SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS
NEWSLETTER 128 - September 10, 2009
Editor: Richard Parks [email protected]
President's Corner: By Jim Miller (1-818-846-5139)

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Some Names To Look For In This Newsletter:
 President's Corner, Editorials, Walt James (long time President of the California Racing Association and Western Racing Association) has been ill and has done some serious sheet time, I just wanted to let you know that Ron Lachman fractured his hip today and I took him to the emergency room, Ron is going to be transferred to an Orthopedic Hospital some time this afternoon and will be taken care of by the doctor who did his left knee replacement and checked on by the transplant coordinators at the other hospital, It is now Wednesday (September 9, 11:30am) I just talked to Ron and he said he was told they would do the hip replacement late this afternoon or early this evening, (Saturday, September 12, 2009, from 10:00 AM-2:00 PM) Bob McCoy - Circle track racer hot rod builder rodeo rider and more will be on hand to autograph the book about his life, Burke LeSage and Gail Phillips sent in the announcement on the Gold Coast Roadster & Racing Club's 17th Annual Gas-Up Party and Dry Lakes Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony, The Throttle book just arrived at the Rodder's Journal today, Cruisin' for a Cure will be held on September 26 2009, I am looking for help with a project, Crazy Horses - the history of British drag racing is now available in the USA from Motorbooks, Editor's notes: The following was sent to us by Burly Burlile, I decided to leave a message to the Director on his telephone service at the museum, Good morning 36hp racers and friends - The weather forecast for Bonneville for the next ten days is shown in the link below, Flash! Tonight's great news is that the ghost of Blackline 57 lives and will be coming to the salt after all under the guise of Chip Birks 1960 drag racing street beetle, Black Top Magazine is available, It was the greatest As we figured it really was a terrific venue to go like hell, Wally Parks Annual Tribute December 5-6 2009, Gone Racin'…Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970 (by Harold W. Pace and Mark R. Brinker), Racin'… Aventura Alaska Brasil by William Carroll Book review by Richard Parks photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz, Random Photos

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President's Corner:
It seems that every old magazine I pick up these days has some story on land speed racing. The March 1951 issue of Speed Age is typical. Tech Editor Roger Huntington penned a story in the issue called "What Price 400 MPH? It's fun to read the old stuff from 60 years ago and reflect on the comments. It also gives you something to think about. In the late '40's 400 mph was a big deal. The cars going for these speeds were monsters powered by aircraft engines gotten out the back door from their countries military establishment. Us hot rodders were just banging on the 200 mph door. The above story was slanted towards the use of Daytona as the place to race because the beach was about 25 miles long compared to Bonneville's 13 miles.
Our story gets a little more interesting now because the tech stuff rears its head. First on the list is traction. Here is the example they sighted to help explain things. We first start with the tires. Inflate them to the proper settings and put them on your car. Then lock up all the wheels so they don't rotate and hook you vehicle up to some monster machine that will drag it. When the wheels start to skid measure the pulling power in pounds and you've got a traction coefficient. At that time they used a test vehicle that weighed 4,000 pounds. It took 3,200 pounds to skid it on concrete so they came up with a TC of .8 (3,200/4,000 = 0.8). Isn't that simple. But wait, everything isn't concrete. At Indy they had Bricks and Macadam and a TC for the place was rated at .7 to .8. At our holy grail, Bonneville they came up with .5 as the TC. Remember all this was done decades ago and tire tech has changes considerably. Anyhow, with our max traction set at .5, the maximum possible acceleration up to wheel spin will be .5 gravity or 16 feet per second regardless of HP. Taking a 5 1/2 mile run-up and using your calculator this all adds up to a maximum possible speed for a wheel driven car is 658 mph. I can't wait to see this. Let's not forget our friend Mr. Drag, or as I call him, the bad guy. You can break him down three ways, air resistance, rolling resistance and mechanical friction loss (clutch, tranny, rear end etc). If we want to go really fast we have to lower all of Mr. Drag's figures. Air drag is stated as D = KAV squared when D is air drag in pounds, K is the drag coefficient, A is frontal area and V is speed in mph. For rolling resistance there is Andreau's formula. Suppose at 300 mph you went from 60 to 120 pounds of air pressure. You would reduce tractive drag 74%. (The Goodyear rep. was at B-ville this year and was working with the fast guys. He recommended raising the Frontrunner pressures from 60 to 90 pounds. Remember if you do this you have to have some beefy rims to hold the pressures. The old welded stocker rims and spun aluminum stuff just doesn't cut it in this department.) That old saying speed costs money really applies to the mechanical friction stuff. I've heard figures from 10-15% drag in this area with stock tranny and rear end. That's where all the new friction coatings come into play on gears, bearings etc. 10% of 1000 hp is 100 ponies. To my way of thinking it's a lot easier and cheaper to coat some parts than it is to find that extra 5 hp on a dyno. The bottom line is if you want to go really fast remember frontal area is not our friend, raise those tire pressures, do some coatings and figure out how to get the best traction. The last is the hardest. You can add a wing to get bite but that equals drag. You can build in down-force but that equals drag and tire heat buildup. You can add weight but that messes with acceleration. Isn't compromise a fun thing? We all know what computers have done in the tune-up department for car speeds. The next frontier for all of us car wacko's is getting a CFD program for our laptops. Right now that requires a bag of Gold but down the road expect another leap in car speeds. I only have to go as far as Ron Main's liner. He's banged on the 400 mph door with a Chevy small block and papers it out around 430 mph plus. Or the Costella-Yacoucci arrow that's in the high 3's with peanut motors. We've come a long way from the first flattie doing 200 mph 60 years ago and we still have a long way to go. Isn't that exciting?

