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The 5th Fountain Valley Car Show was held on June 11, 2011 as part of the City of Fountain Valley’s Summerfest. This is the third Summerfest staged in June at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley, California. The event is normally held on the first or second week in June and this year the dates were June 10-12, 2011. The park was an emergency landing strip for planes and helicopters during World War II and was also used by many early day hot rodders to test their cars. Today the park, a mile square, hence the name, is home to three busy golf courses, a community center, a Boys and Girls Club and a huge area for picnickers, hikers and nature walks with several large lakes. The reason that I like the car event is the people. They are some of the friendliest and most helpful group anywhere. Usually I have to deal with grumpy people, but not here. A second factor that makes this a special event is the location, right off the freeway, easy to find and lots of free parking. Even the walk from the parking areas is kind on the feet with plenty of grass and sidewalks. A third plus is that it is free; well mostly free. There is an entrance fee to show your car, but for spectators and the public there is no admission charge to either the carnival or the car show. Just walk right in and enjoy yourself. Of course the carnival rides and games charge, but the cost wasn’t that expensive and the food booths were very reasonable. The variety of activities made this an event for the entire family. Mile Square Park is also a feast for the eyes and a superb place to hold a car show.
The cars began lining up around 6:30 am, but due to a heavy mist that never developed into a light rain, some show cars failed to show up. There were still around 200 cars on display and they were a varied and eclectic cross-section, with the 1950’s and ‘60’s predominating. The DJ music was also of that Rock ‘N Roll period. Pete Haak and Roger Jensen were the men in charge of the car show and they made sure that there was plenty of room between the cars so that spectators could walk around the cars and also the exhibitors could set up their own chairs and tents. The cars were divided into age divisions and grouped together so that the judges wouldn’t have to walk very far to score the cars. Some of the car people like to park together with their friends and just hang out. The early morning dew finally was displaced by the famous California June gloom or haze that didn’t break up until around 3 pm and that held down the crowds. The car show is growing, by the efforts of the city, volunteers and word of mouth and will one day be a major event among car shows. It is such an easy going show where all the spectators and exhibitors mingle so effortlessly.
The first face that I recognized was Scrub Hansen, who is affectionately called ‘The Reverend.’ He often is called upon to be a judge at car shows, but today he was simply a visitor. I finally located my partner in the Gone Racin’ byline who was with a good friend, Jerry ‘Good-looking’ Skelton. Roger told me to emphasize the ‘good-looking.’ Roger was showing off his wife’s newly restored ’50 Ford. The paint job was wine red and the interior was gray, a great combination. He told me that he patterned the car after Steve and Gloria Gibb’s well-known ’50 Ford. “The weather didn’t look very good at first, but it eventually turned out pretty good,” said Roger. Skelton didn’t bring his car and left it at home in Big Bear. “With the weather looking bad it was a one and a half hour drive to get here, but a two week job to clean up the car,” added Skelton. I wandered over to Von Hot Rod’s Pinstriping Circus, a traveling group of talented men and women who educate the public about a wondrous art. With Von Hot Rod were Diablo, Kong, Big Chris and Chillin.’ They have real names, but it is their personas to have nicknames. Big Chris was busy laying down some pinstriping tape to mark out where he wanted to place his paint. I can always count on a friendly group when I run into the pinstripers. They also have a big heart as they raise a lot of money for charity. “Hey, I asked Chris, isn’t that cheating to use tape?” More in jest than not, but these are big hearted guys and he joshed back. The purpose of the tape is not to replace the paint, but to mask off the area to be striped.
With the pinstripers was Sandee Fancher, who was the event coordinator for vendor sales at the Grand National Roadster Show, held each January at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, California. This is a major car show and the oldest continuous car show in existence, tracing its history back to Oakland in 1949. Last year’s attendance was around 60,000 people she told me. Next to the pinstripers was the display for the WRA, or Western Racing Association. The WRA was founded in the early 1980’s for racers who wanted to drive the old midgets. They have about 15 races a year and race their cars at tracks in Arizona, California and Nevada. Kenny Hillberg, a local Fountain Valley resident, brought five cars, his son Darren brought one car and Bobby White brought another race car. Darren is the driver for the 01 Mini-sprint race car with the large wings to help with stability. He and his father built this car in 2009 and Darren races the car in the California Lightning Sprint car series. He races at race tracks in Perris, Ventura, Oildale (Bakersfield), Victorville, Santa Maria and other venues. He started when he was sixteen, racing full midgets, while he was still in high school and has been racing for twenty years now. His father told him to just get in the car and race and that’s what he did. Bobby White is an old time racer and his #17 midget won two URA Championships. The car was built in 1980 and won the 1986 Belleville (Kansas) National Championship.
