SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS
NEWSLETTER 164 - May 21, 2010
Editor: Richard Parks [email protected]
President's Corner: By Jim Miller (1-818-846-5139)
 

Click On All Images For Larger View

Some Names To Look For In This Newsletter:
 President's Corner, Editorials, Michael and Tara Parks have just informed us that they are expecting their second child, In the event you haven't heard yet great nitro tuner and even nicer guy Don Marshall of the King & Marshall team passed away yesterday in Florida, Greg Falconer died a couple of months ago and we are going to have some celebration for him at the August Long Beach Race, I have available for sale a collection of Legion Ascot Speedway sprint car racing programs, Thank you for this heads-up on the Mickey Thompson panel discussion, I have spent and looked all over the internet and in books for the past 2 years for some information on and about the wheels and rims used on the 1959 Mickey Thompson's Challenger 1, There will be an open house at Chop-Shop Customs on June 19, 2010 marks a seminal year in the history of Volkswagen motorsports as this year is the fiftieth anniversary of the very first speed record ever set by a Volkswagen, Happy Start of Racing Season Fellow Road Runners and Friends, My late father use to drag race for a good 30 years out of Saginaw Michigan as the Neumann Bros, Betty Packard's granddaughter Hope Jackson did well in the 'Dancing with the Stars' University dancing competition, The following story was sent to us by Dave Boul�, art work on the Indy 500, I will be at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club in Detroit Michigan this weekend displaying my wares with other artists, Rockabilly Rod Reunion at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, The following information is sent to us courtesy of the Fabulous Fifties by Ginny Dixon and Art Evans, Gone Racin'...Wally Parks; Hot Rodding's Hero by The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), Gone Racin'…Ab & Marvin Jenkins The Studebaker Connection and the Mormon Meteors by Gordon Eliot White.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

President's Corner:  
   Well it finally happened, the first S.C.T.A. meet of 2010 is history and everyone had a great time. There were 94 cars and 60 bikes that combined for a total of 331 laps down the track. It would have been even more if the race hadn't been shut down due to wind at 1 PM. The fastest vehicle down the track was the Noonan-Derwin-Moreland 1650 cc Class APS/BG motorcycle (JMC_1225) with John Noonan aboard. He did a slip-slide down the track at 242.106 mph, which was not too shabby for an open bike on not the best of tracks. John is seen Sunday morning as he brought the ride to the starting line. Over in the car department the Costella-Yacoucci flattie powered Class XF/BFS liner set a record at 229.148 mph with Rick Yacoucci handling the driving and was the fastest four-wheeler there. Rick was a little miffed at himself as he went faster than planned to put 31 mph on the record. The serious guys always leave a lot in the back pocket when their running for points so the faster out of the box makes it a little harder at the end of the season.
   There were 17 records set and everyone was pretty happy. There are always exceptions and here's one of them. Jack Bateman ran as a guest at the last meet in 2009. There were some concerns about the body on his car that weren't resolved so we had to be the bad guys this meet. His swoopy looking car started life as a '33-'34 Ford coupe. It now has a tube chassis and one of Tony Baron's built flatties for power. A lap at 141.229 mph on a 150 record shows he's going in the right direction. JMC_1222 shows the car last November with engine builder Tony in the background. As you can see this sucker's got one rad chop and that's the problem. A look at the next shot, JMC_1221, shows the chop better and that's my cue to discuss the problem. The car runs in the Comp Coupe and Sedan class that states other than top chopping, no modifications to the body are allowed. It also says minimum vertical height of the windshield is 5". To clarify what the original car looks like I dug out one of my Ford books that had a factory drawing of the side of the car done back in the day. Check out JMC_1220A to see one of Henry's finest. Now look at JMC_1220B to see what the car looks like with a chop to the S.C.T.A. rules. With the comparison you can see the Jack went just a tad too far.
   For a little insight into some of the problems let's go back to the rules and get a little more specific. Bodies must be unaltered in height, width, length and contour and must be in their original relationships except for the top chop. That means the lid has to come down with the same amount removed from the front and rear. It also says that window openings may be covered by flat plates on the outside of the opening or left open. With that let's start at the cowl. When you look at a stocker the cowl runs basically parallel with the ground then turns upward. About an inch up from that the window surround is inset into the body. If you look at the Bateman car you will note that this part of the original body shape is nonexistent. If you look at the stock beltline it intersects with the top in front of the door. All of this detail is missing on the car. If you project across the car from the top of the beltline and measure the height of the original cowl plus the original window height you'll probably find this car is missing a few inches from stock. Another problem is the top of the windshield. Above the stock shield there is a couple inches of body before it rounds into the top. On the Bateman car the shield flows smoothly into the top, another no-no. In the old days they use to move the windshield top up into the body but that was in the old days. It isn't allowed these days.
   Going back to my chopped drawing you can see that the windshield on the new car is laid back way too much. There is another belt line around the top that runs forward then curves up over the side windows, runs forward and then drops down into the window posts. Again none of this exists on this car. Another bugaboo is the rule that says you can cover the outside of the window. On this one there is no window and how about the word flat. Everything here is compound curves. We might have looked the other way if there was a small infraction but when you add up all the aerodynamic changes there is no such thing as stock on this one. It's a builder's job to push the limits and go a little beyond if he's a good rodder and it's our job as inspectors/certifiers to make sure he doesn't so there will always be a little head butting going on. We know there will always be Smokey Y's out there that will get something by us but hopefully not for long.

