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SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS
NEWSLETTER 165 - June 2, 2010
Editor: Richard Parks [email protected]
President's Corner: By Jim Miller (1-818-846-5139)
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Some Names To Look For In This Newsletter:
 President's Corner, Editorials, Don Marshall ran a gas Harley/Davidson (HD) at the Charlestown Rhode Island drags at the naval station during a once a month meet, I have just launched a new website devoted to paying tribute to and information about those racers who died while in pursuit of land speed records, 1939-2010 A Richard Dixon was born on May 27 1939 in Mt. Pleasant Utah He died on May 16 2010 at his home in Wendover Utah at the age of 70 following a courageous battle with ALS, I want to thank you so much; you will never know how much this car means to me, Thanks for the heads up on the Annual Literature Fair to be held at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo on June 27 2010, I am curious to know if anyone out there has any pictures or info about the Drags at Saugus California in the early 1950's, I think you ought to check your source on the SAH Literature Faire, BUB motorcycle website for upcoming Bonneville meet, The Antique Nationals are next weekend at Fontana, Rosco McGlashan Aussie Invader Land Speed Record Newsletter June 2010, I just got back from California and was able to see both my granddaughters graduate as Doctor's, Happy Memorial Day Road Runners This is a reminder for our June Membership Meeting, I am trying to research the history of a Studebaker race car that was last run at the Indianapolis 500 race as a promotional stunt in 1962, For the first few years the barracks at the Wendover Airport were "The Bend in the Road" for racers, This is a picture of Lee Sperling's 1933 Ford roadster just as it has always been since he bought it in the early sixties, I've read with some interest the information that you have published in your newsletter about what is going on with the Crawford Museum, The Literature Fair 2010 will be held at the Automobile Driving Museum 610 Lairport Street El Segundo California, 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, Harry Pallenberg and Harold Osmer are in the process of creating a documentary based on the research that Osmer did for his books on early auto racing in Southern California, Barrett/Jackson Orange County Collector car auction at the Orange County Fair and Events Center Costa Mesa California, Speed Demon 2010 Fastest Turbocharged car, Pancho Barnes - Woman Aviator & ties to Dr. Craig Byrne. Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010, 9:43 PM

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President's Corner:  
   I got an e-mail the other day from Don Tubbs with a bunch of old "For Sale" clips from magazines and newspapers. It was so cool to see how cheap the old rides were. It also reminded me that as historians each one of the old throwaway ads gives a little piece of history on a specific car. The first clip shows Dick Flint's Hot Rod magazine cover car and sometimes lakes racer. It could be had for a mere $2500. I know that later on when Dwayne owned the car he raced it at the lakes also. The next clip is also an important one. It shows Freddy Larsen's front engined mod-roadster on the chapping block for the grand sum of $1000. For you guys that like rail jobs how about the former Balcaen then Iacono ride for $2,500. If we were smart enough back then it would have been here's some bucks, gimmy da car. Who knew?
   If we turn back the clock to say January '39 an ad in the S.C.T.A. Racing News had a complete Model A roadster less engine going for a big $35. If that one grabbed you how about Bill Baird dumping a Winfield SR Updraft for $10. Where was I? Oops, wasn't born yet. Oh well! Perhaps the best deal of all from the November '46 CT News was a Modified powered by a flattie with an Edelbrock stroker kit, Winfield Super Cam, new tires, perfect paint and chrome. It also ran 130.81 mph. The thing plus trailer could be had for $2000. Doug Caruthers was the seller. Leroy Neumayer bought it and then it went to his buddy Art Chrisman. It's known as the number 25 car these days and is worth a gazillion bucks these days. Yes you could say that one was a great deal. It just goes to show you our history is hiding in the strangest places. All we have to do is look for it. If were also lucky we might find something for sale today that will end up as a gold mine for tomorrow. All we have to do is hold it for half a century.

Flint Car
Larsen Car
Iocono

Flint car..................Courtesy of Jim Miller

Larsen car..............Courtesy of Jim Miller

Iacono car..............Courtesy of Jim Miller

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Editorial:   
Ill health has sidelined my efforts last week, but I wanted to bring you this message. Here's a letter that I received. "Sorry to bother you. But could you verify if this is a real deal? I hate to give my CC # out to just anybody. I felt if anyone would know it would be you folks. Thanks, Keith Ferrell"
The editor responds - Throttle; The Earliest Hot Rod and Racing Magazine - Special Offer, is a valid deal. The Rodders Journal is a first rate publication and I have done a magazine review. By far it is the best hot rodding and car magazine that I have ever seen. It puts the National Geographic, Arizona Highways and Smithsonian magazines to shame. The research is as good as it gets. They went after the history of Throttle magazine and found out things that my father, Alex Xydias and dozens of other people never knew. The book that they did is actually a first-class reproduction of the 12 issues of Throttle magazine from 1941, a magazine that came out too early, but was the forerunner of Hot Rod magazine. It's a historical book and looks at the events of 1941, a pivotal year in auto racing history, for on December 7, racing literally ended in America as we went to war. I highly recommend it as a seminal book, by that I mean that it is a cornerstone of the serious reader. I have about 5 books that I consider to be the lynchpin of a serious lover of automotive history and this is one of those books.
You may have noticed that last week's edition was missing. It's not that I wanted to take a week off, but a lack of news and a bit of ill health kept me from getting an edition out. Jim Miller and I have been very efficient at keeping to a deadline each and every Wednesday. The unofficial rules are that we try and send one issue every week on Wednesday to our website owner, www.landspeedracing.com, which is a part of www.hotrodhotline.com, owned by Jack and Mary Ann Lawford, a really great hot rodding family. They ask a very nice lady by the name of Anita to put the newsletter onto the website along with the photographs that we send them. I don't know exactly what they do, or how much work it is, only that if they couldn't do this for me the newsletter and the Society would fold and go away. But they do it and they do it with a smile. On some occasions there is so much news that I actually send in two separate editions within one week. My goal is to keep it under 10,000 words, which I feel is a good size newsletter to read. Some of you don't actually read it. My brother, and here I get to mention his name and smear his reputation, never reads the newsletter, but he PRINTS them out and puts them into a binder. I have to question why this is more effective, for he has a binder that has over two million words in it and if he begins to read them now they will be out of date and he will be past the age of social security by the time he finishes.
But to each his own and how or why you read the issues is up to you. Last week's issue was around 3000 and I felt that it was just too low a word count to send out. The other issue was health and I'm no spring chicken, so it's important that I continually ask around to see who would like to step in and keep the newsletter running. The pay is abysmal; or as Jim Miller likes to say…nothing. But the satisfaction of learning about land speed racing, hot rodding and early drag racing is worth more than a fortune. At some point I won't be here anymore. That's what happened to Phyllis Devine, who passed away and when she did The Alternate magazine went into a hiatus. Her little newsletter/newspaper was a real gem, because it specialized in digging up the history of events almost forgotten, but which shouldn't be. I wrote for that newsletter and so did Bob Falcon and numerous other fans and would be writers. The Alternate was really something very special, but it was special because it was the brainchild of Phyllis Devine and she breathed a life into it that was phenomenal. Her circulation was around a thousand people, but oh what a mailing list she had; the best of the best. I had a chance to grab all her email addresses once, but she asked me to honor the privacy of her list and so I deleted her un-Bcc'd email. Many people are trying to bring back the magazine/newsletter that Phyllis started and it may happen, but the uniqueness came from Phyllis herself and she is gone. I hope that doesn't happen to The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter, but if I'm gone you will have to hope that Jim Miller learns how to edit and spell. I'm not demeaning poor Jim, though he will be the first to tell you that I tease him unmercifully about his editing skills. Besides, Jim literally works 24 hours a day on researching and I don't know where he would find the time to be the editor of the newsletter too.

