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NEWSLETTER 57 - May 1, 2008
Editor: Richard Parks

President's Corner: By Jim Miller.
  Photo and Memoriabila Collections. This is a tough subject to talk about. As you know I get to see and "borrow" lots of collection for the American Hot Rod Foundation. Is there a formula for doing it correctly? Not really. For years people have been "ripped off" and it makes it hard for us who really care about saving our history to do our appointed job, so how do we do it? I think the bottom line is trust and integrity. Imagine you're walking down the street and you find a wallet laying there. You can do one of a couple of things. Keep going and do nothing, pick it up, take the contents and trash what's left. Or return it to the owner. After you return stuff you start to get a reputation for being trustworthy and it builds on that. Then word of mouth opens up your world. That's how I work. I get to meet all sorts of cool car guys. Bench racing and talk about rodding and history and the AHRF usually follow. If they don't know me, I give them a card and direct them to our website to see what we're doing and follow up a little later so they can determine if they are comfortable with the idea. If everything feels ok I'll ask to borrow their things. Sometimes a person just walks up to me with an album and says here, you can copy it or I've got some old photos you might want to copy. Othertimes, photos just shows up in the mail. If someone's nice enough to let you borrow their stuff it's only fitting you should give them something back in return, so here's what I do. After copying their things each one is given a code number and ID'ed as your collection. Time is then spent trying to figure out the who, what, where and when of each item and this info goes with each shot. Contrast and tone of the images are optimized and sometimes retouching of minor scratches is done. Then the images are burned onto a CD. Along with this each item is printed with notations and put in a binder. All of this is given back to the lender with much thanks. And yes, there is one more thing we ask for to protect all parties. A release to be able to use the shot on the web and possibly in a future AHRF publication. The cool thing about the release is you can still do anything you want with your shots. Once Don Montgomery asked me for some pictures from Bob Morton to use in an upcoming book. I told him we couldn't give them to him but to call Bob direct. I gave him his number and he got the images and a lot of free work. Each one of you has to make your own decision on the subject. I can only speak for myself in saying that in a hundred years from now someone might say thanks to us for saving this little piece of hot rod history.

Editorial: The Report on Borrowing Historical Documents is under way. So far I have contacted quite a few people who both borrow and lend photographs and documents and have compiled a report. When you have a good or a bad reaction to lending your photos and artifacts to people, send me a report. Be sure to report the good as well as the bad. If you want to lend your artifacts and photographs out, but are unsure whether the person is reputable, you can send me a request to see what the Society's records indicate. I will never divulge who made the report or why and the Report will look like this:
 John Doe      37 Negatives, no Positives 
 John Doe Jr    No report on this person
 Jim Miller      3 Positives, no Negatives
 Richard Parks  1 Positive, no Negatives
You can then decide whether you want to trust this person or ask for further recommendations and testimonials. If you are a borrower, writer, historian, photographer or author and need to continue to borrow, you can also write and ask for a report. Again, it will be confidential and give you only a number. If you think the records are faulty, then you can ask me to contact the person making the report and I will. If the dispute cannot be resolved, and if both parties wish to contact each other and work it out, they can do so and when they are satisfied, I will change a negative into a positive or vice versa. Where there are NEGATIVES listed, I have tried to call or contact that person to let them know what's happening and find out if there was an honest disagreement. So if you see a negative, it means that person has not resolved his questionable status, has not responded to my phone call or chooses not to cooperate. Some people have said this, "The publisher lost the photographs," and "I'm old and forgetful." In both cases the Negative mark stays on their record, because this Report is only concerned with the return of documents, not excuses as to why the documents were not returned. A 'P' stands for a Positive response. An 'N' stands for a negative response where the document was not returned or was damaged. If the documents are returned then the N is removed, but if the lender is really upset and asks for a negative report, a - (minus) sign will indicate that they got back their records but are still unhappy. A + sign will indicate that they got back their documents, but that they are finally happy to resolve the issue. A plus sign +, and a minus sign -, indicate that there was once a dispute, the documents have been returned, but lingering feelings still prevail and you should be cautious. A 'P' sign is as good as it gets in trusting someone. An 'N' sign means trouble.

