Blast from the Past

[Magnethead]

Last night, I started sorting through our containers upon containers of old photo prints from the 80's and 90's, when my mom was a professional photographer.

We have a good 8-12 someodd bins probably, I've only gotten to #4 (but some have family pics, as well). I'm not scanning everything, just a few odd and ends here and there.

http://magnethead494.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=61

This is a good read about our friend Lou Gasparrelli, who lost his battle with cancer a few weeks ago: http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...e-is-half-the-fun-remembering-lou-gasparrelli

My parents are the two at the far left of the main photo frame.

Here are the versions from my mom's camera:

 

[Magnethead]

I'm rather surprised at the lack fo views...did this post get shuffled, or what?

 

[mike honcho]

I'm rather surprised at the lack fo views...did this post get shuffled, or what?

I don't think much gets viewed in chit-chat.It's got to be either NASCAR or the podium.

I thought there for a minute that that the guy on the left of Lou was Davey Allison.

 

[buckaroo]

I'm rather surprised at the lack fo views...did this post get shuffled, or what?

Mag, if it were someone that most people know you might get a bump. I don't know how many of us regulars partake straight line racing. I catch it now and then, but its not one of my passions. Now if you had some pictures of Muldowny, Gartlits, Bernstien, The Mongoose, et. al. you might find some of us old farts might recognize them.

 

[Magnethead]

Mag, if it were someone that most people know you might get a bump. I don't know how many of us regulars partake straight line racing. I catch it now and then, but its not one of my passions. Now if you had some pictures of Muldowny, Gartlits, Bernstien, The Mongoose, et. al. you might find some of us old farts might recognize them.

That's the sad thing about Lou's story. Nobody ever knew who he was. He was the John Force or Dale Earnhardt of Top Alchohol, but never got mentioned, anywhere. Even when he died a few weeks ago, ESPN didn't say anything about it, no highlight reel, no life summary, nothing.

From Vickie's (his widow) facebook:

Thank Yous to everyone who attended Lou's Memorial and to those who were unable. Lou would have been astonished at the turnout. He will be missed by many.



Thanks to NHRA, the Museum - what a great facility - what a great staff. Good food, good friends. The laughter was sweet - memories sweeter - family and friends the sweetest of all.



Thank You Steve & Nene for making it all possible. Shari for being there. Jillian & Tobin for being loving grandchildren. Jillian for the ability to read those memories, that none of us thought we could do. Thanks to those of you who also paid verbal tribute to Lou, sweet memories. Thanks to Co-Color(Mike, Dan, Peter & John)/printing, Midnight Impressions /graphics. Joel Gelfand/ visual photos, Mike Walker/ more printing, Martin Ceci/ Urn painting and to all/your friendship. And for those I forgot, please excuse me.





My Darling Husband . . .

I know that the memories will grow sweeter and my burden lighter as time passes. I appreciate how hard you fought the battle, to stay and take care of me. Rest in peace my sweet husband for I will be fine. You left me with great children & grandchildren, who are helping me along this new part of my life. There also is a huge family of racers and friends that seem to be checking up on me . Family & friends will get me through .

Many people who will miss your smile . . . me most of all.

Wait for me , Sweetheart . . . I"ll be along

 

[Magnethead]

Another article I found: http://www.nhra.com/blog/nhra-noteb...t-alcohol-funny-car-pioneer-gasparrelli-dies/

cliffnotes:

Wasting no time after he earned his driver’s license at age 16 in 1959, Gasparrelli took his father’s ’54 Mercury down the strip at San Gabriel Raceway. He bought a ’60 Chevrolet the next year and raced it almost every weekend.

Throughout the early 1960s, Gasparrelli ran a ’29 pickup in A/Street Roadster at tracks such as Lions Drag Strip, Fontana Drag City, and San Gabriel Raceway. His first serious race car was a ’51 Anglia powered by an injected 413 Chrysler that was later replaced with a blown Rat motor. In 1970, he built a tube-chassis AA/Gas Supercharged Corvette with a blown 392 Chrysler. The Corvette body was replaced with a Mercury Satellite in 1973, and he ran that car until 1975.

ne of Gasparrelli’s favorite and most successful race cars was a ’75 Vega that he ran for several years. Though he only appeared on the NHRA trail with the car at the Winternationals and NHRA Finals every year, he match raced extensively with it and won several events, and he reached the Pro Comp final at a Division 7 event in Fremont, Calif. In 1979, he put a Firebird body on it and ran that until he built his next car, a Camaro that was destroyed in a collision on its first pass in qualifying at the 1983 Winternationals. He returned later in the season with a brand-new Camaro that he campaigned for two years. Around that time, the match racing scene began drying up, and Gasparrelli began following the NHRA points-race series.

He put a Ford Tempo body on his car during the off-season that led to his first national event victory, at the 1986 Winternationals, one of the biggest highlights of his career. He won his first of 11 division races the following season. Gasparrelli’s next car was a Victory-built Daytona that made its debut in 1988. He bested Brad Anderson, who had won seven of the previous eight division titles, for the 1990 Division 7 crown and scored again when he finished ahead of Gary Scelzi in 1992. He ranked No. 7 in the national standings in 1992, the first of four times that he would place in the top 10.

Gasparrelli scored his second national event win at the 1993 Winternationals, a significant victory for several reasons. He had been diagnosed with cancer Dec. 17, 1992, when he had his driver’s physical and had surgery Dec. 22 followed by radiation treatments that lasted until the week of the Winternationals.

Gasparrelli will be remembered as one of the pioneers of what became the Top Alcohol Funny Car class, a family-oriented man whose kids grew up at Southern California racetracks. His manner was kind and modest, though his right foot was clearly outspoken. Gasparrelli always got to race the way he liked to; he didn’t run as full a schedule as he might have liked when he was driving, but he always went to the starting line with the best components available.