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Editorial:
From time to time you have heard me say that I couldn't run something in the newsletter because it was incompatible or truncated. What I meant by that is that while I could read my emails perfectly, some people sent me their emails and stories and they had %$&(_(&#@#$^*(""""????>>><<<<//// lines throughout where the punctuation should be and instead of the lines going completely across the page as you would see in a book or a newspaper, it "truncated" or was cut in two. That is, only half a line showed up. As the editor I tried many techniques to "clean up" the messy emails. I spoke to the senders and they promised on their word of honor that they sent a clean email to me. I've asked all kinds of "computer experts" and none of them have been able to tell me why this happens. It even happens in my own computer, as when I copy and paste one of my book reviews into the newsletter and then send it out to the website owners. I've given up. I just have exhausted my time and patience and all the knowledge that I possess, which is not very much.
If you receive your newsletter and you find these annoying characters and the lines only half way across, then it's my fault, as I simply don't care to correct them any more only to find that my system over-rides my efforts.
I received a nice guideline to websites for land speed racing, especially on the VW Challenge. These guys and gals are really committed to making the VW cars and engines go fast. Burly Burlile even added a little dig by commenting that the VW Challenge is only a "minimal" part of the SLSRH.
That might be true, but the newsletter is directed and led in directions that our members suggest in their letters. If we appear to be slanted it is because our members write in and our research is in that direction. If all of our readers sent in only questions and research on early 20th Century steam car records, then the SLSRH would appear to the outside world as a proponent of early steam car development and racing. Some of our members are interested only in certain fields and when they write in the topics are skewed to their point of view. Mary Ann Lawford sent me a list of 641 email addresses, so that's how many member/readers that we have. Since I only hear from a fraction of those readers, it is safe to say that we have only begun to scratch the surface when it comes to research and what our readers want. Jim and I are very flexible, we report on what we find out and we don't intend to be the only source out there. That's why I always publish these websites that people send to me or that Jim and I find. We know that the committed land speed and straight-line racing fan will need to belong to many interesting and informing websites if they are to learn the history of our sport. But we do wish you would write more often.
Recently a respected member of our land speed racing community wrote and told us about the horrible events that befell his daughter, who was now being interviewed by the media. She was assaulted many years ago and the criminal was supposed to stay in prison for life. This creep had already raped a 14 year old girl and the police refused to prosecute. This was bad enough, but if they had done their job then our member's daughter wouldn't have been assaulted. Well, the great state of California and the sister state of Nevada felt they had rehabilitated the creep and set him free. Following this there was a string of abductions and murders and finally the kidnapping of an 11 year old girl, who suffered 18 years of repeated rapes, assaults and sexual slavery. Held in a prison-like shed, she bore the indignity of fathering two children from these repeated assaults. Many people will argue with the editor that this is a topic unsuited for the SLSRH and that politics should not be discussed. I hold no merit in their arguments and they are completely lost on my ears. Why? If you read the minutes of the old SCTA you will see that on many occasions a special "committee" was selected to "talk" to people within the land speed and straight-line racing community about "incidents" that affected us. Usually that meant illegal street racers who were bringing undue and unfavorable attention to the goals of the SCTA and early NHRA. When "talk" and "reason" failed to bring the hoodlums into line, a more "strenuous" effort was conducted by the "committee." I have no qualms whatever about giving a "strenuous talk" to the creep should we ever meet or if the state of California attempts to rehabilitate him back into our community for a second time. Sometimes the governments that are supposed to lead us simply can't remove their head from a deep orifice to see what is right and what is wrong.

