SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE SPURGIN/GIOVANINE/BORGH/CANO/LAWRENCE/NAGAMATSU ROADSTER; A Legendary Dry Lakes Champion racer. The following story was a composite of stories and articles written by Ernie Nagamatsu, Jim Miller, Curt Giovanine, David Lawrence, Kent Borgh, Karin Edla Spurgin, Richard Parks and other researchers. Special thanks to Terry Baldwin, Bill Erickson, Will Kalbermatter, and all of the many individual historians of the Dry Lakes Racing era. Edited by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz. A special disclaimer is made here. Often the original owners and drivers would tell people that they used this or that part, when in fact they were using something entirely different. Every effort has been made to be as factual as possible, but new research constantly brings to light facts which we did not know at the time of publication. The car is referred to as the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster during the 1940's and after that date, as new owners are added, so are the full names of all f the owners. Also, race cars are modified on a continuous basis, so that what was on the car one month may be changed the next month, totally altering the accuracy of the article at any given time. The final results of the article are therefore the sole responsibility of the editor alone. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My name is Kent Borgh. While researching an old Albata car club plaque of my father's, I came across a land speed racing website and saw a picture of the Spurgin roadster. I recognized the Spurgin name and the year of the car and called up and left a message. Shortly after, I got a phone call from Richard Parks. I then told him that my dad had purchased that car in 1953 or '54 and had raced it in Bonneville and some Southern Cal drag strips. My father passed away in 1998 and my brothers and I have finally gotten to cleaning up some of my father's old Bonneville artifacts. I have some pictures before the car was converted to rear engine and some pictures after the conversion. I would love to talk to you some time about the car and possibly pass on some history to you. I'm in Folsom, California. I look forward to talking to you soon. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster, By David Lawrence. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I bought the Spurgin-Giovanine Roadster from my friend David Lawrence. He found the car and verified that indeed it was the lost car that people were looking for. He tried to sell the roadster at the Monterey Auctions and he wanted more money than the price went up to. David had it for several years and I knew that he would not complete the car as it takes a lot of research and work, so that is when I bought the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster from him. David was a part time art dealer and for the last years has been in the business of selling Motorsports posters, photos, etc, and he would go to automobile and memorabilia shows from time to time. Ernie Nagamatsu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mary Ann Lawford: We are now finally re-building the Spurgin/Giovanine/Borgh Roadster and we hope to present the car at the July Ventura Concours. We are getting incredible support and help from the networking of your group among others who know of the history of the car. Curt Giovanine is the son of the Giovanine team and he shared the photos with us so we could be as accurate as we can with the 1948 configuration. Curt has been so very helpful to us and others needing special historical information of the great "Golden Years" of Dry Lakes racing. Bobby is my crew chief and he was in communication with Curt and that is why his name appears, but rights go to Curt and you will find him very helpful and supportive. Keep up the great work for all of us. If there are any other questions, you can contact me at any time. Ernie Nagamatsu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We have the Bonneville stickers and the Mothersills Special decals on the sides from the Bonneville configuration and one can see that the body/chassis is intact. It is clear that one can see the weld modifications along the way that were made. Did you see the great images from Kent Borgh as he has provided more images of the front engine configuration prior to the "Jimmy" 6. Terry Baldwin has been helping as he is a good historian of the Dry Lakes. Maybe you can give some guidance for proper provenance even though everyone is sure that this is the car so far. Also, as mentioned and you are aware, Curt Giovanine has been aware that we have had the car unrestored for about 3 years and has provided us with incredible images for us. The wood struts are still intact on the inner panels and we can provide close ups of the original welds etc. Kent provided an image of the bill of sale from his father and I am trying to gather as much historical background as I can. We can take a close up of the chassis and details that can tell the story as well, before