NEWSLETTER 52 - April 2, 2008
Editor: Richard Parks

President's Corner: By Jim Miller.
  Jim Miller is not feeling well and wishes to convey to all the readers that he will be back on the job next week with another column.

Editorial: Recently, a member of the SLSRH and I visited the family of a man in poor health and going into hospice. We helped to set up a garage sale so that the family could clear out some of the possessions that had accumulated that made movement throughout the house, yard and garage difficult. Did I say that nicely? Well, we all have "stuff" as Jack Underwood calls it, or "treasures," as others call it. But our wives and families know these possessions by another name...Junk, or as the French say, Junque. The garage sale was called off because the family couldn't decide if selling or trashing a man's lifetime possessions was the right or wrong thing to do. In fact, the family will probably continue on for some time having disputes as to the right thing to do. Everything that we have is valuable, but mostly just to us. It can have value to others if we have all the time in the world to find the half-dozen or so like-minded people who have the money, space and time to take our treasures off our hands. More likely we will pass on quickly and leave no will or instructions on what to do with our "stuff," and the family will agonize over what to do until they begin to hate our possessions, which are millstones around their necks. So what should we all do? Start by doing an inventory and marking down the history of each object and what value it has, either as an heirloom or in dollars. Leave a will or list of where you want the "treasures of a lifetime" disposed of and to whom. Most of the hot rodders that I know, including myself, are Medicare age, so we don't have a lot of time left to make this job easier for our families. Pick a project or two. Come on you guys, you darn well know you aren't going to get to all 3079 projects that you have always wanted to do and even if you could, you won't do a quality job of it by trying to do everything. So pick a few projects and start selling or trading away all that extraneous stuff and concentrate on some sensible activities. We are going to start a saying in our group, "So he died and left a rat's nest for you to clean up, that's so Hot Roddee," as the French say." In other words, he's a packrat with a hot rod wannabe attitude. Okay, I admit that it's neat to go and see Ed Iskenderian's treasure yards full of who knows what. We all love to see what we can find, at a bargain, that no one wants, but is the key acquisition to our most cherished collections. Then we go out and do it all over again. Hot rodders are a lot like these cat ladies that you see on the news. You know, the lady who hasn't been seen in a while and finally the neighbors call the police. When they bust in the door there is no room to walk as trash is piled up to the ceiling, the cat box has long ago lost all its cat litter and the 30 or so cats are dining on the remains of the cat lady. Psychiatrists have a name for it, but you know it by many other names. We get to the point where we accumulate way past what we'll ever need and ignore the needs of those who love us, our wives and family. There's a cure for all this...it's called GIVING. I learned it in the Cub Scouts. When I was a Packmaster and we had a meeting, I would scrounge all the stuff I could and hand them out as "gifts." Giving is contagious and once you stop "taking" and start "giving" you will start to rehabilitate yourselves. The trouble with this method is that you are helping the receivee to cultivate the habit you are trying to break. If your treasures are as important as you think they are, then catalog, inventory and put them into order for those who will inherit them when you are gone. Otherwise, the favorite saying of your friends and family will be, "don't be like dad, you know we didn't know he was dead for an entire month out there in the garage behind the parts, until he started to smell."

Bud Meyer is in the Los Robles hospital. He had colon surgery and is doing well. Google the hospital and click on visitors/patients to send him an e-mail. I have known, worked with and respected Bud for 58 years. Vic Enyart
Vic: Thanks for the information and we will send Bud a get-well email. Bud and Harry Meyer raced at the dry lakes before the war. They were involved in a horrific accident and according to the minutes, the hospital fund allocated money to help them with Harry's bills. Bud told me they never got the money. Wonder if the SCTA Hospital Fund will cover the $50 expenses from over 70 years ago? Bud's family includes Louie Meyer who won Indy three times, when hot rodders and mechanics built cars out of their garages. They owned the Meyer/Drake company and Bud worked on cars until just the last few years. Bud was also a boat racer and has many stories to tell of hair-raising adventure.

I just got home from the hospital and Bud is doing very well. He had a small section of his colon removed and is on the mend. The problem was caused by diverticulous which they think was aggravated by his various medications for just general health maintenance at his age. There were no signs of cancer or other problems so the surgery took care of the problem. I will keep you posted on his progress by e-mail and hopefully we can get together sometime in the near future. Joan Denver Meyer
Joan: Be sure to keep us posted on Bud's condition. He's a very special man in West Coast auto racing.

