The Cal-look Lounge

Next month, I am traveling up to Oregon to see Darrell Vittone and do the long over-due interview..

What questions would you like to ask Darrell Vittone?

Dean/Hot VWs

Where did he hide IP?

What period of his career did he enjoy most? EMPI, raceshop or techtronics?

What was his favourite car that he raced in?

Can you tell us the timeline of the Fiat 850?

Oh, and when you come to EBI with Ron, do you want sugar in your coffee?

I'd be interested in hearing about how he transitioned from air to water-cooled performance.

Wheres the hard top for the fiat? can we borrow it? how many inch pinchers actually were there? 4 or 5? or even more?

cheers richie

waouuww , what a question dean   :D ,  a lot of questions for Darrel

as keith said the timeline of the 850 and also the one of the Economotors 67

where ended IP II after the sale of FDY ,

Has you  regretted not driving any more inch pincherII after the sale of Empi

Which one of the  2 inch pincher  he preferred to drive ???

Thoughts on the current incarnation of the EMPI name?  Ok, ok, I walked in knowing that probably wouldn't fly... ;D  All in jest, of course.

What his thoughts were when Empi was sold to Filter Dynamics.
Was he in on the decision or was it all Joe ?

What was the atmosphere like when VW was threatening to take away their franchise for selling GTV's and Empi parts in their showroom whilst VWOA was making their own GTV (Formula Vee) using Empi parts and ideas !

Describe the relationship with Dean Lowry and the transition after he left to form DDS.

yeah, how was it stepping into Dean's shoes and having to make sure EMPI remained on top?

 How is he doing ? {health etc.} fine I hope. And does he ever think about another dragcar ?  I know of two 850s in my area of Oregon, one was a VW powered dragcar, well kinda,with mag. spindle mounts on the front, the other is in a junkyard and is the covered headlight model , with the glass & trim rings still intact. both need lots a work.  Fleming and the Schleys need the competition........   ;)

Looking forward to the interview, any other plans while your up here in Oregon?

Brian Hyerstay's overhead cam engine on the dyno....

How did the good name of EMPI end up with the bad name of EMPI today 8)

How did VW drivers end up driving Vegas?  ;D ;D ;D

 ;D

Dean,

I would like to know if Darrell/Joe wished they didn't cash out to Filter Dynamics and what they may have done differently?  Did they sell maining becasue of the pressure from VOA or was the EMPI run over?

What are some of Darrell's favorite empi parts?

What does he think about Pro Gas/VX style cars (modern I and H gassers) running deep into the 10's?

What does he think about PM cars running 7's?

You should ask Brian Hyerstay his side of the story about the famous Bug-In 32 horn blowing during stagging.  Curious about his side of the story?
Troy

The guy with the biggest... loudest horn, usually wins...

I asked Brian about that once when I was hanging at his shop, visiting, as it was edited/not seen in the OSV DVD of the Bug-In.  He said something about his oiling system being a factor in that incident, though the precise details are foggy to me... been a couple of years.  He balanced my internals for my current 2017 build.

Just keep in mind that this interview is more about Darrell Vittone, than Empi or Econo Motors. I want to write about how he saw things and how they effected him. (Part of this will cover "being the son of the owner...) So much has been written about Empi.... That's not what I want to explore this time around.

Deano Im working on a list.... hope i get it to you in time, thx

Ask him 'what kind of beer he likes?' and 'when is he coming to Texas?'
I know a couple good BBQ places ...
TxT

Perhaps he'd like to share some stories about his fellow VW racers who have passed on.

Oh darn!

Ask him to tell some Jim Bentley stories.

whats his best most thought about memory during the old days

i wouldnt mind hearing about his thoughts on some of the new times cars are making as well

now that the racing info would be slightly dated, what was his most proven engine mod to make power

I've got a couple of questions for Darrell.
1 - I'd like to know what he thinks about the VW "scene" in general - did he expect it to last as long as it has done?
2 - I'd also like to know about the cars he would build now, with time and money being no object - race VW, street VW, watercooled VW and other.

did he regret to dont have keep a big stock of brm  ::)
where is inch pincher 2
please ship me an issue of the interview deano I will refound you by paypal !!!!

