SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS
NEWSLETTER 109 - April 30, 2009
Editor: Richard Parks [email protected]
President's Corner: By Jim Miller (1-818-846-5139)

Click On All Images For Larger View

Some Names To Look For In This Newsletter:
 President's Corner, Editorials, Chet Herbert passed away this morning after a battle with pneumonia, a link dedicated to Eldon 'SY' Sidebotham, who passed away, God Speed Chet - His services have been scheduled, Harrell Engines & Racing Equipment - hot rod discussion / book signing day, We set the FIA International Speed Record in September 26 2008, I unearthed five really interesting facts written by your Father in that book forty years ago, Healing Arts Educational Foundation will present a one-night showing of an award winning motorcycle film Take It To The Limit, We are off to Reno next week for the Reno Historic Races with the Old Yeller II and the Kilpatrick 1958 SCCA Porsche Speedster, No race track in Santa Maria anymore and the dirt track didn't open until 1964, I'm trying to find anything written about events at El Mirage Dry Lakes around March 1950 thru October 1950, Your newsletter 104 March 26 commented that Kent Fuller talked of a drag strip in Scotts Valley the only drag strips that I can recall in this area were Half Moon Bay, I had a great shoot last week-end for the hot rod film “Deuce Of Spades”, Websites from Moldy Marvin, I've written about my cars on the HAMB, Four nitromethane-burning nostalgia Funny Cars will headline the second annual Las Vegas Speed Spectacular for the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series, revised 2009 schedule for The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Rockabilly Rod Reunion postponed to 2010, With the recollection of memories and good times of the Half Moon Bay Drag Strip 50th Reunion just a few days in the past the Champion Speed Shop is loading up the gear, article was sent to us by Ron Main - Burkland Family broke world record ponders future in racing, Check out the JC Agajanian Jr interview on the Official Indy Website that was shot this year at The IRL race at The Long Beach Grand Prix, Random Pictures.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

President's Corner:
I just got off the phone with Dan Clayton. Dan is the son of Whitey Clayton who was one of those unheralded guys that worked on cars, and not just any cars. Ever heard of the NieKamp Roadster? Well Whitey did the bodywork on it. He also worked for Bill Stroppe who took a bunch of Fords to Daytona Beach and Bonneville and set land speed records. The story goes on and on about him building the “City of Pasadena” liner that decided to fly at Bonneville in 1950 with Puffy Puffer as the pilot. Then there's the missing Lynn Yeakel Deuce Coupe and the “Battlebirds”. All the work of Whitey on land speed cars. I went to my Official USAC Yearbook to gets some info on the Stroppe record setting machines. While I was at it Mr. Computer asked me to type in National speed records for some backup research. That's when I got sidetracked. Under Speed Records was a bit about the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NALSA) Regulations for Speed Record Attempts. I had to check it out as I've never heard of it. That led me to another NALSA, the North American Land Sailing Association. Seems these boys have a World Landsailing Speed Record just like we have for cars and bikes so I had to dig a little deeper. That deeper diggning led me to Monday, March 26, 2009 on a dry lake called Ivanpah and a vehicle called “Greenbird”. Richard Jenkins had just smashed the existing World Record of 116 mph with the “Greenbird” and established a 126.1 mph World Record using sails. When you put it into perspective that is faster than a lot of cars ever ran at El Mirage or Bonneville in the old days. Here's the site (http://www.greenbird.co.uk/) and a picture taken from it to check out the aerodynamics on the rig. To me, any technology we can borrow from any place that will make our rides go faster is worth investigating. Have fun.

