A Tribute To Our Fellow
Member and Friend, Rich Warber
I feel the
express need to post a tribute to Rich Warber. On 8-16-99
Rich died after a 9 month battle with cancer. Many of you
may not remember Rich right away, but if I tell you that he
is the guy who built the first streetable Chop-Top Fiero, I
am sure you'll remember. I first met Rich at the 1997
Fierorama; his Black, Chop-Top, Chromed V-8 Fiero was on the
way to claiming yet another 1st Place trophy. I
was so impressed by that car that soon after the show, I
asked Rich to come and work for me. The way it came about
was I had asked Rich if he would build me a Chop-Top car and
he said he didn't want to do it from his home. So
I asked him to come and work for me & he agreed. We
combined/refined Rich's idea and some of my resources, into
building my Blue Chop-Top and we became able to offer it to
other Fiero owners in a kit form. All this
developed from Rich’s original idea. Rich was a car nut even
before the Fiero was ever built. I remember one day sitting
at his dining room table and looking at his scrapbook of his
extensive drag racing career in the '50's & '60's. You
wouldn't believe all of the old newspaper clippings he had &
every one of them had something about "Rich Warber won this,
Rich Warber won that". It was pretty neat to
know that he had drag raced and toured the country competing
against Don Gartlis, Prudhome, Ivo and many other BIG names.
Back in those days Rich was trading wins with those guys
every weekend! I'd say, in his day, Rich Warber was the
'50's equivalent of "John Force" or someone similar. In
the '50's & '60's there was not a lot of money in Drag
Racing, but the "hero's" were just as big. I last visited
him a couple of weeks prior to his passing. We sat at the
dining room table and talked. As weak as he
was, I know that he would have given anything just to prep
his car for one more car show. During that
visit all Rich wanted to talk about was cars and what he
wanted to do to his Fiero next; the guy never gave up.
Here are some comments from NIFE members
Rich, we're going to miss you. -
V-8 Archie
Memories taken from
the newspaper pages circa 1959
“A really
beautiful piece of machinery in the form of an “A”
competition sedan showed at Oswego Sunday. Rich Warber’s
Crosley station wagon with 301 cu. in. of hauling Chevy took
home the gold. This one must be seen to be appreciated. A no
dent, no rust immaculate body with stock front end and
windshield contrasts sharply to some of the creations seen
in this class. A hefty slingshot frame and roll bar are
built into the rear half of the little station wagon and
they look rugged enough to push back a tank. A full belly
pan and the aforementioned Chevy bent 8 complete this
screamer.”
“Rich Warber of Geneva took the coupe and
sedan trophy with a 12.92 elapsed time and 103.44 miles per
hour top speed with his 1949 Crosley body, 1957 Chevy
engine.”
“Rich Warber of Geneva, one of the most
colorful drivers in the area, will also be entered in the
Oswego racing events. Warber’s hot rod is so powerful that
it has nearly flipped at the starting line during the fast
getaway. Once the machine’s front end was lifted up six feet
in the air by the power of the initial thrust of the
engine.”
Oswego, ILL., August 2, 1959: “Starting
things off with a bang was Genevan Rich Warber who did a 150
ft. wheelstand with his injected 301 Chev powered Crosley.
Thanks to a hefty push bar, the Little Wagon didn’t go over
on its top!”
Most teams, firms, or organizations have
star performers. Car clubs are no different and in the world
of Fieros, Rich Warber was a superstar! The reason he was so
is not because of his drag racing history; nor was is
because of his innovations in re-engineering and styling
that he brought to bare. It was chiefly because of his
willingness to share his knowledge and talent with those who
sought his help and experience.
Personally, I will
always remember a conversation that Rich and I had a little
over a year ago. My wife, Sharon, and I along with other
NIFE members were participating in a car show at Fairway
Pontiac. Sharon and I were chatting with Rich’s wife,
Jeanette. During that conversation, Jeanette mentioned that
Rich would be celebrating his 60th birthday
during that next week. I decided to go over to Rich and pass
along my congratulations. “I understand you are going to be
40 next week”, I said. Rich smiled at me and replied, “I
wish”. The conversation that followed, as always, was
comfortable and charged with Rich’s enthusiasm for cars.
As I approach my 40th birthday, I hope
to be as young a man at 60 years old as Rich was.
We will miss you, Rich.
- Blake Bandusky
I recall meeting Rich and hearing about his plans
to do a real show stopper, a "chop top" Fiero. As with all
of his ideas, he had thought it through thoroughly, had some
sketches, and pretty well figured out how it was going to be
done. I also remember looking at all of his scrap books of
his racing years, the many newspaper clippings that
proclaimed "Warber Wins". Rich was a true perfectionist in
all of his work. He could handcraft and finish fiberglass
with the best of body men, engineer mechanical components
with relative simplicity (that I wish I could do) and end up
with a finished car that not only commanded attention
wherever he went, but usually came home a "winner"! He did a
majority of the installation work on my first V8 Fiero, and
helped me to re-route wiring to give the engine compartment
a real "show" look. Rich was a craftsman without equal and a
real Fiero friend. We will all miss him. - Paul Vargyas
Rich Warber became a member of the Northern
Illinois Fiero Enthusiasts in 1995. He first started showing
his black 1986 Fiero GT with a fully chromed V-8 engine that
he installed himself using the Gary Zumalt installation kit,
in the Fiero Custom Class at the Indian Uprising All Pontiac
Car Show in August of 1996. NIFE members were truly amazed at the beautiful detail
work that was exhibited in this gleaming black, 450
horsepower, V-8 Fiero. This Fiero was capable of doing a
0-60 time in 4.6 seconds, “Sometimes even faster, it depends
on when I pull the clutch out,” Rich once said to me.
