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Julian Doty was born on December 10, 1922 in Los Angeles, California to Evelyn and Frank Doty. Evelyn's brother was George Duvall, who developed the Duvall V-Windshield that was used for trucks, boats and racecars. George took his nephew with him everywhere. Doty attended Hollywood High School and took every shop class he could. He and Uncle George were original members of the Throttlers car club of Hollywood and were there at the formation of the SCTA in 1937. Some of those early members of the Throttlers included; George Duvall, Julian Doty, Jack Finley, Mino Kaminura, Danny Sakai, Bob Strahlaman, Thatcher Darwin, Doane Spencer and the Cannon brothers, Ted, John and Robert. Julian remembers following along with his uncle George at the first SCTA organizing meeting in November 1937 at Clifton's Cafeteria, which is still in operation seventy years later. In 1940 several friends in the Throttlers decided to form a new club which they called the Milers of Hollywood car club. He remembers that some of the new members were; Harold Johansen, Bunny and Winky Hade, Don Waite, Don Wiesse, Jim Kougaz, Doug Lefler, Stan Cook, Chris Christensen and Roscoe C. Neely.
After graduating from high school, Doty joined with a few of his friends to form the B&S Garage at Santa Monica and Spaulding. He was a friendly and cooperative person and volunteered for any job or duty that the new SCTA needed to be done. He was a starter and timer both before and after World War II and is still an active and hard working member of the SCTA in 2007, a period of 70 years. He was appointed to be a club representative for the Milers to the SCTA Board meetings. That was an important position for the board members who were elected by the clubs relied on the club reps to advise and vote on by-laws and proposals. Julian remembers that the meeting places included Clifton's Cafeteria in Hollywood, the Republic Savings and Loan building in Pico-Rivera, California, and a real estate office at Atlantic and Washington Blvds. "I always made it to the meets whether I drove my car or my '37 Indian Bonneville Scout motorcycle," he told me. Doty was drafted by the Army in February, 1942 and was sent to the Stockton Ordnance Base motorcycle repairman's school. After his basic training and advanced repairman's studies, he was sent to England, then to France two days after D-Day. He was assigned to General Patton's Tank Corp and fought his way into Germany.
After the war, Doty worked at the garage and for RJ Dawson for a few years until he found employment with the Department of Water and Power for the City of Los Angeles, where he stayed until he retired. In 1951 he joined the Sidewinders car club and has been a member in good standing ever since. Two of the early members of the Sidewinders were Charles 'Kong' Jackson and Chuck 'Red' Abbott. He was also close friends with the Bungholers of Hollywood and told me the story of their name. Bud Hinds' father had a place with a large pepper tree and the garage was called The Pepper Tree Garage. Har Bridges, who made parts for the Indian motorcycle and was an expert machinist, was listening to the younger kids struggle with a name for themselves. They were an irreverent bunch and wanted to call themselves a name for a lower body part that would have caused the SCTA to deny them membership. The SCTA was always trying to act professional and give the public a sense of their maturity and responsibility and the name that these young men were mentioning wouldn't have been acceptable. Har remarked, "why don't all you guys call yourself the Bung holers, because you can't call yourselves (objectionable pejorative)." It suited the young men because Bunghole is the opening for the tap in a beer keg and this suited their sense of humor. Doty remembers that some of the early Bungholers were; Ed Iskenderian, Gordie and Ike Williams, Robert Setrion, Bob Knudson and Esau Thun.
Julian remembers Danny Sakai's funeral. “Danny's family was Japanese and they owned a florist shop, as did many of Danny's friends. Sakai was riding Kam Oka's Indian motorcycle in November,1941 and was going over 90mph when he lost control and stood up on the bike only to slam into a telephone pole. He was killed instantly but the bike had only a small dent. The funeral was very large and the floral displays from all the florist shops were impressive. Danny was well liked in the SCTA,” said Julian. Doty was helping Bob Sutton build a streamliner. Sutton was a master metal craftsman and was working for Bill Stroppe and Dan Gurney. On a trip to Europe, Sutton suffered a major heart attack and died. Julian later married Sutton's widow, but the marriage fell apart and they separated. "I never married after that or had any children, but I felt like I raised lots of kids over the years," he said. "My friends and boss had lots of kids and they were always around me. I feel like they're all my children," beamed Doty. "I can remember Bozzy Willis, from San Diego, bought this 35 mm camera and would take film pictures of the dry lake races. He would hang outside a car and take movies to show the guys at the Board meetings. He had a fantastic collection of historical stuff but it all burned up in a big mountain fire in El Cajon and took his house as well. What a loss that was," said Julian.
Gone Racin' is at [email protected].
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