Rum Bum Rambles on to Summit Nationals

© Mac McClure / RumBum.com

Wednesday morning Rum Bum Race Team Crew Chief, Blake Gann, stomached an Arby's roast beef burger for breakfast while getting jostled in the back seat of the team's 75 ft. moving rig. His son, racer Shawn Gann, slept in the front, tuckered out from packing the rig with the bikes and gear until the wee hours of the morning. With driver Bobby at the wheel, 350 miles ahead of them, and a panorama of the picturesque Virginia mountains (plus Rum Bum teammate Bailey Whitaker's taillights), the caravan rambled on to their next race, the NHRA Summit Nationals in Norwalk, OH.

After a humble opening in 1963, Norwalk's Summit Motorsports Park changed many hands before undergoing a $4 million renovation and joining the ranks of the NHRA Full Throttle Series in '06. After they arrive and unload, the team will walk (rather, inspect) the track, a site where Whitaker won big years back. Still high from his upset at the last race in Englishtown, Whitaker suspects he's raised the anxiety bar for his opponents. "I'm sure they're worried about me now!" he projected, hoping to find favor with this particular quarter-mile once more.

The race also marks the halfway point of the arduous racing season. Since February, the bikes, like the team members, have been worked hard, worn down, and built up again - a familiar routine for Gann, who over the last 14 years adapted his life around racing. "I've done this my whole life," he reminded.  "It doesn't phase me."   

Even on Father's Day, the Gann men - both dads - got no down time (though Shawn did manage to conjure up a rare and digitally restored DVD of the Bee Gees: Live in Bangkok for his pop). As families across the country relaxed around the BBQ with beers to celebrate, this father/son team spent the day like they do almost every other day of the year - together, rebuilding motors and freshening up the bikes for race day.  About getting to spend every day in the shop or on the track with his dad by his side, Gann said, "I wouldn't have it any other way."