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Some Names To Look For In This Newsletter:
President's Corner, Editorials, Editor's notes: Recently we wrote about Chet Herbert's 1952 Beast III streamliner which is being restored at Dave Crouse's shop Custom Auto in Loveland Colorado, The following emails were received recently and concern the passing of Dick Wells, Friends of Crocky Wright have arranged a Memorial Gathering this coming Friday January 29 2010, I am looking for Burke Lesage so I may ask him about the '25 Model T lake racer that Paul Schiefer drove in the 1940's, In regards to those old TV shows that showed your father these old episodes are still being broadcast on perhaps two local PBS Stations, I thought that I did send you my history back when you asked to have them sent I will send it to you Vince Burgos, We want to wish all of our Society of Landspeed Racing Historians members a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year; we're all off to great start and are looking forward to great times in 2010, Racing Clubs: Historians listed for each club, I located and bought an old Triumph motorcycle that was raced at Bonneville and El Mirage from the 1960's to the 1980's by a man named Theo Ozen, I don't know anything about a Road Runners newsletter or of any other club doing one, Happy New Year to you guys we hope 20/10 is a real blast for us all, The first newsletter was done by Veda Orr during WWII to help SCTA guys stay in touch, My name is Merek Chertkow and I am the one whose picture is on the front cover of your dad's book, Please find below the link for a new VW magazine on the Web from Mick Percy in Australia, I'm sending you a copy of the advertising made by Yacco after the records with Matford's and the four girls', If you are going to the Grand National Roadster Show is it the one at the northern bay area near San Francisco, I can't add anything to Veda's story, Don I put one of your segments up on YouTube, I am Unable to travel that far (to the Grand National Roadster Show) 400 miles is a bit long for my left side, Gone Racin'…Old Hot Rods Scrapbook Memories From The Past by Don Montgomery, Gone Racin'… Thrust; Through the Sound Barrier by Richard Noble and David Tremayne, I am sorry to inform you of the passing of Janet Meyers on January 12 2010, Speed Demon land speed streamliner, Join us this saturday night for Fueled - Art Show featuring over 30 artists, Pinstripers, old cars and more, Four 36 hp land speed racing challenge documents.
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President's Corner:
I had a great chat with Dave Crouse from Custom Auto, of Loveland, Colorado, who was at Art Chrisman's X-mas bash. He showed up with Chet Herbert's old Beast III liner that Art got into the 2-club with. Art hadn't seen it since the 1950's and Dave told me he was so stoked because the car was almost all there and that restoration would be a snap. All it needs to do now is win at Pebble Beach and us LSR guys will be happy. Can Goodwood be far behind?
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Editorial:
An editor is a funny beast, part human and part devil. The devil makes me push all the rest of you to caption your photographs and write your biographies. What makes an editor a good redactor is his ability to get others to step forth and do some of the work. Compliments often come my way for an interesting story, grammar and punctuation, but none of that is really important. What really makes a good editor is this; persistence, gruffness, zeal, curiosity and a phone. Why the phone? Because when an editor is working the keyboard all day he becomes detached from people and the greatest source of knowledge is locked in the craniums of you hotrodders out there. When I can get to the phone and spend some time I can find out all sorts of treasures that our members are hoarding. You have all these stories to tell, but you don't tell them to anyone and when you die, they are gone. You have all these dates and events to tell us about and yet you don't write it down and so they are lost someday. A phone is a necessity if an editor is to get all the information that he can out of you. A field trip, as Jim Miller calls it, is also a necessity. I don't know why humanity acts the way that they do, but if you hang one of those expensive, heavy, foreign cameras with the zoom lens around your neck, like Roger Rohrdanz does, you can go anywhere and photograph anything. The same is true if you have a pen and notepad in your hand, people will show and tell you everything.
Now sometimes this can be amusing, like the gals who want to show you their breast augmentation surgeries, but try explaining to the wife that you didn't ask to see them. Jim, Roger and I can tell you though, that we have been invited in to see private collections, races, car shows, reunions, hall of fame presentations, automotive events, cruises and much more. People are proud of their events and they want us there to record it for posterity and we feel fortunate to have the opportunity to see things that most people will never see. I never thought that I would be an editor of anything, but then I think back to when I was just a tot and I remember that my father came home from work one time and said to my mother, "Mary, I'm going to take the job at Hot Rod magazine as their editor." Now I had a chance to see it from a child's viewpoint, whereas some of you saw it in a different light. My dad graduated from high school in the early 1930's and that was considered quite a feat in those days. I don't think he was exceptional, but he did love to draw and he was a natural born artist. It was tough in those days to stay in school. If a person dropped out with an 8th grade education that was considered a good start in life. During the Great Depression a child often earned as much as an adult did, for children often had a job and adults might only work intermittently. But to graduate from high school was a big deal and equivalent to a college degree today.
Students also studied harder back then. They really made an effort to learn because they understood that the more that they knew the better the chance for survival. The schools also had more vocational classes to offer back then. Young men would take the shop classes; automotive, metal, wood, drafting, electrical, lathe and machinery, welding and other mechanical subjects. There were classes in agriculture, plumbing, carpentry, wiring and other forms of craft skills. The young girls took home economic classes and these included sewing, cooking, quilting, first aid, infant care and many other skills. They also took stenography, typing, secretarial, nursing, education and other classes needed for the workforce. Students came out of school prepared to go into skilled crafts and make a living. They were ready to take on a tough and challenging world. So when Eldon Snapp and Wally Parks decided to put out a newsletter called the Road Runners News, later to be called the SCTA Racing News, they were able to handle the layout, artwork, subscription, ads, news and story content. They were learning on the job, the way people did things during the Depression. Now young people go to school or learn these things on-line and hardly react with other people at all. But in some regards, times haven't changed at all. Young people, at heart that is, want to create something meaningful and they find a way to learn and to make their dreams come true. For some of us, that means having a little newsletter like the SLSRH, and you are our contributing writers and photographers. So get busy and send us more material.
I had a nice conversation with Burke LeSage and Bill Burke. As you know I lost my email address book when my server, JUNO, decided that what we all needed was a "better operating system, " and without warning they "gave it to us," in the same vein as an IRS auditor "gives it to us." I know that I have about 4000 email addresses, but really, can you remember who those 4000 people were? So one by one an email jogs my mind and someone mentioned Burke and I looked for Bill Burke and Burke LeSage and they weren't on my new address book. I made a few contacts and found both Burke's and now they reside safely in my new email address book. One man wrote in to say that he tried to find LeSage at SEMA, but no one knew who he was. I called LeSage and we had a good laugh. "Burke, I guess they didn't look up on the SEMA Hall of Fame and see your name on their wall, did they," I joked. "Richard," LeSage said, "Guess we're getting too old for them." It's surprising how many people can walk around in a crowd at a car show or auto race and nobody recognizes these automotive pioneers. I suppose it's true what they say, "You can outlive your own fame." LeSage started racing in 1951 and so he's a youngster compared to Bill Burke, my next phone call.
Bill Burke is best known for his partnership with Don Francisco and Wally Parks in the Burke/Francisco Belly Tank, one of the first of that breed and a well-recognized land speed car. Dad got to drive it and many of the photographs of the car show him poking his head out of the car and grinning. The grin might have been simply pain, because he had to stuff six feet four inches inside the tank and that was no easy task. There's a reason why it pays to be short when you're a race car driver. Bill was famous for his sense of humor. Next to Ak Miller and Johnny Ryan, there are few guys who will make you feel comfortable right away and tease you without remorse. The only way to survive Bill is to kid him right back and if you do, then you are one of the guys. My mother tells a story about the time Bill came to dinner and he remarked, "Mary, you're getting fat," whereupon mom said, "Bill, you're getting bald. I can lose weight but you'll never grow hair." That's the way they were in those days. They probably are still that way; try listening to John Force sometime. Bill and Don Francisco made a pair. They were as raucous as the Miller brothers; Lawrence "Old Dad," Zeke and Ak. As soon as they accepted you into their group you had better be prepared to take the kidding and to dish it right back out to them. Don had the driest sense of humor that I've ever known and could have been a great stand-up comic. Bill wasn't far behind and my dad was deadly with his wit. Together that team was worth spending some time around. But they came from an age when humor wasn't made on and for TV. People made do with very little and entertainment came from socializing with their friends.
