SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS
NEWSLETTER 119 - July 9, 2009
Editor: Richard Parks [email protected]
President's Corner: By Jim Miller (1-818-846-5139)

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Some Names To Look For In This Newsletter:
 President's Corner, Editorials, Jim Miller our Society's President has just been published in Hop Up magazine, Just a little note to tell you Joe (Reath) has been in the Hospital for several days..., Hello ole pal!  Wow, what a great trip life has been..., I am looking for the following items for my Hall of Fame Museum, I think you've dumped me for a faster member, Editor's notes: Stan Chersky has been collecting car club plaques and has quite a collection, George Barris will be at Autobooks/Aerobooks on July 11 2009, I saw the recent SLSRH Newsletter and I want to thank you for including a mention of the party my wife and I are chairing for Halloween, Checkered Flag 200 Car Show and Family Fun Day Petersen Automotive Museum Sunday August 30, I'm working on an article about stock car road racing in Southern California during the 1950's - looking for info, Do you have any historical data on Meb Healy?, Bob (Sykes Jr) since you handle the SCTA Banquet - do you have any information on the Meb Healey Award?, Editor's notes: Michael Brennan and Jim Miller are working on a project to locate all 100 MPH records prior to WWII, Thanks so much for all the kind words and the tremendous support and encouragement, Meb was before my time... I will do a bio soon, Editor's notes: The SLSRH needs helpers, "The American Hot Rod" by Dean Batchelor - Book Review by Richard Parks, Hagerty Insurance sponsors a Youth Car Model Building Contest, It seems that there are several of us that use to frequent L.A.C.R. and since its demise we have had no where to go to include the Kids in our community who have now hit the streets with a vengeance - Recently there's been talk of enough space and the correct zoning and permit to hold a street legal 1/8 mile drag race - How many would be willing to help promote this Comments Please, Random Photos

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President's Corner:
The subject of who had run over 100 mph before WWII came up about a week ago. The solution was posed as, "Well all you have to do is a list." Was this list to include only land speed records or everyone who went over 100 mph before the second world war? After snooping a little it was found that we'd have to go all the way back to Ormond/Daytona Beach starting around 1908. I then remembered that the fastest dude on the sand at the time was Glenn Curtis on his V-8 powered motorcycle at 136.364 mph. That was about nine mph faster than any car on the planet. Oh well, so much for a simple list. Maybe a rethink to include only runs at Muroc would be easier. Wrong. We would have to start in 1923 with Joe Nikrent in a Buick at 108.24 mph. By '24 Milton had run 151 and change and then Lockhart was up to 171 in '27. Fast forward to real gow jobs running in 1931 and we find Lee Chapel had cut a lap at 111.11 mph in a lowly old Chevy 4-banger. By '32 my grandfather set a mile record of 117 mph in a stocker called an Auburn and drove it a thousand miles at 109 mph. That's about 60 records right there. That same year Model A flattie 4's were pushing 110 and "Spaghetti" Mozetti hit 118 with a Riley head on his. With all the missing info between the '20's and early 40's it would be impossible to complete the task. Looks like I've got another goal to attain, so does anyone want to help?
Always on the lookout for the old LSR stuff, I grabbed a Speed Age Magazine that just happened to be 58 years old. As luck would have it inside was a reprint from of all things True, the Man's Magazine on the exploits of Clessie and Don Cummins with their Diesels. They didn't top the century mark, but on March 20, 1930 you had to give them some credit for setting the first official American record with one of their motors wedged in a Packard roadster chassis at 80.389 mph. They put a Diesel in a Packard Limo and drove it from their home base in Indiana to New York for the princely sum of $1.38 in February of 1930. Try that today! I think they would have fit right in at Muroc with their swap jobs, don't you? In February '31 they did the unthinkable and set another record, again at Daytona Beach with the motor stuffed in a real race car chassis this time, at 100.75 mph. Not ones to stand on their laurels, in March '35 they were back at the beach with yet another car with their favorite powerplant and went 137.195 through the mile trap for yet another record. "Wild" Bill Cummings drove this time. In 1950 after Diesel's were now mainstream in trucks, our boys from Indiana got a Kurtis Indy car chassis and slid one of their toys under the hood. This time they headed to B-ville with hot-dog driver Jimmy Jackson behind the wheel. You got it, another new 2-way record, at 165.23 mph.
Two years later with nothing left to prove they again contacted Kurtis for yet another chassis. This time they would tackle Indy with a seasoned driver named Agabashian. Naturally the car sat on the pole with a new track record but that's another story. Another story leads us back to Bonneville and some combining of old and new. Chet Herbert's old Beast III is being restored back to its original self. For now let's turn back the clock to September '53. Under youngster Dana Fuller's command and with a Cummins Diesel behind him, Fuller set some International Diesel records with the car, the fastest being 169.32 mph. At the present time there are two streamliners with Diesels have gone over 300 mph. In the future who knows how fast they'll go. Thanks Clessie, Don and Dana for the black smoke as we can see ya coming. If we're lucky the Beast might end up on the greens at Pebble Beach next year and show the other folks what we speeders are all about.