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Don Marshall ran a gas Harley/Davidson (HD) at the Charlestown, Rhode Island drags at the naval station during a once a month meet. Don built a blown Triumph in 1961, with a reverse rotation motor and a single Stromberg 97. He did very well and regularly beat other HDs. A HD dealer offered him a bike and he set two gas class records at Bonneville in 1965; 136 and 142 without fairings, but I'm not sure what size motors. That same year or maybe 1966, Don ran 150 mph in the 1/4 mile on nitro. That's all I have in my memory and my notes. Maybe some old timers in the SCTA have some documentation from those years. Don was a physically large, imposing man, but a true gentleman with unquestionable loyalty. There will be a memorial celebration for him on Saturday, June 5, 2010 at the Riverside Sportsman's Association. I'm told it'll start about 11am and run until everyone leaves. Really appreciate you getting the word out so that any racers and fans who knew him over 40 years will be aware. This news is courtesy of Penny Cataldo. Donnie's wife Susan will bring his ashes to Rhode Island for a memorial celebration Saturday, June 5, 2010. Joining Susan will be Donnie's daughters Melinda, Donna and Rhonda, and the restored King & Marshall front engine Top Fueler courtesy of Ray Helger. The location is the Riverside Sportsman's Association club, 1 Sportsman Drive, corner of Route 114, also known as the Waumpanaug Trail, in East Providence, Rhode Island. Phone number there is 401-433-0209. Please use your resources to spread the word to any racers, friends and fans who may have crossed paths with this great guy over the years. Thanks! Gil Coraine

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I have just launched a new website devoted to paying tribute to and information about those racers who died while in pursuit of land speed records. It is called Land Speed Racer Deaths. I am adding your Society of Land Speed Racing Historians website as a favorite link. I have researched over 30 LSR racers who died from the 1920s to the present. Seventeen of them died at El Mirage, nine at Bonneville, and the rest at other sites. Each entry includes birth/death dates, age at death, location, event, biographical info, type of vehicle, video clips, photos of racer/car/grave, etc. This may be of interest to the readers of your newsletter. The link to it is: http://lsrdeaths.webs.com/. Thanks, Mel Bashore
West Jordan, Utah
   Mel: Links are approved by the owner of the website and I will cc her with this email. However, you can write in anytime and tell us about your research and what you are doing and that may be of more benefit to you than just a link. I might make a suggestion that you broaden your website to include those who were injured or were in a crash, because having a website only on fatalities is a bit morbid.

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A Richard DixonA. Richard Dixon 1939-2010 A. Richard Dixon was born on May 27, 1939, in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. He died on May 16, 2010, at his home in Wendover, Utah, at the age of 70 following a courageous battle with ALS. Dad married the love of his life, Caren Frandsen, on December 14, 1958. He called her his sweetheart and his angel. Mom lovingly provided for his progressing needs as his constant caregiver during his last 2 1/2 years. Dad attended North Sanpete High School, Snow College, and Utah State University. He was a genuine businessman involved in many enterprising ventures: Dixon's Dairy Freeze and Motel, S&D Supermarket, Dixon's Salt Flat Service, Dixon Rentals, and the Bonneville Speedway Museum. He loved living in Wendover, Utah, and calling it "home." He had a great respect and love for antiques, collectable automobiles, vintage memorabilia, and racing. He loved all sports and was a loyal and avid fan of the Utah Jazz. Dad enjoyed his passion for travel, experiencing many places all over the world, often with his sweetheart. Dad loved music, walking, reading, and had an insatiable appetite for learning. Dad is survived by his wife of 52 years; three children: Denise (Randall Brown), Richy Dixon, and Stephanie (Neil Gray); nine grandchildren: Brandon Brown (Krystalina), Nicole (Camron Jorgensen), Mason Brown (Krystal), Trevor Dixon, Tanner Dixon, Tyler Dixon, Brittany Casey, Dixon James Gray, Peyton Gray; one great-granddaughter: Baylee Brown; sisters: Judy (Jerry Bartlome), Joan Blanchard; and his pooch: "Precious." He was preceded in death by his beloved grandmother, Darcus Sorensen; father, A. Robert Dixon; mother, June Blanchard; stepfather, George Blanchard, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Cremation services will be performed by Tate Mortuary in Tooele, Utah. The family would like to express their appreciation and gratitude for all the love and support received from family and friends. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) Foundations or St. Jude's Hospital. Salt Lake Tribune, 23 May 2010. Sent in by Glen Barrett

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I want to thank you so much; you will never know how much this car means to me. Your father was truly a legend and my association with him meant much to me. We had a meeting today and discussed everything completely. I will retain 50% ownership of the car and 10 of our original builders will each hold 5% of the car. I will be responsible for the licensing, insurance and taxes for the car. On any decisions put to a vote, my vote will supersede their collective votes. The car will always have its space in the museum. We are planning to drive the car to Bonneville Salt Flats for the meet in October and David Freiburger wants to photograph the car there and do the story of the build at that time. We created a slush fund and will be doing several improvements in the coming weeks before returning it to its rightful place in the Wally Parks Motorsports Museum. Please contact me with your comments and wisdom. We will certainly advise you as we progress and of course give you and David rides when ever we can. Sincerely, Vic Cunnyngham 
   Vic: I believe that your group chose the very best possible outcome. If at any time one of the members wants to leave the project, the others can simply buy him out and thus preserve peace in the group. Or in the eventual decision to donate the car to a 501C charity, like the museum, each of you can take a percentage of the tax deduction and feel good about the entire endeavor. This way you will have solid support by a group to maintain the car and that's what's important. The next step is to document with text and photos an album that lists the building of the roadster, who was involved and who drove or took a ride in the car. Every time you see someone, offer them a ride in it and then take their pictures and add to the history of the Wally's Roadster. You've started a wonderful project and we are proud of what you guys have accomplished.
   Readers: This is an important subject, for often individuals or groups will build a car and forget ownership documentation and later the project will fall on hard times and it is the car that suffers when everyone quits the project. Always look to the future. The Wally's Roadster is a great attraction at the museum and they are glad to have it on display.

