NEWSLETTER 47 - February, 2008
Editor: Richard Parks

I got a call tonight from George Bracasio in Vegas tonight. Blackie Gejeian's son committed suicide and the funeral is tomorrow (Tuesday) Blackie is not doing good. The funeral is in Fresno. Reverend Scrub Hansen
Dear Reverend: Our condolences to the family and friends of Blackie Gejeian on the loss of his son.

Editor's notes: I have just returned from the home of one of our members, a man who has been honored for his work in saving and rescuing artifacts from the earliest days of landspeed racing on the dry lakes of Southern California. He has been very generous in lending his records to others to do research. In an inventory of his records, he has found many binders of precious relics that have gone missing. He is also missing trophies, timing tags, books, rare parts, photos and other historical and irreplaceable memorabilia. We have tracked down some of the material and can account for their whereabouts, but other artifacts are apparently gone for good. He is currently removing his displays and will not allow his work to be lent out in the future. This hurts us all. It hurts me, because I wanted to borrow some programs to finish my father's life work. There are some things that we can all do. One, do research only at the home of those with records and do not remove the records from the premises. Two, invest in a laptop computer and scan photographs and documents on the premises. Three, if you have to remove something, sign a receipt for what you take. Four, return all borrowed sources within 3-7 days. If you are the lender, make scanned and xeroxed copies and only lend out the copies, keeping the originals under lock and key. Keep a sign-in and sign-out log of all transactions. We have all had objects that have been lost, stolen or misplaced. The worst of this is that it is probably somebody that we knew. When losses like this happen, it isn't just document that we lose, but former friends as well.

Editor's notes: Ron Main sent in this video on the web of a Coachman's Car Club car show from 1955-57. The camera work is not the best but it shows Ak Miller and the El Caballo and the NHRA table, where they are trying to sign up hot rodders into the NHRA. I can't make out just who is working the table. See http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=1836

Blackie Gejeian has had a tragedy in his life. His son Charlie committed suicide on Thursday, February 21, 2008. He is having difficulty handling phone calls, especially about the car show. Funeral services are scheduled for Tuesday, February 26, at 2:30 pm. I will send out further details as they become available. Thank You for your understanding. Rick Perry, RP Productions Inc, San Francisco ROD CUSTOM & MOTORCYCLE SHOW.

Editor's notes: It was brought to my attention that some information in one of the submissions to the newsletter was incorrect. I would offer a retraction, but as the writer mentioned, it is too late. I accept full responsibility for what went into the newsletter and apologize to those who may have been inconvenienced. It is sometimes hard to track down sources and doubly hard to verify everything that is sent in. When an error starts out at some point and is repeated, it is hard to stop that error from spreading. Since I was asked to not mention the incident, I can't retract it. But I do apologize to the offended party and to the readers and will try and be more careful, even though sometimes it is impossible to be error free. Another issue was that I included an email address in the newsletter. Normally I don't do that, but where it appears that someone is looking for information and has previously published his/her address, then I publish the email address. In this particular case, eagerness to help caused me to make the wrong decision. Each of these decisions are judgment calls. I will try and refine those decisions in order to bring you a better newsletter.

Boyd Coddington, the hot-rod innovator whose creations won the coveted Grand National Roadster Show's America's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) trophy a record six times, died Wednesday morning of undisclosed causes. He was 63. Coddington was raised in rural Idaho but moved to Southern California as soon as he could to pursue his dream of building hot rods. He quickly earned a reputation for subtle, stylistic innovations on what had been an almost overdone theme -- the '32 Ford roadster. That branched out to '33's, '34's and then all manner of surprising twists on iconic themes. Names such as Boydster, Smoothster, Alumacoupe and Chezoom redefined what a rod could be. His wheels were equally well known, particularly those shaved from billet aluminum. He soon earned the nickname 'Billet.'  Mark Vaughn

Hot-rod builder Boyd Coddington died. Liz

Sad news (Boyd Coddington's passing) for the hobby.  Mike Sersen

Too Bad (about Boyd Coddington's death)!  Eric Rickman

Hi, did not know if you heard the news that Boyd Coddington passed away today.  Debbie Baker

