Back in the Manufacturers Midway at the '92 NHRA World Finals, there was found a small gathering of Nostalgia AA/Fuel Dragsters, a couple of injected small block Jr. Fuelers, and other relics of days  gone by. At this gathering a small band of hard core Nitro Hounds had come to pay their respects at this impromptu memorial to the men and machines THAT mattered. In the center of this display was a restoration in progress. ONE that had the assembled crustier gear heads and nitro hounds all in a buzz.

The source of their excitement, "The Winged Express".... a '23 T AA/Fuel Altered. Yes, the legendary, record breaking machine that had been masterminded and crafted by Alvin "Mousie" Marcellus and driven by his life long friend, "Wild Willie" Borsch. "THE WINGED EXPRESS", would soon be drag racing again. "Wild Willie" had passed on to the great drag strip in the sky. He succumbed to cancer on October 12 of 1991. This restoration project was a tribute to the skill and genius of a TRUE.... fallen hero. It was just too ironic.... THE man who cheated death every time he climbed into his asbestos fire suit. THE man who drove his race car in a style that was entirely just too ornery for pregnant women OR the faint of heart ...to observe. THE man who held the grim reaper himself in a chokehold, claimed by something as ordinary as cancer. It was indeed a cruel, twist of fate.

The crowd gathered in a semi-circle around the half-finished "The Winged Express," alternately laughing and listening in reverent silence to the yarns spun by Mousie Marcellus. He regaled his audience with the story of when "Wild Willie" flipped and rolled the altered at Martin, Michigan in '70. One of the few times the machine got away from him. Marcellus and the crew arrived at the scene to find Willie had become rabid with anxiety. He was wailing and bellowing "I'm blind, I'm blind," only to be answered by roars of laughter from his crew. After all the howling had subsided, Mousie patiently explained to Willie that he could not see because his head was wrapped in the parachute.

Mousie then launched into another fascinating tale about Willie. 

If one were to look inside the cockpit of the magnificent red altered with the wing on top...there would be seen, a beautiful round "trophy" like object sitting in the drivers seat.  IT.... was an URN ...containing the ashes of William Bowen "Wild Willie" Borsch. Thanks to his lifelong friend, Alvin or Al "Mousie" Marcellus, HE had come home.

...Yes, even in death, the exploits of "Wild Willie Borsch" continue to be stranger than fiction, yet larger than life. It was his displays of bravado and lack of fear for which he will be most remembered. Consider the time he banged the car off the guardrail, crossed the centerline, bounced off the other guardrail, crossed the centerline again (to get back into his own lane), and caught and passed the guy he was racing. The fact that he denied to Mousie that he was driving the altered with one hand.... Mousie had to show "Wild Willie" pictures of him in action to prove it. Then, there was the night at Lions Drag Strip when Willie stabbed the throttle and the entire machine leaped into the air, it landed.. IT became airborne once more. IT came down facing the guardrail. Willie punched the throttle again, HE  straightened  The Winged Express, out and completed  the run. The crowd went absolutely berserk.......

 Mousie tells of "Wild Willie's" affliction with narcolepsy. Because of which, people mistook his drowsiness for laconic obstinacy. On more than one occasion, moments before a typical over, under, sideways, down pass "Wild Willie" would nod out while strapped into the altered in the staging lanes. Mousie would nudge the race car with the push truck, rousing Willie from his nap. Then, there was the  time the "Winged Express" qualified for Top Fuel Eliminator at the '69 Winter Nationals. They bumped "Big Daddy" Don Garlits out of the show. Before eliminations, the remaining 31 dragster shoes called an impromptu drivers meeting. They threatened to boycott the event IF they too had to race next to Willie. Garlits was reinstated.

 It was his uncompromising bullheadedness, however, that contributed to the conquering of the Lions share of Marcellus and Borsch's competition, as well as their procurement of many AA/FA performance arenas. They were THE first in the 8's, THE first in the 7's, and THE first to surpass 200 mph in one of these highly unpredictable suicide machines. Let US applaud and bow to the spirit and zeal of Marcellus and Borsch. It was the yin and yang... exemplified. BUT, we must remember this... Neither man was the same.. without THE other. To sum it all up, Mr. Borsch, YOU are SORELY missed.  R.I.P  Thanks Mousie, without you IT couldn't BE.

William Bowen "Wild Willie" Borsch
Feb.12,1930 - Oct.10,1991

GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN