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banquet” under the sky on a warm, sunny and clear day, just the way it ought to be. The Gear Grinders organized for the first time back in 1938 at the home of Fritz Voigt and his brothers, in the Bell and Cudahy area of Los Angeles, California. A high school car club, according to Jack Underwood, they joined the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) in 1940. The young men eventually went away to World War II, but on their return they re-joined the SCTA and became an active club again. As the 1950’s and ‘60’s came along, the Gear Grinders suffered in numbers right along with all the other car clubs in the SCTA as their members left to go into other types of auto racing, especially the new sport of drag racing. New membership began to be attracted in the mid-‘60’s and the club began to grow. The Gear Grinders are one of the more progressive style clubs and they welcome everyone, especially motorcycle land speed racers and today they are the largest club in numbers of members in the SCTA. They’re also a fun group to be around and their enthusiasm and zeal for the sport of land speed racing is contagious. Roger and I were invited to the open air banquet by Jack Underwood, a Dry Lakes Hall of Fame honoree.
The first person that greeted us was Van Butler, the past president of the club and his wife Cathy. Van was bustling around, trying to do at least five jobs at one time, but still keeping his friendly and outgoing demeanor. We stopped by the shop of Yoder, the one-named sign painter who is skilled at working with glass and has mastered the art of chipped glass. He showed me how he does it and told me that it helps to be dyslexic. One has to chip the glass from the back and literally read backwards. Try looking in a mirror and doing artwork. One of his signs says, “If it looks so easy, why haven’t YOU done it?” Of course, he’s right, it isn’t easy and he’s a master. The next person who said hello was Mark Brazeau, a bear of a man with a heart of gold and a love of land speed racing that burns deeply in his heart, as it does for the others in the club. Mark is the official video man for the SCTA and the Gear Grinders club. He makes these fantastic films and makes them available for sale to the public and in turn saves the history of land speed racing. His camera equipment is extensive and he even makes his own carrying cases to easily transport them around with him. I watched him interview a few people and he did it so effortlessly, being the narrator, cameraman, grip and director all at once. He would turn off the camera, shoo away the talking public and go right back to work without missing a beat. At the end of his interview with Phil Remington, he was soaked in sweat from holding the camera rigid and one could see just how much work it takes to do what he does. His website is www.landspeedracingvideo.com. He had four new tapes for sale; 2008 El Mirage Dry Lake, Spin Club, Cook’s Land and Speed Shootout, and 2008 Speedweek. The Shootout is about the Akatiff, Main, Burkland, Goodfellow, and others, a special land speed record meet held under the auspices of the FIA.
Helping Brazeau with his sales was 11 year old Brian MacLean, who goes to Davis Elementary in Costa Mesa, California and wants to race a streamliner at the lakes someday. We met Rick MacLean, Anne and Larry Lindsley, Bob Webb, Bob and Judy Sights, Warren Bullis, Neil Thompson, Carol and Martin Doerfler, Jack Underwood, Keith Allen, Jay Cotting, Bob and Lois Oppermann, “Indian Red” Bob Nichols, Belgy Valentin and Bill Kennedy. Anne and Larry go way back in the Gear Grinders club. Their father, Jim Lindsley, was one of the hardest working SCTA members from the 1940’s until his health gave way in the ‘90’s. My father considered Jim Lindsley to be one of his closest friend’s, who supported the sport of land speed racing with all of his will. Jim once showed me two shoeboxes of timing tags that he had amassed. That was probably the greatest number of runs ever made by one person. Bob Webb is a past president of the Gear Grinders. Bob and Judy Sights simply are the heart and soul of the Gear Grinders and volunteer everywhere. Neil Thompson, along with Keith Allen and Jack Underwood, are members of the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame. Warren Bullis is a Lakers car club representative and long time Board Member of the SCTA. Lois Oppermann and I spoke about a need to document the achievements made by women and women drivers in the SCTA and other timing associations. The ladies do a lot of volunteer work and often get overlooked. Lois herself has been a volunteer at the timing tower at Bonneville for 18 years. Bob Nichols has done just about everything there is to do with motorcycles and their designs. The Gear Grinders is a car and motorcycle club, but they truly welcome all motorcycle racers into their midst. Valentin is a young man from Dijon, France who represents the Stand 21 Company in Costa Mesa, which sells racing equipment, suits, helmets and especially the Hans device neck support. As a three year old he began to race Go-Karts in France, and at 10 he went into competition, winning the French Go-Kart Championship. He spent a year in the Formula Renault series in 2004 and is now living in California. He is a young man who is learning about land speed racing and brings his truck and trailer to the races at El Mirage.
