Dayton Daily News

It's the oldest speed shop in the nation, and the fellow sitting behind the counter is a drag- racing legend. The 20-plus members of the Flag City Classics car club are crammed into the shop, hanging on every word coming out of "Ohio George" Montgomery's mouth.

For old hot rodders, it was a Sunday morning from heaven. "It was like stepping back in a time machine, for all of us who grew up in the '50s and '60s, when Ohio George was really the man. He taught the West Coast boys how to really drag race," said Denny DeSalve, one of the visitors from Findlay.

"When I was a kid, my Dad was a drag racer, and I got to see Ohio George race, but to stand in his speed shop, the same place he's been for his entire life, and hear the stories, man, it's a trip I'll never forget," DeSalve said.

The scene took place in early May, as members of the Flag City Classics from Findlay caravanned south to Dayton to spend a few hours meeting Dayton's George Montgomery, hearing his tales of drag racing in the '60s and to get a tour of the shop that has built hundreds of high-performance engines.

"I'm flattered that you all came down," Montgomery opened with. "And what a neat group of cars," he added, looking around the parking lot. A couple of Corvettes, a beautiful '67 Camaro, a '56 Chevy pick-up — everyone had a cool ride in the group.

Once inside, however, the topic quickly turned to the legend of "The World's Wildest Willys," the trademarked term for Montgomery's famous '33 Willys gasser, with which he won three straight NHRA titles.

"It started out with a Cadillac in it, then I put a blown Chevy in it, and eventually I switched to a Ford, and that's when my relationship with Ford really took off," Montgomery explained. "We took the Willys to Ford's wind tunnel to see if we could find a way to make it go faster, and that's when their engineers explained that it was really dangerous, all it wanted to do was fly."

"Ford wanted me to continue drag racing and they wanted me to make a Mustang famous, and we succeeded in 1967 with the Malco Gasser," Montgomery said. "Once I drove that Mustang, which handled like a dream, I really understood, so I parked the Willys."

The Willys is now on display at the Henry Ford Museum.

Montgomery, a self-taught mechanic, was fascinated with engines and mechanical things from childhood. A journeyman toolmaker at Delco, Montgomery could build anything he needed for an engine. He realized he could make a lot more than $1.05 an hour by running his own speed shop.

He created the name George's Speed Shop in 1950, when he began building engines on the side. Even Hot Rod magazine acknowledges that it is the oldest continuously operated speed shop in the U.S.

The shop still operates every day on Brantly Road, where George and his son, Gregg, continue to sell parts and build engines.

Richard Jones of Vandalia organized the visit for the group, which included his long time friend Denny DeSalve.

"George couldn't have been more gracious to welcome us on a Sunday morning," Jones said. "The group felt like they were visiting a legend, getting an audience with a real hero."

"He signed autographs for many of them, and a few bought models of the '33 Willys, some posters and T-shirts. They had a ball."

For more information on Montgomery, visit www.georgesspeedshop.com.