Page 12—SUSQUEHANNA TiMES Swim team hires new coach Pres. James Wetzel announced the hiring of our new Swim Team Coach, Mr. Eugene Funk and Assistant coach, Miss Rebecca Zim- merman. Mr. Funk, is a graduate of D.H.S. & West Chester College. He is a physical education teacher for the Donegal School District. Mr. Funk is known for coaching football & the wrestling team. This past year he won the Outstanding Coach of the Year in Lanc-Lebanon Co. & District III League. Mr. Funk is married to the former Judy Stoudt and they have 2 children and reside at Wood Street, Mount Joy. Our assistant coach Re- becca Zimmerman is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Harold Zimmerman of S. Barbara St., Mount Joy. Rebecca will be graduating this year from D.H.S. She has been on the Mount Joy Swim Team in the past and 99-year-old Lettie Long, the oldest resident of Lehman’s also is seen life guarding at the Mount Joy Pool. Miss Zimmerman has also helped the Community Playground Program teach lessons in the past years. In the fall Rebecca will E-Town College. The Parents Club would like to remind the public that there is a ticket sale for chances of a Raffle for “Meat” Gift Certificates being sold by any parent of a swim team member or call if interested to Judy Weller, 653-4843; or Mrs. Wetzel, 653-5130. Drawing will be held Mon., May 28th, 3 PM at the Mount Joy Pool. Also June 4th, 7:00 PM Lions Pool Parents will be meeting to plan new season. Dues will be accepted that | evening for swimmers joining the team by Treas. FT Joanne Nolt. Other impor- was. tant dates & committees will be discussed this date. Please plan to attend. nursing home, prepares to launch her balloon. Assisting are her nephew, Russel Hein, and nurse Peggy Byler. Kids launch balloons for old folks Residents of the Lehman Nursing Home in Rheems had their names scattered to the winds last Friday. The names were launched via helium balloons. Kids from Mrs. Dolores Purcel's 2d grade class at Rheems Elementary School released 71 balloons, each of which bore the name of a nursing home resident, or employee, or the name of a student in the class. People who find the balloons, it is hoped, will get in touch with the school. After three months, which- ever balloon traveled the greatest reported distance will be ‘declared a winner. The balloon launch was planned by Mrs. Gloria Straub, activities coordina- tor at the home, and her assistant, Mrs. Janet Wiegand. The launch coin- cided with National Nursing Home Week. The class of school- children has visited the home several times this year. Ladies from the Eliza- bethtown Church of God who helped out include: Dorothy Mellenbach, Janet Mummau, Ruth Garber, Kathryn Rutherford and Alta Smith. be off to . ! Phil Wagner got started in drag racing in 1974 when his brother Bruce gave him an old ’63 Impala, a beat-up old junker. When Phil told people he was going to race it, they laughed at him. “They stopped laughing when I made it into the East Coast finals at the York U.S. 30 Dragway,”” Phil notes. Most weekends find him there with the Devil's Disciple (that old junker). “U.S. 30’s a nice place to run,”’ Phil says. ‘“The staff is really helpful. I like it there.”’ Most of the scoffers probably didn’t understand the type of racing that Phil does: Devil's Disciple is a bracket car. Bracket cars are indeed drag racers, but they don’t have to be very hot: bracket racing is a matter of consistency and skill rather than brute power. In bracket racing, the idea is to get as close as possible to a certain start-to-finish time in a % mile run. The driver may ‘‘dial in”’ any time within his bracket. If his car is classified in the 13.99 to 14.99 second bracket, he can pick any time in between to aim for. When he races, he tries to finish the run as close to that time as possible. If a driver is too slow and goes over his time by even a hundredth of a second, he is disqualified. If he goes too fast, he won't approach his dial time closely and will lose the race. ““You’ve got to be within a tenth of a second to be competitive,”” Phil says. “It's more a matter of being consistent than being fast.”’ The toughest part of a race is the beginning. The driver must respond with precision to the ‘‘Christmas tree’’ (starting light, so called because it has a series of variously colored lights that turn on in sequence). “There’s a lot of races won or lost at the starting line,”’ Phil says. When Phil arrives at the U.S. 30 Dragway, he gives his car a very thorough tune-up. The spark and carbureter are adjusted for both temperature and hum- idity to obtain optimum performance. After the tune-up, he runs about three qualifying races to get a better idea of how the car will perform that day. Cars go faster in cold weather and slower on humid days. Despite its stock engine, the Devil's Diciple gets pushed rather hard in a race, and has burned out three transmissions and an axle. Phil has replaced both parts in less than 45 minutes to meet race deadlines. Phil gets lots of help from his sponsors—Don Hess of Donegal Auto Exchange and George Kay of Mount Joy Citgo. In return for gas, oil, filters, and mechanical help, their names are painted on the side of the Devil's Disciple. Phil Wagner and the Devil’s Disciple. Phil’s brother Bruce did the paint job. The Devil’s Disciple (The paint job and fancy lettering came from the same source as the car itself —Phil’s brother Bruce, who lives at RD2 Mount Joy). Unlike ‘‘rail’’ dragsters and ‘‘funny cars,’’ bracket cars don’t cost a fortune to won and race. The Devil's Disciple cost Phil nothing to buy, and the only modifica- May 23, 1979 tions it has are tractions bars on the rear axle, wide rear tires, a four-barrel carbureter and manifold, and a small fire extinguisher mounted near to the driver’s seat. The engine is stock. Phil spends less than twenty dollars a weekend on gas, entry fees at the U.S. 30 Dragway, and the like. Strange encounter Zion Lutheran Nursery School held its annual Fun Day last week, and the teachers and some mothers of the kids dressed up in bizaare outfits. Above, Carol Keim impersonates Big Bird: the kids thought she was for real.
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