Its really nice to see Pete's postings of those shots of 'lesser-known,' but very-dedicated Junior Stock racers. I was really pleased to see the image of Bill Niedergasnas's briefly-campaigned 'Mister Twister' '57. I have just one (very-poor) picture of my old friend Bill. So, as per Dom's (very-productive) request ... here is a little 'Bill Niedergasnas, Little Guy Nationals story.' Hope you can stay awake and enjoy it! Bill Niedergasnas's (R.I.P.) was a topnotch GM flat-rate mechanic and during the years that I knew him, he seemed to always have a Chevrolet race car ... he had many! Bill, like a lot of us, was a 'careful-with-the-paycheck,' 'bucks down' family man, but he did include his sweetie in his hobby when he could (*see image of our 'trailer babe / pit widows' below). *By the way, I 'think' that's (Mopar SS/A racer) Sam Punutti's (borrowed) trailer the girls are sitting on, and Sam's car hauler in the background. Bill ... 'Billy' to his friends, was always looking for that 'right' combo and tried many. That NHRA-legal, stock-pistoned (2-B) 162/265 '57 4-speed car eventually did see a few pretty-good-at-the-time, mid/high 14s. Seems Bill, like many of us, refused to spring for the big-bucks Dykes-ringed Forgedtrues or equally-pricey .043-ringed Venolias, and he usually built his own 'stock-pistoned' (or as in the case of his built-too-late '55 Delivery) heavy-weight TRW-pistoned cars. Then Bill got THAT Orange 'mystery' WAGON! That was a somewhat tumultuous 'foggy-memory period' for me (big pay cut going to a teaching job) but I do know for sure that ... (1) When he got the car (in 1971) it was Orange. And (2) It was a '57 9-pass 283/283 Truppi-Kling-built car ... sound familiar? Bill painted it (GM's 'Blue-toned White) right away ... I'm really not sure if I painted it for him or not ... I breathed wayy too much Acrylic-Enamel vapor back then to remember. Anyhow ... sorry, I digress, Bill wanted to go to the (first) 'Little Guy Nationals' at the 'notorious' former-airstrip, concrete-starting-line, differential/transmission-destroying, Suffolk Virginia Drag Strip. This was in November 1971. Bill was an always-legal straight shooter and was afraid of not passing tech with the pretty-wild cam that was in the car when he bought it, so in a rush to get ready for Suffolk, we changed it to a stone-stock GM part. Alas, in retrospect, it was most-likely a NHRA 'legal,' albeit very-lumpy 'square-lobed' Lunati, General Kinetics, or Cam Dynamics 'rate-of-lift' cam. We discovered later at Suffolk that the cam swap 'cost' at least two-tenths! Back to my story (all true, no kidden!) ... Bill and I, and our wives, took off for the 'wilds' of southern Virginia that Thursday night ... got lost, had fresh-roasted in-the-shell Virginia peanuts for 'dinner' as we traveled. We joyfully tore across rutted secondary roads with the trailered race car, in the moonless night. It was a real-life scene right out of Robert Mitchum's THUNDER ROAD. Watta great memory! We eventually 'crashed' (*almost literally, as our whole rig slid sideways trying to stop on the gravel and dirt 'parking lot) at a 'squalid and scary' 6-room 'Bates Motel' for the night. I remember we stopped there because there were other cars (patrons?) parked outside. It was cheesy, but not too bad at all ... eight bucks for the four of us. We discovered in the morning that ALL of the other cars parked outside were derelicts simply parked there to lure wary customers! The next morning, about 7:00 AM, we (finally) made it to a greasy-spoon diner outside of Suffolk. I clearly remember the often-witty Bill commenting about the 'picture' window by the booth that we all 'enjoyed' as we plowed through our fried eggs, soggy biscuits, undercooked Pork Scrapple and cut-with-a-knife coffee. Bill, struggling to see through the heavily cigarette-smoke stained glass said ... "You know Steve, I really like this place ... Its got TINTED GLASS"! After tech and later that day Bill (almost) ran out of gas in the staging lanes, but a fellow racer (in the coveralls) came to the rescue and donated a few gallons of Sunoco 260. That's me 'supervising,' as Bill assists. As you can see in the (sorry) poor photo, we were certainly in STELLAR company (hi George!), in the staging lanes, on that fine Virginia day. Alas, a sad conclusion to my little tale. It was a very-tough field ... no class runs, just the top 32 qualifiers. When the tire smoke cleared, Bill sat on the 33 spot. Still, we all had a very-excellent weekend! We miss you Billy! Prolog: A couple weeks later at Englishtown, Bill tossed a rod when a superlight tapered wristpin in the T-K motor broke. I used that fractured Forgedtrue for an ashtray till I stopped smoking in '96.
