A Visit with Frank Genco
By
A Visit with Frank Genco
Oct 10, ‘11
Story and Photographs by Frank Genco,
Editing by Richard Parks
Photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz
All four of my grandparents were born in Italy and they came to this country around 1900. I don't know much about their history. They moved to the Los Angeles area around 1918. My parents moved to Inglewood in the mid 1930's and I was born in Inglewood, California on 23 August 1940. I have two sisters; Marie, who is older than me and Susan who is the youngest in the family. I attended Inglewood High School and graduated in 1958, though most of my high school friends were not into cars. I took two periods of auto shop while I was in high school, but I dropped out of the school sports to work and buy cars. To earn money I swept floors at Arbor Tool & Die on Arbor Vite. My first real hot rod was a 1939 Ford Coupe with a big flathead engine in it and was originally built by a guy named Barry Buckelew. Barry became a very smart tune-up mechanic and was a few years ahead of me in school. Most of my friends were older because of my interest in cars. Barry, Sonny Arringdale, Sal DeRico, LeJay Winkler and I were members of a car club named ‘The Vagrants’ of Inglewood. Many high performance manufacturers were located in Inglewood; like Donovan Engineering, Iskenderian Cams, R&W Automotive, Chassis Research and others. My love for hot rods and speed was fed by these guys. Carl Weeks of R&W was my mentor and he ran the Weeks & Noble B Fuel Modified Roadster in the mid to late 1950's. This car was on the cover of Hot Rod magazine in 1956.
Ed Donovan was a real character, a gruff man with a heart of gold. He opened up in Inglewood around 1959 and made high gear bell housings, and stainless valves for fuel motors. Ed Iskenderian was one of the early cam grinders and would come by R&W frequently to visit. Isky was a collector of junk and his car was filled to the window with stuff that he collected. I attended Lion's drag strip in 1955 when it first opened. I had not seen a real drag strip up until then. The track layout stayed mostly the same for years. In the early days the pits were dirt and the original tower was on the left side of the track, small but adequate. In the late 1950's Lion's ran a full show every Saturday night. In 1957 I ran a street machine for the first time at the San Gabriel strip. It was a track that was built in a rock quarry and had rocks all over the place. In 1959 I went to work for Chassis Research and I worked with guys who went on to do well in the drag racing world. I remember Goob Tuller, Roy Fjastad, Roger Wolford, Neil Leffler, Dick Holt and Bob Krauss. Chassis Research was owned by Scotty Fenn and he had a strong disagreement with the fledgling NHRA. Scotty was inducted into the Garlits Drag Racing Hall of Fame, but there was no one at the ceremony to accept the award for him as he and his family had just disappeared. He was a unique thinker. Scotty was the first production dragster manufacturer and we were always 45 cars behind on back orders.
In 1960 Bob Krauss was a very talented fabricator and designed and built the chassis for a very modern altered roadster. Bob Krauss and Larry Hale belonged to the ‘Clockers’ car club of Hawthorne, California. The roadster looked like a 'Birdcage' Maserati. Larry Hale had run Cadillac engines almost since they first came out. Larry still runs a Cad powered Studebaker to this day. At 77 years of age he still drives and wins drag races up in Boise, Idaho. The three of us built a blown altered roadster (AA/R) with a blown Cad engine. We entered the first NHRA Winter Nationals at Pomona in 1961. We qualified for the event and raced guys like Tony Nancy, 'Wild' Willy Borsch, Boyd Pennington and others. Tony Nancy had a Buick powered car. Willy had a GMC blower and Hilborn injected Chrysler engine. We had a Scot blower with four Stromberg 97 carburetors in it. Willy had low elapsed time at 10.55 and we ran a 10.68. In 1960 I had a hunting accident and caught a bullet in the abdomen and I never served in the military because of that. I made Judy Snyder my wife in 1963 and we have been together for 48 years now. She teaches school and is still our number one supporter. Our second date was at Lion's drag strip. My passion for drag racing was paid for by working for Teledyne Micro Electronics for 43 years and I retired from Teledyne in 2006.
