Thu, 7 Oct 2010, 10:42 PM Chalk One Up for The Classics

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Ron Steiner

I often look around at the cars of today and wonder which, if any of them, will ever be considered a classic. I also wonder what car people will look back on and say, "I had one of them," and they'll say it with pride? Of course everyone looks at the classic muscle cars of the '60's and says how cool they were, but let's face it, how may people owned a Cobra or a Hemi-car or a tri-powered GTO? Some, but certainly not many. Now, when you talk about a 1955 Chevrolet that's different, because almost everyone had, or at least everyone who is in my age group. The 1955 Chevy is a great part of American automotive history, it is one of the cars that started the hot rod trend and it's one of the cars that was everywhere at the drag strips back in the early 1960's. Locally, meaning on the East Coast, I used to watch such greats as Ferd Napfel in his "Storming Bull" car, and Bill Spanakos and his original "Monster Mash" machine. On the national scene '55's were the dominant car in a number of classes, from Stock to the red-hot Modified Eliminator. Thurman Taylor, Carroll Caudle and others struck fear in the hearts of their competitors with their '55 cars. Today, however, there aren't a lot of them to be found on the drag strips. Sure, a few still exist, but they are more a novelty now than a real threat, unless, of course, it's the 1955 Chevrolet that is driven by Ron Steiner.

Ron Steiner

Ron Steiner, a 63-year old accountant from New York, won the Super Street title at the recently completed Jeg's Northern Sportsnationals in Columbus. The win, which came after years of trying, is the culmination of a drag racing career that began in 1965. "I grew up near New York National Speedway on Long Island," Ron said. "That place was way ahead of its time and that's where I fell in love with the sport." When Ron talks about the track being ahead of its time he's referring to the facility itself, with lots of paved areas and a track that was big enough to run 4-wide before 4-wide was even a term. They also ran under a variety of sanctioning bodies and that was perfect for Ron. "I first ran down the track with my parent's Buick. If I remember correctly it had a 401 cubic-inch engine that was rated at 325 horsepower." Having met with some success with dad's car, Ron decided that he would do what a lot of racers did and that is, step up in class. "You always want to go faster and I know that I did." So, in his quest for speed, Ron got a 1967 Buick of his own and a drag racing career was born. He raced on a regular basis through the early 1980's when family obligations and a stroke of fate sent him to the sidelines. "I was flat-towing my car to Atco (Note: kids, ask your dad about flat-towing to the race track), when I was in an accident. As you can imagine that set me back quite a bit so I didn't race for a long while."

Anyone who has been around the sport for a while knows that the desire to race never really goes away, and it certainly didn't for Ron. "I lived near James Antoinette and he raced all the time. We're good friends so I used to hook up with him and go to the races. Even though I wasn't racing myself it kept me involved with and in touch with the sport." Then, in the early '90's, Ron purchased another car and this time it wasn't a Buick. "I bought the 1955 Chevy that I am racing today. I got it to be a street car and I let James do all the work on it." Well, the combination of Ron's desire to race and James' talents with the engine soon made a really nice drag race car out of the '55 Chevrolet. "James did a great job with the engine, and because it was too powerful for the stock drive train, I had Ed Alessi upgrade the transmission and all of a sudden I had a pretty good car for Super Street."

While Ron was starting to go faster his family was starting to get bigger. "My wife, Anne, and I just celebrated out 40th anniversary," he said. "We have two sons and neither one showed any real interest in drag racing." That is until a few years ago when son, Scott, announced that he would really like to drive his dad's car. "I told him he could but he had to go to a drag racing school, which he did, and then we got him a car of his own." That car, a 1972 Chevelle, has taken the younger Steiner to a couple of final rounds at the divisional races. "I'd like to think that it's genetic," Ron said. "But he just really has a natural talent for it." Now, father and son race together whenever they can. "Scott works for an advertising company and they keep him pretty busy. We like to race together and I think that's what makes this such a great sport, it really is something that the family can do together." Ron's other son, Ronald Jr., doesn't race but he does realize how important it is to his father and brother. "Ronald and his wife just had a baby, our first grandchild, and they wanted to have it christened in Italy were her family lives. They looked at the race schedule and then planned to have the celebration the weeks between the Cecil County and the Englishtown points races." Now that's an understanding son and daughter-in-law. "Anne and I went to Italy and had just a great time."

Ron's other "great time" came at the Sportsnationals in Columbus when he took his venerable Chevy seven rounds to get the first national event win of his career. "It was just a great weekend. Even the guys I beat stayed around to watch and support me. I got to meet Alex Miller, Dan Funk and a lot of other guys that I had only read about before." Ron went on to say that it's that feeling of community that makes racing so special. "Where else can you meet so many nice people, race against them, and if you're lucky enough to beat them, have them turn around and cheer for you?" One of the reasons that folks cheer for Ron is his choice of vehicles. "It's almost 100% stock," he said. "The only thing that's fiberglass on it is the hood scoop. Plus, let's face it, lots of people, racers or not, had a '55 Chevy when they were younger." That "younger" theme came up again when Ron talked about his opponents at most races. "A lot of the guys I race are about half my age," he said. "It's a lot of fun to race against them with this car."

It should come as no surprise that the '55 isn't the only classic that Ron has. "I have a '57 Chevy station wagon that's a street car. It's got a 355 engine in it that James did and it's really a fun ride. I did update it a bit to make it even better on the street. I put air conditioning in it, some better brakes and things like that. And whether it's the '55 on the way to the races or the '57 on the street I have to admit that I do get a lot of looks and plenty of "thumbs up." It's a nice feeling."

Now that he has one national event win to his credit Ron is setting his sights on the future. "After Maple Grove this week we're pretty much done for the season. We'll take our cars down to Florida for the winter and then start next year at some of the early Division 2 races. But for now I'm just enjoying the feeling that comes from winning a national event." And the feeling that you get from doing it in one of the truly classic cars in American history, a 1955 Chevrolet.

"Special thanks go to Tommy DePascale and his son for all of their help, James at JA Performance Race Engines, Eddie at Select Performance and my friend Pete Sanka who does my suspension."