7/1/2002
Feeling The Need For Speed After All These Years
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In his book "They Call Me Mister 500" (1969, Henry Regnery Co.), Andy Granatelli weaves tale after fascinating tale of what it was like to be one of the pioneers of the performance automotive industry.
Before he was "Mister 500," before the days of the STP Pit Crew Pajamas and long before Mario Andretti gave him the celebratory smooch on the lips after winning Indy, Andy and his brothers Joe and Vince were known as the kings of the Chicago speed scene. Their shop, Grancor, was one of the original speed shops in the Midwest and was instrumental in being the inspiration, and often, the financial and inventory foundation for many others in other cities. The Granatelli boys would take your ’30s and ’40s sedan and breathe fire into it, says Andy. "We would stuff a smoking-hot engine into it and tie it to a strong stake until the man came to claim it."
Suspensions, accessories, and performance engine modifications were part of Grancor’s success, but there was more. "We were assembling and building a fantastic little engine called the Grancor-Ford that cost a nice, round $750, the kind of thing that would howl in the night and gobble up other modified Ford engines," says Granatelli. That was for an exchange, install-it-yourself. For a complete installation, the price was about $1,200 and people were battling each other with old gear-shift levers to get in place to make that engine swap – which meant they were pumping $1,200 into cars worth $2,000. But they kept coming, with that misty look of speed in their eyes."
You’re still seeing that look in your customers eyes. Of course, $1,200 isn’t going to put huge fire under the hood, but the desire to go fast and beat your neighbor’s car from stoplight to stoplight has not faded. Today, you’re as likely to build performance powerplants for the high-school quarterback’s 2000 Honda as you are for the local doctor’s classic GTO.
At the conclusion of "They Call Me Mister 500," Andy Granatelli had not yet won at Indy (Mario took the checkered flag just six months later). But he hadn’t given up. "There will always be an innovative car; there shall ever be progress, no matter what. Racing is developing, slowly, painfully at times, as this new breed keeps attacking and attacking. I’ll continue to develop with it."
Like Grantelli says, our industry is still developing the next best way to go fast – and your customers can’t get enough of it.