He was a doer, a man who envisioned success and growth and expansion and then made it happen.
The end came quietly for Bob Daniels this past weekend, which seems ironic for a man whose life was surrounded by screaming racing machines and the hustle and bustle of major sporting events. After fighting health issues for the past year, Daniels died this past Saturday morning. He was 76.
Bob was a longtime official with NHRA, but for those of us in central Indiana, he was best known as the retired General Manager of O’Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont. During his tenure ORP emerged as a top-flight facility, one of the cornerstones of Indiana short-track racing.
He was a tough taskmaster, and it wasn’t always easy to tag along on some of Daniels’s projects. But past that gruff exterior was a man who cared deeply for auto racing and those involved in it, a man with a passion that ran both strong and deep.
Perhaps Bob’s greatest gift was his vision. He came to NHRA in 1959, one of six men charged with expanding drag racing throughout the U.S. Bob assumed responsibility for Division 3, which included the Great Lakes region.
He set about by overseeing the construction of a number of racing venues in his region, including a brand-new facility in Clermont named Indianapolis Raceway Park, later to be known as O’Reilly Raceway Park. ORP eventually became host of the U.S. Nationals, the cornerstone event on the NHRA schedule.
Like NHRA founder Wally Parks, Bob saw drag racing as much more than a bunch of roughneck racers following a weekend passion. He helped lead the sport into the modern era, with polish, organization and credibility. The era of the 1960s was key for the sport, and Daniels was a prominent player.
In 1979, NHRA purchased ORP, and Parks asked Daniels to assume the role of General Manager. It was a perfect match, as ORP thrived under Daniels’s leadership, and at the same time Daniels greatly enjoyed his new role.
When Daniels took over, ORP had a spotty record as a significant facility. There was the identity crisis; was it a drag strip, an oval or a road course? And there was the fact that ORP lived in the shadow of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located just 15 minutes away.
But Daniels saw ORP as a diamond in the rough. While some told him it couldn’t be done —“You’ll never be anything more than a drag strip with one big event on Labor Day”— he set about changing the world, and in the end he was an overwhelming success.
He brought the drag strip into the modern era, with permanent seating, an official’s tower, suites and the Top Eliminator club.On his watch the U.S. Nationals continued to prosper, building a strong legacy as one of the sport’s — not just drag racing, but all of auto racing — most important and historic events.
He also turned his attention to the five-eighths-mile oval, and perhaps that’s where his greatest legacy was made.
In 1982, he pursued the idea of bringing the NASCAR Grand National division to ORP. It’s hard to realize today, but it was a far-fetched idea at the time. The Busch series, way up north in Indianapolis? But Daniels pushed, prodded, pulled and promised until it became a reality.
The Kroger 200 was born, and today it is one of the most important short-track races in Indiana. In fact, it isn’t a stretch to say that in the early 1990s when Tony George and the folks at IMS mulled the concept of the Brickyard 400, they took a look at the tremendous success of the Kroger 200 as a sign that there was indeed a stock-car audience in Indiana.
Daniels also pursued a growing relationship with USAC, and in 1988 he brought USAC sprint cars back to the pavement with the Indyana Sprint Car Classic. Soon the cameras of ESPN were on hand, and ORP was a mainstay on the popular “Thunder” series. He also developed a successful Friday night stock-car series and organized a number of highly successful events with the touring ASA late models.
Throughout all of this, Daniels worked alongside his wife, Eileen. He later said that his longtime partnership with Eileen — both personally and professionally — was his greatest accomplishment.
Even though he retired in 1992, Daniels hardly slowed. He remained involved in many NHRA projects, including the construction of the fabulous Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, Calif. He also orchestrated the highly popular NHRA Hot Rod Reunions.
Bob was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and served aboard the heavy battle cruiser USS Salem. In recent years, Daniels organized a reunion for those who served aboard the ship, and, of course, he became the head of the organization, with he and Eileen eagerly working the phones and building a very successful annual reunion.
It’s easy to think of good times with Bob Daniels, particularly in the late 1980s. ORP was booming, and he was right in the thick of things at each racing function, barking orders, shaking hands, greeting visitors and making sure everyone had a good time.
Those were good times, weren’t they? Thanks to guys like Bob Daniels, who many years ago built a legacy that we continue to enjoy today.
It’s tough to lose the good ones. Rest easy, Bob. You did a helluva job on your watch, and all of us — whether racing in a straight line, on an oval, or on  a tricky road course — owe you one.