The car has a colorful history, dating back to its inception in 1966.  Built by Dick Czepiel with influence from Fred Rosner, the car came out of the box a winner! 

Initially driven by Riverside Park's famed Danny Galulo, it won the 1966 Riverside Park Championship.  In 1967, Gallulo vacated the seat and was replaced by four time Nascar Sportsman Champion, Rene Charland.  Running its entire career as a Nascar Sportsman, Rene guided the 888 to many victories between 1967-1968, while running the "All Star League" and larger venues such as the mile at the old Trenton Fairgrounds.  1969 saw another change for the 888, as Dick Czepiel sold the car to Jack Mocchio of Springgield, MA.  Jack put a young, up-and-coming driver, S J Evonsion from Connecticut in the car.  Together, Evonsion and the 888 made a formidable team, racking up close to fifty wins over the next three years.  These wins included the last Riverside Park 500 held on the old 1/5 mile configuration, the last race at the Westboro Speedway that year, and the inaugural race at the "Park" on its new 1/4 mile surface.

The car is a 1936 Buick with an 327 CI Engine.   Current owners are Phil and Steve Elliston of Southampton, NY.

Comments:

I used to watch this car each week at Riverside Park. My friend Steve Delaney and I would get tickets from his dad who worked at CASEY Chevrolet, a sponsor of Dick Czepiel's 888.

The original 888 was a Hudson bodied Sportsman car, not even a Modified.  It was indeed driven by Walt Czepiel .  It was a beautiful, well built car that had as much money invested in it as a full fledged modified back in that time. Many often wondered why anyone would put that kind of money in a Sportsman car,  The next car built was a Modified.  The three windowed coupe shown in the above picture.