The dragster chassis with a T roadster body was in 1968 at Lions with Jerry Hale driving. Lions ran a competition eliminator in those days |
In 1962 we put Carl Weeks' fuel burning DeSoto engine in the roadster and won B Fuel roadster class and Middle Eliminator at the American Hot Rod Association (AHRA) Winternationals at Fontana, California. Some of the cars that we ran against were Itow's Automotive, Herman Brothers blown Olds, and the Durfee Auto Parts roadster. We also beat Jim Dunn in the Dunn, Meritt & Velasco car. Henry Velasco still makes my crankshaft today. Bob Krauss and I built my first dragster in 1963. My partner at that time was Major Muffler, owned by Tom Orsalano. Tom was not very patient when we did not win the first few weeks out with the car and he quit the team. I bought out his interest and my wife and I ran this car from then on. That was my first blown Chrysler powered car. We ran Top Gas and Jerry Hale was our driver. Jerry was one of the most natural drivers that I have ever seen. I didn’t run the car much in 1969 and I lost touch with Jerry and the next thing that I heard was that he had a drug problem and died. I was shocked to hear the news, because on our trip to Tulsa in 1968, I saw no signs of drug usage. In 1968, we won the last Top Gas race ever run at Lions.
The first time that I met C. J. Hart was at the Santa Ana Airport drag strip and I was driving a brand new '57 Pontiac. As I staged I went too far, even though there were no lights in those days. Hart backed me up, but I had forgotten to put the transmission back in low gear. The car lurched backwards and C. J. said, "You go that way," and pointed down the track, "not that way," and pointed to the other cars in the staging lanes. That was my life's most embarrassing moment. I have a heart shaped pin given to me by C. J. that says "CJ loves you." My first encounter with Mickey Thompson was at Lion's drag strip and we missed the call for our class to get to the line to qualify. I went up to Mickey and said, "I couldn't hear the public address system where we were pitted.” "Too bad," he said. I just walked away. He called me back and said, "Get your car up here, you are the first guy all day not to give me a bunch of crap." After NHRA dropped Top Gas I put a fiberglass T roadster body on the dragster and ran Super Eliminator as Blown Competition Roadster on Gas (AA/C). We set the National record at Irwindale, California, which was built in a rock quarry. Irwindale was the birthplace of the In & Out Burger Company. Those folks ran the concession stand at the track. Steve Gibbs was the manager at that time. Steve is still a good friend and we recently had lunch together. Some of the drivers in Pro Comp at that time were Ken Veney, Jimmy Scott, Mark Niver and Scott Porter. We won several Division 7 points races.
This front engine dragster is at Irwindale in 1973, also driven by Bob Blair. It ran in A Fuel in ProComp. | |
The rear engine car was driven by Bob Blair at Orange County International Raceway in 1975. |
In 1968 we went to the World Finals in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The journey didn't go so well. The car did a giant wheel stand and bent the chassis. This was on the very first run. While we were standing at the far end looking at the damage on our car two top fuel cars came down the track. I looked up just in time to see John Martin blow the clutch out of his car. The accident cut the car in half and John went tumbling out and away from us and John lost his life in that tragic accident. I came home, rebuilt the chassis and went to Lion's the next weekend in the Blown Gas Dragster in BB/GD class. We ran the next couple of years as BB/GD in Super Eliminator. In 1973 I teamed up with Bob Blair and built an A Fuel dragster. Bob drove and I did the motors. We won a number of Pro Comp races in Division 7 as well as the Professional Dragracers Association (PDA) event at Orange County International Raceway (OCIR). Bob was not a natural driver, but he worked hard at it and did very well. Mike Jones was the OCIR track owner and Doug Kruse was the promoter of the PDA. I didn't know Mike. We ran the U.S. Nationals in Indy in 1974 and '75. We qualified both years and got beat in the first round. Some of the drivers competing in Pro Comp were Dale Armstrong, Jeg Coughlin Sr, Jimmy Scott, and Mike Kosky.
