Hi-Speed Power Equipment

[Dog427435]

[b]Growing up on Long Island in the fifties and sixties was very different then it is today.
Nassau County was mostly farm lands and malls were nonexistent.
The closest place to shop was the Village of Valley Stream, a sleepy little town one block wide
and eight blocks long. When we would go to town my greatest thrill was to walk the couple blocks
away from town to Hi-Speed Power Equipment.
Having gone with my Dad to West Hampton Drag Strip and Freeport Speedway since the mid fifties I
was totally obsessed with cars of all types and any kind of race car!
Frank Dominianni is the owner operator and has been in business since the forties. Frank was a
road racer and there were always cars by his shop I had never seen before. You must remember back
then foreign cars were few and far between. Frank raced a Crosley powered Nardi in the early fifties
later graduating to Corvettes.
Hi-Speed was the first shop in the area to have an engine and chassis dyno and did everything,
engine swaps, conversions, repairs, you name it. He was a master with the early Vette FI units.
He had customers who wanted small / big blocks in sports cars and he got it all done.
In the fifties Frank had a number of business deals with Tony Pompeo, an importer of Italian racing cars.
"I bought 300 Italmeccanica superchargers from him one time, Frank said, I sold and installed them
for every variety of car including Cadillacs, Fords and Studebakers."
The amazing thing is, Frank is still running his shop 7 days a week 10 plus hours per day!
The shop is a time capsule - I don't think the exterior has been painted in forty years. I can not even
imagine the parts and pieces that are in this shop.

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[Dog427435]

[b] There are items in the windows I'd swear I was looking at over forty years ago!

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[Dog427435]

[b] I'd love to have a week to explore every part of this fabulous shop and discover the
treasures it holds!

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This picture is dated 1970

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Frank - still having the time of his life!
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[Dog427435]

[b] Engine dyno - 40+ years ago!
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/photos/frankdyno.jpg
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[Dog427435]

[b] Frank with Crosley powered Nardi 1951 - note radiator mounted behind the engine.
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Nardi being restored
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[Dog427435]

[b]
September 22, 1962

At the Watkins Glen raceway in Watkins Glen, New York, an SCCA National race is held for
A and B Production cars.
1st in A Production, 1st overall: Richard Thompson in a 1962 Corvette.
2nd in A Production, 2nd overall: Frank Dominianni in a Corvette.
1st in B Production, 3rd overall: Don Yenko in a Corvette.
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Frank & Don Yenko
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Frank won the SCCA B Production National Championship twice!

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[Dog427435]

[b] Frank's '62 currently owned by Mike Yeager


Generation: C1
Year: 1962
VIN: 20867S104248
Race Numbers: 69
Ownership: Mike Yeager
Sponsors: Hi Speed Power Equipment
Drivers: Frank Dominiani
Status: Collection


Original Color: Red
Tires/Wheels: Tires: Goodyear Bluestreak 600 Sports Car Special Wheels: 5.5 x 15 Steel
Engine: RPO 582 327, (then 283) fuel inj.
Driveline: RPO M22 4 speed, RPO 687 heavy duty brakes, suspn, 3:70 posi
Top:
Interior:
Condition: Vintage Race Prep

Unique Characteristics:
Modifications: RPO 488 24 gallon tank, roll bar
Notes/Race History: Frank Dominiani bought and raced this car from new. In 1964 up against
all odds, he was the SCCA BP National Champ driving this car against Cobra
and newer Stingray Corvettes.
Registry ID Number: 21




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[JoeG]

Ive passed that shop now and again--Merrick Rd?-------.
Always stared at the window also-------Sorry to say I never stopped in..
"Real Nice" history of the shop and owner........

[Charley Lillard]

Leave it to Dog to come up with more simply amazing stuff.

[Stefano]

I was doing some consulting work for Valley Stream Chevrolet about 7 or 8 years ago (?) and I drove by Frank's shop on the way to our favorite cigar shop.

I stopped in and tried to buy some of those vintage parts.