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Thanks for the heads up on the Annual Literature Fair to be held at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo on June 27, 2010. I am somewhat of a collector of racing literature as well as of numerous other racing related memorabilia items. Unfortunately I will be unable to attend. I do have a fairly extensive collection of some 300 or so racing oriented books, programs, and other memorabilia. Including a dozen Ontario Motor Speedway Programs from the Inaugural race September 6, 1970 through August 31, 1980. The racing related memorabilia includes numerous die cast cars, ceramic liquor decanters (empty) and other racing oriented memorabilia, including a helmet that I had autographed by virtually the entire starting field of the 71st Indy 500, held May 24, 1987. I missed getting the autographs of Jeff Macpherson, Geoff Braham and Steve Chassey, but I personally obtained the remaining 30 starting driver's autographs, including the pole sitter Mario Andretti and the winner Al Unser, Sr.
I do have about 15 silver Indy 500 badges, 6 bronze Indy 500 badges and 1 Pocono 500 silver badge. Note, when I say silver and bronze I am referring to the color only; I have no idea as to what the metallic content really is. My collection also includes approximately 50 various I.M.S. programs, spanning the period from 1932 to 2001. I also have a collection of almost 40 years of racing programs from Phoenix International Raceway. I have not prepared a list showing each year; however I could do that if someone was seriously interested. My collection includes approximately 20 Carl Hungness Year books from a1973 to 1997 as well as a half a dozen or so Floyd Clymer year books prior to that period. I am celebrating my 75th birthday this year and I finally realized that it was probably more prudent to be selling my collection rather than buying more. If you are aware of a market for my collection (or selected items) I would appreciate hearing from you. Walt Jorgensen, Phoenix, Arizona [email protected].
Walt: I'm the editor of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter at www.landspeedracing.com. Our publication is free to the public and is delivered by email and we are glad to post your letter or letters as you send them in. I normally only post names and email addresses unless the email writer requests that I add other contact information, because I don't know who will respond or why to queries by our members and the general public. We do not have a financial interest in collections nor do we charge for ad space. Our interest is simply the preservation of historical material such as what you have collected. You may write in as often as you wish and include historical data to go along with the objects you wish to sell and if this entices someone to contact you to purchase your collection then that is fine with us. I will add a bit more information on the subject because there are many others receiving our newsletter who are also trying to sell their collections right now. First, collectors are our biggest source of information on racing history, for they preserve artifacts that can be used by writers and researchers in the future. Secondly, a healthy collectors market is vital to saving these artifacts. All collectibles and antique dealers and traders are in a down market right now and the prices are abysmally low. The collectibles market is part of the overall commodities, bonds and stock market and it works like this; investors look for the best return on their investments and go into and out of a market as it heats up and cools down.
During a recession or downturn the average investor heads into blue chip stocks and short term government bonds to protect capital and be ready for the next bull market rally. As the blue chips rise and the percentage of growth slows, investors pull their money out of blue chip stocks and bonds and look for higher profits elsewhere and that's usually corporate bonds, mid-cap stocks and foreign markets. When that area of investing begins to slow down the drift is toward small-cap stocks and riskier investments and this is where money starts to flow into the metals like gold and silver and especially collectibles. The market for collectibles is very weak right now and that's why anyone selling their collections should do so carefully. My advice is to talk to as many collectible shop owners as possible and attend shows like the Literature Fair and hot rodding swap meets and talk to the vendors. These men and women are a great source of information and I always spend time with them whenever I am covering a show for a magazine or website. Vendors tell me what's hot and what isn't. Sometimes price guides exist and you can track current prices. Google the web and see if you can find prices over the last 5 years and see where prices have been and then calculate when they might rise. When prices rise, then interest in buying collections also rises. My opinion is that we are 3 or 4 years from a rise in prices, but if you put the word out you might attract that particular buyer who will give you the price that you think is fair. But you should ask some questions first and your local collectibles shop or vendors at car shows and swap meets are the best places to start. You can also send in digital photos of your collectibles that you wish to sell and include some history on the objects and I will post that to our website, which has about 700 members, though they often resend our newsletter to other friends of theirs.

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I am curious to know if anyone out there has any pictures or info about the Drags at Saugus, California in the early 1950's. I ran a 1928 roadster there and remember it was pretty crude. Also, anything from Santa Maria, California dragstrip. I ran a motorcycle there in the 1950's also. The 'Double Trouble' ate my lunch there! Any pictures or info would be a blast. Thanks, Bill LaPolla, email [email protected].
Bill: There are several sources that you can check. The first is that I will run your request in our newsletter, The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter, which goes out to about 700 readers. The next thing that you should do is go on various websites and sign in, such as the Standard 1320 Club and Wediditforlove.com. The first is run by Lee Schelin and the second is by John Ewald. Also, look up H.A.M.B. on the web and join that group. Another great website is www.AHRF.com, and our Society's president, Jim Miller, is the main researcher for that group. Now the more requests that you send and the more history that you tell us tends to draw out our readers who will answer you either in person or through the internet. Louie Senter and Lou Baney ran Saugus and Santa Maria long ago passed into the mists of history, so you may have to do some digging. Bob Frey, the NHRA announcer has a hobby, or rather a lifelong obsession to record every run at every dragstrip wherever drag racing was held. He might have some input there. But when all is said and done, you might be one of the few left who remembers what it was like at these two early day drag strips. I suggest that you also put the SLSRH newsletter on your list of favorites and look for special reunions and events in the areas that interest you. Jack Mendenhall and Don Edwards raced at Santa Maria. Jack passed away, but Don is still with us. You can Google www.GoldenKomotion.com and see if you can get his phone number or email address. Don knows most of the guys that raced at Santa Maria in the early '50's. Another tactic is to start a phone search. I've found that's the best way to find information. Call up someone like Lou Senter and see what he knows, then ask him if he can give you 5 or 6 names and phone numbers to call. I get a ton of info that way and it's very quick and effective. Another source is Leonard Pherigo, who I believe has written or is writing a history on Saugus. We would like to hear from you and have you write an article on what you remember about both dragstrips. The more you write the more memories you jog and sooner or later you'll get what you are looking for.
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I really appreciate your response. I have some work to do. I have returned to Santa Maria and tried to find the site where the drag strip was. With the help of some old timers there we found it. There is a road on it now. I have a few pictures I got from one of the Bent Axels hot rod club members of the drags there. They are great shots of those times. Fun memories. Thanks again, Bill LaPolla
Bill: Whenever you find out something or get a digital photograph of a car, person or location, send it on in and tell us what you have found out. The more that you share with us the greater the possibility that you will trigger a memory in one of our members that could lead to a substantial breakthrough in your research. Often it is that one name or one event that opens the floodgates, so write in often and share what you find out. I will publish everything that you send in.

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 I think you ought to check your source on the SAH Literature Faire.  I do not believe it is happening this year.  Speedy Regards, "LandSpeed" Louise Ann Noeth
   LandSpeed: When Bob Falcon first emailed me about the Literature Fair I found it confusing and for this reason; the Literature Faire was quite an institution for so many years. I read and reread his email and then sent back a response and followed up with a phone call. It was a bit of overkill on my part, because I respect the Society of Automotive Historians (SAH) who put on the Literature Faire every year, for what I believe has been more than two decades and it is an institution by now. The SAH is composed of well-known, highly educated and very dedicated individuals, some professional historians, researchers, writers and photographers and some who are amateur historians. I was introduced to this group of great people by Joan Denver and I joined for a few years and came to respect them highly. When I meet people who show an interest in automotive history I recommend that they look into joining the SAH. One can learn a great deal by meeting with other members and the dues are very low and the duties minimal. Strong leaders like Harold Osmer and Bob Falcon make sure that the Society moves forward. Their Valentine Award is highly prized and you were one of the winners for your excellent articles and superior book on Bonneville. The Literature Faire is respected and looked forward to each and every year and I often see people like Jay Leno attending and he is a very respected collector and car buff in his own right.
   I talked to Bob Falcon at length and went over all the questions that I thought someone else would ask him and he was very straightforward. Bob was the leader of the SAH and after due research, moved the venue site to a car museum in El Segundo, California and away from the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California. Bob did not do this lightly for he has many friends at the Motorsports Museum and talked at length to Greg Sharp over the reasons for moving the Literature Faire. Greg agreed with Bob and so the motions were set in place to continue the Literature Faire in June, but at a new location. A lot of work and planning went into making this Literature Faire successful and then Bob learned that the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter of the SAH made the decision to turn down the new venue site and the museum in El Segundo. Bob tried to work out a compromise with the board and failed. He then tried to pass the job on to any of the board members to run the Literature Faire at another site, including the Motorsports Museum, but the board declined to take over the project. They wanted Bob to run it as it had been run in the past at the previous site. Bob Falcon resigned his position as leader of the Southern California Chapter of the SAH and asked the board if they were going to operate the Literature Faire in 2010. The board said that they preferred not having a Literature Faire this year, but would reconsider having one in 2011. Bob then turned to the car museum in El Segundo and asked them if they would like to continue with the plans set in motion earlier and they said that they would.
   The board of Directors for the SAH agreed to let Bob turn over the event to this new museum as long as they ran it separately from the old Literature Faire, dropped the E on the end of Faire and made no implications that the Fair had anything to do with the FAIRE of the SAH. This Bob agreed to and set about acting as consultant to the car museum and making sure that everyone understood that the FAIR was not the FAIRE. After my emails and phone conversations with Bob Falcon, I looked in my directory and found Bob Ewing's phone number in Whittier and called him to verify the facts as I understood them to be. Ewing is a gentleman and a friend and I trust his statements implicitly. He stated that the board did exactly as Falcon has said and that as far as he knew the members and rank and file were fine with the concept of a Literature Fair, just as long as it wasn't a Literature Faire under the auspices of the SAH. So, you are right, there isn't going to be a SAH Literature Faire with the E on the end of Fair this year. What is being held is a Literature Fair without the E on the end of FAIRE and it will be completely under the leadership of the new car museum in El Segundo. I admit that this is a wordy explanation, but the Literature Faire has an almost sacred background among car guys in Southern California and it is important to avoid any misrepresentation. 

