I’m an entertainer. I wear costumes for the people, so they can loosen up and not be stuffed shirts. It’s an uptight world, and this is one way to relax. Races are like a parade of humanity. I know it’s OK to wear a costume. I don’t need people’s approval. – GF Sr.
Gary on the left, poised to strike. Masters Mile. Penn Relays.
Winning a race in Honolulu, looking skyward.
Leading at West Chester Half marathon – 1:04:39 to tie Garry Bjorklund’s record.
Racing at Giro dell’ Umbria in Italy…1st place
You can make any human activity into meditation simply by being completely with it and doing it just to do it. – Alan Watts
When running was young and so was I, I’d clip the ends of my shoelaces to reduce weight. Slice all the labels off my kit. Anything to have less to lug. As many are aware, I was self-coached by a maniac.
The idea of running in a costume always struck me as stupid until I saw Gary Fanelli, Sr. do it over and over again. With aplomb, never boring. And he was fast, he was legit. He could outrun about everybody there was and often did.
I think of Gary, I think of Philly. But that’s not why. Somebody asked me to describe Gary Fanelli, Sr.
I say, it’s like when Samuel L. Jackson is trying to explain European burgers to John Travolta in “Pulp Fiction.’
[Vincent] And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
[JULES] They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
[VINCENT] No, they got the metric system there, they wouldn’t know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
[JULES] Then what do they call it?
[VINCENT] They call it Royale with Cheese.
Gary Fanelli, Sr. is the OGOR With Cheese.
Always seemed to be completely with it and doing it just to do it.
A gutty competitor when it counted. Asked for some photographs to illustrate his career. He sent five.
Not a costume in sight.
With daughters, Celeste & Laura at Penn Relays
When did you start running and why?
I started running as a kid, was my favorite game to run…then at school we had CYO Sports Programs including track..so at the age of 10 I was racing in the Penn Relays, a 4 x 110yard Relay………. I think we got last place.. BUT I didn’t care, I was thrilled being there.
Most memorable run?
Well, I will say, runs. Leading at the 1980 USA Olympic Trails Marathon. Leading (as the ‘Designated Pacer/ Rabbit’) at the Boston Marathon 1981 for 17 miles. Racing in the 1988 Olympic Games Marathon.
Toughest opponent?
I never really had any one on one rivalry. There were many great runners I came up against. Win some, lose some.
Here is a small story for you. In the early 1980’s I was out training here in Philadelphia Area, and I am running up this long steep hill during a ten-Mile run. These teens in a car pull alongside me, throw out a lit cigarette and it hit my hand, burning me. They sped out, laughing. I sped up, too, chasing them. They turned right at this traffic light, then I see them go running into this house. I come to the house, knock on the door. They are in there cowering, refusing to answer the door. SO, I start tearing down the rain spouts at this house. Then I’m jumping on the rain spouts. I know their parents – when they came home – must have asked these kids who they just “pissed off.”
Biggest disappointment?
The 1980 Olympic Boycott was a HUGE disappointment to me. I was ready to perhaps make the USA Team for Marathon. All of the long hard miles put in by me and so many others…..wasted.
What would you do differently if you could do it again? Why?
What I’d do differently? Less mileage….more quality…..more recovery.
Favorite philosopher? Quote?
Alan Watts. I learned a great deal from him, especially about outlook and attitude.
Special song of the era?
Good Question. This happened SO often.. I’d be driving to a a race and on the radio the Doobie Bros song: ” Listen To The Music” would come on and every time then I would get 1st place in the race. Was ” uncanny” and FUN.
Coincidence, before the Honolulu Marathon, I would listen to the Doobie Brothers. “Love will find the way/once you get past the pain.”
Favorite comedian?
Comedians. George Carlin. David Chapelle. Robin Williams. Jim Carrey.
The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse: You cannot post “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and “Thou shalt not lie” in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment.
George Carlin
What was your ‘best stretch of running’? And so why do you think you hit that level at that time?
Best stretch of running was in the 1980’s. Sometimes I’d run 20 miles per day. I have gone up to 155 Miles in a single week. Because I was training for Giro Del Umbria in Italy, a competition of five races in six days – totally near 60+ miles. AND it was also The Italian Road Race Championships and I did garner 1st place..