While on the obscure topics and borrowing info stuff, check out http://207.242.75.40/derbtech/derbtech.htm. That's right, Soap Box Derby tech stuff. Stop and think a minute about these little cars. Wind cheating is again the word and all of the useful info on this site can be used to help you make your car go faster. There is a whole section on aerodynamics that's great. They talk about side winds, airfoil sections, wind tunnel testing, etc. All the stuff that applies to fast runs at a place like Bonneville. If you think all this stuff is for sissies at least check out some of the cool paint jobs that would look great flashing across the salt. Meanwhile back to the USAC book. In '56 Stroppe, working for FoMoCo, took a bunch of '57 Fords to Bonneville to smash some records and that they did. Guys like Danny Eames and Johnny Mantz went around in circles on the salt racking up National Unlimited Records from 25 to 50 thousand miles in the 110 mph range. They also grabbed National Class A and Class B records that had been on the books for years. The guys also laid waste to a bunch of American Class records at the same time. I've previously mentioned Stroppe's Daytona doings and the records grabbed there too. Whitey Clayton helped build all these cars and more. He also worked his magic on Merc's that Parnelli Jones won Pike's Peak with and on the NASCAR circuit too. Whitey built the first FX drag race Comets, Big Ole and went to Le Mans with the GT 40's, but all this is a different story for a different time. Land speed guys were and are everywhere in Motorsports and when I get the stories somewhat straight you'll be the first to hear them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editorial:
This is embarrassing. Jim Miller actually had his President's message in before I have my editorial written. I blame Roger Rohrdanz, the Society's photographic editor, because he has been pushing me to finish all the stories that I have promised to get done and send to www.hotrodhotline.com. I sent him the article on Jim Deist's Memorial Celebration of Life and now I have a few more to do. We don't publish the articles that we write in this newsletter, because we are starting to have space problems and the staff of HRHL is getting into their busy season and we can't overwhelm them right now. So the Newsletter is posted on www.landspeedracing.com and also at Tina Van Curen's Aerobooks/Autobooks website. The stories, articles and biographies are posted to www.hotrodhotline.com, Guest Columnist/Richard Parks and Roger Rohrdanz. Be sure to go to those websites and read some of the biographies that are posted there. I've lost track, but I believe we have about 400 articles there on all types of racing and hot rodding subjects. Another embarrassing situation is that I am having trouble with my computer. I keep all the comments on a Word Document and as readers send me emails I add them to the document, then on Wednesday, usually, I send the doc to Mary Ann Lawford to publish. However, lately when I go to add someone's comments, the document says "READ Only" and when I save the email contents, it isn't really saving it. The Doc will transfer automatically between "WRITE" and "Read." I've lost several readers comments that way. The only thing that I can suggest is that if you don't see your comments in the current newsletter, then write to me again and resend your original email.
The next topic of interest is Faith Granger's new movie, “Deuce of Spades”, which is projected to come out somewhere in the summer of 2009. She is a new filmmaker and learning as she goes, but she has tons of talent and more important, a true love of hot rodding and dry lakes racing. I know, because we email back and forth and she sets her standards high and won't budge for anyone. The trailers that I have seen have all been quite remarkable for the resources that she has to work with. As soon as I see the movie I will do a movie review. But so far I like what I see because she has stayed as close to the era and the factual content is really good. It's a novel, but it's all based on the early 1950's and Faith has done an excellent job of research and talking to the old timers, especially Gene Winfield. Gene plays the hot rodder in his seventies, though I haven't quite seen that part yet. I won't give away the plot, mainly because I don't know what the plot is, but you can bet that it's an A version of a B film noir of the time that used to fill the movie theatres and attract us when we were youths. Lots of people whom we all know will be mentioned and I'm not sure, but maybe you will see places, cars and people that you recognize. The music is very true to the time. The young actors are unknowns, though I've googled a few of their names and they do have movie credits in other films, so they have acted before.
I think this film may be coming out just at the right time, during a tough recession that has people looking back to a time when things were rough and we all had to make do with what we could afford and what we could invent out of re-useables. We are more reflective and thoughtful now and this movie looks at our inner selves and what is important to us. More than that, it's a hot rod movie that is more within our generation of the 1950's than “American Graffiti”, which represents the late 1960's and early '70's. We do have the B movies, often in black and white, that are still floating around and some of which can be found at www.hotrodmemories.com. But a modern and true version of our hot rodding past has yet to be made and Faith Granger may just be the film maker that does the impossible and brings us a movie that we can play over and over again. Our hope is that she becomes known and successful, including the actors in the movie as well, and will make more period pieces that we can call our own. We are a niche market, not very large, but there is a large cross-over into the rock and roll, Elvis Presley and pre-Viet Nam era that could make this movie a real hit among the Independent or Indy crowd. We are hoping for every success for Faith and Deuce of Spades. I can hardly wait for the movie to come out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chet Herbert passed away this morning after a battle with pneumonia. A pioneer to the racing industry world wide. Dedicated LSR builder, designer, cam grinder, and innovator. RIP Chet. [email protected] . Glen Barrett
