THE HEAVEN & HELL TEAM
Drivers: Rick McCann and Carla Pittau
Rick and Carla are married, have 7 children (A 1970 Camaro, a 1984 Camaro, a 1970 Pontiac Catalina, a 1997 Pontiac Firebird, a 2001 Chevrolet Silverado, a Black & White Moggy called Pontiac and a ginger Tabby called Nitro Ginger.
Rick and Carla also share all work to the cars, with Rick specialising in fabrication and suspension work and Carla in transmission building, whilst engine building, axle etc. is a shared effort.
(BTW: We do not share a surname as we got married in Italy, where the bride may change her surname to her husband's if she really wants to, but in absence of a specific request the State assumes that even if you got married you do not necessarily wish to lose your identity.)
Pit and start line crew: Dave Buckland with wife Chris
Dave joined us in 2007 and soon proved himself to be a great addition to the team. An ex-AA engineer, he is definitely a "very nice man".
He's spent numerous weekends of forced labour and has suffered all aspects of race car preparation with us, bearing all with a great sense of humour.
Wife Chris is the team manager, as well as being in charge of start line photography and catering and has proved to be a fantastic addition to the team. Her unruffled stance and helpful and hard working mind-set greatly contribute to the success of Team Heaven & Hell.
Colin and Grace Roaf
Father and daughter Colin and Grace have now been part of the team for a couple of years and have grown in experience and commitment.
An auto-electrician by trade, Colin is our chief sparks, dealing with all wiring matters and spending several weekends of forced labour at the Heaven & Hell Headquarters..
Grace is an exceptionally smart and thoughtful teenager and she helps out with all aspects of car preparation as well as taking videos and photos of the launch for the team.
Among other smart things she accomplishes, she's building a real working airplane as part of a school project. I know!!!!
Reserve Driver: Tog (aka Andy Rogers)
Honorary Team Member and Reserve Driver Tog has been trusted with our pride and joy twice, and he made us proud both times.
His current PB is 9.79 with wheels well up. If we had 3 cars (I know, I know) he would for sure be the third driver..
Tog has been going drag racing since 1977 and when not driving other people's race cars or doing his day job he is News Editor of Eurodragster.com known to all as the fastest place in cyberspace and the best drag racing news site in the known universe, as well as some parts of the unknown.
Honorary Team member Corrado Pittau
Corrado is Carla's brother and a bit of a mad scientist. An electronics engineer by trade, he just needs to read a book to understand exactly how a hydraulic transmission works and explain it to Carla who has rebuilt a few several times. (Or a book on quantum mechanics, or on entomology, or ballistics... etc..)
Corrado's day job is maintaining and repairing electronic diagnostic and surgical equipment for a major hospital in Genova, Italy, but he finds time to be of help to the team even on the phone, as well as physically crewing at the Easter Meeting in 2001 and we hope he will find time to be with us again in the future.
Rick in action, modifying headers for the '84
Rick's greatest dream, racing in Super Stock, looks like will come true in July 2010, when the team travels to Sweden with their '84 Camaro, purchased from good friend and Californian Super Stock racer Bryan Broaddus.
Here Rick is making the new headers fit the Super Stock legal 400 small block Chevy built by Gary Hettler and recently purchased from Super Stock racer Byron Setters.
The Heaven & Hell Team
at the Summer Nationals 2008
The Heaven & Hell Team
at the Summer Nationals 2008
The Heaven & Hell Team
at the Summer Nationals 2008 + an intruder!
Ex crew member Jemma Harrison
Jemma hugs Rick after a round win
Chris Buckland