What was your edge?
My Edge was a strong mindset of ” No Fear.” I was confident and knew I had done the work to succeed.
What supplementary exercises did you do?
I lifted weights throughout my running career, did stretches also. Also a good Vegetarian Diet.
What was your toughest injury and how did you deal with it?
Left foot hammer toes were SO bad at times, the bone would wear an open hole at bottom of my foot. This happened at the 1980 U S Olympic Trials. Same thing at Westchester (NY) Half Marathon, which I won in a 1:04. Also at Stramilano, in Italy. the open wound/ abscess was SO painful…..extreme pain. Ultimately I had corrective surgery in 1983, so I could be ready for the 1984 U S Olympic Trails.
Maui runner
Gary Fanelli, Sr.
Gary M. Fanelli (born October 24, 1950) is a long-distance runner from the United States who represented American Samoa in the marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Fanelli’s 2:25:35 performance at the Olympics is an American Samoan national record. Known for running in costume, he has been called “the crown prince of road racing” and “the king of costume”.
[And now “OGOR With Cheese.”]
Early life
Fanelli was born and raised in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. He attended school in Ardsley, Pennsylvania, where “he was just another class cut-up”. In 1969, Fanelli dropped out of Montgomery County Community College and reportedly joined a commune in Maui, Hawaii, but eventually returned to Ardsley where he began training. By 1980, he was a bee pollen salesman and a natural food advocate living in Oreland, Pennsylvania. He reportedly took ten bee pollen tablets before races.
Running career
Fanelli qualified for the marathon at the United States Olympic Trials in Buffalo, New York, held May 24, 1980. Wearing a shirt that read “The Road to Moscow Ends Here” in order to protest the American boycott of the Summer Olympics, he jumped out front at the start and by 11 miles had extended his lead over the pack to 150 yards. Fanelli crossed the half-way point in 1:04:39, but began to slow after yelling, “a blister on my left foot!” He maintained the lead for 15 miles before dropping back and finishing in 22nd place (2:16:49). Fanelli claimed he set a fast pace so that the three American qualifiers, Tony Sandoval, Benji Durden, and Kyle Heffner who ran under 2:11:00 at that race, would all have better times than the eventual Olympic champion, Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany who ran a 2:11:03 in Moscow.
Two-weeks later, Fanelli finished first ahead of Bill Rodgers and Rod Dixon at a Diet Pepsi-sponsored 10,000 meters road race in Philadelphia. In Montreal, Quebec, Canada on September 6, 1980, he set his marathon personal best of 2:14:17. The following year, Fanelli led the 1981 Boston Marathon for 16 miles. He competed in the marathon at the 1984 Olympic trials, finishing in 23rd place with a time of 2:18:53. Fanelli finished sixth at the 1987 Boston Marathon, and had competed in 70 marathons by the autumn of 1988.
Fanelli moved to Tafuna, American Samoa six months prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul in order to coach and attain his Olympic eligibility. Competing in the marathon, he finished in 51st place. He was also listed as the only member on the territory’s 400-meter relay team.
Among Fanelli’s victories are the 1981 Lewes Seashore marathon, a Sri Chinmoy marathon in 1982, the 1984 Last Train to Boston Marathon, the 1990 Maui Marathon, and the 1992 Run to the Sun 36.2 miler. In 1998 Gary Fanelli and USATF Olympic Development Official Stacey Chambers, Co-Founded the Puma USA Road Racing Track and Field Team.
Costumes
Fanelli is known for participating in road races while dressed in costume. He began running in costume either in 1979 or 1981 after seeing a suit that reminded him of Elwood Blues, Dan Aykroyd’s character from The Blues Brothers, in a Souderton, Pennsylvania thrift shop.Sports Illustrated reported that Fanelli’s first race as Elwood Blues was a 10K event in Southampton, Pennsylvania, where he played a few bars of “I Can’t Turn You Loose” as he crossed the finish line in first place.Runner’s World later quoted him as stating that he first wore the costume at the New York City Marathon where “the reaction was outrageous”. Fanelli regularly ran road races as the Blues Brothers character, including the 1984 Boston Marathon, the 1985 Pittsburgh Marathon, and the 1987 Charleston Distance Run, as well as events in New York City, Stockholm, and New Zealand. In 1987, Fanelli and Scott Williams entered the costumed division of the Midnight Sun Run as the Blues Brothers; the pair tied for second overall.