Glen: I just found a nice article on Chet written by Johnny McDonald with photographs by Roger Rohrdanz at http://www.driveonline.com/content/view/135/85/.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See http://www.draglist.com/artman2/publish/race_rock/Everybody_Loves_Somebody.shtml. Ed and Mary Randall sent a link dedicated to Eldon 'SY' Sidebotham, who passed away. If you have trouble using the link, copy and paste the link into Google and that should bring up Bill Ott's tribute to SY. If anyone has a history or photographs of Sidebotham, please send them in.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See the article below. Glen Barrett
"So sorry to hear the news. God Speed Chet. His services have been scheduled," go to this website to see his history and date of memorial service: http://www.competitionplus.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9906&Itemid=6. Tom Shannon, Magna, Utah. CHET HERBERT PASSES. Written by Sara Fensterer. Friday, 24 April 2009, Competition Plus, Drag Racing's Internet Magazine.
Drag racing pioneer and innovator Chester "Chet" Herbert died on April 23, 2009. Herbert, born on March 4, 1928, overcame huge personal challenges and went on to develop some of auto racing's most significant speed components. Growing up in Southern California's early hot rod scene, the teenaged Herbert had a reputation for building and racing fast cars and motorcycles. When he was 20 years old, though, he was stricken with polio and lived the rest of his life in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the chest down. "My grandmother told me he was so wild about racing, that if he didn't have polio to slow him down, he probably would have died," said son Doug Herbert, 41, who followed his father into professional drag racing. "When my dad was 12, my grandma bought him a trumpet and hoped he'd learn to play. But he traded the trumpet for a Cushman motorscooter and it was life in the fast lane ever since." Lying in a hospital iron-lung for six months in 1948, Herbert developed ideas for manufacturing racing parts in his head. When he was released, he developed the first roller camshafts for race cars and was among the first to try nitromethene fuel in a dragster after reading how the German army had used it to power torpedoes during World War II.
Although he never personally raced again, Herbert fielded scores of dragsters, drag motorcycles and land speed-record streamliners for other drivers. His racing Harley-Davidson, nicknamed "The Beast," was the fastest quarter-mile dragster in its day, having achieved a then record-shattering 129 mph, faster than any car in 1950. Herbert also developed the zoomie-type exhaust header, which blew the smoke away from a dragster's rear tires in order to achieve better traction, helping them break the 200 mph record. Herbert was one of the first to establish a successful speed shop and parts mail-order business. According to hot rod historian Greg Sharp of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, Herbert was probably the first racing parts retailer to utilize advertising in national magazines to reach consumers. His chopped 1932 Ford sedan was a rolling billboard for his business. He built it with a Hydromatic transmission so he could drive it using hand controls. It was featured in the March, 1952, issue of Hot Rod Magazine and in 2007, was voted one of the most significant 1932 Ford hot rods in history. Herbert was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1993.
Herbert is survived by his wife, Leanne; three children: Doug; daughter Heather Herbert-Binetti and daughter Tracey Drage; and his sister Doris, who as editor of Drag News, was also inducted into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1993. Herbert was preceded in death by his sister, Fay Trout, and by grandsons, Jon and James Herbert. To overcome the sorrow of his grandsons' death in 2008, Herbert and son Doug were in the process of building a Bonneville streamliner with which they hoped to achieve 500 MPH, breaking the world speed record for piston-powered, wheel-driven cars. Son Doug is still determined to accomplish that dream. A memorial celebration of Herbert's life will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, May 2, at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1855 Orange Olive Road, Orange, CA 92865. A private, graveside family service will be held that afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Fair Haven Memorial Park in Santa Ana.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wanted to let you know that we have arranged with Tina Van Curen at Autobooks in Burbank to have a hot rod discussion/book signing day at her store. There's no presentation by us, people just dropping in to talk with us and themselves between 10am and 2pm on Saturday, May 30, 2009. It will be a casual get together of interested people who want to talk about hot rods from the 1930s through the '50s, or any other decade. Of course, we hope some of the discussions will center on our book: Harrell Engines & Racing Equipment; Jim (White) Harrell & Nick Harrell (as described in www.HarrellEnginesHotRodding.com), but that's not necessary for a good get together. Rich, Alec, and I will be there, and we hope your schedules will allow you to join us. AUTOBOOKS-AEROBOOKS, 3524 W. Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, California 91505. 818-845-0707, www.Autobooks-Aerobooks.com. Hope to see you there, Roger Harrell

