Tommy Smeriglio’s 1940’s Dick Power
Tommy Smeriglios Dick Power
You. At the back of the class. No snickering.
Dick Power made and sold some great racing bikes in the middle part of the last century. Dick Power cycles was located in the Sunnyside neighborhood in Queens, and was a center for New York City and the Long Island racing community.
Sometime in the 1940’s Dick made this trusty racing bike for local star Tommy Smeriglio. While not one of the prettiest bikes in the museum collection, this battered and bruised bike probably has the most race wins of any of our bikes stored up in its old tubes.
At one point we had over two dozen trophies and other awards on a shelf surrounding this old bike, and it looked pretty amusing as the bike itself is so beat up it looks like smoke should be coming off it.
Dick Power Special
Tommy with Ernie Landis at a race start
At least a couple of these were won on this bike
USI and ABL of A medals
Tommy Smeriglio
A very active amatuer racer on the east coast, Tommy specialized in long distance timed events and road races. He raced in pretty much every bike race the Unione Sportiva Italiana held between 1938 and 1952, and set numerous records while doing so. He won the 1938 USI two-hour team time trial, the 1939 Cocce Memorial 25 mile time trial, a 1943 USI 200 mile time trial, the 1946 USI sprint series, and the 1950 Worcester road race.