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NEWSLETTER 58 - May 8, 2008
Editor: Richard Parks [email protected]

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President's Corner: By Jim Miller (1-818-846-5139)
  I was doing some checking up on AAA runs at Bonneville in the early fifties and the beginnings of the Grant Piston Rings' sponsored Bonneville 200 mph club. As a reference I pulled out a current Speedweek Program to check 2-club speeds/dates and noticed some of the listed speeds didn't jive with the results. The 2-club has all the driver's picture, date and speed listed that the gained entry in the club with in the program so I had to figure out what was wrong. The driver/speed that was out of whack belonged to old Stateline drinking buddy and land speed legend Leroy Neumayer. Seems he went x speed at speedweek and x speed at a AAA event and they listed his fastest speed in the program and not his original slower entry speed. Problem solved. The 2-club also has honorary members who set records above 200 mph at other venues besides Bonneville. Men like Segrave, Campbell, Caracciola, Gardner and Green. I called my friend Dan Warner who takes care of the 2-club stats and told him about the Leroy goof for a fix. I then asked him about the other unacknowledged heroes that had also broken records over 200 mph. It looks like adding someone to the list has to come from within the club. I've taken it upon myself to list some of the forgotten speed heroes. Ray Keech, April 22, 1928, 207.552 mph in the flying mile. Tazio Nuvolari, June 16, 1935, 200.781 mph in the flying mile. Bernd Rosemeyer, June 16, 1937, 242.261 mph in the flying mile. For a moment think about these runs. Ray was on the sands at Daytona. Tazio was on a road between Firenze and Lucca in Italy that harked back to days of early Rome. And Bernd was on a two-laned section of the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt. These guys had guts. There are other people that have run over record speeds but they ended up killing themselves, but that's another story for another day. I'm off my soapbox again for a little while.

Editorial: Recently there have been some deaths in our racing community and while we are saddened by their passing, we realized a double loss in that we had wanted to interview them and couldn't find the time. It hurts even more, because we will never have the opportunity to hear their stories and know their life history. The same thing happened with my father. He was going to write his biography, but just never got around to it, or probably never wanted to write it. I've written some biographies and articles, about 250 so far, some about people and some about events and book reviews. The problem is that there are hundred of thousands of interesting people to write about and there is simply NO TIME for Jim Miller and I, among others, to write on them all. We do the best that we can, but it simply isn't good enough and will never be adequate for our stated goal of saving our heritage and history. We need your help. We need each and every one of you to write your life's history. Then we need each of you to go out and write about someone you know about in racing. Someone who is a friend, or fellow racer, or perhaps a complete stranger, but one you have admired. It doesn't have to be an opus or trilogy of a thousand pages. It can be just one, two or three pages in length. You don't have to be a writer, poet or artiste. You simply have to ask the questions and record the answers. Here's a format for you to start with and you can change or alter your questions as you wish.
a) Where did your family come from; your parents and grandparents and what did they do for a living?
b) Where were you born and where did you grow up? What elementary, junior high and high school did you attend?
c) Did you take any shop classes, while you were in school? Name your friends, especially those interested in racing.
d) Did you join any car clubs or work on or own a car, or a race car, or work as a crewman on a race car while in school?
e) What kind of jobs did you have as a young person while growing up? What kinds of hobbies and interests did you have?
f) What did you do after graduation? Did you join the military? Were you drafted? Did you fight in the war?
g) What kind of racing did you get involved in? Did you own a racecar, drive a racecar or work as a crewman? 
h) Who were some of your friends that were involved in racing with you? Name and describe them.
i) Tell us about your family, your wife and children. Were they involved in racing?
j) What kind of work did you find after you left school? Was it racing related employment?
k) Are you retired from racing? What are you doing today?
This is just a format to use and you can change your questions as you see fit. Copy the questions and give the sheets out to those you wish to interview and have them start to write down their histories, then help them along with additional questions. Aim for at least three pages, which doesn't seem like a lot, but you can tell a very good story in three pages. Don't forget the personal stories that people have to tell. We want more than just history, dates, events and names. We want some of those rib tickling stories that goes on in bench racing. We call them Ak-isms, after the great Ak Miller, who could turn any event into an epic story. Stories define who we are and what we believe in, so don't forget to record them as well, even if the truthfulness is not quite known for certain. Then send what you have to Jim or to me and we will publish them.

