SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS
NEWSLETTER 98 - February 13, 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, Editorial, Harry Brix, age 61, passed away, How “Duece Of Spades” came to be, Help me get some info on what cars were driven on these historic runs; 1938 Caracciola, 1957 Moss, and 1959 Hill, Good background on John Hollansworth, A short look back through the past, Legends of Riverside Reunion March 27-29, 2009, The Wreckreation Nation with Dave Mordal TDC program Date Change, Tom Shannon in front of the SCTA/BNI trailer at Bonneville, Tom Fritz sent his website containing some of his hot rod art,Video Tether cars Midgets and El Marage, A story written by Steve Studer, high-tech machine that scans complex machined parts and another that duplicates them as plastic models which can then finally be made of metal, Legends of Riverside Racing Film Festival and Gala Tickets going fast - Hurry, Random Pictures.

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President's Corner:  
   I've been out and about on the search for more land speed history. I was lucky enough to meet Pat Campea Junior this weekend. Seems his dad was one of the movers and shakers at the lakes before the S.C.T.A. was formed. As luck would have it I'm now scanning a bunch of Pat Senior's pre-war pix and filling in some more holes in our lost history. Among the shots were some of motorcycles. One of them even had some notes on the back telling who some of the riders were so it's natural for a dummy like me to go on a search for the names. Along with the names were the bike numbers so a face and the machine now went with a name. Three even had last names so I thought it was going to be easy to find out who they were. #1 bike listed the rider as Benny Campanelle. A Google turned up an old New York Times story about one Benjamine Campanale who had just won the Daytona 200 for the year 1938. The find was like striking gold and we even had the last name spelled right. I then searched out Daytona 200 and it led me to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame listings. Also on the back of the photo it had #7, Floyd Emde and #38 Kretz.  

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Editorial:
"Sorry, too many other things to do. Thanks (name withheld)." The following was an actual email that I received and it was in response to my request for this person's biography. I'm not hurt or offended that this person couldn't do his biography. I realize that it is a very low priority for a lot of people who have more pressing problems. Often, when I ask people, they are busy with a racing schedule that is grueling. People have payrolls to meet, jobs to do, families to raise, taxes to pay, children's athletic contests to support, elderly parents to help, cars to build, other clubs and fraternal organizations to respond to and other events in their lives that make it a full day. I often grumble about my workload and my brother then points out, "But you are retired, what have you to complain about?" We fill up our day with projects and it is nobody's business what those projects are. Some activities that we take on have more meaning and can be more defensible in an argument with others, especially wives, who often fail to see any merit in our hot rodding addiction. When Jim Miller and I ask you to caption your photographs or write your biography, we are often asking you to do something that is counterproductive to things high on your list. What we are asking you to do won't really help you in the short run and will likely only be of significant value years from now and by your children and grandchildren. We are asking you to put off today's highly valuable project for the future's benefit. It may be hard for you to see any value in what we are asking you to do, but we can assure you that writing your biography and captioning your photographs will have a great long-term benefit for those that come after you. I have made it easy, just in case you want to try, by having you follow the outline, then send me your bio, which I will edit and ask for more information. Then you send it back with the additions and I will quickly edit and send it back. In this fashion, you spend little time, about an hour for the first version, and thirty minutes for the next revision. All together, is should take you about 2 hours to do and the finished product will look pretty professional. When you're ready to start, send me an email and say, "I'm ready for the outline now; I want to do my biography."
Jim Miller, my brother David Parks and 250 members of the SCTA had an opportunity to meet Faith Granger at the recent SCTA Banquet in January. Faith is making the movie “Deuce of Spades”, and when it is done I will do a movie review and post it in the newsletter. I'm really excited about having a movie come out that is focused on hot rodders. From the movie trailers of the parts now done, Faith has nailed the atmosphere of the late 1940's and 1950's to a T, and crossed all the i's. I promised not to give away the plot or the filming techniques, but Faith has carte blanche to send a report to the newsletter any time that she pleases and update us on her progress. I am being a little cloudy here with the facts, because it's important to honor the privacy of the filmmaker until the final product is ready. It's also my way to drum up interest in the film, by giving you just enough information to get you curious and then denying you info that you might want to know. The trailers are located on the internet for anyone to see and a back ground of the filmmaker herself. But you have to Google the film, “Deuce of Spades”, for I won't give you a link. Why is this movie so important? It's because we have been so neglected as a source for Hollywood, that we need to have more filmmakers involved in our subject matter. Two movies of note, “American Graffiti” and “The World's Fastest Indian”, have become classics in our hot rodding community. Anything that James Dean did is also part of our heritage. All the B-movies of the 1940's, '50's and 60's are also part of that past we revere. One of our own land speeders, Ron Main created a company (Main Attractions) that rescued and remade movies from the golden era of filmmaking that portrayed the hot rod culture and the hot rods themselves. Main sold the business to Ron Martinez who markets the films under the title Hot Rod Memories, which you can access at www.hotrodmemories.com. We really haven't given enough attention to Ron and his business, because if we want to see our heritage, it's right there on tape. Ron can be found at a lot of the car shows or order tapes on-line.

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Harry Brix, age 61, passed away in Los Gatos, California from a heart attack. I met Harry at HighwayMaster in 1992. We did a cell promotion at Motel 6 together and raced exotic cars at Daytona a couple of years ago. He was a great family man and boy, did he know how to party. Whether for professional or personal matters, I always knew when I talked with or saw Harry, I was going to have a great time. The memorial service is tomorrow, if possible, please pass along a prayer Harry and his family. The link gives you some idea of the man and his accomplishments. I was lucky to know him. http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/imsa-indycar-entrant-harry-brix-dies-at-61/ . Eric Studer

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Many have asked me how my hotrod film DEUCE OF SPADES came to be. Blame it all on my Deuce. I bought my 1932 Ford roadster in summer of 2007, a work in progress. I'll tell you more about my deuce in my next update. For now suffice to say I took my deuce to the GNRS in 2007, for the 75th anniversary of the Deuce and that I made a one hour home brewed documentary honoring the Ladies of hotrodding (especially Veda Orr) for the show. I played my documentary next to my car inside the Suede Palace and was delighted to see people gather all day long to watch my short film. Their eyes sparkled, they smiled, they looked so HAPPY. It made me realize how badly the world needed a hotrod film and it also made me realize that I really, thoroughly, enjoyed the process of making my documentary and sharing it with others...And that's when it hit me: I could make a home made Full Feature fiction film about hotrods. Two weeks later, I dived in and started writing the script. The idea for the plot, inspired by true events came to me instantly. After all, had I not found a letter dating back to the forties hidden in my first car, a 1938 Hudson? This was the mustard seed my entire film would grow from.
THE PLOT: A modern day hotrod girl owns a '32 roadster of unknown origins. In it, she accidentally finds a letter dating back to 1955, from "Johnny to Bettie." Sealed, stamped and containing one golden ring on a chain.

