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Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick is a real nice guy, I talked to him in his house!

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by S.F., Feb 2, 2007.

  1. S.F.
    Joined: Oct 19, 2006
    Posts: 2,896

    S.F.
    Member

    Well, its been a while since I met Arnie beswick but I have to get this out, it actually happened over Christmas when I was at my grandpas farm in Illinois. Anyways…..When I was there, I was driving into town, not even a mile from the family farm when I noticed the door of a barn I’ve seen a million times blew off, and inside was the *** end of a dark blue 62 Pontiac Catalina 2 door poking out, I had no clue it was in there, immediately I thought “this could be a 421 car!” So, I turned around and pulled in the guys drive way, got out and knocked on the door. An old guy came out and I asked him about the car, he said “Oh yeah, that car belongs to Arnie Besweck, he lives across the road, I’m just storing it for him” and he pointed to the farm across the road. In shock, I went over there and knocked on the door. A man came to the door, I said “Arnie The Farmer Beswick?” He goes “that’s me!” and invites me in to his house because he couldn’t believe such a young guy knew who he was. We talked for a while, about his cars like “The Grocery Getter” and a lot of how he got into drag racing in the 50’s along with the cars he started out with. He grew up on the farm he is currently living on. I come to find out he knows who my grandma is and alot of my family! The best part is, without even saying anything he grabs a few books about his drag racing history and autographed them personally to me, and I didn’t even ask him to do it! Keep in mind here, you can see my grandpa’s farm from his house….and this whole time I never knew he lived there. When I got back to my grandpas house all excited, I told my grandpa about this and he knew all along he lived there, and always forgot to tell me. So that’s how I got to talk to Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick in his own kitchen. Oh yeah I got the full story on the 62 Pontiac too, it turns out it’s a 389 car that he has plans on turning it into a 421 drag car. He still races too, a 64 GTO “Tameless Tiger” but it is currently being rebuilt because of a bad fire he had in it, it burnt him pretty bad but he’s almost recovered from it luckily.
     

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  2. LUX BLUE
    Joined: May 23, 2005
    Posts: 4,407

    LUX BLUE
    Alliance Vendor
    from AUSTIN,TX

    :eek: :eek: :eek: !!!!

    Holy Chit.
    did you bow before you came in?
     
  3. bigken
    Joined: Jul 7, 2005
    Posts: 2,788

    bigken
    Member

    Talk about a 'barn-find', DAY-UMN..............
     
  4. Plowboy
    Joined: Nov 8, 2002
    Posts: 4,282

    Plowboy
    Member

    Cool story!......but you should have kept that one to yourself!

    Now we will have to put up with all of the Californians and Texans moving here because now everyone knows all of the cool **** really happens on farms in rural Illinois, not So Cal or Austin. Ha Ha Ha
     
  5. I Wasin Highschool In The 60s Arny The Farmer A Lowbucker Was One Of My Heros A Friend Of Mine Bought Some Poncho Parts From Him A Few Years Ago Tim
     
  6. I spoke with Mr. Beswick for a while last year at Byron dragstrip here in Illinois. What a truly nice guy, and very approachable. He's just as humble as can be and really appreciates his fans.

    BESWICK FOR PRESIDENT
     
  7. flatheadpete
    Joined: Oct 29, 2003
    Posts: 10,669

    flatheadpete
    Member
    from Burton, MI

    Met him a few years back. He had some fab work done here in ****py ol Flint by Diamond Collision. Cool guy.
     
  8. ANewBeat
    Joined: May 1, 2005
    Posts: 245

    ANewBeat
    Member
    from Floriduh

    I've never met him personally, but a family friend is a fabricator at the ch***is shop where his current Tameless Tiger car is to be worked on. I believe Arnie is going to have my buddy involved in building/recreating one of his old Pontiac Funny Cars. He said the same thing, one of the coolest, most humble guys.
     
  9. Spike!
    Joined: Nov 22, 2001
    Posts: 2,733

    Spike!
    Member

    Met him quite a few times over the years at different Pontiac events. I was big into GTO's and had four of them over the years. Arnie was always cool to me and we talked every time he saw me. Some of the first work I ever had published was in my GTO club's newsletter and I always managed to get shots of "The Tameless Tiger". Glad he's doing well after the fire.