They also had great comics to copy in the vaudeville and stage shows of the day, with Bob Hope, Burns and Allen, the Marx brothers, Jack Benny and other gifted comedians. You should see some of the cartoons that Eldon Snapp and my dad drew for the programs and post cards that they made up. There was talent there and all it took was the desire to try. Well, to make a long story short, such talent is there today, in all of you, young and old, if only you will make the effort to walk away from the big screen and put down the remote. You too can write your memoirs, tell stories to your children, even create an on-line website or newsletter and go out and take some photographs and write some stories. Who knows, maybe when you have that camera around your neck and your notepad in your hand, one of those gals will come up to you and want to show off her new implants. People are proud of the strangest things. I can honestly tell you all that I am a non-judgmental editor. I accept the pinstripers, rat rodders, traditional rodders, Kustom, bikers, low-riders, tattooists, hot rodders, land speed, drag and oval track racers as one great automotive culture. Jim Miller and I will continue to bring you the most esoteric and virtually unknown histories that we can find.
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Editor's notes: Recently we wrote about Chet Herbert's 1952 Beast III streamliner which is being restored at Dave Crouse's shop, Custom Auto in Loveland, Colorado. Recently Crouse called to tell me more about this project. They have the original body and a little over 70% of the original Herbert birdcage chassis structure as raced in '52 and that they're using almost all of it in the restoration. We continue to be amazed by the volume of original 1952 configured Bonneville components going into this restoration.
Dave Crouse is going to send us photographs and captions in the building stages and provide history from his research into this original car. This is a complex process as all of you who have restored cars will know, but it is vital to how we document these old cars. Richard Parks - editor
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The following emails were received recently and concern the passing of Dick Wells
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January 21, 2010. Here are some websites re; Dick Wells and his NHRA history. There is some talk about a Memorial service, possibly at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, but nothing is set as yet. As soon as I hear, I'll let you know. Marilyn Lachman
Marilyn: According to the NHRA Website, the Celebration of Life for Dick will be held on Monday, February 1, 2010 at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, California, beginning at 3PM. The public is invited.
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January 19, 2010. For those who haven't seen them, here are a few of articles from NHRA's and other websites. Ryan Hawkins
http://www.nhra.com/blog/dragster-insider/2010/01/19/thanks-for-the-memories,-dick/.
http://www.nhra.com/story/2010/1/19/dick-wells-in-his-own-words/.
http://www.nhra.com/story/2010/1/19/nhra-board-member-dick-wells-first-national-dragster-editor-dies/.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/nhra-dick-wells-1934-2010/.
http://www.competitionplus.com/index.php/drag-racing/news/13038-nhra-board-member-dick-wells-passes.
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January 19, 2010. If you have a short story you would like to share please send it to me. I will be doing my editorial this month and pay tribute to Dick. He got me going in this biz along with Ray Brock and Tex Smith. Thank you, Brian Brennan, Editorial Director, Perf Auto Group, [email protected].
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January 19, 2010. I'm sorry to pass this on to you, but I received a call from a friend of Dick Wells informing me that Dick passed away last night, Monday, January 18 at 10:30 p.m. due to complications from his heart condition. I found your email address in a communication that Dick had with you about his condition in the past. I will keep you posted on any services that may be planned. Alan Dicker
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January 19, 2010. This morning I opened an e-mail from Dallas Gardner which bore the news that Dick Wells died peacefully at about 1030 PM last night. He was battling Pneumonia and the after effects of his quadruple bypass in early November. He left instructions for his estate and executor as well as arrangements with the Neptune Society. We will all miss his wit and communication skills fueled by his passion for the sport of NHRA Drag Racing and the industry that he helped to grow and prosper. Dennis Holding
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This is indeed a loss to the automotive aftermarket. I knew Dick for over 40 years. I was the first appointed NSRA Division Director (Northeast Division) at Peoria and got to know him through his participation at Peterson, helping with the NSRA Nationals. I also knew him as I wrote for Rod and Custom, Hot Rod and other Street Rod publications back in the early 1970's while attending college in New Jersey (I'm from Iowa). He was a wealth of information for the Street Rod community having worked for my friend, Bill Smith at Speedway Motors. Thanks for sending this news to me. I appreciate it and will pass it on to other mutual friends. Bill Brutsman
Bill: Dick Wells was a friend of the family, a personal friend and almost an older brother. He was a dignified gentleman who mediated between the rich and powerful and his word was his bond. His advice was always sound. Even when we disagreed over an issue, his logic was solid and strong and often swayed the other party over to his viewpoint. He and a close group of associates, including Wally Parks, Dallas Gardner, Alex Xydias, Marilyn Lachman and many others were influential in creating and maintaining sports racing groups, public relations companies, media and much, much more. He was so calm and unpretentious that very few people knew just how important and how valuable he was. When he wrote his biography for me, he kept saying that no one would want to read it. I was surprised at how much he had accomplished in his life, because he never told me these events in his life when we talked. I had to drag his story from him. It isn't that he organized associations and led major businesses that made him so important. More than anything he was a person who you could confide in and trust that he would keep your confidences. You could trust his advice, for it was never self-serving. He truly liked people and he really wanted to make a difference. One would never know how much Dick Wells was driven to bring the best out in other people, businesses and himself, because of his quiet and calming nature. I was always after him to give me more stories, because my father and step-mother were so quiet. Dick was my lifeline to their lives and now he is gone and a huge gap is left. I expected that he would be in our lives for another 15 or 20 years and now, unexpectedly he is gone. I hope that you will expand on what you know and send it into the SLSRH for me to publish, because Dick Wells is a man who should never be forgotten by any of us. But just as important is your story and your history. For in telling your story and captioning your photographs you also touch upon the lives of other people that we need to know about and keep their stories alive. Please write in and tell us all that you know, because we are interested and what you have to say is important.
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Friends of Crocky Wright have arranged a Memorial Gathering this coming Friday, January 29, 2010. We'll meet at the Union Jacks Pub in Speedway, 5-7pm. See you there! Len Ashburn and Betty Packard
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I am looking for Burke Lesage, so I may ask him about the '25 Model T lake racer that Paul Schiefer drove in the 1940's. Paul's son, Carl M Schiefer, said Burke should have a lot of information about the car, and that I could find him at SEMA. But the folks at SEMA don't seem to know who he is. I will greatly appreciate your forwarding this email to Mr. Lesage, or for providing contact information for him. I'd like to make a street rod from the pieces of Model T I have scattered in my barn, and I've always wanted to copy Paul Schiefer's car. Sincerely, David Walker, Ardmore, AL/TN.
David: I called and spoke to Burke and he said that it was okay with him for me to share his phone number with you. Burke and I had a good laugh about the SEMA people not remembering who LeSage was, since he graces the Hall of Fame for SEMA and for the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame. It's a sad commentary that many of the pioneers of hot rodding are forgotten by those now currently involved in the sport. But we take our hats off to you for trying to maintain that tie to the past by reconstructing Schiefer's dry lakes car. You will need to do some research, as Burke said his memory of the car is slight, but he will look for photos. Google Iskenderian cams and send an email to Ed and see if he has any photographs to share. Write down what history you have on Paul Schiefer so far and send it to me to post it in the newsletter. The reason for my asking you is that often people can't remember, but if you give them some additional information, it jogs their minds and they finally remember. People often get frustrated with me when I'm interviewing them for a story. They'll say, "You already asked me that," and I'll say, "Yes, I did, but in a slightly different way." The memories are there, it just takes a while to find where we have stored them. If you give us some clues, we might be able to find people who knew Paul and may have photographs that can help you.
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Thanks so much for providing Burke LeSage's phone number. Like you, he was very generous with his time, and he spoke about all the things many of us, who weren't here yet, often wonder about; what it was like to be racing those old marques and homebuilt cars on the lakebeds in the middle 20th Century. Getting to talk with the veterans may be the greatest thing about the hobby, and I hope the young folks attain a great appreciation for it. There is so much we can learn, so much we can gain by listening and embracing your experiences. When I called SEMA, the kind lady who answered the phone did not recall LeSage, but she did forward my call to the history/archives dept, and no one answered the phone. Rather than leave a message I planned to call back later; then I received your email.