Ralph Dills was a Compton Judge whom I APPEARED before to plead for MERCY. He didn't like me. Jack Underwood
Jack: Besides yourself, the only other person to have met Judge/Assemblyman Dills was Thatcher Darwin. His two bills before the California Legislature were intended to drive young kids off the road and to end street racing. It appears that this 1930's, '40's and '50's judge was an uncompromising and stern man in his vigilant fight to round up all the hoodlums and keep them from getting into trouble. Are there any other readers who have run into Judge Dills or other judges like him? We would love to hear your stories.

Editor's notes: A reader wrote in to suggest that we contact the Blackhawk Auto Museum, in Danville, California, to see if they would welcome memorabilia from the hot rodding and land speed racing community. If anyone lives near the museum and could make contact with the owner/operators, perhaps we could get a dialog going. Every year we lose a great deal of our history and heritage to decay, fire, natural catastrophe, loss and death. Records are tossed away into the trash by those who do not understand the value of these artifacts. If museums are interested, then they represent a great way to save these records.

The Rubio story reads fine. Here are some shots of Rubio's cars with captions. All are from Bob Morton's collection courtesy of AHRF. John Chambard
John: Thanks for the information. I sent the photos directly to www.landspeedracing.com.
a) Morton-Rubio entry B#916121- George Rubio and Bob Morton entered this '29 on '32 rails at the first Bonneville in 1949. Entered as the Ansen Engineering Special, the car qualified at 134.93 mph. The class record at the end of Speedweek was set at 129.69 mph, so George and Bob's car was fast but not reliable enough to put together a two way run. AHRF/Bob Morton Collection.
b) Morton-Rubio #621- Bob Morton cuts up behind the wheel as George Rubio mugs for the camera in his '29 at El Mirage. AHRF/Bob Morton Collection.
c) Rubio's daily driver- George Rubio is seen behind the wheel of his daily driver in '49. It would soon become a racer too. AHRF/Bob Morton Collection.
d) Morton-Rubio #85- George Rubio's car is seen at the 4/18/48 Mojave Timing Association meet and turned a speed of 112.92 mph. George, a member of the of the Road Dusters placed 9th in class B roadster. AHRF/Bob Morton Collection.

I cannot find your story re: Lattin's party, or the photos mentioned below. I've opened all the web sites. Nothing. Ken Kelley
Ken: Roger Rohrdanz is still working on the photographs and he is the one who sends it into www.hotrodhotline.com. The story has been reviewed by several people and is ready to go in as soon as the photographs are done. The emailed version of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter contains no photos. To find any photographs, it is necessary to go right to the www.landspeedracing.com website.

Well, here you go. Hope you have as much fun reading it as I did living and writing it. Bob McMillian
Bob: I read your memoirs and enjoyed them very much. Keep adding to them. Your memoirs are scheduled to appear in issue #53 in two weeks.

Leroi Tex Smith's Hot Rod Library is up for sale. Smith, founder of the leading hot rod how-to book publishing business has announced that he is retiring after 50 years in the business. "I've been involved with automotive publishing since the very early l950's, now I’m going fishing! I created Tex Smith Publishing in l984 in response to the growing dearth of reliable how-to information for hot rod enthusiasts worldwide. Focus of the effort was to build a timeless library of reliable books that could be updated on a regular basis, adding, modifying, and replacing titles as necessary to reflect the hobby needs at any particular time. This we have done with remarkable success. Realizing that prospective new publishers would be interested in keeping this successful formula, we have allowed sales to reduce our inventory to the point where title reprinting and update modifications would allow the library sales price to be highly attractive to any buyer, yet a new owner would be able to create instant ongoing sales with no disruption in deliveries." Expressions of interest in the Hot Rod Library should be addressed to LeRoi Tex Smith, 12 North Main Street, Veyo, Utah 84782. E-mail inquiries should be to Hot Rod Library at hotrodlibrary@infowest.com or texsmith1@tetontel.com . (From Jim Clark)

I just found out, you guys may already know. Pat Foster passed away. End of last week. Cindy Gibbs got to see him Thursday or Friday. RIP Pat. Made his own decision. Don Ewald put a really nice tribute together on www.Nitroparts.com. Don Rudy