I regret to inform you that Chuck Daigh passed away this morning at about 2:00 am (April 29, 2008). We believe that the doctor and family consultation last weekend resulted in a planned end to his struggle. Les went by this morning and Chuck was still in the room but the breathing tube was removed and food had never been hooked up. A morphine drip had been used. I think that it was the right thing to do as we were advised several times by hospital staff that he wouldn't make it but we always had hope he could beat this thing being the fighter that he was. Les says that Chuck will be cremated. If I learn anything else, like if there will be a memorial service, I will let you all know. I thought that you may like some recent photos of Chuck and his projects;
A) He and his Land speed record Lakester that he only run about three shake down runs in last year. 
B) Chuck testing the Scarab F1 engine that he rebuilt for the Collier museum. 
C) Working at his lath on a gearbox housing for the starter system for his Lakester. Sad regards, Bill Krueger

Chuck Daigh was hospitalized for most of the last three months with fluid in his lungs, legs and arms. The big problem is that this led to massive infections. He was on a breathing machine for the last three weeks or so. Chuck did not want people to know he was sick. Bill Krueger was keeping the Scarab people, myself and Al Arciero appraised of Chuck's condition daily. We all felt it was best to keep his condition private. Ron Cummings

Chuck Daigh passed away this morning (April 29, 2008) at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, California after 10 weeks of heart and respiratory illness. Chuck built hot rods prior to WW II and ran at the Dry Lakes. After his duty in the paratroopers he worked for Bill Stroppe preparing the famous Mexican road race Lincoln’s and riding as co-pilot in three of those races with Walt Faulkner and later with Chuck Stevens after the death of Clay Smith. He joined Pete DePaolo Engineering where he managed the west coast semi-factory Ford stock car team. While at DePaolo's, he prepared cars to compete at Daytona Beach where he set records on the sand and Ralph Moody first won the Daytona race in one of the cars that Chuck brought from the west coast. He fielded a team that set many records for Ford while completing 50,000 miles on the Bonneville Salt Flats and helped build the Battlebirds as well. He worked for the Rathmann Chevrolet NASCAR stock car team. After Rathmann's Chevrolet stock operations shut down as a result of the AMA ban on factory racing involvement in 1957, he left to work building the Reventlow Scarab Sports Car and Formula One cars. In recent years he rebuilt two of the Reventlow F1 desmodromic valve motors for collectors and was most recently building a Blown Flathead Lakester that he drove several times last year at El Mirage Dry Lake in tests sessions. As a driver, Chuck won the Willow Springs and Santa Barbara Sports Car Main events driving a Kurtis 500S - Lincoln that belonged to Frank Kurtis. He later won the Main Events at Paramount Ranch and Santa Barbara driving the Trountman-Barnes Ford powered sports car special. Chuck won several more big sports car races with the front engined Scarabs, including the Los Angeles Times Riverside Grand Prix in 1958. He also won the big Nassau main event with a Scarab. Daigh drove for Ferrari at Le Mans. He set fastest lap at Le Mans in a streamlined Birdcage Maserati that he shared with Masten Gregory in 1960 and co-drove the winning Ferrari at Sebring one year with Dan Gurney and added partners Phil Hill and Oliver (Gindebien SP?) in 1959. In 1960, he drove the Reventlow Formula One car in international races at Spa, Rhimes and placed 10th at the final race at Riverside in 60. Chuck tried to qualify at the Indianapolis 500 three times through the years but the cars were not good enough. Daigh also drove for Briggs Cunningham, with the Lister-Jaguars, a few times. Ron Cummings, Arcadia, California.

Just got arm out of cast. Can type with both hands now. Have brace, will wear for a short time. Quite a relief. Wife's chest still very sore from air bag. She is small stature and sits too close to steering wheel. Still better than hitting wheel and steering column. Don't run any red lights. Eric Rickman
Eric: Glad you are on the mend. Send us a biography of your days at the dry lakes.

I guess when one dies the memories of him are not told. Carlo James Berardini (Son of Tony)
Carlo: Did Tony Berardini pass away? I did a story on the Berardini Brothers for the Gone Racin' byline. Pat and Tony were the sons of Carlo and Philomena Berardini and instrumental in the early history of drag racing. If you have a biography or stories of Tony and his family, please send them to me to publish in this newsletter, which is concerned with preserving the history and heritage of land speed racing and hot rodding and allied fields.

Editor's notes: The following is a public service warning from Ron Main. I received a message from a friend with information about grease fires in kitchens. He says that half of all home fires start in the kitchen because of grease fires and that throwing water on it makes the fire spread. What happens is that the water vaporizes into steam and the pressure of the steam knocks the burning oil all over the kitchen, creating more fires. Throwing flour or sugar on the fire creates another hazard, in that the particles are finely sifted and thus they burn so quickly that the result is an explosive event. Grain mill and silo owners in the Midwest will affirm that dust particles, when ignited, will explode. The only way to put out oil fires is to smother them. A wet towel thrown over a small grease fire will take away the oxygen and smother the flames. Or, have a fire extinguisher in your kitchen that is certified to handle grease and electrical fires. Water will only make grease and electrical fires more deadly.