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BUB motorcycle website for upcoming Bonneville meet. http://www.speedtrialsbybub.com/2010_event/index-2010.html

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The Antique Nationals are next weekend at Fontana. Dave Seely
   Dave: Send us a report on the Nationals if you go to it.
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   I am going to race the Darwin Special at the Antique Nationals at Fontana, California this weekend. I'll send you a report on this fun event. Dave Seely
   Dave: I'll look forward to it and will publish it in the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter.

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Rosco McGlashan, Aussie Invader Land Speed Record Newsletter, June 2010. www.aussieinvader.com.

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I just got back from California and was able to see both my granddaughters graduate as Doctor's. What a thrill. Sonny graduated from the University of San Francisco as a Doctor of Internal Medicine and a week later to Grafton, close to Boston, where Kristy graduated from Tufts University, with honors, as a veterinarian. I am so proud of them as we now have three doctors in the same family. Poor Dad, I hope he can handle all the stress. I was so happy I could go as I wanted to be here for this. I was in California for three weeks and didn't get to spend much time with my daughter and son but hope to return in October for the California Hot Rod Reunion and will have plenty of time then. We went from winter to summer. Spring was cold and it's been quite hot since I got home. Hope you all have had a good time this year. Am looking forward to the reunion in Bowling Green and seeing everyone. I received a magazine from Ernest McIntyre that was from the UK. What a wonderful tribute to KS from another country. The cover is a picture of KS's #33 in England and the inside article was a very compassionate article for me to read and there are two pages of pictures. I felt very humble and KS would have loved it. LaVaun Pittman
   LaVaun: Do you have a website for the magazine? That way our readers can access the site and see if there is any part of the article on KS that they can read over the internet. Congratulations on the success of your granddaughters.

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Happy Memorial Day Road Runners, This is a reminder for our June Membership Meeting for Tuesday, June 8th, 7pm at the Ed Martin Garage, Riverside. Meeting agenda is attached. Jerry Cornelison, Secretary Road Runners - http://www.ussarcherfish.com/roadrunners. SCTA club established 1937.

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I am trying to research the history of a Studebaker race car that was last run at the Indianapolis 500 race as a promotional stunt in 1962. William C. Dredge corresponded with Lloyd Taylor, Director of the Studebaker Historical Collection, South Bend, Indiana about the car in 1973. Mr. Dredge said he would keep an eye on the car and other Studebaker Artifacts at STP Corporation. Do you have any knowledge of this car? Nyal Weaver
Nyal: I don't have a personal knowledge of the car, but some of our readers at the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians might. In particular, Bob Falcon might, since he is our expert on oval track racing. Our Society is more involved with straight-line racing rather than oval or road course racing, but there is some crossover among the racers and fans. Andy Granatelli is one of our members, but he isn't available to answer questions for awhile. Art Evans and the Fabulous Fifties is a group that could possibly answer some of your questions. Another source is Hila Sweet, Parnelli Jones, Don Weaver and their reunions, which attracts a lot of Indy racers. I have sent them your email in case they want to contact you. I would also suggest that you go to the internet and look for groups that form around Indy Racing, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com, 4790 W 16th St, Indianapolis, IN 46222, or call 317-481-8500. Another great source is the Society of Automotive Historians and they have branches throughout the country. It's a great organization to join and they have a wealth of information at their disposal. Finally, the best way to find out your answer is to start phoning. People rarely respond to emails, because they are overwhelmed with requests, but they will give you answers when you call them. Start out with those you know and ask if they have 4 or 5 other people who you could call. This has two advantages; one, you may find out right away, or two, the word gets out that you are looking and someone with the answer may contact you. I will post your question in our newsletter, but without your permission I can't post your phone number or email address. Also, the more information that you tell us the more memories that information could trigger, so write in often, because the more that you post the more responses you are apt to receive back. I do remember a Studebaker Avanti that my father was driving, courtesy of the Studebaker Company at that time, but I can't be sure that it had anything to do with the car that you are inquiring about. For its time, the Avanti was a beautiful looking sports car that just didn't trigger the interest of the general public at that point in history. I will post all your queries, so write in whenever you wish.

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For the first few years the barracks at the Wendover Airport were "The Bend in the Road" for racers. You could hear engines running at various spots most of the night as racers worked on their cars. Most of the buildings are gone now along with the 15,000 troops stationed at the base. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700036444/Historic-Wendover-hangar-saved.html?s_cid=Email-1. And more Wendover from today's newspaper: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700036465/Wendover-the-middle-of-nowhere.html. Wes Potter

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This is a picture of Lee Sperling's 1933 Ford roadster, just as it has always been since he bought it in the early sixties. Chevy 283 engine, tri-power carbs, stock Ford. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdxcarculture/4592455874/in/set-721576240242 11118/. Taken at "Papa's Toys" show in Cornelius, Oregon. Sent in by Evelyn Roth