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Walt James, long time President of the California Racing Association and Western Racing Association, has been ill and has done some serious "sheet time." He is now home from the hospital and trying to regain his strength. I would appreciate it if you would pass this on to the group so that those who know Walt can drop him a card to bolster his spirits. Cards can be sent to: Walt James, P.O. Box 584, Acton, CA 93570-0584. Thanks. I know Walt will appreciate it. Chuck Fawcett

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I just wanted to let you know that Ron Lachman fractured his hip today and I took him to the emergency room. He went to get off his bicycle and his leg buckled and he fell. It's on the same side (left) as his knee replacement. We don't know whether there was a fracture there and that's why the leg buckled or he had a muscle spasm or cramp and it fractured when he fell. I will know more on Tuesday morning. I will be glad to let everyone know more details as soon as I know, but right now it's a wait and see situation until probably late tomorrow morning. They first talked about putting a pin in but that takes a long time to heal. The best plan of action would be to replace the hip. Ironically, Ron was scheduled to have cataract surgery on September 22nd and then to have his other knee replaced on October 20. Looks like that definitely "ain't" gonna happen, at least not for a long while. Ron is in a lot of pain and although they gave him a great deal of pain medication, nothing seemed to help. All the doctors will be apprised of his situation first thing tomorrow morning and then I guess we'll go from there. Please do NOT call him at the hospital, besides the difficulty he has talking on the phone because of his hearing; every little movement causes him pain such as having to reach for the phone. I will keep everyone posted as I find new information. If you want to contact me, just send me an email and I will answer as soon as I can. This email has been sent to family and friends and I hope I have not forgotten anyone. Thanks for your understanding. Marilyn Lachman
Marilyn: We will keep Ron in our thoughts.
Readers: Marilyn Lachman is a long-time friend and former secretary for my father at the NHRA. Ron is a great volunteer and friend and we wish him the very best in his recovery.

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Ron is going to be transferred to an Orthopedic Hospital some time this afternoon and will be taken care of by the doctor who did his left knee replacement and checked on by the transplant coordinators at the other hospital. I will meet Ron there as soon as I find out what time the transfer takes place. I saw him this morning and he is still in pain but doing much better than yesterday. He was pretty antsy to get out of there and be at his regular hospital. I think he feels safer (as do I) because all his records are on the computer there from the heart transplant and knee replacement. The operation for a hip replacement may not take place right away but in a day or 2. They have to get him off the blood thinners first. For those of you who have been able to get your email that I sent late last night and sent your good wishes and support, I thank you...it means a lot. I only hope I haven't forgotten anyone. I'll know a lot more once he's at his regular hospital and I will keep you updated. Marilyn Lachman
Marilyn: According to your instructions, I changed the name of the hospital where Ron is going to "his hospital" so that he can get some rest and the emails, cards and letters can come to you instead. We will keep Ron in our thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery and an end to the pain that he is going through. He is too fine a gentleman and a friend to suffer like this. I appreciate and thank you for the many times that you and Ron have helped my father. He came to rely on you and Ron for support and over the years so did my family and my brother's family. The racing community is special and very supportive of the people within our group and you and Ron are great examples of that spirit of help that permeates our group. That is one reason why I sent you the questionnaire for your bios, so that we could get to know what you and Ron have done and what you have seen over the years. Your history is important to our history, just as you and Ron are important to all of us. Get well soon Ron.