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The shop location in Culver City that I wondered about was not the location of Emil Diedt. Emil and Lugi built a shop building on Washington Blvd that was located east of Adams Blvd. Their shop was on the south side of the street and a few blocks east of the old home of Halibrand Engineering, that was next door to King's Tropical Inn. I feel certain that Walt James might remember the guy that was located in that shop on National Blvd. Nice to see you give Bruce Robinson and Larry Shinoda a plug in that last newsletter. I became good friends with the driver of the Robinson CRA roadster. Ruey Whiting was a Marine and we met while we both were patients at the US Naval Hospital located at Camp Pendleton. Bruce used to take the body off the race car and they would run it at the Saugus Drags on the airport runway. They raced the car with only the one braking wheel even at the drags. Ruey would jump on the brake as they crossed the line and when the brake would fade he would spin the car out in the dirt off the side of the runway. That Dragstrip was particularly hairy because the runway intersected with a highway and there was a ditch between the highway and a farmyard.   Bob Falcon

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I wonder if you could help me get some info on what cars were driven on these historic runs; 1938 Caracciola, 1957 Moss, and 1959 Hill. They are all friends of John Fitch who has been driving a Mercedes 300SL at Bonneville. The Caracciola connection is most interesting. I presume he was driving a Mercedes for whom he was a GP team driver at the time. Rudi was a family friend of John's at their homes on Lake Lugano after WWII. John drove for the Mercedes for several years following 1952. I tried to contact Corky Stockman but have had no response. Is there anyone else who might have this info? Louise Noeth does not report any detail on these three events. Ken Berg
949-830-6888.
Ken: I received your email from www.hotrodhotline.com and will post it to the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians newsletter. Please let me know if you want me to leave your phone number for our members to call you, or if you prefer to read any responses in future newsletters. I've also sent your request on to Jim Miller, who is our president. Have you Googled the web for answers?

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The car in the first link has a really interesting history, as does John Hollansworth. You may want to solicit him for his bio. Hope you are enjoying the digs in Pomona, wish I was there.
http://www.tomstrongman.com/ClassicCars/AbJenkins/Index.htm
http://www.myclassiccar.com/MCCTV/2005Season/10022/hollinsworth.shtml
http://www.hagerty.com/NewsManager/templates/template_press.aspx?articleid=426&zoneid=58
Eric Studer
Eric: Thank you for the links. I went to all three of them and they offer good background on John Hollansworth, the Mormon Meteor III and a foundation created to preserve our automotive heritage. Write to John and give him my email address. Yes, we would like to have his bio. The car that he created to duplicate the famous MMIII is truly impressive. The rain, overwork and fatigue kept the editor from the races.

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We just received a phone call from a lady interested in San Diego Motorsports, 100 Racing Years, by Johnny McDonald, but the site we have that they could buy it from is no longer there. Do you know where she can pick it up? Anita, [email protected].
Anita: I called Johnny and gave him the lady's phone number. He has 50 copies left. San Diego Motorsports, 100 Racing Years is a 144-page soft cover book ($24.95 plus $5 shipping) and can be ordered from McDonald Communications, P.O. Box 601463, San Diego, CA 92160-1463; or by calling 619-583-0432. www.hotrodhotline.com has a large selection of book reviews done by a number of book reviewers. We also do movie, art and magazine reviews as well. It's very important for hot rodders and car enthusiasts to have a library of their own and it supports writers, authors and artists, who need our business.
Readers: If you see something you like and can't find it at your favorite bookstore, try Tina Van Curren's Autobooks/Aerobooks store in Burbank. You can Google their phone number, buy it over the phone and they will send it to you. Or try the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum and the Petersen Automotive Museum. They have wonderful gift and book shops. Hotrodhotline has been the hot rodders friend and they go out of their way to assist you with your questions. If we don't support our hot rod stores, museums and shops, we will lose them.

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Nothing like the Beauty of Flatfire or Speed Demon and not as fast as either but we are all recycled racers and parts by 100+ volunteers and companies and we hope to go faster that JCB at Bonneville this year. Regards, Randy Pierce, www.goldenhawk.ca (or click) http://goldenhawkproject.blogspot.com/

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The photos of Wilcox Playa show a lake that is too soft to run any vehicles on. I have been on many dry lakes and know the difference. If a car or SUV will leave ruts like that it is because the underside of the crust is moist. Which means too much water for too long a time or the crust dried too quickly and sealed the moisture underneath in so it won't support weight. A LSR vehicle will dig in and bottom out. Also if it yaws excessively it will dig in and flip. A couple of things I have noticed about Mike Charlton's jet bike liner that he might want look into. I tell you this because you know I have studied LSR bikes and worked with Kenny Lyons 5 years (we set 17 MSLR records together) and have known Bob George and all the great ones personally. I don't suggest needed changes to guys nowadays because many racers have ego problems and get angry at me and get smart assey with me even though I just don't want them to juice themselves.
a) He might want to use a strut on the front suspension instead of a shock absorber as the jet's thrust line is way over the Cg of the vehicle and will collapse the shock under high thrust. The line of thrust is so far away from the front suspension it has a hell of a lever moment. If the jet chugs, pops or spurts it might porpoise the bike. If one of his flat underside edges digs in he will flip just like Cliff Gullet. But worse than Gullet he has twenty gallons of kerosene in his lap.
b) It looks like his Cp is in front of his Cg. I am not totally sure but in the video a good guestimate would tell me it's true and If that is the case and the wheels lose contact with the playa ( like if he hits a bump) the bike will swap ends and flip.
c) His fuel tank is in front of him so as he uses fuel the Cg will move back even further. The jet engine and his body weight are the determining factors here as they are the heaviest things in the vehicle. He may want to add ballast to his machine in the battery section near the nose. I.e. use real car batteries maybe four of them and use Optima batteries not motorcycle batteries as motorcycle batteries will leak when the bike is on its side and all bike liners eventually end up on their sides. Besides ballast he might want to add a tail fin to pull the Cp back. All tail fins I have seen on all the bike liners ever built were wrong. They should be either on the under side, rear of the bike or a cylinder like a barrel or large diameter tube hanging from the rear of the bike. All the tail fins I have seen on bike liners impart lift and roll on the bike and try to spin it off its contact patches in side winds. The best tail fin design was "7" and a few of Luigi Colani's designs.
d) His bike's body looks like a symmetrical airfoil when it is lying on its side. If that is the case and the nose lifts in a high speed slide...It will fly. Have his chutes automatically deploy with a long thin arced mercury switch just in case he is knocked out. Also he needs manual chute cables besides his auto and electrical circuits. Just in case a battery cable works loose from the vibration and he loses his power or ability to deploy.
e) His skids have to drop using ONE center mechanism not two or one on each side so they rise and fall at the exact same time. They also have to be somewhat dampened as if one comes down before the other and are stiff it will roll the bike. Even at speeds as low as 15 or 20 MPH. The skids should be forward end bent upwards tubes as plates will dig in yaw and roll the bike.
f) When he runs the bike he may not want to make quick throttle inputs as the turbine's gyroscopic precise moment will roll the bike and if it rolls more than 15 degrees. It will snap 90 degrees just like Arfons bike Green Monster #27 did at Bonneville (I was there) and Craig Arfon's boat did in Florida. Once a big high spinning gyro (turbine section) begins to precis there is no stopping it. Parachute out or not. This is why Thrust SSC snap yawed 90 degrees at a time during its runs even though it weighed 22,000 lbs.
g) The bike chassis being a box shape will beat the shit out of him in a pencil roll. So he might want to pad the hell out of his cockpit and anchor his legs and arms. Also wear knee and elbow pads. He might want to surround his fuel tank with an expanded steel mesh or dense inflammable foam in case an intrusion penetrates it. A 3-2-20 super fireproof suit is what is needed here taped at ankles and use the one piece not the two piece as burning kerosene is hot, hot, hot!
h) Lastly and I go on record here and now saying I hate metal wheels on a bike liner unless they are wider than the bike itself as the bike is going to yaw roll couple. It has to! It is a bike! And a bike running on inconsistent surfaces that are long and thin with a high Cg. The bike will fall down because metal wheels have NO SELF ALIGNING TORQUE. I think Mike is really cool and I am not trying to jinx anyone. I wish he would bring it out to El Mirage and work out the bugs instead of just making a record attempt but he is a grown man and has to fulfill his own destiny. Franklin think about what I am saying here and remember. I told you so. Waldo Stakes
Caption: Attached is a photo showing Mike Charlton's bike from the side. The major masses in the bike (Mike and the engine) are farther forward than they appear from the rear.

