INDIANAPOLIS — Bob Daniels, a pioneering NHRA official and longtime General Manager at Indianapolis’s O’Reilly Raceway Park, died in Florida on June 30 following an extended illness. He was 76.
Daniels began his career with NHRA in 1959 when series founder Wally Parks formed the first group of division directors. Daniels was named to operate Division 3, encompassing the Great Lakes and surrounding areas.
During his stint in Division 3, Daniels was involved in the construction of many drag-racing facilities, including O’Reilly Raceway Park, which ultimately became the site of the U.S. Nationals.
In 1979, NHRA purchased the facility and Daniels was asked by Parks to assume the reins. Although the track had struggled somewhat in recent years, under Daniels’s leadership it blossomed.
During his tenure, the drag strip was updated and expanded to keep pace with the growing U.S. Nationals, which remains a mainstay on the NHRA schedule. Daniels also orchestrated a significant expansion of the use of the five-eighths-mile oval, as well as continued use of the road course.
In 1982, Daniels introduced the Kroger 200, which brought NASCAR’s Busch Grand National Series to the oval at ORP. The event became a cornerstone event for the track and the city of Indianapolis, and it eventually became more prominent with the advent of the Brickyard 400 in 1994.
Although Daniels retired in 1992, he remained heavily involved with NHRA and played a prominent role in the development of the Wally Parks NHRA Museum in Pomona, Calif. He was also a founding member of the USS Salem Ass’n, a reunion organization for those who served aboard the U.S. Navy vessel.
Throughout his career, Daniels worked alongside his wife, Eileen, who survives him.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made in Bob Daniels’s name to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum and/or the USS Salem Ass’n, P.O. Box 493139, Leesburg, Fla., 34749.