This from Lynda regarding Walt Scott who works security at Bonneville "Roads End" for us at SpeedWeek and the World Finals. Mike Waters. "Walt, Hello from Oasis! I'm still here with Scotty. He looks like hell, but is still doing fair. I talked to his VA representative today and the VA is trying to set up Hospice for Scotty. His doctor wanted him to have radiation treatments, but confirmed that they would only extend his life 2-3 weeks with no quality at all. Scotty has refused the treatments because quality is more important than quantity at this stage. Hospice will take over the daily care for Scotty and control his medication, oxygen, pain relief and will also get him a hospital bed. It will be a relief for Les to not have to worry about his Dad being home alone while he works. He can't afford to lose his job right now and he has to work 2 more months to qualify for emergency leave. I wish I could stay and help take care of Scotty, but I just live too far away. There are definite signs of the cancer in his brain, they are subtle, but still there. He can't talk very long because he runs out of breath, but he's still trying to do what he can. I'll be going home on Saturday and will email again to let you know any new information that I have. Lynda Ainge

" I found a similar picture in Robert Genat's books, "The Birth of Hot Rodding" (pgs 72-73) and "Hot Rod History" (pgs 72-73). The caption reads the same in both books, "The SCTA worked hard to enhance the image of hot rodding. On September 19, 1948, it gathered 300 club members from 36 clubs at the Lincoln-Mercury plant in Maywood, California. here, the SCTA and its member clubs joined the national Safety Council. Each club displayed competition cars and street-driven hot rods at the event." The caption in the Sept 23, 1962 El Mirage program that I scanned the picture from mentions the "#69 Doug Hartelt" roadster and the "Howard Johnsen Twin Tank." I do not believe that Doug Hartelt or Howard Johnsen (Johansen) were ever members of the Road Runners. We can ID two Road Runners in the picture for sure, Baker-Reno 27 T Lakester and the Burke-Francisco Tank. Don Baker has ID'd the first roadster, second row from left side as possibly the Harvey Haller roadster and the third car from the left, second row, next to the Burke-Francisco tank as possibly the Breene-Haller Belly Tank. I'd make a guess that this picture could represent the class winning or record cars from all the clubs? From the looks of the building in the background and dates mentioned, I think the pictures likely were taken at the same time. When I met Tom Medley a few years ago, he told me about his first book and how he got a lot of the pictures. He had many of his own but was looking for more. He said he was talking to Wally Parks about wanting to publish a book on hot rods and lakes racing. According to Tom, Wally reached for "an old shoe box full of pictures," handed it to him and told him to "use these." According to Tom, Wally wanted to do a book too but was much to busy. Jerry Cornelison
Jerry: My brother and I have done a cursory study of my late father's records and found few shoeboxes, but he had folders within cabinets in exact chronological order according to subjects. We saw many of these photos previously. He threw very little away and one of our jobs will be to go through and do an inventory. As we can, we will make that information available to museums, to the newsletter and to interested parties. Go to www.hotrodhotline.com/guestcolumnist and read the articles that I've done so far on land speed racers and you may find more information on various clubs. The book on the SCTA that my Dad was working on is nearly finished and we hope to publish it soon.

I'm going to tell you a trick to try when you cannot open a file. If it is sent with other files then the likelihood is that it is the same kind of file. You can tell the "type" of file by the ending, ie: .doc is a Word file, .jpg is a type of photo file and .pdf is an Adobe document file etc. Since two of these four were .pdf files, I thought the others were too, but had been "misnamed." So you can put your cursor over the file and "right click" and when the dropdown appears choose "rename," then just change the very ending of the file name, in this case delete all of the numbers up to and including the .dot, then put in .pdf. In this case it worked and the photos show up. It may be impossible for you to get the photos out of these documents but we can do it. I will attach the "fixed" files for you. End of lesson...how did we do? Mary Ann Lawford
Mary Ann: Thank you for the hint. I prefer having Roger do all the photos to you as that streamlines the method that we do things, but sometimes I have to get involved and this is worthwhile information, if I can remember it the next time it happens to me.