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I've read with some interest the information that you have published in your newsletter about what is going on with the Crawford Museum. I wonder if in the interest of providing your readers with a balanced view, you might point out the following facts: The Crawford Auto and Aviation Museum currently displays 90 of 140 cars in the collection and 5 of the 10 airplanes. There is currently a group of volunteers working on the restoration of vehicles. The holdings of the Western Reserve Historical Society including the Crawford Museum are listed in the link below. They are significant holdings requiring significant maintenance and preservation. Many thanks for your help. I hope that your readers will take these facts into account when they read what others are saying about the institution. Gregg A. Simpson; http://www.wrhs.org/index.php/aboutwrhs/wrhscollectionsinaction#CollectionsandHoldings.
Gregg: Greetings. The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter is located at www.landspeedracing.com. We take no position regarding the dispute over the Crawford collection, because we have no legal standing in fact. Nevertheless, the SLSRH does take stands on personal opinions and I have expressed mine repeatedly and I look for and encourage others, such as yourself, to express your thoughts on the subject. No one is excluded from our pages, as long as their statements of fact or opinions on a subject are not libelous or slanderous. The very being of our Society's existence is the preservation of artifacts and the ability of historians, researchers, writers and photographers to make sense of those artifacts. At issue is whether the Western Reserve Historical Society and Museum can and has the right to dispose of artifacts to private collectors and we have said repeatedly that they do have that right. But it is a right to be used judiciously, because if it is misused for personal gain or other reasons other than the protection of the core collection, then the respect of the community that supports the museum may suffer. We are aware that during a time of boom and growth, a previous Board of Directors undertook to expand the scope of the museum and we cannot quibble with their goal. That it failed is unfortunate, but their intentions were honorable, as far as we know.
The Western Reserve Historical Society and Museum is known world wide for its scope and breadth that includes much more than automotive history. None of us has a wish to see the Society or Museum suffer and all of us wish to see it prosper. You point out that you still have a massive collection of cars on display and that the depth of artifacts is massive and hope that this will mollify members of the public. What you have not pointed out is that many people, both in and outside of Cleveland are very unhappy and there seems to be minimal effort to work out solutions to keep their trust and faith. Certainly I will publish your side of the situation, each and every time that you send me something. I will offer you every opportunity to respond to those who have sent in contradictory statements, because the SLSRH is inherently open to all sides, unlike most newspapers and magazines today, which are far more propagandist in nature than news oriented. If I judge something is slanderous then I won't edit it but return it and ask that the sender clarify the issues and stick to non-inflammatory statements of facts. I am glad to have your response, for this isn't about your side or their side, but the continued health of one of the finest Historical Societies and Museums in the world.
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Detail of the link above.
COLLECTIONS AND HOLDINGS AS OF MARCH 2010 Library/Archival Collections: 73,765 Linear Feet. Microfilm: 816. Newspapers: 6,880. Architectural Records: 1,386. Processed Manuscripts: 5,100. Local Government Records: 2,205. WRHS Archives: 1,925. Processed Photographs: 780. Audio-Visual Collections: 872. Books & Periodical: 33,262. Maps/Oversize Items: 848. Rare/Valuable Items: 326. Genealogy/Pamphlets: 392. Unprocessed Manuscripts/Photographs: 17,547. Unaccessioned Materials: 150. Numbers rather than Linear Feet; 238,000 books, 25,000 volumes of newspapers 30,500 rolls of microfilm, 4,000,000 prints and photographs. More than 3,700 collections of manuscripts and archives that comprise more than twenty million items. Artifact Collections & Numbers: 103,070. Advertising Collection: 600. Airplanes: 10. Architectural Elements: 300. Automobiles: 140. Carriages: 30. Communications: 5,000. Decorative Arts: 4,000. Distribution & Transportation: 4,000. Fine Arts: 4,000 including 3,200 Paintings. Furniture: 1,000. Furnishings: 7,500. Hale Farm Furniture, Farm Tools. Household Items: 1,700. Hat Boxes: 120. Holiday Collection: 700. Military (w/guns/swords): 825. Music Collection: 900. Native American Items: 350. Personal Items (jewelry, eyewear, textiles, costumes, etc.): 50,000. Photographic Equipment: 100. Recreational Items: 4,000. Rugs: 145. Tools & Equipment: 15,500. Toys: 900. Transportation (non-cars/carriages): 21. Trunks: 130. Miscellaneous: 600. Unclassifiable: 500. Education Collections (used in Programming): 450. Historic Buildings: 36. Hale Farm & Village: 32. Hanna Mansion. Hay-McKinney Mansion. Loghurst. Shandy Hall. Total Square Footage of Buildings: 750,000 Square Feet. University Circle Complex. Hale Farm & Village. Macedonia Warehouse. Loghurst. Shandy Hall. Land Owned by WRHS: 240 Acres.
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Just to clarify, my intent is not to try to mollify anyone. I have read what is being published here, in the Plain Dealer and elsewhere. I think it is important for everyone to remember the facts that I presented. Gregg Simpson
Gregg: Please understand that I print everything that I receive, unless the sender marks it personal and confidential or there is slander or libel in the content, then I ask the sender to rewrite their letter. The SLSRH Newsletter is open to all, but it is fact driven and pertains to the historical past. I allow content such as Michael Kacsala and you present because the past will be impacted by actions that are taken by museums and collectors today. What you sent in is valuable and I have stated many times in print that the Crawford Collection, the Western Reserve Historical Society and the Museum are treasures for the people of this country and not just those from Cleveland. As you have pointed out there is a great resource for people other than car collectors and automotive enthusiasts have to understand that the Museum exists to serve other interests as well. I am an avid genealogist and many of my colleagues use the resources located in the archives. Those interested in agriculture find the Museum of great interest. It is a multi-faceted Museum that is important to the Great Lakes region and the history of the area. My own ancestors settled in the area south of Cleveland just after the end of the Revolutionary War.
As often as you wish to bring up points of interest regarding the controversy concerning the Museum and the Crawford collection, we will print it, pursuant to whether you tell us to or whether you invoke confidentiality. And since we do not edit, alter or change what you write, and will give you much more space than the Plain Dealer ever would, your views are welcomed. Many of the readers of the SLSRH Newsletter might not agree with you, seeing as their interest lies with cars and racing and not genealogy, hats or farm equipment, but you will still be able to present your arguments or state the facts as you know them to be. As far as mollification is concerned, no one is required to try and be inclusive. It is an issue between those in and around the Museum and those committed to preserving the Museum and Crawford Collection. One group is highly committed to saving the car collection as the Crawford family intended and the other group is more concerned about the viability of the Museum regardless of the fallout that selling off the car collection would entail. In my editorials I stress all of the aspects of such a division. Do you think the Western Reserve Museum is the only institution to suffer like this or be forced to close?
We have lost numerous museums and collections and every one of those losses hurt. We can't save artifacts without viable and financially healthy museums. We can save artifacts for a while through collectors, but each time an artifact or collection changes hand there is the danger of loss or destruction. Even museums have their losses. The San Diego Air Museum had a disastrous fire and lost many valuable airplanes. But they instituted a program of rebuilding that included a much improved fireproof structure. They also set about with an ambitious program to rebuild or recreate every plane that they lost and now their collection is recognized world wide. They lost artifacts through a catastrophic disaster, but they set out to make it up to the community and they have succeeded in regaining the trust and loyalty of the community. For some reason, when you say you aren't willing to "mollify" the disaffected, it puts you at a disadvantage, for it implies that your group is unwilling or unable to accept any other viewpoint expressed by other groups. This is not what happened in San Diego, where all sides accepted blame and set out to bring the community together. In Cleveland it has devolved into a disagreement where groups cannot work together. Bear in mind that I will always print your statements, but I will also print any other valid and factful correspondence that is sent to the newsletter.

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The Literature Fair 2010 will be held at the Automobile Driving Museum, 610 Lairport Street, El Segundo, California. The facility is located in the industrial complex on the southern edge of LAX. The precise location is three blocks south of Imperial Highway and one block east of Sepulveda Boulevard. The location is convenient to the I-105 Freeway that intersects with I-605, I-5, I-710, SR-110 and I-405. This year the Fair will be held on Sunday, June 27, 2010. Vendors will set up their booths from 7 to 9 AM. The Fair opens at 9 AM and ends at 3 PM. This year the operating managers for the Fair will be The Automobile Driving Museum. The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH) have decided not to manage the Fair this year.
The event will take place as planned and all previous sales booth sizes and rental costs will remain the same as before. The major sales area will be outside the building but there will also be a smaller indoor area, which should be more comfortable for those who are affected by outdoor exposure. Food and drink service will be available from an on-site BBQ and a collection of over fifty beautifully restored cars will be available for viewing with a donation of $5 per adult. The full docent staff will be in attendance to answer questions and the restoration shop will be open, and staffed, for visitors. There is no admission charge for Fair attendance and shopping. Space Reservation forms are available on request by contacting [email protected]. Bob Falcon

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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. 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 Cary Agajanian; with special recognition for J.C. Agajanian Jr and Chris Agajanian. Prepaid admissions will receive a special gift bag. 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, but will be held at registration desk at the event. For more information email Don at [email protected] or go to www.legendsofascot.com.

