words: John Z.
Although there is a sign near the Atco Raceway in Atco, NJ, that states:
Positively No Burn Outs in this Area, it didn’t stop NHRA pro driver
Gary Gardella from getting busy on the quarter-mile racetrack. On this
particular scorching hot afternoon in early June, Gardella, who was
behind the wheel of his 1,400-horsepower Red Bull Chevy Cobalt, faced
an unlikely opponent—a 300-horsepower Zivko Edge plane being flown
by Red Bull Air Race World Series Champion, Kirby Chambliss. “I’ve done
different things before on the drag racing side, but I’ve never raced a
plane,” says Gardella, 28, a resident of Howell, NJ and a six-time NHRA
Sport Compact national-event winner. “When they approached me to do
this, I thought it was really cool. I was down for anything.”
The “Air and Asphalt” challenge between these two high-performance
machines began just like any race for Gardella. His vehicle sat idle at the
starting line awaiting the Christmas tree lights to drop, while Chambliss
took off from a nearby airport and began his race at a hovering start due
to the car’s obvious acceleration advantage. “I always say that second
place is just the first loser,” says Chambliss, 48, of Arizona, who is a
five-time winner of the U.S. National Aerobatic Championship. “I’m a ‘go
for number one’ kind of guy.” When it was time to race, Gardella pushed
his car to speeds of 197 mph (in 7.63 seconds) while Chambliss hit 270
mph in quarter-mile action, before he engaged in some impressive aerial
aerobatics high above the racetrack. During the afternoon of racing, the
competitors took five passes at one another, taking a 45 minute break
after each race to have their respective crews tune up their equipment
and to take a much deserved break from the blazing hot sun.
After the smoke cleared, it was rather difficult to determine who the
clear-cut winner was, because of the blink-and-you-missed-it speeds that
both racers were traveling down the track. Despite that, both competitors
were thoroughly satisfied by an afternoon of intense racing action. “This
is so much different from what we’re used to,” Gardella says. “This brings
a little bit of flavor into the game and it is something different for the race
car community and the airplane world.”
