Speed Becomes a Family Value : Covina’s Andersons Turn Drag Racing Into a Winning Tradition That Is Handed Down

Some families spend their weekends together picnicking. Others play golf together. Or tennis. Or go the beach. Some mothers and fathers and sons and daughters stay home and work in the garden or watch TV.

The Anderson family of Covina goes drag racing.

Brad Anderson, who designed and manufactured parts for dragsters during the week, raced on weekends for 30 years. He won three National Hot Rod Assn. championships and 25 national events driving a top-alcohol funny car.

And wherever he raced, along went his wife, Carol, son, Randy, and daughters LeighAnn and Shelly.

“Growing up, I can’t remember doing anything else,” Shelly said. “I played tennis and softball and was a cheerleader at Royal Oak High School, but after the games it was off to the drag races. My friends never really understood why I’d never go along to parties and stuff like that on Saturdays and Sundays. They thought I was pretty weird.”

Now Shelly and Randy are the racers in the Anderson family.

She will be in a top-fuel dragster and he will be in his dad’s Pontiac alcohol funny car when practice and qualifying start Thursday for the 33rd Chief Auto Parts Winternationals at the Pomona Fairplex track on the Los Angeles County fairgrounds.

Shelly, 27, became the quickest and fastest woman in drag racing in only her second start in a top-fuel dragster when she reached 297.32 m.p.h. in 4.933 seconds at Sears Point Raceway last August. At the time, she was the second-fastest driver in history--male or female--behind only Kenny Bernstein, whose 301.70 had been set earlier in the season at Gainesville, Fla.

“Dad made the cylinder heads, and they made the difference,” Shelly said matter-of-factly.

The family business, Brad Anderson Enterprise, Inc.--which recently moved from La Verne to Ontario--designs and builds high-performance racing parts, such as cylinder heads and various engine components.

Randy, 28, made his racing debut last year and won his first NHRA national event in the most important meeting of the year, the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. He also won the Winston Finals last November at Pomona, upsetting Pat Austin, four-time NHRA champion, during the final round.

“Both the kids wanted to drive, but as long as I was racing, there was only enough money in the family to support one car, so they helped with mine,” Brad said. “When I decided to step aside last year, Shelly and Randy stepped up.”

The elder daughter, LeighAnn, takes care of the business, and Carol Anderson coordinates the family’s travel plans and handles the computer technology that has become such a part of motor racing.

“It was an easy decision, letting the kids get behind the wheel, because they had been around cars since they were in diapers,” their father said. “Every vacation we ever had was centered around going to a race. Our kids had a different upbringing than most.

“Shelly could take a race car apart and put it back together when she was a teen-ager. She was good enough to be my crew chief before she got her own car, and she did all her own work when she was racing the alcohol car. It’s easy to tell she works on the cars herself. We used to say that Shelly could come out of a shower looking dirty.”

Before she could race, however, Shelly had to finish school, which she did with a degree in communications studies from Cal State Fullerton.

Shelly drove her first race in July of 1991 at Denver and won for the first time last April in the Fram Southern Nationals at the Atlanta Dragway. It was a traumatic experience for her--she had to beat her boyfriend, Jay Payne, in the semifinal round.

“I didn’t like having to race him,” she said. “He’s a much better driver, but his car wasn’t running so good, and mine was. After that, it was no big deal racing in the finals.”

It was a big deal, however, when she defeated Blaine Johnson, a two-time NHRA champion, for her first national victory. It also gave her more recognition, which led to Jolly Rancher Candies--her sponsor--asking the Anderson family to move Shelly up a notch to top fuel, the top of the drag racing line.

Lori Johns, who won the Winternationals at Pomona in 1990 with an upset of 1987 world champion Dick LaHaie, had been Jolly Rancher’s top-fuel driver, but she had rejected their contract offer for 1992 and the sponsor wanted another female driver. Shelly was more than ready to step in.

“Jolly Rancher may look at it that way, but I’m not racing because I’m a girl,” Shelly said. “I’m racing because I love racing. It’s all I’ve ever known, and it’s where I feel most at home. I think the guys (fellow racers) feel that way about it, too. I’ve grown up around them, so it was no special deal to see me in the car. Besides, they know better than to give me any sass . . . half of them, or more, use Dad’s stuff on their cars.”

Shelly first drove her top-fuel dragster--custom-built for her 5-foot 6-inch, 117-pound frame--at Denver, a year to the day after her first race. She qualified eighth, but then a week later, at Sears Point, caught the full attention of the drag racing world with her 297-m.p.h. pass.

“That was neat,” she said. “I can’t wait for this season to start. Dad always said it was a business, and the only reason we’re in this business is to win. I’m looking forward to that day.”

In nine top-fuel events last year, Shelly advanced to the semifinals three times--at Brainerd, Minn.; Reading, Pa.; and Dallas. Even though she competed for only half the season, she finished 14th in Winston points.

“I know Dad will have the car at its best this year, so the rest is up to me,” she said. “I’ve got to work harder on my reaction time (at the start). It’s all concentration, keeping what I have to do in focus, and not letting myself be intimidated. You’ve got to forget the driver in the lane next to you.

“There are only so many seconds you need total concentration, but it has to be intense. In drag racing, a blink of an eye can be the difference between winning and losing.”

Brad Anderson, 52, finds himself in a totally different role now. The longtime driver suddenly is cast as crew chief.

“I feel lost out there on the line when they’re getting ready to go,” he said. “All the time I was racing, I’d never go watch other drivers. The only time I was on the line was when I was strapped in the car. I always felt I was in complete control when I was in the car. Now, on the outside, I don’t have that feeling. I feel strange, sort of ill at ease.

“It’s been a real learning experience for me, but each race I’m feeling more at home. I’ll just have to grow along with the kids.”

As crew chief, though, Brad is a tough taskmaster. Last weekend, the family towed Shelly’s car to Bakersfield Raceway to test a new clutch system. Shelly, a Dallas Cowboy fan who had two tickets to the Super Bowl, hoped to do the testing Friday and Saturday and get to the game on Sunday.

But her father wasn’t satisfied with the tests, so the Andersons stayed another day at Bakersfield. Shelly didn’t even get to see her favorites on TV.

“Hey, like Dad said, it’s a business and we’re in the business to win,” Shelly said. “He said we needed to go back to the old clutch and it had to be tested. So we did it. It’s no big deal, missing the Super Bowl. We had work to do.”

A lot of her old friends would probably still think she is a little weird.