He has run the New York City Marathon as various characters: as Elwood Blues in 1983, as a Ghostbusters ghost in 1984, as a New York Mets player in 1986, and wearing a white tunic and toque as “Chef Ronzoni” in 1987.
In the 1984 Toronto Marathon, Fanelli ran a costumed best of 2:30:40 dressed as Michael Jackson with a red leather jacket, sequined glove, and curly black wig. He dressed as Abraham Lincoln in the 1987 Empire State Building Run-Up.
One of Fanelli’s own characters is “Billy Chester Polyester”, reported to be “one of the leisure suit crowd” and wearing “100% synthetic clothing”. He competed dressed as the character in the 1985 Bay to Breakers. Dressed in a summer version of “Polyesther” that he described as “patio wear from Sears” (a straw hat, Hawaiian shirt, and large Bermuda shorts), Fanelli set a national record at the second running of the Jamaica International Marathon on January 19, 1985. His 2:24:41 performance concluded with him running backwards and dancing reggae style over the final 100 yards prior to faking a hamstring injury with ten feet to go and crawling across the finish like a snake. Another account states that in the same costume he ran a 2:15 at a marathon in New Zealand.
Some of Fanelli’s other original characters include “Clarence Nerdelbaum”, a nerd with a calculator and a pocket protector full of pens and pencils; “Yogi High Karma, a wacko guru”; “Dr. Outrageous”, a hip neurosurgeon; and “Gary Wallstreet”, a businessman who raced around Manhattan’s financial district wearing business attire and carrying an attache case. He has also appeared in races as a migrant farm worker, a pirate, and a teamster.
Personal
Fanelli is a vegetarian and is reported to have founded the Philadelphia Vegetarian Society. He lived in Hawaii as of December 1988, and in Philadelphia as of January 2006.
His brother Michael was a head coach of the USA National Track and Field Team.
Source: Wikiwand. “Quality score: Poor”
Personal bests
Type
Distance
Time
Flags
Site
Date
Actions
RD
5 km
14:40
Philadelphia PA/USA
29 Apr 1979
RD
10 km
29:16
New York NY/USA
03 Jul 1982
RD
15 km
45:42
Portland OR/USA
29 Jun 1980
RD
10 mi
48:40
Cherry Hill NJ/USA
20 Mar 1983
RD
Half Mara
1:03:53
Philadelphia PA/USA
16 Sep 1984
RD
Marathon
2:14:16.3
Montreal PQ/CAN
06 Sep 1980
“My 5k PR was on the track at Rutgers Relays1980….14:06 finishing 2nd to John Gregorek.”
Performances
Date
Finished
Time
Flags
Type
Distance
Site
Race
Prize money
Actions
21 Oct 2007
62
1:26:13
RD
Half Mara
Weott CA/USA
Humboldt Redwoods
19 Sep 2004
80?
1:15:22
RD
Half Mara
Philadelphia PA/USA
Jefferson Hospital Philadelphia Distance Run
02 May 2004
44
57:17
a
RD
10 mi
Philadelphia PA/USA
Blue Cross Broad Street Run
21 Sep 2003
79
1:16:18
RD
Half Mara
Philadelphia PA/USA
Jefferson Hospital Philadelphia Distance Run
16 Sep 2001
70?