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Editorial: 
   On several occasions the issue has arisen about Hall of Fames and Honorary Awards Programs. I have explained in past issues of the newsletter that clarity of purpose is all important in honoring someone. If your group is thinking of having an event and giving a person, group or car an honor, it is important to do it right to avoid controversy. I support such honors and feel that we should be doing more, not less of these programs to honor those who deserve recognition. But a program with ill-defined goals will sometimes lead to more harm than good. I have received letters from several people asking for clarification on what I wrote in past newsletters on the issue of awards, so I went back and reread what was said. The questions refer to the difference between a Hall of Fame and an Honorary Awards Programs. I mentioned a particular group, because it is the only one organized that sets as its goal the effort to honor land speed racers. Had there been another club or group that had a similar goal, I would have also mentioned their program as well. The advice was intended for old and new clubs and groups and should not be seen as directed only at one organization. I support the efforts, selectors, honorees and their program and goals. 
   What I wrote in the article was that there are criteria for determining whether an award is a Hall of Fame kind of honor, or an Honorary Awards Program. Now that sort of editorial description of what an Awards program entails is my opinion alone and try as I might, no other member or officer of the SLSRH has ever written in to offer an alternative definition. Over the years I have observed how awards programs were created, what their purposes were and what their intentions have been. Then I used that background to create my own awards programs for two other groups. There are two major sources of inspiration that I have copied for my own programs; a dry lakes group and Hila Sweet's Car Racers Reunion Honors Program. I do have a preference for the Honorary Awards Program, but I'm not opposed to a Hall of Fame and I explained the reasons in past issues of the newsletter. Many local groups start out as a local club party with the intentions of honoring local hot rodders who had made important contributions in their area. I also mentioned the criteria for giving awards that were honorary and those that were intended to be Hall of Fame selections. There is a difference, but it is up to the Historians and Sponsors in each group to set the rules and criteria and I am not the final arbiter, merely the editor of just one newsletter. 
   The difference between a Hall of Fame and an Honorary Awards Program is worlds apart. An Honorary Awards Program is a very flexible system in which the governing body sets certain rules and no one will quibble, because they know that the honors are unique to that program. A Hall of Fame has to be rather inflexible, rigid and demanding. Some prefer to honor those who are old and frail, because they might not live to see themselves honored in the future. I do that all the time, but I only manage Honorary Awards Programs and I have the flexibility to make exceptions. With a Hall of Fame, you must choose the very best first, regardless of the circumstances. In a Hall of Fame the governing body is watched closely by the followers of the sport and the criteria is harsh and unyielding.  Another factor is that a Hall of Fame Selection Committee is required to have done adequate research to prove that everyone of Tier 1 merit be acknowledged and selected before anyone from Tier 2, 3 or 4 is chosen for the Hall. That's why a well-known dry lakes racer once said, "If I'm good enough to be selected for this honor today, how come I wasn't one of the first to be chosen?" We all laughed and took it as this racer's special type of dry humor, but he was serious. He recognized that many people with lesser credentials than he had were chosen before him and that's not the way a Hall of Fame works. A Hall of Fame program is built on numbers and qualifications only. It doesn't take into consideration how nice a person is or whether he's liked by the club members. If he or she has the statistics, they qualify for the award. I do much better with an Honorary Awards Programs, because you can factor in other things besides pure statistics.
   Many honors programs are simple, democratic, flexible and achieve a high standard of acceptance among their followers. The only mistake that some groups make is to call their program a Hall of Fame, because when you look at those they are honoring and rank them in terms of merit, you will see that some were honored because they were popular. Another problem is that many of these awards are age sensitive. Those selected to be honored were those whom their members knew. If they didn't know someone, then they couldn't nominate or select them and thus giants like Arthur C. Tilton, Jack Peters, Thatcher Darwin, Ed Adams, Jack Henry, Bill Zaring, Nellie Taylor and Johnny Ryan have no chance of ever getting into a Hall of Fame. Often there is no research committee to make sure that people who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame are selected and the voters today, while old by normal standards are not old enough to have remembered the truly old pioneers. Another flaw in many programs is that there is an ill-defined idea of what it is that they are honoring. These clubs are fine organizations and they normally do wonders, but the construction of their programs is just a bit confusing. 
   A final flaw comes into play in the selection process. Many groups have a fine system where the selectors or voters get a ballot, past honorees receive a ballot and then in a democratic process the honorees are selected. The past honorees call and write to other honorees and the clubs do much the same thing, to get their nominees selected and then it goes to the group's board of directors to count up the votes. Once a friend asked me to go with him to a meeting where the votes were to be counted, because he was excited about the prospects of getting a well-known manufacturer elected into the Hall of Fame. There was a lot of dissension that year over whether the manufacturer qualified or not, because he had never really participated, but his cars had. A number of voters campaigned and sent in their ballots with this man's name checked off, according to the people that I spoke to. We got there late just as the meeting was breaking up. My friend asked if the manufacturer got elected into the Hall of Fame and was told no, he got no votes. My friend never found out what happened, because the ballots were destroyed. Those men and women who had been selected up to that point are all worthy of honor.  Under an Honorary Awards Program it isn't important in what sequence they are chosen or how they are chosen. But, in a Hall of Fame Program the rules have to be rigid. Historians record the past and evaluate events. We observe and we report and we save the past even when some of that past is not always popular.

