While watching a race at LV in June of
1977 there was an announcement made over the track speakers that the driver
of the Bob Hellwig's #37... Dave Leckonby was looking for some people to help
out and be on his pit crew. I thought... "what the heck" and went
to see him at Tremont's Garage which was where he worked at the time
and also where he kept the #37 at that time. (his #115L was also kept there.)
When I first met Dave Leckonby I told
him that I was interested in helping him in any way that he could use me. He
looked me over and then stared at me for a second or two... finally he said
"sure... why not! Why don't you start by cleaning up a bunch of quick
change gears that you'll find soaking in the half gas tank that's right
outside the side door." He then turned and went back to what ever he was
doing to the #37 when I walked in. So I turned on my crutches and went
outside and did as I was asked too. BTW... I was on crutches because I was
healing from a month old broken leg and was in a full length cast at that
time! Because I wasn't working due to my injuries I started spending a lot of
time hanging out and helping Dave and his crew... it was a blast! By the end
of the 1977 season and with the Syracuse race over with I decided that I
wanted to "try" racing myself!
Some time around October I received
around $9000 from an insurance settlement from the motorcycle accident where
I had broken my leg. (an oncoming car took a left in front of me) That money
was immediately starting to burn a hole in my pocket! Not wanting to get
burned by it I went and bought a nice 1976 El Camino for $3000. Shortly after
that I learned that big Ken was selling his 115 Gremlin because he was
building the then new Chevette bodied car for Chuck Ely to drive. The car
that big Ken was selling was the one that Chuck Ely drove to the 1977 track
championship that year at LV. Chuck Ely also drove that same 115 Gremlin to a
track championship at either the Devils Bowl or Albany Saratoga that year
too! (What ever track he didn't win the championship at he came in second
place in the running!)
Well......... I bought the 115
and still had a little over $500 to go racing with!
A change in plans......
A very short time after I bought the
115 big Ken come's up to me and asks if it was OK if he took the Gremlin (the
car that I already paid for) down to Daytona to race at Valusha County
Speedway! At the time I was already planning to go down to Daytona with Leck
and the #37 so I said "what the heck... go ahead".
1978 was the first time that the
"dirt modified's" from the northeast were to race at the Volusia
County Speedway in Florida. The modified's raced at Volusia County Speedway
evenings during race week of the Daytona 500 in February of 1978.
During the last race the 115 blew the engine. big Ken said not to worry...
he'd put one together for me when they got back to NY. He did as promised.
I ended up getting Ken's 115 Gremlin in
early March 1978. At the time I decided to make a completely new Gremlin body
for the car along with a set of new side crash bars and that's all that I
changed. I was ready to race! (although somehow I now had 4 Syracuse tires on
the car?)
For my first race at LV I was stupid
enough to start at the pole position. I learned very quick that it wasn't
such a good idea. Why? Because a visiting Jack Johnson gave me a big dose of
horsepower down the back straightaway and stuffed me and himself into the
wall between turns 3 and 4.
BTW.... I forgot to mention that
I had never been behind the wheel of a race car before. (I thought I could
easily do it? Wrong!)
AS you might of guessed my
"season" ended early. I think that I went out 4 or 5 times and I
also let a few other drivers try the car too. (Rick Hart was one) My biggest
problem was that I only had the Syracuse tires that Ken put on the rear of the
car and a couple of hand me downs from Leck for the front. After a few weeks
I did end up buying a new right rear tire. (only one because that was all
that I could afford at the time.)
Towards the end of my "season"... (end of
June?) Leck had blown his engine in the 1st heat race of the evening. I was
in the same heat race and I had crashed into the wall and bent my radius
rods. When I got into the pits I suggested to a dejected Dave that if he
wanted to use my engine I was good with that. I'll never forget the smile on
his face! With the volunteer help of a small army of about 20 people from
many different pit crews we took out the engine in my car and put it in the
#37. We had the #37 up and running JUST in time for the consolation race!
Leck blew my engine up on about the 2nd
lap because his rear end gearing was totally off and the gear ratio he had
was way too high.. Basically he over-revved my motor and it went poof. (but
there was a good side to this happening!)
During the little bit of the
consolation race that Leck was still under power he noticed that my engine,
the one big Ken had put together had a heck of a lot more horsepower than his
and he knew that they should have been a lot closer horsepower wise.
The next day Leck disassembled both
blown engines and that's when he noticed what the problem was with his
engine. He noticed that when his engine was put back together weeks ago
somehow the eccentric button on his camshaft must have been put in backwards!
With the eccentric button being in backwards his valve timing was really
retarded and this caused his engine to be grossly under powered... (Which is
why his gearing was so high the night he blew up my engine instead of being
in the ballpark like it should have been.)
The sad part is that if I remember
correctly Dave had ran that underpowered engine on a few prior weekend night
races and could never get the power of the engine dialed in correctly for the
races.... he ended up having a bunch of mediocre finishes. To this day.. I'm
still happy that he blew up my engine! Why? That engine problem was holding
back a very talented racer from finishing where he should have been
finishing.... up front! Without that swap who knows how much longer it would
have taken for someone to notice that the button was in the wrong position.
After I got the rebuilt engine back
from Leck I got to race the car just one more time before my engine blew up.
When that happened I just so happened to have a major life decision to make
that same week... I had a choice to continue with racing or take custody of
my two and a half year old son...... the kid won and racing was
put on hold.
What happened to the 33S Gremlin? (the
former 115)
Not having a place to keep the car
myself, Bob Hellwig was kind enough to let me store it in one of his barns by
his home. I ended up storing the majority of the car there but did take some
engine parts and the quick change rear end to the place where I worked. That
winter Bob Hellwig's barn where I stored my stuff ended up burning to the
ground, everything was toast. So much for a comeback! Lol!
Any regrets?
None... At least I can say that I
did it.
I might not have done well at racing
modified's but along the way I had loads of fun and lots of great memories
that many people could only wish for or dream of. I experienced something
only a few people get to experience and that is the awesome feeling that you
get from sitting directly behind an 800 horsepower engine and letting all of
those ponies loose down the straightaways! The thrill that you get from
putting the pedal to the metal and then going full bore towards the far
corner is an unbelievable high! You have never experienced real power until
you have tried this.
John Semrad
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