You had to be there: Gwynn’s 30-mph drag race run truly inspirational

Racing has needed an emotional shot in the arm to help it overcome flagging attendance and sagging TV ratings, and a drag race Sunday near Reading, Pa., supplied it.

Too bad you had to be there to experience it.

About 20,000 fans provided the most raucous reaction ever to a 30 mph run down a dragstrip. No 300 mph run ever elicited the joyous tears and soaring emotions that quadriplegic Darrell Gwynn inspired by guiding a custom electric dragster down that quarter mile.

We all recall great moments in sports we wish we could have attended. Willis Reed hobbling from the locker room to lead the Knicks to the 1970 NBA championship. The United States beating the Soviet Union and then Finland in 1980 to win ice hockey gold. Kirk Gibson limping around the bases after his pinch-hit homer in the 1988 World Series.

It wasn't the baskets, the goals or the hit we remember most. We recall the emotional fabric that binds us.

Gwynn's run can be added to that list.

Fortunately, ESPN producers and directors who worked Sunday's taping of the NHRA Full Throttle tour at Maple Grove Raceway weren't working those other great moments, or we'd have to rely on word of mouth to share the experiences.

"This won't be politically correct, but this is a daddy talking, and to me they just don't get it," said Gwynn's father, Jerry.

He's right on.

The three-hour, tape-delayed showing of Sunday's race included several reruns of engine explosions in the Funny Car driven by Ashley Force Hood. Not even three minutes could have been devoted to Gwynn's run?

Also ignored was a charity auction organized by Maple Grove general manager Lex Dudas that raised $50,000 for the Darrell Gwynn Foundation, which in eight years has provided more than 100 custom electric wheelchairs to children and young adults. The wheelchairs cost up to $30,000.

Dudas organized special events at Maple Grove to celebrate the 20th anniversary of a softball game played between NHRA and NASCAR drivers to raise money to help Gwynn's recovery from his near-fatal Top Fuel crash in 1990 during an exhibition run in England. The accident left Gwynn paralyzed from the chest down and forced the amputation of his left arm at the elbow.

Kenny Bernstein, the Hall of Fame drag racer who drove a Top Fueler then, owned a NASCAR Cup Series team in 1990 and recruited stock car drivers for the game.

The first one he approached was Dale Earnhardt, who would die in a crash in 2001.

"Dale just said, 'I want to help that boy,' " Bernstein recalled.

Earnhardt's mantra resonated then as it did last weekend.

It was the first time in nine years that Gwynn was in the electric rail built by Las Vegan Mike Gerry, a former member of Gwynn's team who refreshed the dragster before joining Gwynn at Maple Grove.

Gwynn won 28 NHRA titles, including 18 in Top Fuel, before his career as a racer was cut short and his life as a philanthropist began. The racing community didn't forget him then and hasn't now.

"It was just a magical weekend," said Dudas, who was general manager of Las Vegas Motor Speedway from 1995 to 1998 and has worked in drag racing most of his 64 years.

Gwynn, 49, directs his foundation to raise awareness and money for research into finding a cure for paralysis and to help children and young adults who are living with spinal cord injuries and debilitating diseases.

It's a story that can't be told too often.

ESPN blew a chance bigger than any engine explosion to show the world that no heart beats stronger than the one within the racing community.

Apparently, ESPN just doesn't get it.

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Visit lvrj.com/blogs/heavypedal/ for more on Darrell Gwynn and his foundation.

Jeff Wolf's motor sports column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.