by a guy who didn't want his dad to worry about him crashing or dying in the risky world of high speed dragsters between 1962-1967
Both Bob Muravez and his alias Lippencott were inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame. And Muravez scribbles down two names whenever he’s asked to sign his autograph.
By the way, his 1st car, when only 16 years old? Was Betty Grable's 1800 mile 1953 Corvette. I shit you not.
When he was 19, Muravez joined fellow Road Kings member and future drag-racing star Tommy Ivo in a teenage prank to spite the dreaded policeman. Muravez snuck beneath Stanley’s patrol car and tied a rope around the rear axle, affixing the other end to a nearby pole.
Then they hopped inside Ivo’s T-bucket roadster, revved the engine and took off past the gas station. Stanley gave chase, but not for long. The pole stopped the cop car dead.
In 1961, he got the job of being the Freight Train's driver. Without Muravez behind the wheel, the Freight Train did not qualify for a single race, despite being piloted by such famous names as Mickey Thompson, Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen and Craig Breedlove.
In 1963 he won the Winternats.
Was that baiting the cop stunt where they got the idea for 'American Graffiti', or was it a common folk tale in hot rod circles?
ReplyDeleteI don't know. This is the first time I've heard of it happening in real life, but it's obviously the American Graffiti trick.
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