I think everyone that has ever traveled with a drag racing series has a bunch of Larry Sullivan stories and I'll jump in here with mine.
I met Larry when I first started touring around with IHRA in the early 2000s. He would kiddingly break my chops with some of my more creative use of the English language. I happened to be calling funny car one time at Norwalk when Terry Haddock exploded a car basically at the hit of the throttle. As I was losing my mind over that event I invented the verb "Chernobyled" to describe the scene. Leaving that night he said, "Hey! Did you really say Chernobyled?!" Not really knowing what to say, I sheepishly nodded. He slowly shook his head and then busted a gut. It was awesome. The guy had one hell of a poker face and he could hold it like no other.
One year during the IHRA race at Epping, the place was jammed and the Fast News guys were on the first floor of the tower which does not provide a great view even on a quiet day at the track. A dad had his kid on his shoulders and they took up a position right in front of the window. Larry opened the window and shooed them out of the way. For the rest of the weekend I would see him and yell, "Get off my lawn!"
He was a character that I am happy to have known and am enternally thankful that his genius was applied in such an awesome way to the sport that we all love.
Bob's piece is spot on, as usual.
Brian
