The Retribution was owned and driven by my uncle, Bob Grasso, and his best friend, John Sprouls. The car was bought, by them, from future baseball great, Reggie Jackson. This photo is taken after the car was painted reddish-orange by Peto's Auto Body, Stowe, Pa. Lettering was done by Jim the Painter. I don't know who did the interior, but it was done in a metalflake blue naugahyde. A little gaudy, but, totally '60's. Ownership of the '55 was assumed by Sprouls in '68, while Uncle Bob, and his brother, my Uncle Larry, started work on a '51 Anglia for C/Gas competition. If anyone knows the whereabouts of the '55 now, I know that Reggie Jackson wants it back.
The "Mother Nature" still exists. Last I heard, it's still in Ron Hildebrand's garage outside Spring City, Pa. I remember watching that car climb the ring gear until we thought it was going to land on its roof!
UndergroundSS : I worked for your Uncle Bob for several years at the speed shop while he and Nick Phillips built the Camaro.He talked about both the "Retribution" car and the Anglia often and told me he threw out dresser drawers full of pictures while cleaning up the house in North Hills. I hear Bob is back to building engines and what about Uncle Joe??
Bob built engines for a while, he doesn't do much anymore with race stuff. He works for a local company building specialty manufacturing machines. Joe is somewhat of a mystery. He always seems to be doing well for himself. We just don't know what he does. As for the pictures that got thrown away, yes...there were hundreds. Mostly black and white, but some color too. Vargo, Maple Grove, Cecil County, Atco, all pretty good shots. I used to look at them while visiting my grand folks. A sad affair, but the value wasn't percieved as it is now. It's cool to find someone on here so close to the whole thing as I was. I just found this site yesterday (6/6/09).
This thread brings back old memories of when I used to race my 409 powered 57 Chevy at Aquasco and Capital in the mid 60's. Some of you Md. guys may remember cars like Leroy's Toy, Cyanide, Gang Green, Lil Bits, Jolly Dolly, The Mean Tangerine, and others that I can't remember. Some were M/P and some were Gassers but they were all cool. Great thread.
Last night I threw together a video of some Modified action at US 13 in Delmar and some footage from the 1972 Summernationals. In case you can not identify the cars, some of ones shown are: Paul Blevins, John "the Greek" Theofiles, Charlie Cathell, "Slow" Eddie Thomas, Tony Pizzi (Red Schmidt's car), Jenkins, Landy, Sox, Zul, Lambeck, Carlton, McCandless, and Bob Riffle. The quality of the film and the editing are nothing to be proud of, but I think you will enjoy it anyway. <object height="344" width="425"> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rd-BI5rhbUw&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></object>
Hey Tom; Thanks so much for posting that video!!! Here's a then and now of John Mathias and his Buckeye Shaker. Gotta Love 60's & 70's Modified Production!!!! Keep em coming everybody!! ........Colesy
Carroll still has that car sitting in the back of his shop, in Amarrillo Texas. And, no it never had a 2b carb. Alwasy 2 660 Holleys. No 2-steps back then, Carroll ground the cams on the sides of he carbs so he could set the starting line RPM by feel. Pushed the pedal down until he could feel it hit the secondaries. He could flat shift that thing.
From the Car Craft archieves, here's a shot of Tommy Johnson Sr. running Carroll at the 70 US Nationals.
Here is a quick clip from Delmar that did not get into the previous video. This one has Ferd Napfel's Corvette and the Retrobution '55. Not a full run, but a nice burnout! <object height="344" width="425"> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tVadqHMEKRU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></object>
Those are three stout Modifieds, I never knew the great Lee Shepherd drove a M/P Camaro too. Was this back when he didn't feel comfortable in the Pro Stock car and went back to Modified for awhile and Richie Zul drove the Pro Stock Monza for Reher & Morrison ?
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