George Snizek Nominated for the Drag Racing Hall of Fame
by Randy Vogt, member of the NY Metro ISOA chapter and designer of the chapter logos.
Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Michael Jordan, Drew Henson and Dave DeBuscherre might be green with envy. Because although they played two sports professionally, none of them have been inducted into two sports’ Hall of Fames.
That high honor will belong to NYMISOA’s own George Snizek, who was inducted into the Long Island Ladies Soccer Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005. George has been nominated to be inducted into the East Coast Drag Times Drag Racing Hall of Fame in Henderson, North Carolina in 2008 and has also been nominated for consideration for the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame by drag racing icon, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits.
George is well-known to the local soccer community as a longtime referee, former player, and Open Division Coordinator of the Long Island Ladies Soccer League. He has been a NYMISOA member since 1996 and has officiated Long Island Junior Soccer League matches since 1983. He also founded the West Hempstead Chiefs’ travel team program in 1980.
During the 1950 and 60s, the West Hempstead resident was a whirlwind on the drag racing circuit with Pacer’s Auto.
Based in Oceanside, Long Island, The Pacer’s “Snizek & Dodge Racing Team” — George Snizek, driver, and Charlie Dodge (1931-2002), head wrench — was a crowd favorite on the drag strip, always delighting fans with tire-smoking performances from their Tasmanian Devil, a Chrysler hemi-powered 23T Altered Roadster, which set numerous track, class and speed records across the AA/A, CC/FD & A/FD classes. Snizek & Dodge amassed over 150 wins together on the Northeast U.S. dragstrips.
Honors include:
- NHRA AA/A Class Record for 154.90MPH in 1963
- Popular Hot Rodding’s “Best Appearing Car & Crew” at the 1963 NHRANationals in Indianapolis
- NHRA AA/A Class Record for 161.87 MPH @ 9.56 SEC at the 1964 NHRA Nationals
- NHRA CC/FD CLASS Record for 165.13 MPH @ 9.34 SEC in 1966.
Snizek & Dodge were also the subjects of a 1965 documentary, “The Tasmanian Devil.”
The Pacers team was also a founding member of the CARS Magazine Racing Team, as well as Official Road Test Consultants for that publication. They were the East Coast distributors of Nitro-Methane Racing Fuel.
After a Hall of Fame-worthy performance that spanned two decades, George retired from drag racing in 1969 and started concentrating his athletic pursuits on soccer instead.
As history repeats itself, after a long absence from drag racing, George and Jerry Joaquin from Arizona will unveil a brand new “Tasmanian Devil II” Chrysler hemi-powered blown alcohol ’23T altered at the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame Reunion in Henderson, North Carolina on October 21, 2007.
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