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340swinger.bobby-s
can see it now the DDS touring tribute race car(s) team??? 😮 😮 😮
book them at your next NOSTALGIA event/race 😯 😯
support the cause 😉 😉
anonymous
Hey Paul,
You are on the money again. I didn’t know B&L did the work on the Pied Piper. Before Plain Busted , we ran B/S with my 427 Impala against him at Dover. Ahh American Cranshaft, thats the one we started using in NJ. I don;t remember Bonded engines having a race car? Besides Tom the oner at Bonded, His wife worked and their sons.
Andy Panessa
paul-ceasrine
Andy,
Suprisingly, I don’t think Bonded Engine ever sponsored a car.
Now, Fairbanks Transmission in Connecticut must have. Did they?
You switched to American Crankshaft Grinding. What happened, did Jerry at Storm piss you off too, with his arrogance. We still used him though, good job on the cranks, and always had the Federal-Mogul bearings in stock. Price $95.00 a crank job w/bearings. Not bad.
I actually sold him a crankshaft grinder in 1984. That’s another story 🙄
You ran B/S. Must have been 68′ or so? Let me guess, did you win?
Paul
anonymous
Hey Paul,
We ran B/S 1965-1966 and never beat the Pied Piper. We did win some when he wasn’t there. We ran alot at Westhampton and Raceweay Park and won and could pass tech. Stopped racing the car and used it to tow Plain Busted around. After that raced it again out at NY National Speedway in Super Stock Showdown. Don’t remember why we started going to American for the cranks? I think Fairdbanks had a race car.
Andy
masoQuestion for Andy:
Does the name Al Topping mean anything to you…??? ❓
anonymous
HI Maso,
Off the top of my head, Al Topping, no. I am not always good with names from back in the day.
Andy
paul-ceasrine
Andy,
As far as I recall, I don’t think anybody beat “The Pied Piper” wagon 🙄
I now why you switched from Storm Crankshaft to American Crankshaft. Had to be JERRY.
P.O.’d many of shop guys and racers. My father tolerated them for many years. Even Dennis at B & L used them, then got pissed and switched to Westchester Crankshaft in Flushing.
I think my father referred Dennis to Star Crankshaft, out of Port Jervis, NY. They would
pick-up and deliver, at no extra charge.
Since we always set up at the end of the track (last bleacher-stands, the little one across
from the traps), I think we were the ones who always saw the nose of the “Pied Piper”
go down as it approached the finish line 😉
Name unknown 😐
dinoWe have whole history of Pied Piper wagon on here …”Search It” …including last owner (Bosco) And In ODF galleries the Pied Piper CAMARO. Lee is on Forum…..for info AND ‘upstairs Bob ‘ – user name… worked For Tom. Search …it might aready be here …..here -saved ya the trip…: http://doverdragstrip.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=170&hilit=pied+piper
masoOff the top of my head, Al Topping, no. I am not always good with names from back in the day.
Andy
Al Topping ran a red 427 ’63 Chevy convertable at Westhampton in those same years that you were there. Al turned out to become quite a famous man after that and he is here in Miami and I know him well. Al was one of the very few black racers at that time. Jamaican born, but he lived in the infamous Bedford Styvacent district on N.Y.C. He went on to be the head of the Pan American Airways instalation in Saigon, Thailand during the Viet nam war. When the deal went down there, Al heroacly managed to evacuate many of the oriental Pan Am employees before the Cong could capture them. They made a detailed T.V. documentary about it and it was called “Last Flight Out” with James Earl Jones playing the part of Al Topping. Some of you might have seen that.
Anyway… after Pan Am went out of business Al Topping came to work at The Miami Herald where I work now. Al became one of my supervisors and he and I always got along well. Al retired and now all he does is give lectures and play golf…!
If anyone around here has a digitized picture of Al Topping and his red ’63 Chevy with the 427 at Westhampton Dragway please get it to me and I will e-mail that to him and he will be delighted.
Thanx…
Maso
paul-ceasrine
Maso,
This just came in from one of the shop guys at Dino & Arties Transmission, in between
Route 22 and Route 100, in Croton Falls (that little hamlet of a town). Right near the tracks and B. Hawley Smith Forklifts.
Fairbanks Transmission had a race car. Owned by the team of
Dupree-Frank Lupo-Croteau. 1964 Dodge Race Hemi SS/BA.
At Dover??? Definitely Englishtown. Anyone remember.
If I recall, if you ran a Mopar in the late 60’s or early 70’s, and it was an automatic,
you had to have a Fairbanks Transmission.
Now Dino & Arties, could build a pretty decent transmission too. Bobby S. chime in.
Paul
dinoNeed another heading ….GO TO FAIRBANKS RACING AUTOMATICS
john-sachs-srMy 2 cents.
Joe Lisecco(glasses) +the L in B&L
Big Ralphie and Jerry Castro = Storm Crankshaft.Did all our cranks…….NEVER an issue! Jerry’s passion was ballroom dancing. 😮
Wedge Inn = owned by Ralph and Jerry’s parents.
B&L had several drivers in the dragster = Bill Hanson (racing bikes now),and I think Rich Boughton.
John
paul-ceasrine
John,
Yes, Storm Crankshaft very good. My fathers shop used them for 15 years (71′ thru 86′)
No problem with workmanship (high quality) and pricing ($95 for a Chevy small-block
w/Federal-Mogul bearings). Most have sent him well over 2000 cranks over the years.
Jerry good guy. Ralphie (hands big as meat-clevers), great guy, flipped those cranks
on-and-off the polisher like they were tooth picks. Super gentleman to my mom, who dropped off and picked up many cranks there.
Unfortunately, we had to run our crank jobs down their from Jefferson Valley, drop them off
head back, then head back down when they were done. Lots of trips. Storm had no
delivery service to Northern Westchester. When you have 5 or 6 cranks a week, it takes a lot of time to run down to Mt. Vernon. We tried to schedule a set time with Jerry to
pick-up our cranks, so we (my mom) wouldn’t have to wait around for them to be done.
Unfortunately, one too many times my mom had to wait 3 hours for the cranks to be done. We were great customers of Storm. Unfortunately, we had to move on, when Jerry
kind of gave us a take-it or leave-it attitude. We thought we deserved better.
Hope I cleared that up.
Jerry ballrooom dancing. He had happy feet 🙄
Paul (Lots more on Storm)
Bruce Hertel, 541 474 0010Dino, I have one of those decals on my tool box! I’ll shoot a photo and send it in. Also I believe the B & L/Dennis record was with AHRA in ’67 for AA/FD. It was a MPH record not ET. and it was over 200mph I think 207.
Bruce Hertel
paul-ceasrine
Bruce “Hemihead”
Thanks for posting the B & L Top Speed Record. I mentioned earlier on this thread that Dennis had set some MPH Record, but no information followed.
I would imagine the AHRA MPH Record was set at New York National. If I recall, that
track was NHRA sanctioned for the first year (1966) ONLY, and maybe a portion if not all of the 67′ season. It was AHRA sanctioned in 68′ (definitely).
Not completely sure, but if I remember correctly Dennis (B & L) has an NHRA Certificate
on the wall in his office, directly behind his desk. I think it was a certification for 200 MPH.
Paul