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We enjoy reading your newsletters, keep up the good work! We set the FIA, or Federation Internationale De L'Automobile, International Speed Record in Category A, Group I, Class 11, at 415.896 mph on September 26, 2008. This was at the private meet on the Bonneville Salt Flats put on by Mike Cook. This is the record that had been held by Al Teague since 1991. We accomplished this feat with the help of a dozen or so dedicated friends & family. We surely couldn't have done it without them! In fact, I've attached a photo that includes most of them. If you think people would be interested, I think we can supply a story about the years of work that went into this accomplishment. Gene & Betty (the slower Burklands)

Dear Gene and Betty: If this newsletter is interesting at all, it is because all of the members and readers share their insights about what has happened in land speed racing and hot rodding during their lifetime. Yes, we want your story. Don't make it short, but expand on the dates, times, problems, weather conditions and the people who volunteered. A lot went into your record run, therefore we want a long and detailed story to tell us what happened.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was reading your Dad's book looking for things related to pre-war lakes stuff. My Dad gave me this book decades ago and I never found the time to read it until I began looking for any clues I could find related to the history of the Sandy's Muffler Shop Roadster. I unearthed five really interesting facts written by your Father in that book forty years ago.
a) Mrs. Veda Orr did in fact run at the lakes in competition before the beginning of the second World War. Wally wrote; "Mrs. Veda Orr was honored with a full membership in the association, complete with all competition privileges, since she had long before proven her capabilities in dry lakes speed trials." This was written into the minutes of the first meeting of the SCTA after WW II. I have a feeling, based upon other text, that she was the SCTA's first recipient of an honorary full membership.
b) At the first meeting, November 29, 1937, of what is now known as the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) your Father wrote that there were 5 clubs represented.
c) The meetings chairman was Vern Hurst and the acting secretary was Arthur C. Tilton, both members of the Throttlers Club of Hollywood. We can conclude that two of the 5 clubs were the Throttlers and the Roadrunners since Jack Havey of the Road Runners was also mentioned as being present.
d) At the next meeting, a week later, the Derelicts Club was added to the membership and at this meeting the name of the association was selected.
e) Your Dad also wrote that there were 6 prominent clubs that would join forces to promote dry lakes meets at Muroc before the association.
They were the Knight Riders, Sidewinders, Road Runners, Idlers, 90 MPH Club, Throttlers of Hollywood, and the Ramblers. One of these clubs is not part of the original 5. Michael Brennan
Michael: Julian Doty was at the second meeting and he is still alive and doing well. You might want to contact Julian and see what he remembers. My brother and I have the minutes for the first 12 years of the SCTA and we are going to bring it out in publication. While most minutes are dry and boring, these historical notes of the meetings are in fact witty and the humor is dry. The Road Runners missed the first organizational meeting, either because the rep was ill or couldn't make it. However, the five clubs at the meeting and the two clubs that missed that first meeting had been in contact by phone and by personal meetings and so they should all be considered founding members of the SCTA. The SCTA is a continuation of the Muroc Timing Association (MTA), which was operated, owned and directed by George Riley and George Wight. Riley built auto parts and Wight owned Bell Auto Parts where all the young men hung out. The Purdy brothers were also heavily involved in the MTA, since they ran the 'ambulence,' a delivery van that sufficed as an emergency vehicle. If the occupant was too tall the door was left open and the feet of the 'victim' protruded out of the van.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Healing Arts Educational Foundation will present a one-night showing of an award winning motorcycle film Take It To The Limit, by Peter Starr, that features an in-action cast of some of motorcycle racing's greatest names. The event takes place on Tuesday April 28, 2009 at "Movies 7," which is located at 15296 Rosecrans Avenue, La Mirada, California. Show time is 7:30 PM and the displays open at 5:00 PM. Ticket price is $20 with all proceeds going towards Prostate Cancer Awareness and Education. More information is at www.healingartsmedia.net/charity. Bob Falcon
Bob: You just made the deadline for this week's newsletter. Please try and give your announcements at least three weeks or more in advance and then each week send in a new and revised announcement. This allows for maximum dispersal of information to our members. Also, give us as much detail as you can, such as what the movie is about, who is portrayed in the film and whether it is fictional, documentary or historical. We need to do more to cover motorcycle racing, especially drag bike, speedway and land speed racing motorcycle time trials.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are off to Reno next week for the Reno Historic Races with the Old Yeller II and the Kilpatrick 1958 SCCA Porsche Speedster. That was raced by one man; Brig. General James Kilpatrick for 32 straight years starting out racing at Del Mar in 1964. The Speedster had accurately logged in 55,000 SCCA race miles as the driver was a pilot with impeccable records along with aircraft gauges in the cockpit. Ernie Nagamatsu