About Paul Schiefer and his car; I know that, upon the death of another friend racer who was the victim of an exploding clutch, he resolved to do his part to make drag racing safer by developing a better clutch system (a slipping one), and that the industry/hobby enjoyed great improvement because of his and other's efforts. I also understand that his descendants have more or less continued to professionally work inside the hobby. According to Schiefer's son Carl, the car of interest was sold when he was a young boy, and that he has little to no knowledge of it. It's pictured in Dean Batchelor's The American Hot Rod on page 64, and in Robert Genat's The Birth of Hot Rodding on pages 85 and 114 (attached image). Schiefer and his car were apparently pretty heavy contenders in the mid-late 1940s: It was the fastest C-class roadster at the SCTA's July 18, 1948 meet at 148.02 mph, with Butch Ludwig driving.
Amalgamating Batchelor's and Genat's information, the 1924 or '25 Model 'T' roadster was dark blue and rode on a custom tube chassis, custom tube front axle, with 5x16 grooved tires up front; the body featured a full belly pan, a three-piece custom, louvered hood and custom radiator shell (Mr. LeSage indicated Eddie Kuzma may have constructed the grille/shell), tube front axle, and ran solid and/or wire wheels. The 1947 Mercury flathead had an Edelbrock intake and heads with at least two carbs. It appears the driver sat in the center of the car, surrounded by a tonneau or canopy stretched and buttoned over the remainder of the cockpit. Just so you know, I am not nearly ready to start construction of the car, and it may be a couple years before I can get started. Schiefer obviously had amazing vision, and he had one beautiful 'T' roadster. It's captivated me for as long as I can remember, and I'd very much like to build one to look like it, to enjoy with family and friends. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide. VR, David H. Walker, Ardmore, AL/TN, [email protected].
David: Another thought came to me, and that's the value of telling us all that you know; have you talked to Don Montgomery, who has written eight pictorial books. There's a very good chance that he might have included a few photographs of Paul's car in one or more of his books. Don is one of the most qualified and knowledgeable hot rodders in our area. We are very excited that you chose to restore Schiefer's car. Paul and my dad knew and respected each other very well and I'm saddened that my father isn't around to tell you what he knew. Paul was also a Road Runner car club member, so go to this website and see what they say; http://www.ussarcherfish.com/roadrunners/Alumni.htm. Jerry Cornelison is the historian and he could give you leads. Also, check with Don Garlits. Although he is well-known as a drag racer, his museum also has history on LSR cars. A great source is Greg Sharp, curator and historian at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, in Pomona, California. I will post your letters and maybe you will get some responses. Do you want me to post your phone number, email address or both in the newsletter?
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If you add the request to your newsletter, please post my email address as [email protected], and my location as Ardmore, AL/TN. Right now I am working on an 1898 farmhouse when weather permits, and a 1935 Ford Tudor Slantback. I'm using the slantback to get familiar with Ford running gear, etc. The house is my top priority, but I like to plan ahead with everything, hence my inquiry about Paul Schiefer's car. The roadster will be street-driven, so I will include a windscreen, lights, interior, etc. as part of the build. My daughter, Amber, is already excited about the prospects. At this point, you, Carl Schiefer and Burke LeSage are the only folks with whom I've corresponded successfully about the car. I will inquire with Garlits, Sharp, Cornelison and Montgomery later today and will be sure to include you in the correspondence. Thank you so much for the help and information. VR, David Walker
David: I will make the correction and see that your proper email address is used. Our Society is interested in the preservation of hot rodding and straight-line racing (land speed and drag racing) and restoring cars is an extremely good way to save our history and heritage. The effort that goes into a restoration or a new construction of an old car brings people together and the outpouring of that effort helps us all. It is even better when the restorer/rebuilder creates a car that is driven, for then the car is seen and enjoyed by a lot more people and the history is spread even farther afield. Please use the newsletter to inform us of your progress and when you need to find out more information in your quest. Building the car is just one aspect, finding the history is equally as important. Do you know if the original car is still around or if any parts of it are still available? As you start your construction, send us photographs so that we can post them on-line, for we are interested in your project.
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Right now my car is more a dream than a reality, but I do have a '24-'25 'T' frame, a '24-'25 roadster body, 8ba and eab Ford flatties/trannies and a few performance parts. To do justice to the original, I should get another roadster body and study the car's metrics based using photoscaling. At this point I have no trace of the original car. Burke LeSage said the car would have been from San Diego, as that is where Paul Schiefer lived at the time, and it sold when Carl was a young boy. There is some possibility that, if the car still survives, it's still in SoCal. Thank you for providing the opportunity to correspond with so many great folks. As a professional artist I feel compelled to offer my help to your preservation/heritage efforts, though I'm sure there are plenty of folks who'd love to help. If there's ever a perplexing graphic issue you face, or if you'd like to consider new concepts, please let me know. I work on a technical (non-creative engineering) level on a full-time basis, but have volunteered my work to many hobby efforts; experimenting with creative ideas breaks the monotony. Thanks again, David Walker
David: Thank you for the offer. I can't think of any technical help right now. We are volunteers and we share stories, photographs and other historical research that our members find or remember from the past. Our goal is to leave behind as much historical knowledge as we can for the next generation. You are helping by doing correct and accurate research into the car and making your project as historical as possible. You are also helping by making this a "driver" and spreading the knowledge of Paul Schiefer. We enjoy trying to help you as it brings back memories of the era that we all love in land speed racing. I hope you will find as many original parts as you can so that you can label the car a "restoration" and not a clone or copy. Of course there is nothing wrong with clones or copies, but we like to see as much of the original parts as possible. Keep looking and report in on what you have found out.
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A search engine identified a thread on www.JalopyJournal.com, with an entry by one of the very people who frequented Schiefer's Automotive in the 1940's, and apparently he was there when the '25 T was dismantled to make the '27! Jack quit the racing scene before 1950, but obviously has plenty of wonderful information. His emails are bracketed below, and image_(2).jpg attached, providing some details that would otherwise be quite hard to find. Jack says the car, in some form, was likely sold and moved to Oregon.
Don Montgomery also provided additional information and some fantastic images of the car from his book Hot Rods in the Forties, a copy of which I must obtain. I'm somewhat disappointed the car evolved beyond its '25 T configuration, but that's the nature of the hobby, especially in those heady days. His email is also bracketed below and the images are attached. I am in no way deterred. The internet is an amazing tool! Thanks to everybody who has contributed. Would you like me to serialize and sanitize this effort for your newsletter? VR, David Walker
David: The SLSRH is for our members' usage. We consider you a member and you can contribute in any form that you think is best. I checked the HAMB and the Jalopy/Journal but couldn't find Jack's last name, which is important for documentation. By the way, the readers of the HAMB have a very low opinion of the SLSRH Newsletter and other "pretenders," so our members need to start writing their bios and captioning their photographs so we can provide more information about our sport and raise the SLSRH up a notch in everyone's estimation of us.
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MESSAGES FROM JACK AS FOLLOWS
Been a long time! I left San Diego in 1948 so I know not anything about the later cars. Paul Schiefer was a friend of mine in the San Diego Roadster club. The car was built on a tube frame made from PBY wing struts, and done in Paul's garage. Everything was fairly standard and as you can see the body was down over the frame. Body had been sandblasted and body work completed. Rear end had a home built quick change gear in front of the rear axle, built by Bubeneck in Paul's shop. This dropped the driveline and allowed the car to sit lower. 276 engine did 235 hp on the dyno in the shop, and ran straight alcohol. No nitro in 1947. He built the headers in the shop. I know the frame was very stiff, as he could lift the front wheels 2 feet off the ground and the back of the roadster would not tilt to reflect the lift of the front wheels. Yep it is the same frame on the 1927 that was on the 1925, but I think the Bean Bandits used a different frame as it was extended on the drag version.
It was a single tube frame, with big kick-up in rear! Last I heard the car was sold to someone in Oregon, but I could be wrong about that.
