[portersprecision]

Check out the tree. A single amber and green. Pro tree only in those days boy's.

 

[richieuk]

Richie if you need help to restore the fiat to origional race shop days just ask. During the years I owned the car it was raced with the origional suspension that Chas Moorse had buildt for Darrell. After I sold the car to Eric he sent the car to Norm Porter who completely changed the total suspension--both front and rear. The car has never been to the track since. Good luck, Steve
FYI the fiat was origionaly owned by Darrell, sold to Jimmy Bou in Puerto Rico. Jimmy owned the car 1975-1985. While Jimmy owned the car Bear campained it at the N.H.R.A national events 1983-1984. I bought the car from Jimmy in 1985. Sold the car to Eric in 1988. And it sat for 20 years till now. Have fun with it.

Steve,thanyou for your reply,its good to fill in some of the gaps,Keith seume is going to handle alot of the restoration proces and between him,Russell Ritchie who now owns it and myself hopefully it will go back to being the proud race car it once was.I will be in Califonia end of august and would like to come by your shop and learn some more about it if thats ok?

cheers richie,uk

 

[richieuk]

i totally dismanteled that car for painting when i had it. i know every nut and bolt . i was in total awe when doing this .i had never seen acar so purpose built like this before .it was made to be serviced between rounds if needed.1 person could pull the eng.and trans and be sitting in the staging lanes in 30 min. it was engineered by charley moorse and darrel vittone to be as light as could be and easy to work on .they accomplished both . it was the finest race car i ever had the pridledge to drive . i can go on fir hours on this can but pecker typing is hard on an old fart. i was promised a ride when the resto is finished and i,m holding him to it aloha from hawaii BEAR

Bear,I am sure you will get that promised ride when its done,Russell does like to see the original drivers back behind the wheel again.

I heard a story about a 1679cc engine you had in your car that ended up in the fiat and running 10s,is ther any truth to this? and can you fill in the gaps please?

cheers richie,uk

 

[Rich Duncan Jr]

Check out the tree. A single amber and green. Pro tree only in those days boy's.

Wow Ken, good eye.

Here is another shot of it and most likely the same view the other racers would see when they raced against the Fiat.

 

[stevetim]

The Fiat was not only fast, it was a winner! Here's a couple Fiat generated Oscars. I'm sure Bear and Darrell have a few too.

 

[Marty Staggs]

FYI the fiat was origionaly owned by Darrell, sold to Jimmy Bou in Puerto Rico.

Small world. Jimmy is a VERY big customer of ours.

 

[BEAR]

richie i ran k/gas w/a 74x88 eng it ran [email protected] .put in a 66x88-98 ci.ran [email protected] l/g the 69x88 eng. made more hp per ci. than any of my other combos at the time but i sold it with my b/mc car to finish my dragster .what a mistake . no one can really relate to a dragster like with a bug . my own personal thing is it should be finished in gray primer with the shakey MOTION SICKNESS ON THE SIDE aloha BEAR

 

[4 banger]

I saw the car compete in the early/mid seventies at the NHRA U.S. Nationals when Darrell owned it.

That was the famous event when he faced Bill Mitchell in the Motion Mini Performance 'Thunder Bug' for H or L/class honors...can't remember who won the class. I believe it was appropriately lettered 'Motion Sickness' for that race.

I saw the car race again at the 1976 or 1977 NHRA Summernationals in Englishtown when Jimmy owned the car, and can to this day remember it running a 10.28 at 130 mph!!

A truly awesome car and outstanding piece of VW racing history.

 

[JC Quick]

richie i ran k/gas w/a 74x88 eng it ran [email protected] .put in a 66x88-98 ci.ran [email protected] l/g the 69x88 eng. made more hp per ci. than any of my other combos at the time but i sold it with my b/mc car to finish my dragster .what a mistake . no one can really relate to a dragster like with a bug . my own personal thing is it should be finished in gray primer with the shakey MOTION SICKNESS ON THE SIDE aloha BEAR

Whos heads back then Bear? Fumio'S?

 

[BEAR]

Fumio Fukaya heads Berg crank EMPI 88 slipper skirt pistons kick ass parts i have a 82 berg crank w/ 88 slippers and fumio 43x38 ti valves in my pro car will run it in 2weeks and post times bear

 

[cbigpwr]

I love hearing about the "Old Days". That's what happens when a bunch of guys are tryign to beat each other, you get innovation. You get cars that haul ass. That doesn't happen in bracket racing. There is no reason to push yourself. But, you know that if you don't work on your stuff your going to get your butt kicked, you start to think out of the box.