Bernard Li August 2, 1946 - May 3, 2008
Bernard Li (62), founder of Eagle One Car Care Products, tragically passed away Saturday May 3rd as a result of injuries received in a single motorcycle accident on Highway 260, just outside of Springerville Arizona. Springerville is near Eager, Arizona, in the Eastern Arizona area. The accident happened at approximately 10:30 Saturday morning. The cause of the accident is unknown and there were no witnesses. Barney, to his friends, was a life time motorcycle enthusiast and entrepreneur. In addition to his highly successful Eagle One Company, Barney also created Wheels of Fortune Motorcycles, a Yamaha dealership in Carson, California. His dream was to recreate the Vincent Motorcycle brand and he had developed several exciting prototypes of the reincarnated icon. Mr Li is survived by his wife Elizabeth, his two sons Justin and Darren, his daughter Nikki and brother Jerry. Gary Bryson, a long time friend of Barney's was also on the ride. He said, "We don't know the cause of the accident, but we do know that he was doing what he loved to do and that's ride his Motorcycles." Barney was an experienced rider, having ridden motorcycles since his college days. We may never know what caused this tragedy, but we know he will be missed by his friends and family, as well as his many business associates. The memorial services for Bernard Li will be held on Thursday, May 8th at the El Camino Memorial and Mortuary. The service will begin at 1:00 and a viewing will be held prior to the service at 12:30. El Camino Memorial and Mortuary is located at 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego, CA, 92121.  From Doug Dwyer

I just got a call from Las Vegas... A good guy, a friend of mine from Pocatello Idaho that ran the "Century Speed Shop" in Pocatello in the 50'ties died in Vegas. He had moved to Vegas and opened a machine shop. I'll get some more details when I go to Vegas. Oh, Terry Roche was his name...a pioneer in racing! Scrub Hansen
Reverend: Can you do a short biography on Terry for us?
Editor's notes: Additional information just received. Terry Lee Roche, age 78, passed away on Sunday, April 27, 2008, at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was born October 4, 1929, in Pocatello, Idaho, the child of Oliver G. and Leola Toyer Roche. Terry grew up in Pocatello, Idaho and attended Pocatello High School and Idaho State College. Terry was active in skiing during the 1940's and '50's throughout the state. He was also interested in automotive racing and started a small parts business and muffler shop. He opened Century Speed Shop in Pocatello, Idaho. He was a member of SEIRA (Southeastern Idaho Racing Association) that operatered the drag strip in Pocatello in the '50'ies. In 1959, Terry moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and owned and operated several businesses. In 1985, Terry and his son Kevin, opened Engine Masters Machine Shop, building racing engines until 1990, when Terry retired. Until recently, you could still find Terry rebuilding an engine or two in his hobby shop. Terry was very active in drag racing and built a few dragsters and funny cars to run in competition at the NHRA racing events. Terry attended many of the Nostalgic Races at Bakersfield, California and Boise, Idaho and was an honorary pit crew member of the Winged Express Racing team. Sent in by the Reverend Scrub Hansen