For Larger Imaged And Text Click On Images Below

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editorial:   
   The racing season has begun at last. I've said it and every racer whom I've ever spoken to has said the same thing; it last too long and when it's over it takes too long before we begin again. May through November seems like an eternity to small teams with short budgets and plenty to do. This is not NASCAR or NHRA where million dollar sponsorships and crews by the dozens wait on every need of the race car driver. Land speed racers measure their funding by how much extra their wife makes or their boss gives them in overtime pay. I remember speaking to Stormin' Norman Benham one time after he managed to make a few bucks at the L.A. Roadster show. His quandary was whether the money should go for parts or for food. The pros never have to worry about things like that. Then there is the long hours spent alone or with a partner trying to figure out what went wrong at the last meet. Why are the parts breaking, bending and creating havoc? It's more of a shock when things go right and records are set than when things malfunction. What driver hasn't had to try and convince an inspector that his car is not a death trap waiting for an accident to smear the reputation of the SCTA? Why does the wind and dust devils always affect your run and not the other cars? That's why we are amazed and astonished when someone, say the 1948 Spurgin/Giovanine team set record after record for the entire season.
What most of the land speeders were probably saying or thinking was; "Do they have God on their side?" I heard Alan Johnson say that very same thing about a John Force victory that should really have been a defeat. Of course Alan didn't use as civilized language as we land speeders are accustomed to. But come December there is a gnawing at one's gut as the quiet settles over and around us and we pine for the racing season to begin anew.
   Speaking of the L.A. Roadster Show, make sure to put it on your calendar. It's June 20th and you should all be back from El Mirage by then, if the dust devils die down. The L.A. Roadster guys are just like the SCTA, if that stands for the Senior Citizens Timing Association. They don't much care for change either, unless they have talked and argued it out. The format for the show is the same year after year and while that makes it hard for a writer to do a story; it's glorious for the hot rodder who likes things just as they are. After all the upheaval we have faced in our nation, it's really nice to have the tried and true tested formulas in play year after year. Why change what works and the corollary; why work to change what brought you success. If only our politicians could have such wisdom as the L.A. Roadster guys have. Another event to mark on your calendar is the Literature Fair at El Segundo on June 27, 2010. This year it will be hosted by a new museum and not the Society of Automotive Historians or SAH. I spoke to Bob Falcon and Bob Ewing and this is only a temporary change, so the SAH will be back in the saddle in the future. The Literature Fair does not allow cars or car parts to be sold, but this is the place to go to find car collectables, memorabilia, photographs, posters, magazines, books and much more. Bob Falcon is acting as a consultant to the organizers and we need to support him. Bob is one of the founding members of the SLSRH. Further off is Don Weaver's Legends of Ascot Reunion held at the county Fairgrounds in Perris, California. It is one of the premier events and it attracts about 700 to 800 racers and fans each year. That event is on October 23, 2010 and you can't miss it and call yourself a racing fan. The problem for land speed racers and fans is that El Mirage is the next day on the 24th. That's it for now; enjoy the racing season.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael and Tara Parks have just informed us that they are expecting their second child, due on November 19, 2010. No other details are known at the present time. Michael is the son of Epi and Richard Parks and Tara is the daughter of Greg and Paulette Hafen. Michael is the third grandson of Wally and Mary Parks.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the event you haven't heard yet, great nitro tuner and even nicer guy, Don Marshall of the King & Marshall team, passed away yesterday in Florida. He had been fighting a few illnesses. A Bonneville motorcycle racer in his early years, Donnie teamed up with pal Jimmy King in Rhode Island and campaigned Top Fuel Dragsters and even a Funny Car for a while from the early 1960's through the '70's. Donnie is one of only three New Englanders inducted into Don Garlits International Drag Racing Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the New England Racers and Hot Rodders Hall of Fame. Donnie leaves family in Rhode Island and his wife Susan in Jacksonville, Florida. Godspeed, Donnie. They're still doing 1320 feet up there!  Gil Coraine
   Gil: Do you have more bio information on Don? Also, what can you tell us about his Bonneville and land speed racing?
                   -------------------------------
   I don't have much factual data regarding Don Marshall's motorcycle racing. That happened before I had met him, and the info I do have is from discussions through the years and when helping them prepare for their induction at Garlits' Hall of Fame. He ran a gas HD at Charlestown, Rhode Island drags, which was at the naval station, once a month. He built a blown Triumph in 1961, reverse rotation motor with a single Stromberg 97. The bike did well, regularly beating the HDs. A Harley/Davidson dealer offered him a bike. Don set two gas class records at Bonneville in 1965; 136 and 142 without fairings, not sure what size motors. That same year or maybe in 1966, he ran 150mph in the 1/4 on nitro. That's all that I have in my memory and my notes. Maybe some old timers in the SCTA, now that's funny, have some documentation from those years. Don was a physically large, imposing man, but a true gentleman with unquestionable loyalty. Thanks for your interest. Gil Coraine
   Gil: I appreciate your contributions over the years. Here's our dilemma; we have so many racers and so few reporters and historians. Many times I find myself writing a biography or story at a man's funeral and that's sad, because he will never see that we held him in high respect. But due to the fact that we only have so much time, it becomes impossible to meet these guys and do them honor. Don Garlits and Ernie Schorb in the East, the Motorsports museum in the West and other groups do their best to honor our racers, but we simply can't get to everybody. That's why you are so important to us because you give us another set of ears, eyes and hands. Your reports are vital to what we want to achieve and that is a biography and story on every single hot rodder who ever lived, racer or not. Keep up the good work.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Greg Falconer died a couple of months ago. We are going to have some celebration for him at the August Long Beach Race. I will be sure to let you know before. Dr Tom Scherer
   Dr Tom: I'm very sorry to hear about Greg. He was a great Crackerbox boat racer and a friend. Please send me notices of the boat races at Marine Stadium in August so that I can post them and try and put the date on my calendar. I will miss Greg. He always treated everyone that he met with great dignity and respect. His passing is a great loss to his family, friends and boat racing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have available for sale a collection of Legion Ascot Speedway sprint car racing programs. The collection covers most of the races of the 1932, 1933, 1934, and the 1935 calendar years. The condition of these issues varies and many dates have multiple copies. Some issues are autographed and have the heat and main race times recorded. Please contact me at [email protected]. Russ Di Teresi
Russ: I enjoyed seeing your collection and they represent a great resource for historians and collectors alike. I also saw a program for the Oilers car club for 1947 listing all the members. If you can, please scan the program so that we can run it in the newsletter.
-----------------------------
My father, Russell Teresa, at age 12 started selling programs to the spectators at the AAA sanctioned Legion Ascot Speedway. The family lived one block off of Soto Street in the Lincoln Heights area of Los Angeles and would walk over the hill (some times barefoot) to sell programs for the track. He loved auto racing of all kinds and was fortunate to have one of the premiere tracks in the country just up the street. Coming from a poor Italian family with 10 brothers and sisters, this was a special treat to see and be a part of a national event with famous drivers and spectators alike. Acquiring autographs and meeting famous drivers that had driven all over the country and even raced at the Indy 500 was the highlight of his youth. He and some of his brothers started a gas station and his younger brother and family friend were drag racing at Santa Ana and other local tracks in the early 1950's. The Teresa and Cerneka roadster and top fuel dragster set many records and had developed a number of innovations at a time when drag racing was in its infancy.