Hot-Rod builder Boyd Coddington died. See http://deathbeeper.com/4139223.html. Ron Main

Well, gentlemen very sad news, Boyd Coddington passed away this morning. He has been battling health problems for quite some time. I will let you know if there is to be any kind of public service if any of you would like to pay respect to him and his family. RIP Boyd. Primo (sent in by Don Rudy)

Dear Jerry: Usually it is Jim Miller who is the expert. Jim spends awful amounts of hours trying to save the history of land speed racing and we all look up to him. Neither of the two African-American men look like Mel Leighton, who was a very powerfully built man. My father, Wally Parks, and Mel were close friends during a time in the 1930's and '40's when it wasn't safe to do so. According to my mother, Mel was a very earthy and honest man who cracked off-colored jokes and was very outgoing. I mentioned the time that my father, mother, aunt and Mel had a run-in with a man at a diner. Mel was a very important person in the early SCTA and fought tenaciously for creating a Hospital Fund for injured drivers. My father and Mel served together, but long before Dad was the secretary, president and general manager of the SCTA, Mel was the treasurer. There may have been racism, sexism, genderism and many other isms in the country at the time, but in the SCTA there was an over-riding belief that if you could build a car better than another person, you were okay. Mel Leighton was trusted with the association's money. He was re-elected over and over again. He was trusted and respected. So were all the groups. One of the top men in the SCTA was reported to be gay, yet his voice at the board meetings carried a great deal of weight. There were Japanese-Americans, like the Oka and Sakai brothers, who were accepted and admired. When the SCTA guys went around venting anti-Japanese remarks during the war, they quickly made it clear that they didn't mean the SCTA Japanese-Americans. When Danny Sakai died in a car accident in 1941, his funeral was well attended by the SCTA clubs, who remarked that they had never seen so many flowers in their lives. The Sakai's and their cousins were florists and they say that the amount of flowers at the funeral was unprecedented. We appreciate what you are doing in resurrecting the history of the Road Runners car club. Hopefully, others will step forward and do the same for the car clubs in the SCTA, Russetta, Bell and other timing associations.