Editor's notes; The following are stories about Chuck Daigh, who passed away recently.
a) Chuck Daigh watchers: Neither Scarab qualified for Monte Carlo in 1960. Only 16 starters were allowed in those days because of an FIA formula that specified how many starters there could be according to the length of the course. There were 8 cars that DNQ that year in Monaco. The only GPs the Scarabs started in were Spa, where the fastest one (Reventlow), was 19.7 seconds off the pole and both DNF. Daigh started at Riverside (USGP), 8.2 seconds off pole and finished 10th, 5 laps behind. The Scarab's other attempts at GP racing were at Holland where both DNQ and France, where both Ginther and Daigh blew their engines in practice. When they packed up after that, it was to ship the cars home. Daigh did get a ride in a Cooper that year at the British GP, qualifying 7.8 off pole and DNF. Michael T. Lynch, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Michael: Chuck Daigh was a good friend of the family and we will miss him. It was my intention to go by his shop and interview him. Chuck was interviewed before and is mentioned in many articles, but there is always something new to learn by asking someone your own unique questions. I missed that opportunity, like so many others who have passed on before we could ask them to write their stories. Many of you have written about your life and others, but some of you haven't. Every biography and every story that is NOT done is a loss to your families and to the racing community. If you don't have an outlet to tell your story, please send it to me and I will post it on www.landspeedracing.com, www.hotrodhotline.com, www.ahrf.com or any of the other fine websites that try and save the heritage and history of oval, road, drag, land speed racing or hot rodding. Our group is called the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians and we preserve hot rodding and land speed history and stories. We also save auto racing history in general. We are not alone in doing this and we share with other groups and are non-commercial. The only way we will know about Chuck Daigh is if his friends tell us stories about him. Sadly, the only way I will ever know many things about my own father is if others tell me their experiences of him, since he never finished his book that we all encouraged him to write. Even if you don't make your life story available to the public, please write your history and leave it for your family. Your story is a part of your family's heritage, and in a way, it is also part of the racing world's heritage too.
b) I forgot to mention that Chuck Daigh worked for Frank Arciero in 1963-64. Chuck rebuilt the Coventry Climax four cylinder motor in the old Lotus 19 and won a professional race with the mid-engined car. He also finished second to Skip Hudson's V8 powered car at the Riverside USRRC professional race. Ron Cummings
c) Yes, Both of them (Daigh & Ginther?) found the oil starvation problem. They were perplexed because the oil pressure gauges showed pressure but they could smell the bearing burning. Much later, when Chuck was rebuilding the F1 engine for Ali Lugo he found that an oil gallery had not been drilled large enough and his comment was, “I guess it was the largest long drill they had.” Even when Chuck finished the race at Riverside he didn’t know about the problem, but was saved by the fact that his RPM was limited to 6,000 (rather than the racing 7,000) because of low fuel pressure when he pushed it over 6k. He told me that he drove that race by the fuel pressure gauge and that if he had been able to run at 7 grand he would have burnt the bearings again. He did tell me that a hot shot pilot (didn’t mention a name) was to come by wearing his orange suit and Chuck asked him to get him one. The guy brought one with him the next time and Chuck said, “where’s my name!?” So the guy had to take it back. Lance had been wearing the light blue Dunlop driving suit but changed to Chuck’s jet suit. Bill Krueger
d) Probably will serve as the research for a piece in The Land Speed Newsletter. Bob Falcon Bob: I hope so. Chuck Daigh was everywhere and he influenced so many people with his driving and his mechanical abilities. Daigh's experiences in road racing and the Panamericana Road Race were fascinating. Another Mexican Road Racer was Ak Miller. Some of the historical material has been published, but the stories that they told of the perils and hardships are very entertaining.
e) Chuck Daigh had so many stories and it is hard to accept the fact that this is the end of all he could have shared. Best regards, Bill Krueger, Sustaining Engineering, National Oilwell Varco, Orange, California. Bill: Some of those stories can be recovered. It won't be easy, but if enough people tell the same story, we can make out the general truths to the tale and bring it back for others to enjoy.
f) Chuck Daigh didn't actually drive in the French Grand Prix in 1960. He and Richie Ginther blew the engines in the two Scarabs and were DNF. A great guy who did it his own way. He was always kind of a preppie dresser, yet raced in that wierd orange driving suit. I kidded him about it and he told me that Chuck Yeager who first broke the speed of sound gave it to him. Michael T. Lynch Michael: Chuck, Buck Smith and Callahan used to go to lunch all the time at this dinky little Mexican restaurant over in Costa Mesa. Chuck had this droll sense of humor, a dry English wit they say. He would torment Buck and the other two would return the favor. Since I was younger than they were, it was difficult to follow along with their stories. Smith raced a lot of boats and built them, but he was also an inventor and car guy and so were the other two. You often saw the three of them at events. Chuck was also close to Dave Kleeman and Mike 'GoGo' Golightly, who helped Daigh with his projects and racing, one of which was a streamliner that he had been building for years in his shop and was finished just prior to his death. Like so many other racers, Daigh went wherever there was some action. He raced on the dry lakes, went road course racing and helped others in various automotive sports. He was frugal with words, but he always made them count and his humor was infectious.

Few if any dry lakes stuff. I got down here in mid 1950's. Eric Rickman
Eric: Readers, I asked Eric Rickman what his memories of the early dry lakes and Bonneville were like. I'm sure that Eric has some stories to tell us. He is a Hall of Fame photographer.