Click On Images: 12 photographs Below of Legion Ascot Speedway Programs.
Courtesy of Russ di Teresi.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for this heads-up on the Mickey Thompson panel discussion. This was my 1st time at one of these and I enjoyed myself immensely! Please keep me notified of upcoming events like this one. The stories the ol' hotrodders tell are priceless. Thanks again, Embo
Embo: Put www.landspeedracing.com on your list of favorites and check the website once a week for updates on events.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I like the Newsletter very much; great work. I have spent and looked all over the internet and in books for the past 2 years for some information on and about the wheels and rims used on the 1959 Mickey Thompson's Challenger 1. I would like to know the measurements of the Tires and Rims in size. If you can't help can you tell or send me to someone or someplace to get this information. Thanks. Daniel Booker; A Pro "Trial & Error" model Builder, [email protected], 989-486-4309.
Daniel: If you live near the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, in Pomona, California, then on May 15, 2010 there will be a Mickey Thompson panel discussion with Mickey's first wife Judy, his son Danny, Alex Xydias and other speakers who could answer this question for you or refer you to those who might know the answer. The museum's phone number is 909-622-2133. I'm hoping Fritz Voigt comes to the event as he has a great deal of knowledge on the subject. I will run your email in the newsletter and your contact information. The next issue of the newsletter doesn't come out until next Wednesday, so if you don't want your phone number or email address to show up in the newsletter, just let me know. It sounds as if you are a model builder and do this for a living. If so, tell us more about what you are doing and send some photographs.
-----------------------
Yes I am a model car builder. I build mostly Custom cars and trucks, but I have been looking into the Salt Flat racing some, and I would like to start building some of them. I do a lot of scratch building too. I have been building models for over 30 years. Daniel Booker