1:16:04
RD
Half Mara
Philadelphia PA/USA
Jefferson Hospital Philadelphia Distance Run
06 May 2001
44
56:19
a x
RD
10 mi
Phildelphia PA/USA
Broad Street Run
18 Mar 2001
2
16:20
RD
5 km
Kaanapali HI/USA
Maui
07 Jan 2001
63
57:48
RD
10 mi
Stockton CA/USA
California
12 Dec 1999
37
2:48:35
RD
Marathon
Honolulu HI/USA
Honolulu
15 Feb 1999
8
44:58
RD
13.1 km
Honolulu HI/USA
Great Aloha Run
27 Sep 1998
8
16:43
RD
5 km
Philadelphia PA/USA
Jefferson Hospital Philadelphia Distance Run
07 Dec 1997
30
RD
10 km
West Chester PA/USA
Brian’s Run
16 Aug 1997
12
RD
10 km
Philadelphia PA/USA
Unity Weekend Run
$100
04 May 1997
17
53:43
a
RD
10 mi
Philadelphia PA/USA
Broad Street Run
$200
08 Dec 1996
20
RD
10 km
West Chester PA/USA
Brian’s Run
24 Nov 1996
14
25:28
RD
8 km
Philadelphia PA/USA
Rothstein Institute
$100
22 Sep 1996
52
1:11:31
RD
Half Mara
Philadelphia PA/USA
Philadelphia Distance Run
18 Feb 1996
12
2:58:51
RD
Marathon
Kingston JAM
Caribbean Cement International
27 Sep 1992
1
4:59:40
RD
58.26 km
Kahului HI/USA
Run to the Sun
15 Dec 1991
60
2:41:24
RD
Marathon
Honolulu HI/USA
Honolulu
11 Mar 1990
1
2:31:09
a
RD
Marathon
Kaanapali HI/USA
Maui
05 Nov 1989
4
31:20
RD
10 km
n/a HI/USA
Running Room
$300
06 Nov 1988
66
2:29:12
a
RD
Marathon
New York NY/USA
New York City
02 Oct 1988
51
2:25:35
RD
Marathon
Seoul KOR
Olympic Games
30 Jul 1988
12
36:16
RD
11.27 km
Davenport IA/USA
Quad City Times Bix
10 Dec 1987
1
22:20
RD
7.4 km
Honolulu HI/USA
Diamondhead Dash
13 Sep 1987
3
31:06
RD
10 km
Danbury CT/USA
New Times Classic
25 Jul 1987
14
35:54
RD
11.27 km
Davenport IA/USA
Quad City Times Bix
24 May 1987
20
24:13
RD
5 mi
Agawam MA/USA
Riverside Park Twilight
17 Jan 1987
1
31:03
RD
10 km
Montego Bay JAM
Jamaica International
01 Jun 1986
10
RD
10 km
Middletown NY/USA
Orange Classic
25 May 1986
17
24:21
RD
5 mi
Agawam MA/USA
Riverside Twilight
26 Apr 1986
5
49:54
RD
10 mi
New York NY/USA
Trevira Twosome
15 Sep 1985
1
2:31:15
RD
Marathon
Cancun MEX
Nocturno de Cancun
24 Aug 1985
20
50:02
RD
10 mi
Flint MI/USA
Bobby Crim
26 May 1985
47
25:25
RD
5 mi
Agawam MA/USA
Riverside Twilight
19 May 1985
13
37:26
a
RD
12 km
San Francisco CA/USA
Bay to Breakers
30 Mar 1985
18
31:03
a
RD
10 km
Charleston SC/USA
Cooper River Bridge Run
10 Feb 1985
19
2:21:31
RD
Marathon
Tokyo JPN
Tokyo International
19 Jan 1985
1
2:24:46
RD
Marathon
Montego Bay JAM
Jamaica International
04 Nov 1984
7
29:49
RD
10 km
San Diego CA/USA
Heart of San Diego
30 Sep 1984
18
2:31:10
RD
Marathon
Toronto ON/CAN
Miller High Life Toronto
16 Sep 1984
6
1:03:53
RD
Half Mara
Philadelphia PA/USA
Philadelphia Distance Classic
09 Sep 1984
2
30:22
RD
10 km
Danbury CT/USA
Connecticut Classic
25 Aug 1984
10
48:49
RD
10 mi
Flint MI/USA