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Jim Miller, our Society's President, has just been published in Hop Up magazine. I haven't seen a copy of the article, but as soon as I get a copy I will review the article and also review the magazine. I checked to see how many articles I've done and found out that I've written 323 stories and articles, which includes 65 book reviews and 2 magazine reviews. Jim has promised to write more articles and catch up to me soon.

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Hi Friends, Just a little note to tell you Joe (Reath) has been in the Hospital for several days. He is now in a Nursing Home for a week. Hope to bring him home Sunday. After many tests we don't know anymore than we did at first. His memory is regressing again. Keep him in your prayers.  Dellie Reath
   Dellie: Please give Joe our best wishes. He is a remarkable man. I often went to him for advice and information and he never let me down.

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My good friend Joe Reath, owner of the last true Speed, Machine Shop in L.A. Reath Automotive! Dunn & Reath & all the great Drag Racing Teams Joe was involved with. Bob Painton

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I should have more information tomorrow (on Joe Reath). Glen Barrett

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Good morning Glen. It is Sunday morning. I talked with Deli (Delma Reath) last night. Joe (Reath) was in the hospital for three days and in a care hospital for eleven days. He will be home today. Joe needs 24 hour help. Weed (Tim Kraushaar)

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Hello ole pal!  Wow, what a great trip life has been... It has been awhile since we last talked, so much great hot rodding stuff has been happening. Some still top secret, can't wait to fill you in... I met up with Jim Nelson of the famed "Dragmaster" Co.  What an amazing human! I was given the Oilers log book dating from 1947. Old SCTA records, dues, etc. Your Dads first phone # and address is in it on the very back page. That is what Mr. Nelson said anyway, can't wait to show it to you.  I collected so much great Oilers history while I was in Ca.  Made lots of lifetime friends too, I'll be returning soon for fun and some business. Motor Speedway is under way too, lots of fun! I'll send a bunch of pics after the holiday. Going surfing! Have a great and safe holiday! Talk after the weekend.  Mel Stultz
   Mel: We can't wait to publish your photos. What you are doing to bring back 1940's and '50's hot rodding and drag racing to the East Coast is a fantastic enterprise and we are ready to give you all the space in the newsletter that you need. The photos were great. Be sure to tell us the who, what, where, when in your captions. We're very interested in the Oilers log book.

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I am looking for the following items for my Hall of Fame Museum, which will open late this year in Auburn, Indiana. I need information on anything speed equipment or cars built by Grancor Automotive Specialists (Granatelli Corporation) like Ford Flathead motors, heads, manifolds, etc. Also, looking for any racecars I owned or built, including Indy cars, street rods, Bonneville cars or a Fordillac. I would like to have any information on the whereabouts of any of the above. I will consider a loan, a donation or I will purchase the items. No matter what, I would like to know what's out there. Contact Andy at [email protected]. Thank you. Andy Granatelli

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I think you've dumped me for a faster member! Haven't received a newsletter since this one #98. Am I not on your list? Ron Phelps
Ron: An excellent question and I'm going to use it in the newsletter. You haven't been dumped and you are not a dumpee. What happened is that the website owner for www.landspeedracing.com had to change the way that the newsletter was distributed. They receive no revenue and donate their time, office staff and resources to providing a website for us and to help with clerical and computer assistance. So instead of mailing out a complete newsletter and having those 10,000 word issues clogging up the spam filters, they send out an announcement, once a week telling the readers that the newsletter is ready and to go to www.landspeedracing.com to read the full content and captioned photographs on-line. We are just too big to avoid the spam filters now. Success is our downfall. You have to go to the website and read the newsletters. The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter is no longer delivered to your email mailbox. You must go to the internet and fetch it out. While we are on the subject, the SLSRH was not intended to be a group of readers and spectators. We are not here to entertain anyone. The SLSRH is a working group of people interested in saving the history and heritage of land speed racing, hot rodding and early drag racing. We want researchers. We want doers. Work on your bios, caption your photographs and do some researching and writing. Those who simply want to sit back and enjoy what Jim, myself and a few others do are not pulling their weight. We have a term for those individuals in straight-line racing who sit and don't do, but I am too kindly to use it here.

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Editor's notes: Stan Chersky has been collecting car club plaques and has quite a collection. He would like to create an encyclopedia of car club plaques with photographs and textual material. This is a limited project and most likely will not be a large seller, so we need volunteers to help him with the photography and writing. It entails using a forklift and taking digital photographs of approximately 5000+ car club plaques. The next phase is to help Stan record the history of the plaques by video taping him as he tells us what he knows about the plaques. Then the tape has to be typed out, the photograph of the plaque and textual material has to be entered into a PDF file. At that point a publisher and printer has to be found, pre-orders taken and then Stan will decide whether to have the encyclopedia project completed. The value to our Society is an immense amount of knowledge about the car club era and early hot rodding. Stan has spent a good portion of his life pursuing this history and it would be a shame to lose that knowledge. If you can volunteer for one or more of these jobs, please let me know and I will forward your contact information on to him.

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George Barris will be at Autobooks/Aerobooks on July 11, 2009 and not in June as previously announced. Tina Van Curen, Autobooks-Aerobooks, 3524 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505. 818 845-0707