I was sorry to hear about Eichenhofer's passing, but have a question. I note the word "official" in the text about him being the first to go over 200mph at El Mirage. It has always been my understanding that the first person to break the 200mph barrier at El Mirage was Otto Ryssman. I spoke with Otto, at length about this issue at a Gas Up Party two or three years ago. Apparently, when he made his run for which he received a timing slip, it didn't get put in the "book," or something like that. I recall mentioning the incident while giving an acceptance speech for Jim Culbert, when Jim was inducted into the DLRHOF. Otto was sitting in the front row and I told the assemblage that it was high time Otto got credit for his achievement. Apparently nobody paid attention. I mention this only because I respected Otto highly and think that he should get the credit he deserves. Bob McMillian
Bob: One of the areas that we are curious about and have brought up in the past is this; WHO is the custodian of records for the various sanctioning bodies? We know that the FIA in Paris keeps certain records. We know that NASCAR, NHRA and SCTA also keep records. The National Dragster is always quoting statistics similar to the Policeman's Gazette. But have we ever seen the records? One of the most important jobs that any official group does is keep the records and enforce the rules. So many timing, drag and oval track organizations have gone out of business that it is hard to know who did what and when. Perhaps we can take over the record keeping and restore the records, bit by bit until we once again can say without any hesitation who did what, when, why, where and how.

Rick Rawlins as Ed Winfield e1

Photo attached of Rick Rawlins as Ed Winfield, on the new exhibit. Coker Tire/Honest Charley Anniversary Exhibit Set to Open, "A Tribute to American Ingenuity" honors specialty tire maker and historic speed shop. A special "double exhibit" highlighting the anniversaries of two iconic automotive aftermarket companies will open May 7 at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Called "A Tribute to American Ingenuity," the new exhibit will honor the 60th anniversary of Honest Charley Speed Shop as well as the 50th anniversary of Coker Tire. The exhibit runs through November 16, 2008. The May 7 opening is in conjunction with the Museum's monthly Prolong® Twilight Cruise Night. "The long, colorful history of these two legendary companies will be a real treat to see," said Tony Thacker, executive director of the Parks Museum. "Both had major influences on the hot rod and racing industries," he added. "My family and I are honored that the NHRA has decided to help us celebrate our golden anniversary at the fantastic Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum," Corky Coker said. "Wally Parks helped legitimize the car hobby and was one of the first staffers at Hot Rod Magazine. Honest Charley Card was one of Hot Rod's first advertisers, and Coker has been supporting car guys since its inception, so it's a great fit and we're very excited." Harold Coker started the Coker Tire Company in 1958. Coker had the vision of making rare and obsolete tires commercially available to antique car collectors. This vision came from firsthand knowledge of the needs of the car collector and hobbyist, as he himself was one among their ranks. Having collected and restored cars for years, he recognized the need for this specialty area that his fellow hobbyists had so often demanded. In 1974, Harold's son Corky was handed the reigns of the antique tire company. The vintage tires represented less than five percent of the company's total tire business. Today, Coker Tire is the world's largest and most prominent supplier of antique and classic tires for automobiles, trucks and motorcycles. Corky Coker also had a hand in reviving Honest Charley, one of the first speed shops in America. "Honest" Charley Card established the store in 1948 in the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It featured a unique combination of automotive, performance and custom accessories and worldwide distribution of the humorous Honest Charley catalogs. Honest Charley was one of the first advertisers featured in Hot Rod Magazine. It was one of the first speed shops with coast-to-coast distribution, and one of the first computerized automotive businesses. "Honest" was a fixture at both Daytona and at Indy for many years. He retired in late 1970. In 1998, the Honest Charley name and trademarks were acquired by Coker. The store is now located within the Coker Tire Complex in historic downtown Chattanooga. The exhibit will feature rare photos, catalogs, artifacts and memorabilia from the rich history of the two companies, according to Greg Sharp, curator of the Parks Museum. Several significant vehicles will be on display, including:
-- The Double Exposure '32 Ford roadster
-- The '37 Buick Schaffer "Great Race" roadster
-- Honest Charley V8-60 motorcycle
-- Ed Winfield's Model T racer - one of the most famous T racers ever
-- Sam Barris' '49 Merc - arguably the most famous Merc customs of all time.
-- "Jungle Jim" Lieberman's Camaro Funny Car, sponsored by Honest Charley
-- The Tommy Ivo/Bruce Larson Top Fuel dragster, famous for its spectacular fiery crash at the 1974 NHRA Winternationals. 
More new exhibits coming to the Parks Museum in '08 include:
.    Trophy Queens, a photo exhibit on the glamour girls of racing, runs Aug. 2 through August 2009.
.    Ford Racing Tribute honoring 60 years of NASCAR opens Aug. 27 and runs through Mar. 1, 2009.
Currently on display at the Parks Museum:
.    Celebrating 60 Years of Hot Rod Magazine: through October 2008
.    Bakersfield: A Salute to the March Meet - 50 years of Racing: through August 2008
.    70th anniversary of the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California: A retrospective of the historic association which continues to sanction land speed record racing. Through June 2008. 
  Named for the founder of the National Hot Rod Association, the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California houses the very roots of hot rodding. Scores of famous vehicles spanning American motorsports history are on display, including winning cars representing 50 years of drag racing, dry lakes and salt-flat racers, oval track challengers and exhibits describing their colorful backgrounds. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm, PST. Current NHRA members are admitted free. Admission for non-members is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors 60 and older, $5 for juniors six through 15, and free for children under the age of five. The Museum is also available for special group tours. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is located at Fairplex Gate 1, 1101 W. McKinley Ave. in Pomona. For further information on special exhibits, museum events or directions, call 909/622-2133 or visit http://museum.nhra.com.  Bill Groak

