Dale Emery

Derrill Dale Emery (March 4, 1939 – March 16, 2018), nicknamed "The Snail" (sometimes "Schnoz"), was an American drag racer. Emery raced Fuel Altereds and Funny Cars, and briefly in wheelstanders, as well as serving as crew chief for several top teams. Emery was married to Brenda, and lived near Dallas, Texas.

Pure Hell was entered in a 1968 showdown event between Funny Cars and Altereds at OCIR; Emery won the event. A week later, he recorded a pass, on his way to winning the Hot Rod Magazine Championships at Riverside Raceway (and bettering Borsch's pass of the year before), a speed no Altered would surpass that season.

Emery won Funny Car at Le Grandnational at Sanair in 1973, defeating Frank Mancuso in the final. At the U.S. Nationals, Emery qualified #10, and was eliminated in round one by #2 qualifier "Jungle Jim" Liberman. The same month, he won the IHRA All American Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway, defeating top qualifier Raymond Beadle in the final, and lost to Foster at the IHRA U.S. Open at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. He also reached the final round in the Supernationals at Ontario,

Emery finished the 1973 season in spectacular fashion. "Mongoose" McEwen, though successful as a match racer, had yet to win his first NHRA national event;

When Coughlin stopped touring with his team, the Emery and Gannt combination provided two wins at NHRA national events that year before Coughlin decided to quit racing to focus on his mail order business.

In 1976 and 1977, Emery and “Big Mike” Burkhart worked together, making the final at the first ever NHRA Cajun Nationals, where Emery lost to Beadle. They closed 1978 by defeating Tom "Mongoo$e" McEwen at the World Finals. Though track marshals had to cut him from the car, Emery suffered only a broken bone in his left arm, which was pierced by the lever of the fuel shut-off valve. It proved to be his last race.

Talent Besides being a driver, Emery was an engineer who was able to conceive and build parts when needed, including the team's first sixteen-plug heads, as well as a revival of an old idea, dual magnetos. His ability to innovate and build from scratch has been compared to Dick LaHaie, Alan Johnson, Tim Richards, Austin Coil, and Don Garlits.