Group,
For those of you who haven't been to Bonneville in the last 15 years,
Dave Dozier is the guy who built and raced (along with partner Ed Hegarty)
the supercharged straight eight 1930's Chrysler Airflow 2-door sedan
beginning in the late 80's. They posted some pretty impressive speeds and
several records prior to Dozier finishing the XO/BGS that put Goodguys Gary
Meadors, Hegarty, and Dave into the Two-Club.
For the past few years Dave has been running a 500+ci Chrysler Hemi
"crate-motor" in the streamliner, posting speeds in the 325mph range. He is
truly one of "nice-guys" of the LSR hobby.
I called today and spoke with Dave's wife Elizabeth as well as with Dave
briefly. It seems that Dave had long complained of headaches and a "ringing"
in his ears. He and Elizabeth were going somewhere in the Sacramento, CA area
early in the month when he suffered a seizure. Luckily Elizabeth was driving.
On about November 8th he underwent surgery for a malignant brain tumor
slightly behind (I believe) his left ear. After approximately 3 weeks in the
hospital he was released today. Still to come is the chemo, radiation, and
therapy to regain some of the functions that got short-circuited during the
surgery. Right now he has some memory loss and has a little trouble putting
sentences together. A portion of that is due to the medication he's on. When
I spoke with him he was pretty woozy and was having trouble staying awake.
I would suggest cards and letters rather than phone calls in the
short-term. Elizabeth seems to be holding up well but it took me an hour to
get through on the phone. I'll check with her in a week or so to see how
things are going. It could be that calls would be welcome, I just got the
feeling that she needed a little time to get a routine going. Maybe someone
else on the list has a better read than I do.
Their address is:
Dave Dozier
6822 Rock Park Drive
Orangevale, CA 95662
(916)990-0984
Ardun Doug King
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