Yep...........that certainly would have attracted my attention away from that '62 Unfortunately, I have no room for another '62. But then........if one of those alunimum B/FX cars appeared, I'm sure I could figure out "something".. By the way, the memories, stories and facts contained in this long thread are simply beyond amazing. I may have said it before, but it's way better than a book. It keeps evolving and if mistakes are made, they get corrected, unlike in a book. I'm sure that the Junior Stock guys from that era are the most unsung heros of the sport. Their names are re-appearing here, and they certainly deserve it
Does anyone have a photo of the "Shifty Doctor" '57 that used to race at E-town? I bought a Hurst from him in the pits in late '68 to use in my '62.
Dickie's '56 station wagon was named "Stagecoach" and ran, I believe, the dual quad 265. Saw it run many times at local Western Kentucky tracks, as well as Nationals at IRP.
A couple of pix of his 56 Chevy gasser can be found here: http://rides.webshots.com/album/562509040TyeNsy Pete
Verne, that would be Ed Beyer, mostly associated with his "Scalper" 1956 Pontiac 2-DR post car ... like Ed Hamberger's similar car, it was in J/SA for '66, then fell into I/SA for '67. I think his associate (Dale Young?) had another car. I think many of us would enjoy hearing from Ed ... bet he'd have some great tales to tell!
ATT.COLESY grenade inspector. thanks for your help. any chance that the 74 write-up has any mention of the WORRELL BROS. jack or ken ? thanks again JAKE
Pete, That's a terrific site of '69 E-town pics! I found a pic of the Soul Shaker '63 Impala. I"ve been trying to track that car for a long time. Also, I think that's my new '69 Road Runner parked in the background!
The very first time I ever attended a drag race was at Raceway Park, Madison Township, NJ (remember when it was called that?), in early May, 1971 on a Saturday afternoon. Turned out it was a WCS meet! Boy, was this young man excited!! I never, ever, in my entire life nor since then, seen so many 1955, 1956 and 1957 Chevies of all colors and body-style combinations!! Regards, Pete
Bill, thanks for keeping the thread alive. Here are a few George Cureton pictures from the World Finals at Dallas.
The picture Ripes #7 is the class final from the 1968 Winternationals. I bought the car from John Barkley in March of 1967.
Bill, I use to enjoy watching and waiting to see who or what was going to pull in at the track. It was instant gratification back then but now you have to wait to see. Here's a couple of George's pictures from York. Bob
Yeah, those open trailers with wildly lettered, decaled and/or multi-colored race cars (on them) always provided a great thrill for this then very young man upon sight of one or more of them coming back home from Raceway Park usually late Sunday afternoons on Rt. 18 in East Brunswick/New Brunswick (and elsewhere) back in the very early 1970s. A good buddy of mine once remarked as we drove down the pit road and into the pit side at Raceway Park, the sight of all those enclosed trailers resembled an "landscapers convention." That was sometiime back in the early 1990s. Still does... Pete
Here's what a race rig should look like. My friend Garley Daniels' record holding J/S '57 sedan delivery. By the way, the ramp truck is alive and well.
colesy, In reference to you list of winners I've got a couple of questions. 1. How do the get the two that run off for the 'Top Eliminators'? For Top Stock I see where Jere Stahl ran Mike Schmidt. Of course Jere Stahl won the A/Stock class, but I don't see where Mike Schmidt won or was runner up in any Stock class? 2. I also noted that Mike Schmidt also ran Al Joneic for 'Street Eliminator'. Was this the same car with some slight modification or another car altogether? Thanks for you reply.
One possible explanation could lie in the fact that Mike Schmidt had two cars at that event. A close inspection of the center picture in post #2473 suggests that Mike had two cars at that event. The red '66 Galaxie clearly has Mike's name and sponsor (Desert Motors of Ridgecrest, California) on the side. Just behind that car, the tail of Mike's white, original '64 Galaxie A/SA is visible with the letters "Des(ert Motors)" showing. I believe that Mike ran the red FX car in Street Eliminator and the white stocker in Top Stock. Apparently, the AA/SA class that was instituted "on the spot" at the 1964 Winternationals to accommodate the "lightweight" '64 car had been eliminated by 1966. The red car has a lift-off hood consistent with common practice in the FX classes. This is merely a WAG over 40 years after the fact but it seems to be consistent with the evidence provided by the picture. c
Mikes white car was a 64 427 HIGH RISER (same engine as the Thunder Bolts in 64) light weight ? (4000 lbs) with rubber floor mats, bucket seats like the 63 Ford fiber glass S/S'ers had and a raised bubble fiberglass hood to clear the dual quads and HI-Riser intake. The 66 red car in B/FX (also very heavy) was powered by a 427 SOHC cammer engine and a fiberglass lift off hood. 2 seperate cars, 2 seperate eliminators. Jerry Harvey also ran a Galixe like Mike Schmits in B/FX.
Tony ... really good to hear from you and the other recent NHRA Division 7 posters. An early post on this thread suggests that John is 'still with us.' see--> http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3214360&postcount=139 ... any chance you could give him a ring and ask him to 'stop by' and 'visit' our little community?
