1969 …

There's a year or years in some one's life that is special or extra ordinary- the year you get married, the year your children are born, your first love, your first car. Other than the year I married and the birth years of my children.

1969 was the year for me - it was unbelievable!

I was 24 years old; my performance shop was building race cars. I built several national record holders; was involved with an Exhibition wheel stander – The Super Hemi Bug, funny cars (Tasca Ford, King and Marshall, Frank Federici).

I was campaigning a sports car in Region I and had two drag cars running the drag circuit on the east coast: a 1968 Mustang B stock & a 1969 Pontiac Firebird B stock automatic.

It was a fun year! A great year! The Apollo 11 astronauts — Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., take first walk on the Moon, Woodstock (two days in the mud), Indy 500 on the backup team for Mario Andretti, street racing during the week, track racing on the weekends!

The muscle car industry was at its peak: 427 in Mustangs, Hemis in Cudas, 454 in Corvettes. After 1969, the car industry took a downward slant with bigger bodies, smaller horsepower motors, and a lot of the emission junk!

All in all, 1969 was a great year for me! I hope everyone can look back and say they had a special year too!

Keep them Rolling! 
Bill Abatecola