: Can you give a one-word description for each of the above? Plus yourself.

SE: Wally Parks: world class.  Larry Carrier: rebel.  Billy Meyer: revolutionary.  Bill Bader: go-getter.  George Howard: ingenious.  Kenny Nowling: P.T. Barnum.  Roy Hill: calculating.  Me: lucky.

: Throughout your career the tracks you operated have hosted NHRA and IHRA national events, the Winston Invitational, bracket racing's Million Dollar race, the ADRL's Dragstock, and probably some I have forgotten. What is the most memorable race you have ever been involved with and why?

SE: That’s tough.  I have been blessed with some of the most successful, and profitable, drag racing events ever. The Winston Invitational was like winning the lottery every April.  We paid NHRA a set fee and didn’t have to share the revenue with anybody (other than the government and my last ex-wife).  RJ Reynolds paid most of the purse and we had a very successful concessions business.

The Million Dollar Race George Howard and I created was quite lucrative in the early years.

That first ADRL Dragstock with Kenny Nowling will probably endure as the most memorable. We had a total staff of 17 people and expected maybe 2,500 spectators.  The 17-person staff included concession workers and car parkers.  We had no security. We closed the gates with an estimated 27,000 fans.  I never prayed so hard nor so continuously ever at a racetrack.

: Everyone will agree that Wally Parks is the single most influential person in drag racing. Who would you say was the second most and why?

SE: That would be a tie with Don Garlits and Don Prudhomme, with Shirley Muldowney real close. They were drag racing’s first household names. You could meet a stranger on an airplane and more likely than not he would have heard of those three. Densy and I got more press and publicity out of those three than the rest of the pack combined. Only John Force today would be comparable.

:  What is the single most significant and satisfying accomplishment of your drag racing career to date?

SE: Holding the first chapel service ever at an NHRA national event, Indy in 1979.  That led to Racers For Christ conducting services at national events in 1981 and continuing to this day.  I am proud that I finally got the New York Times to cover the Summernationals in Englishtown with a photo on front page of sports, above the fold. They ran an advance every year Densy and I promoted that race.  I’m also proud to have met Jim Murray, the king of daily sports columnists, and to have become personal friends with him.  Got more than a couple of columns out of him as well.  It was very gratifying to get Chris Economaki to include our sport in the once immensely popular National Speed Sport News.  Again, we became personal friends.  In fact, I served as a pall bearer at his funeral earlier this year along with Roger Penske, Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt, to drop a few names. His daughter, Corinne, and I remain very close friends.