Dis is My Ride!!!

Hi Fishbreath. Thanks for the compliments and yes those guys were my friends. Those days with the early Pro Stocks were some of the best days of my life. I was with Ronnie at the Tulsa PRA meet that Garlits helped to organize. I crewed with him when he came to Kentucky. He and Buddy, Dave Cristy and Jake King were the nicest guys and all had their act together. Jake built the short block I ran in my '68 Hemi Roadrunner. I learned a lot about the chassis setups on those leaf spring cars. Billy Stepp who passed away last Nov. was also a class act and a great guy. I first met him at Bill Roell's body shop in Ludlow Ky where I learned to do gold leafing, etc. from "The Dauber" I helped with the '72 Demon Pro Stocker and if you look at my paint scheme, you will see the resemblance. Billy was very good to those he liked and let into his inner circle. There were rumors of Mafia connections but he never spoke of it. He did provide first run porno 8 mm films for us to watch after work. I do know that he was no one to mess with, was a real street fighter and used no body guards. Paul Frost was a grreat car builder for Billy and Stuart McDade was my favorite driver - after Ronnie. After I moved to Florida in '71, I didn't get to see much of them. I went up to Dayton a couple of times to go when they ran the Colt. Ried Whisnant was another great guy. He made a lot of money in the plumbing business. His candy gold series of Dusters were first class and he did so much and was competitive with little or nothing from the factory. I remember laying on my back in the dirt at the Snowbirds in Bradenton changing out 5.57 gears to 5.38s. He was intense but he never lost his temper that I ever saw. He was like Ronnie too when it got to the track - the engine was never messed with. The toughest thing we had to do once was change out the Lenco. I got to crew with Dick Landy one year at the Gatornationals. He and Mike were such down to earth guys. I just showed myself friendly, got to talking and they just invited me in. Dick gave me a Landy shirt to wear, asked me to cover the slicks from the sun and maintain the tire pressure in the staging lanes. I kept the car clean too. We stayed in touch after that about twice a year. The last time I was with Dick was when they built the Dart Sport that had the nose sneakily angled down and it had one of the first magnesium Danas. That car was gorgeous! I never got to race with Butch Leal but I learned a lot about 4-speeds from him. Although he wasn't Mopar, Don Nicholson was also a friend. I helped him once when he was mocking up a home-made tunnel ram for a Boss 429 out of some fiberglass, wood and cardboard!! Jon Kaase was busy working on the Doug Nash 5-speed that he made clutchless and all the competitors bitched about. I remember Kaase when he had hair! I still have one hero who is a personal friend, the one and only Big Daddy Don Garlits. I go on some of the trips on his summer schedule with he and his lovely wife, Pat. He still works 7-days a week, 300 mph with his hair on fire! Where I live in Floral City is not far from his home/museum in Ocala. Don's brother, Ed, also lives in Floral City. I hope I haven't bored you. Thanks for asking.
Pat