You may have old pictures that people want to borrow. If they are to be electronically "Scanned," they could be gone for months. There seems to be a need to have some rules/suggestions when loaning those pictures to someone. I've come up with a few simple steps to help insure the return of your old photos. 
a) If you only do one thing, you should count the number of pictures you are loaning. 
b) Identify each picture. Do not use anything that will damage the picture! An adhesive label attached to the back. A colored dot or a larger label with your name on it, like those return address labels. 
c) Create a simple receipt that includes; Date borrowed, Expected return date, How many pictures borrowed, Why are the pictures being borrowed, Contact information of the borrower, Signatures of borrower and owner. The above suggestions can be made more complicated, like adding a description of each photo. The receipt could include an estimated value. You should know the person you are lending your pictures to. If your pictures are going to be "Scanned," you should ask for an electronic file.  Roger Rohrdanz

You probably already are aware of this, but I thought I'd pass it along to you anyway. There was an article in the Riverside Press insert today (4/23/2008), regarding the new Riverside International Raceway Museum. It was a private museum, with access by appointment only. Now it has moved to a new 20,000 square foot facility on Marborough Street and is now open to the public on certain days. See http://riversideinternationalraceway.com/index.html. Jerry Cornelison, Road Runners - SCTA (established 1937), http://www.ussarcherfish.com/roadrunners.

I look forward to receiving the Newsletter. Best regards, David Tremayne UK   
David: Welcome. Send us as much information as you can about the rich land speed racing tradition in the British Isles.

The new "Salute to American Ingenuity" exhibit at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California. The media preview for the exhibit, which highlights the 60th Anniversary of Honesy Charley's Speed Shop and the 50th Anniversary of Coker Tire, is set for Wednesday, May 7, 2008 between 1-2:30 p.m.  See the invitation for details. The exhibit runs from May 7 to November 16, 2008. After the media preview, the Museum will host its monthly Prolong Twilight Cruise Night car show, which goes from 4-7 p.m. If you are planning to attend the media preview, RSVP to me at 310-224-4940, Bill Groak   
Editor's notes: The Media Preview is a closed event, but if you are representing a journal, newspaper, newsletter, magazine, website or other source that needs media content, you may contact Bill Groak below and request credentials. It will be up to Bill to determine if he can extend credentials to you. After the media event, the exhibit is open to the general public.

The 26th Annual Literature Faire and Exchange will be held on June 22, 2008 by the Society of Automotive Historians Southern California Chapter at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum at the Los Angeles County Fairplex, in Pomona, California. Enter at Gate 1 off of McKinley Road not far from the intersection of McKinley and White Avenue. No car parts are allowed, but all sorts of photographs, collectibles, books, catalogs, brochures, memorabilia and much more will be on display by vendors. Vendor spaces are 10x20 feet and the rental is $30 if paid by May 1st and $40 thereafter. No applications for space after June 15th will be accepted. Vendors should call Bob Ewing at 693-3580. Time is 8AM to 3PM. Admission is free, parking is in the Museum parking lot. Catering truck will be on premises. Jay Leno often comes out for this Faire. Last year Phil Hill's personal library was for sale at reasonable prices.  (Retyped from an announcement received from Landspeed Louise Ann Noeth)

We have added a section to our "Swap Meet" for the sale of Racing memorabilia and also racing parts. If you go to our classifieds www.hotrodhotline.com/classifieds/classifieds.php and then click on "Swap Meet," you will see a category for Racing memorabilia and racing parts. These ads are free and include 4 pictures. We also have a section in the Classifieds under Vehicles for sale where people can list Dragsters and Race Cars for sale. There is a charge for these ads but the cost is very small considering the exposure. Just wanted to let you know about these changes. Thanks, Mary Ann Lawford
Readers: Check out the website and see if it will fit your needs should you want to sell photos, timing tags, parts or other memorabilia that would normally sell on eBay.

Editor's notes: This is a community service notice only and affected us. Our cat, Heidi, was killed and eaten by coyotes on Wednesday. I mention this only because we are in the middle of a city of 15 million people and yet we have skunks, coyotes, red foxes, possums, raccoons and other wild animals living among us. Now that we have the new heavy duty recyclable trash containers, the wild animals have to find other sources of food and will attack small and medium size pets. No children have been attacked in our area yet, but a young girl was seriously bitten in the San Clemente area a few years ago. The vet confirmed our worst fears as the head was the only thing left of our cat. It's very important to watch out for small children, anywhere, in the city as well as the country.

