<html><body><br>https://www.mlive.com/autoracing/2010/08/veteran_bill_dentinger_looks_f.html<br><div class="reply-new-signature"></div><p>-----------------------------------------</p>From: "T. R. Householder via Fot" <fot@autox.team.net><br>To: "yellow04"<br>Cc: "fot@autox.team.net"<br>Sent: Tuesday January 19 2021 2:16:32PM<br>Subject: Re: [Fot] Bill Dentinger<br><br>
Bill did a calendar with the Beady Eye Racer on it probably after
Mid Ohio 92 . It still hangs in my office and I think about him
often <br><br><div class="reply-new-signature"></div>
<p>-----------------------------------------</p>
From: "yellow04 via Fot"<br>
To: fot@autox.team.net<br>
Cc:<br>
Sent: Tuesday January 19 2021 12:04:08PM<br>
Subject: Re: [Fot] Bill Dentinger<br><br>
Bill meant a lot of things to a lot of people. One thing for sure,
if<br>
you had the pleasure to meet Bill, you certainly did not forget
him. I<br>
have many fond memories, like sitting on the grid as some event in
the<br>
broiling heat waiting our turn to take the track and hearing Bill,
at<br>
the top of his lungs, singing some completely inappropriate song to
no<br>
one in particular. Or at a huge SVRA event, hundred of drivers
are<br>
intently listening to Jack Woehrle or Carl Jensen trying to get
through<br>
a drivers meeting and Bill would just heckle the crap out of them.
Not<br>
privately, mind you, but in a voice that everybody in the county
would<br>
hear. And it was hysterical.<br><br>
Bill was a racer at heart. The number of events that the Beady
Eye<br>
Vintage Triumph Racing team ran annually was impressive. Remember
Bill<br>
had Old Blue, Bob Wismer had the #4 blue TR4 (now campaigned by
Paul<br>
Ricco), and between them they co-owned the Thunderbolt, an
extremely<br>
limited production special from Tornado Cars, based on the TR3.
They<br>
would trade off season to season driving the Thunderbolt and
their<br>
respective TR. There was no expense spared on the preparation of
either<br>
his or Bob's cars. Any discussion of the Beady Eye team is
incomplete<br>
without mentioning Don Brick, the third member of the team. Don
raced a<br>
white TR4 with red wire wheels, and might have been the speediest
of the<br>
group, I believe the last year he ran was 2005.<br><br>
Bill was quite proud of the fact that Old Blue, a 1956 TR3, was the
most<br>
period correct vintage racer on track in the country. While I
never<br>
researched it, nobody who heard the story doubted it. The amount
of<br>
Triumph Competition Department equipment in the car was impressive.
A<br>
race car since new, Bill was only the second racer to track the
car.<br><br>
At some point over the course our friendship I must have mentioned
to<br>
Bill how much I liked Old Blue, and would like to own the car when
he is<br>
ready to hang up the helmet for the last time. (I am confident
alcohol<br>
was involved in this conversation!) This turned into Bill selling
the<br>
car to me back in 2014. My trip to Wisconsin to pick up the car
and<br>
spares was both delightful and melancholy, you knew it was the end
of an<br>
era. But Bill had high hopes I would keep the flame alive. My
intent was<br>
to keep the car as period correct as possible, but make it safe and
fun.<br>
I think I have struck a good compromise, some of those
Competition<br>
Department goodies have made way for more suitable replacements,
but for<br>
the most part the car remains remarkably period correct.<br><br>
Every time I had a race weekend with the car I would email Bill and
tell<br>
him how things went. We exchanged mail and it was obvious he
was<br>
genuinely excited to see Old Blue still on track, doing better
and<br>
better. It all came together at the Jefferson 500 at Summit Point
in<br>
2019, it was one of those weekends we all dream of. Picture
perfect<br>
weather, and you get grouped with a bunch of racers that are
great<br>
competition and you are running with fast guys up front. Then the
stars<br>
align and you take first in both feature races. I strung together
some<br>
in-car footage from three sessions that weekend and sent it to
Bill. He<br>
and his son Dick watched it on the "Big Screen", I got the
impression he<br>
was as excited as I was!<br><br>
In memory of Bill, I am sharing a view that he enjoyed for
years,<br>
looking over the bonnet of Old Blue. You will be missed, my
friend...<br><br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bCcXLlOR-k%3Cbr"></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bCcXLlOR-k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bCcXLlOR-k</a><br>
/><br>
Henry Frye<br>
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