The ‘Haulers Handicap’ was published in National Dragster the week before a national event. It was an honor to be listed high in the rankings. They listed us as a 4 to 1 chance to win. We were ranked ahead of Armstrong and many others, but Dale won. We were happy to qualify as there were over 100 cars entered in Pro Comp. Jim Partridge was the Tech Inspector, and at that time they made you wait at the top end and put an official with you to make sure that you didn't add weight or change the fuel. I knew Bernie Partridge Sr and his wife Phyllis Partridge, but I never met Bernie Partridge Jr.
Back row, Frank, wife Judy, Nicki (Bill’s girlfriend), Alex (grandson), Robin Jennings (daughter), Bill Genco (son & driver) Front row, Zachary (grandson), Emily (granddaughter), Gianna (granddaughter). |
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Our current A/Fuel car at Bakersfield in 2009 with my son Bill driving. We still run A Fuel. | |
In 1975 we partnered up with Butch Sundy. Butch was another interesting individual. He owned Scrapalino's Pizza a very popular joint in Inglewood. He knew nothing about drag racing, but loved the sport. In 1975 Butch and I built a rear engine A Fuel car. We didn't do well, though we did set the NHRA national record for A Fuel at 6.95 elapsed time at a speed of 198 mph. On our '75 trip to Indy, Butch, my six year old son and I towed the car back. Bob Blair and his father flew back to Indy. Butch had never been out of California, but that's another story in itself. In the late 1970's, I took a few years off to raise my family. My wife and I had two children, a boy, Bill and a girl, Robin. My children are both involved in the race car. We have four grandkids; Alex 21, Zachary 18, Gianna 15 and Emily 15. Both of our kids are in their 40's now. I wonder where the time has gone?
In the late '80's my son Bill and I went go-kart racing with the likes of Kevin Harvick, Frank and Cruz Pedregon. Kevin was very fast as a little kid. The Pedregons' were hooked up with P. J. Jones, the son of Parnelli Jones. At our first Go-Kart Nationals in Riverside, California my son qualified on the front row next to Frank Pedregon Jr. I saw the name Pedregon on this guy's helmet and asked him if his father was "Flaming" Frank Pedregon. He said yes and that started a friendship with the Pedregons that has lasted to this day. The next year we went to the State of Washington's Go-Kart Nationals and then to New York the following year. After the Go-karts we were into car road racing with the SCCA guys. We got tired of being run over and decided to go back to our roots; that's where cars stay in their own lanes (most of the time). We returned to our first love, drag racing in the mid-nineties. I ran a Blown Fuel Altered (AA/FA) for a friend by the name of Woody Duke.
In 1997 I had Dave Tuttle build a nostalgia front engine dragster to return to A Fuel. Dave is the son of Don Tuttle. Don started California Chassis Engineering. Dave is a great chassis builder with a wacky sense of humor. Our son, Bill Genco, drives and the rest of the family is the crew. My son and I do all of the mechanical work. At 71 I don't like to do too much work at the track. This year we switched back from injected nitro to blown alky because it's a lot less maintenance. The rest of the family have assignments like working on the fuel, push, lunch, clean the car, etc. We are now getting ready to run at the California Hot Rod Reunion. I have been to every one of the California Hot Rod Reunions (CHRR) and I love seeing many of our old friends and running a car in competition at that track. Many of the guys running a fuel car have been around drag racing a long time. Some of our competitors are Dr Kin Bates, Darrell Waters (son of Tony Waters), and Jeremy Sullivan (son of Mike Sullivan). Doc Bates drives the car run by Dean Adams (son of Gene Adams). We consider all of them to be our friends. I will be at the 20th CHRR this coming October .