Car Kultre Deluxe

g
t
b
.f
:G'"
~n~slams ~h~acce_lera,to;t'into the
, floor; making his '52 Ggevy sing as
.
,it
rises nose first .into the. sky.
Thtowmg'the,geattfthrougn.
theif paces, he
'keep~ th~ r"evs high, m;int,aining his run
down~4!l, s.~~ip,.!!-twhat lpok_sJ~Jte.a 2,5.d,gree angle. As he towers the car across the
finish line, his mind floats back to the ba~s
cor~~ he. Was ~truzruriing not too long ago
with Robert Lockwood,
Jr.
.;
Kil.liJig the engine, .he s~ap.ds next to
his ,~la9k.beast?rhis 'is Gene 'Schwartz; he's
notj';nf~ a racer, 'but also ~ veteran blues
bassist. Are you ready?
to, travel 'Il!,pre...andmore with the c~. Upgrading: was an expensive business: in racing
then, as it is ~day, a~d one of Gene's first
sponsors and longtime.friends was Joe Hurdka, founder and'owner of Mr. Gasket Racing
Parts. Gene's was-one -of the first Gasser-s
that ran the Mr; Gasket logo on the side of
th~ car. B:ful~g
the ~ar ~eant,a -faster
engine 'and petter. transmission,
granting
Gene the ability to perform 'his,patented
.-'
move !. making the Car run nose up as _he
raced the entire lengt}.} of the trapk-. ne did
this by. keeping- his revs at 10.000 lW!\f and
'a ste~dy hand,
.~f,course; H~ is ~till"the
onl;
?r
'
,'!>
one.who canl driveothis chained monster.
Improving his can Was very important
to Gene, and ~Qt~er paseien.alsc.began'to
tak_-eFoot:,the)llue!! ~a!!lBlg-uita:(.
While-,he waEj
out 'hitting tb,J'! }ra,ck during th~ day. ~~
brother Gle~ was pl~~g the guitar and
thouglit1;hat G~ne 'shoUld it l~arn it as well.
Gene luted ~lieid~a!'b~t<since
bl'(,lth~rw.lle
alrealiy'pla.-Y41g1ead guitar. he,tllo~ght that
t~ bass wQ~d)~e the b~tter Il!ove. Righ~ he
was. As Qen!) traveled the-cQu_ntJ;yv.vitll hi~
car. his brother did the same, only with
i;\$ a child, Gene drellJIled,.ofllurning
rubher anci tearing up the strip. He got J#s
cp.ance when his, fa,t~\lr ~av,~.him. ,a_'52
Ohevy at the age·offlfteen. Hej:lid what any
flft.een year old would do: ,he went to the
lppal jUnkyar!i; picked up 'a transm)_ssion far
-....
$8,-.l:!oupe<,i
up the stock 235 eng4te, an~ took
it out tothe -track.
_ ~ T~g
the 'car o~t'on theJ:>lac.!rtop·became a regular thing with Gene as he began
-"
,
o
CAR_KULTURE DELUXE
a
s
[
iJ
u~
H
Dal{s fault
b
.. ".,
Il
il
a
c
p
p
b
a
o
+.
:Ii
c
g
<
c
.E
hls
hi;
il
11
(
I
two brothers had taken different paths, but
had eventually reunited in the realm of
music, culminating in playing Jimi Hendrix's
birthday party in Greenwich Village.
'There was a lot of turkey, because his
birthday was in November," said Schwartz,
to which he added, "Hendrix said that my
brother was probably one of the best guitarists he'd ever seen."
Through his brother and Lockwood,
Gene would go on to tour with legends B.B.
Ring and Ray Charles. His blues career
would take him from the U.S., around the
world, and far beyond the realm of Gassers
and racing. But like any man who has.left
his home, he began to miss the world of
speed and machines.
Back in the saddle
guitar. Though they traveled different paths,
they would eventually meet again.
Gene was beginning to get noticed for
his driving skill and his signature move.
His hard work was beginning to payoff as
he set the NHRA record in Muncie, Indiana, in 1964. He took on Costilow & Larson's infamous "DragonSnake" Cobra at the
NASCAR Nationals in 1965, winning the
title of Street Eliminator.
That would be the peak of that car's racing career as tragedy struck in the form of a
towing accident. As the car was being towed
in between meets, the car and truck were hit
and pushed off the road, turning the beloved
car into a a,oOO-pound
paperweight. This happened just two weeks
before the Indy Nationals. With luck running
out as fast as the oil
from the now wrecked
car,
Gene
quickly
grabbed what he could
-drivetrain
and front
clip - and in those two weeks created "The
Roach" from a '52 Chevy sedan.