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I saw the recent SLSRH Newsletter and I want to thank you for including a mention of the party my wife and I are chairing for Halloween. The party is called THE BASH and it's a charity event for handicapped individuals with Cerebral Palsy. This charity is near and dear to me as my sister was afflicted with this condition at birth. The party is in Houston on October 30th and is guaranteed to be all-out-fun with costumes, open bar and live music. All Land Speed Racers and Hot Rodders are invited. You can learn more about the party at http://www.ucphouston.org/public/pag70.aspx. I was also delighted to see that you mentioned Chet Herbert's 1952 Beast III. I am the fortunate individual that recently purchased this Streamliner. The car has been in dry storage since the late 1950's and it's truly amazing just how well preserved this Streamliner is. Dave Crouse of Custom Auto in Loveland, Colorado has agreed to head the restoration and the project is just getting under way. As in any restoration project we are on a hunt for early photos and information. If any of your members/readers can assist I can be contacted at [email protected] or at 281-705-6009. I promise I will keep the SLSRH informed of progress. Thanks again for mentioning our Halloween party in the Newsletter. Mark Brinker
Mark: The purpose of the SLSRH is to preserve history and your restoration of a historic land speed car merits our attention and respect. Please use the newsletter to send out whatever news and reports that you wish. The more information that you send to the public via blogs and racing websites, the better the chance is that someone will see it and respond. The racing public is highly motivated and will spread the word around and go to great lengths to help a fellow racer. I suggest that you saturate the internet with requests and get a phone tree started. When you talk to someone, at the conclusion of the conversation, ask them for 5 phone numbers for people who they think might have information that you are seeking. If you want, send me all the history, emails and research and we will do a "Special" newsletter just on The Beast.

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Checkered Flag 200 Car Show and Family Fun Day Petersen Automotive Museum, Sunday, August 30, 2009 11 a.m.-3p.m., 6060 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036. See www.petersen.org. Chris Brown

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I'm working on an article about stock car road racing in Southern California during the 1950's. There were two races at Paramount and one at another location, I think perhaps Pomona. I have dates on the two Paramount's, but not the other, also promoted by JC Agajanian, I think. Do you have any info? Do you have any photos? Thanks, Art Evans, Phone 310-489-5330.

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Do you have any historical data on Meb Healy? I just know that he died volunteering at Speedweek Years ago. Gail at the Gold Coast Roadster & Racing Club has to create a bio on the man; maybe you can help. Or you can ask some of the old boys who are left. Bob Sykes Jr
   Bob: I've sent your request on to about 10 others who may hold the answer to your question and perhaps they can send it on to their email lists and hopefully we'll find some people who knew Meb personally. He's mentioned in the minutes of the SCTA and so I know that he goes far back to the origins of the SCTA and Dry Lakes racing.

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Bob (Sykes Jr), since you handle the SCTA Banquet - do you have any information on the Meb Healey Award? I know the basics of who Meb was and why the award is given out in his honor. But Meb is being inducted into the Hall of Fame as a deceased person and no one has info on his past and how he got involved in volunteering for SCTA-BNI before his death. We also don't know exactly what year he passed away, was it 1953 or 1954? I know the first Meb Healey Award was given in 1955 to Bob Higbee. I thought there might be a standard paragraph of information that is read at the Banquet when the award is given out to the annual deserving volunteer. If you know and could scan it or type it or put me in touch with someone who might have that info I would be eternally grateful. I'm going to have to write the Bio on him with the sketchiest info and I want him to get the recognition he deserves.   Gail Philips
   Gail: Jim Miller and I have been working on a project to do bios on as many of the dry lakes guys that we can find, but it is slow going as the men just don't like to brag and they don't like to write. We have a list of all those who have been given awards, thanks to those like Evelyn Roth who typed them into the computer and posted the results on the web. I'm working on a super 26 page index for the minutes of the early SCTA, but it isn't finished or published yet. We have sent around a request for information and will make it available in the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter. Unfortunately, we never indexed the newsletter. To index all those back issues is just beyond our limits, but if a volunteer comes forth who would like a worthwhile job, we will try to get the job done. In the meantime, please speed read through our newsletters and see if you find any reference to Meb Healey.

