PAUL GOMMI -Grady& Gommi T/FD -win 1st Time out!

[dinoKeymaster]

Just Recieved! From Paul Gommi ………………………………..

Russell Grady and I (Grady & Gommi Speed Shop, Stamford, Conn.) got a Lynwood Welding Chassis (made by Pat Bilbow in Penn. He was the Scotty Fenn of the East Coast.) it was 98″ wheelbase and we lengthened it four feet. You can see the welds where we added the pipe. We built an Olds engine using the stroker crank out of Russell”s chopped 57 Olds custom (The Oriental). That’s the first magnesium blower Sneaky Pete Robinson ever sold and the second Enderle Bug Catcher
ever made. Ivo got the first. We were from Stamford Conn. and
friends with Al Zaberini of Bee Line Automotive. Jimmy Yerks, (I hope I am spelling it right,) who worked for Bee Line, had a Lynwood Welding dragster with a supercharged Oldsmobile engine. He was the local hero at Dover at the time running around 9.50 E.T.s., and speeds of 165 MPH.
Russell and I took it up as a challenge to see if we could build a dragster to beat the Bee Line crew. The Bee Line car weighed about 1450 pounds. We decided to make a car as light as we could. Russell actually made an aluminum bellhousing, and an aluminum front leaf spring! Pete Robinson made the mag blower and drive. Enderle the mag injector, We even made the valley cover out of plexiglass. The seat was a Sears Plastic kitchen chair with the legs removed. ($3.00)Thinking our car might go fast, we heard some cars on the West Coast were running a REVOLUTIONARY DEVICE called a PARACHUTE! We found a guy in Florida called Buddies Ring Slot Chutes.
We bought one of these Big Ring Slot Parachutes like they would use to drop a Jeep out of an airplane! We mounted it on our dragster, AND HEADED FOR DOVER DRAG STRIP.
Jimmy Yerks bet us $100. our car couldn’t weigh under 1300 pounds.
When we got to the track for the first time, we went straight to the scales. Our car weighed 1250 pounds. So we started the day $100.
ahead!
We pushed the car down the track, turned around and pushed to start it. I swung around and staged. (Burnouts were not invented
yet.) Brought up the R’s and let out the clutch. Up to that point,
all the fast dragsters (9 second runs) smoked the tires like crazy.
For whatever reason, being we didn’t know whole lot about what we were doing, our car slipped the clutch and with no tire smoke ran an 8.90 at 180. MPH! The speed was the fastest anyone in the country had run on straight alky.
As I approached the finish line, I pulled our BUDDIES BIG RED RING SLOT PARACHUTE. Just as I passed the lights, there was a
TREMENDOUS IMPACT almost like I had hit a wall head on. My head
slammed into the steering wheel,
I thought “Wow, the Chute Opened Hard, but then the car wasn’t slowing down anymore, so I grabbed the brake handle and started applying the brakes. My eyes were glued straight ahead down the shut down area. This was my first ride ever in a dragster. Just then out of the corner of my left eye, I saw something GIGANTIC AND RED PASSING ME. ”
“What the hell is that?” I thought and just as I was realizing it was my chute tumbling by, my dragster SPUN AROUND
IN A COMPLETE 180 and was racing backwards down the shut off.
Somehow, I had the presence of mind to keep hitting the hand brake.
Then there was ANOTHER BIG IMPACT as I hit something going backwards. The car had stopped and I was staring back towards the starting line.
After I caught my breath, I climbed out and looked. My dragster was up against the CUT DOWN TELEPHONE POLE and Cable fence at the end of the track with my PARACHUTE HANGING OVER THE FENCE GENTLY SWINGING BACK AND FORTH WITH SOMETHING IN IT!
If anyone remembers, there was a big square Iron Grating over a big Square Sewer Drain just past the finish line to let water drain off the track where it went between the hills. Who would have ever thought when they designed the track, that someone would invent a Parachute to help stop the cars!
MY BUDDIE’S BIG, ROUND, RED, RING SLOT CHUTE, HAD CAUGHT THE EDGE OF THE GRATING AND LIFTED THE WHOLE THING UP INTO THE CHUTE AT 180 MPH!
THAT GRATING MUST HAVE WEIGHED 300 POUNDS! So, when I put the brakes on, my chute went tumbling past me at 180 MPH and spun my whole dragster around and pulled it into the end fence.
They managed to put the grating back. My Chute was plenty torn up and I decided I’d rather stop WITHOUT one of these new fangelled things anyway.
We went on to face Jimmy Yerks in the Bee Line Dragster in the final. The photo you are looking at is my dragster about to be pushed down the tack to fire. NOTICE NO BREATHER MASKS YET. YOU GOT TO GET WOOZY FROM ALL THE FUMES BEFORE STAGING. In the other lane, you see the 57 Olds of Jimmy Yerks which is pushing him down to fire up. Standing next to my dragster is Mark Kennedy, my friend and crew. We beat Jimmy in the final with another eight second and 180 MPH run. We went on to win the final 5 or 6 meets in a row that season at Dover. I think I still have the trophies. That Winter we went Chrysler.
Paul Gommi

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[gene-terenzio-srParticipant]

Well, Well, Well, I see Paul can still spin a yarn. hit a telaphone pole, spin backwards, hit his face, ( now i know way hes so ugley) 🙂 then raced Jimmy Yerks, and BEAT him, with a beat up dragster. 😮

[dinoKeymaster]

Story is true ! …Not a telephone POLE…our sleazy guardrails made from cut down poles .