Your advertisement for Jr Thompsons Opel Kadet gasser is incorrect. Jr did not restore this car. I did. I can prove that statement in a court of law so I recommend that you change the ad to reflect truth about this restoration. It was done in Eastern Pennsylvania by myself in conjunction craftman from this area. C. Gilmore
C. Gilmore: I will put your statement in the next edition of the SLSRH Newsletter to let our readers know. The announcement was NOT part of my newsletter when I sent it in to www.landspeedracing.com and I do not know how it was added to my newsletter, but it was not part of it when sent to the website. I have asked the owner of the site to find out where the source of the material came from and remove all references to it. We are a website that concentrates on land speed racing and hot rodding and so the Gasser would be outside of our normal domain. That is not to say that we wouldn't discuss drag racing cars, because the early sport of drag racing was influenced by land speed racing. You have every right to be upset if your work is being credited to another source. However, please look at what you said in your statement. It gives only a few facts and if we are to help you by doing a retraction and explaining what happened, you need to give us more details. I will run your statement in full and if you wish to enlarge upon the situation, I will give you all the space that you need. This is a historical journal and not a blog, so we are committed to the facts, as far as we can determine them. See if you can't give us about 10 or 15 lines instead of the three below and fill out the details of what happened and what you did to restore the car. It sounds like an interesting story with historical merit and our readers would like to know what you did. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Please include your full name and the names of those who helped you restore this car
.

Editor's notes: Several people have written in to say that they cannot find the photographs mentioned in the text of the newsletter. Part of the problem is that we are new, and the rest I take credit for and apologize. The photographs will be on www.landspeedracing.com, or at least that is where I send them. They will not be IN the newsletter that is emailed to you, because that would take up too much space. REMEMBER, Mary Ann Lawford is sending this emailed newsletter to us as a public service and if she included the photos in the emailed newsletter that would amount to about 5 megs of information. A normal email might be 20 KB or kilobytes of information. The photographs just DEMAND lots of space and KBs. Now if Mary Ann sends this newsletter by email to 1000 people WITH photographs, that means she has to send out 5000 Megs or 50 times 1000 times 5000, OH WELL, you get the picture. So if you want to see the photographs mentioned in the "emailed" newsletter, then you have to LOG on to www.landspeedracing.com and read/scan/view/look at them ON-LINE. Yes there is confusion sometimes, because we old hotrodders are having to learn some new tricks. It was easier in the days when you bought HOT ROD Magazine on the newstands and spent your evenings reading your favorite stories. But now times have changed and you have to use the internet. We couldn't possibly bring you this free historical site with all the information if we had to print it and send it to you. So, GO ON-LINE, find the back issues you want to read and look for the photographs there. As far as ANY other site other than www.landspeedracing.com, they are similar in nature and carry cross-over material. Our site is www.landspeedracing.com. Go there. Then to see what the other sites have to offer that support our efforts to save land speed racing and hot rodding history, look up the other sites mentioned.

I am an officer of the 55-year old Juggers Racing Team, in northern California. Dave McDonald, Bonneville Hall of Fame member and driver of the 2000 Pontiac, is among our land speed racing members. We would like to be considered for one of the web sites where the Historian's Newsletter is posted. What is involved and who should we contact for more information? Thanks. John Lewis, Go 4 It Racing, San Francisco, CA 94123
John: Contact the websites by logging on to their sites, look for an email address and send them a letter requesting that they add your link to their websites. Some operators encourage cross-linking, others do not.

A friend of mine just sent me this note about conditions on the Playa at Blackrock. As little as a month ago it was 6 inches of water. "This is the earliest I have driven on the playa, after a wet early winter it quit raining and snowing leaving us with another below average season. There is no snowpack on any nearby mountain ranges so there in no hope for runoff to improve things. The rainy season typically ends in March so there probably won't be much more rain. There is a possibility of thunderstorms in the summer which may help a bit. So, this August bring goggles and dust masks, you may need them." Burning Man's site this year, per the BLM, will be 2 miles further to the north as part of a normal rotation of sites. 2007's event placed just over 50,000 people on the playa between 12 and 8 mile entrance roads (see google earth, can't miss it). This means they will be closer to the 12 mile entrance location. Will be interesting to see what this does to the playa serpents. There's a webcam that gives you a peek at the SE corner of the playa by Gerlach. See the following website; http://www.burningman.com/preparation/travel_info/gerlach_webcam.html. I'll be in Gerlach for some construction related issues (or lack thereof) in the next 2 weeks, and will snap some shots up of the playa. Eric (last name not given), forwarded by George Callaway

