Jan Gabriel

Jan Gabriel has crossed "the Finish Line of Life," as his website put it.

You may not know the name but if you grew up in the Chicago area as I did, and were in front of a tv at some point, you heard Jan Gabriel's voice. "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, smokin' US Dragstrip 30!!!."

Even if you weren't a gear-head, or even a car racing fan, and I was neither when I heard these commercials as a kid growing up in the North Austin neighborhood, you still loved these ads. You loved that voice. You loved the cheesiness of that reverb as Gabriel shouted "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!" How could you not? All my friends and I had to do to crack each other up (especially in our teen years when our sense of humor may have been enhanced somewhat by certain supplements) was to yell, "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, smokin' US Dragstrip 30!!!" Always got a laugh.

When I look back at the 1970s with rose colored glasses I think of those dragstrip commercials and smile. Gabriel was a wee tiny bit of my childhood, but it's another wee tiny bit that's been lost, chipped away as I get closer to old age than I am to my younger days.

Gabriel lost a battle with kidney disease yesterday. Yes, he did indeed die on a Sunday.

Here's a piece "Chicago Tonight" did on Jan Gabriel a few years ago.