    Spike
     
  10. 60man
    Joined: Jan 1, 2007
    Posts: 148

    60man
    Member

    Yep Arnie is a nice guy...Easy to talk to..
    I had some discussion with him years ago about cloneing my car as the first Pasionate Poncho...He was very cool about it but in the end I just didn't do it. As I explained to Arnie my ***ociation with MY car and why I backed down he understood where I was coming from...Never the less I felt honored..
    But my car is now a "Signature Series" Arnie Beswick car..:p
    He autographed my dash/car while at Mason Dixon Drag Way in Maryland.
    Check my dash out if you get close to it..:)
     
  11. Cool story!

    Sam.
     
  12. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 25,966

    Roothawg
    Member

    2 words....HAMB Drags
     
  13. Bazooka
    Joined: Jun 20, 2006
    Posts: 686

    Bazooka
    Member

    How is he doing? Last I heard he was recovering from a bad accident..
     
  14. Omega
    Joined: Jul 11, 2006
    Posts: 874

    Omega
    Member
    from Mass

    He recovered fully i believe and is back racing,
     
  15. Zettle Bros.
    Joined: Oct 17, 2004
    Posts: 1,372

    Zettle Bros.
    Member

    Arnie is one of our heros. He talked a few months ago to a freind of mine that works at the DMV. When he came into the station to take his driving test he also had some ***le transfers to do. When he started looking at the ***les they were all Pontiacs. He looked at the back of the ***le and the name was Arnold W. Beswick. He says " Are you Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick?". "Yes I am" he says. "My friends would be jealous if they knew that I was talking to you". "Who are your friends?" Arnie asked. " Mike and Steve Zettle from Forreston", he replied. "Those are the boys who have that '65 GTO straight axle, I know them!!" "They also helped Alan Ranz restore my '61 Ventura, those guys know there Pontiacs." Pretty cool when your hero knows who you are!!! By the way, he gave him his driving test, he kept it under 60!!LOL
     
  16. S.F.
    Joined: Oct 19, 2006
    Posts: 2,896

    S.F.
    Member

    He is basically alright, his skin was damaged pretty bad, he doesnt have any finger nails anymore, but other than that he looked like he was doing fine. He said he will be racing again, when he gets his car back together.
     
  17. I replaced some "Tiger Stripes" when his car got damaged at Baytown, when I worked at a sign shop about 15 years ago. Someone else brought the car in, though, and I didn't get to meet him:(.
     
  18. Roadsir
    Joined: Jun 3, 2006
    Posts: 4,045

    Roadsir
    Member

  19. Zettle Bros.
    Joined: Oct 17, 2004
    Posts: 1,372

    Zettle Bros.
    Member

  20. Appleseed
    Joined: Feb 21, 2005
    Posts: 1,053

    Appleseed
    Member

    This is why old drag racers are better than the new ones. John Force is cool, but I don't think you'd be able to knock on his door and get to meet him. (If you have done just that-out with the story, man!) Awsome stories guys.
     
  21. Back in '93 I was at Saturday night a sprint car race in Crystal, Michigan. After the races I heard a radio "SEE IT...SEE IT....SUNDAY....SUNDAY !!!!" ad for a match race between Garlits and Muldowney at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex the following day. I hadn't seen nitro cars in a bunch of years so I decided to take it in. They also had Arnie "the Farmer" Beswick match racing "Dyno Don" Nicholson. Between rounds I wandered over to Beswick's pit and, right away, he started chatting with me. He was a very nice guy and the guy helping him, after I showed them a picture of my dragster, said knew my car. He said he had watched us at Minnesota Dragways years before. That in itself just blew me away.... :) I always thought we were as memorable as a cankar sore.

    They were busy thrashing so I didn't take up too much of their time but I got Arnie's autograph and, later on, a cranky Don Garlits signed the thing too.
     

