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richardwillba roger

Richard Parks and Roger Rohrdanz

The Main Street Malt Picnic
a gathering of Early Santa Ana Drag Racers
 Orange, CA
04-04-09
Story by Richard Parks, photographic consultants Jim Miller & Roger Rohrdanz

 

   I received a call from Leslie Long to inform me about the Santa Ana Drags and Main Street Malt Shop reunion and picnic. I had never heard of the event and Leslie told me that it had been going on for about three decades or maybe more. The reunion takes place every year in Orange, California, off Memory Lane and Main Street, sometime in the springtime. Bill and Marie Jenks are the host and hostess, although the reunion and picnic was Marie's idea. This year she asked Leslie to help her organize it and get the word out to all those who remember and honor the first professional drag strip in the world. The Santa Ana Drag strip, sometimes called the Santa Ana Airport Drags, opened in 1950 and closed around 1959. It was copied by young men and women from all over the country and was the prototype for modern drag racing today. C.J. Hart was the track operator, assisted by his wife Peggy, Creighton Hunter, Frank Stillwell and other young people. Some of the better known racers of the day were Otto Ryssman, Melvin Dodd, Art Chrisman and Pat Berardini. The reunion and picnic was set for Saturday, April 4, 2009 and I was really looking forward to going. I even e-mailed everyone on my e-mail list, some three thousand people. I called up Ron Henderson, a good friend and true hot rodder, and asked him if he wanted to go. "Sure," he said and at the last moment we headed for the creek bed at Santiago Park. There were about 80 people in attendance, a fairly good size group, considering that many of the old-time racers were in their 80's and 90's. It was a perfect day, with temperatures in the 70's and a clear spring day. The guys brought their photo albums and there were plenty of park benches in the shade and the sun to suit any taste. The wives and friends scurried about, fixing food, giving us name tags and providing help where it was needed. Quite a few young hot rodders showed up to listen and learn from the pioneers of the sport of drag and dry lakes racing.

   Many of the people there were familiar, but since we only met at reunions and a few car shows throughout the year, it took a few moments for the memories to come flowing back to us. I met Gene and Judy Mitchell, Eldon Harris, Betty Belcourt, John and Nancy Albert, Carl Eisler, Ron Winship, Ed Proctor, Vic Wilson, Hal Brown, Chuck Baker, Harry DeShazo, Milton Weikert and Mike Hunter around the tent area. Roger Brophy, a regular at Jack's Garage in Fountain Valley stopped by to say hello. Gene Ellis and I looked at each other, certain that we knew one another and then I remembered that he was the 2005 CRA Reunion Honoree. The CRA Reunion is put on each year by Walt and Dottie James to honor the track roadster racers of the old CRA. The California Roadster Association formed just after World War II and was an instant success, later adding sprint cars to their races and changing their name to the California Racing Association. The initials CRA remained the same. I stopped by to say hello to our host and hostess, Bill and Marie Jenks. They are very friendly people and they welcomed us warmly. I spotted Leslie Long and he was busy getting more history for his project to find and record all the times for all the races at the Santa Ana drags. He is the authority on the old drag strip and has a wealth of information on the Southern California Dry Lakes time trials as well. Leslie is an original racer and crew member at Santa Ana, going way back into the 1950's. He is consumed with a passion to record the history of this drag strip and he takes his task seriously. Several times I tried to joke about some issue in the past and Long was quick to take me to task. Yet his zeal is refreshing. He truly loves this era and he wants to keep it alive and pass down the knowledge and the wisdom to the next generation.

   Roger Jensen and Pete Haak passed out flyers to the Annual Fountain Valley Car Show, which is held in June at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley, California. The grounds have been re-landscaped and increased in size and the coordinators have invited the pinstripers and other exhibits to make this a family fun day for car guys. Jerry Hart, Dean Noe, Omar Martin and Mark Wilson were talking about the old Andy Parks Ice Cream shop on South Main and Edinger. "I remember going there in 1954," said Wilson. They asked me if I was related to Andy, since our names are the same. I couldn't recall having a cousin by that name, but if any of our readers knows the whereabouts of Andy, please let me know. Jerry is the son of C.J. and Peggy Hart and remembers the drag strip well. His mother used to drag race against the guys and she was a very good drag racer. Dennis Webb and Doug Wilson were talking about their car projects. Doug is both a car and boat guy and Dennis is the son of Marvin Webb, the partner of Dick Kraft in "The Bug." Dennis, like his father, is an outstanding car builder and restorer and does meticulous research before starting a project. "The Bug" was a famous car run at the Santa Ana drags back in the very early '50's. Dick and Marvin stripped the roadster down to the frame, wheels, driver’s seat, engine and gas tank. It looked like a wreck, but it won repeatedly and others copied their style leading to the modern rails that we see today. "The Bug" was restored and is now in Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum in Florida and a copy is on display at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California.

   Joe Fantore and Bob Jewell were talking together just outside of Fantore's T-shirt tent. Joe has an eastern, New Jersey accent and is found at many car shows and car events with his tent full of T-shirts with the old drag strip names and logos. You can't help but like Fantore. He is a knowledgeable man about the history of drag racing tracks. He purchased the rights to the names and reproduces T-shirts to a legion of fans. Fantore is very approachable and if he isn't busy selling tees, he will gladly tell you stories about the old days. A group of young hot rodders were busy getting autographs and talking to their heroes, learning about the early days of drag racing. I met Jimmy Gonzalez, Mike Degles, Seiji Kishi and Michael Brennan. You've probably heard their names before in the pages of this newsletter. Jimmy is the owner of Evans Speed Equipment, a speed shop established in 1946 by Earl Evans. When Evans died, his widow sold the business to Gene Ohly, who sold it to Jimmy. Both Evans and Ohly are in the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame, located at the Mendenhall Gas Pump Museum, in Buellton, California. The Evans brand is highly respected and I talked to Jimmy about re-establishing the Gophers Car Club and having them meet at the Evans Speed Shop. How cool would that be? Jimmy said that he would like to bring back the name, history and marketing of the Evans brand, but that he is swamped with work at the present. Like Evans and Ohly, the shop does work for domestic, imports, marine, vintage, WWII aircraft and specializes in boring, bearing, cams, sleeve conversions, lifter bushings and other automotive work. The thing that I admire about Jimmy is his enthusiasm for history. This isn't just a job for him, he's bought a museum and a proud heritage and he wants to improve upon it.