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You are right about preserving history. As the old saying goes, "Those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it." I hope Dick Wells does not mind me sharing these stories with you. I was fortunate to meet Wally and Barbara on a few occasions. My most treasured moment in the sport was spending 10 minutes with Wally at National Trail Raceway. I hate to sound sappy, but Wally was a role model, a hero in my eyes. While my brother wanted to be a crew chief, I wanted to be the guy that made it ALL happen. I don't have to tell you, Wally made it happen with a great team of supporters, like Dick Wells and many others. I save everything Dick sends since he's a true historian with a different view of things than most people immersed in the industry. I consider myself very fortunate to have met him. Even more fortunate that he continues talking to me! I'm working on my bio, will send it soon. Will you be attending El Mirage and Bonneville this year? Do you know John Hollansworth Senior? He now lives in Hot Springs Village in Arkansas, his company is Holly Classics and he's also director of the Collectors Foundation. His son John Hollansworth Junior lives in Dallas and finished 13th (or 19th?) at the 1999 Indy 500. Eric Studer
Eric: I don't know the Hollansworth's. Although hot rodders tend to move around in circles and meet other racers from other sports. It's strange how we do this and who we meet, but it happens. Our newsletter, the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians has a defined goal to research and record as much information as we can about land speed racing from 1890 to the present, all of hot rodding and drag racing up to and including 1959. We had to separate drag racing into two categories, ancient and modern. The reason for that is that modern drag racing is so large that we could never do justice to it and there are numerous groups out there with the purpose of saving modern drag racing history. We included the drag racing period from 1949 through 1959, because it was still a part of straight-line racing and dry lakes land speed racing. But by 1960, or a little earlier, it had evolved into a new sport. In fact, the 1960's would come to be called the Golden Age of drag racing and the amount, variety and scope of drag racing in that decade would dwarf all other motorsports racing. It would be, in size, not simply a degree or two above all other racing, but drag racing would become larger in size by magnitudes. There were few places that one could go where there wasn't drag racing going on. Eric, here's some of the things that I remember.
A short look back through the past, by the editor
NHRA had an edge in the number of tracks, racers and prize money, but by no means did they have a majority. Several racing organizations vied for dominance, including the AHRA, IHRA, and many professional groups controlled by the racers themselves, chief of whom was Don "Big Daddy" Garlits. Then there were the myriad of timing associations organized by local car clubs and fraternal organizations, in an effort to curb illegal street racing. There was literally no way to count them all and they would pop up, last a year or more and then just as quickly disband. Groups of traveling gypsy racers would match race against each other, developing names and reputations just as formidable as any gunslinger from the old west. It was a sport that anyone, even those with limited means, could enter and thrive, for a while at least. The late 1960's and early '70's saw this era draw to a close. The Vietnam War disrupted the lives of so many racers and the rise in sponsorship, especially Winston, made it increasingly hard for the non-sponsored teams to compete. Drag strips were closed all over the country as the land became more valuable for development and people objected to the noise and street congestion caused by the races. The volume of drag racing was replaced by a more professional cadre of racers, with more sponsorship and drag racing became a spectator sport, rather than a participatory sport. I remember in the old days where the size of the fields were huge and the fans were mainly family members and friends of the racers. It was dangerous to sit in the wrong section and root for the wrong car. Today the races are huge affairs and people come to "be seen" as much as to see the cars race. If you want to see a drag race that is closest to the early days, go to a Junior drag race where the stands are empty, but the people are there to crew for their children's car.
Dick Wells is a product of the 1960's and his knowledge is vital to save that period of time. The SLSRH does report on drag racing post-1960, but only because it has something to do to affect hot rodding and land speed racing due to the fact that the men and women who raced in the 1950's also raced at the dry lakes and Bonneville. Why do we place so much emphasis on the dry lakes and Bonneville? Why not Daytona Beach, Pendine, Wales, Belgium or France, etc, in the 1920's? The answer is that the dry lakes of Southern California became the proving grounds for young men (women were outlawed with few exceptions) by the thousands and who later seeded all of racing with their genius. Bonneville came later and represented the crown jewel of straight-line racing, but it was the dry lakes that were the true birth of so many sports that would come to be. Yes, oval track racing was huge and stock car racing would grow into a monster. Dry lakes racing were regional and few outsiders were permitted to race there, but Southern California played a special part in all of motor racing. The racing season started in Southern California (and Northern California as well) and went east and north as the weather warmed up and the rains and snow stopped. The racing season ended in California in November and December and so it helped racers from around the country to have a shop in California where they could continue to work on and test their cars.
Auto racing was a national affair, but California was a critical region and that was due to its weather. So they came to race the famous oval tracks in Southern California. They hired the kids who took their cars to Muroc and El Mirage. These young men weren't just straight-line racers. They raced and wrenched on cars wherever motor sports were occurring. They switched back and forth, from oval track sprint cars to midgets, stock cars, dry lakes, boat racing, whatever peaked their interest. The big players included George Riley, Ed Winfield, Miller/Offenhauser/Drake/Meyer, and others, who taught young men like Iskenderian, Edelbrock, Senter, Arias, etc. The rest of the country produced automotive geniuses as well, but the dry lakes were a special seed bed where race cars and bikes could be tested for performance. Perhaps drag racing would have developed elsewhere, just as stock car racing could have developed in the north or west and not in the south. But from the biographies that we are accumulating, it must be said that drag racing owes much of its future success to the men who came from the Southern California dry lakes. How important is Dick Wells? He came along when the sport of drag racing was starting to mature and separate from its parent, the dry lakes. He was there at the beginning of SEMA, when Roy Richter, Senter, Isky and many others formed into a professional group as they outgrew their garages and shops and turned the Performance Industry into major businesses. Dick Wells belongs to the 1960's and to drag racing.
What about Wally and Barbara Parks? Barbara's importance to this transitional period and to early drag racing has never been fully recognized. She was much more than simply the wife of Wally Parks, she was the red-hot iron and soul and a driving force behind all that the men did. Many didn't like her, but they respected her. When rainouts and financial disasters threatened, it was she who opened her small savings account and paid salaries to keep the organization going one more day, one more week. She was the one who worked long into the night processing the mail, handling the correspondence, seeing that things got done. You had to go through Barbara and she was a tough taskmaster when the sport of drag racing needed an iron hand. She was fair and tough, much like Eileen Daniels in Ohio. Eileen could see right through you, to your very soul and she knew when you weren't on the up and up. Payrolls had to be met, paperwork processed, races ran on time, in and out, it took time, dedication and work. Lots of women worked to make drag racing function. The men got all the credit, but it was their wives and secretaries who deserve more of the credit. Racers could be really flaky as if the world revolved around them, and God love them all, they were our heroes and stars. But if you had to run an association or sport with racers, you were looking for an early exit. It was the Marilyn Lachman's, Shirley Bunce's, Eileen's and Barbara's who kept it all going when everyone thought the end had come.
