NEWSLETTER 45 - February 13, 2008
Editor: Richard Parks

Between July 21 and August 8, 1928 a Studebaker drove around in circles on the Atlantic City Board Track for 30,000 miles and set an International Class B Record of 68.36 mph. It only took the three drivers 438 hours, 47 minutes and 27.63 seconds to go that far. Now for some fun stuff. In the back of Dean Batchelor's, "The American Hot Rod" on page 188 is a list he compiled of Dry Lakes Race dates that took place before the war and up till the end of 1950. There has long been rumors of private meets that have never been substantiated. It's also common knowledge that Russetta ran meets as a club before they became a timing association but dates are also missing, until now. In my work for the American Hot Rod Foundation I have unearthed proof that some of these mystery events actually happened. I'll be spilling the beans in the next few weeks, so until then here's a sneak-peak. To top it off here are two pictures of family friends from '42. The first is of Stu Hilborn's deuce roadster from '41 run as an unlimited in June '42 to 134.73 mph for first in class while the old Warth car was being fitted with a V8 and rear suspension. And last is Uncle Charlie and his brother George's x-Rufi liner after the rebuild at Harper Dry lake on July 19, 1942 to a speed of 131.96 mph for first in class.

Is this newsletter still in operation? I have contacted Mary Ann to discover if I had been inadvertently been dropped from the mailing list. She assured me that this did not happen and that a new issue was about to be released. That was two, or three, weeks ago! I tried to gain access the "back issues" via Hotrodhotline.com but had trouble sifting through all the promotional stuff, being cyber-challenged as yourself, but could not find a link! Please advise...or should I just forget about discovering a solution. Bob Falcon
Bob: The Newsletter is very much alive and thriving and if you are not getting it by email, then go to www.landspeedracing.com and sign in again. You do not have to go to hotrodhotline to read the archived back issues of the newsletter, although there is a link between that website and www.landspeedracing.com, both of the websites are owned by Jack and Mary Ann Lawford. I'm at a loss to understand why some people are not receiving the newsletter by email, if you have problems, just go directly to www.landspeedracing.com. I also found the site by going to www.hotrodhotline.com/feature/heroes/landspeedracing. I went to the SUBSCRIBE box and entered my data and it came back: Subscribe Me Status: Already Listed! Your email address: Rnparks1@juno.com is already in our Land Speed Racing database! If you believe you are not receiving our intended mailings, please contact us at maryann@hotrodhotline.com for assistance. I then entered your name and email address and it came back as already entered. Try going to the www.landspeedracing.com and see if you can read the back issues. I talked to Landspeed Louise and she isn't going to add the newsletters to her site, but will add a link on her site that takes you right back to the www.landspeedracing.com website.

I grew up there in Danville, California, which is at the foot of Mount Diablo. I was there from Kindergarten to graduation from High School. The Shadow of the Devil, written by Lynn Wineland is a very interesting book. Here's an odd fact. The Park Warden of the Mount Diablo State Park was Lee Blaisdell's father. We had a Scout troop of which he was the Scout Master. I was the Senior Patrol Leader. This was while we were in Grammar school. Years go by. Lee becomes the first contributing Photographer to Hot Rod Magazine. We immediately got together. Things work out strangely some times. I have a pix of our Scout troop. E. 'Rick' Rickman
Rick: Send in the photo by email attachment and I'll put it in the newsletter. I was in the Boy Scouts, lasted about 3 weeks.

While some of you may be frequent visitors to our project's website, some of you are not, and that's okay. We've got a lot of demands and distractions pushing and pulling on us these days. I'm sending you this message to let you know that I've published a story I wrote about the development of the project I thought you may find both interesting and informative. Those who've already received this message and read it have told me it filled in some holes regarding the project and found it worth their time to read. So, I invite you to check it out and let me know what you think: http://hubpages.com/hub/800-MPH-Challenge. If this is a repeat, please forgive me and delete this message. Jon M. Higley, C.I.O./E.A.D., Crew Lead/Webmaster, North American Eagle, Inc. http://www.landspeed.com

