Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Denysenko
Although long ago retired Terry Bell was the best IHRA ever had, when Joe Olnyk was with IHRA did he ever actally tear anyone down?
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Olynek was NHRA when I knew him.
He found a problem on our car in tech. Never said a word. Waited till we won class. Wen't completly though teardown. Engine (I believe we pulled a piston that time), wheelbase, overhang, etc. we even finished putting it back together.
Then he came over and wanted to see in the trunk I open it and he said take out the spare tire. I did and you could hear it clunk.
The tire was the legal weight (less than 85 pounds) not some lead filled thing that the rumors say.. We were poor and couldn't afford to buy a lincoln steel belted radial. So I use some wire cable on the rim and put a tube in it. The tube went flat. And the wire clunked.
He had moved the spare in tech and never mentioned it. Waited to see if we got tossed for something else. Then got us.
My partner Ray (Tex) and our pit guy threw me in the truck. drove the car on the truck, didn't even tie it down till we got to the motel for our luggage.
We left Norman Blake (photographer) at the track and headed back to New York.
Gregg called me up that week and we had a talk. If not for that call the next time I went to the track it would have been the last for joe and me.