The Albert Einstein of Modifieds - Part 2

The late, SONNY DORNBERGER

An interview with Sherrie Dornberger, Sonny's Daughter

by Cemetery Jim       December 19th, 2004  (Second of a 3 part series)   



(Part 2:)

Sherrie Dornberger and I talked for quite a while for the interview for this article. She is a wonderful person, and it was a real pleasure to spend time with her. We spoke mainly of the glory days of modified racing, when you towed on an open trailer, and everyone you passed could see the race car. The days when you had one car, and you kept patching it up all season to keep it going.

I told her about the time when Sonny owned the #16 car, driven by Rags Carter, and we were running Reading every friday night. Sonny's pickup was a black ford with a 430 cu in Lincoln engine in it. What it didn't have for some time was a working starter, or parking brake. I used to follow him to Reading, and if he stopped for a pack of cigarettes, or a soda, I had to stop... run up and chock the wheels of his truck so he could leave it running and get out to go into the store. Leaving the pits at Reading after the race was an interesting job. We had to push the truck, and trailer with the race car on it to start the truck. Thank God he finally put a starter on the truck before we all got hernias.

Sonny ran stock car wheels and tires on the back of his pickup, and they were pretty bald. When Jackie McLaughlin was killed, I had bought most of the salvageable stuff off his #83 car from Budd Olsen, who owned the car. Among the things I bought were all the wheels and tires. Besides the ones on my car, there were a number of spares on the tire rack on my trailer. You can imagine my surprise when I arrived one day to work on my car, and found 2 of my tires and wheels on the back of Sonny's pickup. I asked him if he had left a saucer of milk outside last night and the elves had come and changed the tires... we both smiled and that was that. Sonny had done a lot of freebie work on my race car, so I didn't mind, I owed him a lot more than that.

Well, those were the good old days. Sherrie and I dicussed the situation today.  40' enclosed trailers, a $20,000 - $30,000 race car, with a $20,000 - $30,000 engine, PLUS a complete spare car in the trailer. Driving suits and helmets and gloves, tear offs and shoes that cost drivers about a thousand bucks or more just to legally climb into a race car, YIKES! Back in my day, (the 60s, not 1910), we drove in a Tshirt and jeans, and I don't think there were any more injuries than there are today.

Remember Sonny's protoge, the early "King of the Outlaws", Bobby Allen? He built his own sprint cars and his own engines. Now it costs $750,000 to put together a competitive world of outlaw team.

Sherrie said there were 8 completed engines in Sonny's garage when he died. Since her mother was an invalid, Sherrie handled the pickups of the engines. One of the engines belonged to a KKK member who had been jailed. Sonny told Sherrie that the guy's wife had come and gotten the money back to bail hubby out of jail, so if the guy comes to get the motor when I'm not around...don't give it to him. Sure enough, after Sonny died, the guy showed up and wanted his engine. Sherrie told him he couldn't have it, and explained why. He told her he knew her mother was in the house and was an invalid and couldn't get out, and if Sherrie didn't give him the engine he would burn the house down with her mother in it. Nice folks, those KKK guys. (may he rot in hell)

Sherrie let him have the engine, but, she opened the urn of Sonny's ashes, and said, "remember this, because you're getting this engine now, but when you get to the pearly gates, watch out for my dad, because he's going to be waiting for you. you may have to deal with me now, but you'll have to deal with him then."

Another guy had a boat engine there, and when he came to pick it up, he claimed that one of the racing engines was his. He didn't think Sherrie would know the difference, but her dad taught her just about everything, to the point where she can build a racing engine herself, so she knew which one was the boat engine. She told him, look, that's your engine over there, so you can take that one, or you don't get any...he took it.

Sonny was an innovator, he designed parts and pieces, and improved lots of others. He even sold some of his ideas to Holman-Moody. He built winning engines for unlimited Hydroplanes, fuel dragsters, and just about every kind of race car there is. He was a true hero in motorsports, a unique individual, a man you couldn't help liking, and is, and will always be truly missed. He was one of the all time greats in racing, and I'm more than proud to say he was my friend! 

Cemetery Jim

(to be continued)