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No race track in Santa Maria anymore and the dirt track didn't open until 1964. See www.RaceSantaMariaSpeedway.com. Chris Kearns
Chris: Please send notices about any reunions, nostalgic racing or hot rod shows at the raceway and I will post it to the newsletter. Jack Mendenhall used to tell me about the racing that he did in Santa Maria. It's important that we recover all the history of the Central Coast and we'll give you free publicity in our newsletter on www.landspeedracing.com.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm trying to find old newsletters, programs, magazines, etc, that have articles about events at El Mirage Dry Lakes around March 1950 thru October 1950. My Dad was a member of the Bell Timing Association (BTA). He and two friends built and ran a class C streamliner during that period of time. I have two brass plaques they received from the SCTA in May 1950 and June 1950 when my dad ran 150 mph that day. My family misplaced (lost) the only 2 pictures of the streamliner. Any help or suggestions of where we might find any info you might have would be a great help to us. Thank you in advance for your help. Bob Agnew ([email protected])
Bob: My newsletter doesn't go out until next Wednesday, so you have several days to let me know if you want me to include your email address with your request. Normally I don't divulge that information, but the way you worded your request, it's important that your email address be included. You bring up some good points. Here's how we can help. One, sign up for the free newsletter at www.landspeedracing.com or simply go to that website and read the current and back issues. Sorry, there's no index to help you at the present time and we are working on issue #109. Second, call the phone number listed on the masthead for Jim Miller, our president and ask him if he has any source material. Third, contact Lloyd Stehling, the only BTA official that I know of and see if he can help you. Fourth, we will run your request in our newsletter, The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians, which is listed on the website above. Fifth, Google all the nouns, such as Bell Timing Association, your father's name, SCTA, eBay, etc and see what you come up with. Sixth, write in again and give us more details. In fact, start on a bio of your father, and I will give you an outline below to start. The reason that this is so important is that in writing your father's story, and yours as well, you are compiling facts about him. The more facts that you gather the better. Why is this so? Jim and I have found that most people store their memories differently. We ask people questions and often they simply shake their head and tell us they have no recollection of a person or event. But we keep at it and ask questions from various angles. Eventually we hit on a word or question that triggers their memories and then a flood of material comes in. We have about 500 members in our group and they are our repository of knowledge. The more facts that you give, the more likely that one of those questions or requests strikes that special memory that they have of the event. So write back to me and tell me names, dates, places and whatever you can put together. Seventh, contact Jack Underwood, one of our members and a historian who has been honored by the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame for his work in land speed racing history. You can use our newsletter to reach a wider audience and you can do it as often as you wish. I talked to Lloyd Stehling at Carmen Schroeder's Gilmore Roars Reunion about 15 years ago. He told me that he and some of his buddies got together and formed the Bell Timing Association. They didn't have an ambulance or the resources that Russetta Timing Association (RTA) or the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) had, so they would hold their meets on the same weekend as RTA and SCTA. The BTA didn't last very often, but while it did it gave a few clubs the freedom to run the cars and classes that they wanted to do without the restrictions imposed by the other and larger timing associations. We don't have very much on the BTA and would like to locate clubs, BTA minutes, letters and any other history associated with this group.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your newsletter 104, March 26, commented that Kent Fuller talked of a drag strip in Scotts Valley, California. The only drag strips that I can recall in this area were Half Moon Bay. The flagman was Andy Brizzio who at that time worked with Champion Speed Shop out of South San Francisco. The other dragstrip was the San Jose Drag Strip, aka Little Bonneville, at a small airport on King Road that I took flying lessons at the time that four others talked the owner into allowing use of the strip for the drags on Sundays. My father-in-law owned a dairy next to the air strip and our flagman was Ivan Scorsur. His family had a prune orchard just past the end of the strip and this was back in 1953. I have films of the two strips along with other strips in Northern California that we filmed at that time. There was also the Salinas drag strip and an 1/8 mile strip that was in Belmont, California by the bay, which was another small airport at that time, just south of San Francisco to the local ones that were in the same local area. I will also send you some of the memories and some names also. Fremont drag strip came along quite a few years later. I also ran my '29 Ford Coupe; those were the fun days. Vince Burgos Senior, San Jose Roadsters
