FEEDBACK ARTICLE: STEVE COLLISON - THE MAN WHO LOVED DRAG RACING TO DEATH

How true, how true, and how many times I have seen Stevie's pea head somewhere in the pits or on the starting line, shooting.

When one or more of my cats would die, I would dream about them for a year or so later. I'd say, "You're alive. You're alive." Same with my mother and father. And the same with Steve. I still dream about him to this day. The frequency isn't the same, but he's still there. I told Cathy that once. I told her that Steve was right there the night before, and he's okay. I called her once to tell her that.

How different things would have been if he had lived. I'm sorry it was me who heard his last breath. And for the first time I now know whose photo he was looking for --- Malinda.

Dear God, I miss him so. - Dale Wilson

FEEDBACK ARTICLE: STEVE COLLISON - THE MAN WHO LOVED DRAG RACING TO DEATH

How true, how true, and how many times I have seen Stevie's pea head somewhere in the pits or on the starting line, shooting.

When one or more of my cats would die, I would dream about them for a year or so later. I'd say, "You're alive. You're alive." Same with my mother and father. And the same with Steve. I still dream about him to this day. The frequency isn't the same, but he's still there. I told Cathy that once. I told her that Steve was right there the night before, and he's okay. I called her once to tell her that.

How different things would have been if he had lived. I'm sorry it was me who heard his last breath. And for the first time I now know whose photo he was looking for --- Malinda.

Dear God, I miss him so. - Dale Wilson

Thanks for a great article about Stevie. When Blevins and I brought him East from Los Angeles, he decided that he needed an Italian name to hang out in Norristown, PA. So with all of my friends he would say that his name was Steve Collucci. God Bless the memory of our pal "Colluch". - Ollie Volpe

Poignant. Well done. I remember the days talking to Stevie about a variety of things which impacted my world of the time, tractor pulling and how the drag
racing market had influenced pulling.

I recall the phone call I got from Stevie telling me about the loss of our mutual pal, Woody Hatten, who lost his life to a heart attack on a flight from
Toronto to D.C. That was a very bad day, too. Then the phone call that day in 2000 from Dale telling me that Stevie was gone.

Stevie was, as Jon and Dave stated, one to chase tangents from time to time, but I think that anyone who has a passion for their craft tends to be that way, at times.

But to me, Stevie was at his finest that day in September, 1981 when he was in a rage over the loss of the Modified eliminator, and led the protest. The shot of him with that expression of outright indignation and a determination to tell the world about the injustice sticks with me to this day. Anyone who encountered Stevie during the U.S. Nationals that week saw that "look".

Stevie blazed across our sky for all of those years, then "poof" was gone over the horizon. We are all poorer for his passing. I wonder what his take would be on the current condition of our sport...it would be interesting reading! - Steve Cole

As with Dave Wallace, Steve and I were trans-continent friends. When we'd meet at the odd event it was as if our conversation was just briefly interrupted from a previous encounter. What those of us who shared the unique bond of drag racing friendship and its various challenges had in common was - passion for what we were, each in our own way, doing. In that area Steve had no equal. He was my friend and I miss him to this day.- Jon Lundberg

Thanks for remembering Stevie in print and pictures. He was one of the most memorable characters I ever had the luck to have known. His passing defines bittersweet one more time.- Neil Britt

It doesn't seem that long ago and I remember it like it was yesterday... I was just getting started in the sport. I met Collison in the early 80's. He knew all the guys I worked for back then and he would talk to me when most of the people in the business wouldn't give me the sweat off their balls even if you were doing something for them. One day he took the time to explain how and why there was disclosure in circulation because I wanted to know why they gave away what seemed to me like a lot of magazines. As I rose in the ranks of Drag Racing he never changed. I've learned to better appreciate the value of people like Collison. In the immortal words of Ed 'Ace' McCulloch "you meet the same people on the way up as you do on the way down."- Mike Kloeber

Great guy and good friend, good story it just doesn't seem like ten years. - Scott Weney

Kepner hit the nail on the head "he was drag racings best friend" Yes he was a true icon in the drag racing world and his love was truly to the little guy he loved sportsman racers. We all lost a dear and great friend.- Doug Fazzolare

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