Dusty Haven

I was born in Trenton, NJ in 1945. I went to school, tons of dances, worked, got married, had kids, and got divorced right there in NJ's Capital. For four years I was a regular on American Bandstand. My Dad taught me most on my basic mechanical knowledge in the back yard. Thankfully he taught me well. Most of the rest of my life would involve automotive type motors in some form or another. I had several different $29 up to $100 cars that I fixed mostly myself right up until 1965. That was the first time I went to a Drag Strip. Atco Dragway in Southern Jersey. I had a new blue '64 Ford Custom 500 2 door sedan w/289 and 3 on the tree. I called it, and every other race car I ever had, "The Executioner." It started out as a high 18 second car. After much tuning and, and driving practice, the car was very successful and I won the first of my NJ State Championships in the very low 17 second range. Jumping ahead to my last race car. It was a '69 Olds F-85. I built the 461" olds motor in the speed shop where I was working at the time. It was the runner-up at the IHRA Summer Nationals in 1988. It went a best of 11.70's at over 112mph with 3 foot wheelstands. It could have gone faster, but it didn't have a rollbar. I never expected it to be that quick or fast. Between the slow and the quick were several Fords and a few MoPars of varying performance levels. Since I've told about some of my cars, I must thank my friend. Without whose help they probably wouldn't have reached their performance potential. Charles R. (Charlie) Morris has been so much help to me over the years, even up to today, that I couldn't have achieved half of what I have without his general knowledge but especially Ford knowledge. Thanks Bro!

On my 21st Birthday, (1966) I took my first job as a tractor/trailer driver. A dream I had all through my childhood. During most of the next 33 years, besides driving a T/T through 48 States, Canada, and Mexico, I had the pleasure of living on both coasts, and a few places in between. Drag Racing at tracks from NJ to Southern California. Some of which were; Atco, Englishtown, and (Strato-Rods) McGuire AFB in NJ (where I was "King Of The Hill for a month), Maple Grove in Pa., Cecil County in Md., Green Valley in Tx. Firebird in Id, OCIR, the old Irwindale, and Lion's Drag Strip in Cal. Speed World in Bithlo. There are a few others I can't recall right now.

My other employment ventures up have been mostly in some area of the High Performance Industry. It started at SCAT Enterprises in Cal. They made mostly HP Volkswagen stuff, but we had a speed shop for American cars too. From there I managed a small speed shop in Glendale, Ca.

In 1970 I moved back to NJ and trucking again. I bought my first Semi-Truck in 1976. Again I was off all over the country. In the late 70's I got involved with the UDRA and participated at bracket races anywhere I could. In the early 1980s I sold my truck and went to work for Ben Pilla Speed Shops as a store manager.

In 1989 I moved to Orlando. I met and married Caye at a singles dance here. That got me to start a DJ business that lasted until 1999. In 1993 I bought another t/t and went back 'over the road.' In 1999 I sold the truck to be home more. And started driving for Mears Transportation. 2000 saw me finally doing what I moved to Orlando to do. I was driving a bus at Walt Disney World.

In the past couple of years I've bought 2 cruisers. And started going to The Saturday Night Cruise at Old Town. The first was a little red '62 Mercury Comet I bought on eBay. Nicknamed "The Wanderer" because it was a top 100 song in 1962. Two young guys from England just had to have it, so I sold it later at Renninger's Car Show and Swap Meet. That led me to by my current ride. A '65 silver Galaxie 500 I also bought on eBay. I plan on keeping "Henry The VIII" for quite awhile. But you never know. HAHAHA "I'm Henry the VIII I Am," was a top 100 song in 1965. And ironically this is the 8th Ford I've owned. I guess that brings us pretty much up to date.

Check for my reports and Photos from the "Headlines" at Steve Butler's Cruise-In News.