Wall Stadium Reopens
Printed in Area Auto Racing News -2009
By Robin Ervin
The grand reopening of Wall Stadium Saturday night was greeted with high emotion and great anticipation by its fans. The near capacity crowd flocked to Wall to watch a night of great racing and they were not disappointed. They were also there to renew acquaintances. I think the mood in the grandstand could have been best summed up in the words of the old John Denver song ‘Hey it’s good to be back home again.’ The Wall Stadium racing family was together once more and friends greeted friends once more.
What makes these friends different is that many of these friends only meet at Wall’s grandstands. Regulars come to their favorite seats in the grandstands week after week and many fans become friends with those they usually sit next to.
Between qualifying and the heat races, I talked with some of the Wall racing family in the grandstand crowd, which sat at the top rows next to the announcer’s tower. They talked about their thoughts about Wall’s reopening and recalled their favorite memories.
Long time fan Carol Gawron passionately talked about how wonderful it was to be sitting in the grandstands at Wall once more. “It’s so good to be home. I love it here. My friends are here and I can’t think of any place I’d rather be on a Saturday night. It’s my home track and I missed it so much.” Gawron continues, “ I am so happy that Mr. Morton changed the name back to Wall Stadium because there is such tradition and history attached to that name. This track is like no other. ” Sitting one row up, Jennifer Emig agrees with Gawron’s comments and joins in by declaring, “I’m so glad Wall reopened too. “ It was so boring last year without the track (Wall Stadium). Now I have something to do on Saturday nights again” “ I missed the racing and I missed seeing my friends here at the track.”
A few seats over, Dave Pitcher agrees with the ladies’ sentiments and passionately states, “I grew up in these grandstands. My mother brought me here for the first time when I was four and now I’m 52 and I still love coming here. There’s no place like Wall. I consider it a historical place. I’ve seen all the greats race here. I loved watching Parker Bohn and Bill Chevalier race and watching Pete Levance as the starter.” Sitting at the top row, Terry Morris smiles and nods at Pitcher’s comments and fondly recalls a time when he was 12 years old watching fall football being played in the infield of Wall Stadium when it was still dirt and watching Joie Chitwood shows at the track.. Morris talked about the time he saw Tommy Elliot’s XL1 car launch over the turn two wall into the woods. Morris recalls, “Tommy Elliot’s engine was screaming as his car flew over the turn two barrier and we thought he was a goner there for a bit and then here he comes walking back over the wall back onto the track waving to the crowd. You could still hear his engine screaming as he walked away. That was something.”
The stories continued until the first field of cars rolled onto the track for the first heat race. Then the conversation turned to the present as they analyzed the various drivers and how strong they thought their cars would be today. Each took a turn at predicting who would be strong today and bring home the win.
Simular conversations occurred throughout the entire grandstand. Everyone was glad and relieved to be back home again. The grandstand is filled with one-time strangers united by a common bond, the love of auto racing at Wall Stadium. That bond formed friendships that united, created and now sustain the Wall Racing family.
Rich Taylor’s Multi-Business Garage
By Robin Ervin
The faded brown auto service garage on the corner looks like it is having an identity crisis. A variety of signs on the front of the wood paneled building proclaim its various services in large, bold lettering. Above the office door is a sign that says ‘computer repair and servicing’, above the first garage bay, a sign boldly declares ‘Muffler shop and exhaust service’, a sign between the garage bays reads hot rod shop. Above all the other signs is another sign that says ‘Trenton Auto Service’.
The coupe in front of the garage also seems to have an identity crisis. At first glance, it looks a rusted out vintage car. Upon closer examination this rust heap of a car, like the garage behind it, is a study in contrasts. The chassis and the rear of the coupe shine with the luster of a newly built machine. However, the cab of the car looks like it was once a truck cab and it is the color of solid, deep rust. It has no holes yet but it looks so rusty that it looks like it might fall apart if one touched it. Indeed the viewer might think he needs a tetanus shot just from looking at it too closely. Even the inside of the coupe’s cab is totally covered in rust.
A fine coating of rust colored dust coats the car’s seats, perhaps shook loose from the cab’s interior roof while it was being driven. Hardly a spot of paint remains on the cab to hint at what color it once was. The only trace of paint is the faint outline on the cab’s doors of what once were letters, but the writing is too obscured to make out the words.
This mismatched collection of parts is a multiple award winning show car. In the language of car show enthusiasts, this car is known as a rat rod and it’s Rich Taylor’s pride and joy.
Taylor, the owner and proprietor of this facility for the last 33 years, takes care of the two biggest mechanical headaches that plague people in our society, cars and computers. A person can take a malfunctioning computer along with his or her ailing car and have them both fixed in one trip.
