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One of drag racing’s more colorful figures Stepp, who hailed from Dayton Ohio ran a string of highly successful "Billy the Kid" ProStock cars, from 1970 thru the mid 90's - 1969 & 70 were huge years for the newly formed Pro Stock class and Bill Stepp wanted to be a part of it. So Bill began his quest to become a dominant force in ProStock racing. With his "Billy the Kid" stable of drivers reading like a "who's who" that included Ronnie Sox, Don Carlton, Dick Humpbert even Herb McCandless for one race, Bill achieved more than he set out to do. His mainstay drivers, were Stu McDade early on, then Bobby Yowell, who burst onto the drag racing scene in the late 1960's in NHRA's E-Sports Class then in '71 graduated to NHRA ProStock racing, fielding a Sox & Martin prepared Hemi-Duster - doing quite well at the NHRA Spring Nationals at National Trail, Columbus Oh. Later in the mid to late 70's, Bill utilized the talents of North Carolina ProStock racer Melvin Yow. Horsepower was made through the capable hands of Dayton native, ace mechanic and engine builder, Paul Frost. Paul was fresh off the gasser wars where he applied his trade during the 60's, trading lanes with the likes of another Dayton native, Ohio George Montgomery. Frost knew how to make power, it was just getting it to the ground that perplexed him and most of the gassers including his potent Purple'41 Willys AA/supercharged coupe that ran an incredible 50-60 match races in one season. Stepp brought Frost into the fold and now had himself a cadre of battle hardened veterans that eventually ran "rough shod" across the Midwestern, Southern and Eastern drag strips, picking up races in all the sanctioning bodies wherever they could. Stepp was a member of a strong Mopar contingent lead by Sox & Martin who were always at the top of the field in the Super Stock ranks and never skipped a beat when they entered ProStock in 1970. When the S&M team cars weren't winning, their closest followers were guys like Don Carlton in the Motown Missile, Butch "the California Flash" Leal (believe it or not Butch was another Ohio guy originally from Blacklick OH - later moving to California) and Stu McDade in the Billy the Kid Stepp Challenger. Through the years Bill's stable of cars never really popped the cork in the NHRA points races, except for the '71 US Nationals final round loss to Ronnie Sox, but they made up for it in the IHRA. Stepp ran a Demon for '70 & '71, then switched to Duster and Demons for '72 thru '75, an Arrow & Colt thru '78 - before building an Avenger for the 1995 season. The "Wanted Dead or Alive" Mopars saw success in the IHRA in '78 & '79 with (4) ProStock final rounds, winning the '79 ProAm Nationals at the "Rock" in Rockingham, but moreover, made monster money along the match race trail. Read More |