we get too far along. Yes this is an exciting project and we want to be correct with "respect," so to speak. I have the Old Yeller II and that comes with a lot of responsibility and we keep it with its racing patina and historically correct. We will continue discussion and you can advise me as well, and we listen. Ernie Nagamatsu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thank you so much. The car I'm building is a '34 3-window Ford coupe with a Potvin blown Chrysler hemi. Also, I thought I'd share with you a picture of my favorite chair -- 1950s dentist chair. Thank you for the info -- I had not seen the March 1949 issue of the car so I had to look thru my dad's HR mags and found it -- what a wonderful issue. I was unaware that the car had a track T nose already. I thought my dad made this nose, these pictures prove me wrong. My dad's nose configuration is quite a bit more pointy. There's so much great info you sent and I'd really like to see the Old Yeller in person some day. I am currently working on the bio of my father and the info on the Mothersills Special. Kent Borgh |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi Ernie, thank you for including your text on the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster. I intend to sit and read it thoroughly, several times this weekend. Reading it for the first time last night sure did spark the memories. I may send you a few edits for consideration after I read through it a few more times, if that's all right. You included a lot of information on the Hallock throttles which I really enjoyed. Duke was a creative genius that had the unique ability to apply theory and deep thought to a design and then make the transition to raw practicality to make it work. He was one of the very few that I had the distinct pleasure of knowing, that could make that difficult transition. The idea behind Duke's throttles with a sector for a throttle plate rather than a conventional throttle plate mounted to a throttle shaft was to achieve a clean unobstructed passage for the intake air at full throttle. His analysis of a conventional throttle was that the shaft and plate divided the flow front into two smaller flow regions which restricted the amount of air that could flow through a given diameter tube. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We just got home from Ventura on January 18, 2009 from 4 1/2 hour professional filming with Michael Rose Productions, experts in automobile filming and featured on the History, Travel and PBS channels. Michael interviewed us on every element of the Spurgin/Giovanine/Borgh Mothersills Special Roadster. He even made up a creeper and tied a camera on it and with a rope at one end and a long stick attached to the creeper with the car up on high jack stands. It was a very cool shot panning from one end to the other catching everything under the car and especially half of the original belly pan from 1948. We interviewed a fellow that saw the S-G Roadster race at El Mirage and he talked with them about the car and it was his inspiration to start racing and he recently built a replica of a Miller car from ground up. Ernie Nagamatsu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ralph Schenck had been running a Chevy powered car at the lakes and at the track car since '35. He first met Rufi at the track and taught him every thing he knew about hopping up Chevys. (Quote from Bob). Rufi first ran at the lakes in '37 with a Chevy powered car that started life as a track car. In '38 Rufi ran his first Modified with Spurgin. They had known each other since they were six and attended school together and lived on the same street in W.L.A. Rufi ran the liner in '39. Spurgin ran a Modified, probably Rufi's single seater; meanwhile they built a two-man car for the street. In 1940 Chuck Spurgin ran the 2-man Modified he and Bob Rufi had built in '38-'39. It was White with the no. 76 painted on it. Chuck owned the engine and Giovanine owned the Olds 3-port head. It was entered in Chuck's name. In the same year Giovanine rebuilt Babe Ouse's Modified that he had run in '39. It had a Ford-B in it and they ran it in the last two races that year as a team. Bob was a line mechanic at a Ford dealership then. It was entered as Giovanine-Ouse. In '41 a modified was entered once that year as Spurgin-Giovanine car no. 22. In '42 Chuck entered his Chevy in July. The pix attached shows it with the Whippet grill shell half painted white. It was photographed at a workshop near Overland and National rented by Jim Travis-Charlie Beck. Have a '44 shot of the same shop with the Beck car in he foreground before he sold it to Howard Wilson with Chuck's roadster still stored inside. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are several things in Jim's text that I would like to clear up. The line, "Bob was a line mechanic at a Ford dealership then," is confusing to me. Dad never worked as a line mechanic, if that's the Bob he's referring to. He went to work at Vultee Aircraft in 1937 and worked there until he joined the Navy for WWII. To my knowledge Bob Rufi was always a carpenter. I don't know what Babe did for a living. I do know that Ralph Schenck worked for a Ford agency. Dad used to say that Ralph, a Ford guy, taught them to build the Chevy fours. The #22 modified run in '41 had Dad's Chevy four in it, the same engine that went into the #87 roadster after the war. There is reference to that fact in one of the programs or club newsletters that I have. It says, "With Giovanine's new engine, there will now be two of the potent Chevy fours running on the lakebed," (paraphrased). I can find that program if you are interested. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As it turns out, my paraphrase based on my recollections was not very accurate. I agree with you that written records from the time in question are much more reliable than recollection, as our recollections get altered by time. My goal is as yours, to present an accurate historical record. Last night, I dug out the old programs and magazines and have scanned the appropriate pages to attach to this email. The December SCTA Racing News indicates that Dad partnered both with Chuck Spurgin in the two-man modified and with Babe Ouse in the Winfield powered modified during 1940 and shows that points were awarded to both teams toward the Albata club points championship that year. Whether or not the entire engine in the two-man modified was Dad's, or just the head as Jim Miller states, I don't know for sure, but the car was definitely entered under both names not just Chuck's as Jim indicated. Also, the May, 1941, Throttle magazine article written by Babe Ouse talks about Dad building an engine nearly identical to Bob Rufi's and that he would be running it in his, (Bob Giovanine's), new modified. Babe also indicates that he would be running his Winfield powered modified. That indicates to me that they were two similar modifieds not one and the same. The engine that Dad built for his modified was the engine that was later used in the '25 Chevy roadster. When the parts that I had bought from Duane Steele were all laid out on Dad's garage floor, I asked Bob Rufi about the main bearing oil supply tube at the bottom of Dad's old block. He said that it had been fabricated from EMT. He said that he had built that tube for Dad as one of his contributions to the engine. I have Dad's old main bearing caps for his block that I will never use. You are welcome to them if you can use them. Curt Giovanine |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the latest issue of the Rodders Journal, #42, on page 77 is the picture of my dad's tank car with no caption. I contacted Geoff Miles of Rodders Journal and told him I would send him a few pictures. I just wanted to share these pictures with you guys. Here are just a few pictures of the Mother Sills car. Some are with the engine in front; some with the engine in back. I also just discovered the original bill of sale from Feb. 29, 1956 when my dad sold the car. Kent Borgh |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I had a long discussion with Kent Borgh and he filled me in with more history of the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster in the Mothersill's Special configuration. He will provide more information as his father ran the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster in the front engine configuration for a period of time and even went Drag Racing, before the final configuration to the rear engine "Jimmy six." Kent's clear and sharp historic photos of his dad and the S-G/Mothersill's Special are just great for us and the great team and helps for more validation. We will carefully take more photos of the key areas in the chassis and body. Thanks for your advice and help in the great research as this very special historic Roadster that started out before the WWII and had the record breaking year in 1948 and then it then continued on racing with the original chassis and body with some changes. This is exciting for sure and we are so grateful for all of the help on the Dry Lakes history side of this project and Curt Giovanine has been so helpful with incredible photo images and we are grateful. It reminds me of the Old Yeller II built in 1959 and continued competitive road racing until 1974 in SCCA, few years in a back yard in Fresno and back on the track replacing the modifications of disc brakes and a Chevy motor, back to Buick and Buick drum brakes. Ernie Nagamatsu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'm Chuck Spurgin's daughter Karin and I got a phone call from Ernie this morning about the roadster. What a great talk. Not two weeks ago I wondered if I should contact David Lawrence and see if he had made any progress with the car. I haven't talked to him in probably a year or two. I lost track. So there was Ernie and I guess we're off again toward restoration. I'm so glad. I spent most of the morning going through pictures and found the letter that is attached and thought I'd send it on to you and Ernie. I have a few pictures and SCTA programs I can scan and send to you but I don't have a scanner and will have to use a friends. Let me know what I can provide for you and I'll see what I can do. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ All speeds, entry names and dates are documented. As I've mentioned earlier Chuck partnered with Bob Giovanine in 1940 and also helped Rufi with his car. Without the Albata minutes at hand it can't be determined when Bob Giovanine actually joined the club. I know Bob Rufi and Chuck were friends from childhood. My reference to Chuck owning the block and Bob the head came from an issue of the Racing News from that time period. All the speeds and entry information also came from SCTA materials. Old Photos helped me determine body chassis configurations. Giovanine was also involved with Babe Ouse and Jim White (AKA Harrell) before the war. I have a letter from Rufi saying he learned everything about the Chevy engine from Schenck. This passed from Rufi to Spurgin to Giovanine. In 1939 the only guys running Chevy's at the lakes were Ralph Schenck, Bob Rufi and Chuck Spurgin. For '39 add Ralph Willis (Hot Irons), Gus Rollins (Outriders), Jim Schiefer (Idlers, Lived close to the Chuck and Bob neighborhood). In '38 there was Tony Caldeway, Frank Fontain (Idlers), Lewis Murray, and Rufi. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We thank everyone for the incredible filming session (over 4 � hours) to record the all of the critical details of the Spurgin/Giovanine/Borgh Mothersills Roadster. It was such an important step and it is a good start as we are researching more about the car in the other configurations as well. It was exciting to have all of the creative "shooting" angles included and we thank our "in house Grips." We want to thank Bill for inviting Keith Loomis as he was critical for a historical perspective as he remembered so clearly as a teenager long ago in 1949 seeing the S-G Roadster race at El Mirage and asking Giovanine about compression. Everyone was important to "produce" a good filming result and we appreciate that. Ernie Nagamatsu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here are some pictures and other info on the Mothersills Special. The Spurgin & Giovanine roadster was offered for sale in the June, 1950 issue of Hot Rod magazine. I'm unable to find the date that my father purchased the car. Carl was an Albata club member. He raced the car out of Harbor City, California. He first ran the car in August of 1954 at Bonneville. He called it the Mothersills Special. Mothersills was a remedy for women for that time of the month. There's also a story about a fictitious car, etc., etc. In 1954 at Bonneville, the car turned 140.84. He ran in El Mirage September in '54 at 141.73 mph. At Bonneville August 1955 he ran 149.00. He also drag raced the car in the quarter mile at Colton, Morrow, San Fernando, Orange County, etc. The car appeared in Drag News Magazine, April 15, 1955, page 10, left bottom picture. He changed the steering to center steering, painted the car red & white, put in a roll bar. He raced in the C modified roadster class. In October 1956 Hot Rod, pages 23 & 24, the magazine talks about other refinements of the car. The tubing body braces that resemble aircraft structure. Carl was an aerospace engineer from McDonnell Douglas. Carl ran the car with the engine in the front. In 1955, Carl moved the 6 cylinder GMC to the rear of the car. He made some modifications to the belly pan, built his own quick change rear end, and changed the track T nose to his own pointed version. I found his home made English wheel. He also fabricated his own intake manifold. Carl painted the car light blue, the same as two other future Bonneville cars. And to set the story straight, Carl and his buddy took both their roadsters to Kenneth Howard's garage, aka Von Dutch. That afternoon they bought Von Dutch some booze and he striped both cars and drank till morning. My dad said the sun was already up when they left for home. Carl W. Borgh sold the '25 Chevy roadster to Robert A. Cano of San Pedro, California on February 29, 1956 for the sum of $625.00 and a 1936 Ford coupe. Just would like to give my dad a little credit. I thank you both very much and Jim Miller, also. In the picture of the SCTA timing tags, there are only four of the Mothersills car. Kent Borgh |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I just bought the Hot Rod Annual that will picture the last configuration by Cano who bought the car from Borgh. I now have all of the photograph images of all of the configurations and we are lucky that the rolling chassis stayed the same and the body also was the original S-G Roadster configuration except for the nose and the hood area. The key and critical element of the multi-faceted Land Speed Racer accomplishments is the beyond the exceptional and rare record breaking year in 1948 in SCTA Dry Lakes racing. The Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster continued the long journey from the Pre-WWII configuration and now with a different paint job and it went Drag Racing