Yes, my dad (Tony Berardini) died on April 29, 1975, at the veteran's hospital in Long Beach, California. My dad was the brother who started the race team. I love my uncle to death, but it was my dad who orchestrated the team. My uncle Pat has gotten most of the credit for the success of the team, (God bless him) but Tony was THE MAN! He was approximately 14 years older in those days (1950-1956) than Pat and it took a little doing to get Pat completely convinced to be a full time player. But he came around and he indeed was great at what he did. Call me selfish, but I just wish Dad could have been here a little longer to get his due. You might say I'm kind of a chip off the old block, I won the 2003 Good-Guys Hot Rod division at Pomona. Still race at Super Chevy & other P.S.C.A. events. I have a '67 Impala that run's 10:97 @ 121.62 M.P.H. Carlo J. Berardini 55
Carlo: The Berardini Brothers seemed to be everywhere in the early days of drag racing. I will post my story on the history of the Brothers in the next issue of the Newsletter. Write down your dad's history and share it with us and include your history too.

Gone Racin’ with the Berardini Brothers
Click Above for Story by Richard Parks, photographs by Roger Rohrdanz

If you can get a copy of “The Rodder's Journal #14” there is a great article called, “The Goleta Drags Scrapbook”. Interviews with all the guys that made it go. Bob Joehnck, we go about, A quarter mile, when asked. He was the ramrod, being the older guy in the group. I tried to get additional copies, but they were out. Give it a try. If you can get some, let me know. He signed mine. Tim Tuthill

I guess that the biggest problem is that record keeping at the dry lakes in the early days was hit or miss. I guess that is what happened with Otto's run. One of my brother SDRC members is the current SCTA Secretary. I can ask him about who takes care of the records and where they are. It would be a task, but all of the older documents could be scanned and archived in computer files. We are currently doing that with early Roadster Club minutes, etc. 
Re Lobello: I am planning on doing his story and Jack Harvey's, hopefully next week. I am working up a form to make sure I get all the info I need. I will probably finish it this evening and I will email it to you for your approval. Bob McMillian

Sorry about that draft that got away from me on the Land speed car. I didn't even get to spell check it. Lets try that again. Thanks for the updates. I enjoy the wide variety of articles you guys do. I was wondering if you have done anything on the North American Eagles ride? They are going for the Land speed record soon and need more exposure. I think you could help them a lot if you gave them a plug on your site. The team in a bunch of Americans and Canadians that have got together and have put together a cool set of wheels. The goal is to go 800 mph. I can hook you up with Ed (the Driver). See http://www.twispnapa.zoomshare.com/. Dwain and Erika Hutson, Twisp, Washington
Dwain and Erika: Welcome to our group. I'm the editor and all the content comes directly to me or to our President, Jim Miller, to answer and process for the newsletter. Our goals are to preserve history, to encourage our members to write their biographies and caption their photos and to pass their memorabilia on to family and museums so that land speed racing and hot rodding can be saved for the future. We also comment on current events in hot rodding and land speed racing and if you go to www.landspeedracing.com and read the back issues you will see the scope of our research so far and the photographs that we have found, captioned and made public. We have received word on the efforts of the North American Eagle project and in every instance we have mentioned it in the newsletter. If you don't see any updates in the current issues, it is because nothing was reported to me. The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians (SLSRH) Newsletter is a simple format, whatever news is reported goes into that weeks issue in the order that it was received, except that obituaries usually go first. Membership is free and the newsletter is distributed in two parts, the first is an emailed issue to about 245 members and the second source is an on-line website (www.landspeedracing.com), which is owned and operated by Jack and Mary Ann Lawford in Boise, Idaho. They also own www.hotrodhotline.com, which is their business and provides them with the revenue to operate the land speed racing website. We also have a great deal of information on www.hotrodhotline.com, especially book reviews, so be sure to look it up and go to Guest Columnists. Without their support, we could not reach as many people as we could. The SLSRH is not in competition with any other website or group. We work with these other groups, commercial and non-commercial in an effort to save our automotive history and heritage. We are a completely volunteer group and have lost a few members who write and photograph for a living. We are not opposed in any form to our members making a living from history or the buying and selling of memorabilia. We only ask that collections be made known to researchers and studied and written about. If you have a story, biography, photographs or other facts to share with us, you can submit it to me or to Jim Miller. We are all historians in this group, some though are professionals and some are amateurs. The difference is not in quality, but whether one gets paid in dollars or just satisfaction in seeing history preserved. In this matter, Jim is a professional and I am an amateur automotive historian, though I have a degree from a University in History. Write in whenever you wish. We publish everything that is sent to us. Some editing is necessary though.