Bobby Crim
13 Aug 1984
2
29:38
RD
9.656 km
Avalon NJ/USA
Avalon Beach Run
28 Jul 1984
9
34:28
RD
11.27 km
Davenport IA/USA
Quad City Times Bix
08 Jul 1984
1
24:24
RD
5 mi
Flushing Meadow NY/USA
Sri Chinmoy
30 Jun 1984
7
30:35
RD
10 km
Oglesby IL/USA
Oglesby Miller Classic
24 Jun 1984
3
38:08
RD
12 km
Chicago IL/USA
Masquerade Run
26 May 1984
23
2:18:53
a
RD
Marathon
Buffalo NY/USA
US Olympic Trials
08 Apr 1984
2
24:48
RD
5 mi
Valley Stream NY/USA
Tiger Dime
03 Mar 1984
1
2:31:10
RD
Marathon
Edgewood MD/USA
Last Train to Boston
05 Feb 1984
32
RD
Half Mara
Coamo PUR
San Blas
13 Jan 1984
3
2:48:52
RD
Marathon
Montego Bay JAM
Jamaica International
27 Aug 1983
16
49:36
RD
10 mi
Flint MI/USA
Bobby Crim
13 Aug 1983
11
29:48
RD
10 km
Asbury Park NJ/USA
Asbury Park Classic
06 Aug 1983
13
23:38
RD
8 km
Maggie Valley NC/USA
Maggie Valley Moonlight
17 Jul 1983
2
24:49
RD
5 mi
Atlantic City NJ/USA
Knife and Fork Beach Run
17 Jun 1983
2
30:47
RD
10 km
Aruba ARU
Concorde
05 Jun 1983
8
30:43
RD
10 km
Middletown NY/USA
Orange Classic
29 May 1983
10
30:45
RD
10 km
Baltimore MD/USA
WJZ Constellation
07 May 1983
17
1:07:53
RD
Half Mara
Milan ITA
Stramilano
18 Apr 1983
48
2:17:30
a
RD
Marathon
Boston MA/USA
Boston
02 Apr 1983
5
29:41
RD
10 km
New York NY/USA
Perrier
20 Mar 1983
8
48:40
RD
10 mi
Cherry Hill NJ/USA
Nike New Jersey
13 Mar 1983
5
1:06:49
RD
Half Mara
Brooklyn NY/USA
Brooklyn
06 Mar 1983
16
29:54
RD
10 km
Philadelphia PA/USA
Pet Health Run
13 Feb 1983
31
2:23:14
RD
Marathon
Tokyo JPN
Tokyo International
06 Feb 1983
5
1:06:46
RD
Half Mara
Oakland CA/USA
Oakland
30 Oct 1982
19
46:46
RD
15 km
Tulsa OK/USA
Tulsa Run
03 Oct 1982
1
2:30:42
RD
Marathon
Flushing Meadow NY/USA
Sri Chinmoy
21 Aug 1982
1
24:46
RD
5 mi
Memphis TN/USA
Overton Park
15 Aug 1982
10
33:14
a
RD
11.265 km
Falmouth MA/USA
Falmouth Road Race
07 Aug 1982
12
23:50
a
RD
5 mi
Maggie Valley NC/USA
Maggie Valley Moonlight
18 Jul 1982
3
30:32
RD
10 km
Middletown NY/USA
Orange Classic
03 Jul 1982
10
29:16
RD
10 km
New York NY/USA
Pepsi Challenge National Championships
$300
26 Jun 1982
3
30:36
RD
10 km
Aruba ARU
Aruba
30 May 1982
6
2:15:45
RD
Marathon
Auckland NZL
Pasta Auckland International
04 Apr 1982
10
1:04:31
x
RD
Half Mara
Milan ITA
Stramilano
11 Feb 1982
14
2:27:41
RD
Marathon
Kyoto JPN
Kyoto
13 Dec 1981
32
2:31:37
RD
Marathon
Honolulu HI/USA
Honolulu
25 Oct 1981
41
2:18:43.2
a x
RD
Marathon
New York NY/USA
New York City
10 Oct 1981
1
2:30:28
RD
Marathon
Lewes DE/USA
Lewes Seashore
08 Aug 1981
4
30:21
RD
10 km
Asbury Park NJ/USA
Asbury Park
28 Jun 1981
1
1:05:18
RD
Half Mara
New Rochelle NY/USA
Westchester
20 Apr 1981
97
2:22:26
a
RD
Marathon
Boston MA/USA
Boston
01 Mar 1981
42
2:26:47
RD