Come to think about it, if I heard that car was sold, it was sold as a complete car and that would be with the frame. But again, it might have been the body that was sold! Looking at the Bean Bandit it is evident that it is a different frame. Cannot remember what the front axle was. Ah, but that was 60 years ago, so I guess I am lucky to remember anything. The first Bonneville program had a picture of the '27 upside down in the shot, in the garage, but that won't help much. Jack Osborne, AOM 1c WW2 1940-1946
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Lest I forget, that picture of the '25T shows it with 18" Indianapolis tires on the rear. Or at least that is what I remember. I was there at that meet with the SDRC. This is self explanatory, I am the guy in suit and tie, there on business for AutoLite, and in the doorway is my brother, Hank, or Henry. Jack Osborne
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MESSAGE FROM DON MONTGOMERY
Hi David: I can agree with you on your appreciation of Paul Schiefer's neat T roadster. Enclosed are pictures from my book, "Hot Rods In The Forties," that show Schiefer's roadster. He ran the '25 T roadster at the 1947 and 1948 SCTA Lakes meets. It also ran the first meets in 1949 but when he saw the record speeds that Don Waite was recording in 1949, he changed his roadster. Late in 1949 Schiefer switched to a '27T body in an effort to keep up with Waite's '27T roadster. The pictures attached show both styles. Note that the '25T edition use a Ford truck grill. The custom grill was installed on the '27T version. Good luck with your effort to build a similar roadster. Regards, Don Montgomery
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Captions:
Paul Schiefer roadster at his shop in San Diego. Photo courtesy of Jack Osborne
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Captions:
Paul Schiefer roadster at the dry lakes. Photo courtesy of John Ryan
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Caption:
PaulSchiefer2425T.jpg...........According to Schiefer's son Carl, the car of interest was sold when he was a young boy, and that he has little to no knowledge of it.
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It's pictured in Dean Batchelor's The American Hot Rod on page 64, and in Robert Genat's The Birth of Hot Rodding on pages 85 and 114 (attached image). Schiefer and his car car were apparently pretty heavy contenders in the mid-late 1940s: It was the fastest C-class roadster at the SCTA's July 18, 1948 meet at 148.02 mph, with Butch Ludwig driving. Amalgamating Batchelor's and Genat's information, the 1924 or '25 Model 'T' roadster was dark blue and rode on a custom tube chassis, custom tube front axle, with 5x16 grooved tires up front; the body featured a full belly pan, a three-piece custom, louvered hood and custom radiator shell (Mr. LeSage indicated Eddie Kuzma may have constructed the grille/shell), tube front axle, and ran solid and/or wire wheels. The 1947 Mercury flathead had an Edelbrock intake and heads with at least two carbs. It appears the driver sat in the center of the car, surrounded by a tonneau or canopy stretched and buttoned over the remainder of the cockpit. David H. Walker
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In regards to those old TV shows that showed your father, these old episodes are still being broadcast on, perhaps two, local PBS Stations. Check the guides for the Riverside/San Bernardino station, Channel 24 on my DirecTv system, and the Orange County outlet which is Channel 50 on my system. If you know the name of the episode and/or the original play date, the Program Managers Office of the stations should be able to tell you their broadcast date. Bob Falcon
Bob: I think my brother was looking to find copies of the tapes for sale. Since they have value for their content concerning hot rodding, I'd be interested in them too. If you see anything like that, please let me know.
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I thought that I did send you my history back when you asked to have them sent. I will send it to you. Vince Burgos
Vince: I'm glad that you brought this subject up, because it is asked of me on many occasions by individuals who send me things. Later on they contact me and ask if I have received it and I can't tell them. Part of the reason is that the newsletter has no index and another reason is that over a million words have been written and I can't remember. You might have sent it. The newsletter has no index and so I can't easily go back and find it. The only way for me to check what might be in one of the issues, is to Google your name and see if it shows up on the internet. I did that and you had quite a few items listed on the computer. I checked only those items that Google attributed to you on www.landspeedracing.com and there was no record of your history or biography, therefore I have to assume that I never got it. I also checked my list of 330 stories that I've written and it wasn't there. So please send it in again. At the worst, it will get posted twice and at best it will finally get into the newsletter. I wish that I could be more specific, but there is no way that I can track what was sent to me, since there's always a chance that the internet will misdirect it somewhere else. That can happen when one computer sees an email as spam or as a threat. Or it could be that the computer crashes, or the server malfunctions. When I go and try to talk to my server, someone in India, they don't care at all what my problem is; they just keep me on the line at $2 a minute spouting nonsensical things. The computer and the internet can be wonderful assistants for hot rodders when they work right, but they can also be very difficult when they don't work well. I send a new issue to the website every Wednesday, so nothing is held back. If you don't see your story or email posted in a two week period at worst, then I haven't received the material and the best thing is just to re-send it to me. Once you see your story or article in the SLSRH Newsletter, then you can delete your original email.
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We want to wish all of our Society of Landspeed Racing Historians members a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year; we're all off to great start and are looking forward to great times in 2010. We start off this year with sad news about the passing of Dick Wells a few days ago. You can get the details at www.Hotrodhotline.com/pr in our News Section. The main purpose of this email is to remind you to check in each week at www.LandspeedRacing.com where we are posting all of the news and information sent in by Richard Parks and Jim Miller with the help of all of you. There's always a lot to read and many very nice pictures as well. So be sure to put www.LandSpeedRacing.com in your "favorites" and check it weekly for the latest news along with www.Hotrodhotline.com. We will be at the Grand National Roadster show this month so if you're in the neighborhood be sure to stop by our booth and say "Hi," you may even run into Richard there. Sincerely, Jack & Mary Ann Lawford
Jack and Mary Ann: Don't forget that photographer extraordinaire Roger Rohrdanz will be there to take lots of photographs of the cars and exhibits for both websites. See you at the Grand Nationals.
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Racing Clubs: Historians listed for each club.
Eliminators................................................................none
Gear Grinders...........................................................Glen Barrett
Gold Coast Roadster and Racing Club.......................none
Gophers....................................................................Michael Brennan
Hi Desert Racers.......................................................none
Idlers........................................................................Michael Brennan
Lakers......................................................................none
LSR.........................................................................Mike Cook Jr
Milers.......................................................................none
Road Runners...........................................................Jerry Cornelison
Rod Riders...............................................................none
San Diego Roadster Club..........................................none
Sidewinders..............................................................Ron Main
Super Fours..............................................................Roy Creel
Throttlers..................................................................Michael Brennan
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I located and bought an old Triumph motorcycle that was raced at Bonneville and El Mirage from the 1960's to the 1980's by a man named Theo Ozen. I am trying to document its history. Can you think of any ways I could get old pictures or better yet, motion picture footage of racing in the 1960's and 1970's? Wes
Wes: Is this Wes Potter? The value of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter is in the pooling of information. Every car and motorcycle that is found and restored adds to our knowledge of Bonneville, the dry lakes, land speed racing, hot rodding and drag racing, our core areas of research. I always advise the following actions;
a) Present as much information as you know; names, dates, places, events, crew members, photographs, timing tags, etc. The more information that you give the more chance that you will jog someone's memory and obtain a response. Often people will tell me that they don't know, then I ask the question in a different way, with new keywords or prompts and they remember.
b) Tell me what kind of return address you want to use; email address, phone number, etc. I need permission to post that private info.
c) Create a phone tree. Waiting for an answer can be difficult and sometimes fruitless. Once you have a name and phone number, call and ask that person for information. As you are about to hang up, ask that person for 5 names and phone numbers of others whom you can call. Then call them and ask them for five more names and phone numbers. Even if all that you get in the way of information is, "I don't know," you will have spread the word that you are looking and hot rodders do talk among themselves. This is how a private detective works; following up one lead after another. But a phone tree is a valuable tool and gets results.
d) Call and talk to Jim Miller, our president and chief researcher. He has a wealth of good advice and information. We want to see you succeed, so be sure to write in often with your research and discoveries, because we will post all your queries and the more that you write, the better your chances of getting additional information.