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Editor's notes: Michael Brennan and Jim Miller are working on a project to locate all 100 MPH records prior to WWII. If you can help, send in your reports and research and we will add them to the list.
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a) I am working on a list of all racers to travel over 100 mph before 1940. Do you know if such a list exists before I expend the time doing so. My list will include: their name, the sanctioning body, the speed, date and location. Have a great weekend, Michael Brennan
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b) Michael-That a pretty hard task you've set for yourself. Can I assume you're only talking about land speed racers? Or are you going to include everybody like the board trackers. The next question; is it U.S.A only or world wide? Would you include motorcycles? If it's land speed only you could use Bowden's Mercedes at Ormond/Daytona in '05 at 108.589 in the kilo. Or Joe Nikrent. He ran 108.24 mph in a Buick at Muroc before WWI under AAA clocks. Lee Chapel was running over 100 back in '31 at MTA meets in Gow jobs. With all the holes yet to be filled it would almost be impossible to list all the runners without the old missing documents. Jim Miller
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c) I'm simply reading all the early records/reports/news clipping/programs I can and then categorizing the data. I have a few bike guys but the stuff that has been easy to source so far is land speed. I'll offer all the data but I am most interested in land speed records. I bet the aircraft industry is already done and the AMA/ FIM probably have the data for bikes. I know closed circuit speeds over 100 are easy for closed circuits, I looked at the old IMS and Brooklands stuff, tracks that could such speeds. I've been told by some old timers the list isn't long for high speed records before 1940 supposedly fewer then 100 but I have heard as low as 29. I'm not including people who went over 100 and then broke their own record multi-times. I am putting it together more like a 100mph club once you're in, you're in. Any trivia; leads you may have are greatly appreciated, I had Bowden and Nikrent: Do you know if the Bowden mph you stated was his first run, I show a higher mph? Over 100 MPH before 1940. The global land speed record in 1904 was 92.3 mph by William K. Vanderbilt at Ormond Beach, Florida. I am not sure if Bowden was the first over the century mark but I think that is a good place to re-start. Michael Brennan

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Thanks so much for all the kind words and the tremendous support and encouragement. Hearing that you're willing to help and share your resources is very exciting. I will definitely be sending you more history on Beast III as I gather information. At the right time I would like to take you up on your offer to reach out to the racing community. As with any project of this nature, we can use whatever help is available. Thanks again so much! Mark Brinker

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Meb was before my time. I will do a bio soon. I am working on the 2008 Gas Up Foto album. That's kickin' my ankles pretty good and I still haven't done 2007. I did so many images in 2007 that I just turned away from it until now. Since we now do the prints as 5 x 7's every one has to be cropped. It becomes a challenge, but I enjoy it. Now back to the bio. How large would you like it? I have a lot to tell and it my be many pages. Is that OK? FREUD (Glenn Freudenberger)
Glenn: If you have anything at all on Meb Healey, please send it in. The photo album sounds like a very worthwhile project. As for the bio, you are limited to ONE million words. So far, only Kay Kimes has come close at 39,770 words. I'm trying to get Ron Henderson up to 12,000 words or more. When these dry lakes guys start out they seem to get to the 1500 word level and want to quit, but Jim Miller and I won't let them. We keep asking questions and increase the size of their stories. The rule of thumb for historians is that one can NEVER be too long, but one can be woefully short. If this were a Hollywood screen play, then brevity is a virtue, but that isn't the case for historians. In the case of Ron Henderson, most people know him for his custom built 1935 Speedster (boat tailed roadster) called the Lady Dragon. His first draft contained almost no reference to hot rodding, drag or land speed racing. But I kept asking him questions and that kept bringing back memories and then he would say things like, "Do you want to hear about Mickey Thompson?" Or he would say, "I knew Rodger Ward and Danny Oakes." Ron has a fascinating history to tell, from the 1940's dry lakes to the very present. But no one knew he was involved in the sports we follow. In fact, that's true of so many people who don't "look like the typical land speeder." As historians we cannot settle for the short version, we must dig deeper and probe, even when those we are questioning feel uncomfortable. The important thing to do is to put together the story that they tell us, then ask another question, slowly building up their responses and developing the story. I wish I could go back in time and re-question those who have passed on who gave me their story. There is so much more that I have learned now that I could have used to ask better and more questions. What I want you to do is spend 20 minutes. 20 MINUTES! Then send me what you have and I will edit it and re-send it back to you with more questions. I want to limit the time you are spending and allow you to pass that editing on to me to do. So take your guideline, answer as quickly as you can and let me do the work.