G'Day Richard, I've just finished reading Louise Ann Noeth's "Fuel for Thought" in the April issue of the Goodguys Gazette and it has stirred me into action. Actually it has made me realise that I am, by default, recording the history of Dry Lakes Racing in Australia. I would very much like to join your group. A little bit about myself. I'm a long time hot rodder, building (and still owning) a 1934 Chevy Master Sedan in 1985. I have a 1934 roadster project car that will eventually see some salt time and have just recently purchased a '51 Chevy pickup project which I am looking forward to getting into. I am a life member of my local hot rod club, Bay Rodders. I'm also a foundation member of a group called Let's Go Cruisin' (www.letsgocruisin.com.au) which is loosely based on the Goodguys model and is unique in Australia, concentrating on conducting events and putting the cruising back into hot rodding. In just two and a half years we have attracted over 200 members nationally and have conducted a number of very successful events. 10 years ago I approached the DLRA with a deal to start a website to help promote the DLRA and improve the communications at that time. Also since 1998 I inherited the DLRA newsletter and have been publishing 4 copies a year since then. In my professional life during the last 18 months I have been working for the Point Nepean Community Trust (www.pointnepeantrust.org) which manages the historical Point Nepean Quarantine Station site as knowledge and information manager. Part of my time has been to conduct oral history interviews with people that have had an association with the Quarantine Station. We now have 35 video taped interviews covering most aspects and eras. So I believe I am ideally suited to make that next conscious step to actively begin collecting and collating a history of Land Speed Racing here in Australia and becoming a member of your illustrious group would be of mutual advantage. Keep the shiny side up! Greg Wapling, DLRA WebMaster, Dry Lakes Racers Australia, PO Box 349 Castlemaine VIC Australia 3450. drylakesracersau@hotmail.com, http://www.dlra.org.au
Greg: Welcome to our group. Go to www.landspeedracing.com and sign in. There are no dues, duties or obligation other than to have an interest in and enthusiasm for preserving and recording land speed racing and hot rodding, world wide. The website is owned by Jack and Mary Ann Lawford, from Boise, Idaho and they also own and operate www.hotrodhotline.com, which has a wealth of information that relates to what we are trying to do. The group that is so far the sole user of www.landspeedracing.com is The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians, with Jim Miller as President and myself as editor of the Newsletter. There are no other officers at the present, because we aren't really a club and our members are simply those who are professional and amateur racing historians. Our goal is to record the rich history and heritage of hot rodding and land speed racing from around the beginnings of the automotive age, 1890 to the present day. We are not confined to regionalism and are glad to have you as a member. It may seem like we are regional, since Southern California has such a rich history in both land speed racing and hot rodding, but we encourage other areas of the world to join with us and share their regions history. Hot rodding is world wide. Land speed racing began in Europe and gradually moved west to America and Australia, among other places. Ninety percent of all land speed racing has taken place at Bonneville or the dry lakes of Southern California, but that doesn't mean that other areas haven't had meaningful and important impact on this sport. Lake Gairdner, Black Rock, Daytona Beach, Pendine and other places have had significant impacts on land speed racing time trials. Our group wants to explore and investigate all land speed racing venues, sites and events. We also provide links to other sites and to www.oilstick.com, which is the home website for the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame, in Buellton, California. The Dry Lakes Hall of Fame is located in the Jack Mendenhall Gas Pump Museum and is operated and run by the Gold Coast Roadster and Racing Club, an affiliate of the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), established in 1937. Evelyn Roth is the owner/operator of www.oilstick.com and a volunteer at Black Rock Desert when the Brits sent the ultimate land speed record in 1997. We hope you will encourage all the Aussies who are interested in preserving their history and heritage to join our group and report to us their findings. You can go to our website at www.landspeedracing.com and download all the past archived newsletters and photographs. What we would like you to do is to have each and every member start out by recording and saving their memoirs. Once they have saved their history, look for older Australian land speed racers and hot rodders and record their lives. Then record those who have passed away. As you do that, make sure to scan old photographs and create full and complete captions for all that you know. Save old memorabilia and keep a provonounce or history of the artifact, such as trophies, plaques, cars, parts, etc. Locate museums and collections in your area, such as government museums and trust and see if they will house your hot rodding artifacts, photographs and memorabilia. For a long time hot rodders were seen as just pests and their sport was denigrated. Now the local populace is keenly aware of the value and importance of our hot rodding hobby. We are glad to have you join with us and expect to see a lot of Australian hot rodding and land speed racing history sent to us to publish.