Charles E. Camp passed away at the San Antonio Hospital on January 30, 2008 at the age of 90. 'Charlie' Camp was born the only son of four children of Charles and Elizabeth Camp on March 14, 1917, in Weiser, Idaho. After growing up in Idaho, Charlie initially attended Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. Later, he transferred to Cincinnati University, OH, to study electronic engineering. There he met and married Josephine Rinaldi of Cincinnati in 1939. During the War years he worked at Wright Aeronautical in Cincinnati, before moving to Southern California after the War. Charlie and Josephine raised four children, residing in Glendora, West Covina and Diamond Bar. Following Josephine's death in 1974, he married a close family friend, Betty Miller, of Mt Baldy and remained an active resident of the Village after Betty's death in 1999. Charlie always had a passion for performance automobiles. In the early hot rodding years in Southern California, he and wife Jo were active in the Rusetta Timing Association, assisting with early speed events on the El Mirage dry lakes in 1947. Along the way he became close friends with many other hot rod legends, including the late Mickey Thompson and Les Richie. Additionally, he was a technical contributor for early issues of Hot Rod Magazine as 'Chuck Eddy' in 1950. Throughout the 60's and 70's Charlie manufactured custom valves and assembled high performance heads for racing engines, working out of his own garage as 'Chuck Eddy Creations.' Later he would join forces with a lifelong friend and distinguished writer, Bill Fisher, in another business venture, 'OTTO Parts' marketing performance parts for Corvair engines and high volume oil pumps for Ford engines.
Charlie started his career with Ford instructing factory mechanics in the early 1950's. After advancing to a position as a factory service rep for the Southwest US, he quickly earned a reputation as the 'go to/answer man' for technical problems experienced by dealers on customer vehicles. This reputation led to a memorable ride with Clark Gable in his T-Bird, and later, crossing paths with Bing Crosby and Maureen O'Hara over service issues. In the early '60's, a Lincoln Continental for former President Eisenhower was actually sent home with Charlie for his own quality 'shake down' prior to delivery. During his 28 years with Ford he was part of the defunct Edsel program and continued to work with the Lincoln Mercury Division until his retirement in 1976. After retiring from Ford, Charlie began a second career, as an automotive consultant, but ultimately returned to his roots as 'The Trainer,' instructing and mentoring numerous technicians in the repair of auto emission systems at local Community Colleges. During this period, he incorporated his electronics genius and trouble shooting experience to create and market the 'Visitrak,' a compact LED barograph meter to identify faulty sensors supporting auto emission systems. Throughout his life Charlie took great pleasure working in the automotive industry and passing on his knowledge and wisdom to later generations of technicians. His quick wit, keen sense of humor and warm personality will be deeply missed by all who were privileged to know and love him. He is survived by his sister, Trudy Braun, daughters Estelle Zwicker and Betsy Rinaldi, sons Nick and Phil Camp, stepsons Scott, Robert and Daniel Miller, 8 grand children, 13 great grand children, one great, great grand child and somewhere, roaming around the Mt Baldy Village, a fluffy black cat, named Sooty...yes, Charlie did love his cats! Charlie donated his remains to the Loma Linda University Medical Center. A memorial service in the Mt Baldy Village is being planned for March 8, 2008 at 1:00 PM in the Mt Baldy Chapel.
Speedy Regards, "LandSpeed" Louise Ann Noeth

I went to the Land speed Historians link you suggested and discovered I have not received the past three issues. So, I printed the missing pages to be able to read at my leisure. When I read the first page all of the printed material at the right side of the line was missing! And the issues were all near 18 pages in size each and I had printed the three which I was unable to read --- since the "Crystal Ball" is in the repair shop! I then applied some logic and decided to copy and paste in a smaller and condensed type face. That changed it to chopping off only the last two words on each line. The publishers need to create a printable format, or send via Acrobat where I can modify the margins. The problem is that the original has a huge left hand margin. To be honest...I don't have time to remember to sign-on to a link to receive the copy...I also don't have the time to gink around with another's scribbling to be able to comprehend their content. I receive many newsletters each week...and more issued each month. I am able to print all of them and get away from the computer to read them. So, in my estimation, making a newsletter readable and printable is not Rocket Science. Thanks for the call, yesterday. When it came-in I was at Howard Gilbert's funeral. Howard was a well known Indianapolis Race Car mechanic, who worked with George Salih developing the first Offy powered car with the engine "Laid Down." The Belond Special was the last of the four different cars to win back-to-back Indy 500's. Thanks...Bob Falcon
Bob: I sent what you sent me to Mary Ann Lawford and she sent me the following reply, so let me know what the revised newsletters look like. As for the length, the newsletter is long. We have a lot of news reported and stories written by our members. When the length becomes too long, I will send out two or more newsletters per week, otherwise it is just once a week. "Richard; I can fix this on Tuesday and will check on why those 3 newsletters were missing ... may have had a problem I didn't know about ... if so I will resend them ... Thanks ... Mary Ann."