Marathon
Tokyo JPN
Tokyo
07 Dec 1980
18
2:26:21
RD
Marathon
Honolulu HI/USA
Honolulu
16 Nov 1980
13
2:21:31
RD
Marathon
Columbus OH/USA
Columbus
08 Nov 1980
6
31:02
RD
10 km
Youngstown OH/USA
International Peace Race
04 Oct 1980
17
29:42
RD
10 km
Purchase NY/USA
Diet Pepsi Finals
06 Sep 1980
3
2:14:16.3
RD
Marathon
Montreal PQ/CAN
Montreal
23 Aug 1980
7
48:51
RD
10 mi
Flint MI/USA
Bobby Crim
17 Aug 1980
12
33:23
a
RD
11.265 km
Falmouth MA/USA
Falmouth Road Race
09 Aug 1980
1
29:34
RD
9.656 km
Avalon NJ/USA
Beach Run
27 Jul 1980
2
30:25
RD
10 km
Philadelphia PA/USA
Saucony Share the Road
29 Jun 1980
20
45:42
RD
15 km
Portland OR/USA
Cascade Run Off
22 Jun 1980
1
1:04:49
RD
Half Mara
New Rochelle NY/USA
Westchester
08 Jun 1980
1
30:04
RD
10 km
Philadelphia PA/USA
Diet Pepsi
24 May 1980
22
2:16:48.4
a
RD
Marathon
Buffalo NY/USA
US Olympic Trials
04 May 1980
16
45:47
RD
15 km
Far Hills NJ/USA
Midland Run
20 Apr 1980
1
2:28:51
RD
Marathon
Hamilton ON/CAN
Hamilton YMCA
09 Mar 1980
1
24:04
RD
5 mi
Philadelphia PA/USA
Spring
21 Oct 1979
18
2:18:20
x
RD
Marathon
New York NY/USA
New York City
29 Sep 1979
16
29:38
RD
10 km
Purchase NY/USA
Diet Pepsi
22 Sep 1979
20
50:32
RD
10 mi
Lynchburg VA/USA
Virginia
16 Sep 1979
8
1:06:22
RD
Half Mara
Philadelphia PA/USA
Philadelphia Distance Run
16 Jun 1979
1
30:51
RD
10 km
Tullytown PA/USA
William Penn Classic
29 Apr 1979
1
14:40
RD
5 km
Philadelphia PA/USA
Simmons
01 Apr 1979
3
1:07:48
RD
Half Mara
Wilmington DE/USA
Caesar Rodney Memorial
21 Oct 1978
16
2:29:20
a
RD
Marathon
Niagara Falls ON/CAN
Skylon International
17 Sep 1978
2
1:07:43
RD
Half Mara
Philadelphia PA/USA
YMCA Inquirer
11 Jun 1978
4
30:33
RL
9.656 km
Atlantic City NJ/USA
Relay Runathon
04 Jun 1978
2
30:34.3
RD
10 km
Philadelphia PA/USA
Philadelphia Bulletin River Run
25 Sep 1977
9
58:31
RD
18.5 km
London ON/CAN
Springbank
18 Apr 1977
28
2:24:55
a
RD
Marathon
Boston MA/USA
Boston
18 Oct 1975
8
2:23:22
a
RD
Marathon
Crowley LA/USA
Rice Festival
23 Apr 1974
10
2:40:17
RD
Marathon
Philadelphia PA/USA
Penn Relays
Source: arrs.run
In the 1970s, when 2:14 marathoner Gary Fanelli was running Pennsylvania road races, he became famous for showing up at the starting line in full-tilt Blues Brothers regalia – dark shades, porkpie hat, white shirt, and black tie – and running in the lead pack. A Runner’s World photo immortalized Gary’s John Belushi (aka Joliet “Jake” Blues) persona.
When psychologists studying elite runners tested Gary, he posted the highest scores they’d ever seen for positive attitude. (Photo: Gary playing a mannequin at a Brooks booth during a runners’ expo. He managed to fool most passersby until a small boy stomped on his foot and broke his pose.)