Editor's notes: The following biography is on Joe Mondello and was submitted by his wife, Mary Mondello. If you have a biography for yourself or for others in racing, please send it in to me, along with any photographs that you might have. I can't scan your photos so they need to be digital and sent electronically. Slightly edited.
Joe Mondello of Mondello Racing Cylinder Heads created one of the first warehouse distributor stocking programs in the United States. Some of his vendors were Speeday Motors, Gratiot Auto, New England Speed Warehouse, K & B Speed, Arrow Speed Warehouse, Bandemere, among others. His modified heads were on the first pro drag race team cars to go 200 mph and over; first 7, 6, and 5 second runs from top gas to top fuel; at least 75% of all A, B, and C gas supercharged coupes. Mondello heads were also setting records on Bonneville Salt Flats racing, Mexican & European road races, Le Mans, Circle tracks, USAC, Drag race tracks across the country, Boat circle and drag racing on lakes and rivers. Many racers used, and still use, his heads. His cars have set numerous records and won many titles in AHRA, IHRA, NHRA, NJBA, SCCA, UDRA, and Bonneville. He designed and manufactures, with his partner Lloyd Creek of cfm-Creek Flow Management, the first affordable wet flow bench for heads. It is used by Dart, Warren Johnson, John Kasse, several small automotive colleges and many shops, among others.
Joe has been sharing his trade secrets with the public since 1996 on all facets of racing in his technical school where one can learn how to design, build, and run racing heads; blueprint engines; and do performance machining. His motto is "If I can turn out one young man to know and do all I can then I have been successful in the industry." He has been a leader in the high performance industry with Oldsmobiles since 1964. He is the most knowledgeble person on all Olds engines 1964-1990 and his tech manual on the subject was given a GM part number! Joe Mondello has been continously in the high performance automotive business for 59 years; starting his first organized company in 1959. He has been a member off and on with SEMA for approximately 14 years. He is in 5 hall of fames for his contributions to the industry. He has and still does write countless articles and stories for many of the racing world's magazines and periodicals and done many sessions with talk shows on both radio and television. In 1960 Joe introduced the first swirling design in the performance combustion chamber for the small block engine, calling it the Posi-Flow. Not too long ago several cylinder head departments of large companies and some small ones duplicated it and took it to the tradeshows! They say replicas are the best form of complements!
Nearly all high performance cylinder head manufacturers; Dart, Edelbrock, World, and others use this Posi-Flow design in their Wedge production heads. In 1968 he developed the 427 Chevrolet blown fuel Mono-Flow chamber which was written up in magazines including Car Craft. It's a safe bet to say Joe has built more racing cylinder heads than any other individual in the US, maybe even all of them combined. He helped in the design & development of Manley Performance's stainless steel valve line, and several other R&D projects for many companies. He has several signature series product lines with Problend and Goodson Tools. Joe has one of the best repair/refund policies in the performance engine building industry. When he went bankrupt in 1969, he struggled and paid all his vendors their money. It took him several years to get back in the black but it was accomplished. Born on August 6, 1936 and at the age of 71, has been tinkering with cars, engines and mostly heads since he was 13; and will continue to so do until the day he dies. Joe has gasoline and nitro for blood. He worked with AAA auto club and the NHRA to get our younger generations to become involved with racing through their high schools. He continues to do this personally on a local basis and at the tradeshows and seminars.
A partial list of past and present Mondello racing cylinder head users.
A.J. Foyt, Donovan Engineering, Jim Boree, Norton Brothers, Adams Rassmussen & Scott, Doug Kehulas, Jim Dunn, Nunzi Automotive, Adams & Enriquez, Doug Thorley, Jim Green, Odie's Performance, Ak Miller, Don Gay, Pontiac, Jim Oddy, Oldsmobile, Al Swindahl, Don Long, Jimmy Nix, Paul Gommi, Albrickt & McCulloch, Don Madden, Jimmy Scott, Paul Leffler, Allen Backla, Don Prudhomme, Joe Bagohsian, Pete Robinson, AMC, Dunn & Reath, Joe Hrudka, Pittman & Edwards, Andy Granatelli, Dusty Rhoades, Joe Hunt, Pure Heaven, Art Malone, Dynamic Speed, Joe Pisano, Pure Hell, Atlas Oil Tool, Eagle Auto Electric, Joe Reath, Pusch & Cain, B & M Racing & Performance, Earl Poage, Joe Schubeck, Ray Moates, Beebe & Mulligan, Ed McCulloch, John Abbott, Ray Zeller, Berry Brothers, Ed Middlebrook, John Force, Red Gobel, Bill Alexander, Ed Pink, John Mazmanian, Richard Rogers, Bill Simpson, Ed Whipple, John O'Connell, Rick 'Ice Man' Stewart, Bill Stroppe & Associates, Eddie Hill, John 'Freight Train' Peters, Rocky Childs, Bob Hightower, Ernie Hall, John Poe, Roger Guzman, Bob Noice, 'Fearless Fred' Goeske, John Polk, Roland Leong, Bob Panella, Ford Motor Company, John Rassmussen, Ron Bizzio, Bodakian Brothers, Frank Bradley, John Rodeck, Ron Colson, Bones Belough, Frank Hall, John Sullivan, Ron Nunes, Bowen Olds, Frank Smith, John Wenderski, Ronnie Hampshire, Broussard, Davis & Ongaias, Frantic Four, John Wiebe, Roy Mersh, Bruce Andrews, Fred Teixeira, Johnny Loper, Ryan Falconer, Bruce Walker, Gaines Markley, Jon Halstead, Safford & Gaide, Brutus, Gary Burgin, 'Jungle Jim' Liberman, Safford/Gaide & Ratican, Carroll Shelby, Gary Comivall, Junior Johnson, Scat Enterprises, Cecil Yother, Gary Howard, Junior Kaiser, Shirley Muldowney, Cerny/Manke & Lins, Gary Ormsby, K & G Speed Shop, Shirley 'Dragon Lady' Shahan, Champion Speed Shop, Gary Southern, Kalivoda & Hamlin, Shreve Automotive, Charlie Smith, Gary Stellings, Keith Black, Sid Waterman, Chevrolet, Gatelli Speed, Kelly Brown, Skinner/Cross & Jobe, Chi Town Hustler, Gene Adams, Ken Tice, Skipp Hess, Chris Karamesines, Gene Mooneyham, Kenny Hirata, Slate Holmes, Colson/Woods &
Peterson, George Bolthoff, Kent Terry, Smokey Yunick, Connie Kallita, George Montgomery, Kenz & Leslie, Spectra Marine, Connie Swingle, Gordy Bonnin, KS Pittman, Steve Carbone, Contreras Brothers, Greer/Black & Prudhomme, Kuhl & Olson, Stone/Woods & Cook, Cope Brothers, Greg Cunningham, Larry Bowers, Terry Capp, Cordy Jensen, Grumpy Jenkins, Larry Dixon, The Crankshaft Company, Craig Epperly, Hank Johnson, Lefty Muedersbach, The Dead End Kids, Creitz & Donovan, Harley-Davidson, Lelan Kolb, The Green Burrito, Creitz-Greer & Brown, Hayden Proffitt, Linda Vaughn, The Rat Trap, Crower Cams, Henry Velasco, Logge Stamping Company, The Surfers, D&D Speed Shop, Herbert Cams, Lou Baney, Tom Lemmons, D.A. Santucci, Hollman & Moody, Lynn Welfringer, Tom McEwen, Dave Tatum, Howard Cams Special, Magnificent 7, Tommy Ivo, Dave Zueschel, Hugh Tucker, Mallicoat Brothers, Tony Nancy, Davis & Moody, Ige & Sasse, Marcellus & Borsch, Traco Engineering, Del Fisher, Isky Cams, Marvin Schwartz, Vic Hickey, Dennis Baca, Jack Engle, Mickey Thompson, Vic Hubbard, Dennis Geisler, Jade Grenade, Mike Sorokin, Walt Austin, Diamond Jim Davis, Jeep Hampshire, Mondello-Matsubara, Walt Rhoades, Dick Aarons, Jerry Darian, Moody & Cerny, Walton/Cerny & Moody, Dick Harryman, Jerry Glenn, Moon Equipment, Warren/Colburn & Miller, Don 'Beachcomber' Johnson, Jerry Jardine, Motion Performance, Weiss & Scott, Don Garlits, Jerry Ruth, Nick Arias Engines, Whipple & McCulloch, Donnie Hampton, Jim Albrickt, Norm Wilcox, Wolters, and Zueschel/Moody & Fuller.