Southern California Timing Association Minutes, Board/Reps Meeting, April 4, 2008. At the Dad Miller Golf Course, Anaheim, CA. The meeting was called to order at 7:35pm by Sergeant-at-Arms Bobby Sykes for President Roy Creel. The Flag Salute was lead by Mike LeFevers. Roll Call of Board Members: Roy Creel, Mike Cook, Jim Lattin, Don Ferguson III, Jim Dunn, Mike Mangheilli, Warren Bullis, Russ Eyres, Frank Scott, Judy Sights, Tom Evans, Steve Toller, Bobby Sykes, Jim Jensen and Mike Waters. Associate Board: Van Butler, Dan Neuenschwander, Larry Burford, Steve Davies, Mike Ferguson, Dave Kirsch, Ron Main, Keith Allen, Ed Safarik, Lonnie Martin, Ron Cohn, Bob Webb and Dana Wilson.  Club Reps representing their clubs: Eliminators-Clark Phillips, Steve Phillips. Gear Grinders-Dan Chilson, Bob Chilson, John Drake. Gold Coast Rdsts-Tim Rochlitzer. Hi Desert Rcrs-Bruce Kelly. Lakers-Dave Parks.  LSR-Bob Eaton, Jon Meyer.
Milers-Steve Shotrosky, Pete Shotrosky. Road Runners-Pat Riley, Jerry Cornelison. Rod Riders-Jim Travis. SDRC-Skip Hedrich, Bill Lattin, J D Tone. Sidewinder-Dale Martin, Jim Miller. Super Fours-Gene Barbee.  Guests: Dean Spencer, Tom Gerardi, Wilhelminia Hedrich, Bob Oppermann, Bob Moreland, Connie Beavers, Nick Nicolaides, Delia Riley, Mike LeFevers and Mark Johnson. Health and Welfare - Fred Dannenfilzer reported that he had visited David Casteel and that he was doing well. He has had kemo treated for acute myeloid leukemia. David has driven George Fields vehicle at Bonneville. Mike Waters reported on Walt Scott, one of the Security people at the end of the road to the salt. He is not doing well and has financial problems. Judy Sights said that the El Mirage Ladies Auxiliary has sent him $500 to help with expenses. Jim Lattin reported that Elmo Gillette is on oxygen now and has throat cancer. Ralph Foster, the photographer-some confusion as there are two, is in hospice. March Minutes - corrections; Bobby called the meeting to order last month. Also, Bob Oppermann and Clliff Wheeler are the 'Course Clear' callers and George Vose is the back-up. Roy said that BNI gets 10% of the gross from vendors on the salt and that BLM gets 3% of all sales, this was in relation to selling rides at Speedweek, discussion. Jim Travis made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected, Larry Burford seconded. Motion carried. BNI - Mike Waters recapped the BNI meeting that was held just before this meeting was started. The wire trailer is almost completed, is under budget cost wise. The painting and logos will use up most of the rest of the monies. It was re-affirmed that there would be no 'rent-a-ride' vendors at Speedweek. The entries will not be accepted from anyone that advertises to give rides at Speedweek, discussion. Don Ferguson III will help Larry Burford with the list of course workers for Speedweek. Mike Waters has sent out a list of the workers and needs replies back on the arrival dates. Timing at Bonneville, the Rice brothers bid was $1,000/day using all of their own equipment with a two day set-up.  Mike Manghelli is working on another site for the radio repeater, the spot used last year is not available. Emergency Services, the cost is up $10.00/hour from the $150.00/hour in 2007. There is a 10% discount for paying in a timely manner. BNI Treasurers Report - Steve Toller handed out copies of the check register. So far the office has received 33 Bonneville entries and 1249 BNI memberships. (The editor removed the notation on the amount of funds spent and in the SCTA treasury. That information should be given out only by the Association). Save the Salt - Russ Eyres reported that the pumping is still going on in the first quarter of 2008. The target for the salt lay-down was 400,000 tons. The pumping will stop in the next couple of weeks. The BLM will evaluate the amount of salt actually pumped and will also look. at closing the Salduro dike. There is $52,298.00 in the Save the Salt account and the cost to prepare the taxes is about $2,800.00, discussion. Insurance - Jim Lattin has done the research on the insurance that SCTA has for the racing, property and equipment. The policies were summarized on a handout sheet with the coverage and cost of the premiums. The first policy was the Commercial General Liability with coverage of 2 mill for each occurrence. Cost is $3,650.00 for the first day at El Mirage and half of that for the second day. Jim originally said the second day was free and Dana Wilson said that this was not the case, discussion  The second policy was the Participant Accident Insurance with 2 million for each occurrence and 10K for each death. Cost is $2,256.00 for the first day, half of that for the second day and $564.00 for each additional day. The third policy was for property insurance, $176,600.00 liability and $161,600.00 for building and equipment. The cost is $6,825.00 per year plus $2277.00 for when the building was being put up. The fourth policy was the non-owned and hired auto liability, 1 million and is $450.00/yrar. The fifth policy is the director and officer liability for suits, no accident or property damage. Cost is $1815.00 per year. Discussion on what it covers and if it is needed. There are three (3) land use permit bonds for Barstow, Salt Lake City and Tooele County at $100.00 for each year. The last one is the Workers Compensation (State) for the BNI Office. Tiny Roberts is also on the binder. Cost is $200.00 per year. Roy said that the fire insurance is too high, all agreed, discussion. The fire risk is high, the building is remote and has no fire protection. The extra $2277.00 was for the construction phase of the building. Russ Eyres said that he had experienced that also with an unattended building with