Hey Jean, I know I started this thread about OCIR (even though I've never been there) and it's kind of morphed into a bit of a nostalgia trip beyond that track, but in the spirit of racing in the "good old days", I have a story that I'm sure you and Randy and others can relate to. I may have told this before but any ways, back in around '71, when my dad held the record, a guy he bought parts from, who I believe started Diamond Racing Pistons, wanted to visit my dad. He came to our house in upstate NY, which back in '71 was just a little up & down in the city of Rochester. After visiting for awhile, he says to my dad, "Ok, let's go see your shop". My dad takes him out behind the house where our little, barely 2-car detached garage was. He literally had to move our bikes, the lawnmower, etc. out of the way, so this guy could check out the altered. I don't remember much more other than he was a bit shocked that, even then, it wasn't more of an all-out race shop. The point of the story is my dad's car was a state of the art, Logghe chassis, 504 cube Rat with a high deck block, which he built, that held the national record, and the shop was a dinky little garage that housed all of our stuff, and the open trailer was parked out behind the garage in the back yard. What a different world.
Burgess OCIR Story (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Nunz
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Randy
Nitro Member
When Brad Anderson bought his first big rig he told me "You can't take it to the starting line" meaning it didn't matter what you showed up in, you had to race the race car.
We won the Division 7 championship in TA/FC 9 years ago out of my garage at home. Whenever I needed to work on it I would have to move my wife's car out of the garage, set up some tables, move the mower, and because my garage is only 20 feet deep I had to have the garage door up so I could lift the car in the air with the over-center jack. Now I enjoy a 4,000+ sq ft shop configured so I can have my tractor and trailer all inside just like a pit space courtesy of Mr. Pete Swayne.
RG
Mr. Jean
Nitro Member
I think a lot of us, were working in small area's back then. As seen in my picture, I worked out of my small garage too. They were cheaper days and more fun for me.
Mr. Jean
Nitro Member
Hey Randy, times have sure changed for a lot of us haven't they? I see you mention Jay Payne on your site. Remember back when he was running SS/EA? Been awhile for sure. I mention this, because that's how long ago I ran the Altered.
We're all not getting older, just our memories. Good old days indeed.
I mention this, because that's how long ago I ran the Altered.We're all not getting older, just our memories. Good old days indeed.
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Randy
Nitro Member
Hey Randy, times have sure changed for a lot of us haven't they? I see you mention Jay Payne on your site. Remember back when he was running SS/EA? Been awhile for sure.
We're all not getting older, just our memories. Good old days indeed.
Remember the old "Vita C" orange A/A that ran from time to time. That thing was pretty fast. Manzo's altered was one of my favorites, along with the Boggs' brothers but they never ventured out west that I remember.
I have to say that guys like Wild Wilfred, Brad, Dale Armstrong in the "Alcoholic" along with several others got me interested in BB/FC. The place to watch them was the finishline grandstands on the pit side at OCIR. The old standard helix roots blowers would whine like a bee on steroids as they went through the gears coming at you.
Randy
Don Waite.
Rumblebones
Nitro Member
Draw 3D
Nitro Member
Randy, when I was crewing for Brad with his Opel GT, his garage was so small, we had to pull the car out also to work on it, and his Opel was very short and narrow. At the same time, I was also working with Tom Stratton and had setup a paint job for Brad thru Tom, but Brad didn't know him so he wouldn't do it and Tom wasn't too happy about being turned down, specially at a reduced price.
Btw, Tom liked to play tricks on people, the story about putting competitors name on the car sounds like one of those. He probably did a few that way, but not that many. I worked with him and for him for a few years and don't remember ever seeing that.
Having said that, I do believe that he would have done it to Brad's car because of being turned down by Brad before, Tom almost always got his revenge.
Also Randy, if your altered is the same one I'm thinking of, it had a very light coat of blue candy that made the black look very rich, and, it started as a late night mistake.
