Ed “The Ace” McCullough’s Wild Drive Back To The Pits At Indy ’89 Is A Must-See

Motorsports Hall of Famer and bonafide drag racing legend Ed “The Ace” McCullough’s nearly five decades in the sport could be well described as a story of two uniquely different individuals. While known for his gentle, mellow demeanor in his years as a successful crew chief following his retirement in 1993, the Oregon native was known as a brash, fiery personality as a driver, and many of his exploits in those years live in drag racing lore.

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America perhaps worded it more accurately than any journalist could replicate, noting in his 2011 induction:

While drag races last mere seconds, first impressions may last a lifetime – and sometimes they’re wrong. Such is the case with Ed “The Ace” McCulloch, for the man being inducted this evening is decidedly not the same individual who burst onto the scene some three decades ago. Standing in the place once occupied by a brash, fearless driver of anything burning nitromethane is a bespectacled man looking like a corporate executive. The alteration in McCulloch’s personality has been dramatic. Prior to his retirement as an envied crew chief, older fans would stop by to reminisce about McCulloch’s earlier exploits, stories the 20-something mechanics working under his direction refused to believe. If they only knew!

McCulloch’s maturity has paralleled the maturation of the endeavor he’s devoted himself to. Perfect for his times, McCulloch was sometimes rough and crude, but over time, both he and drag racing became professional. While others were polishing their resumes, McCulloch made his own by winning races. Along with publicity-producing national event wins (18 in Funny Car and another four in Top Fuel), McCulloch was a master at out-performing his rivals at hired-in appearances, where he was just as determined to win. He did not like losing, and rarely failed to express those sentiments when it happened.

That final part perhaps best describes what occurred at the 1989 NHRA U.S. Nationals, where one of Ace’s greatest heat-of-the-moment extracurriculars took place — one that was long heard about, witnessed by a few, and must be seen to be believed.

There, during the opening round of the Big Bud Shootout, the eight-car bonus race for the sport’s leading fuel Funny Car drivers, McCullough’s iconic Miller High Life Oldsmobile Cutlass struck the tires before it even covered the distance of its own wheelbase, as opponent Bruce Larsen streaked away to the win. After idling his cackling racecar down the track and making the turnoff, the clearly pissed McCullough — at the time the only things under that gold body hotter than the engine — proceeded to drive back up the return road at a good clip, snaked around the starting line, through the staging lanes, all the way back to the pits. The sight took everyone by surprise — perhaps none more than his own crew, who comically can be seen hanging a U-turn trackside to chase their driver back to the hauler.

There are of course, a long list of reasons why driving a car such as that on the return road and in the staging lanes at a crowded drag race would be more than frowned upon, and NHRA officials most certainly delivered their displeasure. Much as McCullough’s personality has softened with time, so too has Steve Gibbs’ explanation of the exchange that took place on that day.

Gibbs, the NHRA’s longtime competition director who was the sheriff of national events at the time, shared of the conversation that day in Indy: “Ace and I had a discussion. Over the years we had several such discussions.” Little more needs to be said, really.

Amazingly, there are many first-hand accounts of McCullough doing the very same thing on at least one other occasion during that timeframe driving Larry Miners’ beer wagon. If anyone was too tough for the sanctioning body to tame, it just might’ve been the Ace.

McCullough never did win the Big Bud Shootout, but he did leave Indy with the big hardware six times as a driver.