Super Stock Reunion

2010 will mark the 25th anniversary of the first Super Stock Reunion which was held at Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro, North Carolina in June 1985. Prior to that weekend there were Super Ford, Super Chevy and Mopar Nationals where you could race your Nostalgia Super Stocker but the Super Stock Reunion was the first event open to all makes. Grumpy, Ronnie Sox, Malcolm Durham, Jake King and Lamar Walden were some of the legendary drivers who attended. Walden built a '62 409 Chevy in 30 days and won with it. Floyd Garrett brought 4 of his best cars to show. I had been drag racing motorcycles for over 20 years so it was the first time I had "formally" met most of the guys. It was the beginning of "movement" that has become very big. In '95 Super Stock Magazine came on board to help establish the Super Stock-A/FX-Funny Car Hall Of Fame which has 100 members and is housed in the Garlits Museum. The event continued annually through '99. I have well over a thousand pictures and will post some as time permits. If you were at one, and there were many who participated, please post your pictures and comments. This also gives me an opportunity to thank all who supported them, especially Joel Naprstak and Tim Frederick who provided the event artwork, all the photographers who shot it for magazines Jim Amos who videotaped them and again Joel for the artwork on the wall in Garlits' museum .

 

I was at the Va. and Norwalk reunions. I remember these as some of the best car related events I have ever attended. How about doing them again, Frank.

 

I was at the VA Reunion and had a great time

 

It doesn't seem like it has been 25 years since that day in 1985! I was there at the Piedmont dragway with my red 65 GTO. I still have the photograph of my car that the show photographer took that day. IIRC, Lamar had a hard time getting his 62 to hook, and Floyd's truck driver (he brought his cars in on a semi with enclosed trailer) made a fantastic pass with it.

Jerry H.

 

I won the Competition Eliminator class at the 98 Norwalk race,had a great time.
Gregg

 

Hi Frank, I attended many of your reunion events and I'm sure I have lots of pictures. I will look for them and post what I can find.

Dennis

 

Here's a few from The Rock, 1989.

 

A few more.

 

and a few more.

 

and last but not least.

 

I was there in 95. it was better than Woodstock! still have Tim's artwork and admission tickets on display in the garage.

 

I have art from Joel and Tim. But, in that aspect, your name sounds familiar too. Might I have some from you too?

 

Come on Frank, let's see some of those pictures.

 

I had the pleasure of working with Frank on several of the reunions,mainley as one of the announces.frank you gave me the opertunity to live out my dreams and to meet the legends of drag racing, i still am living that dream as the announcer of the nhra hot rod reunion for the past 8 years. As long as i can speak and get up the stairs in a tower i will continue to live my dreams.To Frank Spittle i can only say thank you Marvin J.Noel talker

 

Marvin, Before you were the Talker, you were the tire burner. Where and when was it, that you won the tire burning contest with a Hemi Road Runner?

 

It took a trip back east to finally get my attention: You guys have real respect for where you came from. We don't see much of that out here in our "temporary society", yet we insist on taking credit for the idea! Great work guys...

 

Yes ..Thanks Frank

 

Frank, didn't you put on the first YORK U.S. 30 reunion before D.D. ? I was there with the nomad.

 

racemad55

Yes you are right. When I decided to end the S/S Reunion in '99 I wanted to stay involved with nostalgia so I promoted the first York US 30 Reunion in 2000. Darwin Doll and Bill Stiles helped me with it but it was a money loser too so I didn't go back. I would say Darwin and Bill have made something out of it, huh. I should have given it a couple more years but I was burnt out on losing money. Thanks for your support.

Hey Wally,

Now there's a guy who supported many of my events. That York US 30 post you are standing beside is the original and was brought to the '95 S/S Reunion by it's owner Tim Federick.

jangleguy,

THANKS

 

Hello Frank, group,
Glad to see you here with the thread Frank. Thanks also for the mention. Here's a scan of the brochure for the '95 Reunion in VA.
Joel

 

This is the original '65 A/FX Comet that Don Nicholson drove during the 1965 season. He altered the wheelbase about mid season and that's the way it was when Dick Bridges of Rock Hill, S.C. purchased it. Dick did a outstanding correct restoration back to the original wheelbase configuration just in time for the 1995 Super Stock Reunion. It was the first time Nicholson had seen the car since the restoration. Nicholson was in my opinion one of the top 10 greatest Drag Racers of all time.

 

Great foresight on your part Frank, now nostalgia is HOT. I attended one of them at Dinwiddie but will need to scan pix.

 

The car looked real good and was very well done Frank, but something about the rear axle location on the car looked wrong to me. I'm pretty sure that the original Comets had the rear moved forward a few inches and this restoration looked to me as if the rear was in the production model Comts location. Just my point of view, I could be wrong.
Joel

 

I think you're right Joel. They should have fixed the roof and left the straight axle and rear moved up. That's how Dyno won with the car, not like this. Nice car, but to nice... Just my opinion...

 

This is what I think of when I think about Dyno and a '65 Comet!!

 

I was at Dinwiddie in 95 too. What a great show. Would like to see it come back.

 

This is the original '64 Plymouth Hemi Lightweight that 16 year old Hank Thomas raced that year. It was tuned by H.L. Shahan and the team did very well. This car had just been restored when it was a part of the '96 Super Stock Reunion. I talked to H.L. at the NHRA Winternationals last weekend at Pomona. He is doing fine. Shirley was there too.

 

This is Malcolm Durham at the '89 Super Stock Reunion. He was the "gentile giant" I can not express in words how much this guy meant to me. He was one of the guys who took the time to come to the very first S/S Reunion in 1985. He came to most of the others too. I was at Bowling Green in '2006 when he was honored by NHRA. He was too sick to be there. Malcolm and Wendell Scott are two racers I admire as much as any. Don't get me wrong. I am not one who believes they are owed special treatment for what they went through. Neither did they.

 

This is the original '63 Z-11 Impala Malcolm Durham drove at the '88 Super Stock Reunion. That year I rented Charlotte Motor Speedway. It is parked under the NASCAR pit awning that Stock Cars racers used during the races. It only took one time to realize that wasn't the place to have it. The Z-11 was owned by Jerry Bryant at the time. Does anyone know where it is today?

 

Yup, that's dad's car. He still has it. That's him in the photo in the white shirt. By the way we were at Charlotte in '88 with dad's '61 Starliner 390-401. He still has that too.

From what I've been told Dyno never beat Sox with the original wheelbase so out came the torch. It just would have been "cooler" if they had left it in AWB trim. There would have been alot more of the original car left if they did that too.....

Hopefully we will be at Piedmont in May. I'm glad you're doing another show. My hope is someday someone does a SS/AFX reunion at Cecil County Drag-a-way. Now there is a track that has some history!!