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| 11/13/2003 | Email this article • Print this article
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| Enterprise drag racer D.J. Jannuzzi heads down the track on his way to another big win in his 1967 Chevy Camero. |
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Jannuzzi shines at All Stars
By Kim Lamb
of the Chieftain
It doesn’t get much better. An All Star in Super Street, No. 2 in Division 6 and No. 1 in shootout race points, which are determined by qualifying time in each race throughout the year. “It was a great feeling to accomplish what I did this year in racing. It was a once-in-a- lifetime achievement,” said Enterprise drag racer D.J. Jannuzzi.
Jannuzzi won three races , two shootouts and one divisional race during the 2003 season and made it to the semifinals in every other trip down the track. He also was awarded a trip to the All Star Nationals at the Route 66 Super Speedway in Joliet, Illinois in September as top points leader in class. “It’s like the Superbowl of race tracks,” he said.
The All Stars are the top 56 racers in the world that compete in eight classes in seven divisions. Jannuzzi is in division six in the Super Street class which encompasses Canada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and a portion of California.
The 56 top point holders in the world advance to the All Stars at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet.
Jannuzzi and his boys Seth and Nick and a friend, Jeff Nohr, flew to Chicago in late September and traveled to the raceway the following day. “When I got to the track I was treated like a king. A lot of people knew who I was without even meeting me,” he said. During the second round of qualifying, Jannuzzi almost ran the perfect race, missing the perfect time of 10.90 seconds in Super Street by 1/1000 of a second by running a 10.89.9.
“Nothing is going through my mind when I’m at the line. I’m as calm and at peace as I can be. I think that is what did it for me ,” Jannuzzi said. “I was able to race with my body, mind and not my emotions.”
Tragedy struck the Enterprise man in the last round of qualifying as he blew up his motor as he crossed the finish line. Smoke filled the car as he shut it down, no oil pressure showed on the gauges. Jannuzzi had never blown an engine before during his racing career.
“I thought that it was all over,” he said. “I remember saying why, why now?”
In the mean time over 20 mechanics and racers attempted to get his car ready for the next round, but to no avail. Two holes were blown in two of the engines pistons and the motor had dropped an intake valve at 7500 RPM, causing considerable damage. ‘What do you want to do?’ they asked Jannuzzi. “Well I guess it’s over,” he said. “ I went for a walk, a long praying walk.”
When Jannuzzi returned his prayers had been answered; another engine from one of the other racers was at his disposal. There was one problem, though. The new engine was over 1000 horsepower while his old engine was only 675 HP. Jannuzzi and his friends worked from 2 p.m. until 2 a.m. the following morning, giving little time for testing as the first round of the finals started at 7 a.m. “We had to change everything mechanically to be able to use the new engine,” he said.
The sun shown on a new day as Jannuzzi’s car crept toward the starting line during his first race of the finals. “My knees were shaking, I wasn’t sure how to race with so much horsepower, but I knew that I could do it,” he said. He was quick to the punch, making it first off of the line but speed isn’t the only factor. A racer must not cross the finish line too quickly or he will be disqualified. Jannuzzi had so much power with the new engine that he had to pedal on and off of the throttle to stay even with the car next to him. “I watched and fender raced him all the way down the track to the finish line,” he said. The win made Jannuzzi the number two qualifier in his class at the event. The Wallowa County native ended up racing into the third round only to blow up his transmission on the starting line. “I out treed the guy at the start, my wheels came down off of the launch and the tranny let go,” he said. The 1000 plus HP had taken its toll. “I still did outstanding ending up in the top five of the race and the memories will always be there,” Jannuzzi said.
Jannuzzi, originally from Imnaha, moved to Portland when he was 16 and got the racing bug after hanging out with a friend whose dad ran the Jean Machine top fuel funny car. He started going to drag races with them at Portland International Raceway. At 18, Jannuzzi competed in and won his first race representing Madison High School in the High School Drags at P.I.R. in a 1973 black Plymouth Duster with a 340 HP, four speed that he had built. “Then I knew that I was hooked,” Jannuzzi said.
Racing took a back seat for the teen the following year as Jannuzzi turned his sights on his other passion, football. The 19 year old earned kudos as an All State and All American defensive tackle at Madison High. Jannuzzi was recruited by a number of college and semi pro teams, eventually signing with the semi pro Portland Steelheads of the Northwest Football League. “About 600 players tried out and 44 of us made it,” he said.
Jannuzzi returned to Imnaha after his short stint on the semi pro gridiron, got married and went to work at Joseph Forest Products for a few years. In 1991, after quitting the sawmill, Jannuzzi and his wife Dianna purchased DJ’s BP gas station in Enterprise. Jannuzzi’s passion to race was re-ignited in 1993 after the couple purchased a 1968 hugger orange with black stripe RS Chevy Camaro from a junkyard. “We rebuilt it from the ground up over the winter,” he said. Wayne Mollman from Wallowa built the 383 HP motor for the car. When it was finished Jannuzzi and family traveled to the Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho every weekend. “We did very well, winning three different bracket races with that car,” Jannuzzi said.
A few years later he befriended another racer at Firebird Raceway, helping the man with mechanics on his car. The driver soon had Jannuzzi on the starting line helping him out on a more permanent basis with racing and mechanics. One day in 1995 the driver called Jannuzzi telling him that he was retiring from racing to pursue other interests and gave Jannuzzi a chance to purchase his race car, an all fiberglass 1967 Camaro. Jannuzzi jumped at the chance because it would allow him to move up into a higher racing class.
The following year he moved up to compete in National Hot Rod Association Pro Drag Racing. Previously Jannuzzi ran in bracket racing where times off of the starting line are handicapped. In NHRA Pro racing both cars go at the same time.
Jannuzzi’s first race in the Super Street category went four races into the quarter heats that are run prior to the finals. It usually takes six races to get into the finals.
Jannuzzi said that he has done well every year since 1997, but nothing has compared to 2003.
Starting in April he won the biggest race that is run at Firebird Raceway during the year. Jannuzzi continued his run placing in the top six finishers in every other race that he competed in over the season to capture the top spot in his division and class with 408 points in the All Star points chase. Jannuzzi was in first place all year in division points until last weekend when his good friend Tom Manford from Spokane, Wash. passed the Enterprise man in the points standings.
Jannuzzi’s goal is to try and get his car ready for next year although several people have approached him about possibly racing their cars. He is also considering taking a year off to let his accomplishment soak in.
“I couldn’t have done it without my great family, friends, Jeff Nohr and God,” Jannuzzi said.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Sunday, November 23, 2003
Article comment by:
Lee Pangburn
Way to go D.J.... Proud of you... Glad you and the boys are doing well...
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