Taylor exudes a laid-back calm demeanor. The kind of person who always thinks about what he wants to say before speaking. When asked how he has stayed in business all these years, Taylor offers this explanation;
“Well”, Taylor drawls, “if you don’t move your place of business, over the years you keep seeing the same people and I think the reason you see the same people as customers means that they think you’re doing right by them.” “ I take care of my customers. It’s that simple.” “I give them a free diagnosis and let the customers know up front how much the repairs will cost.”
Taylor started the business in 1977 when he rented a garage at the corner of Ingham and Parkway Avenues from a lady who had inherited 16 gas stations/auto repair shops from her husband when he died. Taylor bought the property from lady ten years later at half its value when she decided to sell all of her garages.
“She was asking $65,000 for the garage,” explains Taylor. “ When I told I could afford that price because I was saving up for my wedding, she lowered it to $35,000.” “Then in 1993, I found out the reason the land lady needed to sell all the garages in a real big hurry was because her lawyers advised her that the state (of NJ) was cracking down on gas station that had underground tanks that weren’t being used and the tank removal would be very expensive.” “The lawyer advised her to sell them all immediately to avoid the cost.” “So that’s why she was willing to practically give the property away.”
Taylor then had to find a way to remove the underground tanks in order to comply with NJ state law.
“I shopped around for the best deal and it end up being $34,000 to have the tanks removed. Luckily for me I had a friend who knew about a catalog of grants available. One grant was called an ‘innocent party’ grant. It applies to anyone who had underground storage tanks who needed them removed and had never used them. I applied for it and it got me half of the cost back. I got $17,000 back from the state.”
Since his business is so multi-faceted, Taylor’s business has thrived through economic good times and recessions.
“There have been a lot of times when the only reason I was able to survive is because my business is so diversified,” explains Taylor. “There are certain times of the year when the auto repair business just falls on its face.” “For example, during back-to-
school time for the kids there’s not much work in the garage, but the computer business really kicks up then so it all kind of works out. When one slows down another aspect of the business picks to see us thru.”
Taylor decided to expand his business when he hurt his back in 1994 and couldn’t be on his feet as much until his back got better. Taylor started doing computer repairs as a hobby at home before turning it into a side business in his garage.
He transformed his garage office into a computer servicing center. Along the entire length of one of the walls in the office is a floor to ceiling rack filled with refurbished computers and monitors for sale. A large table against another wall is his computer work bench. As he works on the computers he shouts mechanical advice to the queries of his two mechanics that occasionally ask his advice on the cars they are repairing.
“Doing the computers was great because I could do that sitting and I didn’t have to be on my feet so much,” said Taylor. “Now it is a fairly profitable side business.” “The most common problem I see with computers is that they get them so jammed up with software, spyware, adware and sometimes virus that the computers start to move so slowly and it almost impossible to use the computer because it moves so slowly.” “The best remedy is just to flush the hard drive like a toilet and start again.”
“Half the computer business is getting rid of viruses,” said Taylor. “If only we could get people to look at online porn with their car’s computers, then business would really take off,” Taylor says with a hearty laugh. “Cars don’t get virus but that would be so beautiful if they could.”
Taylor bought the equipment to open a muffler shop business a year and a half ago and added that to his growing list of side businesses in his garage.
“ I’m shifting the bulk of our business to doing muffler work because it’s simpler, less problems and better money,” explains Taylor. “Since modern cars are so computerized now, being able to diagnosis and fix the cars is not so much a matter of hard work as it is a matter of how much do you need to spend.” “The software needs to be updated every three months and it’s an expense to keep current with the technology.”
Taylor turned his passion for hot rods and classic cars into yet another side business when he added a hot rod customizing shop to his garage a couple months ago.
“ I found myself in a position where the only thing I really have fall back on in my retirement is whatever this property is worth, when and if I could ever sell It.,” explains Taylor. “I want to work at something I really enjoy and that’s fabrication. I like to build something cool and people like the work that I do.”
The first hot rod he built is the rusty rat rod coupe that is sitting outside his shop.
“ It all came about when my friend John wanted the engine that was in a ¾ ton flatbed truck he found in a junkyard in Lambertville. The junkyard wouldn’t sell him just the engine. He had to take the whole truck. So John approached me and asked if I would split the truck with him? It was 800 bucks for the whole truck. We paid $400 each. He took the engine and I got the truck.”
“I had the truck sitting outside my garage for about a month. I kept looking it over deciding how to make it over into something cool,” Taylor explains as he gestures with his hands to illustrate the size of the truck. “ The chassis the cab was sitting on was a solid foot of steel and it was about 7 feet tall.”
