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As someone who met the late "Broadway Freddy" only once (but was aware of his wild, free-swinging lifestyle), I thought that crime on that level seemed unfathomable from the lean, thick-haired Italian guy I met. The only time I ran into DeName was at the 1975 NHRA Summernationals in Englishtown, New Jersey. I was with National DRAGSTER photographer the late Les Lovett, and we were walking the long asphalt pit road that separates the man-made lake that borders the property of Old Bridge Township Raceway Park on the south from the hot car pits. DeName pulled up next to us in a big full-bodied sedan (I can't remember … Cadillac, Buick, whatever) and greeted us. He and Lovett kidded around briefly and then, noticing my shoulder-length hair and Frank Zappa goatee, he said something on the order of, "Hey, hippie. I may have something for you," and pulled over his car and parked. The trunk lid came up and I saw a stash that would bring down a herd of Canadian elk. Sealed bags of pot and all kinds of pharmaceutical wonders. Realizing that my Dragster advance wouldn't cover a pack of cigarettes, I declined reluctantly and he closed the lid and drove on through the pits. And that was it. I looked at Lovett and said, "Nice act." And then, conscious of what a security breech I thought that was, I said, "Geez, he's pretty open with strangers. No drug laws in New Jersey?" Lovett laughed and responded, "Don't worry about Freddy. He's a wild one. He can take care of himself." Just another good-natured hustler, I thought. II But that's a real tame story when one runs through the DeName anthology. Unlike most pro drag racers, DeName's social life completely dominated his racing life. For him, racing was just a diversion. It was never a career as we know it. I mean let's face it. You're a major-league car thief and a head crusher for the mob, well ... that stuff will cut into your track time. DeName's professional racing career began in late 1968 or early '69. I personally saw him run a Top Fuel dragster at a March 8, 1969 Lions Dragstrip match race. The car was called the Motion Performance "Fugitive" and DeName's first run produced an innocuous 9.48. In an all-run first round he got pounded by Rick Ramsey in Bill Schultz's fuel dragster, 8.08 to 8.89. I saw his Camaro Funny Car once and that was just about it for spectating at a "Broadway Freddy" performance. He ran almost exclusively on the East Coast, Englishtown primarily, with stops at Atco, New York National, Lebanon Valley, Epping, N.H., and maybe an occasional foray to the Maryland and Virginia tracks. After his fuel dragster, DeName switched to Funny Car with a '70 Camaro and ran a light match race schedule (at best maybe 12-15 races a season) with a variety of cars for the remaining eight years of his career. After his Camaro, DeName raced a '72 Mustang, a Monza, and closed with a '76 Buick Skyhawk he called "Saturday Night Fever." As can be seen by the car dates and the years he raced, drag racing was just a hobby for "Broadway Freddy." |
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