1 - I'd like to know what he thinks about the VW "scene" in general - did he expect it to last as long as it has done?
X2  

     If he had the opportunity to do it all over what would he change ?
Mike McCarthy

Would be kinda cool to know how he got hooked up with Lil John butera on one of his builds.

I'd like to know:

- Darrell's favorite engine combination....
- If he things FUMIO could still do heads today that would rival or even be competitive with CNC designs
- Darrell's opinion of using a PORSCHE gearbox over the type 2 bus box being used by many today...
- Darrell's favorite drag car of all those he actually helped build and drive...
- If he still likes CHOP TOP vws today...
- What he enjoyed the most about growing up at ECONO MOTORS under the coaching of DEAN LOWRY and some of the things Dean may have taught him that have stayed with him throughout his career in performance VWs.

Just a few that I would be interested in hearing answers to....

Rick Mortensen

What Horn is he taking about I had a helmet on.

I am glad you can interview this guy.. I remember suggesting a couple of interview subjects to your buddy.(The one that went fishing up north and never came back)that would have made interesting reading.. but HIS boss shot them down...Now they are gone...And, Now that the pioneers are leaving us, we still have time to get it down before it is too late.. looking forward to your article. thanks Dean.

Lil' John has since passed away.

Dean....how soon before the Darrell interview would come out? Just curious.

Heard you were enjoying our dry heat last week.  LOL

Rick Mortensen

Rick, working in a shop at 109 is not my idea of fun... I don't know how you guys in AZ do it...

I am heading to Darrell's place a week from Wednesday. So, looking at our production schedule, I would guess in the Nov issue. I am bringing my scanner along to get some of his photo collection.

Dean....we can deal with the 109 temps because of the "DRY HEAT".....LOL  and I thought growing up in Riverside in the summer was hot!


Rick M

What happened to his red 70 911?   ;D

 ::)

Okay guys, Sunday night is the cut off for your questions for Darrell Vittone.... Russell Richie hint, hint.....

Dean on it, cheers  ;D

Okay guys, here is the scoop on the Fiat... There was only ONE Darrell Vittone-built and raced Fiat. And that one went to Puerto Rico and became the Chimpazee car... Darrell did sell some of the parts off the first build, to another Fiat from Kentuky, (shown). Parts sold to this other car included rear suspension parts, and fiberglass fenders, etc. So, he never built two different cars, only a major rebuilt the first and only Race Shop Fiat...

excellent Deano, facts we love, but we love the truth more, thank you.

Russell " The original race fiat owner"  ;D

that fiat ???
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/294910_371358806244925_802412440_n.jpg)

and here's the chimpance

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s720x720/521473_3886312047692_517892360_n.jpg)

What is in his  garage ?

Yes, from what Darrell said, that Fiat (red and white with soft top), is the car that was built with some parts from Vittone and off the Race Shop Fiat. Darrell never built a second car...

Four hours of tapes to review and digest... So much VW history.. Wow, what a week!

jouster engine how cool  :o

I've got a picture some might be interested in but when I go to post it, it gives me a "forbidden on this server message".

too large or wrong file type, has to be max size of 256k, right click on it select properties.  Check file size, or extension then change it.

That's not the problem. I've already reduced the file size to the smallest and the jpeg to the smallest size and I'm still getting the same message. Probably something to do with my MAC.

Nobody wanted to see the original Tim's and Ballard Fiat heads anyway. LOL!

Make sure the file name has ".JPG" at the end of it. Years ago Mac's didn't use that, and it caused problems in cross-platform situations.

pm sent

Possibly some issue with my account. No PM recieved.
Still trying to post pic.

Make sure the picture has Rgb colors, and not cmyk.

pm sent via the lounge message  check just at the right of your avatar pict  ;)

i was just flippin through round 1 write up that dean did, i found it kinda funny that the shop number was 21801 kinda made me chuckle  ;D

I'm glad someone caught that one...I'm sure Dean loved that every time he called Darrell..

ha! i bet so