What about Wally Parks, Ak Miller, Carroll Shelby, Bernie Partridge, Buster Couch, Steve Gibbs, the early Division Directors, the Safety Safari and Drag Safari (Bud Coons, Chic Cannon, Eric 'Rick' Rickman and Bud Evans). They, and others, were instrumental in rallying around them a great talent of young men and women who nurtured the sport of drag racing. Did they create drag racing? Probably not, for chariot racers were drag racing as early as 2000 BC, but they brought it to its modern day glory. It would be better to say that drag racing is the sum of every drag racer who ever lived. Yet they always seem to credit Wally Parks as the founder of the sport and it is a curious title. There is no way to explain why he was so important unless you understood why the dry lakes played such an important role in his life. Otherwise, he just appears as an administrator who issued orders to stop drag racers from doing what they like to do. All these opinions of him are drawn from a short observation of some of his decisions. To know how drag racing became what it is today, you have to know more about Wally Parks and what he was really like, and to do that you have to go back to the dry lakes and understand what the car culture meant to his generation. Once you understand the 1930's and '40's, you will understand why drag racing developed as it did.
We are just sensing today, in 2009, what a bad economy is like, but in the 1930's it was about three times worse than it is today. Maybe it was five or ten times worse, because today we have social security, Medicare, governmental guarantees and help programs. The horrors of the great depression were immense. When I interview people from that era, they told me that hopelessness was what they felt and that the burden of survival rested on their shoulders, their family, their close friends and luck, lots of luck. They frankly didn't see survival in their future and when World War II came along, they joined up, feeling in their hearts that they were all going to die in the war. They were as beaten down and disempowered as a nation could get. Their one hope was in their ability to use their hands and minds to create something out of nothing and test it against Mother Nature. The only speed equipment shop they could afford was the junkyard, and they were everywhere. When you broke down you walked a mile, it didn't matter in which direction and there was a junkyard. At night, on a date, when you broke down you had to toss a pebble against the window and wake up the junkyard owner so he could tie up his dogs and you could scrounge for a part to fix your car and get home before your date's curfew. Ak Miller used to say that you could buy a running car for $15 and a good used car for $50. New Fords ran under $500 and my grandfather used to say, why waste $50 on one of those sandbar lots in Newport Beach when you could get a good used car for the same amount. And the cars would actually take you somewhere. Of course, those teeny sandbar lots are now worth three million dollars.
Not every young man had a car or a garage. If you had a garage you were king and usually the president of your local car club, which today you might call a neighborhood gang, although in those days they rarely killed competitors. They were a lot tougher than we recall today. The method of challenging someone was to claim that your cars were faster and the other car club's cars were fit only for old women. They channeled all their energies into proving their worth in a fallen society into the car culture. They raced against each other and against the clock and they found plenty of places to race their cars, including the dry lakes around Muroc. The credit for the dry lakes has to be given to George Riley and George Wight, although their influence was not the first. Earl Mansell held a race at Muroc in 1927. Before that there were the endurance tests for cars and motorcycles and some of the best Indy drivers tested for the car and bike companies. But it was Riley and Wight who organized the Muroc Timing Association and with a few others and a local car club, created an organized land speed time trials on the dry lakes around the end of the 1920's, with programs showing the biggest effort in 1931. That was when Wally Parks first went to the dry lakes and may have raced a car and caught the bug. He was 18 at the time and he was impressed with the power of the group to actually achieve something. There was power here, a power over nature and over the helplessness of the times. He caught the racing bug and he was never the same again.
Wight and Riley continued to sponsor and organize the events until 1937, because it helped their businesses. Wight owned Bell Auto Parts, which was a garage and repair shop that made a little money on speed equipment sales. Riley made engine parts and sold a great amount to hot rodders and dry lakes racers. Unfortunately for them, accidents on the way to the dry lakes and returning from the lakes caused a lot of scandal and potential lawsuits. Business wasn't going so well for Riley and Wight's health was declining, so they announced that they were ending the MTA. Many of the car clubs, who had raced at the dry lakes under the MTA, began to talk about forming their own association and take the knowledge they had learned under Riley and Wight and organize. This was at the height of the great depression and yet when they met in November of 1937, they were supremely confident in their ability to lead and very knowledgeable in their organizational skills. Their command of Robert's Rules of Order and leadership skills would seem astounding to us today. Very few had gone to college, but in those days a good high school education was about on a par with today's college graduates. Seven clubs formed the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) and Ed Adams was chosen their first president. Wally Parks represented the Road Runners car club, which is still in existence, and though he wasn't one of the officers, his imprint was everywhere. He was put in charge of security patrols, he wrote the club newsletter that was later adopted by the SCTA, he was a club representative and he volunteered for whatever needed to be done.
World War II interrupted the SCTA and they disbanded. A few hardheads refused to obey the War Office rules on conserving rubber, oil and gas and kept on racing, but most of the SCTA officials and members ended up in the war. Parks enlisted in May of 1943 and was sent to the South Pacific, where he was a sergeant in a tank recovery battalion. After the war the members came home, most of them anyway. Some died in battle, or contacted Malaria, had their limbs amputated due to frostbite, or were wounded. One thing was universal, they had all changed and not always for the better. They went away to a war they believed would kill them and they came back focused on living and living hard. Whatever it was that they wanted to do, they did with a vengeance. They no longer were hopeless men and women, who looked at depressions and wars as natural catastrophes that they were powerless to counter. They now knew that there was nothing, not even death that could stop them. They flocked back to car racing with zeal and opened oval tracks all over the country. The pent-up demand to live life and get rid of the rationing that kept them from all forms of auto racing, revitalized all the sports. Parks became the first post-war president of the re-established SCTA in 1946, while still suffering from Malaria. In 1947 he became the General Manager and secretary of the SCTA, because they paid a salary, letting his friend and fellow Road Runner, Ak Miller, take over as the association's president. In 1948 he finally accepted Robert 'Pete' Petersen's offer to become the first professional editor of Hot Rod magazine. In 1949 he opened up Bonneville to the dry lakes racers. The SCTA was one of the biggest car racing organizations in the country at the time, with 30 clubs, thousands of members and hundreds of entries at the dry lakes. Crowds of 5000 or more flocked to the dry lakes to see the cars run and the speeds were starting to reach 150mph, which was phenomenal for amateur racing.
Wally Parks became a disciple of the culture of land speed racing and then he taught that message to the next generation of drag racers. It wasn't enough to just go fast; you had to do it within the rules. It was the SCTA that gave his generation a sense of empowerment and value. Therefore it was rebellious, illegal street racers who threatened to take away that power, by causing bad publicity that would cause the authorities to outlaw hot rodding, the basis of all motor sports. Curious, because Parks was a street racer himself in the old days. It reminds one of those western legends where the outlaw is given a badge and becomes respectable. Once he accepted the role of leader, and he was always one of the older hot rodders, he became a staunch believer in following the rules. The group created respect and washed away the powerlessness of the depression and the rules of the group, no matter how stringent they may be, had to be enforced. It wasn't enough to set records; they had to ensure that the drivers and spectators got home from the lakes in safety. It was especially important to all the members that the public think of them as respectable and so they demanded respect. The usual way was for some club to send a representative to the illegal street racers in their area and negotiate some decision, which was to stop doing it. If they refused to listen they were barred from the lakes or fined. Oh how they loved to fine racers. The SCTA Board would levy fines right and left, but it isn't certain that they ever collected all those fines, although their minutes indicated that they had a healthy balance sheet. If the miscreants still refused to toe the line or caused more headlines, the club in that area would send a delegation over to "talk" to them, which usually ended the problem for good as any drag racer will understand.
