Dick Nicolosi

Around 1955 my friend Jerry Pohle told me about a bunch of crazy guys from Oceanside who were building engines at Masters Auto Parts and starting to build rails. What's a Rail??? We drove up to Oceanside to Masters and were given the Jim Nelson Sales Pitch at about 100 miles an hour! Bitchin this and bitchin that !! GEEZ! How could anyone resist that. Along with Jim were a couple of Characters out of a paperback. His brother Tommy and the Loud Talking Dode Martin of Fallbrook fame. Dode had a small garage right on main street across from the Post Office. Great stories and exhibitions of Magnesium shavings set on fire, and shaking hands with Mickey Thompson. Watching the movie actor? Dode remembers the STEEL HELMUT Star, sitting on the dirt floor at Dode's garage like he was driving, explaining how fast he wanted to go. Things pop into my mind at random..... Dode running the TWO-THING on a dragstrip in the middle of a Cornfield somewhere in Indiana? Crusing in the big Green Chisler wagon with everyone asleeo except Tommy and me while we snaked our way across through Missouri. All the guys remember that PinBall Machine in Texas. We would drive 200 miles out of our way Just to play that pinball machine. The food was not that great! How we ended up at the Cattleman's Steak House in Dallas makes my head hurt! OH ! Yes! Jim and Dode hooked up with an oil man and his family to build a Class B altered or was it two. I remember them going home on their own Twin Beech Airplane and the cars going to Texas on a car hauler. Seems the driver took a shortcut and made one of the coups a Convertable, seems he forgot about That low concrete bridge. Of course we all remember Jims big accident at Santa Ana. Not sure what happened but he crashed it pretty bad. He messed up his back and had to take it easy for a while. Along about here is when Jim, Dode and Tommy opened Dragmaster in Carlsbad. Nice shop from an old Quansut hut but it did the job. Along about then the joined with Chrysler to build things for them. Hence the birth of the famous Dragmaster Dart. I understand that is still in a museum somewhere. Lots of stories. A motel in those day Had To Have a POOL! NO POOL? Keep moving! Lots of Motels that would not want to invite us back !!! We remember the long tows to Indianapolis, Oklahoma state fair grounds. Caddo Mills Texas, Ridgecrest CA. We hit and raced on a LOT of dragstrips across this wonderful Country! We were always late getting on the road. When Tommy hooked up with Kathy it took a long time to get him in the Wagon. Best thing that ever happened to him. Marth, Jims wife was a little quiet but we knew she missed Jim and the boys when it was travelling time. DODE didn't get lucky until later. Seems there was this nice lady from Fallbrook who was patient!!! I still have my official card that certifies that I made one lap at The Indianapolis Speedway , even though it was in a VW