“Hey Ollie, have ya got the time?”

Without O. V. Riley, racing might never have become the exciting, exacting, and competitive sport it is today

Text and photos by Eric Rickman

This month we bring you the saga of the unsung hero of drag racing, a man who can be ranked beside Wally Parks, grand mogul and organizer of the sport. In fact, without O. V. Riley, neither Wally nor the sport would have achieved the stature they now enjoy. “Ollie,” as the racers call him, is the man who built the timers that made the sport of drag racing the exciting, exacting, and competitive science it is today. Ollie Riley is Mr. Chrondek, and the story of Ollie and his Chrondek timers goes hand in hand with the evolution of drag racing. Hence, some of this may sound familiar to you old-timers. The year was 1953. Drag racing was in its infancy, although C.J. Hart had been conducting events at the old…

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Hot Rod (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 1969

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