Finally, every year that I can remember, Tom delivered painted dragster and funny car bodies on top of his old station wagon, usually late Thursday or early Friday morning of the WinterNats.
Sure do miss Tom.
K & N. He started just in time to be up here in Vegas at SEMA. Just had dinner with he and BigMac. Always a fun time.
Randy
Nitro Member
Paul:
A trick Tom showed me was to run water on the surface and look into the sunlight reflection. He showed me how the altered body had a very very slight green pearl in the black that was difficult to see, but added tremendous depth to it. Tom told me Anne (his wife) designed the paint scheme. All I told Tom was I sure liked the colors he put on Johnnie Loper's Arrow F/C and he went to town on it.
The beautiful hint of green in the black of my altered was the basis for me requesting Billy B. and David Peters to come together to design and produce one of the most beautiful and wild paint jobs ever on a funny car in memory of Tom (and it actually earned me my first "Wally" albeit a Best Appearing Car Wally from the 1996 Final's at Pomona). You'll notice in the picture of my 1996 Firebird below a very subtle hint of my altered in the way the colors wrap on the side. Billy and David outdid themselves. Both Billy and David were very fond of Tom Stratton and his work. One trick they did was to add a stripe of Tom's favorite 24 Karat real gold leaf (not vinyl) instead of traditional pinstriping between the green and white areas, spun with swirls and then cleared which gave it a finishing touch that looked like a million bucks.
Since I still have the scoop, maybe tomorrow I'll get it out of the closet and run some water on it to see if Tom did the green pearl on it, too. It's hard to believe Tom painted it over 30 years ago. If you're going to the 'Finals at Pomona next week I can stick it in my trailer so we can wax it or something.
RG
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Man I love these stories. You guys are right, that was Don Waite's A/A, and ironicly he was the guy who took the speed record from my dad. My dad had set it at 163.33 and I think Don reset it to 166+ or thereabouts. I believe Don raced altereds for quite awhile, I'm almost positive I saw him at Firebird one year in the early '90s, still in a 23T A/A. I think I read somewhere that he would build a new roadster every 5 years. And Randy, are you refering to Dave Peters of Design Tech, because I had him do a couple of pics in around '90 or '91 when my uncle was building a '27 SC car. His work was fantastic.
BTW, Randy you mentioned some of my favorite cars of all time. The Boggs Bros. Pro Comp AA/A, "Poison", was just wild, although I never got to see it in person. I got to meet Steve Boggs at Reading a couple years ago and he got a kick out of me remembering that car, I asked if they still had it, he said no but the long one that did well at Indy in the early '90s was in the rafters. Manzo's car I did see at Indy in '79, it was incredibly low, he must have been laying down in it. Finally, I was a kid when Pro Comp came out, and these cars raced, and I drooled over these altereds as well as the BB/FCs of that era, low-slung, blowers roof high, and hearing the blowers whine while watching from the big end was...priceless.
Randy
Nitro Member
Actually the lay down part of sitting in the car made it harder to concentrate. I'm 6'4" and the top of the cage on my altered was 42" high. Grab a tape measure, drop the dumb end to the ground and measure up 42" and you'll see how low that was. I was practically flat on my back, and that's 13" inches shorter than my TA/FC.
If I remember correctly, Don Waite ended up putting someone's pro stock engine in his car when he took the record. At least that's what I remember hearing.
Terry
Nitro Member
Great stuff guys! I have really enjoyed reading all of the memories. I was racing in Nebraska during those days (on a very small scale) but was reading about those cars when the info finally filtered into the center of the country. Just love hearing the names from people that actually knew them. Keep it up! We're all listening!
Whenever I think of OCIR I always think of Phil Cameron !! His pickup & camper with a flatbed trailer with his "car of the month" !! Every car on the first time out had a For Sale sign on it !! He was a character for sure.....
His step brothers raced but their names slip my mind right now......
His step brothers raced but their names slip my mind right now......