no service. Since SCTA has stuff stored in places that are separated it is hard to get any kind of deal, Dana said that the trailers are the big problem. Dave Parks asked about installing sprinklers, the building does not have a gravity fed water system and would have to depend on a pump for the pressure. The best plan is to look for cheaper fire insurance, possibly do self insurance, discussion. El Mirage Procedures - Roy said that each club has received 10 copies and can get more if needed. The procedures are on the web and all drivers will get a copy at the May meet. The remaining Procedures will be in the Registration trailer. There was one error, the appendix says 2007 and should be 2008. Uniform Penalty Committee - Pat Riley reported that the committee had met last week and made a list of penalties for rules infractions during course preparation, course walk, course set up, during the race meet and after the meet. Take back to the clubs and look over, will vote on the penalties at the next meeting. The committee members were: Gene Barbee, Skip Hedrich, Bobby Sykes, Tom Evans, Steve Davies, and Jim Travis. Lonnie Martin was also on the committee but was not at the meeting. El Mirage Services - The outhouse service will be the same as last year with the same rate except there will be a $100.00 surcharge for fuel per event. Judy Sights made a motion to accept the contract, Mike Manghelli seconded. Motion carried. Ambulance/Fire Truck, the rate last year was $155/ hour for both, the rate this year will be $195.00/ hour. SCTA was not charged last year for October and November meets, discussion. Symons Emergency may be the only game in town, Roy has looked around for other services, the service is an Advanced Life Support (SLS) vehicle with an EMT and nurse or other medical person and a Fire Truck with two people and extrication equipment, discussion. Jim Lattin said that he would like to call next to see if could get a better deal, discussion. Keith Davis has moved to Bishop but did promise better service. Jim Travis suggested going with the Symons Service, discussion. Russ Eyres made a motion to authorize Roy Creel to sign the contract after Jim Lattin talks to them. Mike Manghelli seconded. Mike Cook suggested going with Symons for the service. Motion carried. Friends of El Mirage/BLM - Lonnie Martin reported that March 12 was the official ground breaking for the BLM Visitors Center. The cost is to be about $800,000.00 from the Parks and Recreation funds. Also, the Friends of El Mirage clean days will be May 3 and 4 2008. There will be a T-shirt with the logos as before, discussion. Mike Manghelli made a motion to give the Friends of El Mirage the $100.00 to have the SCTA logo on the shirt, Don Ferguson III seconded. Motion carried. Some clubs also donate the monies to have their logos on the shirt. Lonnie passed out flyers for the Clean up days. Ron Main said that he would have some of his club's members go to the clean-up and then do trailer maintenance after. Need a good showing. There will be a lunch on Saturday. Car Tech- The inspectors training session will be on April 12, 2008 at Doug Robinson's shop, 47 Fulton Ave, Pasadena. Alan Fogliadini not here tonight, went to Maxon. Lee Kennedy is working on an equivalency chart for light wall tubing. The tubes are not big enough for most applications, Russ said that there was also a chart for aluminum tubing, discussion. Jim Miller gave the background on the car. Dick Russell Engine - Russ Eyres gave the background on the V4 and V4 engine classes. Russ sent out 58 inquiries on the engines legality, have received 23 back, 10 this week, letters and e-mails. The next Board meeting is the deadline for comments.
Motorcycle Tech - Tom Evans explained the background on the change to the electric motorcycle rules. Tom had contacted other electric bike groups, mostly drag racing. NHRA has a large number of classes. The Omega class is any other type of propulsion cycle that is not an Otto cycle (4 stroke motor) . In order to reduce the number of classes from 8 to 2, it was decided to only have streamlined and partially streamlined classes for the Omega class, discussion. Jim Dunn made a motion to accept the rules as written. Mike Manghelli seconded. Dale Martin said that there were not any electric production bikes. Ron Main said that there were electric motorcycles for sale now, discussion. Someone asked if there were any electric bikes running, Tom said that there were 3 home build bikes that have entered the class. Motion carried, J D Tone commented on the number of classes that would have been created. Tom was reprimanded and told not to make unauthorized changes again.
Rule Book Ad Sales - Judy Sights said that all but four had paid for the ads. And they will be paid by the end of the month. Speedweek TV - Roy said that KOCE, the Orange County Public Service TV was going to air the movie that was made in 2005 on Saturday (tomorrow) at 4:00 pm and on Sunday at 2:30 pm. Open Discussion - Van Butler ask if there would be fuel at the lakes? Contact Les Leggitt. Mike Cook asked if anyone had been contacted by NHRA about an exhibit that was to be on June 7th at the museum? No one had been contacted. Roy was asked by JoAnn if it was OK if an SCTA member handed out cards at the lake bed about doing welding, discussion? All that had ads in the Rule Book/Racing News said get an ad. Catering at the lakebed? Roy will contact the caterer about being at the meets. Course preparation duty, May 10 Gold Coast Roasters and Gear Grinders. BLM fees will start in October, $75.00 for the year, $15.00 a day. Monument for Visitors Center - Some one asked about the monument, Jim Lattin is working on project. Meeting adjourned at 9:05pm.

