Tradition or Destiny?

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Pics by Steve Giangreco and story by Brad Wise. This was in issue #12 of Gears & Gals Magazine

Koopmeiners & Sons (K & S) is Dave Koopmeiners, Eric Koopmeiners, and Jeff Koopmeiners. Eric is proud to say the following restorations were performed by his Dad, Jeff (his brother) and himself. That means a lot to this family. Eric lives in Union Grove, WI, home of Great Lakes Dragway. He never saw his Dad’s original 55 but soaked in the stories and pictures of it. Couple that with Dad’s influences and Eric never had a chance…

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Let’s start with Tradition (around 1964). The patriarch of the Koopmeiners clan is Dave. Dave is the Dad. And Dad is an impressive dude. I’m going to intertwine Dave with Dad and vice versa. It seems natural. Dave was a Design Engineer five days a week by trade and the ultimate do it yourselfer the rest of the time. He embraced the crazy drag racing action of the 60s and of course the gassers. His daily driver was a beautiful 55 Chevy. It was not your run of the mill car though. It had a hot little 327 and 4 speed with radiused rear wheel wells. Sounds like a race car, huh? It was. On the weekends Dad would take the thing to the strip. He’d swap out the street shoes for a set of slicks and uncork the headers and tear up the track. He would button it all up at the end of the day and take her back home for domestic duty. Breakage is a fact of life for a drag car. Dave would stay up late on Sunday night to get it fixed in order to not miss work on Monday morning. This skill and loyalty was instilled in his boys.

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Let me take a second to talk about Dave’s mad skills. He’s built several cars over the years in his garage and shop. The guy can pretty much do everything; body work, interiors and of course motors. A good example of his fab skills would be the time he built a ’32 Ford. Most of us would use a ’32 frame or buy one, not Dad. He gathered the material needed and literally built a ’32 frame, with the Coke bottle shape and all the correctly pinched spots. Now that’s impressive. Let me stress here that Dave didn’t do this work for show or for bragging rights. He is a strong humble man with a passion for cars not pats on the back. It is for those very reasons that his son’s love to make him proud. Dad started the “Tradition” – a passion for hot rods and drag racing.

The two awesome 55s you see on these pages belong to Eric Koopmeiners. This is where Destiny comes into play.

We’ll start off with the Gold 55 (affectionately painted with Koopmeiners & Sons (K&S) on the doors. This one is a real 60s gasser. It was raced out of Racine, WI, with Zalewski & Sytkowski branded on the doors. It was “lost” to history for many years until Destiny stepped in.

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Stick it in reverse. Back when Eric was in his late teens he had a……you guessed it, a black 55. One night he and his buddies decided to go the local burger joint for a cruise night. He met this guy there who related to Eric’s 55. Turns out he had one in his garage. As fate would have it he invited the boys over to inspect his ride. An impression was definitely made on young Eric. Fast forward about 15 years. Through the years Eric did not forget the Chevy. He made some attempts to make contact with the guy and went over to his house but to no avail. Sadly, when Eric did get his foot in the door, the guy had passed away. Fortunately the family knew Eric loved “these types of cars”. They told him they had sold off some of the guy’s cars but had some more left. At the time Eric felt a little odd talking business and just kind of let things be. A few weeks went by and the family contacted Eric to come over and look at the last car in the garage. OK, you ready for some goose bumps…it was the Gold 55 he and his buddies had looked at over a decade ago. The family wanted Eric to have the car and a deal was struck. Eric said the body was straight and in great shape. Of course the paint was checked and cracked. The Zalewski & Sytkowski on the door had long faded away. Time had taken its toll. As you can see from the accompanying photos the old 55 got a new lease on life. The doors now proudly wear the Koopmeiners and Sons banner after a frame off restoration. Dad and son’s freshened up the 301 with 13.5 to 1 pistons and Isky cam. There’s a 4 speed hooked to an Olds/Pontiac rearend. The all steel double nickel Chevy knows its way around the strip too. How about mid-11s and clutch popping launches at 6 grand? I think we can all agree, this is a bitchin ride.

OK, let’s shift gears and talk about the Orange “Shiftmaster” 55. I think you’ll quickly realize that Mr. Destiny steps right into Eric’s life again.

Eric saw this beast even before the Gold 55. The old girl was rougher than the Gold 55 but it was also nastier. One day Eric was invited to slip into the thing for a spin. It must have been a hell of a spin. It sounds like it left black tracks right through the impressionable 16 year olds gearhead brain. Hit the fast forward button again. After Eric got the K&S Gold 55 completed he had it at show and a fella came up to him and of course started talking 55 Chevy’s. Do you see a pattern here? As they were talking about their cars, the guy said he would like to see his brought back to life. Somewhere in the conversation the light bulb must have clicked on for these two guys and recognition popped into gear. They knew each other from back in the day. They went over to his house to look the old 55 over. Ultimately a deal was made and Eric had another 55 to add to his collection. This one had some cancer but was well worth saving. From day one, those many years ago, Eric loved the 12” engine set back and straight axle. This asphalt eater was campaigned in the early 60s in the Milwaukee area. Once again a frame off restoration was in order. Dad and sons fixed or replaced almost every floor pan, re-worked the frame and front end and twisted the wrenches on the injected 301. Like the Gold car, it too has a 4 speed and Olds/Pontiac rear end. Eric made special mention of “local hero” Mike Marinoff. He came up with some “special” parts for the engine and on the car. Passes for this one in the 11s are common place.

When Eric and I were talking about this story he made a very good point; he did not pursue these cars, they came to him. It’s like some kind of crazy 55 Chevy karma or something. It must float around Eric’s body and that’s fortunate for all of us. Hank Junior sang about carrying on the Old Family Tradition. Eric’s not married (yet), but has a good woman that shares his passion. I can’t help but believe this Family Tradition is destined to continue.

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Meltdown Drags Association (MDA) and the Meltdown Drags themselves. You say you haven’t heard of it? You must be living under a rotting Yugo! It’s a time capsule race back to the glory days of drag racing. The idea for the Meltdown Drags started in Eric’s basement. It was actually fueled by Dad’s knowledge and stories of 60s drag racing. Founding members Eric, Jeff and long time friends Paul, AJ, Tom, Steve and Smokey Moe dreamed of a race that would capture the essence of 1960s drag racing. Obviously, talk turned to action and the Meltdown Drags were born in 2010. You must make plans to attend July 2014 at Byron Dragway in Byron, IL.

The 2013 Meltdown Drags saw a first. For the first time ever the Gold K&S 55 lined up in anger against the Orange “Shiftmaster” 55. It’s hard to believe these two classics hadn’t raced each other before. I was fortunate enough to have witnessed it. Jeff drove the K&S Chevy while Eric drove the Shiftmaster. In fairness, Eric told me Jeff had not raced the K&S car before. So, both cars pulled into the water box and boiled the hides. Each beast crept to the line and carefully staged. The light flashed green and all hell broke loose. I guess Jeff got the shock of his life when the K&S animal dug in and the wheels came off the ground. He let up and stabbed it again with the same results. It looked like a bucking bronco and probably felt like one too. I think the term, “scary as hell” circulated in the pits after the ride. In the meantime, Eric launched straight and streaked to the win. Well, technically it was a win. Eric concedes it would have been closer if Jeff was more familiar with the Gold 55 he ran. I say we give Jeff some practice runs and demand a rematch at the 2014 Meltdown Drags.

Steve Giangreco
Editor – Gears and Gals Magazine
www.gearsandgals.com
www.facebook.com/gearsandgalsmagazine

 


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