Speaking of John Zibor, this has got to be his biggest claim to fame. It's not everyday that someone wins a Tritak & Morgan prepped SS/DA Cuda. Some of you no doubt remember this contest SS&DI magazine put together back in the day. To win, you had to sell SS&DI subscriptions. They followed the whole build process and after a season or so of racing they picked a lucky winner.
OK NOW IT IS TIME FOR THE REST OF THE STORY! Thought some of you would like to know the real story of John Zibor and the Tritak/Morgan Cuda. First of all,going back to 1963 Pete Tritak and I were both working at Tri Town Motors Chrysler Plymouth in Clifton NJ. I was parts manager and he was a mechanic. I use to pick him up in Passaic on my way to work from Hoboken. I had met George Trifoli owner of Tri Town at Island Dragway. Pete use to drive Tri Towns 63 plymouth 426 max wedge car. Eventually George offered me a job and I went to work in the parts dept. Pete had some family problems and stopped driving the car and I took over. Pete and I started a small business on the side right around the corner from the dealership. We built max wedge cars and did manual shift torqueflites and general repair, still working during the day in the dealership. Eventually Pete and I both went to work for Arrow Motors Dodge in West New York NJ.We still had the shop in Passaic. Finally I was getting married and we continued in the shop after work in Passaic but I moved further south to Woodbridge and he went in to business as Tritak Performance in Clifton. I still worked at Arrow and moved to Irvington Dodge as service director and eventually to Knoblock Dodge in South River and I started Rinaldi Automotive out of my shop at my house in Woodbridge. For those of you that have read all the previous posts, I won't go into it again in detail but .........I supplied to Pete the '63 Plymouth wagon that became the "War Wagon",and paid for the Jenkins motor that was in it. I was reimbursed by Pete for everything I paid out as we were still good friends and I had the $$$ to help him. He had much success with the wagon and got the deal with Super Stock magazine. From the onset the deal was going to be a giveaway of the Cuda at the end of the race year. The decision was that Super Stock magazine would have a contest and that the person selling the most subscriptions for the magazine would win the car. {I have never seen this mentioned before and hope that I don't piss off some people}, but Pete really wanted to keep the car. Enter John Zibor a policeman in Clifton where Pete's shop was . It was decided that John would be the front man for the contest and would be the winner!! Everybody that came through the door of Pete's shop got a subscription to Super Stock,{including me}. Pete paid for the subscriptions and they were all sent in with John Zibor as the salesman. I don't remember the exact number of how many were sold but it far out distanced anyone else. There was a $$$ amount that took place between John and Pete but I was never told how much Pete paid him for being the front man. The car never left Pete's shop and the story that got around was that he bought it from John after he won it. AND NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY!! DOM
Talk about giving us the inside scoop! Wow, what a story. Thanks Dom. Don't be surprised if the 60 Minutes Team come a knocking at your door.
It always seems a crooked cop is involved in something like this. I sweated blood trying to sell subscriptions for nothing. where is the 'Cuda today?Its got to be worth a fortune to collectors.
PBS's FRONTLINE and Charlie Rose are likely to make some inquiries also ... But you read it first, right here, on The H.A.M.B.
Great story!!! Thanks for "spilling the beans." I don't blame Pete for wanting to keep the car. I would too! Pete
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by RINALDI-"IT'S DYNAMITE" OK NOW IT IS TIME FOR THE REST OF THE STORY! </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> There are lots of similar stories like that out there. Frank Iaconio took a turn driving Zibors 396/ 375 HP Camaro convertible, as did Pat McVickor (probably spelled wrong ). When Frank won Stock Elimator at the Super Stock Nationals the magazines show him being presented the keys to the " Air Lift Rattler Cougar" when in reality they gave him a coupon to order a bare bones Cougar Eliminator. He ordered yellow, of course automatic transmission and paid for power steering. He put the car in front of his shop and sold it...