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Editor's notes: The SLSRH needs helpers. What Jim Miller and I do is fun and we get to meet interesting people and get comped into many shows and racing events. The people that Jim Miller, Roger Rohrdanz and I meet are a who's who of racing and we enjoy interviewing them and learning more about the sports of auto racing and hot rodding. Some of the work that we do is clerical, but even that has the potential to introduce us to some wonderful people. Our workload could be considered under two categories; fieldwork and office work. The Society has no budget or revenue, so the pay is simply the satisfaction of learning and meeting new people. We can guarantee this much; you will learn a tremendous amount of knowledge and you will meet people. This is a job where a person young at heart or simply young can work independently or go with Jim, Roger, myself or other SLSRH members to events and to interview individuals. We can train you wherever you live, as long as you have computer access. This is a good internship for a young high school person who loves racing. We can teach you the skills of a good interviewer, researcher, historian, photographer and much more. If you are interested or know of someone who would like to break into automotive sports or journalism, please let us know.

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Gone Racin'…The American Hot Rod, by Dean Batchelor. Book Review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz. Courtesy of www.hotrodhotline.com and Jack and Mary Ann Lawford.
The American Hot Rod, by Dean Batchelor is a hard-bound book published by Motorbooks International. Batchelor is a well-known and respected hot rodder who became a journalist, editor and writer. Batchelor co-wrote the book Cunningham, with Albert Bochroch. Dean also worked for Hop UP, Motor Life and Road and Track magazines from the 1950's through the '70's. His background in hot rodding and motorsports is substantial. The publisher is Motorbooks and they have a reputation for producing only first class and quality books on the car culture. The American Hot Rod measures 10 � by 10 � inches in size and has a high-quality cloth binding down the spine of the book. The dust cover jacket has a very appealing look to it and enhances the value of the book. Always take excellent care of the jacket, because it not only protects the book, but make it stand out. Otherwise the book's cover is simply a solid blue and undistinguished. The American Hot Rod has 192 high-quality waxed pages, suitable to show the photographs at their best. There are 32 color photographs and another 243 in black and white and the variety and quality is excellent. In addition to the photographs, there are; 8 ads, one map, two charts, 16 program covers, 7 car club plaques, 11 membership cards, 2 timing tags, 7 pit passes to various events, 13 magazine covers and 3 drawings in the book. The book has a table of contents, a tribute to the author who passed away before the book could be published, a two page introduction, 13 chapters, a two page glossary of terms, a three page appendix and a two page index. The index could have been a bit more substantial, but it was satisfactory. The American Hot Rod was first published in 1995, but you might find copies at the Publisher or in book stores or on-line website outlets. The ISBN # is 0-87938-982-6. Motorbooks International is located at PO Box 2, 729 Prospect Avenue, Osceola, Wisconsin, 54020 and originally retailed for $29.95. Check eBay or Amazon.net to see if they have a used copy for sale.