Why was it so important to demand respect and to show the world that land speed racers, hot rodders and the new drag racers were organized and responsible? Part of it was the fact that they enjoyed feeling organized and powerful and could hold meets safely. The SCTA was respected, because they set a high example and met it. But the main reason is that illegal street races were killing people every day all over the country and the authorities were under pressure from the community to end racing. They wanted to end all racing and especially illegal street racing. This was a war, one that you can't possibly understand unless you lived at the time. The SCTA was fighting for its survival, because local and state governments were passing laws to stop illegal street racing and the newspapers were blaring headlines demeaning all hot rodders. The SCTA constantly answered headlines with letters to the editor explaining that there was a difference between legal racing and illegal street racing. The Dills Bills and other potential bills and statutes were sent to Sacramento and other state capitals in an attempt to disenfranchise hot rodders. In that set of laws, which failed, it was the aim to outlaw any car that had any modification. Think about that for a moment. Any car that wasn't completely stock could not be driven on the roads and since many cars were driven to race tracks, raced and then returned home, all the amateur racers would be outlawed. Only trailered cars could race and who could afford that? You wouldn't be allowed to chop, channel, de-fender a car or do any customizing. That would have been the end of Boyd Coddington and Chip Foose and all the other hot rodders out there.
One more death on the highways, one more scandal, one more accident, we were that close to seeing our hobbies outlawed. It was nip and tuck for a long time and only the efforts of Thatcher Darwin, Bozzie Willis, Ak Miller, Wally Parks and hundreds of others who made a valiant effort to prove that such laws would be counter-productive. They appeared before legislatures, talked to police departments and city councils. They wrote letters to newspapers, appeared on early TV shows and spoke to car clubs and school assemblies. The car clubs would print up business cards that said, "You have been helped by xxxxxxxxxxx, a member of the xxxxxxx club, affiliated with the SCTA," as they changed flat tires of old ladies stranded on the side of the road. As the air and army bases began to close, many people saw this as a way to get kids off the streets and into a safe and sanctioned motorsports program. People like C.J. Hart and his wife Peggy, their friends Creighton Hunter and Mr Stillwell, who used the side road access at the Santa Ana Airport for the first professional drag race in 1950. Immediately the world came to the drag races to see this new, abbreviated version of straight-line racing and the word spread like wild fire. Drag strips, run by new timing associations, sprang up all over the country. Within six months of the opening of Santa Ana, drag strips were everywhere. Wally Parks used his position as editor of Hot Rod magazine to report on this phenomenon. Pete Petersen opened up new magazines to capture this craze.
In 1951, the NHRA was formed by Parks, with Ak Miller, Bob Gottlieb and Marvin Lee to organize car clubs across the nation into a group similar to the SCTA, but drag racing was not the primary reason. Gottlieb was responsible for the way the NHRA was organized. He believed that the only way for the NHRA to survive was to be incorporated as a non-profit corporation. The letters NHRA stand for National Hot Rod Association, not National Drag Racing Association. Drag racing had so many regional quirks that it hadn't become a standardized sport at the time. The length of the race, the safety features, the rules, push starts versus standing starts, these all had to be worked out in the future. In fact, it was the chaos that ensued that caused the natural inclinations of Parks to look at bringing order and rules to drag racing. If he was committed to crushing illegal street racing, then he was also committed to bringing order to this new form of short straight-line racing. He was no longer active in the day to day activities of the SCTA, turning his attention over to the bully pulpit which being the editor of Hot Rod magazine afforded, and later becoming the editorial director of Trend, Inc, which included all the motorsports magazine under the growing Petersen stable of publications. He was now too busy to focus on land speed racing, he had bigger fish to fry and that was to add his influence to all kinds of racing throughout the country. He was soft spoken and patient and his list of contacts in the racing world allowed him to work with people, but more importantly, to bring them together. His greatest gift was as a facilitator. He simply had a knack for bringing people together and getting them to work together and that wasn't an easy task. There were a lot of smart and talented men and women who could have done what he did, but few of them could instill a loyalty and passion for a cause. He could have been a great preacher or a great teacher. In a way he was, though his gospel was cars and his university class was in shops and garages.
By 1953 it was obvious that the new generation of kids were not as interested in car clubs, they simply wanted to race and it didn't take a car club to do that. The NHRA changed direction and formed into a racing organization and sent the first Safety Safari out to talk to car clubs, civic groups and young teenagers. That foursome included Bud Coons, Eric 'Rick' Rickman, Chic Cannon and Bud Evans. They found a chaotic mixture of timing associations, illegal street racers and harried authorities and they whipped them into shape, sending back reports to Wally and Barbara Parks with requests for funds, which were sent out to them as they received the dollar or two for memberships in the new association. We found some of those records, written in long-hand, probably Barbara's handwriting, and it's as if we found the original text of the Bible. Coons was a police sergeant for the city of Pomona, who had been assigned to a detail to work with kids and get them to stop illegal street racing. Another policeman was Gordon Browning and he was responsible for some of the most effective youth programs, though he often had to go against orders to get these programs approved. Coons was an imposing man and he was huge. Size counts if you have to order someone about. He had jet black hair, piercing eyes and he always sported a flat-top hair style like Dick Webb in Dragnet. When Coons spoke, you listened, but he was kind at heart and most of the kids loved him. You had to respect Coons, he wasn't to be trifled with, but we never feared him as much as we looked up to him as the guy we would most like to someday be like. Rickman was the photographer and sent reports back to the main office. He was already a 'name' before he came on the Safari. He was well-liked simply because he always thought of others and he gave the kids what they wanted most, some ink and notoriety. Cannon oversaw the inspections and set up the rules. He was a natural engineer and hot rodder and he understood the procedures from the dry lakes well, i.e. how to inspect, how to set up security patrols, etc. Cannon always had an easy style about him that made him very likable and approachable. Evans was then, and is today, the life of the party. It was his job to set up the announcing and show the kids how to put on a show. I never got the same story twice from Evans, and each time he told me the story it got better and better and later when I checked, others gave me another version. I think I will keep in my heart all of the versions that he told me.
Slowly, the NHRA form of order began to prevail around the country in drag racing, or more precise, the SCTA lakes order began to take effect. By 1955 the new group had their first National race at Great Bend, Kansas. I was only 11 at the time and would have loved to have gone, but no one was sure whether it would be a success and the pressure to make it succeed was overwhelming. Any other group of men would probably have wilted under the pressure and the weather, which turned nasty. Not these guys, they were veterans and yet they were just learning, or relearning if you will. It took two sites and two race dates to get the race "in the books," but they did it. Other groups formed to lead drag racing, some are still with us, and some are gone. All of the men and women who created this unique sport need to be honored and given the respect and recognition that they deserved. Many of them were hard people to live with and some were downright nasty, but I can't help but think of them the way we think of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and if I could see them again, for too many have passed away, I would hope they would extend a hand and call me their friend. They were some of the most inventive, talented, and driven to succeed men and women that I have ever known. Then a new generation came of age in the 1960's and the sport of drag racing simply exploded in size and variety. Parks looked at all of this, sighed and went right back to work, emphasizing rules, safety and organization. I think he succeeded.