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Harry Pallenberg and Harold Osmer are in the process of creating a documentary based on the research that Osmer did for his books on early auto racing in Southern California. The show will air on TV stations and will have footage on oval tracks and drag strips. There is a short video on www.wheretheyraced.com that will give you an idea about the scope of the program. The producers are seeking corporate and individual sponsorships for this very worthwhile historical racing documentary. All sponsors will be listed in the credits and this is a chance to have our racing history recorded. Just like other PBS fundraisers, DVD's are offered for certain amounts that are pledged. The DVD will make a nice addition to your hot rodding library and the show will further the public's knowledge of our rich racing history.

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Barrett/Jackson Orange County Collector car auction at the Orange County Fair and Events Center, Costa Mesa, California. The auction will take place on June 25 and 26, 2010.

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Ad Speed Demon

Caption:
Speed Demon 2010..............Fastest Turbocharged car. Photo courtesy of Ron Main.

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This was sent in to us by Evelyn Roth. There was also a PBS show on Pancho Barnes as well and may again air on your local TV network. As for claims that Pancho Barnes ran a brothel, that was vigorously investigated in her lawsuit against the Air Force and found to be without any basis in fact. Pancho Barnes was a flamboyant character who liked to see people talk about her and she never stopped them from adding to the myths and legends about her. But there is no evidence that she ever ran a house of ill repute. Thank you. Richard

Subject: Pancho Barnes - Woman Aviator & ties to Dr. Craig Byrne.  Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010, 9:43 PM
The Byrne family knew Pancho Barnes because my father, Dr. Craig B. Byrne, was her doctor. Pancho would come to Dad’s office occasionally from her place at Muroc Dry Lake, later know as Edwards Air Force Base. If Dad wasn’t at his office or if Pancho came into Lancaster after Dad’s working hours, Pancho would come to the house. She dressed in baggy manly looking clothes and was very loud. Pancho was known for her “colorful language” as well. Whenever she came to our house, my mother would grab my brother Bob and me and head us back to the bedroom so we wouldn’t be subjected to her language. To put it mildly, Pancho swore like a drunken sailor! Somehow, Bob and Bill (the name I went by when I was a boy) would make it back in the living room to gaze at Pancho and listen to her, much to mother’s dismay.
My mother first met Pancho in the Penney’s store in town. Pancho walked into the store in her baggy, grubby clothes and shouted her request for a nice dress, a loud voice that everyone in the store could hear. Immediately everyone turned to see who it was that shouted so loudly. Besides owning the Happy Bottom Riding Club, it was known by many that Pancho also owned a “house of ill repute” (brothel) in Red Mountain , a few miles north of her club. One day Pancho came into my father’s office and not finding Dr. Byrne in his office, walked down the hall into his treating room. She immediately smelled something and shouted, “It smells like a whore house in here!” Dad smiled and replied, “Well, you ought to know.” That tickled Pancho and she laughed at that remark.
Pancho was one of the pioneers of women pilots in the early days of aviation. I have included information about her life and a movie trailer link for you to see. Bev Davis recently sent us a DVD movie “Pancho Barnes” starring Valerie Bertinelli as Pancho. Bev also grew up in Lancaster , CA . In fact, my parents bought the house that Roy Wendler (Bev’s father) built at 731 Beech St . in Lancaster . Bev remembers seeing Pancho ride her horse in parades in town. There are a lot of memories of this very colorful woman. ~ Don Byrne

Watch the film trailer to The Legend of Pancho Barnes & the Happy Bottom Riding Club documentary:

Click on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvhDYSKD9Ps

Pancho Barnes (1901 - 1975) is considered by many to be one of the 20th century's greatest American characters. During her lifetime, Pancho (born Florence Leontine Lowe) was reknowned for her individuality, outsized personality, creativity, entrepreneurship, humor, generosity and integrity. A legend in the aviation community, she was one of the first female pilots to be licensed in the United States , and one of the most respected pilots of the Golden Age of Flight. She was a renowned stunt pilot, performing in several major films of both the silent and sound eras, including Howard Hughes' influential 1930 epic Hell's Angels. Pancho later founded one of the first unions in Hollywood, The Associated Motion Picture Pilots' (AMPP), and she holds the distinction of being Lockheed's first female test pilot.
 

Pancho became the "Fastest Woman on Earth"
on August 4, 1930, when she beat
the world's speed record set
by flying ace Amelia Earhart.
Later on, Barnes gained international fame when she founded the "Happy Bottom Riding Club" at what is now Edwards Air Force Base in California. Club members could fly into her FAA approved airport, attend rodeos at her championship rodeo stadium, ride horses from her well-stocked horse corral, dance in her dance hall, have drinks at her bar, eat the best steak of their life in her restaurant, swim in her large circular pool, and then decide to do it all again the next day by checking into her hotel. Additionally, on her 380 acre ranch, The Rancho Oro Verde, she had a thriving dairy, cattle and hog business. During the height of the Happy Bottom Riding Club's success, there were over 9,000 members worldwide. It was not unusual to find heads of state, high ranking military, actors, actresses, famous writers and artists at her bar and restaurant. At Pancho's, everyone who liked to enjoy life, laugh and have a good time was welcomed. Pancho was fond of saying, "When you have a choice, choose happy!"
Pancho Barnes' extraordinary life and outsized personality have been dramatized as part of the sprawling 1983 classic epic "The Right Stuff" from Tom Wolfe's bestseller, in which stage and film great
Kim Stanley portrayed her.

Click for a longer, pdf version of Pancho's Biography: image001

Florence Lowe Barnes was born to a socially prominent family in San Marino, California, the wealthy town adjacent to Pasadena. Her grandfather, Thaddeus Lowe, had started the balloon corps for the Union Army during the Civil War and encouraged his granddaughter to dream of flying.

Pilot's License
Pancho Barnes’ pilot’s license photo was taken by her friend George Hurrell, the famous Hollywood studio photographer. Having heard that Orville Wright, who had to sign the license, didn’t approve of female pilots, Pancho dressed as a man, complete with dirty fingernails.

image002The First Women's Air Race
Participants pose at the 1929 Women’s Air Derby, which Will Rogers nicknamed the “Powder Puff Derby.” The transcontinental race from Santa Monica to Cleveland garnered enormous press coverage. Marred by crashes, mechanical difficulties, accidental side trips to Mexico, and fatalities, the race was won by Louise Thaden.

 

 

image003Charisma and Glamour
Pancho Barnes with Amelia Earhart at the first transcontinental Women’s Air Derby in 1929. The two aviators were friends, although Barnes did not like Earhart’s promoter husband, G.P. Putnam. She complained that he belittled his wife and pushed her to do stunts beyond her skills.

