Thread: Dry Hops In Heaven Part 1

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Down by the tower, John Bandimere Sr., Vinnie and Richard Napp, Bob Daniels, Terrell Poage, Kenny Green, Dave Danish, Gus and Bert Leighton, Bill and Mary Hielscher, Glenn Angel, and Marvin Miller stand listening with big grins on their faces as C.J. "Pappy" Hart, wife Peggy, and partner Creighton Hunter talk about the early days at Santa Ana, then share their own tales of woe and wonder from the management side of the quarter-mile.
The alky burners are just finishing their tune-ups in the pits, with Al DaPozzo giving a ration of crap to everyone while "the Munchkin," Billy Williams, watches with great amusement. The Bell Boys, brothers Dick and Charlie, and "the Idaho Kid," Jett Field, are also there when up walks Doug Moody on two strong legs. Off in the corner of the pits, Creedence is blasting "Bad Moon Rising" as Mickey Winters and Chuck Phelps put the screws to their howling-fast machine. Down the line, you look and see the dragster trailers of Mike Troxel, Bill Barney, John Shoemaker, Dave Hage, Dale Smart, Carrie Neal, and Shelly Howard, all readying their rides.
Over along the Manufacturers Midway, Phil Weiand and Vic Edelbrock Sr. are again having the dual-plane versus single-plane manifold discussion while Hurst PR honcho Jack Duffy is working with Lenco founder Leonard Abbot on a new way to shift gears. Dick Moroso, Robert Goodwin, Gene Mooneyham, Paul Schiefer, Dean Moon, Chuck Potvin, Roy Richter, and the Johansens -- Howard, Elizabeth, and Jerry – tend to eager customers with stuffed wallets and hot rod dreams.
Frank LeSueur is dispensing nitro like water, and Ernie Hashim is checking out everyone's tires, which never seem to wear, let alone blemish their sidewall lettering.
There's an all-out manufacturers battle raging in the Pro Stock pits, where Dick Landy is chomping on his cigar while trying to convince NHRA tech guru Bill "Farmer" Dismuke that the Mopars need a better weight break while "Dyno Don" Nicholson stumps for the Ford contingent. Chevy front-runner Lee Shepherd is standing coolly by, taking it all in from behind his Ray-Bans, chatting with partner Buddy Morrison Bowtie brother Paul Blevins. Ronnie Sox is leaning on the fender of his red, white, and blue machine giving pointers to "the kid," Scott Geoffrion, while Lee Hunter, Bill Staley, and Mickey Tadlock toil on their carbs. John Hagen pauses for a few seconds between jet changes to check out NHRA.com to see who his protégé, Greg Anderson, is stomping this week.
In the two-wheeled Pro Stock pits, father and son, Dave and Brian Schultz, are prepping their bikes to continue their amazing rivalry with John Myers, who's certainly no less popular up there than he was on Earth. All three of them are trying to get up the nerve to ask Elmer Trett if they can ride his nitro Harley.
With their noses buried under their hoods, doorslammer legends John Lingenfelter, Larry Kopp, Al Eckstrand, Bill Lawton, Les Richey, Dave Kempton, and "Old Reliable," Dave Strickler, are checking the jets and the timing.
There's also a full slate of exhibition passes in the offing later in the day, with "Wild Willie" Borsch ready to one-hand it in the appropriately named Winged Express against Leroy Chadderton and the Magnificent 7 fuel altered, and Richard Schroeder and Bob Perry will go wheels-up in their 'standers. Just down the pit lane, Dave Anderson is readying the Pollution Packer rocket car for another four-second hydrogen-peroxide-fueled blast; "Slammin' Sammy" Miller just looks up from his Oxygen machine and smiles; heck, he has a three-second ride beneath him. Chuck Suba and the X-1, Romeo Palamides, Russell Mendez, and Ancel Horton also are prepping their machines, ready to wow the fans again and again. And waiting in the wings to set the world on fire is "Flaming Frank" Pedregon.
Yes, it's a glorious day … as they all are. Every run is low e.t., the oil stays in the pan, the lanes are equal, and our heroes race on forever. It's truly heaven.
About this article: Obviously, it's impossible to include the name of every person we've lost, nor was it my intention. This is a salute to those who raced a little ahead of the rest of us to the finish line and left us too soon, by the hands of time, nature, or fate. I cribbed a lot of the names for this list from Don Ewald's amazing memorial page on We Did It For Love, which covers up to 1979, and through stories from NHRA.com. Any omissions or oversights are not intended as slights to the amazing people who have populated our sport since its inception, and I know that before long I'll be slapping my forehead remembering someone I forgot, but I tried to also include mostly the names that will mean something to a larger number of readers of this column.

Chicago: The Name Game


Friday, June 05, 2009

WOW, quite an article. I consider myself fortunate to have seen many of those mentioned run and to have met and talked with. One in particular was Bob Daniels , the original Division 3 Director, whom for a short period of time was a member of the car club of which I was a member. He was instrumental in my working in the timing trailer (handing out timing slips) at the Nationals in Detroit in 1959.