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SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ President's Corner: By Jim Miller (1-818-846-5139) |
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Great little LSR cars are still being made today. The best of the best is Ugo Fadini's work out of Italy. The English are right there too. Brumm also has a bunch of LSR cars in their catalog. Do a little internet surfing to check things out if you're into the little cars. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Editorial: The past week I have been helping my brother move, store, catalog and appreciate the many things our father left to us when he passed away last September. It has been exhausting work and yet it is also exciting to see precious artifacts, often for the first time. We all have historical artifacts, sometimes called treasures and sometimes called junk, depending on whom we are talking to. Jack Underwood, one of our Hall of Fame Historians, calls it "stuff." When Roger Rohrdanz and I visit people to do interviews and articles on them, we find "stuff" by the garage full. It is very hard to stay on schedule, get the interview and photographs to do the story, and get away within a few hours. Sometimes we just sit there and bench race with the owners of "stuff." Is this enjoyable? You bet it is and we are getting to be experts on "stuff." But, here's something we should all think about, "what happens to our possessions once we are gone?" Do we have wives who are sympathetic to our treasures? Many spouses, both husbands and wives, resent the time we spend on hot rodding and racing and when we pass on to our great reward, our spouses are only too happy to empty the garage, den, storage sheds and other places where we hide our "stuff." They sell it to other hotrodders, put it on eBay, give it to children, friends and neighbors or cart it off to the curb for the garbagemen to take to the dump. Even if you have family and friends who will treasure your "stuff," if you haven't taken the time to put captions on photographs or leave behind a description of the "stuff," what good are these objects to them. Photographs that have no names, dates, or places written on them are almost meaningless. A plaque or a trophy that has no provenance, or history to it, means just about nothing. A piece of a race car that was in a famous race is merely junk, unless you leave a historical record to document the piece of metal. A guitar owned by Elvis Presley is worth thousands, but an old guitar with no history as to who used it or owned it, is simply just an old guitar. As collectors, we often discuss the possibility of what people want, what they are looking for, what piece of history do they want to have in order to feel an attachment. We often hear this said, "well, if you don't want it, you can always give it away to the Salvation Army." These objects are too precious to give to such charities. They need to be documented, recorded and captioned. If you have no one to leave your artifacts to, then donate your stuff to the places where they will be respected. Collectible materials and historical artifacts should always go to one's family first, if they show an interest. My father wanted to support the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California and that's where some of our collections will go. Other fine institutions are out there who will take what you have to give them and try and do a great job of archiving and showing them to hot rodders of the future. What about your collections? What about your "stuff?" What are you going to do to make sure that your "stuff" survives you and is respected and wanted by the next generation? If you are leaving all your treasures to the next generation, unrecorded and uncaptioned, as if that is the duty of the next generation to do that work, then you might as well take it to the dump today and spare your widow that job. Whatever you do to put your collectibles in order now will make all the difference whether your family or heirs will keep, sell or trash your treasures. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are new posts on the blog at www.goldenhawk.ca, or http://goldenhawkproject.blogspot.com/. Randy Pierce |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My name is Coby Gewertz. You stopped by my booth (Church) at the Grand National Roadster Show and chatted for a bit. You were spying a couple of pics I took at Speedweek of my friends belly tank. I made a little magazine out of my pics, and would love to send you a couple. Where should I send them? Coby Gewertz Coby: I do just about everything over the internet, so if you have scanned the photographs and can send them digitally to me, that would be preferable. People do send photos and other memorabilia to me, but I don't have the time to work with these "physical" parts of history. Everything that I do is computerized and the emailed newsletters that I edit have to be in the same format. Go to www.hotrodhotline.com, guest columnist, or www.landspeedracing.com for updates on what a group of racing fans are doing. I would like to see your collection, but if you can scan the objects and share them with the website readers, that would be preferable. Thanks for thinking of us. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pebble Beach, California. In 1958, Ferrari began production of a race-inspired convertible named after its best-selling market – the Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California. Only 105 “Cal Spyders” were manufactured overall. In addition to the prototype, there were six variants—long and short wheelbase models with differing headline treatments and competition versions. Six of these now iconic roadsters will be displayed among the world’s elite vehicles at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on August 17. See www.pebblebeachconcours.com. Michael Shaw |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We also discussed for a while that my father worked you your dad for quite a while. He was a liaison between NHRA and fuel cars. He was also division 7 director for a bit. My older brother is currently a senior photographer for National Dragster. I found it pretty funny that you were more passionate about the salt than 1320 feet of asphault. Also, I finally got confirmation for a hotel in Wendover for this years Speed Week. I can't wait. It will only be my second trip, but I am absolutely hooked!!!!! Hopefully we will cross paths on the salt. See www.carsnotculture.com. Coby Gewertz Coby: One of the projects that we are working on is personal biographies and that includes everyone in racing, not just land speed racers. We would love to have you, your father and family write your biographies and also all that you remember of my father, who did not complete his life history. Someday, someone will write the definitive history of the NHRA and drag racing, but so far that hasn't been done and no one author may ever be able to complete that opus of work. Perhaps my father could have made a dent in such a history and he left tons of records that might make the work a little easier. My brother and I grew up in and around the dry lakes racing and I remember the time that my father left the SCTA and went to work as editor at Hot Rod Magazine and from there, the creation of the NHRA. It isn't that we are not concerned about drag racing, because we are. We have the advantage of seeing drag racing evolve out of the dry lakes land speed era and view the two sports as somewhat the same, except that they diverged around the early 1950's. Today, drag racing barely resembles land speed racing, just as the modern drag rails hardly resemble the Model A frames they evolved from. Drag racing has legions of fans, magazines, websites and historians to catalog its history, but land speed racing, the mother sport of all racing, is followed by only a few. The website, www.landspeedracing.com attempts to uncover the very roots of automobile racing and the wide range of racing that came out of the first attempt to race a motorized vehicle. Sign up for the free websites and send us news of what is happening at Bonneville this year and your family's involvement in auto racing. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://carsnotculture.com/usa/print.htm is the website for Coby Gewertz, a young artist that I met at the Grand National Roadster Show and who will impress you with his talent. The website appears blank until you use the mouse and start clicking on whatever you see. Church, as he is known, is part of the story on the Grand National Roadster Show which you can find at www.hotrodhotline.com, under Guest Columnist. The GNRS is a must event for hot rodders, drag racers, land speed racers and any and all types of automotive racing and rodding. It is held in January at the Los Angeles County Fairplex, Pomona, California and is owned by John Buck, a friend and true believer. John goes out of his way to encourage all car fans to participate in his show. It isn't cheap to have a show at the Fairplex and so John has expanded the width and breadth of the show to give as many genres of cars their place in the sun and car fans a real treat, and to raise the money to keep the show going. It is almost a spiritual journey for car racing and hot rodding fans to make it to the yearly GNRS, once referred to as the old Oakland Roadster Show. That show is the second oldest hot rodding show after the original SCTA Hot Rod Show and Exhibition. There are still people alive and well today who attended those first two shows in 1948 and 1949. At the time, no one had an inkling whether either show would even break even or cost the promoters their financial lives. They believed passionately in their hot rods and their car culture and as an act of faith, they organized and put on two car shows that exemplified their love of cars. They succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations and today there are thousands of car shows every weekend to attest to the popularity of hot rodding. A handful of men and women pushed aside the prejudices of the day to create the sport that we all admire and respect today. Had they failed to turn the public's attitude away from prohibition, our ability to do what we do today would have been far different. So when the GNRS comes around in January, 2009, I hope to see all of you there and don't forget to say hello to Church, whose name is so apt in describing what he does and what he believes in. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My brother found this video done by Alan Johnson, the pinstriper of the 404jr. Thought you might enjoy it. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W2coW8UbB4. Sue Berardini Sue: I watched the video and was very impressed. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Under the auspices of Harold Miller (Miller's Crankshaft Grinding, Lakewood CA) I became a member of the SCTA "Road Runners" in the late '40's. Through the Club's meetings I first met Chuck who was an active competitor at Muroc. During this time I ran a 1928 zeeironed Ford roadster easily identified through my running one of the first of Bob Tattersfield's 4-carb (unequalized!) manifolds. I would run into Chuck at most of the lake meets I attended and he always would take time to make shop-talk with a younger rodder. In later years we both moved into sports car competition with his participation being more enduring than my own. I have always carried fond memories of Chuck's kindnesses shown to a budding car nut and truly commiserate with his family. Pat O'Hern, Grafton, Wis. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chuck Daigh practiced at Indy one year in the early 1960's, and while he didn't attempt to qualify, he impressed everyone so much there was talk of giving him Rookie of the Year. Joe Stephan Joe: Chuck Daigh's bio is at www.hotrodhotline.com, guest columnist. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here is a link to an article I wrote a couple of years ago before I moved www.Bike-Shows.com to www.BlacktopMagazine.com. See http://www.bike-shows.com/Features/GarageTours/BobNichols/index.html . Bob is a very nice guy and incredible to meet and speak with. Best always, Tony Colombini, Blacktop Magazine, www.BlacktopMagazine.com. Tony: Bob Nichols showed us your site and he was very pleased that you gave him some space on your website. We have finished our article on Bob and sent it to www.hotrodhotline.com, guest columnists. Then it will be cross-linked to www.landspeedracing.com. Our goal is to encourage the racing community to do their biographies and share them with their families, friends and the racing community. If you find something that you like on the sites, let us know and we will give you permission to use the articles. Hotrodhotline has an exclusive, but what we do is mostly historical and personal interest, and they may grant an extension. I may have met you at the Grand National Roadster Show. I always try to write something on the racing genres that don't get a lot of attention. I viewed your site and it's very well done and will mention it on our website. If you do any articles on land speed bike racing, be sure to let us know so that I can notify our readers to go to your site. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I am seeking some information on subject. Firstly, if available would like to obtain an email address for Walt James, or if more appropriate to ask you to send him my address. Back in '47-'48 Walt drove Harold Miller's roadster at Carrell and other venues. I helped build and crewed the car. I have several photos of him and the car taken by track photographers which I'd be happy to have duplicated if he is interested. Any help you could provide to connect me with Walt would be highly appreciated. Thanks, Pat O'Hern Pat: I just saw your comments on Chuck Daigh in the Fab 50's newsletter and put it in my www.landspeedracing.com newsletter. I'll send Walt's phone number by separate email. I'm sure that he would love to hear from you. He has a yearly CRA (California Roadster Association/California Racing Association) reunion in January and if you haven't gone before, you should try and make it. I'm doing biographies of the early racers, crews and family and if you would like to do your bio or story, please let me know and I'll send you our format. If you go to www.hotrodhotline.com, guest columnist, you can see how they are turning out. Also, if you want to share your memories of Carrell Speedway, Miller, James or any other event, we would be delighted to post them on our site. While Walt James was involved in oval racing, he knew my father well and in the late '40's offered my father the job of being the President of the CRA. My father told Walt that he was busy at the time trying to get several new organizations established, one of which was the fledgling NHRA. Walt James then led the CRA and raced in this exciting league. I never miss his reunions and cherish his stories. |
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Links to other land speed and hotrodding websites: |
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jonathan Amo, Brett Arena, Henry Astor, Gale Banks, Glen Barrett, Mike Bastian, Lee Blaisdell, Jim Bremner, Warren Bullis, Burly Burlile, 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, Eric Loe, Dick Martin, Ron Martinez, Tom McIntyre, Don McMeekin, Bob McMillian, Tom Medley, Jim Miller, Don Montgomery, Bob Morton, Mark Morton, Paula Murphy, Landspeed 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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