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I am Wes White, not Wes Potter. I go to Bonneville every year and run an old Triumph, have a shop specializing in British motorcycles in Southern California. When you say the next issue, do you all have a newsletter or some other sort of publication, or are you online? My partner and I are very excited about this bike and we have located a couple of guys who can give us some information and some more specifics, people involved, etc. We are filming parts of the story and are planning some sort of hour documentary of the bike's history and return to racing. We don't feel like it should just sit as a display and want to race it, but not change anything major, other than make some stuff to get it to pass tech inspection. Thanks again, Wes
Wes: We are interested in your project. Keep us updated on the history and research that you do and even send us some photos of your shop and the restoration of the bike. I'm Richard Parks, editor of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter, and Jim Miller is our President. We are about 3 years old (at least Jim is) and our newsletter is on-line at www.landspeedracing.com. I also have articles and post news on www.hotrodhotline.com. Whatever I receive, provided it is not marked private and/or confidential, goes into the next newsletter, unless of course it doesn't have anything pertinent about land speed, dry lakes, hot rodding, or early drag racing. Tell us more about your partner, how you found the bike, more about Theo the previous owner, what you plan to do to research the bike and to restore it, your movie, your racing the bike in the future, your shop, etc. We publish these sorts of facts and the internet creates a sort of index. They tell me mechanical spiders crawl all over whatever is published on the internet and index every noun that is ever written. I'm glad we have separated you from Wes Potter, a Utah land speed racer, a member of the USFRA and a good friend of my brother's
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I don't know anything about a Road Runners newsletter or of any other club doing one. The first issue of the SCTA Racing News was published in December, 1938. The August, 1940 SCTA Racing News is the last straight newsletter I've seen pre-war. The SCTA Racing News program continued up to July, 1941; it said programs by Eldon Snapp and Wally Parks from the Road Runners club. The August and September, 1941 issues said that the programs were by Snapp & Parks, but no mention of the Road Runners. There are two versions of results in 1942 with no mention in the name of the racing news. In November, 1944 Veda Orr produced the first of the SCTA News, but it didn't say Racing News. She and Karl Orr published it out of their house in Culver City. The first mention of SCTA Racing News after the war was the SCTA Racing News program for the rained out October 7, 1945 meet. It had SCTA News/Veda Orr published on the inside, not Racing News. In April 1946 they moved the address to Karl's Speed Shop. That was the last issue of the SCTA News. Veda then started the CT News that lasted until 1949. The SCTA program took over and it wasn't until July 1947 that it again said SCTA Racing News program, but it wasn't a newsletter. When Bruce Geisler was president, he and his wife restarted the Racing News, but I haven't done any research to find out the exact date. From time to time a straightaway newsletter is also published. Jim Miller
Jim: Thank you for your research. Here is what I recall my father telling my brother and I and since this is from memory and not from documents, I have to issue a disclaimer and say that the following information is as close to what I remember as possible. Eldon Snapp, Wally Parks and Harry Cameron are listed as charter members of the Road Runners car club in the SCTA and their founding was listed in 1937. The original members knew each other, probably from living in close proximity and from seeing each other at various events and the dry lakes in the early to mid-1930's. The Miller brothers claim to have known my father prior to 1937. The Road Runners were involved in the informal meetings and gatherings that reformed the timing association from the Muroc Timing Association to the SCTA, upon the departure of George Riley and George Wight, who felt that the liability for racing on the lakes was no longer worth the free advertising they were receiving for running the group. The Road Runners and one other club did not send representatives to that first meeting, and my father never told me why they missed that first meeting. But they were active in gaining members and were a strong club right from the beginning. The Road Runners are listed as one of the seven original car clubs in the new Southern California Timing Association. Many of the original members of the seven car clubs were very talented men, no women being allowed to join in the first few years. Eldon Snapp and Wally Parks were very good cartoonist and they had a desire to find the news and put it in a club newsletter and give it out to all the members. I went to Jerry Cornelison's fine Road Runner's website and copied off the names of the men who were listed as charter members and those that joined pre-war, meaning for the SCTA the summer of 1942, when most activity in the organization ground to a halt.
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Charter Member Road Runners SCTA in 1937; Lloyd Allen, Stan Brisbane, Ray Brown, Brick Buell, Roger Burnett, Harry Cameron, Claude Clinton, Johnny Collins, Dan Donanhuer, Andre "Andy" Durocher, Bill Egkan, Bill Engersoll, Kenny Farmer, Jack Gallagher, Ferdinand Hanson, George Harvey, Jack Harvey, Jack Henry (First President of Road Runners), Victor Hickey, Harold Hill, Lyle Knudsen, Harold "Had" Lanman, Bill Lester, Bob Logenecker, Ernie McAfee, Roy McCance, Jack McNay, Victor Meleo, Eddie Meyer Jr, Akton "Ak" Miller, Larry "Dad" Miller Sr, Seigfried "Zeke" Miller, Floyd Page, Wally Parks, KD Pike, Stewart Preston, Joe Reath, John Riley, Walt Rose, Bill Schoenberg, Johnny Seleck, Jack Shadford, Eldon Snapp, Al Sulimoff, Art Tilton (First SCTA secretary), James Triplett, Johnny Welcher (Welchel), Orville "Snuffy" Welcher (Welchel). 48 listed original members.
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Road Runners before WWII (Approximately the summer of 1942); Don Baxter, Warren Begley, Doug Caruthers, Wes Collins, Vic Edelbrock Sr, Bill Fujitani, Leland E. Grey, Fred Hadley (I believe he was earlier or he was a Gopher), Harvey Haller (I believe he was earlier too or in another club), Leonard Harbison, Verne Houle, Ric Howard, Johnny Johnson, Bill Kimball, Tommy Lee (maybe), Mel Leighton, Mard Matsuura, Bobby Meeks, Bud Meyer, Harry Meyer (if Bud, then Harry too), Don Milligan, Laddie Murdock, Bill Niekamp, Karl Orr (maybe), John Pugh, Rob Pugh, Ed Scheller, Paul Schiefer, Ed Scheller, Tunney Shigekuni, Randy Shinn, Bob Snook, Willard Summerfelt, George Temple Jr, Hirashi Ukito, George Uyeda, Bob Wilson. 37 members listed as being pre-war.
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The number of members comes to around 85, but there may have been more during that time because we have to rely on records that are not always complete. So Snapp and Parks had a large audience and rather than bother calling and writing to people to give them the news, they started a club newsletter. I believe it was called the Road Runners Newsletter, but I haven't found a copy yet to determine the dates or the correct name. I do recall that my father told me that they put Harry Cameron's name on the masthead as editor, even though Cameron was in the dark about the operation of the newsletter. They did this to turn aside any criticism that might have been leveled at them for the content and also because they didn't want to be known as the parties in charge, being content to list themselves as assistants. Parks did some cartooning, called people for news, wrote some of the ads and news content. He was also the editor. Snapp did cartooning, artwork for the ads and worked on the layout. They typed it out on mimeograph paper, if you can visualize the old blue carbon paper that left smudge marks everywhere, then they drove down to San Diego County, around Carlsbad where they met Bozzy Willis, who took the carbons to a printer in San Diego that printed it for a cheap price. At the next board meeting, Bozzy would bring the finished newsletters or newspapers to Snapp and Parks for distribution to the Road Runners club members and for anyone else that was interested. They probably gave a bunch to the club reps to distribute among their members. Eventually this newsletter evolved into the SCTA Racing News. The SCTA minutes should answer this question, if my brother and I ever get the book finished and published
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Happy New Year to you guys, we hope 20/10 is a real blast for us all. The Aussie Invader Team, www.aussieinvader.com. Rosco McGlashan
Rosco: We hope your year brings you lots of records, big records.
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The first newsletter was done by Veda Orr during WWII to help SCTA guys stay in touch. She and Karl had a speed shop and they both drove their LSR entry. The Bonneville Racing News started in May of 1990 by Doc and Wendy Jeffries. OMG that means it is coming up on 20 years. Doc was a 200 MPH Club member (1989). We were SCTA Points Champions (Jeffries and Dolan) in 1986 and I am told I was the first woman to set a record at El Mirage (1988), but don't know for sure. Wendy Jeffries, http://www.wendyjeffries.com.
