Hi everyone, Talked to Don Hardy yesterday,fine gentleman.He told me he built and sold another maverick to G&R after the taxi. Apparently it was never finnished, and remained in a warehouse till now.The current owner is finnishing it as we speak. If anyone is interested to know the taxi had double framerails,for a tidbit. Actually I was asking him about Dyno's must II's when we got on to the mavericks, he likes them also. Also according to Brent Hajek,Dyno's Maverick is in California. Dynos second must II had a listing price of $85'000.at Barrett Jackson, this fall. Dont know what they got though. Regards. Al
Gapp and Roush had 2 or 3 mavericks, a red one "Shotgun Express", a blue "Shotgun Express" and the taxi, Dyno might've had 2 or three, I believe the Kendig and Mr. Gasket car's were the same car with different sponsors, but he had a yellow maverick too.
Was at Gator Nats. in Florida in '74,Nicholson was first PS to go 8.99 and back it up,he broke a motor on Fri. I believe and we went by a "closed" gas station near the track late at night and he wes putting a second engine together on a stand and putting it in the car....things really have changed since then,I have pics. of him somewhere,I'll have to look for them,Wally Booths AMC beat Gapp& Roushs Must.II in the final by a hundreth...
Joe, The double framerail configureation is similar to alterd or funny, instead of the usual single rail like todays cars. According to Hardy, NHRA didnt like the set-up, worrying P.S. cars would follow suit and end up looking like funnies again. But todays modern Pro-Mods have double rails,otherwise they would twist in half. Tony, that was Dynos 77-78 car I was refering to.Same one you mention. Boy I love behind the scenes like that!! REAL RACERS!!PLEASE POST THEM. much appreciated. Looking for a JO-Han Maverick Pro-stock 1/24 kit. Can remember when they were ALL OVER THE STORES. Christ, I'm must be getting old! My Dad has one, but wont get off it. Would like to do a Dyno version. Since I'm on the Jo-Han subject, supposedly nobody has bought their tooling, that I know of. My Dad follows that stuff pretty close. Jo-han made PVC plumbing supplies in the Detroit area. They would make batches of kits as a side-line. After the old man died, the kid didnt bother with it, hence the unavailability. I hope that changes SOMEDAY. Can remember going to the 75 or 76 UDRA summer nationals at Detroit. Was just a youngster with dads old brownie camera. Only shots I got were old BBFC's slowly comming up the return road. Still have them. Grumpy won with Lombardo driving the Monza. I think Dick Maskins with the Hornet-X was runner-up. Times sure have changed seemed like every 3rd word out Tom Mcwens mouth was the f-word. Tv would love that today!
Forgot to mention another Dyno Don tale I heard awhile back. This was at a race somewhere with the maverick or mustang, cant remember. In the old days spectators congregated pretty tight arround the cars while in the pits.A fellow and his son were looking in the engine compartment, while Don was working. Accidentally the child bumped something and some tools fell into the engine bay. Everyone stepped back immediately in dead silence. Don just looked at the little boy, patted his head and smiled!! What a guy. The Georgia Gentleman. R.I.P Regards. Al
I also want to mention that the previous owner of my car used to work at a gas station that Gapp and Roush stopped by for fuel in the taxi. He gave me a picture he took of the kendig car I will have to post it on here.
You can say that again. I approached him at a match race at Dragway 42 in West Salem, Ohio in the late 70's when he and Kaase were flogging the Mustang II between rounds. He took the time to talk to me about the 406 Cleveland he was match racing with and was very kind and friendly. No wonder I and so many Ford fans worshipped the man! I really miss him.
I read a kasse interview some years ago. And he said the same thing. He couldnt beleive what Dyno would divulge with other racers. BUT, there is a saying. I told him everything he knows, but not everything I know. It was probably something more like that, IMO.No way could he have stayed competitive all those years if he was telling EVERYTHING. Personally, I never met the Man unforunately,but kind of stumbled on to things about him as time goes by that I can relate to in my adult life. I hope his family finds his 62 bubletop someday. The guy that stole it used to work for him. If ya do a google search, its up there. Also kasse has a tribute to Dyno on his web-page. Regards. Al
Unfortunatley I was around during Don's time but I wish I was. You can tell he was a great man just by watching this video. Coming back to the pits he has the door open, waving, and revs 'er up for the crowd. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=48489
Does any one have info on Dynos old fanclub? It probably dosent exist anymore. Maybe a tribute type page with all the Dyno Don stuff would be great. Couldnt find anything on the club on Google. Anybody have any info?
Here ya go Al,I went looking for those pics last night.....First pic is G&Rs PS Pinto,second,Their PS Must.II,Third is Glidden & Allens (Bob) PS Pinto,Then Don unloading the Must II after fixing the motor at that gas station, the night before,then the last pic is Don that previous night redoing the motor while we stood and watched....Nice Guy.G&R went to the semis in the Must. and lost the lift gate in the traps at about 150,it flew probably 50' in the air and smashed into a hundred pieces when it hit the ground,we went over to see what they were going to do and they went and got a Hertz rent-a-car Must II and put the factory steel and glass liftgate on the racecar....that extra 100lbs. probably cost them that hundreth in the final!When looking for these pics I found a bunch of us going there in my buddies "hippie van",long hair,40 lbs. lighter and not a care in the world....man those are some good memories,and that was during the gas embargo when gas had just skyrocked to .60 a gallon!!!! Jack
That is too cooooool!! Don had to be a good guy to let a bunch of Long-Hairs in the CLOSED garage that night!Surely you guys were probably feelin fine too Been there myself. Thanks abunch Jack. Regards. Al