Gary Fanelli runs for laughs in outlandish outfits
By Franz Lidz for Sports Illustrated
Gary Fanelli claims the world records for the fastest marathons run while costumed as a ghost, a pirate, a teamster, a migrant farm worker and Michael Jackson. Road racing’s longest-running joke disdains the usual garb of singlet and shorts and wears whatever suits him. In the 1986 New York City Marathon, it was a Mets uniform. He played catch with spectators along the route and slid across the finish line. This year he toured New York’s five boroughs as Chef Ronzoni, wearing a white tunic and toque. Despite bantering with the crowd, stopping to pose for pictures and holding a box of his sponsor’s pasta aloft on a silver tray, Fanelli finished in 2:56:48, good enough for 836th place in the field of 22,509.
The 37-year-old Fanelli, whose personal best is a very serious 2:14:16, puts on his road show about 20 times a year at races of varying lengths and also runs a few serious races in regular gear. He claims to have made as much as $5,000 a race in winnings and appearance fees, plus room, board and airfare. “To have Gary Fanelli in your marathon is a prestigious thing,” says Fanelli. “But the money is just incidental. There’s a lot of stress in the world. Everything I do is in the name of laughter. When you laugh, you raise the positive vibrations of the world.”
Fanelli calls himself “a major clown in the universe,” but back home in Ardsley, Pa., he was just another class cutup. He remembers knocking on the door of an older neighbor who had longish hair.
“Get a haircut, Tarzan!” Fanelli yelled, and then ran for his life.
That sort of behavior made him a sprinter. He didn’t become a marathoner until he let his own hair grow, dropped out of Montgomery County (Pa.) Community College and joined a commune in Maui, Hawaii, in 1969. He didn’t stay long. After a few months, he says, an inner voice whispered, “You’re a runner, Gary. You can be really good. Get out of here.”
Fanelli listened, returned to Ardsley and went into training. In 1980 he made the U.S. Olympic trials in Niagara Falls. To protest the American boycott of the Summer Games, he ran in a shirt that read THE ROAD TO MOSCOW ENDS HERE. He led for 15 miles before dropping back into the pack. Fanelli says he set the burning pace so that the three U.S. qualifiers would all have better times than the eventual Olympic champion. The three all finished under 2:11:00. In Moscow a month later, East Germany’s Waldemar Cierpinski won in 2:11:03.
Fanelli retained his competitive edge, leading the 1981 Boston Marathon for 16 miles. That was the year he discovered costume racing. He was flipping through some old 45s in a Souderton, Pa., thrift shop when he saw the Suit. His inner voice whispered “Elwood! Elwood!” The voice was referring to Elwood Blues, Dan Aykroyd’s character in The Blues Brothers. “I knew then that I was on a mission from God,” says Fanelli. He bought the suit, added a thin black tie, dark glasses and a black fedora, and wore it to a runners’ party. The ensemble was such a hit that he wore it for his next race, a 10K run in Southampton, Pa. The Suit was a bigger hit there. He won. As Fanelli crossed the finish line, he even played a few bars of I Can’t Turn You Loose on a harmonica.
Since then Elwood has, at various times, been seen dashing over the Verrazano Bridge in New York, up Heartbreak Hill in Boston and through Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. Sometimes that sharkskin gets a little steamy inside. In Pittsburgh, Fanelli ran with his hat and both hands full of ice cubes. “The show must go on,” he says.
By now Fanelli has a trunkful of characters. There’s the geeky Clarence Nerdelbaum, who carries a calculator and pocket “nerd pack” full of pens and pencils; Dr. Outrageous, a hip neurosurgeon in a surgical mask and scrubs; and Gary Wallstreet, who competed last spring in the Wall Street Rat Race, a 3K run in which the runners circle Manhattan’s financial district in business togs while gripping attachè cases. Before that race, Fanelli gave noontime clinics on how to run with success while dressed for success.
Two years ago at a marathon in Jamaica, Fanelli set a national record of 2:24:41 as Billy Chester Polyester. He describes his getup—straw hat, oversized Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirt—as “patio wear from Sears.” He might have finished a minute faster if, with 100 yards to go, he hadn’t started running backward and dancing reggae style.
Fanelli won some 20 of 35 serious races this year, including six in Hawaii, where he now lives.
“I do have to race for real every so often,” he says, “just to feel what it’s like to run as Gary Fanelli again.”