Wendy: Veda took over what was already being printed and given out through a mimeograph carbon, which Wally Parks and Eldon Snapp gave to Bozzy Willis, to have it printed in San Diego and then the newsletter was brought to the board meetings and distributed. Veda's contributions to putting a newsletter out cannot be praised enough. When the war seemed the darkest and all of the men who I interviewed said they weren't going to make it home alive, the little paper that she published and mailed to the guys gave them hope. It also kept their interest in LSR alive and I really do believe that without Veda Orr, the SCTA would not have re-established itself so quickly and so well. It must be kept in mind though that Veda was very loyal to her husband. Karl was not known to be spontaneous with his affections or his help. Karl's interests were what motivated him and Veda put a lot of ads in her newsletter trumpeting the Karl Orr Speed Shop. Most of the dry lakes guys ended up in the service and those that didn't worked long hours for the war effort in plants across the country. Karl was often out at the lakes, using up his war rations or other people's rations in direct violation of the decision by the board of directors to cease racing while the war continued. For about seven months or so the SCTA tried to continue racing on the dry lakes against the dictates of the government, but when they stopped racing by board decision, Karl was one of the rebels who refused to go along. This independent bull-headedness in Karl made him a leader among the more rebellious, something that Karl Orr could have cared less about. The rank and file of the dry lakes guys respected him, but they never elected him to high office, nor did it seem like he cared to be an official. Karl was committed to racing and to wrenching. By sheer will he did as he pleased and often the board backed down. He was irascible to a fault, once getting angry about a comment that was actually a compliment, when in the SCTA Racing News it was said that, "Karl Orr was the sire of the car..." Karl took offense, got a group of tough followers and stormed the offices of the SCTA looking to bust heads. All the apologies and explanations couldn't seem to calm him down. Veda idealized her husband and he was a man of immense stature. It was hard for even his detractors to criticize him. Veda drove his car when women weren't allowed to race on the dry lakes or become members of a club or the SCTA. Karl simply willed it and nobody was willing to contest his desires. Veda had made so many admirers for her efforts during the war to keep the guys up on the news back home, that they made an exception and allowed her to race and participate in the association. Karl and Veda separated and divorced and I was told that Karl moved to a rural area north of Los Angeles. We need a lot more information on the Orr's, because they were truly one of the more important husband and wife teams in early dry lakes and LSR time trials.
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My name is Merek Chertkow, and I am the one whose picture is on the front cover of your dad's book. I was surprised that this book is so hard to come by, as I have an original hard cover copy with jacket, signed to me by your dad, in like-new condition. I also have an original full page advertisement from a magazine with an order form for the book at the bottom of the page. I also have the newspaper photo with caption that was used as the front cover picture on the book. I was on the US Drag Racing Team in 1965 and was contacted to attend a gathering at your dad's museum in Pomona, on February 12. When I was contacted, I learned that the museum also did not have a copy of his book and was unable to find one. I plan to donate mine with the supporting materials to the museum in February, when I go there. If you have any questions, feel free to email me back. Are you planning to attend? It would be nice to meet you. Sincerely, Merek Chertkow
Merek: When the books came out in 1966 I remember how proud everyone was to have a published writer in the family. My father gave me a signed copy and I read it cover to cover. Recently I reviewed the book for www.hotrodhotline.com, although reviewers are only supposed to review books in print. Way back in the '60's I wondered why the first chapter or two was so lyrical and poetical and the rest of the book was terse and dry. I asked my father and he said that it was a collaboration and that he did the first twenty or so pages and turned over records to a professional writer to finish the book. I can see how that could happen. When I see something I can write all day on the topic and become quite zealous, but when I have to write an article about what someone else told me about and rely on their experiences, my writing turns dry and boring. I've owned about half a dozen of the books in my life and they always disappear from my library. No one ever takes my Greek and Roman mythology books, but Drag Racing Yesterday and Today simply vanishes whenever I find a copy. Sometimes they are found on the internet, at used book stores, in estate sales when a hot rodder leaves us, or at garage sales. Part of the reason for their success is that Dad never attempted another book like that again and rarity is an issue. For me, those first two chapters are simply beautiful in the mood that he felt about racing, especially early in his career in land speed and early drag racing. It was an era that simply won't die. It gets stronger and stronger every year as people return to the time when they were happiest. Why don't you write your biography or history and tell us what you did? My father is not here any longer to tell my brother and I about the past and the only way we can learn more about his experiences is to learn of your experiences and what you remember about him.
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Please find below the link for a new VW magazine on the Web from Mick Percy in Australia. The first issue features a great interview with Dick Beith, the first ever Volkswagen land speed record holder. See http://www.vdubber.com/ezine/. Enjoy the stories and be sure to sign up on the Vdubber site to follow news of the 36hp Challenge and 130 Mile Per Hour Club racing in Oz. Their Speedweek is coming in less than two months and hopefully the 130 MPH Club car of Mick and the new 36hp Challenge car being prepped by Steve Muller will be finished in time to challenge the 36hp records set in the U.S.! May the Speed be with you, Burly Burlile
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Thank you for your messages. I'm very sorry to be in late to answer. I'm sending you a copy of the advertising made by Yacco after the records with Matford's and the four girls'. There is also some land records at Brookland. About Montlh�ry I find a piece of a book written in England: "Montlh�ry, The Story of the Paris Autodrome, 1924-1960." I think the main things are at the Commission Historique of Automobile Club de France. Austin Healey also did lands records. Soviets also, I found records in 1946, 1948, speed records under 350 cc Svesda. I went to the Retromobile Show at Paris, but nothing about land records. I saw a book: "L'Epop�e de l'Etoile Filante," by Jean-Michel Blin, Pixel Press Studio; BP 178870 Bailly, France. Tel: 33 01 30 56 65 05. See Http://gazoline.net.
About Rodriguez Brothers, Pedro and Ricardo, I'm a member for Europe of the Scuderia Los Hermanos Rodriguez; we try to keep their souvenir (memory). There is a site and the email, about the Scuderia. I don't know why the French stopped competing in land, water and air records. Maybe because the fashion is in the professional system, and in business events like formule 1, with races where you can sleep during the broadcasting on TV, as it's impossible for a car to overtake another one. A great ridiculousness! And today the worst is the ecology system, necessary of course, but use and very strong with the political men who can't avoid it. As they are not able to have good ideas, they always find the same solution with new taxes. So at the moment, as they all promise the end of the world, speed records and motor racing are not in the air here. We have to have a look somewhere! I still haven't written to Mrs Paula Murphy. I have to prepare my message very well. With all my best wishes, Jean-Pierre Potier
Jean-Pierre: Write to Paula today. Putting off projects today in researching the past can have dire results. We aren't getting any younger and we lose too many racing pioneers as it is. I think you are right, the French and most of Europe, evolved towards Formula road course racing and yet at one time they were active everywhere. Road course and straight-line record racing were the first of the automotive sports. In America, it was the French and German cars that dominated at the early turn of the 19th century. Then the British and Italian cars were imported. Now that race cars are standardized so that you can't tell one marque from another, all the fun has gone out of racing. That's why so many of us love land and water speed racing. To get results one has to be innovative and create new designs in order to set new records. There's no use copying somebody when that person will evolve and adapt into a new car that's faster and better. Everyone is trying to come up with an invention that is unique and new and hasn't been thought of before. It's all about speed.
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Caption:
Yacco Records Matford 1937.jpg..........Poster of the Yacco sponsored races featuring the Matford cars. Courtesy of Jean-Pierre Potier
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If you are going to the Grand National Roadster Show, is it the one at the northern bay area near San Francisco? If so it would be a great pleasure to meet you. I don't even know if you ever came over to this show in this area. I know that Eric Rickman did a lot. To let you know, I have not missed a single newsletter since I got connected with you guys. It has been a great atmosphere for me to see and know such great documentation that came from all of these newsletters. Thank you guys for the absolutely wonderful historical letters. Spencer Simon
Spencer: The show in the Bay area is put on by Rick Perry. The original GNRS is now owned by John Buck and his show is at the Los Angeles County Fairplex, in Pomona, California. Buck also promotes the Sacramento Autorama.