The #19 midget was built by Ken Hillberg in 2006 and its first race was at Perris Automotive Speedway in 2011. The #17 midget was built in 1947 and Ken was the original owner and driver. He drove this car all over the country, in the Midwest, East Coast and made a good living from this race car. The #99 midget is a Kurtis roadster, one of only ten such cars ever made by Frank Kurtis. This race car was built in 1957 with Ed Walker as the first owner. Hillberg bought this car in 1969. The #45 sprint car was built in 1959 and owned by Doug Francis. Mike Mosely drove this car and was the rookie of the year in 1962. The #90 midget was built in the winter of 1935 and was one of the first such cars of that kind. It is painted black and is a stubby looking car, but looks can be deceiving. It has an Alto outboard boat racing engine. Al Kaminski, from Chicago, Illinois was the first owner. The first driver was ‘Bullet’ Joe Garson and he won 35 straight races in the car, according to Hillberg. Teddy Duncan won the Illinois State Championship in this car in 1939 and ’40. Mel Hansen bought the car from the Marchisi brothers and took the car to the West Coast and won consistently. Doc Eyre, who later worked for Jay Leno, was the next owner. He sold the car to Chuck Greeme who crashed the car in 1961. Hillberg bought the car in 1980 and has refused all offers for the little beat up midget with the fascinating history.
Next to the midgets was the famous Yeakel Plymouth Special, now owned by the family of the original owners. With the car were Jim and Paul Rossi, Frank and Louis Baney and Ken White. Lou Baney worked for Bob and Marge Yeakel, the owners of the Plymouth dealership in Downey, California. Bob passed away in 1960 and Marge Yeakel actually sponsored the car. The car began testing in September 1964 with Pete Ogden and Jim Ward doing the driving. Tom McEwen was the first driver of the car in competition. McEwen won top eliminator titles at Fontana, Lions and twice at Pomona. He won the Hot Rod magazine’s Driver of the Year Award in 1965, according to Rossi. This is the car that earned McEwen the nickname ‘The Mongoose,’ for his duels with Don Prudhomme. He also raced against Warren & Coburn and all the other top fuel cars of the 1960’s. Baney sold the car for $5000 in 1967, a huge sum at the time and the new owner took the car to Maui where he raced it. In 2005 Paul Rossi and Frank Baney went to Maui and bought the car back. The engine and some parts were gone, but they managed to get the original frame, body, rear end, front end, chrome, steering mechanism, radius rods and other parts. The body was too cut up and bent to be of use and a new body was fabricated. Steve Davis restored the car over the next eighteen months. The Baney/Rossi group displays the car at about ten events a year. Their goal is to keep the heritage and history of the car alive for future generations. Also present at the car show was Judi Rohrdanz, the wife of Gone Racin’s Roger Rohrdanz, Gary (Roger and Judi’s son) and Gary’s girlfriend, Jennifer.
The carnival is part of the Fountain Valley Summerfest and is both separate from, yet working with the car show. They are side by side events and the carnival is where the food, games and rides are. That’s important as it gives the children and spouses a chance to get up and move about. Car shows do attract a lot of wives, but they often like to browse the shops and booths to see what’s available for sale. We men understand that and know that a car show with lots of vendors and activity make the show better for our wives. Summerfest is a nice event for all the family members. Yes, the car show is what brings us in, but the carnival is a nice addition. The city of Fountain Valley contracted with Christiansen Amusement from San Diego to bring in the rides. The company is three generations of the Christiansen family and though I’ve never been very fond of amusement carnies, but this company was not only well run, polite and helpful, but very honest looking. They got their start in Belmont Park in San Diego back in the 1940’s and do 45 carnivals a year from Los Angeles to San Diego. I saw huge slides, merry-go-rounds, Ferris Wheels, games of skill and chance and lots of kiddie rides, usually no more than $1.25 and up. I spoke to a number of the young college age kids that were working the rides and games. There was no carnie shilling or pressure to play or go on the rides. Their attitude was pleasant and peaceful. They had 25 major rides and 12 games of skill that seemed fun and relatively easy to play.
In the center of the carnival was a small knoll and tents with chairs and tables for people to eat or rest and a bandstand where bands played. There were ten major bands and twice that many local groups that sang and danced for the crowds. Everything was clean, neat and in order. It was a place that I would gladly take my grandchildren to. There was even an ATM machine and suitable numbers of portapotties. The information tent was manned by members of the Fountain Valley Historical Society. I met Jeannie Morgan, a volunteer at the information tent and she graciously led me to the coordinator of Summerfest and the coordinator of the weekend’s events, Mark Nix. Jeannie told me that the event was a three day show for the carnival and the local art and music events, but the car show was a one day affair on Saturday. Mark is the Community Services manager for the city of Fountain Valley, a lovely bedroom community located in Orange County. He told me that there were eighty booths for vendors, sponsors and local area businesses to sell or advertise their products. There were booths that sold jewelry, clothing and souvenirs.
There were also twenty food booths run by local non-profit and volunteer organizations such as; Rotarians, Little League, Kiwanis, Fountain Valley High School and others. The food was delicious according to those I asked and the prices were about half what they would be at major car shows. The types of food included; Teriyaki, noodles, BBQ beef and chicken sandwiches, bratwurst, corndogs, pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs, waffles, nachos, tacos, drinks, desserts and much more. There were sixteen members of the planning committee and 85 volunteers in all and the show and carnival ran very smoothly. Nix told me that they also set up a skateboard facility for young people to practice on and a community arts center across the street from the park had entertainment groups from the local area. Last year the car show and carnival attracted 25,000 spectators and this year they expect the events to attract around 30,000 people to the Summerfest. While we came to the Summerfest to see the car show, we couldn’t help but be delighted to see other activities nearby that enhanced the day for our wives and children. This is a fun show that you should add to your calendar.
Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].
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