Thank you for your reply concerning the Opel Kadet gasser. I found the car in Ohio. It was being advertised on the Internet as Jr Thompson's gasser, but it had been repainted and had a BBC in the car. When we arrived at the place where the car was located we found it was in a disassembled condition and in rough shape. I knew that it was Jr's car because of the door latches and the unique lump on the hood that covered the blower pulley. After 4 hours of intense negotiating with the seller we agreed on a price and we loaded it up, with the help of Jimmy Tinsmith from 'Tinny's Hotrods' who had accompiand me on the trip and we headed back to Pennsylvania. The first thing I did when I got the car home was to strip it down to the frame and start to find out just how bad it was. To make a long story short it needed to have everything replaced so it came completely apart and I sand blasted the chassis and shot some paint on it so it would not rust. The bare chassis then went to 'Tinny's Hotrods' for upgrades, brackets, engine mounts etc. While that was being done I took the front and rear axles and suspension parts to be rechromed. It then came back to my shop for assembly. I installed new disc rear brakes, made up new lines and mounted a new master cylinder. The car never had front brakes. The chassis had been built originally by Chuck Finders who also chopped the top 2 1/2 inches on the fiberglass trends body. When I started to strip the blue paint off the body I found the original candy apple paint underneath. I then took the car out to Bonneville racer E. J. Kowolski who did a fantastic job of recreating the original aluminum interior with NHRA approved material. East coast nostalgia drag racer Rocky Perrone rebuilt a tranmission for the car and Tinny made the drive shaft and checked over the pumpkin. I installed new Moser 31 tooth axles and a new Moser spool. The car was then sent to the body shop for the smooth and paint number. It was then lettered by Jim The Painter who duplicated the original gold leaf and most of the decals that were on the car when Jr ran it so that it looked exactly like it did in the day. I purchased a 5/8 stroker early Hemi from one of the racers that raced on my Nostalgia dragrace circuit. The engine was completely rebuilt By N.T. racing in Summerset N.J. and was finished off with with a polished 671 blower and a chrome plated 4 port Hilborn injector and scoop. Unfortunately the engine was not correctly assembled by N. T. and the exhaust valves hit the pistons and then broke off and came out the Tinny's hotrods built headers. I offered the car to Don Garlits for his museum and he agreed to buy the car from me when Jr's son, Tommy, called me and said that he would like to purchase the car for his father for his 75th birthday. I called Big and told him about Tommy's request and he said go ahead and sell it to him. The car was shipped via a car carrier service from my home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, to Jr's home with no engine in it and that is how he came to own the car that he first raced in partnership with Big John back in 1968. I rebuilt the engine with all new parts and it is currently for sale on the Hotrod Hotline site if any of your readers need a piece to get them in the 2 club in. I am sure this 470ci monster would do the trick. Charlie Gilmore, Bedminster PA, 18910.
Charlie: Thank you for the story of the restoration of the Junior Thompson Gasser. It's histories like these that keep our heritage alive.

