![]() ![]() All I would have to do was scrounge up a firesuit and buckle in, right? Wrong, Stone-Woods & Cook breath! Well, during the course of that interview, Frank suggested that I might do well to take a ride with him on a full-out quarter-mile blast … after all, the car was equipped with a passenger seat and an extra set of safety harnesses. Little did I know, but that article would soon put me behind the wheel of the car I had written so glowingly about. ![]() You may have even seen it on the cover of National Dragster back in May with an article by yours truly gracing page 3. You’ve seen the Mazi’s gorgeous red Opel at many national events - it’s plenty hard to miss. We planned it this way.Īnd what a crazy plan it would seem to have been. The car responded by straightening its errant course, and I responded by putting my firesuit-clad boot back into the loud pedal and screaming toward the finish line - step back “Wild Willie” Borsch, you’ve got nothing on this kid! ![]() ![]() Strapped securely inside Frank and Linda Mazi’s supercharged BB/Altered Opel with the motor singing a high rpm tune, (and with Frank and Linda in near-coronary arrest on the starting line) discretion kicked valor right in the teeth, and I backpedaled and steered right. So, it was much to my surprise that I was granted a two-week sabbatical from my typewriter at the end of July for a little extracurricular activity.īut somehow, heading for the guardrail of Norwalk Raceway at 100-plus miles per hour wasn’t on my original vacation itinerary. Drag racing really seems to pick up the pace around that time of the year. Vacations come so seldom here at National Dragster, and summer vacations are almost unheard of. and winning races and swearing that I could show ’em all if I ever got the chance. I was there, dreaming about setting low e.t. For most it’s just an idle daydream, figuring that their day will never come. Somewhere deep in the heart of every drag racing fan, reporter, or crewmember is a dream of maybe someday driving a race car themselves. I’d write it differently now, of course, but where’s the fun in that? So, without further ado, here’s Part 1. Looking back at it, it still holds up, even though I was still learning the craft. Although daughter Dawn Mazi once hosted the story on her since-shuttered Combustion Corner website, I’ve never reprinted it until now, which seems an appropriate time seeing as A) my first runs were at the track in Norwalk, where we just hosted the last national event, and B) the recently departed Bill Bader Sr. I won’t give away what happened, other than I wrote a two-part story in NHRA National Dragster later that fall that has stuck in the brains of a lot of people. I had written a story on the car earlier that year (1984) and (according to Frank) had so masterfully captured the essence of why he drives it that he wanted to extend my education. Below is a YouTube video someone shot at the 1984 Springnationals in Columbus that gives you a look at the car in action (still can't believe I drove it). It was the beautiful bright-red supercharged BB/Altered Comp eliminator Opel of Frank and Linda Mazi, a car that was a bit of a throwback to the AA/Gas Supercharged days of yore and had a strong fan following due to its very nature: a high-horsepower, short wheelbase (96 inches) roller skate of a race car that Frank drove masterfully. Thirty-eight years ago this summer, I got the chance of a lifetime to drive a race car, and not just any race car. I’ve been working at NHRA for a long time - I celebrated 40 years in May - and it’s funny that after all of the things I’ve seen and done and written about (including this column), to some people I’m still “the guy that drove the Opel.” ![]()
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