There's no way Ivo could list all of the racing pals he's employed and enjoyed over the thirty (30) year period of his extensive Drag Racing career...

...that would include all his "numerous" crew guys, or Pit Men, as he referred to them in "The Good Old Days".  But his primary prerequisite was that they all be true BUDDIES with whom he could travel down the road!!!  The camaraderie was staggeringly good, and needed to be, especially in light of all the good and bad "Grand Adventures" they lived through together. So here are but few of those who spent numbers of years with him, as both good friends and hired help, in TV Tommy Ivo's own words. 

 

TARZAN ( John Austin)

After losing my real bother in a car accident. Tarzan all but became my real bother when we toured the country together for six years. And life was always especially good when we won a nation event...!!!


But he'd fire me every year just before the end of the tour, to make me drive home all by myself. To show me just who was BOSS!!!  Plus he introduced me to my X-wife and Yee Gods did that end up being a costly adventure...


Inez (Anderson) Ivo

Shown here after leaving behind the early days of knee-boots and bell-bottom pants. I married her twice during the next decade and she was worth the PRICE OF ADMISSION both times. We had some great times!!!


ROD PEPPMULLER

He was my strong right arm though out my racing career. He fabricated the steel part of my trailers and we were in business together twice, one of them being GM of my chassis shop. He was even the best man at my wedding!


KENT FULLER

Without him, there would've been no Tommy Ivo - or at least TV Tommy as we know him. Kent was the craftiest guy I ever knew. But look at our now-and-then photo's. I wore the poor guy out having him build far out cars for me!!!

 




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


DON PRUDHOMME

Was just a friendly little old garden worm when the car club tore up a motel (that's me with the lamp shade on my head). Then I showed him you could make money in drag racing and Don became the Awesome Snake.


RON PELLEGRINI

Ron bought my twin engine car and (large-sized) Bob Gardilla drove it - tight squeeze. Then Ron ran my four engine car for three years, and we're good friends to this day. NICE yellow dragster you had Ron!!!



BOB MURAVEZ-aka-FLOYD LIPPINCOTT JR. (CL)

Crewed many years for me before he had his own driving career. They had Tony Nancy's (CR) blown motor in the twin car this weekend. (L) is JIM DEIST and (R) JEFF CLEMENS.


BILL MARCEL (L)

Ran the Ernie's Camera dragster that I drove incognito during the Margie TV series, when I wasn't suppose to drive. You can see I was still POISON IVO on the back of my jacket I was wearing. ERNIE is (CL)


DAVE ZEUSCHEL

He partnered with me to be the First in the 7's and First 190 mph. New and rough here on the way to our first race and win in Seattle, where we also took in the World's Fair (as seen from our helicopter ride).


TOM McCOURRY

Was my best friend for decades. Seen here on the first of my twenty-year long touring career, immediately after quitting the movies. We took pictures with every sign and went to every tourist attraction we came upon.


He threw a snowball at me when taking this picture and missed--Hah!!! Here we're at Pompeii Italy when racing in England. He later bought my 4 engine car and campaigned it for 6 years and made it into the Wagon Master.


SHIRLEY MULDOWNEY

She raced me her first year in dragsters about fifty times - that was when Garlits had retired for a while. She honored me by asking me to do the stunt driving in her movie (she couldn't do it because of her racing schedule).


TERRY HOWLAND and GREG (Buzzby) LANG

They crewed with me on and off during all of my funny car years. Terry threw so much clutch dust at me, winning this IHRA nationals, that all you could see was teeth on my black face!!!


DON (The Swamp Rat) GARLITS

Last but not least. I would be remiss not to mention a guy I raced sixty to seventy times a year. The fans would tear down the gates to see us run everywhere from the United States to England. Just KIDS here...!!!


SANDY OOMENS

After retiring, I moved her in for twelve years and found out there was life after Drag Racing. We traveled to the four corners of the earth together, seen here getting off a boat somewhere in this world - SHAZAM...!!!

 

TV Tom tips his hat to his #1 crew chief nowadays. Clare is a Master Web builder extraordinaire without whom this web site wouldn't have been possible. He was also an NHRA & IHRA national event winning champion driver in his own right. Clare notes - "after developing this website over the last three-and-a-half years with TV, I continue to be even a bigger TV Tommy Ivo fan."

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