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It is now Wednesday, September 9, 11:30am. I just talked to Ron and he said he was told they would do the hip replacement late this afternoon or early this evening, so I thought I had better let everyone know now because I have no idea what time I will get back home. Hopefully, I will at least get off a one-liner to let you all know how it went, perfect I'm sure. Again, I thank you all for the moral support. Marilyn Lachman

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Saturday, September 12, 2009, from 10:00 AM-2:00 PM. Bob McCoy - Circle track racer, hot rod builder, rodeo rider and more will be on hand to autograph the book about his life called Circle of Impact - his story as told by his wife Lynn McCoy. The book was a huge hit at the LA Roadster Show. If you missed Bob and Lynn there, come see them at Autobooks! Tina Van Curen, Autobooks-Aerobooks, 3524 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505. 818 845-0707.
Dear Tina: I offered to do a book review on Lynn's book, but we were so busy that I couldn't get to it. I did scan the book and can tell the readers that the writing was crisp and interesting, the photographs were superb and the book was made from the finest materials. I told Lynn, "Your book is in the same range of quality as Dick Wallen's coffee table books," which are in the $150 price range. When she said that her book was only a third that much I couldn't believe her. Bob McCoy is quite a character and if he never raced a car his story would still be very interesting. McCoy went on to become one of the pre-eminent car racing artist of today. His work is sought after by a wide range of auto enthusiasts. This is one of those books that has to be in a fan's library. It is that good. Unfortunately for our readers, the column will not go to the website until the 9th and it won't get posted to the internet until after the 12th. I need three weeks prior notice in order to get the word out through this newsletter. Thank you for informing us and please keep us on your list to send out more news and events about one of the historic old auto racing bookstores.

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Burke LeSage and Gail Phillips sent in the announcement on the Gold Coast Roadster & Racing Club's 17th Annual Gas-Up Party and Dry Lakes Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The date is September 26, 2009 at Mendenhall's Petroleum Museum, located in Buellton, California. The time is from 9 AM to 5 PM. Mark and Vicki Mendenhall are the hosts and provide a Santa Maria style barbecue with tri-tip steak, beans, salad and drinks. The pit passes are $55 each and you must register by September 15th. For more information call 805-245-8519 or email Gail at [email protected]. The honorees for 2009 are; Historical vehicle-Mickey Thompson's Attempt Streamliner Presently running vehicle-Walsh/Cusack/Walsh 333 Roadster Motorcycle-(One of) Scott Guthrie's Multi-record Hayabusa People who have contributed-Tanis Hammond, Lee Kennedy, Gail Watson Phillips, Mike Nish, Bill Taylor and Bob Sykes Jr People from the past-Meb Healey, Eddie Kuzma and Walt Scott Manufacturer-Mooneyes and Chico Kodama Historian-Mark Brazeau

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The Throttle book just arrived at the Rodder's Journal today. They have strong orders, so they will be shipping for awhile. Don Coonan
Don and the readers: The website address to order your copy today is http://www.roddersjournal.com. Here's the message on the website; Throttle Magazine: The Complete Collection is $39.95. The Rodder's Journal is proud to announce the publishing of Throttle magazine - 1941: The Complete Collection, a book that contains exact reprints of the original issues including the covers and advertisements. The original copies are extremely valuable and very hard to come by. TRJ has made it easy for you to browse through these historical publications in this highly anticipated and heavily researched collectible book. Available now for pre-order. The first printing will be mailing to customers late summer 2009. As a historical piece I highly recommend that you add this compilation of a year's worth of Throttle magazine to your library and a special thanks to the Rodder's Journal for making these magazines available to the public.