Good morning, Terry! Seems like I see you everywhere these days! As I recall, the "high-riser" Galaxy made it's debut at the '64 Winternationals along the the flashier T-Bolts. A couple of them arrived at Pomona already lettered with "A/SA" on the window. Of course, I took immediate notice of them because we were running A/SA with the Plymouth wagon. By the time they cleared tech, Farmer Dismuke had re-designated them as B/FX cars. Within a fairly short time (months or weeks), the AA/SA class appeared for the first time and included the Galaxys as well as a scattering of early S/S Mopars. Their reclassification was serendipitous for us in that they were considerably faster than anything else around at that time in A/SA. We had competed against the more traditional "low-riser" 427 cars with good success but the "high-risers" were something else altogether. I recall that Mike's car had a C6 trans. Wonder what they would have run with today's transmission technology? c
Good Morning back to you Chuck.....Yeah I get around....LOL. I really like this Jr. Stock forum. Most today dont even know what we are talking about on the "Other" forum. 7" tires and duration/overlap???? Whats that to the young guys racing today? I remember the Max wedge Mopars pretty much had the Fords covered in AA/SA here on the east coast. At least around where I live. I remember Bud Shellinburger winning the Nationals at Indy with one of those "WHITE WHALES" as they were called. He was from Baltimore, Md. If the parts were not so hard to come buy and expenseve (damn collectors)it would be cool to see one run with todays trasmissions stick and auto. We didnt even have good torque converters back in the day. Mike Schmitts B/FX car had a "Top Loader" in it. Have a great day. Terry
Chuck....I just looked on the NHRA site and it looks like the car is still in the guide and breaks at 8.93 at a 420 HP factor! That would make it weigh 3750 shipping wt. but I dont remember them being that light??? That would make one come in as a C/S or C/SA at 3780 plus driver for stock eliminator (a TANK). If one was built for IHRA "pure Stock" it would still fall in the 9 lb class but would run B pure stock (One lb class breaks starting at 8 lbs per HP) with a 12.45 index. It would have to stay with a C6 auto or a top loader 4-speed (stick and auto run together heads up) in pure stock. Now THAT would be way cool for us old guys or true Ford fans....LOL.
Yes, the whole 7" tire thing was one of the reasons we had a wagon! Even on 7" Caslers, as long as there was no converter, the wagon was pretty well hooked up on a decent track. No "feathering" that beast off the line. Duration and overlap! Those items plus adhering to stock valve spring pressure specs really contributed to making Stocker engine building an art. We could count on teardown being done right at national events between Farmer, Marty Barratt, and Greg but at the divisional level it was rare to find anyone who could check it accurately during a teardown. I remember a guy who had about a foot and a half strip of masking tape in two or three pieces stuck to my fender with pencil marks to indicate the valve opening and closing points. Hell, the width of the pencil marks alone made the calculation impossible. He had a broken, rounded-off old pencil that covered at least two degrees every time he made a mark. It was just as well that he didn't know what he was doing. His "calculation" lead to the predictable remark, "Well, that's too close for comfort! I'm going to let you slide this time but you'd better get that cam out of there." I knew exactly what the overlap was (1 1/2 degrees to the good) but he had no clue. We had several Mopars running AA/SA out here but most of them couldn't keep up with Schmidt on the best day they'd ever had. The really good MOPAR tuners (Tommy Grove, Bill Hanyon, and the rest) had the Stage IV wedges and they were looking forward to the Hemis later in 1964. The guys in AA had the heavy hitter's last year's cars and most of them weren't at the top of their game. We don't need any more C/SA cars, thank you. There were 9 in the class at Las Vegas and 9 at Fontana and I lost to Rusty Hall in class at both races. I've got enough trouble trying to catch up with the Mustangs. We don't need any High-Risers to make it any tougher, no matter how much they weigh. Cheers, c
Really great posts guys! I enjoy all the great photos as much as everyone does, but its really good to see intelligent, definitive, well-crafted, thought-provoking tech-related posts ... Thanks! And lets hear from some MORE Division 7, 3, 5, 6, 2 and 4 guys ... this is your thread too! I realize that many, like myself, ingested way too much asbestos, lead and bondo dust, not to mention all the Lucky Strikes and Pall Malls, but you can't ALL have gone to that 'other' ('end-of-the-road') World FINALS yet!
att.COLESY G.I. JAKE here .thanks for your help.still looking for that 1973 DIV.I awards banquet write-up . HELP thanks much JAKE
If I remember correctly the AA/Stick and automatic class cars were allowed any FLAT TAPPET cam back in those days. No rollers allowed. A on down was cams as we remember. You need not worry about the 64 Hi Risers....LOL. Who could afford the correct engine parts IF you could find them plus cloning the car. Not to mention the mile long wheel base and the 4000 LBs to move.
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