Ed the ace mcculloch biography of william

The first time inom ever saw Bill Doner was in a photo that was circulating among the National Dragster personal in , my first year at the magazine.

Now, that might sound like a pretty crazy admission by someone who attended pretty much every match race that Bill Doner promoted at Irwindale Raceway or apelsinfärg County Int’l Raceway in the s, but then again you could have gone to Disneyland and never seen Walt Disney, visited Graceland and never caught a glimpse of Elvis, been invited to the förmögna man Mansion but never lay an eye on Hugh Hefner or, more appropriate to my analogy, you could have gone to a million circuses and never see P.T. Barnum.

The photo in question showed Doner laying on a bed in Mexico, where he’d moved to uppstart a sport-fishing business after finally giving up on OCIR in And he was covered in what I have to assume were $ bills.

The image fit perfectly my s fan’s perspective of Doner. He was the creator of the Fox Hunt events wher

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McCulloch Joins Them, Then Beats Them : Drag racing: He moves into top fuel to run against his old funny car buddies, then turns m.p.h. on his first day.

For most of the last 20 years, drag racing competition in funny cars was dominated by guys nicknamed Snake, Ace, Mongoose and Kenny. Among them, they won 93 National Hot Rod Assn. major events, 12 U.S. Nationals and eight world championships.

Two years ago, the Snake, a.k.a. Don Prudhomme, and Kenny, as in Bernstein, switched from funny cars to top-fuel dragsters. Last year, the Mongoose--Tom McEwen--made the same switch.

That left the Ace, as Ed McCulloch has been known since the day he upset Jerry (the King) Ruth in a match race back in , as the lone member of the original gang still driving funny cars.

It was too much for him.

McCulloch, who will be 50 Sunday, talked his boss, Larry Minor, into letting him drive the team’s top-fuel dragster this season. It was an easy sell. Minor had a new sponsor, and he felt McCullough wa

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TRIBUTE: THERE WAS ONLY ONE BILL DONER

There&#x;s never been a drag racing promoter quite like Bill Doner. 

Odds are there&#x;ll never be another.

The flamboyant track owner/operator, who died late last week, was fearless and wildly creative in his ideas. He was a stand-up guy in his dealings with racers, which earned their respect and loyalty. His races drew fans in droves &#; and drove said fans wild with shows that met or exceeded the extensive pre-race hype.

The guy was phenomenal, said Ed The Ace McCulloch, whose income from Doner&#x;s races helped keep his team going from one season to the next.

He would have the crowd hyped so high, they&#x;d come out of the grandstands onto the track. They&#x;d be trying to crawl in the window of the car. You&#x;d whap the throttle and they&#x;d throw their hands up and bail out over the guardrail. An insuran