Motor Sports: The Phoenix of the Race Track

Steve Virgen

The flames were rising, yet Bob Hallock hardly worried. The Costa

Mesa resident actually giggled when his funny car caught fire in February

at the AutoZone Winternationals, the first race of the season, at the

Pomona Raceway.

For Hallock, 45, the accident was just another part of the sport and

he chuckled when trying to remember the safety procedures for exiting the

car.

His son, Benny, was also just as calm during the fire.

“Just a normal day in paradise,” said Benny Hallock, who watched the

fire as he is part of his dad’s racing team. “It’s normal circumstances

for us because it happens to racing people all the time. But this one was

just a little bigger than normal.”

The accident left Bob Hallock with third degree burns on his elbows

and feet and second degree burns on his buttocks. Bob Hallock suffered

the burns because his seat belt malfunctioned and he was stuck in the

fire. He remained calm because he said he had so much trust in the

National Hot Rod Association’s safety crew.

“They saw me waving my hand because that’s all I could do,” Bob

Hallock said. “If it wasn’t for those guys, I wouldn’t have made it.”

If Bob Hallock had stayed in the car any longer it would have

negatively effected his lungs, since the oxygen tank emptied because of

the length time he was in the car.

Yet the burns and the severity of that fire -- the Hallocks had to

construct a new car -- have not been able to stop Bob Hallock’s comeback

to funny car racing.

Bob Hallock will race his team’s new funny car in the NHRA 50th

Anniversary Nationals, July 5-7. He will go back to the scene of the

accident as the races are at Pomona.

“When you’ve been doing this for so many years, you just don’t quit,”

said Bob Hallock, who has been racing since 1987. “I’m not ready to quit

yet. And until this thing beats me up, I’ll keep racing.”

Said Benny Hallock: “(The accident is) like cutting a steak. You don’t

stop eating if you cut yourself. You keep eating and you just try not to

make the same mistake.”

As if thoughts of the accident aren’t enough, the Hallocks are also

against odds in terms of the competition. The elite racing teams have big

corporate sponsors and in some cases the teams are corporations.

But the Hallocks’ racing team has yet to find sponsors, and Bob and

Benny work separate jobs in addition to the toil on their car.

“I moved back from Utah, just for the race car,” said Benny Hallock,

who works with Bob and his paint contracting business. “Working on the

car is like another part of your life. During the day, I catch myself

thinking about the car. I’m thinking about what if something goes wrong

or how do we make the team work better. Everything is a team effort.”

The car’s demanding schedule has given Bob Hallock difficulties as

well. His time spent working on the car cuts into his sleep and more

importantly spending time with his family.

But just as he put his memories of the crash aside, Bob Hallock is

willing to make the sacrifice in order to have the opportunity to gain

the feeling of winning a race.

“We spend so many hours working on the car,” Bob Hallock said. “It’s

really hard for us. We spend the same time as the big-time teams, but we

do the work late at night and weekends because we have to keep other

jobs. Without a corporate sponsor, it’s practically impossible to keep

racing.”