The next person I talked to was Mike Brewer, a prospective member who wants to join the club and race his 1000 cc BMW Motorcycle. Brazeau called me over to help interview Phil Remington. Phil was involved in the GT40 over in Bromley, England. He graduated from Santa Monica High School and joined the Low Flyers car club in 1946. Some of the members included; Stu Hilborn, Jack Engle, Jim Travers, and Richie Ginther. Engle made famous cams, Hilborn manufactured equally famous fuel injectors, Travers was well-known in land speed racing and Ginther was a famous road racing driver. “To be a member of the Low Flyers, one had to reach a speed of at least 90mph. We would take a new member out to an empty road and time them, and when their car reached a respectable speed, we would accept them as members,” said Phil. “We were a very competitive club in the SCTA in the 1940’s. I went into the Army Air Force during the war and was stationed in the South Pacific around Australia. In 1946-47 I worked for Emil Deets and Luigi Lesovsky and later with Gordon Schroeder on an Indy car team,” Phil said. The interview broke up and I wandered around several of the car shops, coming to one that was a Basketball training facility, called www.Jwbasketball.com where kids could work on their skills in personal or group training. Strange what you will find around hot rod shops these days. The next group to walk by was George Vose and Howard Hoffman, partners in Hairball Racing, with their blown fuel altered car. Vose lost his right arm in an accident, but he still manages to drive and carry on with a zeal for racing that has never wavered, though he told me that he is going to let Howard drive this year.
The McLeish brothers have an interesting story to tell and they have promised to send me their biographies to publish in www.hotrodhotline.com. The brothers are Derek, Doug and Robert and they have motorcycles in their family tree. Their father was a factory representative for Yamaha and Derek and his brothers did some racing. Derek went down to Venezuela and did motorcycle racing there for two years. Originally from Argentina, we are awaiting their fascinating story as to how Scotsmen ended up in South America before coming to the States. Standing in the food line were Stan Betz, the Rice/Vigeant racing team, Jim Miller, Julian Alvarez, Bob Chilson, and Chico Kodama. Stan Betz had a paint store, but sold it and is now a consultant. I watched him mix paint for hot rodders and he has an eye for color that is superior to even the paint sorting machines. His uncle, Dick Kraft, passed away recently. Kraft was a legendary early land speed racer and original pioneer drag racer with “The Bug,” a stripped down car consisting of a frame, an engine and a bucket seat and not much more. But it ran and it won races and set the style for all future dragsters. Julian Alvarez is responsible for the delicious food that the racers ate at the banquet. With an “always happy to see you” greeting, Jules as he is called, oversees the best bar-b-q food around. Jim Miller is the boss at The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians and a member of the Sidewinders and Milers. He is our chief historian of the SCTA and a member of the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame. Chico Kodama at Mooneyes puts on an annual Christmas show featuring a pinstriper’s reunion and 1/8th mile drag race. It brings in 1800 cars and the lot is packed by 7:30 am, with cars and spectators having to be turned away. Last December it was held at Irwindale Speedway, with a nominal admission of just $5.00. They accept only pre-1965 cars and besides the reunion and the drag race, there are vendors and booths for those of all ages.
After the food, an auction began, with all the proceeds going to the Gear Grinders Hospital Fund. It was obvious that the guys were egging each other on and it was a fun event to watch. Derek McLeish goaded Keith Allen to make the highest bid and bought an original t-shirt autographed by Dan Gurney. Dan was in the audience and readily signed the shirt. An original 1948 SCTA Program went up for sale. Keith Allen and others returned the favor and bid up the price on Mooneyes Disks, which Derek McLeish eventually got. A helmet, painted and signed by Troy Lee went for $500. After the auction the nostalgic drag cars filled their tanks with nitro and did a Cacklefest and the noise was loud, rumbling and brought back memories of those drag racing days in the mid-‘60’s, what some people call the Golden Age of drag racing. I spoke to Steve Davis, Wayne Leary and Leigh Capps. Steve used to have a shop next to Art Chrisman’s in Santa Ana. Davis is a master car builder and restorer and his work is prominent in the hot rodding community. It was behind his shop that the banquet took place. Leary is a well-known oval and Indy car mechanic and the husband of Betty Parks Townsend Leary. Betty used to race in the ladies powder puff jalopy derbies and had many a memorable race against Hila Paulson Sweet back in the 1940’s and ‘50’s, when jalopy racing was so popular and it was an entry into champ car racing. I talked to Gary and Fred Lindsley, Bobby Sykes, Jack Michael and Kim and Cindy Harding. Gary and Fred are Larry Lindsley brothers and long time members of the Gear Grinders. Kim Harding is the new President of the Gear Grinders for 2009, and Cindy is “the First Lady,” of the club. Sykes is the son of Bob Sykes, a legendary car and boat driver, mechanic, owner and builder. I honored Bob Sykes at the Boat Racers Reunion. The Sykes have been involved in land speed racing since the 1940’s.