Editor's notes: John Fitch is not a land speed racer that I know of, but his automotive exploits are worthy of notice and here is a short story concerning Fitch by Gil Bouffard, a member of AARWBA, as is the editor.
John Fitch automobile safety advocate, 1950's auto racing star World War II Aviator and POW Camp survivor is being hounded to bankruptcy by the state of Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection for having unknowingly had a pair of 1000 Gallon Heating Oil tanks which developed leaks into the surrounding ground at his historic 241-year old Lime Rock home. The Ninety year old Fitch, after determining that the tanks leaked, duly dug them up and had them replaced. Upon performing this task, he notified the Connecticut bureaucracy who in turn have thrown the book at him, saddling John with massive costs for alleged hazmat mitigation! This comes on top of John¹s burden of arranging for nursing home care for his dear and devoted wife. Personally, I recognize that "hazardous materials," are bad! But I have to wonder about a state that is one of the original 13 colonies applying what have to be draconian modern requirements against property that predates the Constitution of the United States! I was born and raised in Connecticut and as a youngster watched John Fitch race at Thompson Speedway and Watkins Glen (NY). I also attended the first races at Lime Rock Park, a circuit that John Fitch founded, designed and operated in 1957. I hitchhiked from Litchfield to Lime Rock for those races. (Not something I'd recommend today). Leaving aside the historic significance of the Fitch home and the Fitch family name, there are the contributions and sacrifices made by John Fitch personally. As a World War II aviator, John Fitch successfully flew numerous combat missions over enemy territory. He is credited with being one of the first American to shoot down a Messerschmidt ME 262 Jet Fighter before being shot down and interred in a German Prisoner Of War camp. Upon his return to freedom, Fitch raced sports cars successfully starting with the iconic MG TC in 1948. In 1951, John Fitch became the SCCA's first Road Racing Champion. He also became a part of the racing team fielded by Connecticut's Briggs S. Cunningham in his (Cunningham's) attempts to field an American built Sports Car to race in in international competition including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Fitch went on to set a string of records in the early Chevrolet Corvettes. John Fitch also invented those sand filled yellow protection devices called Fitch Inertial Safety Barriers, that you find along the highways to soften the blows from crashing into bridge abutments and highway off ramps. To learn more about John Fitch and his accomplishments see: http://www.racesafety.com/ . To learn more about the Fitch Family and its significance to American History, of which John has contributed greatly, see "The Life of John Fitch The Inventor of the Steamboat" by Thompson Westcott (1875): http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/westcott/. For more information on John Fitch see SpeedStyle Magazine http://www.speedstylemagazine.com, and www.fastlinesinternational.com. Gil Bouffard

Editor's notes: The following email was sent out to SCTA members in response to an email received concerning Walt Scott, who is terminally ill with cancer. The email was not directed at Walt of his family, but is intended to get hot rodders and land speed racers to write their stories and get their "treasures" in order before it is too late.
"Many hot rodders and land speed racers have passed away recently. Jim Miller and I have started a project to record the history and heritage of land speed racing, hot rodding and other racing stories and photos. Our group is called the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians and is on www.landspeedracing.com, with links to other websites that carry our newsletter and their own valuable photographs and histories. What we are trying to do is compile biographies, stories, articles and photographs in an on-line format so that the history and heritage of our sport can be passed down to the next generation. If you have not written down your memoirs, captioned your photographs and left an inventory and history so that your families can know and understand what you have accomplished, please do it today. The SLSRH Newsletter is free, all you have to do is sign on the website. You can access the newsletters on-line and the website sends out a weekly emailed version of the latest issue. We are always looking for biographies and will publish any that are sent to us. It is your memories that form the basis of the history and culture of land speed racing and hot rodding. If you don't tell your story, somebody else will. There are people in the media and others who see hot rodding and land speed racing as illegal, bad for the environment or wasteful and seek to ban our sport. That was one of the reasons that the early Southern California Timing Association was formed, to counter lawmakers like Ralph Dills and groups who were opposed to what we believe in. Presenting our point of view helps to show the rest of the non-hot rodding world that we do have something to offer. But, we can't do that if you don't write, caption, record and tell your history and what you have achieved. Sincerely, Richard Parks and Jim Miller"

This sounds like a great idea and very much needed. I'll write something and just send it to you and then you do what you want. I first went to the salt in 1951 so lots of sweet memories. Mary West
Mary: Be sure to go to www.landspeedracing.com and sign in. It's free and easy and once you do then you will receive the weekly emails and also go on-line to see the back issues of the newsletter. Also, start your biography with your grandparents and parents and what is was like growing up where you did. For stories like yours, go to www.hotrodhotline.com/guestcolumnists and you can see some of the stories that I've written on racers.

