Happenings
NOSTALGIA SUPER / STOCKS inc.
July 2008
Indy Good-guys.
This year’s race had the usual Indy weather. It was sunny Thursday and Friday and rain all day Saturday. Sunday was sunny and clear.
The rain out on Saturday caused the class eliminations to be cancelled. Sunday we were to go right into eliminations without any time runs. The timing equipment was under water all day Saturday so it took over two hours Sunday morning to get it working. There were intermittent timing problems during the rest of eliminations on Sunday.
The overall car count for the event was the lowest I can remember. There was a total of 20 Nostalgia Super Stocks with 12 of them being our members.
Winner: Kenny Gresham
Runner Up Tom Cartwright
2nd Runner Up Ira Chez
Members attending:
Rich Berlisk
Tom Boehm
Sherman & GeneDevening
Bob & Diana Durling
Larry Kaufman
Lon & Holly Kenoyer
Ray Koons
Tom & Tommy Mitchell
Mark Patterson
Vic & Sara Raupe
John Rousset
Dennis Sherer
Friday evening Ann and Mike Cicciarelli invited all our members to their home for a cookout. They had a plenty of great food and cold beverages. Dan Hare gave Mike a hand with the grilling duties and Dan’s wife made some killer good roasted onions.
The weather gods gave us a preview of Saturday’s weather when the skies turned dark, windy, and rainy. We moved into the house and continued the bench racing until it was time to leave.
Thank You Ann and Mike you really know how to treat your guests.
See You in Chandler,
Joe
NOSTALGIA SUPER / STOCKS Inc.
Dave Campbell –Secretary
April 7, 2008
From the Prez…………
Another year has come and gone. The 2008 racing season is upon us once again. I assume everyone is ready to go racing.
Our annual meeting was held on March 15, 2008 at the office and shop of Prairieland Development in Springfield, IL. The meeting was hosted by Larry and Julie Quinn. I think everyone will agree it was a great place to hold our meeting. Our thanks to Larry and Julie for their hospitality and to “Doodle” for helping the Quinn’s prepare for our group. A big thank you to everyone that brought all the delicious food and beverages that was consumed by all.
This year we have a new member Dennis Sherer and his wife Dianne from Roscoe, IL. They have a 1963 ½ Ford Galaxie. Some of you remember Dennis when he raced with us in Havana last October. Welcome aboard Dennis and Diane I apologize for not introducing them at the meeting.
I must have been so preoccupied with all that was going on that I forgot to welcome Bob and Diana Durling into the group. They bought Dallas’s Shamoo. We voted them in at one of the late races last year. Welcome aboard Bob and Diana.
Goodguys wants a list of people for the Indy race. If you know a Nostalgia racer that does not belong to our group and plans to attend have them get in touch with me (Joe). They will send everyone a packet with tickets for the event.
If you were there you know the meeting was spirited and productive. Five speed lenco transmissions are now allowed. Also wheelie bars are allowed on cars running 9.75 or quicker.
Lets all have a safe 2008 racing season. Thanks again to all that attended the meeting.
Joe
From your Secretary………..
HISTORY
If you all did not get a chance to look through the history of the club form 1990 through 1997 season, Alicia will be posting the highlights of those years on the web. So each month go to the web site and click on Dave’s Page and see what took place back in time.
See you at the races.
Dave
Nostalgia Super Stocks Inc.
March 2008
By Bob Wilkiewicz
Mopars At The Strip
Nostalgia Super Stock Eliminator
(at The Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada)
March 29-31, 2008
Saturday’s Results
Time Trial
Joe Wilkiewicz (Waukesha, WI), 1963 Plymouth Belvedere, .097, 11.543@114.56; Rich Berlisk (Hartland, WI), 1963 Plymouth Belvedere, -.003, 10.457@129.60; Tom Boehm (Council Bluffs, IA), 1965 Dodge Coronet, .059, 9.574@142.55;; John Grinwald (Watertown, WI), 1962 Dodge Dart, .017, 10.203@108.41
Qualifier
4. Wilkiewicz (D, 11.50), .054, 11.589@114.65, +.089; 6. Boehm (B/FX, 9.50), .008, 9.631@142.61, +.163; 7. Berlisk (B, 10.50), .100, 10.693@126.64, +.169; 11. Grinwald (A/FX, 9.25), .023, 9.182@147.25, -.068
Sunday’s Results
Round One
John Irving, .029, 12.991@104.69 def. Wilkiewicz, -.008, 11.468@115.64; Berlisk, .031, 10.423@129.70 def. Don Shurtz, .020, 10.901@116.35; Mark Chancey, .097, 11.535@118.24 def. Grinwald, -.016, 8.960@151.08; Boehm, .115, 9.642@143.80 def. Joe Ewing, .029, 10.981@119.85
Round Two
Doug Duell, .069, 10.079@129.43 def. Berlisk, .047, 10.614@128.16; Boehm, .103, 9.654@142.16 def. Irving, .072, 12.945@101.32
Semifinals
Glenn Willett, .194, 10.558@128.77 def. Boehm, .066, 9.692@142.96
Four on the road at Vegas
LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Four members of Nostalgia Super Stocks Inc. headed West to make an early season appearance at The Mopars At The Strip event March 28-31.
Joe Wilkiewicz, driving the ‘Psychotic ReAction’ 1963 Plymouth Belvedere, qualified fourth in the 13-car field, going 11.589 on an 11.50 NSS/D index, to lead the NSS Inc. foursome into Sunday eliminations under cool and very windy conditions.
However, Tom Boehm in the ‘Blue Byou’ 1965 Dodge Coronet, used some good fortune and some good driving to advance to the semifinals before falling to the eventual runner-up.