Members:

Jonathan Amo, Brett Arena, Henry Astor, Gale Banks, Glen Barrett, Mike Bastian, Lee Blaisdell, Jim Bremner, Warren Bullis, George Callaway, Gary Carmichael, John Chambard, Jerry Cornelison, G. Thatcher Darwin, Jack Dolan, Ugo Fadini, Bob Falcon, Rich Fox, Glenn Freudenberger, Don Garlits, Bruce Geisler, Stan Goldstein, Andy Granatelli, Walt James, Wendy Jeffries, Ken Kelley, Mike Kelly, Bret Kepner, Kay Kimes, Jim Lattin, Mary Ann and Jack Lawford, Fred Lobello, Dick Martin, Ron Martinez, Tom McIntyre, Don McMeekin, Bob McMillian, Tom Medley, Jim Miller, Don Montgomery, Bob Morton, Mark Morton, Paula Murphy, Louise Ann Noeth, Frank Oddo, David Parks, Richard Parks, Wally Parks (in memoriam), Eric Rickman, Willard Ritchie, Roger Rohrdanz, Evelyn Roth, Ed Safarik, Frank Salzberg, Dave Seely, Charles Shaffer, Mike Stanton, David Steele, Doug Stokes, Bob Storck, Zach Suhr, Maggie Summers, Gary Svoboda, Pat Swanson, Al Teague, JD Tone, Jim Travis, Randy Travis, Jack Underwood and Tina Van Curen, Richard Venza.

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