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.

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)

I just want to say what a fine and valuable letter you have written here. Everyone should read it and take it to heart. I am writing articles all the time, and know how important it is to add to our histories and biographies. I didn't know you were heavily into land speed histories. I worked for a number of years with Craig Breedlove and wrote the ABC TV special (1968) on his life on the salt. Also, it was my father's HRD that Rollie Free rode at Bonneville for the record in 1948. My friend Jerry Hatfield has just written a marvelous biography of Rollie titled "Flat Out" which you probably know. A number of photos from my archive appear in that book. I didn't know Chuck that well, though he did drive sports cars a couple of times for my father. I'll be in touch soon concerning some of those bits of history. I was (at)...Black Rock...only two days...while making a film on Craig's (Breedlove) SOA (spirit of America) jetcar during its construction. Will Edgar
Will: The Bonneville Salt Flats, prior to 1949, was reserved for the European land speeders and those who leased the lakebed. Cobb was there in 1947 and it was his influence that attracted the attention of my father and other members of the SCTA at the time. In 1947 the Southern California hot rodders went to see Cobb race. My father lobbied the SCTA to try and race on the salt. In 1948, he convinced a young Robert Petersen and Marvin Lee to go with him to see Ab Jenkins and try and get a lease for the lake bed. Ab was the Mayor of Salt Lake City, and a great spokesperson for Utah and the tourist industry, long before anyone thought of tourism. He put in a good word with the Chamber of Commerce and the "Southern California Hot Rodders" got a one year lease to run on the salt in 1949, but the Chamber of Commerce was worried about the "Southern California troublemakers" and put them on probation. It was a one year deal and if they caused any trouble at all they wouldn't be invited back. They've been running the salt ever since. Any stories that you have on what happened in 1948 or before would be very much appreciated. In this week's newsletter is an editorial for the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians, which can be found on www.landspeedracing.com, a free site made available to us by Jack and Mary Ann Lawford, who own www.hotrodhotline.com. The websites also do book reviews. Daigh raced at the dry lakes just after the war, and just maybe before. I did security at Black Rock for Craig, the year the Brits set the record. Seven weeks out there and some of the guys never recovered, but they wouldn't have missed it. Our goal is to save and share as much as we can on all forms of motorsports racing, but there are too few of us writing and recording, so we reach out to everyone and encourage them to write their own history first, then do their family's and friends.

mooneyes1

Latest news from the Parks NHRA Museum is that they are sending 11 cars to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England. Attached is a photo of the “Mooneyes” dragster in England in 1963. It and Mickey Thompson's “Harvey Aluminum Special” were the first American dragsters shipped to England. The “Mooneyes” dragster is one of the 11 going back this July for Goodwood, 45 years later. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE POMONA, California (May 2, 2008) - The relationship between the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by Automobile Club of Southern California, and the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed continues to prosper.