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Legends of Riverside Reunion will be held on March 27-29, 2009. See Doug Stokes for more information. This will be a major reunion for those who made road racing at Riverside famous throughout the world.

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The Wreckreation Nation with Dave Mordal television show for TDC (The Discovery Channel) filmed while the 36hp Challenge was at Bonneville this past September date has been changed to February 17th, one week from this coming Tuesday. Although we do not know if the 36hp VW's made the editing cut, both Steve and Joe, along with Tom and Gaylen were interviewed and filmed. Hopefully we will see the Challenge bugs go down the long black line and invite everyone to tune in late that evening and watch. Remember, Tuesday, February 17th, T.D.C., late evening (11 pm in the mountain west). Burly Burlile

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I volunteer as a Course Steward at SCTA & USFRA races each year at Bonneville. At our last Utah Salt Flats Racing Association meeting on Wednesday, February 4, 2009 it was announced that John Price has his Speed Museum website now up! As you know, a 90 minute documentary on the famed Mormon Meteor III is being produced. Here is John's website along with an introductory movie trailer. See http://www.pricemuseumofspeed.org. I thought you might include it in your next newsletter. Thanks Richard and I appreciate all your parents did in their storied lives. Thank you also for your tireless efforts. Tom Shannon, Magna, Utah.

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That is a sweet newsletter! Brings back memories of my late father! He loved the salt! Rick Raffanti
Rick: Can we get a biography from you on your father and your experiences land speed racing?

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We have a club media representative, Wes Potter. We are starting to build a USFRA club car. It will be a roadster for long time members to race. But will NEVER compete for records. Jay Leno did a story on Mormon Meteor III with John Price on Jay's site, but I can't find it on his site now. BTW, the latest Popular Mechanics, March 2009 issue, has the regular Lay Leno article. This month Jay featured the MMIII, but no picture of John Price, only 3 pics of car, interior, and engine. I appreciate the time you devote to your very detailed & informative e-letter!
   Tom: I corrected the caption and resent it to the website. Send me news of the Mormon Meteor III link, news on John Price and Jay Leno and if you can do a short review on what the article was about, I will report on it in the SLSRH newsletter. Also, Wes Potter is a friend of my brother's and if you can tell us a little more about him, and you, so our readers will get an idea what the USFRA is and what their goals are. Many of the readers are members of the USFRA, but many are unaware of the work that you do. So give us all the details. I'm told by the website operator that we can fill up the website twice over what we are doing and she wouldn't mind. Currently that's 10,000 words per issue, so you have carte blanche to tell us all that you can about your activities up there in Utah.

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Well, I've just became a member of the SLSRH as I always want to learn something new and opened the February 5th newsletter...now I know what you look like. Saw your picture with the two mailboxes. You are an amazing young man and I am most impressed. Just how do you manage to do all that you do anyway? Are you a participant in the racing? I don't know if I mentioned this before but I have a 1965 Plymouth Valiant with a slant-six engine which runs like a top. It is my fervent wish to have it "cherried out" (as the saying goes--I think) one of these days. Actually the body looks pretty good however it does need some work in and outside. I don't drive it around during the winter months, but this summer I will reinsure it and get it going. I sometimes start the car and it is so quiet that I don't think it's running. I was thinking of selling it but I've had it so long. I bought it from a friend of my mother whose husband had passed away for only $300 in 1971 and really it's been a fine vehicle. Frankly, I feel like the little old lady from Pasadena when I drive it around town and my friends make the comment, "she's either racing around in that red Jeep or the blue Plymouth." Rory
Rory and the readers of the SLSRH: Rory is a grandmother, though we won't reveal her age, only to say she is a hot rodder and a new reader, but a long-time friend. However, pictures are deceiving and the editor, that's me, is not young. Which brings me to a story that the hot rodders will enjoy. Many times people would come up to me and say, "Are you the younger brother of Wally Parks?" I would tell them yes and ask them to tell my father "that you met Richard, your younger brother, and he said to say hello." It never failed to amuse him, in his nineties no less, though it made me feel a lot older, while it made him feel younger. He and his good friends, Alex Xydias and Chick Saffell used to tease each other all the time about their ages. Hot rodders come in all ages and they never think of themselves as old. That's the charm of hot rodding, we are always thinking of goals, not age. Or maybe projects, stuff, treasures, as Jack Underwood likes to say. Mentioning Jack, I want to give special credit to his wife Nita Underwood, who's a remarkable painter. I own some of her paintings and I hope to add more to my collection. She sometimes draws pen and ink drawings of Jack's roadster and then has them made up into Christmas cards. They are spectacular and those on Jack's Christmas card list really value them. That's the thing that I like about hot rodders, they are so inventive and creative. Rory is also a great chef and baker and is writing a cookbook.

