Remember This Driver From 1987?

[Thrill]

Dan Pastorini now lives around Brenham or Hempstead. John McClain of the Houston Chronicle did a video interview with him a year or so ago in his blog.

He has one or two SCCA cars and does road racing these days.

FYI, did you know that another Houston local Johnny White originally had the Coors Light deal for his Nitro FC? but, that didn't work out....

 

[vegasnitro]

When I was in 6th or 7th grade we did this thing in art class, where one day you would paint a piece of paper with a bunch of different watercolors and then color over it with black crayon. You would scrath off the black crayon in whatever image you want and underneath would be rainbow watercolors.

ANYWHO ... I did mine with Pastorini's Coors Light digger pointing one way and Kenny Bernstein's Budweiser batmobile flopper pointing the other. I thought it was pretty good, however, school authorities were non-plussed that I had chosen beer sponsors to cover the cars in my drawings. I tried to explain to the authorities that those were real race cars and real depictions of said cars, but I still got into trouble and was not allowed to keep my "art" and got a "F" on that assignment.

Forgot to mention ... it was a Catholic school and the authorities were Nuns ...

 

[Bullet]

When I was in 6th or 7th grade we did this thing in art class, where one day you would paint a piece of paper with a bunch of different watercolors and then color over it with black crayon. You would scrath off the black crayon in whatever image you want and underneath would be rainbow watercolors.

ANYWHO ... I did mine with Pastorini's Coors Light digger pointing one way and Kenny Bernstein's Budweiser batmobile flopper pointing the other. I thought it was pretty good, however, school authorities were non-plussed that I had chosen beer sponsors to cover the cars in my drawings. I tried to explain to the authorities that those were real race cars and real depictions of said cars, but I still got into trouble and was not allowed to keep my "art" and got a "F" on that assignment.

Forgot to mention ... it was a Catholic school and the authorities were Nuns ...

Draw a car with beer sponsors and you will be reprimanded.... now, assault young boys in the choir, and we won't say a word!!

Fricken Catholic Church (I am Catholic too by the way) is a hypocrisy!

 

[vegasnitro]

Draw a car with beer sponsors and you will be reprimanded.... now, assault young boys in the choir, and we won't say a word!!

Fricken Catholic Church (I am Catholic too by the way) is a hypocrisy!

Not to mention both of our priests in the parish were world class drunks. I was an altar boy (imagine that) in 6th, 7th and 8th grade and they would let us altar boys finish the wine after every service and they would open a new bottle of wine for the next service ... by the 1PM Sunday service ... all of us altar boys were hammered!!!

 

[Thrill]

wow...we went from talking Dan Pastorini to trashing the Catholic church...

does that really have a place here?

 

[Mike]

Will, maybe Dan was a alterboy(LOL)

 

[epper]

My best memory of Dan Pastorini was the fact that he had a unique vantage point for viewing this milestone drag racing run at Gainsville:

"Garlits' slippery Rat (1986): Streamlining was all the rage in Top Fuel in the mid-1980s, and, of course, "Big Daddy". Don Garlits was at the front of the pack. His slippery Swamp Rat XXX featured an enclosed cockpit and enclosed front end over small 14-inch solid stainless-steel wheels shod with high-speed generator fan belts as tires. Garlits chucked the belts off on a 268-mph blast before a torrential rain postponed the event a week. Garlits came back the next weekend and not only won the event but also blasted the 270-mph barrier with a run of 272.56 mph - losing the front tire/belts on every run."

Dan was in the opposite lane when Garlits blew through the 270mph barrier. Sure was cool to see it with my own eyes.

Dale

 

[vegasnitro]

wow...we went from talking Dan Pastorini to trashing the Catholic church...

does that really have a place here?

It was relatable to Pastorini in that I drew his car in school and got into trouble as he was my favorite Top Fuel racer at the time and to this day I find myself thinking "What ever happened to that guy".

If anyone is offended because I got into trouble by nuns or that our priests used to let us drink a half bottle of wine after every service ... well then I guess I am sorry, it was not my intent to derail the thread to tarnish the stellar reputation of the Church. It was only my intent to inject a humorous anecdote regarding a kid and an art class and some angry nuns.

PS no nuns or erstwhile Catholics were harmed during the composition of this post.

 

[topdigger]

The only time my parents got me to the race track(tried on other time got in car accident at the gate) was because Dan Pastorini was racing. Of course I was begging to go as I did every year,but my dad the Raider Season ticket though it might be cool to see Pastorini.The first racing T shirt I ever had was a Pastorini .

 

[Wild Thang]

Flickr Photo Download: Canjun Nationals BIG and Dan

Flickr Photo Download: Quarterback Sneak

Flickr Photo Download: Dan's Coors Light , Houston

Flickr Photo Download: Dan hard at work

 

[staggerlee]

Dante was hard core on the football field as well. one year he played half the season in a flak jacket...he didn't miss many downs.
Any body remember seeing him and Shirley match race at Houston International in Dickinson? Muldowney took it 2 out of 3.

 

[Bobby]

It was relatable to Pastorini in that I drew his car in school and got into trouble as he was my favorite Top Fuel racer at the time and to this day I find myself thinking "What ever happened to that guy".

If anyone is offended because I got into trouble by nuns or that our priests used to let us drink a half bottle of wine after every service ... well then I guess I am sorry, it was not my intent to derail the thread to tarnish the stellar reputation of the Church. It was only my intent to inject a humorous anecdote regarding a kid and an art class and some angry nuns.

PS no nuns or erstwhile Catholics were harmed during the composition of this post.

if the shoe fits right....

 

[kd]

I remember him! He had a weird looking injector hat that he ran on his car, not when he was sponsored by Coors. Anybody else remember that?

That "Hat" won Atlanta!!!!....Think it was one of Sid's deals!

 

[Dago]

I remember that race. I'm somewhere behind all of Big's tire smoke in that photograph!

 

[Wild Thang]

Amato and possibly Shirley tried those injectors for a short time. Who the hell is Tara Lapinksi?

Looks like Shirley did !


Flickr Photo Download: Shirley , Canjun Nationals

 

[Just Paul]

Shirley had one on the car when she crashed at Sanair. I don't recall Amato running one though,

 

[onfire]

Looks like Shirley did !


Flickr Photo Download: Shirley , Canjun Nationals

You can see Sid behind the burnout to the right of the car. You could never miss that shirt and hat!!

Late..........Mitch

 

[.]

Dan Pastorini made an appearance with his car at my friend's bar back when he had the Coors Light deal. At the time, my friend's bar sold more Coors Light than any other bar here in the Twin Cities and was able to set up an appearance with Dan a few days before the race in Brainerd that year. I'm not sure if they fired the car in the bar parking lot but they did have it on display. My friend still has the large banner that hung inside the front door of his bar that advertised Dan's appearance. It's now hanging in his garage at his house.... I just saw it again 2 weeks ago.

Basically it says.... Come meet Dan Pastorini, Driver of the Coors Light Top Fuel dragster on August 14th 198X. I'll see if I can get a picture of it some day.

I wasn't there that night but I remember my friend saying Dan and his crew were a great bunch of guys. They had an absolute blast that day and into the evening.