   Vince: Thank you for your memories. Please write them down and add to them. Mention all the people that you remember who raced and the officials and track managers. The more you can tell us the more history we can leave behind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had a great shoot last week-end for the hot rod film “DEUCE OF SPADES”. We are right on schedule so far, and tackling the modern day scenes. A lot of cool memorabilia items were used in the scene, including a vintage fifties SAUGUS DRAGSTRIP trophy, donated by Tom Sparks, a vintage 1955 HOT ROD magazine, vintage gas coupon, wrench, zippo lighter, license plate with original 1955 tag, a SIDEWINDER PLAQUE donated by the Sidewinders, a vintage 50's motorcycle jacket (donated by American Rebel jackets) and a vintage fifties bill of sale and invoice. I was to unpack this box of memorabilia goodies in the film and we did many takes, so it was a lot of packing and unpacking of all these items (no less than 20 times!) Maybe if I don't make it as a filmmaker, a moving company will hire me now! For more info on the film see www.deuceofspadesmovie.com. FAITH GRANGER, Filmmaker, www.deuceofspadesmovie.com and www.theparkbenchmovie.com.
Faith: We are all anxious to see your movie in the theatres if possible. Please send us updates each week.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Websites from Moldy Marvin; Save Los Angeles County Raceway, see http://www.savelacr.org/. Moldy's car shows in Lancaster/Palmdale, California, see http://www.moldyshows.com/. Classic car show calendar of events see http://www.aeclassic.com/events/. For British private number plates see http://www.numberplates.com/private-number-plates.asp. Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth website see http://www.ratfink.org/.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I filled in the bio. Like I said at the beginning, I hope it is far from completed! Feel free to edit whatever you like, I'm a writer so I can be lengthy with my words at times! Since you couldn't open the picture files I thought I would send you the links to the stories I've written about my cars on the HAMB. Below are the links.
1953 Chevy BelAir: What is this whole Rajo 6 about? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216461
Bringing it home http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=217200&showall=1
How low is too low? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=240978
On the road again! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=263440&showall=1
1931 Ford Model A roadster: When I found it: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=295376
When I tore it apart: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296389
When I got it back on the road again: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=299451
So where do we go from here? I know you mentioned the Arfons family and I do have a connection there so I could start working on that area. Anything else around here? I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks! Megan Boyd, Waynesburg, Ohio
Megan: I checked out the links that you gave me and since I'm not much of a blogger, it took me awhile to understand that you go by ChevyGirlRox. I'm very impressed by your mechanical skills and love for hot rodding. I'm working on your biography right now and will get you a first draft to review and add to it. The purpose of the biography project is to leave behind a record of who you are, what you did and what you observed in your area. So in reality our first bios are never really complete. They will grow as we grow. Any history that you can provide of the Ohio racing scene is very important. We tend to draw a lot of West Coast guys and that's not because we don't value the mid-West. It's just that the West Coast guys seem to be more vocal. You are an important link in our understanding of the hot rod culture in your area. See what story you can get on the Arfon family, one of the trendsetters in land speed and drag racing. Another area that we are trying to promote is history as it pertains to women racers, hot rodders and motorsports. I've written about Hila Paulsen Sweet and Paula Murphy. We don't have enough on the exploits of women in racing, so search your area and concentrate on all the lady racers and car gals that you can find. Don't overlook Eileen Daniels and Shirley Muldowney. They were pacesetters and they're still active. Muldowney as a National drag racing champion and Daniels as a track manager and important person in the Hot Rod Reunions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four nitromethane-burning nostalgia Funny Cars will headline the second annual Las Vegas Speed Spectacular for the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series May 15-17, 2009 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The four cars will make exhibition passes on Saturday, May 16. Cars scheduled to appear include: Nathan Bugg in the "Li'l' Nate" Barracuda, Dennis Taylor in the "Future Flash" Dodge Charger, the "Beach City Chevrolet" topless Corvette driven by Ed Schwarz and the "McCain's Bomb Squad" Plymouth Duster piloted by Mendy Fry. The weekend will include nostalgia drag racing, a vintage car show and music. Also on the weekend's card is the world-famous Nanook AA/FA fuel
altered owned by Dave and Linda Hough (www.nanookracing.com), Las Vegas drag racer Vince Generalao piloted it to its quickest E.T. ever - 6.13 sec./235.29 mph - last year at Auto Club Dragway in Bakersfield, California. Drag-racing classes at this year's show include: A/Fuel, AA/Gas, Junior Fuel, Nostalgia Eliminator, A/Gas, B/Gas and C/Gas, to name just a few. Legendary rockabilly DJ "Flattop Tom" Jacob of La Habra, California will provide his special blend of music on a 1,000-watt sound system. Art Kam and the Las Vegas Cruisin' Association (www.lasvegascarshows.com) will produce the car show, featuring hot rods and show cars from the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s. For car show entry information, please contact Art at (702) 643-0000 or [email protected]. For more information on the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series, please visit www.nhrahotrodheritage.com. To purchase tickets or obtain more information, please call the LVMS ticket office at (702) 644-4444 or visit www.LVMS.com. NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Nostalgia classes: A/Fuel, AA/Gas, Jr. Fuel, 7.0 Pro, Nostalgia Eliminator I, Nostalgia Eliminator II, Nostalgia Eliminator III, A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, D/Gas, Hot Rod. John Bisci