Needless to say, Rich took First Place at this show. Little
did our club realize that this was just the beginning of a
long, consecutive string of awards earned by this Fiero and
it’s creator, Rich Warber… The following month, Rich again showed his Fiero, this
time at the Detzler All Pontiac Car Show. Rich took Second
Place at this show in the Fiero Modified Class. Not wanting
to settle for being second best, Rich started to let his
creativity flow as the 1996 car show season ended, signaling
the start of Fall and Winter ahead.
As the snow started to fall, Rich continued to design,
cut, fiberglass and rebuild his Fiero into a beautifully
hand-crafted, “Chop-Top” Fastback GT. Rich’s Chop-Top Fiero
was the talk of the 1997 Midwest Fiero Regional/Dells Run
event where it was first manifested. Rich’s Fiero was such a
crowd pleaser, his car took First Place and Best In Class in
the Fiero Custom Class at this event. This was the most
radical expression of the stock Fiero design ever seen in
the Midwest! The awards continued to roll in as the 1997 car show
season was underway: a tie for Second Place in the Modified
Class (all modified cars in the show grouped together) at
the Gary Lang First Annual GM On Review Car Show; a First
Place in the Fiero Modified Class at the 7th Annual
Indian Uprising All Pontiac Car Show; Class Winner and
People’s Choice Award at the 1997 NIFE Fierorama; and
finally, First Place in the Fiero Modified Class at the 20th Annual
Fairway (formerly Detzler) Pontiac All Pontiac Car Show. It
was quite a year for Rich and his wife, Jeanette – quite a
stunning Fiero, too! When you are on a roll, you keep rolling. The 1998
Midwest Fiero Regional/Dells Run event brought another Best
In Class for the Warber’s Fiero – for a second year in a
row! After that, the First Annual Trip To The Village All GM
Car Show and the Second Annual Gary Lang All American Car
Show both brought First Place awards in the Fiero Modified
Class. In July of 1998, the National Fiero Festival of the Fiero
Owners Club Of America was held in Collinsville, IL, near
St. Louis, MO. The first time Rich’s Chop-Top Fiero was
shown at a national based Fiero event, guess what?…First
Place and People’s Choice Awards were earned! Rich once told
me that this was his most coveted award because his car was
voted on by Fiero Owners from around the US who truly
appreciated the Fiero. And the string continued after the National Show with a
First Place in the Fiero Modified Class at the 8th Annual
Indian Uprising All Pontiac Car Show and finally a Second
Place at the Fairway Pontiac All Pontiac Car Show to round
out the 1998 car show season. At this show, Rich introduced
a new, hand made, self designed hood to accent his near
stock looking, yet radically modified Fiero. As we would later realize, 1998 would be the last show
season for Rich. Rich endured as his creativity flowed from
his mind to his hands. Rich’s next creation would be a
notchback version of his Chop-Top fastback GT. As Fall
turned into Winter, the fiberglass was laid, the first coats
of paint were applied. However, after Christmas that year,
Rich’s health began to decline as cancer was found near his
liver. Despite his bodily weakness and loss of energy, Rich
wanted to endure and he continued his fight despite his
weakness due to the cancer as he continued his work on his
next, dark purple, Fiero creation. As the 1999 Midwest Fiero Regional/Dells Run approached,
Rich continued his struggle to get his energy back to
complete his Fiero in time for the show. Despite his willing
efforts, his body would not allow him to finish his creative
work in time. As an honor of his efforts, an Honorable
Mention award was given to Rich at the Regional Event
because he wanted so bad to make ‘just one more show’. This
struggle continued and it was evident that Rich’s strong
will was loosing out to the cancer. On August 16th, 1999
right passed into a better life in Heaven. Through friendships he made in the Fiero community
because of his love for the Fiero, Rich’s memory will live
on as several NIFE members finished his Swan Song – a
beautiful, dark purple, 450 horsepower V-8, Fiero Chop-Top
with an ‘interchangeable’ notchback/fastback body style.
People can come and go, but friends live on in our
memories forever. - Jim Hallman
Dear Friends,
Your kindness and sympathy are more deeply appreciated
than any words of thanks can ever express. Thank you for the
flowers and cards. We appreciate your kind words and
prayers. Thank you for being there. You have a special place
in my heart.
We as a family want to say a special heartfelt THANK YOU
to V-8 Archie, Paul Vargyas and Gary Smith for all the time
and hard work they put into getting Rich’s car back together
and looking so great! We shall always remember their
generosity. Thank you all so very much for everything, you
have simply been wonderful to us.
Always,
Jeanette, Lloyd, Katie and Steve (The Warber Family) |