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There will be an open house at Chop-Shop Customs on June 19, 2010 from 12 Noon to 4 PM. Chop-Shop Customs is located at 235-D Salem Street, Woburn, Massachusetts. For more information call them at 781-939-5660. Lenny Schaeffer

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2010 marks a seminal year in the history of Volkswagen motorsports as this year is the fiftieth anniversary of the very first speed record ever set by a Volkswagen! In 1960, Dick Beith took his humble little1958 Beetle powered by mildly modified 36hp engine and set a class land speed record on the Bonneville Slat Flats. Equipped with a homemade dual carburetor system, Dick's 58 streaked across the salt to a top speed of 80.874 miles per hour and a two way average record of 77.107 mile per hour. Volkswagen land speed racing had begun! To celebrate fifty years of Volkswagen racing, Dick, a California native is planning a return to Bonneville during the USFRA's September World of Speed event to compete in the 36hp Challenge and attempt to double his original record speed.
This time the VW will be a heavily modified 1968 Beetle competing in the H/BFC Competition Coupe category and running on the longer three mile competition course. The top of the Beetle has been severely chopped while an axle beam narrowed 19 inches will allow the body to taper to a point following the Beetle hood lines providing a streamlined effect. The engine will be a 1450cc 36hp motor fitted with an Eaton supercharger, fuel injection and intercooled. Cylinder heads will be stock 36hp heads highly modified by Dick and similar to those that took his Pepco 36hp supercharged lakester to a 129 mile per hour top speed in 1963, an unlimited 36hp record that still stands today as the fastest speed ever recorded for a vehicle powered by the mighty little motor. The World of Speed will be held on the Bonneville Salt Flats this coming September, beginning Wednesday the 15th through Saturday the 18th. Additional information on World of Speed can be found at www.saltflats.com. Burly Burlile

Click Images Below for Larger Views And Text

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy Start of Racing Season Fellow Road Runners and Friends. I have posted the Road Runner meet results for May on the Results Page of our website: http://www.ussarcherfish.com/roadrunners/news.htm. Road Runners set two new records. We had eight race vehicles in competition. Looks like we could add another 4 or 5 vehicles to that number for the June meet. Not bad for a "small" club. There are some exciting new Road Runners vehicles under construction and several will make their debut at El Mirage and Bonneville this year. This should be a very good Road Runner year! See you soon at a "Burrito Thursday," a Club Meeting or on the Lake. Jerry Cornelison - Webmaster Road Runners - SCTA (est. 1937)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My late father use to drag race for a good 30 years out of Saginaw, Michigan as the Neumann Bros. I seem to remember he told me that at one time, briefly I believe, he had the world land speed record which he did in the Arizona Salt flats. I believe the year might have been 1957. Do you by chance have any information on this? Thank you, Best regards, Gary Neumann, [email protected]
Gary: You bring up a very interesting subject by the question that you have raised. It requires a more complex answer. The short version is that we don't know the answer, but it's possible for you to find out. The reason that I say this is that most likely your father ran at the Bonneville Salt Flats, in western Utah, under the auspices of the SCTA as the timing association. To my knowledge, they didn't keep the times of the run from year to year unless they were records. Once the record was broken, it was replaced by the new record. It's possible that there are programs or other paper trails that have been kept by individuals. To learn more about this subject; go to www.landspeedracing.com and find Jim Miller's phone number on the masthead and give him a call. He's the president of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians and an expert in the field. Our group is trying to recover, find and save documents and history as fast as we can find the material, but we are volunteers and our task is huge. You can help us to help you by telling us all that you know; your father's name, the class he ran in, photographs, dates and any other pertinent information that you can find. Start a phone tree by going to your uncles, aunts, mother, old friends of your father and get as much information as you can, then share it with us.
The reason is that the more information that you find and share, the more it jogs the memories of people who were racing back in the mid-1950's. It is a shrinking group and we lose a lot of the racers from that era every month. It's important to find out what you can about the car and the class, because the SCTA and the BNI have many classes and drivers can achieve multiple land speed records. To be classified as a "World" land speed record it should have the sanctioning of the FIA in Paris, France and that is an expensive record, for it calls for two way runs within an hour of each other, on a sanctioned course with staff approved by the FIA. To be a "National" record, the timing group must be certified and maybe represented by ACCUS, or the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States. Before ACCUS it was the AAA and then USAC that sanctioned national events. The SCTA and BNI have their own records and in my opinion, most land speed racers would rather have a record under their auspices. The greatest number of record runs have been sanctioned by the SCTA and BNI, but they are not "national, international or world records." Be sure to ask all your relatives and your father's close friends if they have any photographs in their albums of your father as he raced at the salt flats. Send digital photographic copies by computer to Jim Miller and he might be able to give you more areas to look into.
-----------------------
My mother says that it was definitely Bonneville, might have been 1955. He did most of his racing at Michigan Motor Speedway, I believe that was the name of it as he lived in Saginaw Michigan until perhaps 1980's then moved to Arizona. Not sure when he might have stopped driving and went to having another role with the car. I remember him wanting me to take over driving of the car, just can't recall when. They drove in a number of classes over the years; I believe Nitro was one of them? Sorry I don't know much as my parents got divorced over his obsession with car racing when I was 2 years old and I only spent the occasional summer with him at the track and garage. Everything above is from memories from those visits with him. He gave me a number of his trophies only to have my mother through them out on me. In Saginaw they raced as Neumann brothers (maybe records are Newman brothers) people often write it that way no matter how many times I correct them. My grandfather owned a garage in Saginaw or close by. It had a scrap yard attached (mini one). Wish I had all those old 1940's and '50's cars now that were in it. I remember he was a master mechanic and I believe built their own engines. He was a Millwright at some company in or around Saginaw Michigan. Maybe he didn't drive much and it was a brother or friend. But I do recall him having inner ear troubles and having to stop driving in 80's or 90's, but kept his connection to the sport. It was at that time he wanted me to move down and start driving the car. I will try and find out more through my mother. Gary Neumann
Gary: You also need to find out more about his drag racing history. Some of the big websites can put you in touch with the old racers. Be sure to go to the Eastern Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky in June, or to the California Hot Rod Reunion in October in Bakersfield, California. The websites can be found by googling, but I like the Standard 1320 Club

