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1988 Supercar Magazine
The front cover pictures were from Dallas at the 2nd IHRA Nationals of 1988 following our TS Quick 8 win at Darlington 2 weeks before. There was a huge story on me entitled "Man On A Mission". Also inside were articles and pictures of most of us who were involved in the pre-Pro Mod days which I call "the Formative Days" - 1987, '88 and '89 of what was to eventually be called Pro Modified. Lest they forget! Hell, some of these new guys don't even know who most of us pioneers were! The green Corvette (lower right) belonged to my good friend - the late, great Walter Henry (who would later die in that car in a gruesome fiery crash Oct. 89 at Atco, NJ) A huge loss that hit us all very hard. The '57 Chevy is, of course, Robbie Vandergriff who I beat in the finals at the very first TS Quick 8 two weeks before Dallas at the Darlington Winter Nationals. In April of '89, Robbie and I met again in the final round to an over-packed house at Budds Creek, MD. This was the first ever USSC event. Ironically the image of both our cars were on the USSC event T-shirts. Robbie ran until 1992 and then Soft Seal owner Gary Anderson, who owned the car, pulled out and Robbie never raced again. What a shame. He was a major sponsor's dream, but no one ever picked up on it. ?????? Needless to say, the cover title - "The good, (Robbie), the bad (Walter), and the insane (yours truly)" didn't have to include our names because the fans just naturally assumed who belonged to those roles! Of course, look at me. I had many great product/associate sponsors, but never a major one. That still screws with my mind at times. I would like to believe that if I was in my prime now like I was 12 years ago I could get the "Big One." The young man standing left of my scoop is crewman Douglas Schmitt (Shaggy) who is son of my crew chief Al Schmitt who is not pictured, but was standing behind the car with Ed Fogelsong. Take note of the headlines at the top about Eddie Hill's 4.99. That happened at same event and I went over to congratulate him. The fans were just mobbing him. |
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