Skip Coverdale
The first round of elimination had #1 qualifier John Foust’s ’33 Willys up against Skip Coverdale’s “Special Edition II” ’51 Anglia, with Skip’s green metal-flake Anglia winning when John’s beautiful Willys lost fire after the burnout. John had thrashed on his car all weekend installing the big block Chevy Saturday and qualified on his last attempt Sunday morning!
Tom Britton
Ed Kasicki
The Canadian-based “Hemi J” driven by Tom Britton and owned by Larry Morton ran a great 5.92 to take out “The Phenomenon”, the Ohio ’33 Willys coupe of Ed Kasicki, who ran 6.64 with his small block Chevy.
Two Buffalo area cars and members of the host club, the Gasser Gang of Western New York, ran off next. The restored “Ron Bizio” ’33 Willys pickup with Jeff Cryan driving and Jerry “Gasser” tuning, knocked out Harv Nayman’s “Slick Willy” ’41 Willys coupe., 6.11 to an out of shape 6.89.
Jim Tinsmith
The last to run in the first round brought the bright yellow early Hemi ’33 Willys pickup of Jim Tinsmith (“The Mild Bunch”) up against (“The Pilgrim”) ’40 Willys coupe of Gene O’Conner from Boston, Mass. Tinsmith won a narrow victory with an E.T. of 6.59 sec. to a close 6.64.
The next round had the quickest car left in eliminations, the “Hemi J” put away the Pennsylvania-based “Mild Bunch”, 5.94 to a 6.87 to put driver Tom Britton in the final with his Henry J.
Next, Tennessee driver Coverdale’s ’51 Anglia matched up against Cryan in the early Chrysler Hemi ’33 Willys pickup, with the Willys making it to the final with a 6.25 to a 7.16 win.
The final came down to the # 2 qualifier, “Hemi J,” and the #3 car, the ex “Ron Bizio” ’33 Willys AA/GS Car from the 1960’s. Driver Tom Britton in the “Hemi J” had lane choice, but it never came down to that as the red light came on in his lane and he lifted as Jeff Cryan went on to win with a low 6-second E.T. for the four-foot-tall trophy and the cash.