Chuck: You are right about the freedom that stockers have now vs. what they "used to have". Would anyone racing today like to go back to the ols rules. I think not many. I'm talking racers not spectators. many cars that were dealt weak hands by virtue a underdesgined parts, like weak valve springs can now belly up to the bar. run with the big dogs and a creat more diversity in the category. There si also less breakage today. I think the closest we have gotten in recent years to see how an old school stocker would run with contemporary rules, is the 62 Vette built by the Abbazia brothers a few years back. After going through teething pains, the car flew. Would it be cool to see more early 60's cars come out. Heck yes!! But NHRA wants the new cars to be the stars, which is why the new 700 hp Mustang is rated at 425 hp. And the Challenger runs a manifold that puts a tunnel ram to shame. But to your original point, I think most of the looser rules created a chance for more cars to be competetive. Just my two cents, ole buddy.
WELCOME to the group WATUSI 2. I am sure we will all look forward to your input on various issues as they arise. It is always great to have another opinion/position on things. Dom
Watusi 2 & Chuck Norton, Yeah I know you guys are right about new stock vs. old stock I guess Im probably limited to nostalgia events to see or run what I want Trouble is, even the nostalgia events stocker type cars dont get run that much (at least on the west coast) all I know is that with the exception of a few old mopars, a couple of chevelles and a few camaros walking the stocker pits at the recent finals at Pomona was pretty boring!
Early Jere Stahl at Detroit Dragway in 1964. Track owner Gil Kohn put up $10,500. in total prize money at the Detroit Nationals the weekend prior to "The Big Go" in an attempt to grab all the stars heading to Indy. Stahl's 56 took the Little Stock title.
NOT EVERYONE likes the new ways. Thats why this site is so popular. Any valve spring is one main reason that it costs so much to build, race and maintain a stocker today. $700-$800 dollars for Shubeck type lifters is a (*&# JOKE but needed with the crazy valve spring pressures and hi RPM being run in todays stockers. As far as the Corvette you mentioned it flew because of all of the bogus parts built in it from a certain big name engine builder it was caught with during tear down and why the driver got a "vacation" from active competition.
I know Pat McVickers drove Zibor's Johnny Law Camaro and I know someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that car had most of it's success with John Hoffman in the seat. Here's another driver search for the ongoing list. The car was a Division 1 56-57 Corvette called "Sweet Ride". Any takers? I'm fuzzy on the paint job but I thought it was that Iris mist color with a purple hard top.
John Hoffman did not drive Zibors car.If he did he was one of many drivers. Hoffman was racing a 1961 red Chev Station Wagon at that time. Anybody who was very proficient with a four speed drove Zibors car, kind of a driver of the month or week club. The car was very squirrely to drive being a convertible with a mono leaf rear suspension, and on 7" tires. You could not tie the front and rear suspension togther back then...
Ex Techie: Your points are valid about the cost for certain cutting edge parts and cars that are run on the ragged edge every trip down the quarter mile. Some of it is overkill. Certain combos are hard on parts, but the car owner new that and accepted it going in. There are lots of combos that don't require the exotic and expensive parts. If treated right, those Shubecks will last a few rebuilds too!! My point is that I think that any changes that add diversity and level the playing field are acceptable if they are applied with some intelligence. Let's say that NHRA imposed a 500 # max spring pressure for all racer's cam lift. That would help reel in some of the need for exotic parts. You would reel in some cost. but then you'll have racers crying that they can't wind 7800 rpm. Its a give and take. You recall the racers "sound off committees" that NHRA formed a few years back was a step towards achieving a true give and take dialogue that could have reshaped Stock Eliminator with input from the racers themselves?? With that committee in effect, we'd know "who likes what." But NHRA killed that deal, because it might have adddressed some issues with newer racer cars that they prefered to ignore. I won't even comment on the withdrawal of the timely AHFS data from Division Tech Directors access, by the brass. Bottom line: I want Stock to be fun, affordable and as equitable as can be. So we have more guys out there racing. But I don't want a variety of three or four makes and models, because they were over designed at the factory or they are grossly under rated. Remember the old "saying" among the racers that you have to build THE car for the class?? That fostered the oceans of Camaros you would see in stock. Well the newer rules took some of that away. That's what I'm talking about. If a 1969 GTO was known to have weak valve springs, but that is the car I want to race, because I had one in high school, why can't I have a more competitive car for the price of valve springs?? Again, with a limit on max spring pressure to keep cost in check?? I venture to speculate that most of today's racers who may not like the newer, more liberal rules are the ones who have "Natural Killer" cars. Regarding tear downs and bogus parts? I won't even go there. That topic is too hot. My point was that it is fun to see a 1962 Vette stocker get with the program and be competitive. Not many guys were at the line talking when "that car" staged. Everyone wanted to see it run. Even when it had teething issues. It was just a flat out popular car. BTW: The newer cars come with roller lifters, I wonder how much valve spring pressure they can run? Level playing field, within reason!! Some cars will never win their class, that's given, but they can have fun running in eliminator. That's it for now!! My fingers are tired.
