Karamesines stayed at the Lombardo house when they visited side him, fittingly, on the victors’ stage, posing for pictures The difference was that Hight grew up in Alturas and could the West Coast. And before his dad with his own Wally trophy—his first—was Top Alcohol Funny only imagine the life that Lombardo got to revel in each moved the shop from their Sherman John Lombardo Jr. traded in his Ford open- Car winner, John Lombardo Jr. summer, tagging along with his dad, renowned Funny Car Oaks home to North Hollywood, wheel road-racing car for the equally chal- Their bright, vivid hopes swirled around them like pieces driver Lil’ John Lombardo. John Lombardo Jr. and brother Lombardo Jr. said that “on any lenging Top Alcohol Funny Car. With associate of colorful winners’ circle confetti. They always had. Thirty Jason lived in Northern California with their mother during given night, there could be some sponsorship from NAPA Legend and Optima years before that day in Texas, as grade-schoolers far away the school year. But they spent vacations in the heart of the pretty killer names in the garage.” Batteries, Gates/NAPA Belts and Hoses, Lu- cas Oil, NGK Spark Plugs, and Goodyear in tiny Alturas, California, Lombardo had ignited Hight’s pas- Southern California car culture with their dad, who made his Oh, and Hight would fantasize, Tires, Lombardo is fusing his closed-circuit sion to drive a Funny Car. mark as a successful privateer but won the 1985 U.S. Nation- thinking that Lombardo was one experience and business acumen into a Hight described Alturas as “so far in the middle of no- als in Raymond Beadle’s Blue Max Mustang. lucky dog. successful drag-racing career. 24 DRAG RACING ACTION DRAG RACING ACTION 25 JOHN LOMBARDO JR. “I went to races for the better part of A young John Lombardo a year,” he said. “I got to work on two or soaked in the sights and sounds of the heady world three different cars. I really researched of big-time drag racing and love the class—I’m a Funny Car guy.” when he was young. His Lombardo, who by then had consoli- father was a success- dated his four auto parts stores near Brea, ful privateer but won the California, into the largest-inventory NAPA 1985 U.S. Nationals in outlet in the state and set up his two ad- Raymond Beadle’s Blue Max Mustang. Before his jacent parts warehouses, approached the dad moved the shop from enterprise with a dizzying but determined their Sherman Oaks home use of his analytical skills. to North Hollywood, Lom- “My going out to the races and learn- bardo Jr. said, “On any ing about the class went in stages,” he given night, there could be RON LEWIS said. “Do I want to pursue something like some pretty killer names in the garage.” this? Then when I knew that I did: How do you want to do it and who would you want to go do it with? Such a daunting set of decisions might scare some, but Hight What would be your goals and how would you achieve them? said he wasn’t surprised by Lombardo’s intensity: “I could see it “I would need to go spend some time and watch how guys back in sixth, seventh grade. He was a real serious guy. I’m sure worked on their cars and see how many people and resources that’s what he was thinking about when he was in school, when it took. Does it take one spare motor or three? Does it take five he was going to be with his dad and get to go to the races.” people or two of the right ones? Should it be a pick-up truck Lombardo said, “This is a big commitment for me and it involves and a tag trailer or does it require an 18-wheeler? Everybody a lot of work on the crew’s part, and sacrifice for my family and my does it different; there’s no right or wrong way. It’s just which business. So I wanted to know as much as I could going in,” Lom- way is going to fit. What will the one-, three-, and ten-year bardo said, considering wife Michele and their children, son Ryan, goals be? I just wanted get a feel for all the different venues.” now 14, and daughter Jordan, 12. Last September’s NHRA race at Dallas—just his third national event—provided some Texas-sized headaches for Lombardo and crew with a nasty main bearing, but it also produced his first victory. ary Scelzi hauled his Top ing as product rep for Mr. Gasket, Alcohol Funny Car to India- Hays, and Center Line Wheels for “I used to watch drag racing when I was a kid and really got to napolis years ago, and as he decades, he learned how a race following it after I met him,” Hight said, remembering the “Lil’ John pulled into the hotel parking lot, the car behaves. In the shop where Lombardo” T-shirts his older friend brought back. “And I thought that security guard quizzed him: “Hey! Is Chuck and Del Worsham prepped was the coolest thing in the world. I was in sixth or seventh grade. Bob DeVour in that truck?!” their top-contending Funny Cars, He’d always tell me stories about getting to go to the races and help- Replied Scelzi, “How do you DeVour manages not one but two— ing out, and I was so envious.” know about Bob DeVour?” The unrelated—Top Alcohol Funny Car They lost touch after the Lombardo boys moved back to Southern guard said, “Well, he drives a truck programs. So those notebooks and California to start high school. Motorsports reunited them. However, just like that.” The guard was cor- pens get valuable use. it wasn’t a given that they’d meet again as drag racers, for Lombardo rect. DeVour was tuning his car. He jots technical notes to him- literally went in circles before he “straightened out.” DeVOURAmazed, Scelzi learned justIS DA’self, sometimes MAN waking up in the Fresh out of school, Lombardo took the opportunity to attend how respected his crew chief was. middle of the night to do so. John Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School (in the same class as young Il- “It didn’t say ‘Bob DeVour’ on the Lombardo Jr.’s NAPA Auto Parts In the junior Lombardo’s case, it can’t hurt that he was born with the right linois hopeful Tim Wilkerson). trailer. This guy just associated a Chevy Monte Carlo keeps his mind genes for drag racing. His father is the renowned “Lil’ John Lombardo” (left) “I came home after that ready to do something,” Lombardo said. Gcrew cab with a Chaparral trailer humming, and so does, on a more an independent and triumphant nitro Funny Car star from the 1970s and ’80s “Then I realized my budget was going to allow competing in one of with Bob DeVour. Bob is a legend. limited basis, Keeter Ray’s entry. it to Top Fuel because of the work computer, (2) the car preparation, who still doesn’t mind jumping in and getting his hands dirty. the bracket classes. I was pretty young, and right or wrong that was People love him,” Scelzi said. “How to make this car run a little ethic that he taught me, the way to and (3) electronics,” he said. “I’m kind of hard for me, because I had grown up around one of the top What’s so loveable about the quicker—that’s all I think about,” think about a race car, how to be almost a dinosaur in this industry. classes of the sport. I had a hard time starting there.” 64-year-old who started his career DeVour said. able to wade through the bull with I still do quite a bit of it by instinct, He investigated road racing. He had some experience with go- in the motorsports industry squir- DeVour infuses a driver with the people around a race car. Just (but) the computer has helped me karts, racing such notables as current NASCAR Sprint Cup regular ing Linda Vaughn around in the confidence. being around him with your ears immensely—and then it has chal- Casey Mears and cousin Clint Mears, the off-road racer and son of Hurst Oldsmobile, who hawked Scelzi said, “The biggest thing open, you got an education.” lenged me to think differently. open-wheel great Rick Mears. clutch components and an array that I remember and that I love Who has he helped? Who hasn’t “I don’t know where we’re going Lombardo spent “the better part of 14-15 years” in the Sports of auto parts, who’s elbow-deep about Bob is that he makes his he helped? “Anybody who’s any- to be five years from now,” DeVour 2000 and Formula 2000 series.