The Museum has been supplying cars to the event for a few years, according to Tony Thacker, executive director of the Parks Museum. "We took Ak Miller's “El Caballo” over in 2005," he said, "and last year we shipped the Mickey Thompson “Challenger” along with several other significant land speed record holders. This year, it's the turn of the dragsters so we're coordinating the shipment of 11 cars." The 3-day festival runs from July 11-13 and is held at the Goodwood House in West Sussex, England. Thacker said the first American dragsters shipped to England were the “Mooneyes” dragster and Mickey Thompson's “Harvey Aluminum Special” in 1963. "My dad took me to see them and I'm honored to be a part of this celebration of American horsepower. And the “Mooneyes” dragster will be a part of the team returning 45 years after it first raced in the UK."
Other dragsters taking part in the "cricket pitch" display, which will give a snapshot of the history of Top Fuel drag racing, include: Art Chrisman's #25 car, the “Glass Slipper”, Chrisman's “Hustler I”, Tommy Ivo's “Barnstormer” and 4-engined “Showboat”, the “Howard Cams Rattler”, “The Addict”, the “Beebe & Mulligan” car and the “Over The Hill Gang” car. It is also expected that "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, who raced in England several times, will ship a car as well. "To display the land speed cars, Goodwood built a replica of the Bonneville Salt Flats using ground marble imported from Spain," said Thacker. "This year they plan to recreate an early dragstrip, much like Lions, and 'cackle' the dragsters several times throughout the festival. It should be pretty spectacular. For more information about the Goodwood Festival, visit www.goodwood.co.uk. Celebrating its 10th anniversary and named for the founder of the National Hot Rod Association, the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California houses the very roots of hot rodding. Scores of famous vehicles spanning American motorsports history are on display, including winning cars representing 50 years of drag racing, dry lakes and salt-flat racers, oval track challengers and exhibits describing their colorful backgrounds. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm, PST. Current NHRA members are admitted free and Auto Club members enjoy a $2 discount. Admission for non-members is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors 60 and older, $5 for juniors six through 15, and free for children under the age of five. The Museum is also available for private parties, meetings, corporate events, weddings and special group tours. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is located at Fairplex Gate 1, 1101 W. McKinley Avenue in Pomona. For further information on special exhibits, museum events or directions, call 909/622-2133 or visit http://museum.nhra.com . Bill Groak, [email protected]

Riverside International Museum, located at 815 Marlborough, Suite 200, Riverside, California. The museum celebrates the history of the old Riverside International Raceway and drag strip. From Los Angeles, San Diego or Palm Springs, take the 60 freeway and get off at the Blaine off-ramp. Go north on Iowa Avenue, turn east on Marlborough Avenue. You can also go north on the 215 freeway and get off on the Columbus Avenue offramp. Go east on Columbus, south on Iowa and east on Marlborough. For information on the museum, see their website at: www.RiversideInternationalRaceway.com. Davey Jordan

The Fabulous Fifties is a non-organization of road racers who get together occasionally to celebrate and keep the history of road racing alive. If you were a road racer, a fan or want to join this group, please let me know. You have to be nominated by a member, and I'm a member. There are no dues, duties or obligations, but it would be helpful if you sent a donation in once a year to help the Fab 50's with their mailing costs for their newsletter and announcements. They are a great group of people and include John and Ginny Dixon, Art Evans, Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Carroll Shelby, Dick Guldstrand and many more. The Bothwell Ranch gathering is June 14. It is open only to members and their guests.