Want I should send you some word files chronicling my early salt flats visits and Dan Warner's entry into the 2 club? They are word files and come with pictures. Jim Knapp, Barnyard Bearcat/Bomber
Jim: We would very much appreciate your history and that of Dan Warner, but first go to www.landspeedracing.com and sign in, then you can see what we are trying to accomplish. Once you have an idea of our aims, then you can send us the information and we will post it on the site. Thank you for helping us to preserve our racing heritage.

I'll be glad to tell my story of my love of Land Speed Racing. Last year at Speed Week I had the privilege to interview Ed Iskenderian on video for about 5 minutes, its was great, we need more of those pioneers on Video! And yes we are getting older, I just hit 69 two weeks ago. Thanks guys, Dave Bloomberg
Dave: Whatever you send in we will be glad to publish. Ed Iskenderian has been interviewed many times before, but the important thing to remember is that future historians are not concerned about the number of interviews. If we could find a houseful of documents on Henry Ford, for example, would it really matter that he has been documented before? No, the more information that we can find, the better. Historians are like that, they are never satisfied with just one source. We keep looking and researching for every and all documents that we can find. Most of the time we find things that tell us what we already know, but sometimes we find something that is startingly new and full of revelations. Keep up the good work and don't stop. By the way, 69 may seem up there, but our average age is probably that number. Happy birthday.

Editor's notes: Some explanations. If you get a personal response from me and it has 1) in it plus your original statement and my response, then I'm letting you know that I am going to publish that in the next issue of the newsletter. Everything that is sent to me will go into the newsletter if there is any value to the other readers. If you mark personal and/or confidential, then I won't run it, but you may get an email back that says "ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT ME TO RUN THIS?" Sometimes what you consider confidential has a great deal of interest and importance to the general readership, so I will rewrite it as "A reader mentioned this to me..." If the subject matter is so crucial that it would cause harm, I won't bring it up at all. Rarely does that happen, but from time to time I do receive personal views that are not open to the other members. If in doubt, you can call me at 714-963-3557 and discuss your situation over the phone, that way what you have to say will never get into print, if I make a mistake. I've sent out about 2000 newsletters or more and have only erred about half a dozen times, but if you feel more comfortable in calling, feel free to do that. Jim Miller is also available to take phone calls and he is our president. If he is willing to make his phone number available, I will post it. There are also SLSRH members who are professionals in various fields and who need to be available to the public, so if you tell me when you write in to post your email address or phone number, then I will do that. As a matter of policy I do not divulge street addresses. While there is little danger that a historical society will have conflicts, I feel that any business that needs to be done can be accomplished by email or phone or through the pages of the newsletter. Only that information that you tell me to print, will be published.

A good friend of mine who does not have access to a computer asked me to sign him up for the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians membership. Bob Young
Bob: Thank you for your email. The SLSRH Newsletter is only available by email or on-line at www.landspeedracing.com or by links to other websites that publish the newsletter. We opted not to have dues or any costs and everything that we do is voluntary, so we have to limit it to the web. The easiest way to access what we do is to find a neighbor or friend with internet service and go over and read the current and back issues of the newsletter on the web.

