6/19/03

WAY TO GO, WILLIE

I know I write for this Internet non-rag magazine butt DAMN.... If they are bringing out Wild Willie's ride with the real "debris" (urn full of goodies I mean) I wish I could be there. I watched him run at NEITA Raceway in 1969 and, man, he brought out the "wood" in anyone who had some. A racer's racer who put it "on the chip" before MSD even invented them. He was a class act. How come the "good guys" die and all the butt-heads seem to last forever?

Thanks for the memories "Willie," one hand and all, man, you will always be a part of my memories of the "before corporate days" memories I have.

See you on the 1320 above with real racers like Force, BIG, Snake, Ormsby, Ruth, Jungle, Chrisman, Greek and all you other hard asses! I'll see you later.

Jok Nicholson

SEPARATED AT BIRTH

Jeff :

I was just surfing around and found your old article about your first race at Amarillo. You mentioned the Hill car and Rowdy Willy. I grew up in Hobbs, and watched Jim Butler (from Muleshoe) run the Willis many times. He actually built the car, then sold it to the

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Charioteers club that ran the track down here in Hobbs. He then raced the little Ford Falcon pickup with a 289 in it. Few cars could outrun him. Rowdy Willy had a 550 cubic inch blown Lincoln engine. Oddly enough, it ran better on 7 cylinders, and once they ruined a piston, took it out, ran on 7, and set the class record. They had had a custom crank made for it out in California out of a solid block of steel. I always thought that since it ran better on 7, that there must have been a balance problem that the missing rod and piston corrected somewhat. Who knows. The body and chassis of Rowdy was sold to a guy over in Texas, and sadly, it finished out its career as a dirt track racer. I think it did run the Stone Woods Cook car. I'll check that out. In fact the hood of the SWC car was made of fiberglass from a mold that was fabricated up for Rowdy. Too bad that Rowdy didn't survive to see restoration like the SWC car did. Just wanted to share a few thoughts.

By the way, Eddie Hill is a good friend, and we e-mail back and forth all the time. He's still in Wichita Falls, and is a little bitter about not being able to find a sponsor after Penzoil dropped him. Especially so since Garlits hit the track at the Gatornationals again last year, as did Muldowney. I had him talked into making an appearance at Hobbs August Nights last summer to celebrate the 40th anniversary of him being the first car over 200 mph in 1/4 mile. He did it at the Hobbs track in 1962 in the twin engined car that was pictured in your article.

Best regards,

Marvin Burrows
Hobbs, NM

Marvin, thanks for taking me down memory lane one more time. The old "My First Time" article you were referring to, however, was written by my brother, Richard. We raced together at Amarillo Dragway. -- Jeff Burk

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