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a quick FYI -- the revised 2009 schedule for The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was released today and the resurrection of the Rockabilly Rod Reunion has been postponed to 2010. Thanks, John Bisci

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the recollection of memories and good times of the Half Moon Bay Drag Strip 50th Reunion just a few days in the past, the Champion Speed Shop is loading up the gear, the nitromethane, and the gang, to motor down to the Rod and Kulture Dragfest for some drag racing action at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield. The Champion Speed Shop Special will join top fuel forces with eight nitro-huffing diggers, altereds, and even some funny looking cars for three full days of quarter mile mayhem. Live music, a cacklefest, and even a drive-in movie on Saturday night are part of the scheduled events. For more Back to Bakersfield for Dragfest see http://championspeedshop.com/wordpress/2009/04/28/back-to-bakersfield-for-dragfest/. For Champion Speed Shop see http://championspeedshop.com. Mike Bumbeck

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following article was sent to us by Ron Main. See Burkland Family broke world record ponders future in racing; http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090427/NEWS01/904270310&theme=ECKE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Check out the JC Agajanian Jr interview on the Official Indy Website that was shot this year at The IRL race at The Long Beach Grand Prix. I'm very proud and pleased that the reporter for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network that shot and recorded the interview thought it was worthwhile enough to put on IMS Website along with the likes of Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, and Dale Coyne. The link below should take you there with no problem. After you see the interview, it would be fun to go to the Indy 500 Home Page and look around. It's one of the most well done racing websites I've seen. If you end up at The IMS Home page, look at the top, and go to "Multimedia" (3rd from the left at the top) and click on it. The "drop down" will have "Video Library" second down. Click on that and the JC Agajanian Jr interview will be at the top on the left. It was completely ad lib and I did not know the questions beforehand. I just responded honestly to what the interviewer was asking, as he asked it. Hope you enjoy the interview and maybe even learn a little something about The JC Agajanian Family and Indy. See http://www.indy500.com/videos/view/category/14-Fan_Video/p1 . JC Agajanian Jr.
JC: I enjoyed the video immensely and learned the answers to some questions I had not known before. We encourage Cary, Chris and you to write your biographies and caption your photographs and leave behind a history of this rich period in our racing past.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Random Photos

Captions:
All photographs are from the collection of Ron Main.
Here are the photos that I want to share with you. Ron Main.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following Photos Courtesy of Evelyn Roth

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Land Speed Racing Websites:
www.hotrodhotline.com, www.landspeedracing.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Members:

Jonathan Amo, Brett Arena, Henry Astor, Gale Banks, Glen Barrett, Mike Bastian, Lee Blaisdell, Jim Bremner, Warren Bullis, Burly Burlile, 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, Eric Loe, Dick Martin, Ron Martinez, Tom McIntyre, Don McMeekin, Bob McMillian, Tom Medley, Jim Miller, Don Montgomery, Bob Morton, Mark Morton, Paula Murphy, Landspeed 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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1999 - 2009 Hot Rod Hot Line All Rights Reserved
No Portion May Be Used Without Our Written Permission
Contact Us Toll Free (877) 700-2468 or (208) 562-0470
230 S. Cole Rd, Boise, ID 83709