The Roach earned its name for a reason;
it looked just about as good as one. A beater
he bought for little more than pocket change,
Gene threw what he could at the -'52.Taking
it out on the track, he felt that everything had
gone wrong ... until that beater began beating
the competition! The Roach would come- out
the winner from the Indy meet, taking home
the championship from the Indy Nationals
in1966. A new paint job transformed it into
the first psychedelic car in '67.
TImeout
Running during the prime time of the
Gassers, the 1960s, had brought some great
joy to Gene, but as he put it, "I saw the writing on the wall," and he knew that Gassers
were going to fade out soon. Gene garaged
his racing for the next thirty years.
That is not to say that he stood idle
during those years; Gene had been playing
his bass and kept at it. He eventually crossed
paths with Robert Lockwood Jr., and the two
hit it off with strums and fades. Gene began
He had taken the wrecked '52 Chevy
back home, where it sat for a good long time,
waiting for him to return. And return he
did. Seeing as the car had been destroyed,
Gene purchased a new chassis and body. Taking
parts from the old and merging them with the
new, he has faithfully recreated the car that
brought him such fame and joy.
He is still driving his car. Perfecting it
like a musician with his instrument, Gene is
still tweaking and adding to the '52 Chevy
that carries the soul of the one his father had
given him. Still hauling the machine at a rearbumper-scraping angle down the track, he is
a rambling man and a rolling stone. And while
he is a person of many passions, he is still a
blues bassist and a Gasser racer at heart.
Gene thanks his sponsors Keith &
Bob Landies, Ron Hutter of Hutterperformance.com, Chase Knight at Crane Cams,
and Jim Puskas from Mr. Gasket Co., Roy
Story from Hay's Clutches Advance Paint
Tech, Advanced Auto Parts of Painesville,
Ohio, Rocky Bellino, and Ray Jordan at Jordan Metal Products of Columbus, Ohio for
their continual contributions stating, "without you guys, the car wouldn't run!" Also, a
special thanks to Jim Somrak, Dan Curik,
Tom Gozelinchick, Ken Yamamoto, Denny
Frohwerk, Dan Rdhricht, Howie Davis,
Dave Meal, Eric Rath, and Ken Edgar for
their help on the track, with the car, and for
their friendship over the years. ~
(01'111'
(111111'.'-:
(
eli':
inch
.,\i,.
ChCI:"
blll('/ ..
rill'! il1;c'('/;'11I
IIU/II('IIOII:
to tour with Lockwood, and would do so during his three decade sabbatical from racing;
and like a rolling stone, he gathered no moss. .
His brother had gone out to California and
helped form the band Pacific. Gas and Electric, then had played with Joe Walsh. The
."", li,,(, l u-l nx» Ikl
t l u t t er .ttru ('uhit,
1~/l.~illt':
....1110/1
,....chn «ut :
·.i~_·( hfT/',,/.'1
h.\ /·.'nglcr
JJa
. h i nv \\:.100/
"";':;111'
,t
Ih;/'('//'(IIII
l ;~FlJr(,I' F,JlTI'
l l av« cLu t i lt and
.~i"t','rinl.!
/'1'11"
m i....c.: ('nillt'
('1,,1,.11
(/.'o;,..isf
[lv nhrel,
_'II"(II1.!..!(·
t'IU/. (,'('.··w/,'ul,.'
CAR KULTURE DELUXE
('(1m.
.'-."i/H,(,d.
t ru
/>.'nin
Robert
'Y'
ellow - red . green. The accelerator
'.
sticks a bit. as you power through the
,
gears. You listen to the revs rather than
looking at the dials. Keeping your eyes straight
ahead as you near the finish line, you watch in
horror as you're passed by the car in lane two!
You hit the brakes on your gasser and immediately look over to see who was driving. You
find yourself at a loss for words. You were just
beaten by Bones Balogh. He's seventy-five
years old and he just kicked your ass.
Robert "Bones" Balogh has been racing
for over fifty years. He started like most young
men with a car, on the street. He didn't fully
acknowledge his racingdays until 1955 when
LionsDrag Strip in Wilmington, California,
opened up. He-ran a '49 Chevy. The body was
all steel and had a blown small block so it flew
like lighting, .. or at least the speed that people
thought lighting flew at in 1955. This first car
won over two hundred races.
Eventually the Chevy lost, signaling
to Bones that it was time to get a new car.
