BBF Forum Contributor of the Year Award

[D. Sea]

Winner this year is Nick Bruno - (Someone Please Post Pictures)

Nick, thanks for ALL you do to keep us together and in line. Next year you get to cast a vote on who gets it next along with past winners...

Here's the story behind this award.... Thanks to Kim Smiley aka Maverick for donating this prestigious award

Russ Mills Award

BBF Forum Contributor Of The Year



My reason for offering "Number Six" for use as a traveling trophy is contained in the following story. This may be a long, boring read to some, but I'll bet there are others in our group with similar stories. I'll try to keep it short.

When I was a little kid, my dad owned a Mobil Service Station, the old kind where the attendant would rush out when your car ran over the hose that rang the bell inside the station. When he wasn't busy pumping gas, cleaning windshields, airing up tires and topping off fluids, that same guy stayed busy inside, because the station also offered repair services, up to and including overhauls. Like most such places, my dad's shop employed young, car loving guys of high school age and up. They earned money for parts and tires during the day, and used the station at night, building their hotrods and racecars. Guys like Russ Mills and Mike Peterson had my full attention. They were like Superheroes to me, building and racing amazing machines. These guys were engineers and innovators, because the after-market for speed equipment was almost non-existent back then. Mike's car was a Cadillac powered '31 Ford pickup with a roller cam, at a time when few people knew what a roller cam was. The chromed headers that swept above those running boards made me know I had to do that stuff when I got older. (By the way, I recently reconnected with Mike, and he still has that pickup. He has never stopped fixing, changing, improving that truck, but it's still in black primer, like it was in 1959.) Well, Russ had a homebuilt dragster, powered by a flathead Ford with an Ardun conversion and homemade fuel injection. (Russ was one member of "The Tachmasters" club who insisted on building Fords. His transportation was a hotrod '53 Mercury.) As Mike tells the story, Russ' dragster suffered an engine explosion like he'd never seen. It was so violent and so complete, that this connecting rod, (#6 as indicated by Russ' six dimples punched into the big end) was the only part of the rotating assembly that didn't come out in three or more pieces. The crank was in three pieces and the flywheel fell into the scatter-shield. This event was the talk of Dad's station, and I saw the guys pass that #6 rod around, discussing the cause of the disaster. The rod then disappeared for a while; (weeks I think) then reappeared with the chrome plating and was handed to a little kid. That was no small gesture, as that little kid had never been anything but a nuisance to the Tachmasters. But Russ Mills was that kind of guy.

About three years later, in 1962, a hit-and run driver killed Russ as he crossed the street near his home. I cried A LOT.
Since I first put my hands on #6, it has held a place, first in my room, later in every home where I've lived. I first held that rod at the age of seven, and to this day, my wife will tell you she's tired of dusting it and moving it from coffee table to shelf to desk to coffee table. I just smile. I've treasured that piece of junk for the last 48 years, as a reminder of the kind of guys hotrodders and racers can be...always chasing "better" and "faster" and "stronger", but stopping often to help out somebody else who's after the same things (like so many guys on the Big Block Ford Forum). Without ever thinking that maybe they were heroes to a kid.

Until I joined this forum, I didn't realize there were so many people around who approach life like the Tachmasters did. That's why it seems so obvious to me that this relic should be handed to a deserving person, year after year. It seems fitting that this person should be the one who has made the greatest contribution to our hobby, our sport and our passion. The one who really "gives something back". Like Russ did. And as long as that person knows a little bit of the history of #6, it will always be recognized as an honor of the highest order.

Maybe we could call it the "Russ Mills Memorial Trophy". Russ and all the original Tachmasters will smile. A lot of them are still around, still building cool cars.


2009 Chuck “Tiny” Hager - Lonewolf1970
2010 Nick Bruno - bruno

[Treeyasoon]

That is a great story...I could tell Maverick was getting a little choked up when he was presenting the award...now I understand why.

[ThndrChkn]

That's awesome Damon. Thanks for sharing. And, congrats Nick.








Doug...

[Tore]

Great story I liked it.

Tore

[maverick]

Yeah, guys......Nick was the obvious choice. After our old forum took a turn, it kinda looked like our close-knit group was gonna become "fragmented". Nick rode in on a white horse.....and this Bash shows that his efforts paid off. As I recall, it wasn't easy for Nick and he took some crap in the process. This guy really gave something back.

[windsor]

Awesome story, and a deserving recipient.

[schmitty]

Nick, we rib may rib you here and there, but it's only cause we love ya, you big lug. I couldn't think of anyone better to recieve that award this year.

[bbf-falcon]

Nick, we rib may rib you here and there, but it's only cause we love ya, you big lug. I couldn't think of anyone better to recieve that award this year.

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[lghting94]

Congrats Nic ka well deserved award for keepingthese guys together and thanks for all you do!!

[patfromjersey]

Congratulations on the award Nick! You earned and deserved it. Just looking at how many replies to Damon's post on Bash videos on the original site in the garage, speaks volumes. Here is where it's at. Thank you so much for keeping us all together.

[bruno]

Guys and Gals ........ im still in shock over this award ...... when i was called up saying i won ..i was in la la land ...it is such a prestigous feeling i couldnt start to describe it .... i was truley lost for words when i stood up and recieved that award ..thanks for everyone that was involved and thanks everyone for the kind words.

Nick Bruno

[Nevs]

Congratulations Nick. Very cool and deserving!

[KY JELLY]

congrats Nick You may talk mean on the internet , but you are a top notch gentleman in person and very deserving of the award. I am just mad I did not have enough time to hang around and put the coboosh on that silver turd friday

[665 falcon]

Nick is top shelf for sure, well deserved. Cool story Damon

['65 T-BOLT]

congrats Nick!

[jcoxracing]

Thanks for sharing that story Damon.
Congrats Mr Bruno.
Justin

[billandlori]

Very good choice. Nick has done much that we know of and prolly many times more behind the scenes to keep this going. All during lots of ups and downs in his personal life too.

Congrats Nick, you deserve it.

Bill

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