How we got M&H Tires

The last time I smoked a tire on a good run was at Irwindale Raceway, 1969. 9:20 ET, 164 MPH, it was on a 4” Avon drag slick. Tires were one thing that the drag bikes needed badly in those days, all we had was a 4x18Avon Slick. I could get six smoke runs and I had to put on a new tire. I think Boris Murray got less than that. One day when I went to Venolia Piston (Sponsor) to pick up some pistons and as I was leaving, Joe Pisano, (Mr. Venolia Piston) called me into his office for a chat. We had been talking about 30 minutes when he asked me if there was anything he could do to help my drag racing. He had already hooked me up with Mondello Heads and Joe Mondello and I had come up with a good port for Shovelheads. I said we sure could use a tire. He said OK lets see what we can do and he picked up the phone and called M&H tires and talked to Marv the owner. They kicked it around for about 30 minutes, he ask me if I would test some tires for M&H if they started to make them. Of course you know my answer. Five weeks later a freight truck pulled in front of my house and dropped off seven M&H drag slick with a list of different compounds and instructions. I don’t remember how many engines I broke or how many clutches I went through but it was a lot. I tested tires off and on for a year, and that’s how the tire thing got going. I don’t think any body knows that the thanks for the tires we have today goes to Joe Pisano of Venolia Pistons. I wish he was still around, Bless him