Ken Veney
Ken Veney didn’t begin seriously drag racing until he was in his early 30s, though he had been a “car guy” all his life, beginning with a Model A coupe that he bought when he was 13 and immediately chopped off the top. His first “real” car was a 1954 Ford two-door that he bought at the age of 16, in 1956. He swapped in a 312 cubic inch Mercury flathead, replaced it with what would become his prized possession, a 1957 Pontiac, that he raced and street raced. Still a teenager, he left his native Ohio for Southern California and found work at Lee’s Speed Shop doing engine conversions. A few years later, Ken was in the business for himself with a Goodyear Tire and Muffler shop in Redondo Beach, California, where he became friends with another racer on his way up, Dale Armstrong.
In 1970, Ken began a driving career that would last for more than 15 years with an injected gas funny car called the “Smog-Town Hustler” that he campaigned with friend Bud Bailey. In 1971, Ken got his own car, a Firebird that he bought from Gordon Mineo been named “Dirty Bird”. The following year, he built his first car, a state of the art, solid amount rear in Vega dubbed “Veney’s Vega” that led to probably the best stretch of his career. Running at Orange County, Lions, and Irwindale, he won every round of every race in 1972, including the world-famous “Last Drag Race” at Lions.
In 1978, he was back with another funny car that he built almost entirely himself (including the Dodge Challenger body) at friend Kenny Cox’s shop. That summer, he launched the billet cylinder head industry with a pair that he put on his car and won with the first time out. The following year, he lowered the national record to 6.50 ET and qualified number one, more than all other drivers combined. Tired of getting beat by dragsters in the late rounds because he kept losing traction, he got a dragster for 1980 and won the NHRA World Championship.
When NHRA formed Pro Comp a new category that pitted injected nitro and blown alcohol funny cars and dragsters against one another, Ken was one of the early stars. He reset the national record 11 times from 1973 to 1979 and won Car Craft Magazine Pro Comp Driver of the Year award in 1974, the first of his six Car Craft awards over the next 25 years, including the prestigious Man of the Year award in 1976. Ken won his first NHRA national event, the Summernationals in Englishtown New Jersey, in 1975. In 1976, the finest year of his career, Ken won 16 national events-more than all other drivers combined. In 1977, the lifelong Pontiac fanatic built a 351 Cleveland Ford-powered dragster and won the Summernationals for the third year in a row and in a third different car. Ken won 13 national events in 23 final-round appearances as an alcohol funny car and dragster driver in the 1970s and 1980s, and another 13 in 23 final-round appearances as a top fuel crew chief in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. He was the Pro Comp World Champion in 1980 and one national events in all three major drag racing sanctioning bodies-NHRA, AHRA, and IHRA.
When pro comp was split into alcohol funny cars and dragsters in 1981, can return to his first love, funny cars, and won the Gatornationals, Summernationals, and in what he thought was his last race on alcohol, the US Nationals. The next year, he ran his first fuel car a1982 Firebird, and set the NHRA national speed record his third timeout, at Indy. He made the Top 10 in 1983 but, racing without a major sponsor, again was forced to the sidelines. Ken came back one last time in late 1984 with an alcohol funny car and posted three runner-up’s including one at the US Nationals, and a semifinal finish in four outings. In 1985, his last year as a driver, he won the Gatornationals for the third of six times in his career and for the last time as a driver. When he retired from driving in 1985, Ken was tied as the winningest sportsman driver of all time and was the seventh winningest driver overall and had won an NHRA national event with almost every car he ever drove. He was also unique in today’s world of specialist and that he built his own chassis, made his own bodies, and of course built all of his own engines. Driven out of the sport 1985 by the skyrocketing expenses, he returned as a fuel tuner three years later and won his first race on the job, the 1988 Keystone Nationals, with driver Darrell Gwynn. “The Kid”, as Darrell then was known, won the US Nationals in 1989 and lowered the national record to 4.98 ET, and one the following race with a new record of 4.95 ET. The team won twice in four starts that year, including the World Finals, and had one of their best seasons ever in 1989, winning three times in five final-round appearances. Ken scored at least once with every top fuel driver for whom he served as crew chief-Darrell Gwynn (1988 to 1990), Frank Hawley (1990 to 1991), Michael Brotherton (1992), and Mike Dunn (1996 to 2001). The last years of Ken’s racing career was spent with Dunn, whose best season was 1999, when they made the three quickest runs in drag racing history, won four times, and led the points for most of the year. Dunn made the three fastest runs of 2000-all over 320 MPH-and Ken retired for good in 2001 after two more wins and five more finals.