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Betty Packard's granddaughter, Hope Jackson, did well in the 'Dancing with the Stars' University dancing competition. Hope teams up with her husband, Trey Jackson, to represent Utah Valley University. They won their semi-finals competition and will now enter the finals. Tune in
next Monday and Tuesday and vote for Hope and Trey. Betty's husband Jim was a sprint car driver, who lost his life in a race many years ago.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following story was sent to us by Dave Boul�
-------------------
PEBBLE BEACH, California. May 20, 2010. In the halcyon days of dry lakes racing, during the years just before and after World War II, young men with little money but remarkable intuitive engineering and a lot of enthusiasm built cars in their backyards that rivaled the performance of the best in the world. Before the term hot rod had been coined, they built some very hot cars. The Spurgin-Giovanine roadster was such a car. Chuck Spurgin and Bob Giovanine loved working with their hands, building things, making things better. They enjoyed working together and they enjoyed being part of a close knit community. The car they built and raced so successfully was recently discovered intact after four decades parked behind a home in the California desert. This diminutive, hand-built racecar has been painstakingly restored and will be part of the Hot Rod Lakesters and Bonneville Racers class at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on August 15. Current owner Ernest Nagamatsu has brought the car back to its 1940's racing trim and, even more importantly, back into the families of the men who originally built it.
"Helping to bring this long lost and legendary racecar back into public view has been a terrific experience," said Dr. Nagamatsu, a dentist from Los Angeles. "But connecting with the families of the men who built and campaigned the car, and giving them a chance to see first-hand what their dads cared so much about, has been magic." "This car was a dinner table legend in my family for 60 years," said Karin Edla-Spurgin, daughter of Chuck Spurgin. "Its resurrection has allowed our families to connect in a remarkable way with the passion that drove our fathers to build something so successful. Ernie and his team share the same camaraderie that my dad and Bob did. No ego, just the pleasure of working on a project and enjoying the fruits of their labor." "My earliest memory is pleading with dad to go with him and the car to the races. I wasn't even in kindergarten," said Curt Giovanine, son of Bob Giovanine. "A few years later, when the car had been retired and was stored in our garage, I'd bring school friends over. We'd sit in it and pretend we were racing. One friend used to say, 'This is the fastest car on four wheels!' It sure seemed like it to us."
The hot rod, a uniquely American form of automotive enthusiasm, continues to draw appreciation today and around the world, even from those who know little about cars. The form-follows-function design, the cars' youthful swagger and the historic sense of community that was integral to early hot rod culture all continue to connect powerfully with people. Many consider 1948 to be the peak for California dry lakes racing because that year saw the most entrants and some of the toughest competition. In 1948, the Spurgin-Giovanine roadster broke the existing world record in its class at the six consecutive Southern California Timing Association meets and was the year's overall High Points Season Champion. It was also "Hot Rod of the Month" and on the cover of the March 1949 issue of Hot Rod magazine. The car was unusual because it was powered by a highly modified four-cylinder Chevrolet engine when virtually all other successful competitors ran Ford or Mercury V8's.
"This car epitomizes hot rod ingenuity, and its story is one of community and family. It's still drawing people together," said Dr. Nagamatsu. "Curt Giovanine discovered he had the original 1948 header for the car, as confirmed by weld marks shown in photographs from the 1948 season. He said to me, 'This header belongs to the car,' and he gave it to me. This reflects the spirit of the project and the car. As one of the most important and significant hot rods ever raced, I'm honored to share it with families of Bob and Chuck and to have it included in this year's Hot Rod Class at the Pebble Beach Concours." The Hot Rod Lakesters and Bonneville Racers class at this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance will include cars built and raced between 1927 and 1953, the years when this form of racing developed and flourished. The 60th Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance will also honor the 75th anniversary of Jaguar and the centennial of Alfa Romeo, feature Pierce-Arrow, and showcase Italian designer Ghia. Special classes will focus on the 50th anniversary of the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, the centennial of the Indianapolis 500, and Prewar American Motorcycles.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

www.classicvintagemotorsports.com for art work on the Indy 500. Ron Nelson, Prairie Street Art