Do you have any info on Bob Joehnck? He is a good friend of mine and is one of the guys that started racing after WW2. Thanks. Tim Tuthill   
Tim: The last time I saw Bob was at his shop in Santa Barbara, maybe 7 years ago. I don't happen to have his address or phone number, but you might be able to find out from Mary West or Tim Rochlinger. I sent your request to Mary and perhaps she will email you with any information. Joehnck was very important in early dry lakes racing after the war. He and my father started negotiations with Vandenberg AFB into letting the land speed racers use part of their facility for a few runs. Jack Mendenhall took over and got the approval. We even formed a timing association, which we called the NATA, or North American Timing Association, with Jack Mendenhall as president, Barry Schulman as counsel, Don Edwards as treasurer, myself as secretary and Chuck Small as vice-president. The NATA failed to keep Vandenberg AFB as a racing site due to the high cost of insurance, the distance that we lived from the base, more usage by the military/private contractors and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Joehnck's place was very important to the racing community in the Santa Barbara and Santa Maria areas and he is respected by all the racers. 

Great stuff, Richard. Would love to join, Land Speed Racing Historians. Thomas McGinnity, See www.newyorkboys.org.
Thomas: The SLSRH is free to join, but we aren't really a club. We are independent historians and history buffs who are compiling, saving and rescuing land speed racing and hot rodding history. We ask that those who are interested write their own biographies and share them as their first step. Later on we would ask our "members," to write, photograph and save the history of others around them who have passed away or who are reticent to write their own history. Many other groups do the same thing, such as the American Hot Rod Foundation, owned by George Memesian. All you have to do is log in to www.landspeedracing.com to request an emailed newsletter be sent to you, or go to that or other websites to see the photographs and read the back issues of the newsletter. The newsletter is only as successful as the people who are sending in history and biographies to us. There is no commercialization of our group and www.landspeedracing.com has extended us the free usage of their site to us as well as space on their other website, www.hotrodhotline.com, which also has a free "Memorabilia" swapmeet/auction section. Other websites offering links and interesting subjects on land speed racing and hot rodding include; www.landspeedproductions.biz, http://www.landracing.com, www.speedrecordclub.com, http://www.ahrf.com/video.php, and www.Autobooks-Aerobooks.com.

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Links to other land speed and hotrodding websites:
www.landspeedproductions.biz, http://www.landracing.com, www.speedrecordclub.com,
http://www.ahrf.com/video.php, www.hotrodhotline.com,
www.landspeedracing.com, www.Autobooks-Aerobooks.com

Members:

Jonathan Amo, Brett Arena, Henry Astor, Gale Banks, Glen Barrett, Mike Bastian, Lee Blaisdell, Jim Bremner, Warren Bullis, George Callaway, Gary Carmichael, John Backus, John Chambard, Jerry Cornelison, G. Thatcher Darwin, Jack Dolan, Ugo Fadini, Bob Falcon, Rich Fox, Glenn Freudenberger, Don Garlits, Bruce Geisler, Stan Goldstein, Andy Granatelli, Walt James, Wendy Jeffries, Ken Kelley, Mike Kelly, Bret Kepner, Kay Kimes, Jim Lattin, Mary Ann and Jack Lawford, Fred Lobello, Dick Martin, Ron Martinez, Tom McIntyre, Don McMeekin, Bob McMillian, Tom Medley, Jim Miller, Don Montgomery, Bob Morton, Mark Morton, Paula Murphy, Louise Ann Noeth, Frank Oddo, David Parks, Richard Parks, Wally Parks (in memoriam), Eric Rickman, Willard Ritchie, Roger Rohrdanz, Evelyn Roth, Ed Safarik, Frank Salzberg, Dave Seely, Charles Shaffer, Mike Stanton, David Steele, Doug Stokes, Bob Storck, Zach Suhr, Maggie Summers, Gary Svoboda, Pat Swanson, Al Teague, JD Tone, Jim Travis, Randy Travis, Jack Underwood and Tina Van Curen, Richard Venza.

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