What started out this morning as an April Fools Email spoof story to a couple dozen friends has gotten out of control. Let me first state that this email was nothing more then an April Fools Joke spoof story and it was quickly recognized by most simply as an April Fool Joke. Congratulations to those of you. Person or persons forwarded this email and apparently it was taken as fact by many in the on-line community. Please note that there was NO request for this email to be forwarded and everyone that contacted us regarding this email was informed that this was an April Fools Spoof. In fact, by 3:30 PM today, only 3 people had contacted us looking for verification of this story. All these people were informed that it was indeed an April Fools Spoof. The "Esteemed Astor Collection" and the "Joe's Garage" collection auctions will be conducted in June by RM Auctions as planned. There was no pre-auction sale to any "individual from the UAE." We look forward to seeing you at these upcoming auctions as this April Fools Spoof has shown the importance of the cars offered and the passion revolving around these unprecedented Orange County Car Collection Sales. You are invited this time to please forward this email to the same channels that you may have forwarded it last time. CR
CR: Good one. You had me fooled. I didn't know that you were this jocular and I will have to be more wary of your next missive. I haven't notified anyone except my partner, Roger Rohrdanz, the photographer part of Gone Racin'. Rest assured that I contacted him and told him of your spoof. However, it appears that once the genie is out of the bottle, there is no plopping him back in. Why this hurts so much is that a real event happened to me along the same lines as your spoof. It has taken me two weeks to clear up the problem with the, "Is so-and-so car racer/friend going to have a garage sale, or isn't he." Once the emails go out, it's impossible to send enough emails back out a second time to warn people it's a no-go. But we shall try, and I have a feeling that you have probably suffered more from this joke than have us spoofees.

North American Eagle 1817 208th St. E. Spanaway, WA 98387 For Immediate Release April 1, 2008. The Search for the Fastest Person on Earth is Accelerating North American Eagle Land Speed Racing jet car’s challenge: hit 800 mph and take back record from the British Spanaway, Washington- The biggest one-day sporting event of 2008 may well be the breaking of the Land Speed Record by the North American Eagle (NAE), a group of Canadians and Americans working together for a common goal; creating a 50,000 horsepower car that will travel faster than the speed of sound. This huge event will inspire people all over the world and re-ignite the spirit of every American and Canadian. NAE is currently searching North America for a young man or woman that wants to be trained by veteran land speed racing driver and NAE co-owner, Ed Shadle, to be the fastest person on earth. NAE is seeking a person with experience in high-speed motorsports as well as experience being on camera and with speaking to large audiences. Land speed racing has been an important part of motorsports for over 100 years. About one billion people were watching the event live on television in 1997 when ThrustSSC broke the record. The ThrustSSC website received 3.5 million page hits that same day. Since then, seven television documentaries have been screened continuously about Thrust SSC and the car continues to receive 300,000 visitors a year at the Coventry Museum of Transportation. NAE is also seeking a sponsor interested in reaching the 18-40-year-old market through advertising and point-of-purchase marketing tie-ins, as well as through television coverage of the selection process, training, medium speed test runs, and the attempt of breaking the current land speed record of 763.055 mph. Sponsorship of the Fastest Person on Earth reality show may also be available. The North American Eagle is an innovative, purpose-built craft created for one goal: breaking the World Land Speed Record (LSR) which is so challenging to do, it has held for 11 years. If you are between 20 and 40 feel you have what it takes to be the fastest person on earth, send a 400 word email about your qualifications, along with a photo of yourself to landspeedracing@gmail.com . (No phone calls please). Companies interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities and production groups media interested in discussing a reality show, documentary, or news coverage opportunities, please contact Douglas Schwartz at landspeedracing@gmail.com Source: North American Eagle

To spark interest in the media with the goal of obtaining a corporate sponsor, Ed and I created the press release below. Last evening Doug Stokes, our friend that formerly worked with Auto Books/Aero Books was kind enough to post it to his media list. Today at 11:00 am it will hit the US wire service. If anyone contacts you about the release refer the contact to Ed, Keith or me. If anyone at any time asks your opinion on the Fossett Team and their chances of winning, I suggest we keep it positive and say something to the effect that it is a good team with a good car and having competition will only help promote the sport of Land Speed Racing. Lets hope this gets a serious sponsor or two to understand what this team has already accomplished and what we plan to accomplish with their financial assistance. Feel free to send it around to any media connections or emails lists you may have. Press Release: http://www.whowon.com/sResults.asp?SanctionID=591&StoryID=242334 . Best Regards, Douglas Schwartz, NAE Media Director, Doug@sterlingci.com
Douglas and the Readers: Land Speed racing is both competitive and at the same time cooperative. Teams have lent each other parts and advice, then tried to go out and beat each other. There is this tug and pull, where land speeders do everything within their power to excel, then go out of their way to help their competitors. Not everything that is done is done rationally or with common sense. There are times when as historians we find ourselves dealing with negative as well as positive developments and we must be fair, impartial and honest, but at the same time understanding and kind. The policy of this newsletter is to let the Fossett team speak through their agents and not to speak for them. This goes for all teams. BUT, after the event has been run and records set or not, then the facts become part of history and anyone can report on them. If any reader has an observed fact, they can report on it, however, because the teams are under a lot of stress, the editor and the President of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians will decide on whether to run something that is current event oriented and not historical. We do not shy away from controversy as much as we try and understand it without making it worse for others.

