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bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING  05/03/2000

Dan Drinan, John Heydenreich - USAC Midgets at Salem on June 20, 1999

Bob Jennings

Dan Drinan is planning his third attempt to make the "Indianapolis 500" in 2000. He came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1996 and crashed while making a run on the third day of qualifications for the "500." I recall that he was hurt pretty badly. Drinan came back to the Speedway in May 1998 with backing from Indianapolis commercial real estate developer D.B. Mann. Drinan was unsuccessful in finding the speed to qualify. He'll be back this year in a car entered by Ron Hemelgarn I believe.

I would love to see Dan Drinan make the "Indianapolis 500" starting field this time. Drinan, like Tony Stewart, Billy Boat, Tyce Carlson and Donnie Beechler is the type of driver for whom the Indy Racing League was designed, a destination for grass roots open wheel racing drivers. Not many drivers from USAC have found regular rides in the IRL unfortunately.

Drinan is one of the drivers who stand out in my mind from watching the USAC Thunder telecasts on ESPN and ESPN2 five years ago. Drinan, Tony Stewart, Mike Bliss, Kenny Irwin, Doug Kalitta and Andy Michner comprised a group of USAC competitors who were winning most of the features during that time. It seems like Drinan and Tony Stewart had some classic battles in those days. Stewart, Irwin and Bliss are all running in NASCAR Winston Cup now while Kalitta is driving for the family NHRA operation. Only Drinan continues to run in USAC events on a regular basis and he and Michner are the only one with stated intensions to compete in the "Indianapolis 500" this year.

Drinan had a bad crash in a USAC event several years ago. I don't recall the exact year. Danny was hurt pretty badly. I think the crash occurred in a Silver Crown race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield but then it could've happened at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Regardless Drinan's driving career suffered for it and he was out of action for a long time. Before the crash I believe Drinan was on a level with Tony Stewart in terms of notoriety.

Dan Drinan has a variety of talents besides being a good racing driver. He has an engineering degree from Arizona State University. He worked for the Newman - Haas team as a fabricator during the early years of the team. Today he builds the nicest looking and fastest midgets in USAC. Ryan Newman runs a Drinan midget. Look at the photo on this page. Isn't Drinan's car 33 a slick looking little piece of work?

In May 1998 I spent some time watching Drinan working with a white and red Dallara (I think), which never got to competitive speed. It was a low budget shoestring deal. I'm hoping Drinan has better luck this month. It would be neat to see Drinan work his way into a competitive ride in an Indy car. Go Danny go!