TUCSON PINKS ALL OUT on "In Demand"

[Marv D]

A buddy of mine over at teamchevelle put together a few screen captures from the Tucson Pinks deal. Kind of cool

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/show...=1#post1966041

[djracer]

that's sweet Marv

[Primed67]

just saw the episode last night and that was awesome. i just kept thinking, man I have seen that truck before and today i see this thread. Man I love to see a truck bust a cars a55.

[70rs/ss]

I can't seem to catch DJ's pass time though, but saw MarvD's PAO. I grew up in Tucson, but left before the SIR was opened, used to have to go to Firebird to run, legally that is!! The old strip was used in the off time as an airstrip to land drug planes on so that one got closed and the dude that owned it is still breaking rocks for the man!! I miss Tucson (I only live 6 hours from there, butstill!!) Marv, did you by chance get to talk to Wheelchair Bob? Obviously he was the guy in the chair, but he was one of the many players in the late 80's early 90's on the scene with his SBC powered, then BBC powered Camaro or Chevelle?? Been a few years, so I can be sure of the make, but he was in a Chevelle at the PAO and was on the show, he was too fast for the 12 sec bracket. He drove his rig to Cali to put up (or shutup) about some of his braggings to Car Craft or Hot Rod about the same time. He ended up in the mag and the editor was eating his words along with the crow!! Bob was the man on Speedway/illegals back then and he doesn't appear to have slowed down yet!! Congrats on the $10gs and the NAPA box!

[Marv D]

Wheelchair Bob,,,, is that Bob Poffenbarger? (spelled something like that) A shop I worked at in the early 70's built a NASTY Dodge van for him. Don't know him personally or remember him from the pinks deal, but remember this guy from his atitude in the 70's. No physical challange was going to slow him down. Dave Shattuck (the mopar trans guru of the day, owned the shop I worked for) and I believe Frank Townsends shop built a hand controlled 340 / push-button 727 van. Was simply an amazing machine and spanking many, many a 'muscle car' egos on Speedway and Tucson Dragway.

[70rs/ss]

I only ever knew him as wheelchair Bob, I know Frank pretty well, he is going to build me a 496. As a matter of fact he is the the one who allowed me to touch a ZL1 Alumuinum block (one of what 15 ever made!) That scene in the late 80's was wicked, I had a blast being around those street terrors!

[PA-IndianRider]

Originally Posted by 70rs/ss

I only ever knew him as wheelchair Bob, I know Frank pretty well, he is going to build me a 496. As a matter of fact he is the the one who allowed me to touch a ZL1 Alumuinum block (one of what 15 ever made!) That scene in the late 80's was wicked, I had a blast being around those street terrors!

I "LOVE" hearing stories about all those long-time hard running drag racers/builders. Surely they are overshadowed (unfairly) by the "BIG" names in the sport. I have stumbed across a few websites that feature the "local" small time drag strips that flourished in the late '60's thru mid-70's.

Case in point.... after a year of drag racing on the 1/8 mile (or there about) straight away at Heidelberg Raceway (a "DIRT" oval track near Pittsburgh, PA) ..... Pittsburgh International Dragway was built.

One of the "local favorites" and aquaintance of mine was Jack Schulte (see dedication pic below). He was a great guy. I knew Jack not only from the drag strip but before then from the "street scene" of the early sixties. I will always remember the time a friend of mine & I was replacing the cam & lifters in my SB '67nCamaro.... hood up in the driveway and Jack drove by....saw that we where working on my car and stopped to help us.

HERE IS A TRIBUTE TO JACK found on the PID website:
Jack's name came up more often than any other during all the discussions about a P.I.D. reunion. Jack was there the day the track opened and it was described as the saddest day in his life when the track closed. Rich Major said that on many occasions as he arrived at the track at the start of the day, Jack would be there waiting for him."
"Jack was known as the Mayor of PID and he not only raced at the track but he could be counted on to fill in and help out wherever he may be needed. Jack got the very most out of the least, many times using other racers' discarded parts to beat them. He was a master at figuring the minuscule edge that was available by running a 1962 Chevy as a Biscayne instead of an Impala, or by using a white hood to deflect heat."

"Although Jack raced at tracks all over the tri-state area, it was PID that was his home. We miss Jack as much as Jack missed PID, which is to say, very much. "May he rest in peace"


Ahhhhh.... those where the days my friends.... we thought they'd never end.... but they did.

BTW.... the Pittsburgh International Dragway (PID) reunion is Sept 13th @ Pittsburgh Raceway Park .....Don Garlits is the special guest.
http://www.pittsburghinternationaldragway.com/

[70rs/ss]

I'll have to chat up my friend who still holds a few class records from back in the day in PA. He bought a 68 or 69 Chevelle new and special ordered it with the 375 hp 327 with a muncie rockcrusher (paid cash and still has it!). He had several stock class records and I believe a few are still standing. I wonder if he ever made it to Pittsburge?! We all lived near Erie (Saegertown/Norrisville to be exact) so Pittsburg was a bit of a drive, but he and my dad spin yarns about drag racing here and there, heck my dad used to run 348's in an old beater dirt track car back in the 50's. I was born a decade or two too late, but hp is still around and in another decade or two kids will talk about now as if it was the "heyday" of power, like we are now, life is a big circle and so it continues!