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  22. rusty1
    Joined: Nov 25, 2004
    Posts: 13,039

    rusty1
    Member

    ...got Arnie's autograph a couple of years ago at a car show in Sycamore, Illinois. He's gotta be one of the most "down-home" friendliest guys of all the big-name celebrities. He truly appreciates all of his fans equally and takes time to make every one of them feel important. He told me to come down to his farm sometime, " if you don't mind cattle and flies! "
    ...He's still a hero to many, can't wait to see him on the track again.
     
  23. Da Tinman
    Joined: Dec 29, 2005
    Posts: 4,222

    Da Tinman
    Member

    I talked with him couple years ao at the drag expo in St Charles. Great guy, I ended up giving him one of my clocks as a door prize.
    I ws so glad to see the Tameless at the drag expo this year, with fresh rubber on the quarters.
     
  24. injunnuity
    Joined: Mar 10, 2006
    Posts: 178

    injunnuity
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Arine is Mr. Pontiac and he takes time out for everyone, That is just one thing that makes him special to all in the hobby and yes he dose have a great memory and dosen't forget to many people once he meets them.
     
  25. I've never met him, but I used to coat his clutches for him (don't ask, 'cause I can't tell) and when I had to call him to find out exactly what type, and amount, of coating he wanted on his floaters and plate, he was very nice and friendly and personable on the phone. I told him I remembered the day his GTO kicked Gas Ronda, **** Landy (RIP, ****), Sox and Martin, Hayden Proffitt, and Hubert Platt's *** all over Carlsbad Raceway... He got quite a kick out of that, that I remembered...
     
  26. Chuck-A-Burger Ryan
    Joined: Aug 20, 2006
    Posts: 511

    Chuck-A-Burger Ryan
    Member

    I met Arnie about 2 yrs. ago at a pontiac convention here in St. Louis. I waited for about an hour for him to finish doing a workshop lesson. I asked him if he would autograph my car, and he was excited to do it. He could have said no or charged me money, but he said sure bring it over to my tent and I'll do it! We talked for a minute about my car and his old Grocery Getter. After he signed my dash, he asked me for my name and phone number and proceeded to write it down on a sheet of paper with at least a hundred different names, numbers and what types of cars these people had. I just think its cool that he takes the time to be interested in his fans as much as they are into him.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  27. ganderso
    Joined: Oct 24, 2009
    Posts: 1

    ganderso
    Member
    from Monroe, WI

    I spent a lot of time with Arnie at his farm about 15 years ago seeing another side of him that you guys don't see... Arnie the farmer. I was trying to help him make a "comeback" with his beef cattle operation. Being more of a circle track fan myself, I never full appreciated Arnie's fame as a drag racer. That changed one day when I walked into his kitchen and had to patiently wait while he finished chatting on the phone with an old friend. When he hung up the phone he casually mentioned who was on the phone..... Richard Petty! Apparently Arnie and Richard were old buds from their Pontiac factory support days and still talked frequently. It was very cool to listen to them chat as old friends even though they were from totally different aspects of motorsports. BTW Another circle track racer Mel Kenyon, well known for midget and Indy car racing years ago, is from the same general area as Arnie. So those corn belt farms DO produce some great racers of all types.
     
  28. chassisboy
    Joined: Sep 19, 2005
    Posts: 4

    chassisboy
    Member

    If you ever get the chance to visit the Moroso race support trailer stop in and say hi to Howard Masales. Howard used to crew for Arnie in the early sixties. He went on to racer a 62 catalina in NHRA stock under the name Pampered Pappoose. After his racing stint he went to work for Hurst and was the shifty doctor for many years before becoming the Scheifer clutch guy at the track. He was responsible for setting up the Hurst Safety tent where racers could get their junk fixed courtesy of George Hurst.
    I worked with Howard for seven years and never got tired of his race stories. I also got to meet Linda several times and she even gave me a back rub! And of course I met Arnie many times because he would stop to talk to Howard whenever he was at the track. Someone needs to sit down with these guys and get all their stories down on tape for history. They just don't make people like them anymore!
     
  29. doctorZ
    Joined: Apr 10, 2006
    Posts: 1,271

    doctorZ
    Member

    that is absolutely awesome!!!
     
  30. captainjunk#2
    Joined: Mar 13, 2008
    Posts: 4,420

    captainjunk#2
    Member

    how cool is that , and autographed books to , some guys have all the luck lol
     

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