 

 

 

 

 

Florence "Pancho" Barnes - Aviation's Companion

image004

The saga of the Air Force Flight Test Centre would not be complete without mention of one of its most enduring friends: Ms Florence Lowe Barnes, known to all the world by her favoured nickname "Pancho." Never officially a part of the Edwards Air Force Base community, nor ever directly connected with the Air Force, she nevertheless spent many years as one of its most enduring champions and unswerving friends. In recent years, she has become familiar to the general public as the colourful, swashbuckling friend of America ’s best known test pilots. But the aviation community has always known her as a skilled professional and one of the respected figures in the Golden Age of flight. Long before Pancho Barnes ever set foot in the Mojave Desert , she had already made her own mark in the progress of American aviation and women’s role within it.
The Early Years
In retrospect, her life seems to have been star-crossed from its very beginning. Florence Lowe Barnes was born into a setting of family wealth and privilege on 14 July, 1901. She spent her childhood in a 32-room mansion in San Marino, California, then as now a genteel enclave of shaded estates and tasteful villas near Pasadena. The confidence and self-possession which tend to come with affluence and position would serve the young woman well in the years ahead. Two men dominated her early life. Her father, an avid outdoorsman, freely passed on his enthusiasms to his daughter, and the young Florence absorbed horsemanship and hunting skills along with the genteel accomplishments taught by a series of private schools and tutors. Her grandfather, Professor Thaddeus Lowe, gave her another lasting gift--a fervour for aviation. One of the founders of the California Institute of Technology, he is better known to history as the intrepid balloonist who spied on the Confederate lines during the Civil War and organized the nation’s first military air unit, the balloon corps for Lincoln’s Army of the Potomac. The veteran aeronaut took his young granddaughter to see her first air show at the age of nine. It is probably too glib to say that the excitement of that outing changed her life forever, but there is no doubt that airplanes soon ranked with horses in her passions.
First, however, would come a proper marriage, followed by the birth of a son. At the age of 18, Florence wed the Reverend C. Rankin Barnes, a prominent Episcopal priest, and settled down to the duties expected of a proper clergyman’s wife. In due course their son, William, was born. Not long afterwards, however, the young bride’s self-reliant personality asserted itself in dramatic fashion: abandoning church and child in 1928, she disguised herself as a man and signed on as a crewmember aboard a freighter headed for Mexico . Once the ship was safely docked at San Blas with a cargo of bananas and contraband guns, she jumped ship with a renegade sailor and spent four months roaming through the revolution-torn interior. Somewhere along this trek, while riding a donkey, her comrade dubbed her "Pancho" for her fancied resemblance to Don Quixote’s faithful companion. She was delighted with her new nickname, and kept it for the rest of her life.

Into the Air
Returning to San Marino later that year, she turned her eyes toward the skies. By then, Wall Street’s Bull Market was roaring along, the public was wildly air-minded in the aftermath of Lindbergh’s flight to Paris, and the nation’s adrenaline level perfectly matched her own. Pancho bought an OX-5 powered Travelair biplane, hired an irascible but expert instructor, and set out to learn how to fly. Defying her teacher’s best efforts to discourage his "dilettante" student, she soloed after only six hours of instruction. The young socialite promptly celebrated this feat by taking a friend aloft and buzzing the field while her passenger wing-walked among the flying wires. From that point onward, aviation became the dominant note in her life.
Scorning the genteel aspects of her upbringing, Pancho took to wearing men’s clothes, often oil-stained and dishevelled, and to smoke cigars. Kitchen matches scratched across the seat of her pants replaced silver cigarette lighters, and her speech, never too delicate at the best of times, became notoriously coarse and salty. Although Pancho was always ready for a laugh, however, she was never a buffoon in the air. Always, she took flying seriously and went to great lengths to become a skilled pilot as well as a practical mechanic. Her professional approach to flying never, of course, prevented her from enjoying enormous fun along the way. Soon tiring of buzzing her husband’s dignified church during Sunday morning services, she assembled something called "Pancho Barnes’ Mystery Circus of the Air," and went on barnstorming tours with herself as a star performer. She shared the spotlight with an improbably handsome parachute jumper named Slim, who specialized in enticing young females from the audience into their first airplane ride and shortly--to their great surprise--into their first parachute jump as well.

Satisfaction in the Sky
The young aviatrix burst onto the national aviation scene barely a year after her first solo flight. In August, 1929, she joined nineteen other women in the Women’s Air Derby, a transcontinental air race from Santa Monica to Cleveland for women. This was the first Powder Puff Derby, still being flown today. She got as far as Pecos, Texas before she ran afoul of the casual airfield-management practices of the day, colliding with a truck driving down the runway. Pancho was unhurt, but her broken airplane put her out of the race for that year.
By then, her growing reputation enabled her to sign on with Union Oil Company for a three-year stint of demonstration flights and promotional work in return for sponsorship in many of the air races of the day. She returned to the Powder Puff Derby the following year in a powerful new

image005
used with permission, Pancho Barnes Archive

Travelair Mystery Ship, a low-winged speedster with huge wheel spats which has been called the most beautiful of the great racing airplanes. Blasting across the route at an average speed of 196.19 mph, she took the world’s speed record for women away from Amelia Earhart.
Not content with this, she honed her aerobatic skills and set out to become one of Hollywood’s favourite stunt pilots. The film capital was no stranger to Pancho; even as a debutante she had slipped away from San Marino to dabble in movie work as a script girl and other jobs. The adventurous aristocrat had even doubled for Louise Fezenda in the horseback scenes in the early Rin Tin Tin movies. Now she became the technical director for Pathe’s The Flying Fool. Shortly she formed her own company and, with three pilots working for her, encouraged the studios to contract with her for guaranteed work, rather than the hit-or-miss method of hiring their own pilots each day. This marked the beginning of the Associated Motion Picture Pilots.
It was also the beginning of numerous "Pancho stories" which circulate freely today: her friendships with the film luminaries of the time--Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn--and rumours of romances with Ramon Navarro and/or Duncan Renaldo. There was a colourful feud with Roscoe Turner involving an impromptu air race, Gilmore the lion, and a pair of powder-blue kidskin boots.
Retreat to the Desert
All good times come to an end, however, and so it was for Pancho’s dizzying world of flying, glamour, and money. The new talking motion pictures displaced many film careers and brought a new era to the movies. The nation settled ever deeper into the Depression and the fortune which Pancho inherited from her mother began to melt away, hastened by an indecorous conflict within her own family. Still officially married to the hapless churchman, she traded most of her surviving assets in 1935 for a small, quarter-section ranch in the desolate reaches of the western Mojave Desert . There, on the far side of the mountains which had loomed over her San Marino estate, Pancho Barnes took her 12-year-old son and settled down to the unlikely life of a rancher in the High Desert.
It is romantic, but not totally realistic, to think of the redoubtable Mrs. Barnes as a simple small-time farmer in the wilderness. A working ranch it was, but from the first she had a foreman and crew to raise alfalfa and care for the livestock--hogs, a few head of cattle, and of course horses. She was never without an airplane, and one of the first things she did was to scratch out an airstrip on the desert hardpan. She might be far from the lights and glitter on the other side of the San Gabriel Mountains, but she didn’t cut herself off from her old friends and connections. Still, she loved the outdoors; she had all of the High Desert to ride across and, meanwhile, there was a living to be earned. Pancho set out to make the most of her new environment.
A New Door Opens
Pancho’s new world was remote, lying alongside a dirt road connecting two hamlets--Muroc and Rosamond. Her spread occupied the lowlands between two large desert playas. Nothing much ever came of Rosamond Dry Lake to the west. But some interesting activity was already stirring on the far shore of the other huge lake bed to the east. Rogers Dry Lake was 44 square miles of rock-hard flatness, the largest such lake in the world. Pancho arrived on the scene not long after the Army Air Corps did; in 1933, working parties in khaki had arrived to set up a bombing and gunnery range to serve the fighters and bombers from March Field, California. An orderly array of army tents housed the range keepers--a detachment of young soldiers who must be fed. Army rations trucked up from Riverside were supplemented with whatever local-purchase foodstuffs might be available, and Pancho rose to the opportunity. Pork and milk from the ranch appeared in the Army mess hall, and Pancho shrewdly contracted to remove the encampment’s garbage--which was recycled directly into her hog population.
Soon, Pancho began to expand her operations, enlarging her herd of milk cows and selling dairy products throughout the valley. The remains of her family money went into ranch improvements and within a few years the ranch had expanded from 80 acres to 368. She enlarged the ranch house and built a swimming pool--an exotic touch for the late 1930s. As war clouds gathered abroad and the nation began to shake off its peacetime torpor, the Air Corps began a long-overdue expansion. Even the bombing range grew larger; the government bought up great amounts of land; permanent buildings went up, and officers and enlisted men began to appear in larger numbers.
When World War II arrived in the High Desert, Pancho was swept along with the current. The gunnery range became Muroc Army Air Field, a huge expansion began on the western shore of the lake, and permanent runways were built for year-round use. Suddenly a major military installation lay only three miles down the road. Pancho had always been partial to her "Foreign Legion of the American Army" and she was delighted at the new turn of events. Patriotically, she made her ranch available to off-duty fliers. Officers--and especially pilots--were welcome in her swimming pool; often they stayed to dinner and the flying talk went on far into the night. Pancho offered her horses for the recreation of those who could ride, and bought more. By degrees, the desert exile became a hostess.
The Good Years
In retrospect, it all had a kind of inevitability about it. The airmen loved Pancho’s party atmosphere and the opportunities for other recreation were severely limited. Wartime money was suddenly available, visitors were always needing a place to stay, and Pancho had plenty of room to expand. A bar and restaurant appeared, then a dance hall, another bar, and a coffee shop. Most of the booze came up from Mexico in Pancho’s plane and was dispensed freely; the more expensive stuff stayed under lock and key. The airstrip was enlarged and lighted for the increasing number of guests and friends who flew in, and a motel was built for their convenience. Soon Pancho found herself the proud mistress of the Rancho Oro Verde Fly-Inn Dude Ranch.