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I will be at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club, in Detroit, Michigan this weekend displaying my wares with other artists. They have located us in the Fo'Castle room, in the basement of the yacht club. Hours are from 3-7 Friday and Saturday, and 12-5 on Sunday. For more info www.gpyc.org/. Thanks, Alan Ameel

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Check out the pictures on my link of when you "invaded" our soil! http://www.angelicbulldog.org.uk/gallery/goodwood-2007/. Goodwood Festival of Speed photos 2007. Gabriel Uttley

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 28-30, 2010 Rockabilly Rod Reunion at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. www.RockabillyRodReunion.com.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following information is sent to us courtesy of the Fabulous Fifties by Ginny Dixon and Art Evans.
------------------
On Sunday, May 30, 2010, at 9 AM, there will be a "Day of Indy" at the Riverside International Automotive Museum. The museum is located at 815 Marlborough Avenue, #200, Riverside, California. The event will include some very special guests (pay attention autograph hounds), movies, lunch, a no-host bar, a raffle and much, much more. Tariff is only a $15 donation and it is limited to 80 people. You must enter by May 26th. Call 951-369-6966.
All of the back issues of Popular Science are online for free. Read Tom McCahill from years back. Look at reviews of your favorite cars. They even have the original ads. Go online to www.popsci.com/archives. There's a search window. I wrote "Tom McCahill" and got a list of his articles and when I clicked on one, I got the text.
The September 2009 edition of Rod & Custom has an interesting article about Duffy Livingston. Go to www.rodandcustommagazine.com.
The Chandler Museum, located in Oxnard, that belonged to former Los Angeles Times publisher Otis Chandler has been acquired by Peter Mullin, a thirties-era car collector. Renamed the Mullin Automotive Museum, it can be visited on Saturdays by reservation. Admission is $8 per person. Call 805-385-5400.
Bob Engberg sent me a notice that the annual Julian Classic Motoring Show will be held on May 23. The featured marque is "Home-Grown Cars" or "Cars Raced in San Diego." They already have a number of entrants and local hotels have special prices for the weekend. Go to www.julianclassicmotoringshow.com.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don Weaver's Legends of Ascot Reunion will be held on October 23, 2010 at Perris Auto Speedway on the county fairgrounds below the dam. Tickets are $55 if ordered before September 1 and $65 if purchased after that date. The admission also covers the USAC/CRA Sprint car races at the oval track following the reunion. You can expect a huge gathering of oval and other types of racing notables. There will be a static display of some of your most beloved cars, bench racing, raffle, auction, program to pay tribute to the reunion's honorees and delicious luncheon and snacks. This year's honorees include; Vel Miletich, Paul Jones, Evelyn Pratt, and Tony Simon. The 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to the Agajanian brothers; Cary, JC Jr and Chris. Prepaid admissions will receive a special gift bag that will include; Event program, lapel pin, raffle tickets, decals and other prizes. The Legends of Ascot Reunion is one of the largest such events honoring oval track racers on the West Coast. It tends to sell out the maximum number of tickets early and there will be no tickets sold at the door. Send your check to: Gator Supply, P.O. Box 5331, Torrance, California 90510. Be sure to print your name clearly, because Don has to preprint your name on the pit passes. The pit passes will not be mailed to you. They will be held at registration desk at the event. For more information email Don at [email protected] or go to www.legendsofascot.com.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gone Racin'...Wally Parks; Hot Rodding's Hero, by The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA)
Book Review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz

A recent work on Wally Parks, founder of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is titled Wally Parks; Hot Rodding's Hero and is currently being sold on the www.NHRA.com website. It is listed as a book, or more aptly a paperback, though it looks and feels more like a one issue magazine in the quality of Rodder's Journal. I will review it as a booklet, since that is what the publisher prefers. I haven't found the booklet to be sold anywhere other than the website and the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum does not have it in their gift shop, at least not when I called. There is no author listed or an ISBN number, so it probably won't go into bookstores. The booklet measures 8 and 1/2 by 11 inches and is 44 pages in size, counting the front and back covers. There is a fair amount of text and story development, but the book is really a high class pictorial along the lines of the best photographic magazines that you can buy. It's on a par with Rodder's Journal, though RJ should be considered the top grade in magazines, which are really books. There are 44 black and white photographs and 18 color pictures. The quality of the photographs are extremely good, depending on when they were taken and how they were transposed to the booklet. There are no graphs, pie charts or any other visual aids. This is simply a dedicatory coffee table book by the NHRA to their founder, who was a truly remarkable man and a hero to those who followed him in land speed and drag racing.
A deeper deconstruction of the book is therefore unnecessary. As a tribute, it has a purpose and it achieves that, by simply extolling the virtues of a man that the racing community loved. Wally Parks; Hot Rodding's Hero will not give you the man's beginnings or his family roots, except for a cursory biography. Some of the information was copied and recopied from prior magazine articles and therefore the style of the work is readily apparent. A few mistakes are only known to family members, but there aren't many and they are sometimes trivial. The booklet concerns the professional life of Wally Parks, while his family life is largely left out. There were a few things that were new, from sources that I haven't seen before. Overall, it is an adequate, fair and open account as seen by his friends and associates. What you won't find in Wally Parks; Hot Rodding's Hero is controversy, nor should you expect it in a booklet that was meant to be laudatory. It will take a bigger work, even larger than Robert Post's High Performance, to adequately explain the birth and growth of drag racing as a major world sport. Somehow, drag racers feel compelled to take sides, protesting every decision, every argument and every outcome as if it were abnormal. The story of drag racing has at its very core the life of Wally Parks, a man who always tried to guide a raging beast with the tactful hand of a violinist. Perhaps drag racers are not supposed to be led anywhere, but like Dylan Thomas' ode to his father, go raging into the dark night.
I'm not altogether sure that Wally Parks would like to be thought of as anybody's hero. He never claimed to me that he was the founder of hot rodding or drag racing, though he was proud of being the founder of the NHRA. Nor was he the founder of the Southern California Timing Association, an organization that prepared him for the task of organizing the sport of drag racing. As I have pointed out in previous articles, the hot rodding and dry lakes land speed racing was a part of the overall car experience that young men engaged in during the Great Depression of the 1930's and the World War II era of the 1940's. Wally Parks was pivotal in helping to gather support towards a lot of racing activities during this period. The SCTA was founded by seven car clubs in November of 1937, after the collapse of the Muroc Timing Association. He was uncomfortable in putting forth his presence, but he was everywhere, doing whatever job needed to be done. He led the security patrols at the dry lakes, organized the newsletter and edited it, but gave the credit to others. In 1946 he was nominated and elected as the SCTA's first post-war president and led them to unprecedented growth. In his field, he was sought after by a number of groups, one of which was the California Roadster Association. Walt James loves to tell the story about how he asked Parks to be the president of the CRA, but was turned down. "I'm thinking of creating a national car club group," was the reply. Why did James, Robert Petersen and others find this man so beguiling? There were a number of reasons, but two come to mind. First, he could lead men when they were at the height of passion. Two, he accumulated as the secretary of the SCTA a huge list of members and interested parties. With this list he wove together a network of individuals that he could weld into a group. As a group, they would strive to protect hot rodding and car racing from the ravages of an angry public that saw hot rodders as gangsters.
He was uncomfortable with having the NHRA Motorsports Museum, in Pomona, California named after him. For all his notoriety, he was a very private and genteel man. There are probably those that knew him better than I, and those that hold a vastly different view of him. He allowed himself to stand forth as a symbol, albeit reluctantly, so that people could hurl insults at him and not the sport that he loved. Everyone has a movie hero that they like to compare themselves and others to. Wally Parks was a mixture of Gary Cooper's hard luck and Jimmy Stewart's boy next door. He was loyal to a fault and charismatic. People simply loved or hated him, but what is love and hate, are they not the passions of the soul. You can see in the faces of the people in the booklet and their emotions can't be hidden. That is what I liked the most as a reviewer, the impact that a book has on people and the photographs wonderfully explained Wally Parks as he appeared to others. He was never threatening and always reassuring. His eyes and wrinkled little smile said that he cared about you. His passion seemed restrained, but barely so, for under the surface it boiled with a rage, and that rage was for the protection of his sport. Wally Parks lived through the worst of times, suffered and fought for that which he believed in, was a true war hero and a generous man. He readily admitted to his faults and I never knew him to refuse a man's hand. Wally Parks; Hot Rodding's Hero is not the complete book, but it doesn't have to be. See www.NHRA.com for more information. Gone Racin' is at [email protected].