Thank you Dom. I have a question for you. You talked about the folks on this site joining a group that would help undewrite some of the expenses for next years race at the York reunion, but you don't tell us where or how. Or maybe I missed it. That was some story about the tritak car. Neat stuff. BTW: Your wagon is still: "Dynamite!!" If cars could talk...
I don't recall where I got these pix from but something's telling me Bob Rice might have something to do with some of them. Pete
Bring up the topic with opinions on both side it sure looks like Stahl + Moroso in this decal. Save it then enlarge it and it clearly had the "+" symbol at this point in time.
Its a moot point talking about todays rules. They are what they are, wont be changed and I doubt most on this site even care as we are older and enjoyed stock before 1971. Stock was still fun and affordable after they progressed away from a pure factory stock program in the mid 70's and up until 1985 when that was the last year for a true stocker as we used to know it. After that the cam and spring rule change except for max. lift then the door was opened to ported and acid etched heads/intakes to take advantage of the increased air flow because of the extended RPM we were now able to reach. This then made for another rule change in allowing aftermarket rods for more strength so the engines would stay together due to the added RPM. The modified heads and intake manifolds came into play around this time frame (1970's). All of this meant it cost more to compete. As far as the 62 Corvette you still havent addresed the fact that it only "FLEW" because of the ported heads (and disguised), gas ported and lite pistons, moved (raised) ring lands, lite pins, and many other illegal things done to this car because of the engine builder involved and the fact that they cried and whined long and loud enough to get the HP factor reduced to a rating that made it possable to run in a much lower class than it was ever allowed in the years before. So tell me....what did any of this prove? THAT topic isnt to hot other than some money guys cheated and got caught and showed what an idiot the engine builder is today. The guy was thrown out, DQed, suspended, and now the car has been sold for a small fortune and resides in a museum. The guys involved have moved on to Super Stock which is were the Corvette should have been classified in the first place. I myself prefer the story about Larry Lombardos "Buck Shot" Corvette and the fact that its still around, been restored and was LEGAL during its racing career. All of this "stuff" bleading over from the racers forum dosent really relate. Unless the guys on here have kept up with the latest lie and rumor from class racing all of these years I doubt they understand all about what is going on in stock eliminator today. It used to be a haven for the little guy in racing but not now. Im done. Have a nice day.
Rte. 66: Since you stated that today's rules are a moot point, I will let it go. Since you also stated that you doubt if guys on this site understand what is going on in stock eliminator today, that really says to let it go. Why you are so critical about the Vette in point is curious. I could have cited 25 other classic cars still running well, but I select that one because everyone relates to a 62 Vette and it is unusual to see on racing in stock. Most are sitting an a parking lot next to a lawn chair on cruise nights. Yesterday always looks better, 30 years later, especially when you are unhappy about today. Compare the cost of a new Impala in 1970 to the price of a 2009 model. People pay $30K for a new car because they NEED transportation. You don't NEED to race. You have to WANT to race. Not everyone close to retirement can commit the resources, time and energy that it takes to field a race car today, and thats a given. I dare say that if we could adapt 1985 rules today, the same people racing now would still be racing, no more, no less. That is why cruise nights are available. Back to work.
This site is just for us " Old Timers" to reminisce and for the younger members to learn about the past tence of Junior Stock as it was Racing. If anyone here thinks that it will or could ever be the way it was is sadly mistaken. It is a new time, new place and new racing for a new generation...
The Jalopy Journal