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I can't add anything to Veda's story. I remember she sat at the head table as a guest of the Ferguson's for the awards ceremony the first year I drove. Don Ferguson Jr may have stories from his dad if you haven't already asked him. Jack Dolan and Doc (Jeffries) were members of the San Diego Roadsters Club. Jack, a motorcycle guy, was good with small motors and we were going to run a Ford Escort with a Crosley motor so he joined us. Those two reveled in pushing the rules to the limits. The car was nicknamed 'The Car of All Classes' by the officials. Doc and Jack loved upsetting them. They set a record at every El Mirage meet and every day of Speed Week in 1986. They were jumping classes, not sand bagging. According to the rulebook of that time, it fit in a bunch of classes as a Ford EXP (two-seater). Then they swapped the hatchback window and it became a Mercury LN7 (four seater). You would have to ask Jack about all the classes.
The first year I drove, 1988, the SCTA News asked Doc to write an article about me and the team. By then we had two look-alike Ford EXPs and I was driving them both that year. We were in the El Mirage points race, a nail biter right down to November. We ended up #2 that year. I wrote the article, Jack proofed it and Doc got the byline. Maybe that is when the idea of the Bonneville Racing News first started forming in his brain. A look at my website tells you I am an animal trainer. That is actually how Doc and I met. I was training dolphins in Puerto Rico and he, a behavioral psychologist, had bird shows all over the world. He delivered one to Puerto Rico and got me interested in training birds. You can thank a bunch of Macaws and Cockatoos for making the Bonneville Racing News possible. Wendy Jeffries, http://www.wendyjeffries.com
Wendy: Tell us more about Doc and his land speed racing; when and where did he start? How many issues of the BRN have you put out and what is your biggest challenge with the newspaper? Dolan writes in occasionally, but he's a quiet sort of guy and likes other people to talk, especially if we put our foot in our mouths. I understand Dolan has a lot of stories to tell, but he clams up when I ask him for articles. Would you ask Don Jr if he would send me some stories on what he knows about Veda and Karl Orr.
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For curiosity, when is this and where is it taking place? Maybe I might get to have time off to go there. Spencer Simon
Spencer: The Grand National Roadster Show will be held on January 29 thru the 31 at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, California. This show has been going on since the late 1940's. The current owner and promoter is John Buck. Just Google The Grand National Roadster Show for more details. John has gone out of his way to broaden the concept of the show and make it user friendly for all groups of car guys, while still putting the emphasis on hot rods. I'll be there with Roger Rohrdanz and you can find us at the www.hotrodhotline.com booth with Jack and Mary Ann Lawford. It's always a great show.
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Don, I put one of your segments up on YouTube (please view by clicking this link:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc2bfCOTDO4. We are going on Nationally on Rtv, WFLA has picked up the show and it is going on Internationally as well. This is all more than we hoped for. When we filmed at your place we did intro's/outro's for only 6 episodes and would like to shoot the remaining 7 there as well. This would only take a few hour like it did last time. Please let me know if this is a possibility. Thanks, Jamie "Jake" Jacobs
Members: This email was shared by Don Garlits from a message he received from Jamie Jacobs, who filmed his museum recently. Google the link above and see this interesting video on an amazing car racing museum.
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I am Unable to travel that far (to the Grand National Roadster Show) 400 miles is a bit long for my left side. I would have loved to be able to go, as my '29 roadster won the full fendered street division in 1966 (that year they gave gold, silver and bronze just as in the Olympics. I took the gold) and my roadster was painted gold at that time, this was the last show at the Oakland Armory building before it moved to the new Oakland arena. I still have the roadster; it's an original all steel that was once a rear engined drag car. I performed all of the work, body, paint, and building of it. I heard that the show was going to feature passed R&C Magazine cars, and mine was you might say the centerfold for June 1967 photographed by Andy Southard, Jr (there was no cover car that month as they had the Early Times car club on the cover). Andy also featured the car in two of his books. I sure would have liked to have the car there. I had repainted the car red just before my stroke and was in the process of putting it back together when I had the stroke, after I was home about 6 months, my wife saw that I was bored as I was in a wheelchair, and said, "come on let's go out there." She hadn't moved anything and it was just as I left it. She said, "show me what to do and you and I are going to get this car together," and she did it. There is a lot more she did but it would take too long to tell you, anyhow Richard, have a good time at the show! Vince Burgos
Vince: Great letter, can I print it? You have a very kind wife. A real hot rodder's wife. We'll miss you both at the show.
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Sure Richard, go ahead and print it. My wife's name is Rose and she and I just celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary (we were high school sweethearts), she was raised around hot rods. Vince Burgos
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Gone Racin'…Old Hot Rods Scrapbook, Memories From The Past, by Don Montgomery. Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz
Old Hot Rods Scrapbook, Memories From The Past is the 8th book in a series written by Fallbrook, California author, Don Montgomery. He has created a special market with his books. His readers avidly collect his books on Southern California hot rodding history. He self-publishes his own books and does the writing as well. They are high quality works, the photographs are clear and finely reproduced and the story is well researched and accurate. In fact, his readers know Montgomery's penchant for scholarship and look very hard to see if they can spot an error. No book is above errors, but finding an error in his books has proven very difficult. Why does the author insist on such meticulous attention to detail? He gave me the answer once, "when mistakes get into print they become Gospel truth and they're very hard to root out." Montgomery has the science of book writing and publishing down to an art form. Old Hot Rods Scrapbook, Memories From The Past follows the same pattern as his previous seven books. The book measures 8 � inches in width by 11 � inches in height and has 192 pages. The size allows him to reproduce full-page photographs without any degradation in quality and the page length makes it easy for the printer to print the book in 48 page folios, which allows for the least wastage of paper and time. Everything about the author's work is first class. The book is a hardcover edition and the pages are high quality, heavy bond, waxed paper for the maximum quality in photographic transfers. The pages are bound to the spine of the book and not glued in. The dust cover jacket is his trademark red, white and black design and is absolutely brilliant. He has an uncomplicated but thorough method in his styling and in his writing. He's one of the best creating hot rod books.
Old Hot Rods Scrapbook, Memories From The Past is a work that crosses over into several categories. It is a fine coffee table masterpiece, a historical and a pictorial work on the history of hot rodding. His sources for pictures and text represent the famous and the normal hot rodder. His pipeline never runs out of ideas, suggestions or photographs. Montgomery is also his number one resource, since he was a hot rodder, land speed and drag racer. If his enthusiasm doesn't wane, he can keep publishing these fine works of his for years to come. A special bit of praise needs to go to his wife, Claire Montgomery, for she not only encourages her husband to create these books, she helps him in the process. You can find Old Hot Rods Scrapbook, Memories From The Past at bookstores or at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California. Call the gift shop at 909-622-2133 and order the book by phone. The ISBN number is 978-0-9626454-7-1. There are no color photographs, but there are 591 exquisite black and white photos, one cartoon and 4 timing tag illustrations. The quality of the paper in the book brings these old photographs to life. The captions are well done and informative. History simply jumps out of the pages in Old Hot Rods Scrapbook, Memories From The Past. I keep waiting for Montgomery to say, "that's it, there are no more photos and there's nothing more to say." But that never happens, as he just keeps astounding his readers with new photographs and material, most of it never published before.
The book contains a dedication, introduction, table of contents, acknowledgments, five chapters and a brief biography of the author and his background. Alas, there is no index for the historian to work with. The only thing that stops these books from being truly great and outstanding is the lack of an index. The scenes at the dry lakes and on the early day dragstrips of Southern California are fantastic. Bill Freeman provided photos from the Riverside area and Norm Gruden lent his photos from the Pomona dragstrip. Others who provided photos and history include; Don Blair, Bernie Couch, Bob DeBisschop, Blackie Gold, Ray Hess, Keith Landrigan, Buff Marquand, Dave Marquez, Dode Martin, Bob Morton, Don Purdy, Joe Reath, Bob Rounthwaite, John Ryan, Mort Smith, Bud Van Maanen, John Wolf, Don Zable and many more true hot rodders. Many names are still recognizable to hot rodders, land speed and drag racers after half a century or more. Buff Marquand, Bill Freeman and Dave Marquez were members of the Bean Bandits, a legendary San Diego land speed and drag racing team led by Joaquin Arnett. The greatest praise that Marquez could give was, "(Bleep) kid." When he recognized you, then you had to be someone special. Marquez would win the first two NHRA Nationals in his roadster class. Johnny Ryan and Nellie Taylor had the top engine building shop in the Southland. Their flathead engines ruled the dry lakes. Don Blair and Blackie Gold are historic names in hot rodding. Without this book your library is incomplete. Gone Racin' is at [email protected].