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gone Racin'…Ab & Marvin Jenkins; The Studebaker Connection and the Mormon Meteors, by Gordon Eliot White. Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz

Ab & Marvin Jenkins; The Studebaker Connection and the Mormon Meteors, by Gordon Eliot White, is a paperback book on the history of American endurance racer, Ab Jenkins and his son Marvin. The book is published by Iconografix, Box 446, Hudson, Wisconsin 54016 and the ISBN# is 13-978-1-58388-173-6. Ab & Marvin Jenkins is 8 � by 11 inches in size, with no dust cover jacket and the pages are glued to the spine of the book. The cover graphics are impressive and the book can easily meet the criteria of being a nice looking coffee table book or a serious work of historical research into an American racing family that has long been overlooked. Ab & Marvin Jenkins has a table of contents, acknowledgments, introduction, 11 chapters, a four page appendix of records set by the Jenkins,' a one page epilogue, a two page index and the length of the book is 160 pages. There are two color and 168 black and white photographs throughout the book. In addition, the author has included an additional 41 assorted pictorials, including diagrams, maps, drawings and ads. In the acknowledgments, White mentions that he has known the Jenkins and that he had been a correspondent for the Salt Lake City Deseret News for over three decades. Gordon Eliot White is a serious historian, researcher and writer. His method is to concentrate on the written records and personal interviews and to keep any biases in check. The photographs are almost all in black and white, but they are of a high quality and most of them I have not seen before. The text is about 40% of the work, but is written in a clear, concise and interesting manner. White does not dawdle, but moves the story along and I never found my interest wane. The index is a full two pages and appears to be very thorough. Ab & Marvin Jenkins lacks a bibliography, but White covers this in his acknowledgments.
Ab Jenkins and his son Marvin occupy a place in American racing that is truly pivotal. There are a few people who deserve a chapter in the 'great story never written' on American motorsports racing, and Ab Jenkins is one of them. Bill France in stock car racing, Wally Parks in drag racing, William K. Vanderbilt in early road course racing, the Unser, Foyt and Andretti family in open wheel racing have all earned a place in history. The story of Ab and Marvin Jenkins is often lost among the welter of names that have made a huge impact. Many people even forget that Henry Ford set a land speed record, on ice no less. Ab Jenkins is the best ever endurance racer in our time, and this isn't something that I learned from White. Danny Oakes and Johnny Klann told me that. Ak Miller, who garnered recognition in many different automotive racing styles, said the same thing. Few people ever got in a racecar and drove it hour after hour, day after day as consistently as Ab Jenkins did. Car manufacturers paid famous race car drivers to test the endurance of their cars for their ad campaigns and usually 3 or 4 drivers would take six hour shifts. Ab had back-up drivers and sometimes he let them in the car, but not for very long. Those endurance records that Jenkins set have remained up there on a pedestal, because frankly, there aren't many people who want to go 24, 48 and 72 hours straight in a racecar. That kind of racing seems to have died out as the Great Depression waned. If this is all that the Jenkins family is known for, it would be enough. But it isn't, of course, for a larger feat was in advertising to the world one of the greatest racing venues in the world, the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The Europeans had traded the land speed record from one country to another until technology and speeds advanced beyond the sites they commonly used. For a time the Americans entered the land speed race on the hard-packed sands of Daytona Beach, in Florida. Jenkins, who knew that the Great Utah Salt Lake salt flats were a superior racing surface, labored long and hard to convince the European land speed giants to come to America and use the Bonneville salt flats. There are salt beds throughout the world. Bolivia has a salt lake playa of immense size. Australia has Lake Gairdner. At the time the Utah salt flats seemed just as remote and unapproachable as any other place on earth. But Utah had Ab Jenkins and the railroad, one to herald the greatest racing surface in the world and the other to supply the little town of Wendover with the necessities of life. Roads would follow, then Sir Malcolm Campbell would accept Ab's offer and the rest is history. Other Europeans would follow, then in 1949, a group of Southern California hot rodders would 'borrow the salt for a week,' and do so well that more records have been set there than any other place on earth, except for El Mirage. Ab Jenkins is the spiritual father of American land speed racing. His pursuits were more concerned with his Mormon Meteor race cars, his endurance racing and his promotion of the salt flats as a way to promote Utah, the state that he loved. He and his son, deserve their place in history as one of the cornerstones of American racing giants. Other books by White include; Lost Race Tracks, Kurtis-Kraft, The Marvelous Mechanical Designs of Harry A. Miller, and Indianapolis Racing Cars of Frank Kurtis 1941-1963. Look for these and Ab & Marvin Jenkins in book stores or contact the author at [email protected].
Gone Racin' is at [email protected].

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[HRHL Home] [2010 Show Coverage] [Classifieds] [Press Releases]
[Advertising Information] [Buyers Guide] [Vendor Directory]
 [Barn & Field Cars] [Biker Hotline] [Blast to the Past] [Book Reviews]
[Build Articles] [Club Directory] [Event Listings] [From our Friends]
[Garage Shots] [Guest Columnists] [Hotrod MD] [Landspeed Racing]
[Modern Rods] [New Products] [Newsletter Archive] [Order a Catalog]
[Our Heroes] [Rodders Forum] [Rodders Row] [Shop Tours] [Site Map]
[Stolen] [Tech] [Vanity Plates] [Young Rodders] [EMAIL]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1999 - 2010 Hot Rod Hot Line All Rights Reserved
No Portion May Be Used Without Our Written Permission
Contact Us Toll Free (877) 700-2468 or (208) 562-0470
230 S. Cole Rd, Boise, ID 83709