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Richard Parks |
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Gone Racin� |
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Gone Racin��Fun at the Museum |
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The NHRA Motorsports Museum held a special get together on February 8th, 2002, for all the fans of vintage drag racing. This event is held twice a year, on Friday nights, after the races have ended for the day and is open, free of charge, to all drivers, crew and fans of the Golden Age of drag racing. Nine hundred people showed up to honor the men and women who created drag racing, as we know it today. In attendance were such luminaries as �Ohio� George Montgomery, Bob Muravez, known to his fans as Floyd Lippincott, Jr., �T.V.� Tommy Ivo, �Big� John Mazmanian, Ed Osepian, C.J. �Pappy� Hart, Bones Balogh, K.S. Pittman, Mike Cook, Don Edwards of the �Golden Komotion� drag boat, Wally Parks, Pat Foster, Art Chrisman and many more. The museum was awash in stories told by the men and women who are the true creators of our sport. Accessibility is the main theme here. You could go right up and speak to anyone and ask the questions that you have been dying to know. This event will be held again on November 8th, 2002, from 6-10 PM, and if you don�t go to another event all year, you must go to this one. |
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Don Trasin, from Columbus, Ohio, was there to display his newly restored �Jade Grenade� car. Don found the car in New York on a tip from a friend and did exhaustive research to determine that the car was genuine. The �Jade Grenade� was originally built by Ted Thomas, Pete Lenhoff and Bill Flurer, using a 1970 Don Long chassis, with a Keith Black 426 Hemi. Thomas was the driver, and the trio operated out of Wilmington, Delaware. In 1971, the car scorched the record books with 8 championships and two runner-ups, setting 10 track records. This car posted the quickest time for a conventional front-engine dragster of the time. It had an elapsed time of 6.33 at 233 mph on 10/10/71. Unfortunately for the trio, Don Garlits successfully developed the rear-engine dragster and the �Jade Grenade� drifted off into obscurity. Trasin tracked down all the people involved in the car and when he was certain that he had the original car, purchased it and transported the chassis to Pat Foster�s garage in Wichita, Kansas. Foster, as many will remember, was a famous car builder in Southern California, before moving to Kansas. Eighteen months, thousands of miles traveling back and forth with parts, and $75,000+ later, Trasin had the car totally restored. He displayed the car at the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion, at the venerable Famoso Raceway, near Bakersfield, California, in October, 2001. Trasin built the motor and used parts from the era the car came from. Bob Barber was the painter and brought out the beautiful Irish emerald green to perfection. Jim �The Painter� did the lettering, and this artist was perfect. This car is absolutely stunning and the attention to the original detail is the reason that the costs kept escalating. Undeterred, Trasin has more projects on the table in which to invest his salary. He found Tom McEwen�s 1978 Corvette Funny Car in Seattle, Washington. This is the car that won the Nationals at Indianapolis, and according to Trasin, is in pretty good shape. He plans to have the car restored for the 2003 Nationals. |
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Trasin is currently campaigning Butch Leal�s 1986 Pro Stocker. He has owned and raced it since 1990, and competes in the Super Gas class in Division 3. Eventually he will retire this car and have it restored to the exact condition that existed when Leal raced the car. Trasin�s lifelong dream is to own a Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stocker, and he is well on his way toward reaching his goal. He offers some good advice for others who would like to collect and restore vintage drag racing cars. The hardest part, he says, is the research, but it is necessary. It takes lots of digging to get at the facts, but the expense of documenting the history of the car is well worth the effort. |
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Rick Stewart, NHRA�s Chief Starter, dropped by the museum for a cold beer and to return a firesuit. Rick was an x-ray technician before becoming NHRA�s Chief Starter. He was chosen to drive one of the vintage racecars in the Cacklefest on Sunday, and felt very honored to be selected. Stewart says he never felt anything more exciting in his life, unless it was the �day he first met his wonderful wife� as it was on the course, with the crowd roaring, as all the cars roared to life, and flames shooting up out of the pipes. |
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Contact Gone Racin� at [email protected] or visit the website at www.oilstick.com |
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