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Jeff Burk Photo
“Now there’s another trophy
to go up on the mantle,” Force said. “[Billy’s
death] was a big loss to the whole family, especially to
my Aunt Bea, my mother’s sister. Everybody used
to stay at the house or come by for dinner. [Jim] Dudley
and 'Honda Doug' [Woiwood], guys who do hospitality for Schumacher
now, they used to be over there all the time, just like family. People
don’t know how rich the family of racers is.
“Everybody knew Ma and when the
racers came to LA, they stayed at the house. She was
like a racing institution. Billy Meyer lived at the
house one winter. That’s why the Woiwoods and
the Dudleys were always there – for a meal and to have
a good time.
"I said Aunt Bea was like the
Ma Barker of racing. Ma Barker took in every outlaw
there was. 'Pretty Boy' Floyd. 'Babyface' Nelson. Well,
Aunt Bea housed some of the biggest outlaws in drag racing. That’s
our roots.
“Bottom line, it was 'Honda Doug'
who told me that Billy had a problem. He told me at
Phoenix, ‘you’ve got to call Ma right now.' They
weren’t thinking about the race, about
[Gary] Scelzi
beating me or something, they were just concerned about Ma. ‘Get
the hell out of the race car and call Ma right now’ is
what he said. ‘Billy’s sick.’ And
within a few weeks, we lost him.
“I remember in the days as kids,
when the Condit boys used to take me outside and we’d
have some big ol’ free-for-alls and fistfights. It
was always me and Stephen fighting David and Bill. It’s
just where we came from.
“The Condits, the Forces and
the Beavers. It was never about winning championships,
it was about surviving,” Force said, “but I remember
every year I’d be playing football [at Bell Gardens
High School], I’d call Beaver and I’d ask ‘has
Billy got home yet?’ ‘Cause I knew Billy
would bring back the stories from the east coast about all
the feuds and the fights and people like Shirley Muldowney
and ‘TV Tommy’ Ivo and Raymond Beadle, the ‘Blue
Max.’
“My dream was that one day I
would be a part of that.” |
