Ralph Perrone was your
typical LV fan, he attended the races every Saturday night, thought it looked
like fun, and wanted in on the action.
He enlisted the help of his co-worker and mini stock competitor Bob Duzlak. Upon Bob’s
advice, Ralph purchased a car midway through the ’75 season, and as they say
the rest is history. I caught up with
Ralph, and here’s what he had to say about his days at LV.
I purchased the car complete from John Buehler, I'm pretty sure I
paid $1300 for the car midway thru the 1975 season. I borrowed an open
car trailer from John Turner for a couple of weeks until I
could get my own. Paid $750 for a used tandem axle 4 sled snowmobile
trailer, my total expense to get on the track was $2050 plus a fire suit
since the car was ready to race as purchased.
I
don't remember what my winnings were that first half year,( probably not much
since I crashed almost every week) but I remember making around $600
the next year and $700 the last year I ran. Spent only around $500 on
tires for 3 years running. Never had a major engine blow-up so I
avoided any huge costs there, but I replaced the piston and cylinder
assemblies every third week, ( 8800 rpm is tough on
VW pistons ). Bob Hackel used to give me a great
deal on these ( I remember around $45 for a set
) so that was still not a huge expense. I could honestly say that I
probably came close to breaking even over the years of running the car.
I ended up scoring 2 wins, both I think Hackel let me win (Ralph adds with a laugh) and finished
2nd in points in 1978, my final year, to Mr. Hackel
himself. My reason for quitting truly was mostly due to my wife being pregnant
with my son; that and the fact that the next year the mini's were to run only
part time & that made the decision all that much easier for me.
I Ended up selling the car to some guy or a group of guys from
Baltimore, Hackel arranged for this also... $350
for just the rolling chassis, don't remember their names and never
heard about the car again. I Still
have the engine to this day, and I am running the block and crank in a street
VW. My son used some of the other parts in a VW drag car that he ran in
2000 and 2001.
We personally want to
thank Ralph for sending in the great pics and
taking the time to discuss in details his days of competing at
Additional Comments:
Winners in the Mystery Driver Contest: Ed Forfa
David Perrone (We here at LVC thinks there MAY
have been a little inside info conspiracy going on here)
Russ Blake