Spent quite a bit of time with Frank, interesting guy to say the least. Muscle cars, roadracing, even motorcycles (he had a turboed Kawasaki which he had built) was not the ice breaker.

He let his guard down when I noticed an original radiator for a 1936 Fiat Topolino, he had sitting on a shelf.

He had both a Chassis and engine Dyno. First on Long Island he said.

Now don't shoot the messenger, but he told me that he did a lot of Dyno work for Joel Rosen, before he got his own, as Motion Performance was just down the Road.

I can't find my old post? Glad you had a chance to get that info posted. Very Cool stuff. Most people just drive by and have no idea of the history contained between those walls!

John Gunnell and I were just discussing Frank at the Vette Fest and he just interviewed Frank for a future story. (I hope this is ok to post)

[Dog427435]

[b] Have some more racing shots of Frank -

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Frank & Don again
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Frank would bring Mom along on Victory laps!
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[x Baldwin Motion]

How cool is that!! I'll be up that way this weekend, maybe I'll look inside instead of just driving by. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
thanks for posting Glenn http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/BruceRocks.gif...but Glenn barks!!

[indyjps]

Anyone with a fuelie vette have him work his magic lately?

[Dog427435]

[b] Great article on Frank in this weeks Old Cars Weekly News! They could write volumes about this man!

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[Charley Lillard]

I got a message from Marty Schorr regarding the article above..

"Saw the postings for Frank and some references (in OLD CARS and VETTE VIEWS) and I should let you know that Joel Rosen NEVER brought any Motion Corvettes or Baldwin-Motion cars to Frank to be "dialed-in." Joel got his Clayton Chassis dyno in 1963, some four years before starting Baldwin-Motion with me, when he raced a fuel-injected split window coupe, THE SKUNK. Joel was a FI Corvette expert and certainly had no reason to ever bring big-block cars to Frank, whose specialty was road racing FI small-block Corvettes.
When Joel relocated Motion to Baldwin, NY, in 1965, he moved his dyno with him.
Frank is a dear friend of mine, as is Joel Rosen, and really not sure how those comments came up in the John Gunnell interviews. I believe Gunnell will be talking with Rosen to straighten it out.
I did the first story on Frank's #69 Corvette (VETTE Magazine), now owned by Mike Yager, when it was owned by Jan Hyde. "

[x Baldwin Motion]

Bizzarre http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif bad memory or..........

Jeez, maybe a newspaper mixing up the facts, what next!!?? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[JoeG]

I didn't know Motion when he was on Atlantic ave, but I worked with a good friend later on, who knew one of Joel's friends Tommy Drew and he would tell me how Joel and Tommy would race each others fuelie vettes after Joel dialed them in.--I bummed around Motion from '67 into '73 and then again later on . I would bring my Chevelle to be dialed in back then ,from time to time, and never heard of Joel sending customers cars to be dialed in by another speed shop.------I know I wasn't at Motion 24/7 but Joel/Motion wouldn't attach his name to a car that was dialed in by another seed shop because Joel believed he could dial in a car better than anybody else--that's just the way he was....Motion/Joel dyno-tunes were the performance buzz on the street back then to squeeze out help squeeze out all the HP. he could from your ride ,"that's a fact".........I never had the pleasure to meet Frank D. from Hi-Speed equipment although I passed his shop from time to time and was told he was mainly into road racing-- sounds like a nice guy.... ....Joe

[Dog427435]

[b]When I was up in NY last month I spent a little time with Frank. He is doing well, though unfortunately his wife is not.
Someone smashing in the front door glass of the shop, in a failed attempt to get in has not stopped him from working everyday. It's a shame even the best of neighborhoods cannot guarantee your belongings safety these days!
He gave me a copy of August's issue of the "Great South Bay Magazine" which had a nice article on him.
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[JoeG]

Sorry to hear about the attempted break-in--
I don't get out to L.I much anymore or else I would stop by to shake his hand.......
Hope his wife is comin' along-----Nice article,Thanks for sharing...Joe

[scuncio]

Talk about a perfect way to spend one's life...racing a solid axle Vette and running a speed shop.