Route 66 Motorsports

TONY LUKESH

ALBUQUERQUE RACER TONY LUKESH
Tony Lukesh is an Albuquerque product. He was born in Albuquerque and grew up there as well. After graduating from Rio Grande high school he attended Universal Technical Institute in Phoenix Arizona for training in diesel mechanics.The diesel education was soon put to use in Albuquerque . His first job was calibrating diesel injector pumps.After becoming an expert injector pump calibrator he moved on to a local FORD dealership for 12 years as a mechanic, 4 of which were in the position of shop foreman.He was also employed as a machinist at a local automotive repair shop . Tool salesman has been his job description for the past 3 _ years .

Tony and his wife Ruby have two children. A 22 year old daughter named Christina and a 17 year old son named Earl. It appears that Earl has the Lukesh passion for drag racing. He has made three passes in the orange 1955 Chevrolet that Tony races.Earl’s best run so far has been an 11:40 pass. Look out Tony , it’s just a matter of time!

The drag racing bug bit Tony in 1979 when he was still in high school. The fact he didn’t have a race car didn’t slow down his participation in drag racing. Being a creative individual he just decided to race his dads work truck in the trophy class. Winning 3 out of four trophy races is a special memory. Of course he hid the trophy’s and the fact that he was even racing from mom and dad until a little later in life. After mastering the trophy class and wearing out dad’s work truck he moved up to the money class in 1982. It was a little different in 1982 than what we have today. You registered your dial in at the back of the timing tower and oh yes that dial in was your dial in for the entire day. You better be on your game and know your race car under those conditions!

Every racer has a memorable day at the race track that could probably make the "AND THEY WALKED AWAY VIDEO". Tony was candid enough to share just such an experience with us. He was racing a 12:70 second Vega.While aiming for neutral he threw it into reverse in the traps which resulted in a spin off the track manuever . He remembers it wasn’t so bad because there wasn’t anything out there to run into in those days , no guard rails or score board so hey it could have been a lot worse !Just a little scraping on the car body and knocking of the knees for the driver.

Out of town racing was especially fun when Amarillo was host to the NHRA Division 4 Bracket Finals.Tony enjoyed the journey to Amarillo with other Albuquerque racers. Trips to El Paso , Roswell and Firebird Raceway in Phoenix were fun as well . Tony likes Firebird Raceway , it is his favorite race track. His recent trips have primarily been to tracks that are hosting Super Chevy events.
Tony has competed in five race cars since he started racing. Dads work truck, a 396ci 1966 Chevelle , the green off road Vega, a red and white Super Gas Vega ( heads up class , a little too expensive to be competitive) and the orange 1955 Chevrolet bracket car that he presently races. The orange 55 has an interesting history. According to Tony there was only one guy locally that knew the history of this car.It was originally called "HEART BREAKER" . That person is Paul Greenberg, someone who goes way back in Albuquerque drag racing .HEART BREAKER sat idle from 1968 until 1988 when Tony acquired it . He remembers that it was a lot rougher than he had estimated when he bought it and tried to get $500.00 for the car, there were no takers. He has refused much larger offers than that for the car since he refurbished it.During the refurbishment process the first order of business was new floor pans , then new steel front fenders and a fiberglass hood to replace the flip front end. Joey Baca is credited with painting the car and doing the sheet metal work. Tony takes credit for installing the Automotive Machine built engine, the power glide, the 9 inch FORD rear end and ladder bars with coil over suspension.Tony also wired and plumbed the car.The engine is a 477ci big block Chevy with oval port heads and a solid lift cam. The power glide does not have a brake . The best ET is 11:07 at 122 mph in Albuquerque and will run 10:80‘s in Roswell. Even without a brake the car 60 foots @1:51 seconds.

Will there be any more race cars for Tony Lukesh? Well yes there will be at
least one more .Tony plans to keep grooming Earl in the 55 and then build a light tube chassis car for Earl and become his tuner. That’s a sweet deal Earl ! The 55 will remain in the family as there are no plans to sell it.Tony wishes to thank his crew members who are Ruby, Christina, Earl and brother Kenney