as the Mothersill's Special and we have records of that. Then it went to Bonneville to race the Salt Flats as well with a rear Jimmy 6 configuration and now I am researching the Cano period but the car is same in appearance as the Bonneville racing configuration with it's smooth and slippery roadster appearance, a talented design indeed. Ernie Nagamatsu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi Ernie, I have pics of the 15a car and others plus the pictures of the restoration of a Giovanine car he raced (?) back in the day. I remember Dad telling me that Bob was restoring "the car" and going to race it again. His son will know more about that but I'm sure these pics are of that car. You probably know what I'm talking about. When Dad died I stayed in touch with Bob Rufi and I asked if he would be willing to share any stories he remembered about Dad. I got one verbal one on the phone that day and he sent me a longer one by mail. I found the handwritten 8 page letter he sent me and I think it's the story of the 15a car's inception. It's just charming and written with the sweetness of dear Bob. I could just hear his voice coming through. I can scan that and send it to you and you can use it how ever you want. It's really quite special. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We fully realize that with the including of everyone related to the true historical story of the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster/Borgh Mothersill's Special. We do accumulate a ton of material with more coming from Karin Spurgin Edla now on board as she will have some great material and photographs as well. I know writer Steve Havelock of England very well as he is always so very supportive of the Old Yeller II at the Goodwood Events. Steve wants to publish the S-G story in Octane Magazine as it is the best auto magazine on the planet I think and for an American focused auto magazine in Europe as well. I know the Editor of Hot Rod Magazine as he recently included the OY1 into the 100 most significant "Hot Rods" in the magazine. I also know other editors of the Hemmings publications as they have covered the OYII many times and the Rodder's Journal is a perfect match for later as we progress/finish on the S-G Roadster. We are hoping that Curt Giovanine can bring his 557 Bonneville racer built by Curt and his dad in the spirit of the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster. That will be a great "Tribute Car" to the 2009 Ventura Concours d'Elegance as it can be featured alongside of the original Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster in July, 2009! Ernie Nagamatsu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I just got off the telephone with the son of Robert Cano who bought the car from Carl Borgh and that is the last person to race the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster and it is the configuration that it is in currently, but same as the Borgh Mothersills Special configuration. Joe Cano was really excited as all he had was the Hot Rod Magazine 1957 Annual which pictured the Robert Cano "Snoot" which is the S-G Roadster. Joe will provide more information to me shortly as his dad lives in Lomita and Joe lives in Harbor City. This is the missing piece at last. Joe works at Tillack Ferrari and I know Steve Tillack and we had a great long talk as I mentioned that we have to get all of the important Oral History from Robert his father. Ernie Nagamatsu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I've attached to pics of the cars, and 1 of the program, as jpeg files. There are some little black spots in the Car2 picture that are in the picture. When it's reduced though it may not be a problem, or maybe they can Photoshop them a bit to clean them up. Michael Ray |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I thought this came out great because you can read everything on the plaque. Had a great email from Curt and a scratchy old picture of the guys BBQ'ing for Giovanine's 70th birthday. Just hangin' around the BBQ. Something we did all our lives in So Cal. It is so nice to connect with Curt after all these years. Ernie, you have no idea how this project has touched all our lives. What an absolutely wonderful flooding of memories, re-connections and good will this has brought to all of us. It's bringing the next generation (us) together in the bond our fathers shared and you and Richard and the rest of your spectacular crew are the keepers of the flame hopefully to be passed on and on. We have gathered so much information for the history of this little car it really feels like a good full circle. Don't know if it could have been done 30 years from now and too bad we couldn't have had the main players stories while they were alive but they're grinnin' from ear to ear right now. Bless your hearts. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Newest Pictures Added After Original Publication. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi Jim and Hi Richard: |
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