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Cruisin' for a Cure will be held on September 26, 2009 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California from 7 AM to 5 PM. More than 3400 vehicles will be on display. All proceeds benefit prostate cancer research at the City of Hope. Men 40 and over can receive a painless screening. $12 entry fee with AAA members getting $2 off. Call 714-803-9216 for more information, or visit the website at www.cruisinforacure.com. Vic Enyart

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I am looking for help with a project. I need a central location to host a reunion for the founding drag racers, land speed and sprint guys. If I can get a venue I can establish a tentative date. Jim Miller and I have tossed around a few novel locations but we are hoping someone might step forward with a better idea. The venue must be free and hopefully it could get done later this years, perhaps in the next couple of months. As a few of you know, I was the National Director of Microsoft's X Box Cup Racing Series. I am volunteering my time and I will help pay for the catering if need be. Inferring, I do know how to put on an event. Why because these guys are getting older and we continue to procrastinate about getting out and interviewing them. Jim has offered his camera and I own a share in a small production company that I will also offer their services for free so we can get these guys on tape before the moments lost. I am not doing this for profit. I will tape share with whomever wants copies so long as they provide the DVD or tape they want it transferred to, if you are in production you will be expected to pay scale for the media and the proceeds will be donated to charity. Plan on it being an all day affair and I will get with some of my friends who would like to bring their old racers out to this event and hopefully the venue that is made available to us has some type of auto museum, preferably with an elevator or minimal stairs. I think Ernie might like to bring the Spurgin car, of course the Belond roadster will be there and most likely I can talk Mike Degles into driving the Stan Hartwick replica. I am sure I can put together a dozen or two roadsters to show up if we can't book a venue. I am also working with a couple of publishers who could supply books at a discounted rate so these guys can pass them around and sign them for each other and those in attendance that might want one. It is possible we could offer copies of these books for sale and use the proceeds to defer off some costs for a door prize or something else to make the event a bit more special. The planning is obviously in its formative stages but I do want to proceed quickly if the interest is there. Comments are welcome and help is needed. I can be emailed at [email protected]. Michael Brennan
Michael: I've held reunions or assisted in holding reunions at the Justice Brother's Museum, Lake Irvine, Joe's Garage, the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, the Petersen Automotive Museum and several parks in the area. Many of the venue sites are no longer available and those that are still around have rules about food; you have to use their vendors and the costs are built into the food. I finally found a great site with the Boat Racers Reunion at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, California with the Southern California Marine Association (SCMA) as our sponsor. Since you are not doing a Boat Racers Reunion, you might try and contact John Buck who owns and operates the Grand National Roadster Show and he might find some space for you at his event in January. If you want to keep costs down, do without the food and let those who want to eat, buy from the vendors. Be sure to send me weekly updates so that I can keep our readers informed of what's happening.

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Crazy Horses - the history of British drag racing is now available in the USA from Motorbooks. Can you tell me whether they have provided you with a review copy yet? Brian Taylor 
Brian: No, I haven't heard anything from Motorbooks lately. They may have assigned the book to another reviewer. But if they ask me to do it then I will be glad to, but either way I will delighted to publish their reviewer's work or mine in www.hotrodhotline.com and www.landspeedracing.com. Also, you can do little reviews, or chapter reviews, and send them to me to add to the newsletter, along with photographs from the book. We will publish as many comments on your book as you wish to provide for us.

