Reach for the Sky

Ed "the Outlaw" Jones has made a career out of wheelstanding on the dragstrip

Exhibition vehicles have long been a draw at dragstrips, from jet cars to the fabled "Hemi Under Glass." One such driver who continues to entertain crowds around the nation is wheelstander Ed "the Outlaw" Jones, whose Jelly Bellysponsored 1875 Concord stagecoach and '31 Chevy fire engine reproductions keep their wheels up the entire length of the dragstrip during 35 dates per year.

Jones adds to the show by using pyrotechnics and teasing the crowd with "will he or won't he?" demonstrations when he turns around to go back down the track after his initial wheelstand. Adding to his popularity is his candy sponsorship, which has him handing out Jelly Belly samples to fans at the many racetracks and events he attends.

The 65-year-old Idaho resident and his wife, Wendy, have no plans of slowing down after 39 years on the racetrack.

"Wendy and I have been married for 45 years and racing for 39," said Jones. "We travel over most of the United States and parts of Canada. We've been to Germany and Japan. We plan on traveling as much as we possibly can. I think we'll be around for a while as long as our health is good and we're having fun."

Origins of "the Outlaw"

Jones began competing in traditional categories with a '68 Camaro at the old Stardust Raceway in Las Vegas, where he was attending school for aircraftmechanics, earning a trophy at the very first event he entered in 1967. Moving back to Utah to be with wife Wendy, he continued to compete at Bonneville Raceway until 1974 when he decided to look into a more financially sustainable means of racing.

"I looked at a check for $150 and thought, 'I spent way more than that,' " Jones recalled. "Two years later, I was driving everybody crazy. They said, 'Jones, why don't you do something? Go buy a Funny Car or a wheelstander or something like that.' I thought, 'Hmm.' The rulebook at the time had an ad for wheelstanders from Tommy Maras. I called him up and told him that I might want to find a car and learn how to wheelstand."

Maras had a stagecoach that he had been using for a year that he was looking to sell in order to go forward with a Smokey and the Bandit-themed promotion with two police vehicles along with Jack Ehrmantraut. Spending a weekend with Maras at a show in Utica, N.Y.</location>, was all the convincing Jones needed to take a big risk in purchasing the vehicle.

"I went back home, and I cashed in my life insurance policy, cashed in my wife's profit sharing, borrowed some money from my dad, and I went back and bought the old stagecoach," said Jones. "I paid 10 grand for it, which was quite a big chunk of change at the time. Everybody thought we were nuts."

Jones' children, Stacy and Todd, were 3 years old and 30 days old, respectively, when he started the venture. Adding to the skepticism was the first time he towed home with a busted tow vehicle.

"I borrowed Wendy's dad's truck and bought Tommy's trailer," said Jones. "He had a couple bookings that weekend, so we went up to Cayuga [Ont.], Canada. Tommy drove the car for me. On the way back, we were traveling along with Randy Lyznicki and Tommy Maras. We were on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and Randy ran into the back of us when we got into traffic. We got into Tommy and ran into another semi, so we messed up about three tow vehicles. Here we are stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Wendy's dad wired us some money, so we got the truck fixed enough to get home. We got home with a wrecked tow truck. We pull into town, and everybody's shaking their heads like, 'What have these kids done?' "

Jones carefully spent two years on the licensing process, practicing wheelstands on a closed-offstretch of road on land that was given back to farmers after once being part of the interstate system. He licensed in Denver under the watch of fellow exhibition racers Pete Huerta and Gary Watson and promptly went on his first tour at a trio of Texas tracks and in Tucson, Ariz. When he arrived home, he decided on "the Outlaw" gimmick.

"I decided I needed to come up with a name," said Jones. "What was really hot at the time was Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser had The Outlaws album. I thought, 'Man, that's pretty cool. That's what I'll be - I'll be "the Outlaw"!' We took all these different pictures with a shotgun in my hand and stufflike that and made them into press kits that looked like wanted ads. That kind of got us started."

The Candyman can

A booking at Orange County Int'l Raceway when it hosted the NHRA Finals led to Jones' first major sponsorship. Jolly Rancher, which also used a stagecoach to promote its products, already sponsored teams, and company President Bob Harmsen saw Jones' stagecoach as a natural tie-in. Using their stagecoach, they towed Jones' wheelstanding version to the starting line, and it was an instant hit.

"We ran the Jolly Rancher name and went to quite a few national events, the Super Chevy events, and traveled quite a bit around the country," said Jones. "They treated us very good. We were on the same team as John Force, Frank Bradley, Johnny Abbott, Brad Anderson and his family, Joe Lepone, Lori Johns, and quite a few people who came and went."

Jones' exhibitions were utilized at a number of national events during this time as a break in the action that kept fans entertained. One of the career highlights for Jones was being selected to go to Japan in 1992 as part of NHRA's efforts to promote the sport of drag racing internationally.

"We went over four times, and the first time was probably one of the neatest things I've ever done in my whole life," said Jones.

It wasn't long after that when Jones' relationship with Jolly Rancher came to a close - after a 12-year run - due to the candy maker being purchased by a company from Finland. Jones got by with the help of sponsors Isky Cams, The Wax Shop, Horsepower Farms, and Mac Tools, and at this time, he also began running Drag City Raceway in Pocatello, Idaho. Despite having success with the track and making major improvements to it, the owners of the land that he was leasing it from decided to buy him out.

Running sporadic dates for two years without a major sponsor, Jones got the opportunity to tour again. He was doing an exhibition at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho - a track he has raced at for 36 years - when Sacramento Raceway'sDave Smith asked him to put on a show at his track. It was there that he met the family behind Jelly Belly, who was sponsoring Jim Pace's supercharged Anglia.

"We started talking, and they kind of knew us from the candy business," said Jones. "They told us to give them a call sometime. Wendy and I got home and talked about whether we wanted to get back on the road again. We called up Herman Rowland Jr. and started talking. He said, 'It's about time you called!' We started a deal with Jelly Belly in 2002, and we're going on our 13th year together.

"The neat thing about them being our sponsor is that they are still American-owned and familyoperated. We're just like a family with them. We do our own thing in that we go where we want and book our own dates, doing so many [events] a year for them."

Jones compares his long career to baking a cake: It takes all of the right ingredients. That extends to sponsors, friends, and family. He has been able to tour with his family for his entire career. Though his children aren't able to join him and wife Wendy as much, Jones' grandchildren accompany them when they do attend to make those events a big family outing.

"It's really been like living the dream, and I never want to see it end," said Jones. "We're different from the other cars, and people like to be entertained."

With additional support from Lucas Oil and the latitude to book dates mostly where he pleases, Jones is having as good a time as ever. He is most consistently seen at the national events at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he still gets a thrill out of putting on a show.

"When I can go up and down the track and know that we made the fans happy, it feels like we won the event," said Jones. ND

Jones guides his wheelstanders with two rear-wheel hand brakes while titanium skid plates make sparks fly. His headers shoot 20-foot flames.

(Above) Ed "the Outlaw" Jones has been putting on a show with his wheelstanders for the past 39 years. (Right) Jones has been competing with his wheelstanding stagecoach since 1976. For the past 13 years, the stagecoach, powered by a 427- cid, supercharged Chevy, has been sponsored by Jelly Belly.

Inspired by the old fire trucks that Jim Beam sold as collectibles along with his ongoing service as a volunteer firefighter, Jones created a '31 Chevy fire engine detailed with a hose reel, siren, bell, ladders, and fire extinguishers.

Jones ran an Oldsmobile Silhouette van as a wheelstander from 1992 on toward the end of the decade.