About Me
HOFMANN'S LARGER-THAN-LIFE PERSONALITY SUITED HIM JUST FINE
written by Bill Stevens:
For over 15 years, I've had the privilege of covering NHRA POWERade drag racing on both television and in print. When the sport loses one of its most indelible and enduring personalities, such as Al Hofmann, one can't help but flash back to the numerous images of these larger-than-life racing stars that have been permanently drawn onto our memory files.[+] EnlargeJamie Squire/Getty ImagesAl Hofmann rumbled to victory past John Force in the Funny Car final at Pomona in 1996.Hofmann had a knack for creating lasting images. The Internet is already spilling over with heartfelt tributes and melancholy anecdotes shared by drag racing fans who either witnessed the gritty heroics of Al on one of the countless quarter-miles upon which he performed, or experienced firsthand Al's "hoodlum with a heart" persona.Al was more broad than he was tall. The physique of a forklift capped with that ever-familiar swirling dollop of hair, combed into a defiant pompadour straight from a '50s hot-rod movie. He was as rugged as the moly steel that formed the skeleton of his race cars, but a mischievous scoundrel on the inside -- a wisecracking punk whose bark churned out just a few more horsepower than his bite. But Al played the role of night club bouncer in the Funny Car ranks with perfect aplomb, and truth be told, I never saw anyone mess with him.Al Hofmann and John Force. John Force and Al Hofmann. The main event at any NHRA national event, and whenever the PA announcer sounded the alarm that the two combatants were towing into the staging lanes, the crowd along the fence would squeeze in just a little tighter. If the unexpected is the sweet spot of professional drag racing, "Big Al" and "Brute Force" nailed it. The rule was simple. You rooted for Force every time. Except when he was racing Hofmann. Then, it was choose your sides.I was at the top end in Pomona in 1996 when Al got past John for the Winternationals championship. The "bad guy" beat the "good guy" -- a concept that popular culture has never been very fond of. But that day, after seeing 25,000 deliriously jazzed drag racing fans, you'd have never known it."I've been waiting a while to give Force a little piece of his own medicine," Al crowed into the microphone. "And this year, I've got a lot more for him."Force went on to win his sixth world championship in '96, and that became a familiar footnote in the Force/Hofmann story line. Al never won a world championship, never got the headlines or the acclaim -- let alone the multimillion-dollar sponsorships that winning championships will get you. And of all the people in the sport who had bulked up on fame and fortune in obscene quantities, it was Force who recognized that he was indebted to Hofmann on some level for the love and loyalty that the fans lavished upon him."Wearing the white hat doesn't mean anything," Force would say, "if nobody is wearing the black hat."Black was Al's official team color. Black button-down shirt with sleeves rolled up, black Levis, a pair of black Simpsons on his feet, and when primary sponsorship money dried up soon before Al pulled the plug on team ownership, his Funny Car bodies were blacker than anyone's. And everyone on Al's crew was constantly covered in the color, not their wardrobe, but the smears of grease they usually wore in contrast to the blue-chip operations sprawled nearby with brand-new everythings and catered hospitality areas as big as a Home Depot.While those big-ticket teams were bustling in their pits with a mob of crew members in freshly laundered uniforms preening their cars and eating through their budgets with little regard, the Hofmann team -- Al, then-wife Helen and a handful of helpers -- was doing it differently.She worked the wrenches, their ragtag team was pouring in the sweat equity and Al was usually stretched out in the transporter lounge, either asleep on the couch or not far from it. I once asked Helen why Al didn't work on the car himself, and with a straight face and matter-of-fact tone, she replied, "If he touches this car, I'll kill him."[+] EnlargeKen Levine/Getty ImagesAl Hofmann, posing at the Winternationals at Pomona Raceway in 1992, won 15 career NHRA races and finished in the top 10 in points seven times.Point made.The 1997 Gatornationals final nearly did the job for Helen when Al's car threw the rods out, burst into a scorching fire, crushed itself against the Gainesville guard rail, and split open like a ripe cantaloupe an instant after he beat Mark Oswald for the victory. Burns, fractures, bruises everywhere. Al hadn't been at the hospital more than a minute when the phone at the admitting desk rang. It was John Force."Whatever he needs, whatever Helen needs, whatever they want, make sure they get it," Force implored. Sometimes the good guys help the bad guys.Two weeks later, at the next race in Houston, Al was there with a new car, a heavy plaster cast on his badly fractured arm, and every intention of racing that weekend."I've got to rework the brake handle so I can stop the car," he told me as his team put their heads together."Are you sure you should be back in the car so soon?" I asked him."Soon?" he shot back. "Hell, it's been two weeks."I wrote a piece about Al in an issue of Drag Racer magazine soon thereafter, and it told of Al's bold personality and old-school toughness and unwillingness to jump aboard the emerging legion of drag racing "pretty boys" who had creases in their slacks and cell phones on their belt loops and had turned the Funny Car class into a New Age love-in. Al never saw the article, that is, until last year, when he was cleaning out his house in Florida and stumbled upon that issue of DRM. He called me at my home to thank me, some 10 years after the fact, for what I had written about him when he was still the undisputed dark side of nitro drag racing."I really appreciate what you wrote," he told me. "I don't know why I never saw that piece until now, but it was the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me.""What are you doing these days?" I asked."Fooling around in my shop, working on my cars, doing some things for other people, but I'm retiring and want to do some traveling with [companion] Susie in my motor home," he said. "Life is short."Had he only known then …There's a saying that race cars don't care who's driving them, and that's especially true of nitro Funny Cars. They are untamable, unforgiving bundles of attitude that can sense fear and dish out hurt if the hands on its steering wheel don't establish the rules right up front.Today's generation of fuel coupe racers are skilled, dedicated and accomplished pros who succeed at what they do with an equal measure of dexterity and intelligence -- outthinking rather than overpowering their potentially deadly weapons with as much finesse as arm strength.Al Hofmann was the last of a disappearing breed of cat who made it clear who was the boss when the body came down and who wasn't about to admit to his ride, or anyone else, that tangling with him was the smart thing to do.Al has moved on to his eternal reward, leaving behind a sullen fan club of mourning admirers who will long remember and relate the many tales that define the life and legacy of Funny Car's last tough guy. And perhaps we can all take consolation in the fact that after a rough-and-tumble journey from the threadbare drag strips of Connecticut to a supporting role in one of the most compelling rivalries in NHRA history, today, Al Hofmann is wearing the white hat.Bill Stephens covers NHRA for ESPN.com.
