Four years went by in a flash.    Tony Pedregon was the talk of the 2003 season, halting boss John Force’s streak of 10 Funny Car championships, then boldly taking his trophy and leaving behind the security of drag racing’s best-funded team…and a quiet, gentle man who didn’t make much a public display of his knowledge or his compassion.
That man was John Medlen, the crew chief who guided Pedregon to National Hot Rod Ass’n prominence. Medlen worked alongside his only son, Eric, who specialized in clutch maintenance.
No one knew much about Eric Medlen then, either. But Eric took over the seat Pedregon vacated and this year — four seasons later — they figured prominently in Funny Car news, tragically and triumphantly.
Eric died from injuries he suffered in March in a testing crash at Gainesville, Fla. Pedregon accepted his second Funny Car championship trophy after a hug from his former mentor Force, who was standing on two injured legs and encased in casts and bandages following a ghastly accident in September near Dallas.
John Medlen, setting aside his grief, thrust himself into an endeavor that has grown into the Eric Medlen Project and is dedicated to saving lives on the racetrack. It likely saved Force from worse injuries. Six-time champion Kenny Bernstein, the driver involved in the crash that Force’s disintegrating car triggered in their quarterfinal match-up at Texas Motorplex, said the JFR-driven safety enhancements that became mandatory allowed him to walk away with only a minor headache.
So, as the Powerade Drag Racing Series crowned its four professional champions Sunday at the Automobile Club of Southern California Finals, it seems fitting to  remember a couple of champions —a couple of heroes — who don’t even race down the quarter-mile.
John Medlen is one. The other is Mike Aiello.
Four years ago, Mike Aiello had hope that he would recover from a workplace accident that crushed several vertebrae. The former Texas Tech scholarship swimmer who was converted into a Red Raider football lineman and later served as a crew member for Pro Stock driver Jerry Yeoman had a strong body and an even stronger spirit. But as red-tape procedures took years to sort out and insurance companies and the State of California argued about money and responsibility, Aiello’s health deteriorated.
Despite being confined to a wheelchair for the next four years, Aiello, never missed the Winternationals and Finals at Pomona. He seldom referred to his own circumstances but always had a gift or the gift of kind and genuine words for others. Like John Medlen, who stood for hours and warmly greeted every single person who came to Connection Pointe Christian Church to pay respects to his son this spring, Aiello deflected attention from himself. Like Medlen, he could have used encouragement but gave it to others.
But this past weekend, both Medlen and Aiello were recognized. Medlen was named the first recipient of 1320 TV’s Mike Aiello Spirit of Drag Racing Award Thursday. The award honors Aiello, who made dozens of friends among racers, crew members and media with his positive outlook and unselfish behavior. He passed away Dec. 29, 2006, at age 39.
The award recipient is someone who has persevered and remained positive in spite of hardship. Jack Beckman, who drives the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger and is a worthy candidate himself for conquering cancer, made the presentation.
“I’m very, very grateful and very honored to receive an award like this,” Medlen said. “Eric gave his life for a sport he dearly loved — he gave his life doing something he loved to do — and what he would have liked to perpetuate would be that the safety aspects of the cars would be such that we would not add one more name to that list.”
The next day, Medlen accepted a special multi-image portrait of Eric that was commissioned for him by parts manufacturer Mike Thermos. The portrait study, by artist Paul Hinds, is titled “Full of Life” and, according to Thermos, was created to honor the memory of a driver, family and team that has been an inspiration to the entire racing community.