In my home office, I have a shelf with trophies from our racing days in the fifties. They are of various sizes and garishness, but I must admit my favorite is a 7-inch ashtray from the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). It 's engraved Saugus Drags 1955 First Place. A bit of background is reqiured --- my Special was designed and built for road racing. We raced everywhere on the West Coast: Torrey Pines, Willow Springs, Golden Gate, Santa Barbara etc etc. So what were we doing drag racing? Well, almost everyone did it, but to be honest I enjoyed winning something, anything. The first two years of racing the Special, we couldn't keep the engine cool and we didn't finish a single race. It buoyed our spirits to be a winner at something while we sought the magic cure. In the fifties and early sixties there were two car clubs: the SCCA and the California Sports Car Club (CSCC). Art Evans recently reminded me that if you wanted to participate in all the races on the West Coast you had to belong to both clubs. However the drivers' hearts usually belonged to one club or the other. The SCCA was made up mostly of wealthy folks who bought the newest, shiniest, fastest cars that Europe had to offer. Many of them made a point of looking down on the peasantry in the Cal Club and with some justification. Most of us were worker drones who had to scramble to raise the money to go racing on the cheap. As Bill Pollack said recently, "The Cal Club was made up of real he-men who followed the three Ds - dirty, dumb and dangerous." My car was not aesthetically pelasing (ed note - butt ugly). It was a take-off of the Manning Special and was literally a junkyard special. The suspension, running gear, axles and wheels came from our friendly local junkyards. However, there were two significant differences between the Manning Special and my car. One - we went over every square inch of the car with one goal - make it lighter. For example, the fenders, doors, hood, floor panels, etc were thin aluminum sheets. Two - the really important difference was the engine. Tom Sparks was the undisputed drag race champion for many years. His supercharged fuelie Willys coupe was undefeated in his class and on some days he was first overall defeating full-on dragsters! He built a version of that engine for my car. It was a slat-head Ford V-8 putting out close to 200 horsepower. We turned 12 to 14 second quarter miles with top speeds of 105 to 112 MPH. Those were virtually unheard-of times in those days and are still impressive in today's world. For example a new C-6 Corvette can't beat those times. We were undefeated in drag racing. So here I am in Saugus surrounded by gorgeous up market cars. There were Jaguars, Mercedes, Ferraris, some sort of a Maseratti Grand Prix car and an absolutely stunning French car - Art thinks it was a Talbot Lago. My poor outcast car and I were shunned as if we had the plague. I will admit that a few friends spoke to us, but everybody made it quite clear that they wished we weren't there. As you can imagine, that only strengthened our resolve, and we blew everybody off by a substantial margin. I am told that the SCCA officials were so angry and upset about this outcome that they never had another drag race. Gee guys, I'm really, really sorry.  Jacques Bellesiles  (Editor; the following is through the courtesy of the Fab 50's newsletter and their member, Jacques Bellesiles)

I am forwarding an email from someone requesting your email address. Thanks, Mary Ann Lawford (www.hotrodhotline.com and www.landspeedracing.com)
Mary Ann: I spoke to Jim Miller and he and I will try and become more accessible to the members of the website. I will post my email address, [email protected] next to my name at the top of the newsletter. A reader wrote in with a suggestion to clarify the newsletter into sections and this is a good idea. The only problem that I have is that this is a voluntary project and there are no funds to expand the job of the editor and so I have to make it as quick and simple as I can. Even doing that takes up to 3 hours of my time per day, so I have to work faster and smarter. We will keep trying to format the newsletter so that it becomes better and better, while requiring less time to prepare, edit and send out.

Hello Jack...it's Garry Baker in Melbourne Australia, I'm looking for Richard Parks latest email address, perhaps you can help. The last one I have is [email protected], but it does not seem to work anymore. Cheers, Garry
Garry: Try [email protected]. My computer crashed several times and each time I seem to lose material, even though I've backed it up. The email address that you used is good, but many people tell me that they can't reach me that way.

Just one further note about Chuck Daigh. He joined the Lakers club, one of the SCTA clubs, a couple years back. Dave Kleeman, a Laker and friend/helper of Chuck's, would report on the progress with the new blown flat head lakester Chuck was building. Chuck never made it to a club meeting, or a club banquet, but we all were very interested in his lakes car project, and followed Dave's reports with great interest. We were hoping to have a club meeting at Chuck's shop in the near future, but we will have to chock that up to opportunities missed! I hope Dave or someone will pick up where Chuck left off on the lakester. There's a lot of innovation and engineering in that car that many would appreciate, and we would love to see it run!  Jim Snyder    
Jim:
My brother, David Parks, is a Laker and knew Chuck. Send us all the updates on the lakester and we will publish them in the newsletter.

Gil Bouffard sent in his website link at www.fastlinesinternational.com.

My name is [Capt] Ed Ballinger and I would like to join your outfit. I have been speaking to Mr Parks about the organization for sometime and finally learned how to turn this computer on --- and there you were. If I need some experience in the field to qualify for membership perhaps this information will help: I'm the former Team Capt for Craig Breedlove's Land Speed Team and I hold NHRA Rocket Exhibition license # 10. Please relate whatever I need to do or pledge and like that. All the best and thanks in advance. Capt Ed
Captain Ed: Of course you qualify. All you have to do is go to www.landspeedracing.com and sign in. There are no fees, dues or responsibilities, except that we ask each and every member to write their own biographies (three pages will do) and if they can, also record the biographies of those they know who participated in land speed racing or hot rodding. We are a working group, not a blog, so all the history that we can save is why we have formed. The newsletter will publish whatever the members wish to write on. Tell us about your racing experience and your time at Black Rock with Craig Breedlove. I have some material from the time trials in 1997 at Black Rock that I will try and make available to the readers.

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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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