WWW- It takes all kinds to pilot a car down a quarter-mile dragstrip — not just your stereotypical piston head with grease under the fingernails seven days a week. An aeronautical engineer, an automotive engineer who holds 10 patents, a renowned chiropractor, a golf pro, an airline pilot, a New York mortgage banker, a dairy farmer who is a five-time champion, a candy maker and a criminal lawyer all help to make up the world of IHRA drag racing.
And not just any old lawyer.
Paul Cambria, 47, of Buffalo, who competes in the sportsman stock class, represents porn industry king Larry Flynt among other high-profile clients.
But despite the rigours of their everyday jobs, all these men and women have one thing in common — their love racing on the weekend.
“This is my total chance to get away from all that other stuff,” Cambria said yesterday during the fifth-annual Hooters Racing Series Mopar Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex.
Cambria, who divides his time between offices in Buffalo and Los Angeles, is even trying to talk Flynt into attending the ACDelco Nationals at Toronto Motorsports Park in late July.
“That would be a blast,” said Cambria, who sports a HustlerHollywood.com sponsorship on the side of his 1998 Firebird, which was built by Smith Performance Specialties in Cayuga.
And just like the competitors, drag racing also appeals to fans from all walks of life.
The IHRA has completed extensive research into the demographics of its spectators and discovered they have a higher base income than the average NASCAR fan. Thirty-eight per cent of IHRA fans earn $30,000 to $39,000 US a year, with 12 per cent earning more than $50,000 US.
It’s almost a 50-50 mix of blue collar and white collar, with 61 per cent in the lucrative 18-to-34 age range.
And although 64 per cent of fans are male, female participation is increasing each year, lending a new element to motorsports marketing.
A single Hooters series event — such as this weekend’s, which is expected to draw a Grand Bend record of more than 35,000 spectators for the three days — can mean an economic impact of $7 million to the area.
With this event, the economic spinoff is even felt by hotels and restaurants back in London.
Cambria’s involvement with the sport began as a teenager but his father put the brakes to that budding career when 17-year-old Paul was arrested for staging a speed contest on a public street.
He graduated from law school and began representing Flynt after his first arrest for pornography in Cincinnati in 1977.
Cambria was at Flynt’s side during an assassination attempt in 1984 in Lawrenceville, Ga. The gunshot paralyzed Flynt and confined him to a wheelchair.
Cambria’s bicoastal law firm employs 67 lawyers. Six work full-time on Flynt’s cases since he is also into casinos and nightclubs.
Two years ago, the racing bug struck Cambria again and he bought the ’93 Firebird from Dan Fletcher of Churchville, N.Y.
Cambria will be in the U.S. news come Tuesday when he begins his defence of Steve Kurtz, an associate professor in the department of art at the State University of New York’s University at Buffalo, who faces indictment at a grand jury trial.
The FBI is bringing bioterrorism charges against Kurtz for possession of a biotechnology lab found at his home.
Kurtz, 48, is an internationally recognized lecturer in the areas of biotechnology, information technology and media studies and his work has always been anti-terrorist.
Kurtz’s wife died in her sleep of cardiac arrest on May 11. When police arrived, they became suspicious of Kurtz’s art supplies and called the FBI.
Kurtz’s work has focused on the problems of the emergence of biotechnology, such as genetically modified food.
Cambria says the episode is “colossal overreaction.”
No wonder he enjoys his weekend escapes to the quarter-mile.