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I enjoyed reading your article, “A visit with Jerry Cornelison”. I also worked at PETCO in the early 1970's for John Rudesill. I'm now a retired shop teacher living in Huntington Beach, California...also long time fan of cars from the 1950's and '60's. Reading the article brought back a lot of memories about growing up in the Inland Empire. Thanks again. Klaus T. Cuthbert...retired old guy
Klaus: There are no retired old guys, just tired guys. Would you write your story and biography on what you did at PETCO and what John Rudesill is like? I know the readers would like to know more.

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Tom Fritz sent his website containing some of his hot rod art. It's at http://www.fritzart.com/. Fritz is a very talented artist, one of the top tier of artists who paint hot rods in a historical perspective. The majority of his paintings that I saw on his site are Muroc and El Mirage roadsters from the glory days of dry lakes land speed racing, but Tom is multi-faceted. He also paints drag racing cars and other scenes of the hot rodding world. He will be showing his work at the Los Angeles Roadster Show in June, at the L.A. County Fairplex, in Pomona, California.

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Dave Wallace has a story and photos on the 60th Annual Grand National Roadster Show at www.HotRodNostalgia.com.

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Video, tether cars, midgets, El Mirage. Video #3 is El Mirage 1940's and '50's. See http://video.yahoo.com/watch/12221/1578900. Sent in by Ron Main

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Editor: The following is a story written by Steve Studer.
   In the summer of '65, at the age of 12, I rode three days cross-country on a Greyhound bus from Columbus, Ohio to Bellingham,
Washington to spend the summer with a family friend, Dr. Carter Broad, Professor of biology at Western Washington State. At the end of summer I made the long trip back, this time across the Canadian Rockies. Mom and Dad made the trip a little shorter by meeting me at the bus station in Indianapolis. To make my trip extra special we spent the night at the Speedway Motel across from the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The next morning they took me to the speedway where we visited the museum and took a lap around the track, pretty cool stuff. Afterwards Dad was ready to hit the road for Columbus. It was then I spoke up and asked if we could visit another racetrack, the one where they held the NHRA Nationals. This caught them both a little off-guard for I'm sure they figured they had shown me everything a little gear head could ever ask for. Nonetheless, Dad asked the nearest gas station attendant for directions to this other racetrack. "Oh yeah, you want to go out that way to Claremont and make a left at the main entrance," as the attendant point down the road. 
   As we drove down the long entrance road to the track things started taking on an official appearance as if something special was going on just around the next bend. Dad said he didn't think we should go any further and perhaps we could get into some trouble. Mom retorted, "Oh hell Louie, just keep going till someone says we can't go any further, all they can say is NO." I'm getting more scared as we get closer to the timing tower, a small group of people and several stock Ford Galaxies running down the track. "See Jean Ann, here comes Mr. No." This clean dressed gentleman walks up to our '60 Chevy wagon and asks, "What can I do for you folks." After Dad tells him our story Mr. No proceeds to tell us about press day, the NHRA, the up coming points meet at our home track in Columbus and hands us a press kit with a 1965 Nationals yearbook inside. Turns out this was press day, a week before the 11th running of the U.S. Nationals at the track, Indianapolis Raceway Park, Mr. No helped build and manage for many years to come. I always cherished that press kit keeping it in its original folder in a box with my other prized possessions. I returned to Indy several times in my teens as a gopher with JEG's and later the Rod Shop. As much as I loved the sport those early years made me realize I'd have a tough time trying to make it as a racer, a parent and a provider. My last trip to Indy and drag racing was 1971. 
   Now, some 30 odd years later my little brother, Eric, Sr. VP of marketing for Motel-6 & Accor hotels, the kid who use to hitch-hick to National Trail Raceway every Sunday with me and crawl through the corn field at the end of the track in order to afford a cheeseburger for lunch and dinner, sets me up with passes for the 50th running of the U.S. Nationals. No sneaking in here, we're talking passes to the NHRA hospitality suite on the trackside terrace and the Wally Parks tower next to the starting line. Only ONE problem, this Labor Day will be Thelma and I's 22nd wedding anniversary. Oh well, I was well aware of this little issue when she asked for that date in the spring of '82. Three weeks before the historic race Thelma walks in and hands me tickets for flight & rental car and says "Happy Anniversary." She overheard me explaining to our 16-year-old son, Chris, what a monumental and historic event Indy would be this year. Needless to say my brother put me in the closest hotel to the track and made sure I had credentials that St. Peter and even Mr. No couldn't question. The night before leaving on my six-day odyssey I crawled up in the attic and uncovered my box of prized possessions, which included my coveted 1965 Nationals Yearbook. It's been over 15 years since I last looked at it. As I showed it to Chris I told him the story of Mom & Dad and Mr. No. Mr. No is actually Mr. Bob Daniels, the NHRA Division 3 Director for many years.
   Division 3 covered six states included Ohio and Indiana. At that point I decided my primary mission of this trip would be to find Bob and his wife Eileen and complete the circle by having them autograph the yearbook. By the way, there would be no Division 3 without Eileen Daniels. The yearbook turned out to be a bigger hit than I ever imagined. A lot of the sports pioneers who attend the race and the original racecars on display that Bob & Eileen put together had a ball looking through the yearbook. Some said it would be an honor to sign it. Thanks Thelma, Eric, Bob & Eileen for making this a special trip. And thanks Mom & Dad for taking the time to show me a good time in the summer of '65. Bob Daniels with the yearbook he gave me in 1965. Thanks Bob for completing this 39-year circle. John Peters and Bob Muravez creators and drivers of the famous dual-engine "Freight Train." Ron Anderson current manager of Indianapolis Raceway Park paging through the yearbook. Eileen Daniels, the iron fist of Division 3. Melvin Heath, winner of the 1956 Nationals. After the awards ceremony on Sunday morning he invited me up on stage for a picture with him. He had signed the yearbook two days earlier and remembered how much it meant to me. One of my heroes growing up was "Ohio George" Montgomery, one of the winningest drivers at Indy in the '60's. I spent 45 minutes talking with George. Here, he is going through the yearbooks official entry list for 1965. This man is an engineer without the sheepskin. Some of the graybeards who managed the first Nationals are still working today. They had a ball looking through the yearbook during the rain delay on Thursday morning. They could name everyone in the book. Wish I could have recorded some of the stories they told. What history they can tell of this great American sport they helped create.
   It was with a heavy heart and welling of the eyes that I left Indy. Thanks Thelma, Eric, Bob & Eileen and Mom & Dad. The last signature was Big Daddy Don Garlits. I asked him to sign the cover because that's him on the front cover winning the '64 Nationals. He said it was the best thing he had signed all day and it would be an honor. I also asked his wife Pat to sign it, for there would be no Big Daddy without her. She said she couldn't remember the last time someone asked her for her autograph. Don said the car behind me was the sister car to the one on the yearbook cover. The gold colored car in the background was the first car to make a run down the quarter mile at the first Nationals in 1955. They made a pass with it to start qualifications Saturday night. Good Stuff.  Steve Studer

