Great staging-lane image! I love those kind of pics and the stories that accompany them. Its also nice to see postings of shots of 'lesser-known,' but very-dedicated Junior Stock racers. Here is an (edited) re-post I wrote a few years ago -- enjoy! Bill Niedergasnas (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 babes/pit widows'). *By the way, I 'think' that's (Mopar SS/A racer) Sam Panutti'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. His NHRA-legal, stock-pistoned (2-B) 162/265 '57 "Mister Twister" 4-speed car eventually did see a few pretty-good-at-the-time, mid/high 14s. Seems Bill, like many of us, was unable 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 period for me, but I do recall that ... (1) When he got the car from Bernie Pyles in 1971, it was Orange and called "The Orange Crate." 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, but kept Bernie's NHRA numbers on the rear 1/4 glass. 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 1950s film '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! Epilog: 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.
The HUGE multi-lane staging area at the Spring 71 Englishtown NHRA WCS event ... the Scotto & Blevins car dominates the picture, but there are numerous Junior Stockers in this shot. Spot any cars that you recognize?
This sure is a great (I've never-seen-it-before) staging lane shot of a N.E.D. 'fearsome' quartette. There may be a couple of folks that don't recognize George Cureton's ('wounded') 'Tokyo Rose' at the tail end of the group. George was obviously in the process of repairing the sheet-metal damage incurred in his (tow-bar) towing mishap. My gray cells are dying-off at an increasingly-rapid rate (due to my Parkinson's Disease) and I think this will most-likely be one of my last posts, but I still remember some of the details of how George dealt with that setback. It was really amazing! And I'd really love to hear the real story, As I recall (this could be all wrong), George was 'getting ready to go,' or 'on his way' to the World Finals @ Tulsa (1967?), when he had the mishap. How he managed to obtain and install the necessary pieces (much less have the front-end alignment recalibrated) in that brief time period is beyond me --- but he did. Talk about perseverance! Anyhow (as I recall) at Tulsa, some NHRA 'politics' ensued as the NHRA tech folks were a bit 'concerned' that George's half-primered unprofessionally-lettered racer would actually win and receive national automotive-press (image) coverage. Anyhow, NHRA relented and race he did! The rest, as Steve Martin used to say on 1970s SNL ... "I FORGET."
My gray cells are dying-off at an (alarmingly) increasingly-rapid rate (due to my Parkinson's Disease /Lewy-Body Dementia) and I think this will most-likely be my last post, but I still remember some of the details of how George dealt with that setback. It was really amazing! And I'd really love to hear the real story, Thanks for sharing that story with the rest of us. I also have a very good friend suffering from the effects of Parkinson's and each time I see my friend I am reminded that he ran 8.99 on standard pump gas with his Harley a number of years ago. He used to machine the entire engine block out of billet aluminum in his machine shop. It's so hard to see someone that talented now unable to do very much. 56 Pontiac thanks for sharing and I will say a prayer for you. Jimbo
I do believe the car was blue at Tulsa. I am thinking it was at a qualifier they were not cool about it running. Would have to study Scott's research and ask him again. I do know he did a lot of looking/research about the history of the car. Been a while since we spoke of it.
Thanks Gary ... Guess I needed some encouragement to post some more. Getting the diagnosis two years ago really bummed me out and I just 'dropped out' of everything. We all enjoy recounting the good parts of the old 'daze,' but getting nearer the end of the road really makes you appreciate those special times all the more. First (class) trophy 75-80 DragWay Spring 1962 (*from 8mm film).
just want to wish all followers of this thread a very merry Christmas and remember WE WERE THERE ! that no amount of time or illness can take from us !!!
Here is a link to an interesting and well-done (2012) piece that briefly chronicles George's racing career. http://www.cartechbooks.com/blog/georgecuretonandtokyorose Apparently the flat-towing mishap occurred in MD, on his way to or from Capitol Raceway. By the way, (the author states) "$2,500,00 for a complete 265 Jenkins engine" -- in 1967. Wow -- that is equal to $17,675.97 in 2014 dollars! The piece also mentions Ed Beyer (R.I.P.) who ran a 227 HP 56 Pontiac. The advent of the 55-57 Chevy Hydro-equipped Sedan Deliveries on the scene effectively put the 56 Pontiacs 'out of business.' Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all!
Good piece But a tad inaccurate on being sold(SD rose) to "parts unknown" Was sold to a team in Titusville. Scott has all that history from George till now. I will send him a link he will love this
biscyane...who's maroon 56 is that shown in 10441 ? Looks a lot like my old 56 jr stocker that I sold in about 1967
After a 43 year rest as parked in 1971 we're back on the track again in 2014. Running with the original Jenkins 220 hp 283 cu in engine with a 4 speed as in 1969. Best run this year was 13.275 @ 103.65. I can't believe it!!!
Looks great! The 4-sp comes as a surprise. I thought it was always a 'glide' car as it was when I last saw it (@ E-Town) in 1971. Terrific image -- the driver (Ken?) sure looks like he's having fun!
The Jalopy Journal