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Gone Racin'… Thrust; Through the Sound Barrier, by Richard Noble and David Tremayne. Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz
Sir Richard Noble has produced a book that belongs in every hot rodder and racing enthusiast's library. It is a detailed and fact filled book that will educate even the most knowledgeable automobile racing expert. Thrust; Through the Sound Barrier tells the story of how men and women took on the challenge of designing, building, funding and then making their dreams come true. It tells the story in a no-nonsense and factual way, of how the land speed record went supersonic. The photos are exceptional, but in no way crowd out the text. The writing style is quick and interesting. The material is written in an easy to understand manner and yet conveys all the technical aspects that you need to know. The index is far superior to anything that I've ever reviewed. But it is the honesty and openness of the writers and their enthusiasm for what they are doing that is contagious. Richard Noble is one of the most likable characters you will ever meet in racing, and his style in person or in the book is infectious. Yet this man has dominated land speed racing since the 1980's in ways that no one ever has.
Thrust; Through the Sound Barrier, was written by Richard Noble and David Tremayne, and is an eight by ten-inch, hard cover book, published by Partridge Press, in 1998. The book is 320 pages on glossy paper and is suitable as a standard text or coffee table book. It has a distinctive purple book jacket that portrays the car and Richard Noble. There are approximately 171 photos, almost all them in color, with an additional 23 sketches, maps, diagrams and charts. In addition there are 8 pages of appendices showing all sorts of records, dates of events, logs of speeds and a complete record of every land speed record setter since 1898. Finally, there are 7 pages of index so that the reader can track down any statistic or fact in an instant. The book is divided into 22 easy chapters, each about 14 pages long. The price was listed at 20 pounds, which is roughly $35, and is truly worth every penny, for you will pick this book up to read and refer to often. Andy Green, the driver of the car and several others who worked on the car, assisted in the preparation of the book. Both Richard Noble and Andy Green have been awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for their achievements in land speed racing. This entitles them to use Sir as a title out of the respect the British people have for these eminent men of speed who represent their country with such dignity. David Tremayne is a freelance writer who covers motorsport racing and has written several books.
Noble begins with his childhood in Scotland and how his father inspired him with a love for speed. Noble's life is always brought back to the life of speed. He takes part in an expedition through Africa, and then returned to England with plans to build a land speed car to reclaim the record for Great Britain. Thrust1 was a car that looked more like a formula car with a huge front wing on a dragster body, but Noble was on his way to fulfilling his dreams. Richard Noble has succeeded where many have failed and part of the reason is his ability to get talented people to help him. Probably his most valuable assistant is his wife Sally, who has been a constant source of support and encouragement from the very beginning. But Noble has the ability to charm the devil and he uses his talents to the maximum. He is simply a man that doesn't have any enemies. To talk to Noble is to fall under his spell and come to believe that the impossible is simply an idea that doesn't exist. Noble sold the idea to his friends George Myers, Mark Rasmussen and Simon Chapman. Then he found a designer of genius in John Ackroyd and Thrust2 came into existence, propelling Noble to the World Land Speed Record in 1983. Noble comes in at the end of an era that began in the 1960's when the Americans had taken over the World Land Speed Record in both jet and piston technology. Men such as Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove rushed to breathtaking records daily at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Western Utah. The excitement and temper of the times would dwindle away and Gary Gabelich's record of 622.407 mph would languish for 13 years before Richard Noble finally had a car that could snatch away the record.
Noble set the new record and increased it to 633 mph, and though the Americans thought about taking it back, no one seriously challenged the record until 1997, when Craig Breedlove and his Spirit of America went to Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada to face Noble's new Thrust SST. John Ackroyd was now helping Breedlove, and Noble had Ron Ayer and Glynne Bowsher. The story isn't only about the land speed record but the sacrifices of literally thousands of people to put these two cars on the playa in the attempt at the record. The Mach One Club would raise money for Noble's expenses, and many of the members would take their savings and vacations from work by helping to staff the event, work on the car or provide security. Wives would cook and bring food to the workers on the course. Men, women and even children would walk down the 13-mile long course fodding and removing the rocks and debris off the track. The work was endless and the conditions harsh. Noble estimated that the work and materials donated came to over $30 million dollars, including the donated labor of all involved. No estimate was ever known by Craig Breedlove's group, though it was substantial. Some days the cars wouldn't run. Some days the conditions were windy and too dangerous to run. There would be severe ups and downs before one group would be ultimately successful and the other team would go home without the record. Landspeed racing isn't packed with a lot of thrills and chills, but the excitement is just as real and exhilarating. Gone Racin' is at [email protected].
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I am sorry to inform you of the passing of Janet Meyers on January 12, 2010. She died peacefully at Hospice of the Valley in Sun City. Attached is a link to her obituary. See http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/azcentral/obituary.aspx?n=janet-m-meyers&pid=138623028. Art
Art: I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Sixtyfour years is a wonderful marriage. We'll keep you in our thoughts. Richard
Meyers, Janet M.
88, of Glendale, Arizona passed away on January 12, 2010. Born September 2, 1921 in Forest Park, Illinois. She grew up in Melrose Park, Illinois. She was proud of her work during WWII at Buick Engine Plant in the Chicago area. She married Arthur D. Meyers in 1946. They moved to Denver, Colorado in 1951 where Janet worked at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. In 1959, Janet, Art and their daughter, Nancy, moved to Glendale, Arizona where Janet created a loving home and worked with her husband at Meyers American automobile dealership. She played golf as a member of Arrowhead Country Club and White Mountain Country Club in Pinetop.
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She loved all sports and was active in auto racing. She traveled widely and enjoyed cruises. She is survived by husband, Art, daughter, Nancy, sister-in-laws Dorothy Bailly and Delores Ritchey, two nieces and three nephews. Preceded in death by brother Andrew Dugaw and sister, Helen Bakas. A family service will be held at a later date at Resthaven Park Cemetery in Glendale. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to United States Auto Club Benevolent Fund or Hospice of the Valley. Published in The Arizona Republic on January 17, 2010
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Speed Demon land speed streamliner....Sent in by Ron Main.
XXX-RAYTED PICTURES
GEORGE AND RON HAVE AN X-RAYTED PICTURES
PHOTOGRAPHED BY RANDY LORENTZEN/PLANET-R INC.
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Captions:
Fueled-back.jpg............Join us this saturday night for Fueled - Art Show featuring over 30 artists. Courtesy of Mitzi Valenzuela
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Captions:
fueledpremier_front_MD_print.jpg.....Pinstripers, old cars and more. Courtesy of Mitzi Valenzuela
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Four 36 hp land speed racing challenge documents....sent in by Burly Burlile
I have attached Word docs with current information you will be wanting to review regarding the 36hp Challenge for 2010. The highlights include some minor rule changes in the safety guideline area as well as clarifications in the individual class categories to make your options clearer. Should you have any questions regarding any items please feel free to email or call and I will try my best to answer them for you. 2009 was a spectacular 36hp Challenge year and 2010 is looking even more special. I have just received word from Steve Muller in Australia that he and his team will be campaigning two VWs during the Australian Speedweek which is coming up in just over a month. The Ratmuller Team will be racing both a Ghia convertible and a Beetle sedan in DSS and SS categories and with luck, they will be giving us new targets to shoot for. Keep tuned to your email for updates and special news items of interest. The above 2010 36hp Challenge information package should be posted at www.burlyb.com within the next couple of weeks so feel free to send your friends to the site for details and please refer them to me if they should have specific questions. Until next visit, may the Speed be with you. Burly Burlile
Click Documents to View in Larger Format
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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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