Boehm, who qualified sixth, was running more than a tenth of a second over his B/FX 9.50 index but benefited from opponent breakouts in the first two rounds.
“I thought it would get faster,” said Boehm when asked about his choice of running B/FX. “I know what the problem is now, the (torque) converter isn’t right. It hits much too soft.”
Rich Berlisk rolled the ‘Asphalt Angel' 1963 Plymouth Belvedere to a No.7 qualifying spot and then won his first round contest despite running .077 under his NSS/B 10.50 index. But Berlisk slowed to 10.614 in the second round and headed for the trailer.
Meanwhile, John Grinwald was busy becoming a favorite with both fans and photographers in the ‘Asphalt Elephant’ 1962 Dodge Dart.
On Friday, he ran a relatively routine 9.13 in the first time trial but then missed the second time trial and a make-up session due to a burned up starter. Now late in the afternoon, Grinwald was ready to run again and went to staging but was told to return to the pits.
However, after three appeals, he was allowed to get his second run and proceeded to do a spectacular wheelstand, carrying the front wheels over six feet in the air for at least 300 feet downtrack.
Then during Saturday’s first time trial, Grinwald did an even more spectacular ‘stand, putting the Elephant on its rear bumper from the starting line to past the 330 foot mark.
“When I grabbed second gear, it started to go up even more,” said Grinwald, who recorded a 10.20 on the pass. “At that point, I became a little concerned and felt I had to get out of it.” He posted a wheels-down 9.18 in the second session after removing a battery from the trunk.
In the first round of Sunday eliminations, Grinwald recorded both low elapsed time and top speed of the event for NSS, 8.960@151.05 on a .016 red light run.
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While Rich ‘Cherry Bomb’ Berlisk was having just an average weekend on the race track, qualifying in the middle of the field and going out in the second round of eliminations, he had a great weekend at another sport played in Las Vegas.
On Friday night, he hit a slot machine for a four-figure payout and repeated the score on Saturday night.
“I had a cold and knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep right away so I decided to stay up and play a little,” he said. “It worked out pretty well.”
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Perhaps that good fortune was Berlisk’s reward for his effort in getting a second Friday run for Grinwald, his long-time friend and partner in the car show and racing business.
After two previous official refusals, Berlisk went up to the tower, talked to race director Chris Blair and came back with an OK.
What did Berlisk say?
“I just reminded him that our class was to get two runs today, that John had fixed his problem, and wasn’t getting anything extra,” said Berlisk with a wry grin, “and also that we had driven 1800 miles to attend this event and it would be a shame not to get a chance.”
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Car count by state gave first place to Wisconsin with four while Indiana and California had two each. There was one car each from Iowa, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
January 2008
By Bob Wilkiewicz
World of Wheels
(at Wisconsin State Fair Expo)
WEST ALLIS, Wis. – Three Nostalgia Super Stocks Inc. members did some pre-season promotional work at the International Show Car Association’s World of Wheels Milwaukee event Jan. 10-13.
Rich Berlisk with the ‘Asphalt Angel’ and Joe and Bob Wilkiewicz with the ‘Psychotic ReAction’ cars, both 1963 Plymouth Belvederes, were at the show, which featured more than 300 show, custom and race cars of all styles.
However, the star of the NSS Inc. display was John Grinwald’s replica 1964 Ford Thunderbolt, which is still under construction. The refrigerator all-white piece features a Ford FE big block, 4-speed manual transmission and ladder-bar third member construction.
The interior is finished and driveline installed. Lacking the custom-made tube headers which still need to be fabricated, however, the machine was pushed into place.
“We’re going to be careful and thorough in bringing this along,” said Grinwald, who is planning to do extensive testing during the early part of this season. “I want to be sure it runs straight and strong before it goes into competition.”
The yet unnamed car placed second in show class while Berlisk took third place class honors.
Grinwald, who ran an 8.93 at Bowling Green, Kentucky last April in the ‘Asphalt Elephant’ 1962 Dodge Dart, said he will continue to run that car at selected events.
Two other NSS Inc. members, Tom Boehm (‘Blue Byou’ 1965 Dodge) and Mike Singleton (‘Schweppe Food Service’ 1963 Plymouth), attended the show and did some bench racing but didn’t display a car.
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Seeking more fun and excitement, Grinwald put out a ballot box for fans to submit suggestions for naming the car. Out of approximately 40 responses, ‘White Lightning’ was the most frequent choice with six votes.
While ‘Bucket of ‘Bolts’ received some thought, Grinwald picked two other names for final consideration, ‘The Grin Reaper’ and ‘Bad to the ‘Bolt’.
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Suffering a destroyed block last September, Berlisk ran the rest of the season with his ‘small’ 448 cu.in. motor and will continue with that combination for the Mopars At The Strip event in late March. After that, however, look for the ‘Angel’ to have a new low deck combination capable of running on the NSS/A 10.00 index.
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In addition, look for a new and unique lightweight component on select NSS cars (’62-’65 Mopar B-bodies) early this season with general availability coming later.
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Last December, NSS Inc. member Jimmy Brandon (‘Rebel Rouser’ 1964 Dodge) wrote me to express disappointment about rule changes for 2008 made by the National Muscle Car Association in its NSS category, specifically, allowing 396-454 powered Chevy II’s to participate in the FX classes.
Brandon has considerable credibility in the sport, having been involved since the pioneer days of the mid-1980’s. His long-term concern is that allowing these and potentially other vehicle types (Mustangs, etc.) might dilute the show appeal of NSS and turn the class into just another bracket race. I think he has a reasonable point.
In my reply, I added my concern about the lack of a unified and inclusive rulemaking authority for NSS racing in general, which could lead to a large and well-financed organization coming in and overwhelming the influence of smaller charter groups like NSS Inc. and the Texas Outsiders.
WOW Show
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