Working at Venolia Pistons in Long Beach,
he eventually connected with Ed Iskenderian (creator and owner of Isky Cams) and
dropped a 283 small block into the Chevy.
This boosted the car for awhile but Bones
•ABOVE: Bones' BlModified Sports Corvette .
• RIGHT: Getting ready to light this candle!
o
CAR KULTURE DELUXE
• Old rival turned portner.
•No, this isn't Mrs. Balogh.
»Bones, Dubach & Pisano.
wanted something lighter. He got what he
wanted in the form of a lightweight 1958
Corvette that had a blown engine. His
friend sold Bones the car into which lie
dropped the 283 and shortly thereafter he
broke the record in B-Modified sports.
While racing the Corvette, he came into
contact with Big John Mazmanian and beat
him in many races when John raced his own
Corvette. In true Big John style, the man
asked Bones if he would wanf to drive for hini
Bones accepted, but did reveal one thing: he
couldn't drive a stick shift. This didn't Qeter
John's choice of having Bones drive his car.
Competition began to heat up after
that, so tHe 'Vette went and the ~41_Willys
came in. The Willys was an odd duck as it
ran a '.57 Chrysler.392-inch
Hemi, a bulla:
that would become a formula that Bones
would use overthe years for the .next five
cars. Bones istrather an alchemist of the
drag racing realm in the fact that he mixes
.multiple brands to build one big engine.
iJ.
Bones 'then hooked up with Gary
Dubach anti Joe Pisano, two gentle.men who
ow?e<La '33 Willys. Using-the s~e engine
bwld, Bones dropped a llenii into this allsteel car,
·As I interViewed him, he shook his
head slightly. wli~n~metltioning the all-steel
part, '''A '33 ill-steel Willys-is rare, but back
then you really didn't think about collectability, you' cared about getting the car
faster. We ditched most of the steel body and
replaced the body-panels with fiberglass."
Bones tweaked the build on this car
jus: a bit, giving the beast 850 liorsep-owel'
while running on ~as.
One day while racing at Lions, the
Willys hit an oil slick, swerving -out of eontrol and into a pole, sending the car spinning into the air-w~th Bones inside it. The
boay and engine took a beating-and the drivetrain burst into 'the interior of the car,
Being a "bag o{bones" saved him this time:
if'he-had been shorter and squattier, the dri:
vetrain would have probably killed him.
Undaunted, Bones went on with his
l:a~ing career. While he is a very popUlar
w~ver and mechanic on the strip, racing dlan'jj r
'bring homethe bacon; to feed his family Bones
s~ worked at Venolia. One day after a long'
s~, he c~e home to find Tim Woods sitting
mhis familyroom with hiS wife, having coffee:
~oods was a rivai of Bones, albeit a friehdly
nval, but he needed Bones to drive his '68
Mustang. Doug CiJok, Woods' uS,ual driV'er;
had been in an accident and Woods needed a
repl~cement driver. Bones said he woula,
as lo~g as hlifriame was on the side ofthe car'
Bones had then raced 'for two of the b~gg:es~
names in the Gasser wars .
$hortly lifter racing the Mustang
Bones retired. For a decade he went to work
and fondly remembered the days of speed,
ga"s,-and glory, but this did not last long.
One of Bones' co-workers came to him in
need of help with his 'e9 Camaro. The car
was lacking horsepower, and a variety of
other problems needed to be addressed:
They put the car on a trailer and
hauled it over to Bone ' garage~'where it has
been fodifteen years. The car is now a force
t~ lie reckoned with on the traCk; Bones
himself still drives 'it.
'Eobett "Bones" Balogh is a driver.
That is the position which brings rum the
greatest joy. Being behind the-wheel, seeing
the world bleed intoinfinity as lie flies down
the t~ack, gives him a, feeling- like ~othihg
else in the, world. Although he is ,seventyfive, don't bet against him.
.
"I'm a .little slow off the line~" li~ SaYS.
"The tree is still something to get used to-as
I am used to-a flag bei,ng dropped,"
He smiles as he looks at the car
knowing; that joint 'pain, ,eye strain, an~
time aren'tenoug.h to..stop .him from doing'
what he loves.~
'".'
BE:LOW Fij,O:M LE,FT TO RIGHT:
·Att~r 'the crash, the '33 Willys: driveshaft
the driver's seat.
·Boneswith.h'i.s
o
new,bea6'trthe
-;'1.r..::
'69 Gamar,o.
• The ,1933, after the c.rash; engine is
r~l,oct;fted,
-
in