Question for Don Schumacher (1 Viewer)

[Bob]

1961-1975 was the best era in drag racing!

Right on Jeff. What a privilege to have seen it. And thanks to some of you guys for your informative posts. Great thread.

 

[shoe]

Sorry, I have been busy as all get out. We got lucky again for the 6th time in a row and 7th overall for Tony.

I ran the Olds for the balance of that year and decided to make into a gasser. I put together a 426 hemi fuel injected motor and got a torqueflight by Bob here in Chicago and took the Olds doors, hood, bumpers and the trunk lid to have fiberglass parts made for it. Took everything to Fiberglass Ltd here in the Chicago suburbs to have parts made. Well as the fall turned into winter I did not get the parts. It got to Fbruary and they told me that for $3,500 I could get a complete fiberglass body and a tubuler chassis that I could put my engine, transmission and rearend in and could race a injected Funny Car. I changed the injecter jets so I could run nitro and got all of the help I could ever ask for from Ron Pellegrini owner of Fiberglass Ltd for a couple of years. He taught me a lot and it was a ball for a young guy to now run around the Midwest and get a little money for having a ball. I want all of ypou to know I blame all of my Drag Racing on that darn Pellegrini. I also have to say I received 150% support from my parents, both emotionally and financially to do this. After 2 years of running injected on the Midwest circuit I decided to get a supercharger and go match racing. At that time I knew Ron O'Donnel and the guys at Chapman Automotive here in Chicago and they were running a supercharged Funny Car at the time with many of the legends, Mr Norm, Arnie Beswick, the Ramchargers, Don Nickelson, Eddie Schartman, Stone Woods and Cook and on and on. Well they thought I was nuts to do it but that did not stop me. I saw an add that Butch Leal had a new Loghee Plymouth Barracuda with out running gear he wanted to sell and I flew to California and went to his home and bought it.

I got it back to Chicago via airfreight and put it together and ran it at Union Grove, Wisc. The first run was great except I broke the cables that connected the chutes to the rearend and ended up hitting hay bales at the end of the shut off area.

i WILL WRITE MORE IN THE DAYS TO COME.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Great read Don, very interesting, PLEASE, keep 'em commin.

And Congrats to team DSR.

 

[Mooseman]

Awesome , thanks for the update Don , don't rush . Just post when you can .

 

[Mooseman]

I also have to say I received 150% support from my parents, both emotionally and financially to do this.

I just want to say you have no idea how lucky you are well you probably do haha . You are lucky that your parents were in a position to do that , that is very nice of them .

 

[mw6789]

Love the old stories Don, and I especially appreciate that you are willing to take the time to share with us. You just made a fan out of me.

 

[squid]

Great story Don...Thanks

 

[Old Guy Rookie]

This is great stuff, I'm in.

 

[Rollout96]

i WILL WRITE MORE IN THE DAYS TO COME.

Please do as your time allows. This is great stuff and reminds me of being a kid and my dad racing virtually every weekend.

 

[CH3NO2JAY]

That might be a Big Bob Snyder or Mike Ditty photo..

My favorite is the Red stardust cuda...

Thanks for the input for real, I'd like to give credit where it's due. The Charger FC is in front of R&B Chassis. The red E body Stardust Cuda was def. cool.

I'm really twisting my brain here, but for some reason I think I got the photos off of one of the websites that deal with 60/70's funnycars...

Ex.
60s Funny Cars - Top 10 Funny Cars Photos and History
70s Funny Cars - Photos and info on over 500 funny cars!
80s Funny Cars - Drag Racing Photos and History

 

[JIMBO]

Thank you sir, this a great part of the Mater WOW !!

 

[Paul]

Sorry, I have been busy as all get out. We got lucky again for the 6th time in a row and 7th overall for Tony.

Don, I don't think there was any luck involved in that great last qualifying run that ended up winning it for you, that was a team performing some impressive professional drag racing under pressure.

 

[Jeff]

We are very fortunate to have people like Don and Ron (and many others in the know) willing to post for us to enjoy.

I laughed out loud at the "lucky 6 times in a row" comment . . . got the meaning loud and clear and couldn't agree more!

 

[Mooseman]

This thread is great .

 

[CH3NO2JAY]

Just for the record, R&B Automotive Engineering (2111 83rd St, Kenosha, WI 53143-1654) is officially closed and Dennis is living in Retirement. I think I mentioned this previously, but just thought it would be a good statement to bttt...

 

[afx421]

nothing cooler than hearing the old stories from someone who lived it. keep em coming don, and id like to thank you for refering to my freind arnie beswick as a legend, hes the most overlooked underrated racer maybe ever, he wasnt in the top 50. you know how much hes done for the sport and for my beloved pontiacs. a legend refering to arnie as a legend means a lot.

 

[Bob]

nothing cooler than hearing the old stories from someone who lived it. keep em coming don, and id like to thank you for refering to my freind arnie beswick as a legend, hes the most overlooked underrated racer maybe ever, he wasnt in the top 50. you know how much hes done for the sport and for my beloved pontiacs. a legend refering to arnie as a legend means a lot.

Jeff, I started being a fan of 'The Flying Farmer From Illinois' back in the 60's and remain so today. Silence does not mean he's been forgotten. He is one of the greats that I have never met but I knew he was a great guy and one of the best racers ever.

 

[Mooseman]

Figured this would be an awesome thread to bump up for the off season

 

[ch3no282]

This thread is really great for younger fans like myself. I am 27 and have heard the stories from my dad about the great match racing days. Orange County, Lions, Irwindale and so on. Congratulations on your success team Schumacher.

 

[Rajunz]

Here's another great story from Shoe to keep this thread rolling.............
WAR STORIES SHOWDOWN - DAY FOUR