off the beaten path,,,,,,maybe a little fun

[Michael Beard]

Wayne Golanka got to drive Billy Nees' U/SA Nova a few times. The first time, Billy gave him the talk-through of how to drive it. "Bring it up a little, bump it in, hold the brake as hard as you can, and mat it. And don't look at the tach!"

Wayne came back from his first run, with an .800 light. What happened?
"I couldn't help myself! When I put it on the wood, I looked at the tach! I couldn't stop staring at it!" he yelped in disbelief.

John DiBartolmeo got to drive the car, and got a similar speech. John's sitting in the car, with Billy leaning in the passenger side. "Hold the brake, and then put THAT foot on the FLOOR."

John's head whipped around, "Are you SERIOUS?"

I ran against him on his first time shot. I was in the Turismo, so even though he only ran in the 14's, he got to beat somebody to the finish. Keep in mind that the slowest thing John D had ever driven was his 12-sec Chevelle he won the first Bracket Finals at York US30 with. When he got out of the car, his grin was wider than his face. (I've had a couple of Super Stock guys drive the Turismo over the years, with similar reactions.... "This thing is FUN!") Kinda like a go-cart I guess.