   Michael Brennan is another special young man. He's a car guy, a hot rodder, a speed shop owner and he owns Tin Roof TV Productions in Burbank, California. "I have a small speed shop, which sells a variety of things, in Ventura, California," said Michael. He would like to expand and make Ventura Speed Power larger and is discussing plans to do just that. Michael also has a passion for the past and does research on the old SCTA clubs. He has sent in lists and history on the Gophers and the Idlers to our newsletter. Look for these young men to accomplish a great deal in land speed racing and drag racing in the future. The next group of hot rodders included Ken Bates, Kenny Mulhern, Jimmy Murphy, Jim Miller, Otto Ryssman, Ken Lanza and Johnny Ryan. I've known Murphy for a long time, but I know very little about him. He just doesn't talk about himself much, but then I'll talk to James Close and other guys and they'll tell me what Murphy has done, so I've got to get his biography for the newsletter. Jim Miller is our president of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians and his father and grandfather were involved in auto racing. Jim sports a 200 MPH logo on his shirts and hats, putting him into a very exclusive group of land speed racers. He has studied and researched the history of land speed racing for decades and is the most knowledgeable guy on the subject. There wasn't a bigger name in early drag racing than Otto Ryssman. Maybe Calvin Rice, Melvin Dodd, Art Chrisman and a few others were his equals, but there were none better on the drag strip. Otto drag raced for a few years, then went out to earn a living, but in the beginning of the sport no one was better than he at getting to the end of the race in the lead.

   Ron Winship told me about his show, Cutting Edge-A Talk Show, which is on-line at www.cuttingedge-atalkshow.com. He told me that the hottest thing nowadays is Twitter. I spoke to Calvin Smith, who owns Cal's Racing and Restoration in Glasgow, Kentucky. Cal is a land speed racer who went to Bonneville one year to see what was going on and got bit by the salt bug real bad. His team is called Pigasus Racing. Not Pegasus, as in the flying horse, but Pigasus, as in the animal that just cannot get enough to eat. Well, Calvin is one of those racers who just can't get enough Bonneville racing. I spoke to Johnny Ryan, one of the grand old men of dry lakes racing and hot rodding. Johnny is 91 and still going strong. He was a member of the Gophers before the war and served honorably in the ETO, or European Theater of Operations. After the war he took care of a nearly crippled Nellie Taylor and together the two friends raced at the dry lakes and ran their business, Taylor and Ryan Speed Shop in Whittier. One of their tenants was the Miller Brothers and Johnny regaled us with stories of those madcap mechanics. I asked why they called it Taylor Machine Shop as well as Taylor and Ryan. He said that for awhile it was under both of their names, but Nellie had a well-known name and he was happy with that name. There were other co-owners of the business, until George Steele bought the shop. George passed away earlier this year.

   Sitting at the park benches were Pat Berardini, Vic Smaldino, Frank Klos, Rich Campos, Dick and Peggy Dietz and Eldon Harris. Pat and his brothers ran a muffler shop and drag raced at Santa Ana and other tracks. Pat’s 404 was well-known in its class and hard to beat. It was such a beautiful roadster that in 2007, on the 75th Anniversary of the famous Deuce Roadster in 1932, Pat’s 404 was selected as one of the top 75 Deuce Roadsters of all time. It was exhibited at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California in January, 2007 and Pat was honored along with the other living recipients of the honor. Vic Smaldino looked at Leslie Long’s book and saw his name mentioned over and over again in the list of entries and victories. He came over and shook Ryssman’s hand and said, “Otto, you were the best.” But another man was sitting nearby and he can stake his claim to being one of the first and best of the pioneer drag racers; Melvin Dodd, who drove in from the desert to attend. Ryssman asked me to mention Alexandra Lier’s new book, ‘Speed Seekers.’  Alexandra is from Germany and she became fascinated by America’s hot rodding culture and early drag racing. She has carried on long distance conversations with as many early hot rodders as possible and Ryssman highly recommends the book to everyone. Another name mentioned was Faith Granger, who is making a movie on 1950’s hot rodding culture called ‘Deuce of Spades.’ It is due out this summer.

Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].

JMC_500 Santa Ana Drag Reunion

JMC_500 – The names of all the people are not known, I will try to pick out the people who are,
(first row left end) man in wheel chair is Dick Dietz, behind him is Peggy Deitz, right of him is Mike Brennan, then Melvin Dodd (holding bag), Gene Ellis.

In the next row from left to right, (lady in pink) Betty Payne, Leslie Long, Ron Henderson (with hat), Johnny Ryan, ? , ? , ?, ? , (tall, in the back) Otto Ryssman, ?, ? , ?, (dark hair, in jacket) Pat Berardini, Dennis Webb, (red hat, blue shirt) Eldon Harris.

The far left, under blue awning (l to r) Vic Smaldino, Jimmy Gonzalez, George Callaway.

Photograph courtesy of Jim Miller

 

 

 

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