I see that Pat Dakin renewed his TF license on monday in Gainesville in Mitch Kings car. Wonder if he is thinking comeback. Maybe IHRA? I see he has his logo on Denshams car also. Hmmmm.

I saw that and I hope he makes a comeback, at any level. Also, didn't his son drive an A/Fueler a few years ago?

Mike Dakin used to post here quite a bit and was one of the first to really push for A/Fuelers in IHRA Top Fuel class, though I don't think he ever ran his car in the IHRA. In any case, it would be great to see Pat back behind the wheel. Pat, I believe won the first professional race I ever saw - 1991 IHRA Empire Nationals.

Hey Aaron, you and I live pretty close to each other. I'm near Rochester, and maybe you know that NY Int'l Raceway, home of the Empire Nats, has been sold to Vito Antonicelli, a Buffalo area racer & chassis builder. We're hoping to have the Empire Nats return in the next year or so.

Got my fingers and toes crossed.

Not to highjack the thread.... but,

Theres a lot of that going around!!

My first race there was the year Fred Farndon tipped his Gaddy car over and slid through the lights,was there when John Mitchells car exploded on the line when they tried to start it,had a helicopter take a guy out,man that was nasty.
Even got my first taste of working on a fuel car there,just for a weekend but I got hooked!

Good luck to Pat Dakin also!!!

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"We marvel at our own magnificence"

i was there on Monday when he got his license back...i was almost shocked to see him back in the seat, but watching him, you'd never know he was out of the car for 9 years.

Good Job Pat

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Nostalgia Racing is where it's at folks!!!

Motown Shaker '08

didn't Pat have a bad crash and lose some fingers which forced him to stop racing? I can't find anything about it on the net, which is odd.

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DeVita Racing
S/ST-H/R #1625

Whew! With the way the last couple of years have been, whenever I see just a name posted like that.

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The faster you drive, the further you have to walk to get back to the road.

Pat had a very bad crash (blowover) at Topeka in 1998, I think. It was a very nasty looking crash. I thought he injured some fingers pretty bad but did recover. I heard he said he was done driving after that crash. If Pat is coming back, I love it.

Dave

I remember the old days. We ran a top fuel car in the divionals and the udra in D3. It used to be rupp and dakin. They ran good back tnen.

I remember back then, G L Rupp in red on the side. I used to help out on Tim Arnold's car The hallucination with Eddie VanHorn driving then The North Wind driven by Dick Rossburg. Those were the days.

FWIW...... Rumors around Dayton is that there is new pipe on order @ McKinney's...

Yup.. Rain pushed that even back, and they ran it late.

If I remember right, Dakin shook, did a quick pedal slap on it, and it went right up and over, and came down right on top of the right guard rail. Bad deal! I am glad to see he is getting back out there.

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Go Hight!!! Prock Rocket 2009 Style
Quickest to 1000' 4.00
Quickest to 1320' 4.63

NHRA News: Former Top Fuel racer Dakin back behind the wheel (3/24/2008)

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"We marvel at our own magnificence"