Bennett is back at Bremerton making magic in a sharp Chevelle
by: Steve Heeb

Phil Bennett was introduced to drag racing as a means to cope with a family tragedy. Soon after the 10-year-old Phil’s family moved from New Orleans in 1973 to be closer to his mother’s family in Bremerton, Children’s Hospitals in Seattle diagnosed Lukemia in his older brother Curtis.

Within days, Kay Noll packed up her three sons – Curtis, Phil and Darrell – and moved to Palo Alto, Calif., where Curtis was treated at Stanford University’s hospital. Sadly, he lost his battle with the cancer a year later. The greiving family returned to the Northwest.

As an 11-year-old, Phil was introduced to a group of of 16-yearolds at Bremerton’s West High and spent time with them in the garage to help with the loss of his brother. Soon the kids were busy with cruising and racing. By age 15, Phil was racing at the nearby Bremerton Raceway.

“I was part of the Handler’s group back when we wore red shirts,” Phil says of his involvement at the dragstrip from the time he was 17. By 18, Phil was racing Top Alcohol without sponsorship. “We started bracket racing with a Swindell-built front-engine rail,”

Phil says of being on the racing team. “We moved a blown alcohol rear-engine dragster.” Not too long later Phil hooked up with a Funny Car team and started following the Northwest racing circuit. “It had a big block Chevy running on alcohol,” he smiles, recalling those days. “I remember the Fox Hunt events at SIR and racing at Woodburn and Portland.” One weekend trip to Portland stands out in his mind. “After the race the first day we were crossing the bridge back into Vancouver to have a pizza dinner with the Bremerton Handler’s car club when the transmission in our tow vehicle started smoking,” he says. “‘Big Bruce’ Fields towed us back to the track with his ’66 Impala and a guy opened his parts store in the middle of the night so we would have what we needed to fix the tow vehicle between rounds all the next day.”

Unfortunately, they discovered too late that their frantic fixing efforts throughout the day were futile. “The Portland guys gave us the keys and told us to lock the place up when we left,” Phil laughs. He remembers the pulling out of the track in total darkness around midnight. “We were the last ones to leave,” Phil says. “And on the way back at the same place on the same bridge it smoked again.”

Even rough spots like that didn’t bring Phil and the gang down. “Racing is always a good time,” he says. Responsibilities, however, outweighed the good times and Phil, in his mid-twenties at the time, took a break from racing and became a building contractor. Phil’s extended departure from the sport recently was broken as he made a return to the dragstrip this year.

“I left Bremerton 16 years ago,” Phil asserts. “Now I am right back at Bremerton. This is where my roots began.” He credits support from his crew in helping making his return possible. “It’s more of a race team than anything,” Phil says of the group that includes Paul Cermak, Troy Connor, Mark Barlow and Jeff Steinborn. Phil picked up a smallblockpowered Vega panel car that has become a background project. “I found a Chevelle that was closer to being done,” Phil says. The ’68 Chevelle sports a 468- cid Dart Motors aluminum small block Chevy bolted to an ATI Powerglide transmission.

A Hughes 6282 transbrake holds back the 32x14.5x15-inch Hoosiers until it’s ready to launch. Phil has been running it in Super Street, Super Gas and Super Pro brackets. Innovative Autobodies applied the colorful paint job on the Chevelle before Tony at AirX applied hand-painted the logo with special meaning for Phil. “Me and my brothers were raised in New Orleans which is the origin of the Mardi Gras masks,” Phil explains of the tribute to the family’s history. “Hocus Pocus is kind of a voodoo thing, but we are all about good things.” Seven is Phil’s lucky number, even marrying his wife Sindy on 7-7-07. “I even try to stop filling gas when the pump stops on a seven,” Phil laughs.

Luck and hard work were on tap as Phil and friends got Hocus Pocus ready to do some magic at the track. “Paul Cermak has been a big help,” Phil says of the owner of North Shore Auto Works in Belfair, Wash. “That is where we do the work on the car.” He also credits Motor City in Mount Vernon, Wash. “I really appreciate they’re support” Phil says of Motor City. “They’re good guys.” “We’ve been working on the car for about six months,” Mark Barlow says of prepping the colorful Chevelle. “Getting it all back together and dialed in.” Perhaps a little too dialed in, as Phil and crew soon were busy making the required licensing passes at Bremerton Raceway in early June.

“I pushed it into the 90s,” Phil says of making the car faster. “That is why I need to get the license.” On the track, Hocus Pocus bears plates that read 2BFLYN. “Those are the plates off my Corvette,” Phil says with a smile. “Partly because I am working on my pilot’s license. And partly because when we’re driving the Corvette the two of us be flying.” On one recent trip down Bremerton’s dragstrip, it was the hood of Phil’s Chevelle that was doing the flying. “I was going 128 miles per hour when the hood ripped off,” Phil says with a cringe. “It flew 50 feet in the air.” “We’ve learned a lot,” Troy Connor says of the little setbacks the team has experienced. “Things are going well and we’ll see how it goes.” Troy says Phil has been a friend for two years, and he was excited to have a chance to get involved with the team. Phil and wife Sindy, who works in emergency medicine in the Bremerton/ Silverdale area, are trying to put the team’s efforts to good use.

“We’re trying to raise money for Children’s Hospital through our T-shirt sales,” Phil says. They are preparing a website hocuspocusdragracing.com that will market shirts, hats and gear. “We are donating 50 percent of all the proceeds to the Children’s Hospitals in the states we race in,” Phil says. At some point, Phil also hopes to revisit his racing roots. “I’d like to race Funny Car again,” he says. “That is where my heart is.” But for now, Phil and friends are hoping Hocus Pocus can provide a little magic of its own.