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Editor's notes: The following was sent to us by Burly Burlile.
Forums:
http://ultimateaircooled.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?board=53.0, go to Vintage and Land Speed Performance.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewforum.php?f=44, go to Vintage Speed.
http://www.volksrods.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19537&page=6, go to Bonneville VW Challenge.
http://www.volksrods.com/forum/, go to Cutting Board-Search 36hp & Bonneville.
http://blackline57.com/CONTACT_US.htm, check out ALL links.
http://www.vdubber.com/orca/#forum/--2009-04-18-0.htm, go to Vintage Speed forums.
http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=468900, go to Bonneville or Bust.
http://www.cal-look.com/forum/index.php?topic=14678.70, go to Worlds Fastest 36hp VW Challenge.
http://www.landracing.com/, Land Speed News & Links.
http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=105529, search for Turbo forums.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=191462&highlight=bonneville, go to Land Speed Ghias.
Parts & Services:
http://vintagewerks.com/, Ed Falls Distributors/Carburetors/Fuel Pumps.
http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/, Okrasa Cylinder Head & Carburetor Kits/36hp Engine Parts/ 36hp Main Bearings.
http://forums.aircooledtechnology.com/index.php, Jake Raby's forum.
Sanctioning Bodies:
http://www.saltflats.com/, go to 130 MPH club. Go to 36hp Challenge.
http://www.ecta-lsr.com/?page_id=8, go to Home (130 MPH type street classes & 36hp specific classes).
http://www.texasmile.net/, go to Home (130 MPH type street classes).
http://www.lta-lsr.com/, go to Home (130 MPH type street classes & 36hp specific classes).
http://www.dlra.org.au/, go to Home
http://www.scta-bni.org/, go to Home (no 36hp Challenge info-full competition VW racing).
General LSR News:
http://www.landspeedracing.com/, Land Speed Racing News (VW minimal and historic hot rod).
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=101, General Land Speed Racing Forum (minimal VW).
Videos-Land Speed Racing:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bonneville+speed+week&search_type=&aq=1&oq=bonneville

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I decided to leave a message to the Director on his telephone service at the museum. I had said that you have given me a suggestion to contact him for my questioning. Instead of going into the details, I hopefully told him to log on to the Society of Land Speed and to review #121-124. So he would understand what I was up to. I should have mentioned Jack Houttes with Pete Petersen, but I forgot. I am also realizing that #122 is not listed any more. I will try to call and leave another message to the Director concerning Houttes and Petersen. Thanks. Spencer Simon 
Spencer: In many cases the number of calls and emails are so great that high ranking officials have to have their calls screened and that means that many people will be ignored if their messages seem unimportant. The only plan that I have found that works is a short message with the gist of the request and a phone number or email address to return the call. You simply have to be "pleasant but persistent." I usually send a message, wait a week, and then call back. The 3rd call is three days after the 2nd. The 4th call is 2 days after the third. The 5th call is one day after the fourth. The 6th call is the next day in the AM. The 7th call is in the PM. The 8th call is the next day at 8am, followed by the 9th call at 9am and a call every hour after that until one of two things happens; they call back or you decide to quit. Always be courteous. Never be contentious. Never hang up, let the receiver of your call terminate the call. Be sociable and willing to talk for as long as possible to those screening the calls. I hope that helps you in your attempt to get a response. If the person you are calling feels that he doesn't want to talk to you then he should be honest and say, "I'm sorry, but I'm too busy to help you, please go away." I figure that there are ten million car guys and if someone doesn't like me or doesn't want to talk to me, that's fine, because that leaves 9,999,999 people left for me to deal with. I never let it affect my attitude and believe me, there are car guys with attitudes at the far side of Attila the Hun and Howard Stern. I've been told off by a lot of them. Pick yourself back up and continue the crusade.

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Good morning 36hp racers and friends. The weather forecast for Bonneville for the next ten days is shown in the link below. No rain is forecast (that's real good!) with sunny skies through Friday at least. Temps will be in the high fifties at night (campers, bring semi-warm sleeping gear) and ideal for racing at mid-day with highs in the low to mid-eighties. http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USUT0270?from=36hr_topnav_undeclared. Countdown is now at eight days until racing begins. Everyone have a good drive or flight out and we will see you soon. May the Speed be with you. Burly Burlile

