Jan Gabriel, the original voice of Ben Christ’s historic “Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!” drag strip radio ads and a successful television producer, has died at age 69. This marks the third loss of a historic gearhead personality in the last week with Bob Toia of Gratiot Auto Supply Fame and Bob Tasca Sr. joining Gabriel at the big strip in the sky.
Gabriel had been suffering from kidney disease and was seeking a transplant before his death. He rose to fame as the voice of US30 Dragway in Gary, Indiana. The strip was owned by Ben Christ and in a stroke of promotional genius, he came up with an ad script to really pound home the fact that there was racing on Sunday at the strip. The “Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!” model for drag strip ads was adopted at tracks from coast to coast, but it can be argued that Gabriel delivered the line with more intensity and furvor than anyone else who ever tried.
As a television producer, Gabriel’s “Super Chargers” motorports show was a success, being syndicated nationwide and ran for 12 years. The show often combined celebrities and motorsports events in fun and humorous ways. One of his biggest and best accomplishments on the small screen actually involved monster trucks. Gabriel’s company, TV One Inc., was the company behind the highly popular “Battle of the Monster Trucks,” “War of the Monster Trucks,” and “Return of the Monster Trucks,” shows that were shown nationwide and later sold on VHS tape. (We own all three).
LINKS
Here’s a vintage television ad that Gabriel did the voice work for.