Congratulations on this promotion (NAE)...great idea! I've flown your release to my list this AM. See if you get any kind of bump. I suggest that you get this info to Hollywood any way that you can, what with the movie "Speed Racer" coming out soon ... It is every 60's kid's (who are now producers) dream to be that guy! I don't have any kind of a "movie industry" PR list ... but you'll think of some creative ways to get the word out ... One of those "TUBE/FACE" sites with a cute teenager (guy or GAL) stepping up to the plate (er ... seat). AMERICAN IDOL: SUPERSONIC! Doug Stokes

That photo discussed by Don Baker I believe was taken at the old Ford Plant, it seems there is another larger group photo taken at the same location, George Rubio & I are in his '29 Rdstr, as I remember when leaving we got into a short drag race w/Pat O'Brien across the parking lot & almost ran thru the fence, this really pissed Wally off & was a stupid trick, but it was O'Brien's fault, yeh! As to Jim Miller's suggestion that Ak Miller might have sandbagged us on the gearing in Baker's car when we ran it at B'ville '50, somehow his face appears in my mind anytime someone mentions anything about "Old Age & Treachery." Bob Morton
Bob: Very few people could stay mad at Ak. Another charismatic man like Ak was Jack Mendenhall. They could talk the Devil out of hell, then sell it back to Ol' Lucifer. Ak had his tricks to earn points for his club and he was fiercely loyal to the Road Runners. But Ak would drop what he was doing and help out a fellow racer and I don't think that he would knowingly try and cheat anyone, though he knew the rulebook word for word. The good racers read that rulebook and knew every clause and rule in it. They knew just what they could get away with and pushed the tech inspectors right to the wall. They were as competitive a bunch as you will ever see. The same was true with the oval track guys. If it wasn't in the rule book, they kept doing it until a rule went in the book, then they looked for ways to bend the rules. Ak and many others also served on the rules and inspection committees and gained solid knowledge about how to build a car and what would pass inspection. Sometimes they were just ahead of their times and weren't breaking a rule because it hadn't been written yet, as when Vic Edelbrock experimented with Nitro. Joaquin Arnett could rattle off the names of impossible to pronounce chemicals containing extra oxygen atoms that made his cars go fast. As for the drag race, well Dad was drag racing when most of the guys were just a twinkle in their parents' eye, but around the late '30's and certainly by the '40's, he came to see illegal street racing as a real threat to the survival of the SCTA and after that, the NHRA. There is no one quite so committed to a cause than a convert and Dad was converted to ridding the world of street racing. Those are some great memories that you have. Keep them coming. The Rubio article is almost ready for publication, we just need to do the photographs.

 "Deist Safety - Race and Motorsports Safety EquipmentWith 50 years of saving lives, Deist Safety is an industry leading race and motorsports safety equipment manufacturer. www.deist.com/." So often we get into the habit of pronouncing the name and then spelling it phonetically. I do the same thing all the time and have to double check and/or use spell check.

I'm just sending this e-mail to thank all the people who took time to look up photos and info about my old '27 T roadster. I had lost the photos I had and I thought I would never see any pics again, and it was my favorite hot rod. When I was in the Road Runners in the late forties, there were a bunch of good guys in the club and I think there still are. Another plus is I signed up for the newsletter. I hope I have included everyone involved. Best Regards. Don Baker
Don: The Road Runners are a great club. Be sure to write down what you remember about all of the guys in the club and what you and they did back then.

Editor's notes: The newsletter is sent out once a week, on Wednesday's, unless no news or relevant information is received. If I receive a large amount of issues, events or news, I may send the newsletter out more than once a week. If an important event comes up, such as a death or funeral and word needs to be sent immediately, a special edition of the newsletter will be sent.

Members:

Jonathan Amo, Brett Arena, Henry Astor, Gale Banks, Glen Barrett, Mike Bastian, Lee Blaisdell, Jim Bremner, Warren Bullis, George Callaway, Gary Carmichael, John Backus, 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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