image006
used with permission, Pancho Barnes Archive

Ever more boisterous, profane and swashbuckling, Pancho proceeded to have the time of her life. Almost gleefully, she allowed time and the dry desert air to transform her youthful appearance into the storied homeliness by which most remember her. To compensate, Pancho imported an ever-changing bevy of attractive hostesses to serve the weary airmen. Even the name of the ranch reflected the wartime gaiety, soon being nicknamed the Happy Bottom Riding Club in salute to the growing number of skilled and satisfied riders. Pilots were always her special comrades, and in the natural course of events a stellar array of high-ranking officers appeared at the ranch and soon became her friends. Jimmy Doolittle, a pal from the air racing days, now sported three stars, and he was joined by many others, including the commander of the Army Air Forces, General H.H. "Hap" Arnold.
Thus, it was natural that when peacetime came and Muroc (soon to become Edwards Air Force Base) became the centre for the nation’s leading experimental flight testing center, that test pilots would replace the wartime fliers, and the party went on. Pancho’s place remained popular for the same reasons it always had--in an area of limited resources, men with heavy responsibilities needed a congenial place to relax. Although many stories about Pancho and her hostesses are told with a knowing wink, it is also true that off-duty pilots love to do one thing above all--talk about flying. And there was plenty of that at Oro Verde.
Pancho was a staunch friend and confidante to many of the young professional fliers of the day--Al Boyd, Pete Everest, Jack Ridley and many others. Those that she liked, that is. Those whom she did not, or who carelessly patronized her, were swiftly and profanely shown the door. With Chuck Yeager, a bond was formed which lasted her lifetime. Recent books and movies have glamorized the friendship between the sonic-busting test pilot and the high-flying hostess, but in truth it began much earlier when Pancho found out that the young captain was also an avid outdoorsman. Several hunting and fishing expeditions, some of which ended raucously down in Mexico, sealed the friendship long before Captain Yeager had been chosen to bring the X-1 supersonic program to its ultimate success. When he did so, on 14 October 1947, Pancho was one of the few who knew about the official secret. Yeager won a free steak dinner for that feat, thereby starting a tradition for all pilots celebrating their first supersonic flight.
Yeager’s boss in the flight test world, Col Albert Boyd, was another legendary old-time pilot who had warm regard for Pancho and her accomplishments. After he was promoted and had assumed command of the flight test establishment, General Boyd appeared less frequently at the ranch. Although he never hesitated to chew her out when her guests flew too close to his base, he remained a respected member of her circle of friends. But after his departure from Edwards in 1952, the good times rapidly drew to a close.
An Era Closes

image007
used with permission, Pancho Barnes Archive

Soon after the next commander arrived on the scene, the entire atmosphere began to change. The reasons were many: conflicting requirements, personality clashes, and some genuine misunderstandings. The immediate catalyst was airspace which was becoming increasingly crowded with large numbers of new aircraft being tested, and the private airplanes of Pancho’s guests. The borders of the base were already pressing hard upon Oro Verde, and a master plan had already been written calling for it to expand to its present western boundary. Sooner or later, something would have to give. But the times were changing as well. The brash camaraderie of the wartime years was giving way to the straight-laced Fifties, and the casual flying world of the 1940s was evolving into today’s relentlessly sober approach. Even the bachelor test pilots in their twenties were becoming married professionals in their early middle age. The Happy Bottom Riding Club was doomed in any event.
It was not long before condemnation proceedings were filed against Pancho’s property, on the grounds that the ranch lay on a direct line with a proposed extension of the test centre’s main runway. There were genuine air safety considerations as well, and a master plan had already called for the base to expand to the west. But the situation was greatly worsened by a complete lack of rapport between the principals, and conflicts soon escalated into name calling, unjust accusations, and ultimately into a flurry of acrimonious lawsuits. In the middle of the fray, coming at the worst possible time, a night-time fire of unknown origin completely destroyed the ranch complex.
Pancho eventually won a considerable sum in the courts. She established herself on a new spread in another remote area, vowing to rebuild and continue as before. But much of the settlement went into attorney’s fees and, at any rate, the psychological blows had been considerable. Pancho had lost not only her ranch and livelihood, but also a lifetime’s accumulation of irreplaceable souvenirs and valuables. Perhaps worst of all, though, was the rift with her beloved Air Force. Then, like a relentless Greek tragedy, serious illness struck her. Although the redoubtable woman vowed never to surrender and went on to survive two cancer operations, the old zest for life gradually faded along with her energy. Pancho died, alone and undiscovered, in 1975.
Her son, Bill, became a pilot and owned a flying business in nearby Lancaster. He died in October, 1980, while flying a P-51 Mustang not far from the site of the old ranch.
Epilogue
Of her personality and that clamorous era, little now remains: some concrete foundations and the remains of a fanciful stone fountain near the Edwards AFB firing range; a few photographs. The dim, rectangular outline of a dirt airstrip can still be made out from the air. There is a battered door from the ranch pickup, still faintly lettered, resting against a wall in the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum. But the Pancho stories still circulate freely in the flight community, some titillating, most nostalgic, all now recounted with tolerant smiles. For many years now, the people at Edwards have gathered together on the site of the Happy Bottom Riding Club for an annual barbecue which goes far into the night. And in a hangar in nearby Mojave, Pancho’s black-and-red Travelaire Mystery Ship is gradually returning to its original splendour.
As always, Pancho had the last word: "Well ------- it, we had more fun in a week than most of the weenies in the world have in a lifetime."

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