“ It looked like it would be too much work to modify the chassis, so I scrapped it,” Taylor pauses to reflect on the memory. “ I just kept the cab,” he said with a shrug and a short laugh. “ It was the only thing I really liked about the truck anyway.” “The steering box and the front axel are from the original truck.” “The rest of the chassis I fabricated.” “ During the years I was racing cars, I always had chassis that were fabricated in some shop; I always wanted to build my own chassis. So I thought, why not?” “I’ll build a hot rod chassis.”
So far Taylor has gone to about 40 classic car cruise nights and car shows in the last two years. He points to a worn filing cabinet behind his office desk.
Crowded on top of the filing cabinet are eight shiny, golden trophies. He eagerly but lovingly reaches into the collection of trophies, picks up his favorite trophy and proudly shows it off.
“I won this one at the last Hot Rod Hoedown show for Best Rat Rod,” says Taylor with a beaming smile.
The prized trophy he picked was not one of the shiny, golden trophies. This trophy looks like it was put together and decorated by a small child as a school project but somehow it seems like an appropriate trophy to be given to a rusty mongrel of a show car like Taylor’s.
“I read the definition about what a rat rod is and it says that rat rod is ‘a low cost hotrod with attitude’ and this car has attitude,” Taylor said proudly. “It’s not all about the rust. This car also has an attitude to it.”
Currently Taylor is working on another hotrod for himself in between customizing hotrods for his clients, fixing cars and computer repairs. This car looks like it was once a VW Bug. What it will look like when Taylor is done is unknown.
“I’m working on turning that car into a coupe and I should have it ready by next spring, said Taylor. “ I’ve been working on the interior and I think it’s coming out pretty good so far.”
Rich Taylor
Trenton Auto Service
660 Ingham Ave, Trenton NJ
609 393 8577
D&D Trailers Talks about Trailer Safety
Printed in Area Auto Racing News- 2010
By Robin Ervin
Race teams all over have been diligently working on their race cars all winter. While a safe and fast racecar is important, it is equally important not forget to do trailer maintenance as well.
D & D Trailers, located on Lexington Ave in Trenton NJ, has been servicing the needs of its customers since 1976 and selling Wells Cargo trailers for the last 25 years. Shop owner Doug Reside and his staff pride them selves on catering to their customer’s needs. Their slogan is Custom Trailers-Our Specialty and they will gladly work with the customer to tailor build a trailer for any need.
Reside is passionate about the safety of those who buy his trailers and has a lot of tips to make transporting your racecar safer.
Reside recommends that only 10% of the trailer’s total gross be placed on the tow hitch ball area. Most racers put their tool boxes on the front hitch because of the bulkiness of the car prevents them from putting the box anywhere else. Reside recommends “By moving the car towards the rear by just a foot, this reduces the load on the tongue and redistributes the weight better on the trailer for a safer tow.”
The trailer tires should be checked on a frequent basis for dry rot, proper air pressure and proper tread depth. It is important to remember that where one parks their trailer also has an impact on the tires. “The sun is probably the biggest reason for wear and tear on exposed tie down belts and tires,” Reside says. “The afternoon sun takes a toll on the tires. The tires that face the afternoon and setting sun will dry rot much quicker than the tires on the opposite side.” “ By covering those tires to protect them from the sun you will extend the life of those tires.” Tire maintenance should include repacking the wheel bearings once a year and checking the braking system.
The sun’s rays also have a damaging effect on the webbing on the tie down straps in an open trailer. Tie downs should be checked before every use for tears or fraying. Any belt that shows fraying is in danger of malfunctioning or even worse snapping.
The tie downs should be used in an ‘x’ pattern when securing the car and the trailer chains also should be attached to the tow vehicle in an ‘x’ pattern and not be twisted. A twisted chain can snap when the trailer jerks while in transit.
Another item that should be checked on the trailer is the body itself. The trailer should be periodically checked for broken welds and bubbling paint that indicate the presence of underlying rust.
He is pleased to see that two major trailer organizations, National Association of Trailer Manufacturers (NATM) and North American Dealer Association are just as passionate as he is about trailer safety and that they are working in partnership to lobby lawmakers in Washington DC for better regulations to improve trailer safety.
One such regulation is that trailers dealers are required by law to keep a record of every tire that goes through his business in the advent of a manufacturer tire recall. This allows trailer dealers like Reside to alert their customers about possibly dangerous tires and helps the public stay safer on the roads.
For further information contact D&D trailers at 800 533-0442.