Mark Niver Story

Here is the speech I planned to share at the Mark Niver Memorial.
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My name is Patrick Hale . . . and I want to share a story with you about a very unique friend of mine, who was known for giving and sharing in the most unusual of ways. Let me take you back in time . . . a time when Jimmy Carter was in the White House.

I started drag racing about the same time Mark Niver did. I made my very first pass at Beeline dragway in 1970 during my freshman year at ASU. A few years later, in 1978, I bought my very first dragster from Mike Abby, who along with John Powers and JT Stewart, are our hosts here tonight. Thank you guys for this tribute to Mark Niver.

At the time I was a young engineer, fresh out of college, working at AiResearch. I had also started working on a computer program that could predict the ET and MPH for all kinds of drag racing cars. This computer simulation worked really well for my own dragster and a few other racers knew about it at the time.

At the end of 1979, another AiResearch engineer tracked me down and asked if I could do a computer simulation for a Pro Comp dragster. He had an idea for some new kind of supercharger and wanted to know how much quicker and faster a dragster would be if the standard 14-71 blower was replaced with a “Lysholm compressor”. That engineer was Norm Drazy.

I told Norm . . . yes, I could do that. But I would need to know some things about a Pro Comp dragster, like how much it weighed and how much HP it made. As we got more and more into the computer simulation the aero differences between my small block chevy dragster and a big-tired, big-winged, Hemi-powered Pro Comp dragster needed to be understood. This was early 1980, there wasn’t any wind tunnel data for dragsters, and my experience with Lear bizjets just didn’t apply.

Drazy said he would arrange to get us some data. I was very excited about all this – as engineers just love data. A couple of weeks pass, and Norm calls me at lunch . . . it’s Wednesday, March 12th 1980, over 30 years ago. Norm says “we’re finally ready”. He wants me to ride my 750 Honda down the freeway to Riggs Road south of Phoenix, on the way to Casa Grande. I asked him “how far south is Riggs Rd”, as I’ve never heard of it. Drazy says it’s about 8 miles south of Maricopa Rd. This is long before Charlie Allen ever dreamed about leaving OCIR and building Firebird.

So after work I get down there about 5:30, take the Riggs Rd exit off I-10 and what do I see . . . a full-on Pro Comp dragster sitting on the side of the road. Norm Drazy is hooking up a long rope from the dragster to back of his little blue Datsun pickup truck. Who’s dragster is it? Mark Niver.

Well, what are we about to do? We’re going to tow Mark’s dragster down Riggs Rd . . . a two-lane public road on the Indian Reservation, in the middle of the afternoon with traffic going back and forth in both directions and measure how much power it takes. I think to myself . . . what a brilliant idea! The Indian police should be here any second.

Quickly, Mark yells “let’s go” and jumps into the dragster, ready to go 100+ MPH, all excited and eager to help with this “Crazy” Drazy science project. Norm gets behind the wheel of his little truck and tells me to jump in the back to read the beam scale he has rigged up to measure the force required to tow Mark’s dragster.

We start out at 20 MPH and it takes about 45 pounds of force. I write this down in my notebook using the mechanical pencil from my pocket protector – after all I had just come from work. Then we go 30 MPH, 40 MPH . . . 50 MPH. Mark’s giving us the thumbs up, yelling "faster, faster . . . let’s go" . . . as he’s used to being in the seat at over 200 MPH. But the wind’s really blowing me around in the back of the Datsun at only 60 MPH and I’m about ready to call this whole thing off.

But we’re getting good data . . . real data from a real Pro Comp dragster. I’m just as excited as Mark and Norm, we’re all young and the adrenaline’s flowing. By this time we’ve traveled several miles west down Riggs Rd, so Norm decides it’s getting late and floors the 4 cylinder pickup and we slowly start picking up more speed. This long . . . choo-choo-train . . . of a Datsun pickup truck, extra long tow rope and Pro Comp dragster hits 65 MPH and that’s it. Steam’s pouring out from under the hood of the Norm’s little pickup.

Norm and Mark bring everything to a safe stop. Mark can’t stop talking about wanting to go faster – 100 MPH he shouts! We cool off a bit . . . turn around and head east, back toward Mark’s waiting trailer. On the tow back we try again to get past 65 MPH but the little Datsun just doesn’t have the HP to do it.

Finally, we load the dragster back into Mark’s trailer and take off in three different directions. Life is good . . . I have great data . . . nothing’s broken . . . no traffic accidents . . . and best of all . . . no jail time with the Indian police.

And I wonder to myself on the ride back home to Tempe . . . what kind of a man let’s two crazy aerospace engineers tow his dragster as fast as they can down Riggs Rd on a Wednesday afternoon? Mark Niver – R.I.P.

Patrick Hale
www.DragRacingPro.com

 

Great story Pat! Thanks for sharing it with us. I had planned on sharing a story at Marks other service but after Lexie ( Marks granddaughter ) got up an spoke about her grandpa through tears, there was no way I was gonna try to get up there. A helluva guy taken way too soon from us. The TAD pits just wont be quite the same anymore.

 

PSI blower testing

Here’s some video I took when we put the PSI blower on Mark’s car for the very first time . . . over 22 years ago - 1988 at Firebird.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3lKCW53HO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJv9stLHFvU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBPFxUcfL9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkcM4tAPMBo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvNL6oS2qck

 

That story tells a lot about the man. Thank you for sharing!

 

psi screw

i remember norm testing the 1st screw at firebird raceway with a small blk chevy and the throttle stuck wide open and every one dove in the ditch they did get it shut down without a blow up norm told me the all the details

 

Thank you!

Thanks so much Pat for sharing all of this....fantastic read! I passed this along to a few of the remaining gear heads still around here, what once was the glorious AiResearch ;-)

Eric Ekstrom

 

Two years ago today. . . still remembering and thinking about you Mark Niver! And your passion for family and drag racing.

Patrick Hale

 

RIP Mark ! One of my fabricating idols, and good friend with a big smile even if others thought he had a bad day.........

Bob Meyer
Meyer Race Cars / San Diego
2010 Our 45th Anniversary

 

Thanks for sharing that Pat

 

I still have Marks phone numbers in my cell phone and I have thought about erasing them, but I know I'm gunna need them in the future. God speed.

 

Don, I still have them in my phone too.

 

I just had a very talented high school senior clean up all the audio and video problems in the Mark Niver videos I posted a while back. The sound is now in sync with the images and you can make sense of the problems and issues Mark and the team are talking about. Go up a few posts to find the new links.

As I told this young man about Mark, and his passion for drag racing and family, and the circumstances of his death almost 3 years ago . . . he asked if he could edit my raw video and put together a new YouTube style tribute to share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUYLXVGQcA8

 

Thanks for updating and sharing, Pat!

 

Just an awsesome guy who was loved and admired by everyone. Racing at Woodburn this weekend with the Houghs (and Cowies!) and Mindy is sportin' a Mark Niver tribute tee. We will never forget...

Bill Moore

 

A modern day warrior. Fitting song to use for that video.

Tom Sawyer by Rush.

Chris Saulnier
Mechanic Falls, Maine