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You might be impressed by this presentation from Jay Leno about a high-tech machine that scans complex machined parts and another that duplicates them as plastic models which can then finally be made of metal. It sort of resembles a dental Cerec machine except that it incrementally builds up molten plastic to duplicate the piece(s) instead of reducing a block of material to designated specifications. And the individual modeled parts can duplicate sliding and rotating motions like the original. This represents an interesting mergence of laser technology and precision parts engineering. See http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=944641. Sent in by Paula Murphy
Paula: After watching this video, I saw about 5 more. Leno's Garage has a lot of very interesting videos to see.

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Legends of Riverside Racing Film Festival and Gala. This might be the largest gathering of racing veterans ever assembled; along with Mr. Riverside, Dan Gurney, who needs no introduction and Bob Bondurant, who also needs no introduction; you'll get to meet and talk to luminaries of the racing world (not in any particular order) like Jerry Grant, the first guy to turn a 200mph lap in an Indy car, Trans Am and Formula 5000 champ Tony Adamowicz, and racing stars like Elliott Forbes - Robinson, Jerry Entin, George Follmer, Eric Haga, Davey Jordan, Scooter Patrick, Skeeter McKitterick, Bill Pollack, John Morton, Lothar Motschenbacher, Howden Ganley, Dick Guldstrand, Pete Lovely, Andy Porterfield, Tony Settember, Joe Playan, Doug Hooper and Joe Leonard. And there will be team owners like Chuck Jones, who ran everything from Indy to Formula 5000 to Formula 1, Chic Vandagriff of Hollywood Sportscar fame, who gave practically everyone their start in racing; authors, photographers and artists who's books you've read and art you've seen such as Art Evans, Dave Friedman and Pete Lyons. The aforementioned Lyons will also introduce the screening of his latest DVD, "Can Am Thunder. Then there's Bruce Kessler, Scarab driver of the fifties, then a world class TV producer (The Monkee's etc.) and now a world class yachtsman who will introduce his Cannes Film Festival winning short film; "Sound of Speed". Can Am designer Peter Bryant; racing industry icon Linda Vaughn of "Miss Hurst" fame and Shelby Daytona Coupe designer Peter Brock are among the other luminaries planning to attend.
A roundtable discussion of the Cannonball Run, will be led by its inventor, noted journalist and author Brock Yates and a number of competitors from the legendary event, whose stories will astound you even today. Further stories of racing from the Can Am, Trans Am, Formula 5000, Indianapolis and Formula One will keep you glued to your seat; the only interruptions coming from lunch and dinner and the obligatory autograph signing session. Friday evening's "Tribute to Paul Newman" will include a cocktail hour, superb buffet and rarely seen racing footage plus recollections of Newman by many of his friends in the racing community. Dan Gurney will be the primary honoree at the 2009 "Memories of Riverside" gala to be held on Saturday night. Gurney's career as a driver, car constructor team owner is unparalleled in racing history; as the only F-1 driver to win a Grand Prix in a car he built but also as an the first driver ever to win races in the four major categories of motorsports: Grand Prix, Indy Car, NASCAR and Sports Cars in the modern era. And if course there's the Riverside connection - Dan grew up in Riverside and won 5 stock car races and 2 Indy Car races at Riverside International Raceway. In honor of Gurney, numerous Eagle racecars and other significant cars from Gurney's racing career will be on display, in addition to Can Am and Formula 500 cars and the numerous cars from the Riverside International Automotive Museum collection. Additional cars on display will include ex Jo Bonnier McLaren M6 of Bob Lee who's also bringing the ex Horst Kwech Alfa and a variety of historically significant cars from Riverside Raceway's history.
The "Legends of Riverside" will be honoring the drivers of the "Times Grand Prix" of '58 and '59, including Dan Gurney, Bruce Kessler, Carroll Shelby, Bill Krause, Joe Playan, Scooter Patrick, John Fitch, Stirling Moss, Peter Brock, Bob Bondurant, Andy Porterfield, Augie Pabst, Tony Settember and the Seattle Team Empire group of George Keck, Tom Meehan, Ralph Ormsbee and Pete Lovely as well as presenting the "Lifetime Achievement Award For Contributions To Riverside Raceway", the "Lee Iacocca Award", the "Harry Morrow Award" for 500 cc formula competitors of the past and, "Special Riverside Raceway Competitors Awards", all to those who raced or otherwise helped make Riverside Raceway happen and for the first time, inducting some memorable racers into the Riverside Raceway Hall of Fame. This exclusive happening, takes place inside the Riverside International Automotive Museum, surrounded by numerous exotic and unusual cars and, most importantly, all proceeds from this inaugural event will go to charities including the Parkinson's Institute, the Lee Iacocca Foundation, "Hole In the Wall" Camps and the CHP 11-99 Foundation. Our silent auction features one of a kind memorabilia, much of autographed specially for this event. This is a limited attendance event, only 150 tickets are available and they're going fast. For complete information, ticket purchases and accommodation availability and a detailed schedule of events; visit www.legendsofriverside.com or call us at 951-369-6966. Riverside International Automotive Museum - 815 Marlborough Ste 200 - Riverside, CA 92507. Sent in by Doug Stokes

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RANDOM PHOTOS CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGES

Caption for Pictures Below: Photographs of the Bolivian Uyuni Salt Flats. The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world and is located in the desert of southwest Bolivia. It is huge empty expanse, dotted by the occasional villages which have come to life with the arrival of tour groups.  Courtesy of Liz Freudenberger (resent by Ron Main)

Getting ready--I should have had a V-8

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