Wild Bill & Asmodeus

Bill Weichelt had arrived in the UK in 1967, posted by Uncle Sam to serve in the US Air Force. After some time crewing for Dennis Priddle and Rex Sluggett on Tudor Rose and racing his own Mini Cooper in Junior Street he obtained the Dos Palmos car from Keith Schellenberg in 1969. Having already had experience of driving many vehicles, including fuelers, in the States, he soon mastered the now unfashionably short wheelbased car and before long became known as 'Wild Bill'.

1970 saw Bill trash the motor before getting the car back into the low eights with a best of 8.3/182, it was running as well as it ever had in the States half a decade earlier. At Santa Pods August Championships Bill entered the car in the Top Dragster class and made it all the way to the final where he came up against the mighty 'Revolution' Dragster of Clive Skilton. Two weeks earlier Clive had become the first Brit to go into the sevens and had repeated the feat at this meeting. Bill was desperate to beat Clive and, for the first time, appeared in a full firesuit and mask. The reason for this was apparently that he had upped the nitro content of his fuel quite considerably. The gamble didn't pay off however as he pulled a red light and a huge wheelie before shutting off to a losing 11.26/137.74 to Clives 7.86/136. Bill did manage to take the NDRC Championship points title and the Top Dragster crown. He took top honours at almost every BDR&HRA and NDRC meeting and set a new World Speed Record for the Standing Start 500 metres at 10.12/120.6mph. He also set the flying 500m record at 185mph. Incidentally Bills crew included two brothers called Page, Dave and Gary, who would go on to make their own mark on UK Drag Racing in the years to come. The car also featured in an advertising film alongside Nobby Hills Houndog exiting from Londons Piccadilly underpass!

During the year the car received a new paint job and a new name; Asmodeus, the King of the Devils was born.

In 1971 Bill took the car to Elvington to have a crack at the world standing start kilometre record of 16.5 seconds held by Mickey Thompson. Although his time of 17.7 seconds fell short it was good enough for new British and European records and the car was estimated to have been travelling at 275mph at the end of the kilometre. Bill commented afterwards that the slicks had grown to about four feet tall as he crossed the finish line.

1971 saw Bill sit out the main points championships and instead take the car to various locations around the country, where he participated in demonstrations and match races to promote Drag Racing, some with Dennis Priddles fueler. On August 8th Bill and Asmodeus made their final UK appearances at Blackbushes NDRC meeting before Bill packed up and returned to the States. The car went with him and Bill reportedly entered it in the NHRA Nationals on September 1st-6th 1971.

And now?

This where the trail ends, for the moment. I have been unable to find any info on Bill or the car since they returned to the States. When Gary Goodnight contacted me he wanted to know whatever became of the car after they sold it. We exchanged  a number of e mails and I was able to provide him with most of the details of the cars time in the UK.  But we really wanted to find out was what happened to it after that. Sadly Gary passed away last year without ever finding out the full story.  As you will have read on the first page of this article Bob Keith would love to find the car and restore it to its original condition. If anyone out there can help complete the picture please drop me a line. Our attempts to locate Bill Weichelt have failed so far. If you are reading this Bill please get in touch so we can complete the story of the car.

This clip of Bill in action in Asmodeus taken by John Hutchinson recently appeared on Bill Pratts excellent Draglist site.

 Part Two

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