Paul adds:
“The year was 1964 about 5 weeks before the season ended. Probably Sept, or Oct.
I did not hit a telephone pole. At the very end of Dover Drag Strip were several Posts sticking up from the asphalt about the diameter of telephone poles. They looked like they were cut off telephone poles. They were only about 3 feet high. Between them was cable stung across to form a sort of fence to prevent a car going over the edge of the drop at the end.
My car slid backwards into the cables strung between the posts. By the way that car was made of at least 3″ diameter tubing as you can see. You could probably park a bulldozer on top of it. No, the car wasn’t damaged and I went on and won Top eliminator with it a few hours later.
That was not a yarn I spun. That was my first run in a Dragster ever. The story is absolutely true.”

[dinoKeymaster]

THE Grady & Gommi STORY CONTINUES ….Hemi powered !
This photo is mid 1965. Bernie Shaker built me this chrome moly tubing chassis to prevent me from getting killed in that leaf spring front suspension dragster we had been running. This car instantly ran 8.00’s and I actually set the A/FD NHRA National Record at Conn.
Dragway at 8.01. The Record only lasted a week or two and was taken away by the Frantic Four at Pomona CA.. at a 7.99.
Photo taken at Dover Drag Strip. In the backround our Grady & Gommi Speed Shop Chevy Carry-All truck.

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[dinoKeymaster]

Another shot….early ’65

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[gene-terenzio-srParticipant]

Paul ,I’m just busting your balls, I know you beat Jimmy bolton as (Russle would call him) I think after that he let his partner Johnny Lopiano drive the car, P/S Jimmy taught me how to do machine work and how to balance motors, he was a good teacher. so how you doing ?

[dinoKeymaster]

Gene…I’m acting as the “go-between ” with his e-mails & posting photos …til I get Paul On the Forum. We’ll get him hooked up.

[gene-terenzio-srParticipant]

quote dinotheweirdo:

Gene…I’m acting as the “go-between ” with his e-mails & posting photos …til I get Paul On the Forum. We’ll get him hooked up.

Hey Dino ,you need to get Jimmy Yerks Jr. on I don’t know if Jimmy Sr. is still around, Jr. last i heard was running a F-E-D. out of greenwich conn. shop. get csi on it, sure he has some war storys
(OK GUYS IN THAT AREA —-GET ON IT ….Billy Mas ? Al B.?)…dino-edit

[vbobParticipant]

HEY

Dino,when does the Dover Drag Strip book come out ??

‘V’

[dinoKeymaster]

The Way Paul writes so well…Id have him do it …No ,the video is challanging enough. Pauls sending more ‘stuff’ !

[pmbuickParticipant]

Hi Dino, Paul and Gene, it is Peter Maple (Bee Line and Terenzio fame) Jim Sr and Jr are doing fine Jr does not race anymore, got into boats just like his dad did years ago. Jr runs a first class auto repair shop here in Port Chester,NY and as far as I know Sr is retired. When he quit racing he had a rear engine C&F Bower car and did quite well with it. Thanks Guys, Peter

[dinoKeymaster]

COULD THIS BE this First Lyndwood Gommi car? …It’s For Sale !at Jalopy Journal.seller says it came from “N.Y.” see first photo in this thread from ’64….Flash! SELLER IS ON FORUM NOW! user name blown64vette
I contacted Paul Gommi about this and am awaiting a reply.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=327148

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[masoParticipant]

The answer is no… unfortunately. Tommy lee Boyd gets back to me with this:

quote :

Thomas,

Thanks for the email, and the additional information. I’ve been on the lookout for any kind of info on this car, but I’m afraid this isn’t the Gommi car. Gommi’s was an early-style Lyndwood chassis, which had the large main frame rail with the smaller sub rails. My car is the later style , known as the “four bar” or “small tube” chassis, and I’ve only seen a couple of photos of this style of Lyndwood.

I spoke with Bob Bilbow at length about the defining factors of a Lyndwood chassis and sent him photos to clarify the fact that it’s a Lyndwood. He said this chassis is very rare, and it’s the only operational “small tube” car known to exist. I guess that’s why it’s so hard to find information on it. Thanks for the info on Gommi’s dragster, and I wish it was my car, but I guess I should keep looking. Thanks again I’ll keep in touch,

Tommy Lee Byrd

I have to admit, the long wheelbase and the front end wing thing had me excited. It seems that Boyd had already considered the Gommi angle. You can see that the forward frame rails are not the same. Life goes on…!

[masoParticipant]

quote dinotheweirdo:

THE Grady & Gommi STORY CONTINUES ….Hemi powered !
This photo is mid 1965. Bernie Shaker built me this chrome moly tubing chassis to prevent me from getting killed in that leaf spring front suspension dragster we had been running. This car instantly ran 8.00’s and I actually set the A/FD NHRA National Record at Conn.
Dragway at 8.01. The Record only lasted a week or two and was taken away by the Frantic Four at Pomona CA.. at a 7.99.
Photo taken at Dover Drag Strip. In the backround our Grady & Gommi Speed Shop Chevy Carry-All truck.

Key Question… did Bernie Shaker work for Pat Bilbow at Lyndwood in 1965…???

[dinoKeymaster]

PAUL GOMMI CHECKS IN ON THIS ….just recieved:

Dino;
No it’s not my old dragster. Ours was an early Bilbow with the 3 -4 inch diameter main rails and was originally 98″ wheelbase that we lengthened to
140″ w.b.
This dragster is a later chassis when they went to the smaller diameter tubing.
Maybe Richie Shot or the “Green Gang”? I’ll look in my old Dover photos and see if I recognize it. It sort of rings a bell, but at my age it takes time
to remember. I’m thrashing 8-10 hours, seven days a week finishing the supercharged 21 stud, 32 Phaeton I’ve been working on for two years for the
Grand National Roadster Show in January. Happy Holidays to all the Dover Dudes.

Love, Paul Gommi

…………………I fired back a reply to get Bernie Schacker info ….Later

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