I borrowed this book from my brother who inherited it from our late father, Wally Parks. Batchelor and our father were friends and I know that he valued this book as one of his prized possessions. My brother David is a member of the 200 MPH club and he finally held on tighter to this book than I did. He's also bigger. The American Hot Rod is the book that I wished I could have written. Batchelor wrote from first hand experience and he knew the people that are portrayed in this history of the early dry lakes, many of whom went on to other forms of motorsport racing. The photographs are fantastic, but it is Batchelor's captions that are thorough and complete. Indexing and captioning are often weak spots with authors, but here you can see Batchelor's experience from his many years in the media. He brings to life the men and women who struggled to find their spot in land speed racing. It was a difficult and exhausting sport, and just to get to the lakes and return home safely was a victory. To make a run and earn a timing tag made a young man the talk of his neighborhood. I always look for books that have a bit of the origins of the sport that they are chronicling, and just as often I am disappointed, for they will have just a short introductory chapter. Landspeed Louise Ann Noeth and Robert Genat are two of my favorite authors on the subject of auto racing, especially land speed or straight-line racing. They give you a great introduction on the subjects they are writing about. Batchelor matches them easily and brings the past alive in a new way. Perhaps it was because he knew the early days of land speed racing and the men and women who are just names to us today. Names like Arnold Birner, Walter Nass and Orville "Snuffy" Welchel fill the book with people who are not household names today, but who were the movers and shakers of their generation.
I found the text so interesting that I had to pick up the book and reread it. Like a National Geographic magazine, the first thing I looked at was the photographs and captions, but then I found myself reading the text. Back and forth, first to the photos and then reading the text; the book was simply hypnotic. I began to go through and find all the names and faces of people who I knew as a youngster. The list went on and on and the reading brought back old memories of a time long gone. There is crossover appeal for The American Hot Rod. Its beautiful design, size and cover make it a lustrous coffee table book. The detailed history and style of its writing make it a very comfortable history. Then there is the racing, or more properly the time trials. The book also appeals simply to the hot rodder in all of us, the desire to tinker, work and improve on something, or to create something altogether new. Many of the photographs were new to me and I never thought that I would find pictures of people that I had only heard about or seen in a program. Ak Miller used to spin his irrepressible stories and drop names and nicknames in a quick, staccato fashion. Here's a book that you can read that will bring to light the history of the dry lakes from the 1930's through the '50's, the heyday of land speed racing. Dean Batchelor's The American Hot Rod is a book that needs to be in your library, along with the works of Genat, Noeth, Art Bagnall, Don Montgomery and other writers. I don't use the word "best" to describe a book in comparison with other books. But, I will say that The American Hot Rod is not surpassed by any other book on the subject, not even Bagnall's book on Roy Richter.
Gone Racin' is at [email protected]