Re: Martha Tilton. I enjoyed the article about Martha Tilton. As you probably know Martha passed away last year. Martha and her sister, Liz, were both big band singers. Liz and her family were our next door neighbors in two different locations in La Canada. We knew Martha because of that. Liz and her husband Bruce are now gone but we are still very close with Liz's two daughters. The whole Tilton family were really nice people and good friends. Art Tilton was not a member of that Tilton family. Regards - Don Montgomery
Don: My sources are evidently wrong and I'm glad that you knew the family and corrected that error. I think it was Ak Miller and others of that era who told me that and maybe they were mistaken or assumed a connection or were pulling my leg, but the reason we have this sort of society is to correct errors and get to the truth. Do you have a contact point with the family so that I can call them and confirm that there's no distant connection?

I was posted at turn 6 at Riverside Raceway when during the Times Examiner Grand Prix in '58, Johnny Parsons stuffed the Chuck Porter SL in the boiler plate. He got out, looked at the damage, got back in, fired it up and motored off. Those were the days. Dick Martin

It was nice to meet you last weekend at the NHRA in Pomona. For a son of Wally Parks, founder of the NHRA, you look quite young and we don't have to wonder about your interest in HotRod Racing. However, as son as you learnt who I am, you overwhelmed me with your admiration of the once and only Eibach Festival of Speed, for which I have to forward all the honors to my good friend Steve Lewis. Thanks nevertheless. Yours sincerely, Wilfried Eibach, Eibach Group, CEO Eibach AG
Wilfried: If the name Eibach Festival of Speed still resonates today it's because it was a marvelous event for racers and fans alike. I covered the Festival of Speed for Miss Information Automotive Calendar of Events and I thought then that it was the best speed festival that I'd ever seen, and little has changed since then to alter my feelings. For variety, it equals the Long Beach Grand Prix, but it was cozier and more informal and fans and participants could mingle without any pressure. The land speed guys were really excited to be included and I spent a lot of time with the Go-Karters and Quarter Midget kids. It's a shame that the attendance wasn't greater to reward you for all the work that you put into it. I believe it would have gotten much larger over time, if it had become an annual event. I interviewed many of the participants and the vendors and they said about the same, the potential was huge, but the turnout was disappointing. Southern California is a tough market to compete in. The quality of the show was top notch. I hope you create another Eibach Festival of Speed once again. It's not easy to see what's hot and what's not, but it's a worthy and appreciated endeavor. If you go to www.hotrodhotline.com and look up the article that I wrote at the time, you'll see that my opinion has not changed and maybe the other articles will give you a background on what the kids of today enjoy, such as drifting, black boxes, imports, bikes, rat rods and a host of new topics that you could add to Festival of Speed II. Yes, I'd really like to see you do it again, but if you don't, you pretty much got it perfect the first time.

Thank you for your kind review of the happenings at our Festival Of Speed event we had at Irwindale Speedway a few years back that we held in conjunction with our TWIN 25’s Midget Race. I think often about that event and the fun we all had putting it on. The rewarding aspect for me is to hear comments like yours. You know, it might be possible to someday bring back The Festival Of Speed. Let’s wait and see! Steve Lewis
Steve: I truly enjoyed that day and I know the landspeed racers, go-karters and quarter midget kids did too. You gave a lot of people a chance to show off their cars who normally wouldn't have that chance. It was fun and it served a great purpose, as far as the different racers were concerned. Wilfried needs to sponsor another one, along with Justice Brothers, Gale Banks, Hallett Boats and some of those guys in that area. There's no reason why it can't be an annual deal and become one of the best Festivals in the area. It has the feeling of a reunion and I can't begin to tell you how many land speed racers showed up. In the racing community it had an impact. First time events often don't catch on with the public's fancy, then they grow as awareness expands, year by year. The Eibach Festival of Speed was a success in my book and I think Wilfried feels a little better now that he's gotten more feedback.

Members:

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