S&S Willys

The S&S Racing Team

A Brief History

Charles H. “Chuck” Stolze was the owner/operator of the S & S Parts Company in Falls Church, Virginia. He was also the mastermind and the driving force behind the S&S Racing Team from 1961 until 1972. In addition to the Falls Church location, there was a second store in Winchester, Virginia operated by Larry Strowbridge who also happened to be one of the sponsored racers with his Eastern Drag News Record Holding 1955 Chevrolet Jr. Stocker.

The S&S Racing team included a couple of circle track cars but drag racing was the primary focus. Everything from Jr. Stockers to Dragsters and Funny Cars were sponsored over the years, but the Gas Coupe and Sedan category was the most prominent. The “Gassers” represented 14 of the 26 total cars with S&S signage over the 12-year history of the team. In the Fall of 1963, the S&S Team emerged on the national scene with an outstanding showing at the NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis. Three team cars were entered. Gene Altizer won the A/Gas class with his Anglia, Pork Zartman won C/Gas with Charlie Hill’s Filthy Forty WIllys. And Dave Hales was runner-up in D/Gas with his Willys. Gene Altizer made it all the way to the final round of Middle Elinator finishing as runner-up to Ohio George Montgomery.

There weren’t many national events during the 60’s but S&S Team members managed to appear in 28 class and eliminator final rounds, winning 23 times for a .821 win percentage. These were national events conducted by NHRA, AHRA, UDRA, and NASCAR and there were only a few each year. In addition, S&S racers held National Records in 10 classes including NHRA, AHRA, NASCAR, and NAAR official record lists. Drag Racing publications Drag News and Eastern Drag New also had Record Lists and S&S cars were well represented there as well.

One of the many “highlights” for the S&S Racing Team during the decade of the 60’s was in 1964 when the NHRA and the British Drag Racing Association joined forces to arrange and produce the 1st British International Drag Festival scheduled for September 19 to October 4 1964. Ten American Drag Racers were invited to travel to England aboard the SS United States and conduct exhibitions of American Drag Racing at 5 different locations including Blackbushe Airport and 4 airfields operated by the Royal Air Force. The S&S Racing Team was one of the 10 invitees with the K.S. Pittman/Chuck Stolze Record Holding 1933 Willys A/Gas Supercharged coupe. The other racers were George Montgomery with his Willys, Don Garlits and Tommy Ivo with their fuel dragsters, Tony Nancy and Bob Keith with their gas dragsters, Ronnie Sox and Dave Strickler with their A/Factory Experimentals, and Doug Church and Dante Duce with their modified drag race entries. Estimated spectator count was well over 120,000. It was a special honor to be selected and an interesting trip considering the 6-day travel each way aboard the ship in addition to the 16-day event schedule.