After the drag cars did their fire-ups, the next order of business was the Awards ceremony. Glen Barrett helped to emcee the awards ceremony. Glen has served as chief timer for so many years that it’s hard to remember exactly how long. He is the historian for the Gear Grinders and keeps the history and heritage of land speed racing alive for us all. Gary Lindsley, president of the club in 1963-64 presented the top points award to Derek McLeish, who was also the 2nd place finisher as well, having two bikes entered in competition. Les Leggitt, past president, presented Volunteer of the Year Awards to; James and Alan Rice, Ron Bell, Frank Scott, George Vose and Bob Oppermann. Leggitt presented a special Life Membership award to Bob Snook, whose racing history goes back to the 1940’s. Helper of the Year award went to Judy Sights. Most Improved award went to Charisse Buchta. Driver of the Year was presented to Derek McLeish. Top Speed for Motorcycles award was given to Jason McVicker. Martin Doerfler presented the Gear Grinders first annual Toilet Seat award to Van Butler. The Hank Negley award was given to Heather Black. The Gear Grinder #1 Wrench award went to Van Butler. The Jim Lindsley award was presented to Dan Chilson. The Gear Grinder Annual Top Speed award was given to Bob Button. The Gary Cagle Memorial award for Excellence went to Bob and Judy Sights. The last and very special Gear Grinders Sportsman of the Year award was presented to Bob Chilson. Then the awards came to an end, the photographers took a round of photographs of the beaming honorees and the drag cars lit off their engines one more time. Terry and Claudia Maestrejuan lit the engine on “The Thunder Chief,” Paul Chavron did the same for “The Poachers,” and Frank Baney, Chuck Goebel and the Rossi family did the same thing for the “Yeakel Plymouth Special.”
Ron Phelps was kind enough to take photographs of the guest list and here are some of the people attending; Rob and Rayleen Hilton, Tom Evans, John Drake, Matt and Liz Shickler, Jeremy and Christy Taylor, Bill Guzenski, Leslie Tomlin, Larry Cason, Donny Cummins, Jody McLeish, Bob and Judy Sights, Bob Sights Jr, Van and Cathy Butler, Dave Cox, Dana Dalplaz, Thomas Peavy, Ed and Linda Van Scoy, Greg Winchell, Danci Chilson, Kevin Barre, Neal and Ruth Doty, Richard Reed, Len Jones, Bill Kennedy, Rob Lancaster, BB Marker, Mark Vigeant, Bob and Vicki Sykes, William and Helena Boelcke, Warren Bullis, Frank Scott, Howard and Andrea Hoffman, Martin and Carol Doerfler, Scott Andrews, Joe and Amanda Taylor, Craig Black, Keith and Heather Black, Karl Tipre, Ralph Le Clercq, John Salkins, Les and Brandon Leggitt, LJ Bradshaw, Ruth, Brian and Rick MacLean, Heather Black, Stephanie Hunt, Ashley and Dian Sangster, Sally and Bob Chilson, Neil Thompson Sr and his son Neil Thompson Jr, Bob Webb, Keith Allen, Jay and Wilma Cotting, Jim Loving, G.P. Conodon, John Bjorkman, Charisse Buchta, Mike and Kathy Brewer, Dan and Louise Hart, Ron Phelps, Vaughn Crispin, Chica Moon, Troy Lee and family, Reese Calloway and family, Larry and Anne Lindsley, Steve Davis, Dan Gurney, Russ Danielson, Glen Barrett, Bob Nichols, Terry, Scott and Claudia Mastrejuan and Steve Lloyd. The 2009 Gear Grinders Awards Banquet came to an end, honoring the efforts of the club and their members throughout the 2008 racing season and we all drifted away, looking forward to the coming year in land speed racing.
Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].
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