DW16. After tech is over. Me and my copilot leave the track and hit a drug store. We buy some snacks and I ask the pharmacist for the Sudafed that you can make meth out of. She asks for my ID and than says she can't sell it to me. My copilot laughing says, you've been flagged. After several tries, the Pharmacist notices that my driver's license is expired. All the bragging Thumper likes tell everyone how my car got over 16 mpg was because I was on my best behavior on that DW.

After a few hours we go back to the track. I walk over the Billy. He is looking a bit stressed out, in deep thought, out of the norm. Whats wrong I ask. Nothing he says. So I tell him the story about how I just drove across the country and made it thru tech with an expired driver's license. He's looking at me with a feeling of relief in his eyes.

Billy opens up about what's bothering him. Billy's comp license was expired. Since Billy's plan was to spray his car at this DW he used his brother's ID and licenses to make it thru tech without anyone noticing. But now Hot Rod doesn't actually have him registered. We come up with a plan on how to fix the situation.

Both of us cracking up about how stupid we are.

His whole family got The Spirit of Drag Week award for a reason. For those of you that have never met Billy, he was an awesome guy. A buddy. He will be missed by many especially for Drag Weekers who can call on Billy any time they need some obscure stat that someone could dream up.

RIP Billy

Great story, thanks for sharing it with is.
Bill

R.I.P.

He's one I never had the honor of meeting, it will never happen now although I feel I know him from all the years here.

just too sad. billy, you will be missed by many.
R.I.P.

I was lucky enough to meet Billy, Boone, and Papa Gebhart at the March Meet one year. I happened to be in SoCal for work and took a couple of days to experience the event. Walking through the pits, I came across the unmistakable pit area containing Billy’s Valiant and the Barnyard Viper. All I did was introduce myself as Stealthwedge from Mopart’s, and Billy smiled and immediately made me feel like a longtime friend. The first pass I watched of his that day, the hood flew off the Valiant and flipped into the air at a little over half track. I made my way back to his pit to see if I could help with anything. I was amazed to find that While Billy was spinning a yarn over the incident, he wasn’t worried about the damage whatsoever. It was clearly looked at as an opportunity to finally put “the right” hood on the valiant. I quickly learned that this was Billy, enjoying everything that each moment had to offer.

I’m really glad I got to meet him that weekend. Rest In Peace my friend.

Very sorry to hear this. My condolences and prayers to the family. RIP MoparBilly

I never got to spend much time with Billy on drag week. But I could always count on at least getting to speak with him for a few minutes every year. That was a time I always looked forward to and a time I will miss in the future. The Mopar community lost a great one.

RIP Billy, and my condolences to the family.

I never met Billy or went on Dragweek, but got to live vicariously through his stories.

I met Billy in 2009 at MATS in Vegas, we spoke for a short time about Drag Week and I joked about tagging along some year. Billy made the point that each year they take 4-5 cars and have never had a co-pilot for each car. He said If I wanted to go he'd find me a seat.

I never took Billy up on his offer, but surely wish I had.

God Speed Billy!

x2

that is one hell of a shame . He always seemed happy to help .

my condolences to his family

Tex

Heartfelt condolences , and God's peace to all who knew and loved him.
Very sad news.

Really saddened to hear this news, Billy and his yearly stories are a part of the reason I went to Dragweek in 2017. One of the first things I did was to find Billy in the tech line and tell him how much I loved reading his posts and was always checking for the next update... he looked at me and said “ I didn’t think anyone actually read them” we both paused for a second and burst out laughing. During the rest of the week we would talk a bit and say hi as we went about our days...be well wherever you are Billy.

Sad to hear. condolences to family and friends.

Our community here, really the world, lost an Icon. Godspeed Billy.

So sorry to hear this. I never met Mopar Billy, but I too enjoyed reading his posts. Prayers for his family and friends . RIP Billy .


Mark

I was fortunate enough to have met Billy a handful of times. He was a great guy, a true gearhead. He will be missed.

Man I was really Hoping he would be one of those that kicks cancers ass ! I just hope the whole family can overcome this loss as it is a great one.

I got to meet Moparbilly at Woodley Park 5-6 years ago I guess, talked about DW and how I really wanted to get to run it at least once, and it was because of his writing and stories, how Hot Rod rarely mentioned the average guys in the writeups, so learning us average guys could do this was awesome. We even talked about me being a trunk monkey one time.
I ran the first Drag Weekend at in Arizona, and he made a point to come over and hang out and chat at the Phoenix track, we joked around and so forth, truly a awesome man and will be missed. RIP MoparBilly

I always enjoyed Billy’s no-nonsense approach to going fast and I poured over his build threads and Drag Week stories – probably like the most of us have as well. His low-buck, stock crank 440 builds always appealed to me.

I was at the Bristol stop of Drag Week last year and saw his car, but he wasn’t around. I regret, even more so now, not searching him out to talk to him for a few minutes.

A short video on Billy and his Valiant –
https://www.facebook.com/hotrodmag/videos/276729652990342/?v=276729652990342

Godspeed.