Bear, Roger told me the story about when you started running TI valve and nobody knew about it. That's cool ****! Tello some more stories, I'm going to go make some popcorn!

Anthony D&A Racing
House of Power

 

[BEAR]

anthony there was a lot of midnight oil burned in those days . not only oil but 3 wives ,but thats another story . i put the ti valves in and also a set of light piston pins . gene got them from kaye sissel . he said they were a little too lite for his longer stroke motor ..they were 065 wall short pins for the empi slippers .you talk about lite .one of my crew was cleaning parts for assembly when he sp tted them , he says [email protected]@@@twhats the wall thickness i say 065 he says they look like 0 too thin to me .it was a good time back then any back to the valves the had a total new sound ..we had to go test 1st pass 2 tenths under 2nd 25 under 3rd pass stock vw rod made is way out of the topof the case ..haul ass home 1hr dr call a friend in san antonio who has a set of 5. 352 porsch cirrilos .he puts them on agrey hound bus that nite i call gene i need 69 stroke porshe journalcrank . the rods get to beaumont tex the next morning (a sunday). the crank gets there wensday a we,re in gainsville for friday qualifying we ll do more later bear

 

[Brian Watts]

anthony there was a lot of midnight oil burned in those days . not only oil but 3 wives ,but thats another story . i put the ti valves in and also a set of light piston pins . gene got them from kaye sissel . he said they were a little too lite for his longer stroke motor ..they were 065 wall short pins for the empi slippers .you talk about lite .one of my crew was cleaning parts for assembly when he sp tted them , he says [email protected]@@@twhats the wall thickness i say 065 he says they look like 0 too thin to me .it was a good time back then any back to the valves the had a total new sound ..we had to go test 1st pass 2 tenths under 2nd 25 under 3rd pass stock vw rod made is way out of the topof the case ..haul ass home 1hr dr call a friend in san antonio who has a set of 5. 352 porsch cirrilos .he puts them on agrey hound bus that nite i call gene i need 69 stroke porshe journalcrank . the rods get to beaumont tex the next morning (a sunday). the crank gets there wensday a we,re in gainsville for friday qualifying we ll do more later bear

LOVE the stories Bear please keep sharing the history!!

 

[COR]

Eh Bear! What, is Garth the only one workin? ha, ha....good 2 c u yesterday.

 

[undepelo]

The first owner of this fiat Darel Vitone,second Jimmy Bou and chu pampero, from Puerto Rico this car stay long time in Puerto Rico

 

[undepelo]

Really this car its a piece of history VW drag ,in the first pass in Salinas speedway, Puerto Rico ran 10.31 J/GAS class,

 

[ryan68bug]

I loved what the last owner did with this car when they campaigned it and contributed to its history so much! Awesome work!

Truly a shame to see someone do something with it.


No need to be sarcastic if that was what you where going for. It is just sad to see that all the race cars most of us here in Southern California grew up on are now gone and will not see any of the dragstrips over here anymore. I remember watching that car race the Race for Gold series at Palmdale the car was thrilling to watch.

Eric

For me, it's an even split... I never saw the cars run in SoCal because I was too young and unaware of the VW scene at that time, and I'll likely never see them run in Europe, because I can't afford to go to the European Bug In. Lol. Even Steven for me, I guess. I'm glad the cars are going to a good home and someone that will care for them, though.

 

[st dragn]

I still remember back in the early/med 80's seeing for the very first time "The Bullet" ( blown away ) it was at the Royal Bugee Haus in Bell... I remember seeing a big guy with long black hair and matching beard, and Steve working hard along with him on the race car...I think at the time they where setting up the rear-end...Said to myself, who the hell was that guy?
The legendary Bear and Steve, two icons of VW drag racing history working hand in hand...Very cool for a kid right out of high school...

Art G

 

[Rick Stanchfield]

The last time the car was driven i drove it in woodburn and medford Oregon. It was with the small motor i had built at lyle cherrys shop. The car ran well high tens good for ss/cx. After that eric took it to norm porters and had a new front end put on it and that was that for the car. We had plans to run the car but it never worked out. I think i have pics of the car in my garage sitting next to tuff-e-nuff i will try to find them.
Thanks Rick Stanchfield.

 

[Dominick Luppino]

What's up Rick?