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Hagerty Insurance sponsors a Youth Car Model Building Contest. Local car club "Newport Drivers Club" invited local kids age 8-12 to participate. Our son PJ (age 10) entered and won the local competition with his blue Dodge Challenger. Hagerty has now posted the 10 national winners online for voting. I am inviting you to check out the models posted online http://www.hagerty.com/model/gallery.aspx. Pressing the "VOTE NOW" button registers your vote for his car or one of the others as you see fit. Of course your support is appreciated. We are very pleased with his project and the winner gets a trip to Pebble Beach for the Concours in August! Best of all he had a real learning experience building the model. Regardless of the national voting this was a great experience for him and I encourage everyone to get involved in next years competition. A great way to build future generations of car enthusiasts. Charles Rollins, www.bench-racing.com.

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It seems that there are several of us that use to frequent L.A.C.R. and since its demise we have had no where to go to include the Kids in our community who have now hit the streets with a vengeance. Recently there have been some talks with a property owner that has enough space and the correct zoning and permit to hold a street legal 1/8 mile drag race, which would include a rescue team etc. To pull this off it's going to cost money. So what about a 1/8 mile Drag Race and questions to go with it: First of all, How do you feel about a 1/8 mile temporary facility?
Would you be willing to come out to the Antelope Valley for such a race? How much are you as a racer willing to spend for registration? As a spectator how much would you be willing to spend at the gate? How do you feel about an Ol'Skool Flash Light Start Versus a timing system? How many of you would be willing to help promote a race in this area? Comments Please! You can respond to this e-mail or call me at (661) 944-2299. Many thanx in advance, tha Moldy one (http://www.savelacr.org)
Moldy: I'll run your request in my newsletter at www.landspeedracing.com. Also, see my articles on Politics in Racing and Sponsorship in Racing at www.hotrodhotline.com. You should pursue government sponsorship and I've written about it in my articles. I will also publish all your emails in the newsletter if you want me to. Your goals are admirable, one that my father spent his entire life promoting. One life saved from a tragic accident is worth the efforts of the community.

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Random Photos

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Land Speed Racing Websites:
www.hotrodhotline.com, www.landspeedracing.com

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Members:

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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