Friends, family turn out on Sunday to honor legendary track announcer
About 100 family, friends and fans of Jan Gabriel's gathered at his Lombard home Sunday to pay their respects.
Gabriel, 69, died Sunday, Jan. 10. Although the day of the week might not matter to most, for Gabriel and his family, it is as significant as the actual date. Few people can be identified with a day of the week more than Gabriel, who was famous for the phrase, "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!"
The baritone-voiced speedway announcer's echoed call did as much for drag racing's popularity as did the racers. So when he died at 11:57 p.m. that Sunday night, his wife, Teresa Gabriel, said it was as if Jan had planned it.
"He left three minutes for those three words," she said.
Among those attending Sunday's public memorial celebration, hosted by Teresa and her daughter, Mandee, was longtime friend Willy Henson, who was with Gabriel the day he died.
"I loved him like a brother," said Henson, who met Gabriel in the 1950s while they were both playing music. "I'm just going to miss that deep friendship; how much we could rely on each other."
The Gabriels adorned their garage with Jan's memorabilia and awards, as well as photo books and videos playing his drag racing TV show, "Super Chargers." Gabriel was the producer and host of the show for 12 years in the 1980s and 1990s.
Gabriel started in racing as the enthusiastic public address announcer at the Santa Fe Speedway in Burr Ridge. It was there in 1969 that he met Art Fehrman, a race car driver who said some of his best memories were driving down a straightaway during a pace lap before a race, and seeing the fans whipped into a frenzy by Gabriel's words.
"That was the most exciting thing ever," Fehrman said. "It was more exciting than any race I ever won."
Gabriel's memory and passion for the sport were unmatched, Fehrman said. Every race, Gabriel would announce the starting field from the driver in the last lane to the driver in the first position - all without a cue card.
His style was brand new in the field.
"He was an entertainer," Fehrman said. "That's what people were so fascinated by."
Jim Devitt of Woodridge never met Gabriel in person, but attended Sunday's memorial because he said Gabriel was part of the reason he went into track announcing.
"A lot of what he has done for the sport, many in Chicago sports don't even know," Devitt said. "People still try to imitate him."
No other call is imitated more than Gabriel's now-legendary "Sunday" that began with a microphone error. In a television ad for a drag race at a Gary, Ind., strip, Jan's mic had an echo effect on it. Producers liked it and the result was a call that would become his legacy.
It's a legacy that his daughter, Mandee, said will be hard to live up to.
"I'm still learning things about him," she said. "He's inspirational. He's definitely pushed me to work harder."
Both Mandee and Teresa said that Jan could find humor in most situations.
"He enabled everybody to laugh. He was good at that," Teresa said. "I feel blessed to have had him in my life. He made everybody's life a little bit better."
As a public figure, Gabriel enjoyed the fans. Teresa said this was the main reason why they made the celebration public.
"That's what he wanted," she said. "He wanted everybody to come and say goodbye. He belonged to the public."