NHRA Hall of Famer
Robert Bones Balogh has always loved horsepower. When he was 14 his uncle took his $35.00 and bought him a 1934 Buick Limited coupe. You could get your driver's license in California at 14 so Bones was ready to get behind the wheel.
In 1955, when Lion's drag strip opened, Bones took his '38 Chevy down there. He couldn't keep up with the guys until he got hold of a 283 Chevrolet V-8 and put in into a '49 Chevy. This was when he was hanging out with Ed Iskendarian and they became life-long friends. Bones went to work for Isky working on motors, grinding cams and dreaming up ways to make more power. Bones was at Isky from 1960-66 and anything Bones wanted to do when it came to drag racing was fine with Ed. In fact, Ed would help him out. They had over 250 wins at Lion's drag strip with that '49 Chevy and after putting a big 671 blower on it - it ran 113 mph and was unbeatable!
Bones then was sharing a garage with the Mallicoat twins and a few other guys. The twins were tearing down their Willys and they put his engine in it. He ran it a few times but the clutch blew up. B&M was just starting then and they talked Bones into putting a hydraulic line in there. The first B&M ran in the Mallicoat Bros. Willys. Bones drove that car for another year and then the twins got their engine ready and got started on their own.
Bones then met Big John Mazmanian at a local drag strip. They were both driving B/Modified Sports. John was king then but Bones' big 671 would always get a hole shot, always out of the gate that first low gear. He went to the 62 Nationals in Indy and won. When he returned and ran at Irwindale he was beat by Big John. They then became partners and John bought Bones' transmission, motor, blower, and injector for $500 and put it in John's car. Up till then J&J Muffler were friends of Bones' and they had sponsored all his cars.
John and Bones got a hold of a '33 Willys from a junkyard but it got stolen overnight. They then got a '41 Willys, and Bones loved it. B&M modified the quarter elliptic springs and then Don Long did the front end. Don was a real craftsman. They ran the same motor that was in Bones' 1949 Chevy fastback. It had went into Big John's Corvette and ended up in the Willys. It really held up. They even set a few records and beat some people with it.
Bones and John put a Chrysler in the Willys. It ran fast, way faster than the A/Gasser had been. After putting on some new tires they ran a 9.77 at Bakersfield and beat everybody. They were doing pretty well but, Bones, being young and crazy, decided to quit Big John due to differences of opinions. He met Dubach who had a '33 Willys. (Featured in the October 1965 Car Craft magazine) It had a Chevy in it and ran pretty good but it couldn't compete with the guys with Chryslers and Oldsmobiles. Joe Pisano saw them at Bakersfield one day and talked them into putting his Chrysler motor in their '33. Bones removed the Howard cam and replaced it with the Isky. Bones drove it but only after about 3 weeks he broke an axle and put the car into a wall. With a little help from is friends, Bones got it going again. The '33 ran better that the '41. They went to Indy that year and were runner-up to Ohio George.
Pisano decided to build a funny car and Bones decided to stick with the gassers. He got enough together to go racing again. That was the time of the Gasser wars letters when the dueling cam users would write scathing challenges to each other and they would be printed in the cam ads. According to Bones they were good times, he loved running the dyno at Isky.
About a year after splitting with Pisano, Bones teamed with Tim Woods and went on a nationwide tour. He ran the Stone, Woods & Bones '68 GT Mustang with a 467-inch Hemi called the Swindler A. This car ran A/Gas and ran an 8.80 in it's first time out. This car was featured in the February 1970 Super Stock and FX Magazine. According to the article, the highest top speed (as of Feb 1970) was 160.50 and the best E.T. was down to an 8.67. At the end of the tour that year Bones decided to quit racing to stay home with his expecting wife. That was until about 5 or 6 years ago. He's back into racing now with a Camero. He says "Just going to the races doesn't get it, he wants to RACE!"
