Unfortunatly I do not remember the guys name . He was
running 354 stuff in NHRA BB/A at the time that I saw
him and his car . He not long after that got rid of
the opel and switched to a firebird .He got a big
spread in Super Stock Magazine back then. This was
like '83-'85 maybe. It is very possible he was from
NY area because I saw the car at Englishtown a couple
of times but nowhere else on the east coast.
George in DC
--- FastmetalBDF@aol.com wrote:
> Hi George , Do you recall who owned that
> little Opel with the
> hemi ??
> Could it have been Jim Zakia , from Niagara
> Falls , N. Y. ? In the
> early 60s
> he brought his outstanding 55 chev " C " gasser
> down to a two day meet at the
> now long gone Connecticut Dragway , and I was
> glad I wasn' t running
> that day,
> mainly because it gave me lots of time to check out
> his car ------ outside
> / inside /
> underneath ------- it was a masterpiece of
> craftsmanship , and he was very
> helpful
> in enlightening me on many of the real trick
> features on his machine . A
> masterful
> car builder , and a real credit to the sport !
> As I also ran in this
> class , I
> think my chances of a class win that weekend were
> less than a snowball in
> Hades,
> but it would have been fun trying ! I
> stopped in at his shop in
> Niagara Falls
> in the early 80s , but he had already left for the
> Nationals ------- but
> I remember
> his shop foreman told me he was now running a blown
> Opel in a hotter class
> .
> I remember he held one end of the record (
> don' t recall if ET or
> speed ) when
> he visited Connecticut , and his Hilborn
> injected chev ran a Schooler
> Cam .
> I haven' t heard of those cams for quite a few
> years now ------- must
> have gone
> the way of Letterio , Giovannini , and Dempsey
> Wilson cams !
> Your message brought back some great
> memories to this nostalgic
> old drag racer / wrench / fan ! Thanks a lot
> , and whether you
> go with
> the De Soto or the Chev --------- it' ll be
> fast , classy, and
> FUN !!!
> Bruce in slightly warmer
> Connecticut
>
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