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a fuel altered was the rarity of other But it was not a great day for the
fuel racers. There weren’t many Pacers. George Snizek drove off
nitro guys to learn from or swap the end of the strip and ended up
parts and information with back in with a fractured skull and a broken
those days. The devil was lucky; back, not to mention an extended
it had Charlie Hagenmayer and stay in a Montgomery hospital. But
George Snizek. In 1954 Charlie was there is some good news. Mr. Bill
racing a 1940 Ford powered by an France (the Present of NASCAR)
early Dodge hemi motor with such personally called to check up on
success that he became known as George and to tell him that all
“Charlie Dodge.” At the same time medical costs will be covered by his
George started a car club in his racing organization.
basement and called it “The Pacers
Hot Rod Club”. By 1960 the Pacers were back
with a new AA/A. It had a Bantam
The Pacers had a 1932 Ford fiberglass body on a Scotty Fenn
drag car with a 354 Hemi motor R88 frame and a blown, injected
but it needed horsepower help, so 392 ci Hemi. And so is born the first
they enlisted the help of Charlie “Tasmanian Devil”. The physical
Dodge and his motor magic. The appearance and performance of the
‘32 became one of the fastest Pacers drag racing was starting
cars around. Charlie and George to get the team local and regional
become good friends and opened fame with appearances on the
Pacers Automotive speed shop Dick Clark American Bandstand
in 1957. A speed shop needs a TV show, a display in front of
billboard and the Pacers built one the Playboy club in the heart of
of their own, a 1930 Ford roadster midtown Manhattan and a cover
with a Dodge Hemi. It was very photo and story in Science &
popular as the Pacers went to every Mechanics magazine. The Pacers
race with clean white uniforms, made it into Hot Rod Magazine with
matched not only to the race car, a story called “Fast and Fancy” by
but also to the Chevrolet pickup Dick Wells and Eric Rickman along The original Pacers Charlie Hagenmayer and George Snizek.
truck that was used to push start with becoming the CARS magazine
the race car and then pull the open sponsored racing team.
trailer back home. They were
always neat and clean, everything Due to difficulty in getting
matched, always. And that was in nitromethane in their area, the
1957! Pacers competed with their
Tasmanian Devil as a AA/A on
In 1958 the Pacers took a bold gasoline and as such held the
step and purchased a Scotty Fenn NHRA national record in that class
dragster chassis and powered in 1963, which held for three years.
it with a 454ci Hemi and six Running the car on gas or limiting
carburetors. The car was fast themselves to 50% nitro/alky, the
wherever it raced and they get Tasmanian devil was almost always
invited to a NASCAR sanctioned the best looking car as well as the
drag race in Montgomery, N.Y. in fastest. The Pacers Automotive
1959 (NASCAR actually sanctioned work load kept Charlie and George
drag races in the early sixties). tied to the business most weekends
6 Nitro Madness Magazine FALL 2020