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Flash! Tonight's great news is that the ghost of Blackline 57 lives and will be coming to the salt after all under the guise of Chip Birks 1960 drag racing street beetle. We are now expecting at least five 36hp Challenge cars to compete at this year's World of Speed. Two Utah drag racers, members of the Salt City Air Coolers VW club, have jumped in and volunteered their car and safety equipment to Justin and Colton to help bring their 2009 racing effort back to life. Thanx to both from all the folks following their effort on the Samba and Ultimated Air Cooled forums. Hopefully many if not all the SCAC, Northern Utah Air Cooled VW Club and the VW club in Provo will come out to the salt and support their effort. I just got off the phone with Colton and Justin and Chips bug is at A.C.E. and the turbo motor and trans have been removed and they are getting ready to start readjusting the equipment for the salt. All plans are go and if everything goes as planned, they expect to have the car on wheels and running by Friday. If anyone can accomplish the task, it is the hardworking Blackline 57 crew! As of Saturday night, the five following cars are expected to race down the long black line of Bonneville:
59 Ghia (Denzel power) of Richard Troy...................DSS Ghia
74 Beetle of Britt Grannis.........................................SS Bug
60 Beetle of McAllister Bros/Chip Birks...................DSS Bug
58 Beetle of Beaver Geezers....................................SS Bug
74 Beetle of Bruch/Anderson....................................NA36 
Here is some food for thought. I talked with B'ville Tom and can give you his latest test report. During a Friday road test with the new high geared tranny in place and the accelerator pump on the single carb repaired, he achieved 85 miles per hour in "3rd" gear at nine pounds boost. He does not know what the RPM's were because he was approaching the rear of a semi with such thrust he needed to institute a brake test as well. He considered both tests very successful. Tom said his first runs on the salt will be with the engine in exactly the same configuration as when it set the 103 mph record last year except the air intake leak will have been corrected, improved head flow work, ratio rockers from his SSS motor and the new tall gear trannie. If all is successful, he is also assembling a second different intake system to try. Any guesses on Tom's top speed in 2009? So far Unkl Ian has said 107.1, Brian 109, and Tom S. 117 miles per hour. Anyone else willing to put their projection out there? Also, how about some guesses on the McAllister/Birks bug that is currently rising from the ashes. Post your estimates at: http://ultimateaircooled.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=439.0 Brian Watts, founder of the Ultimate Air Cooled web site is coming to the World of Speed with camera in hand and will report directly to all the UAC website followers on the 36hp Challenge activities. We truly appreciate his dedicated interest and support of the Challenge. Remember, if you are going to join us Thursday night (17th) at Bonneville for the second annual 36hp Challenge dinner, please email me with how many in your party will be joining us so we can get an accurate head count for the folks at the Red Garter Casino where the dinner will be held. We want to make sure they have sufficient food on hand for the buffet. Countdown to WOS is now at ten days and closing. Bruce Cook has made a few improvements to his DSS record holding 51 bug and will return to Maxton for the ECTA's last meet of the year in October. If all goes well, we expect to see Bruce join Tom and Dick in the new "1" Club for 36hp engined cars. If you have any questions regarding this years 36hp Challenge at Bonneville, please contact me directly. Hoping to see you on the salt. Burly Burlile

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Black Top Magazine is available at this link; http://www.blacktopmagazine.com/. It is an excellent website for the hot rodder and the topics are interesting and informative. The photographs are exceptional and you shouldn't miss Genevieve Chappell, this month's model.

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It was the greatest! As we figured, it really was a terrific venue to go like hell! The Mainers are the best, too, you know. Cool locals and cool racers got along like you wouldn't believe! Woodstock on Wheels. The website has a lot of info and a link to the Landracing forum. We didn't get going until noon on Saturday, but had about 260 runs on Sunday for a total in the high 300's. Fastest bike was a Scott Guthrie machine (Shane on it?) at 261+mph on Sunday, 265+mph on a special private Monday effort). Fastest Car was Joe Ledford's nice 32 roadster at 214 mph as I recall. Nearly everyone went their fastest ever at Loring. A moose caused a brief delay when he made an appearance. The beaver stayed in his pond at trackside, however. I'm very mindful of your guidance about finding new members of the organization, I found them, or actually they found us. Everybody's coming back; they want us back at Loring, our goal met! See http://www.lta-lsr.com/HOME.htm. Bob Jepson
Bob: Keep us informed of your progress at Loring for future events and send us more reports of your inaugural race.

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Wally Parks Annual Tribute, December 5-6, 2009. The Tallahassee Automobile Museum has dedicated December 5-6, 2009, as the annual tribute to Wally Parks, founder of the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) and long-time motorsports personality. The owner and founder of the Tallahassee Automobile Museum, DeVoe Moore, is a noted and prestigious Tallahassee businessman and land developer. Wally Parks, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 94, had a multi-faceted career in motorsports. He raced on the salt flats in Utah and on the dry lake beds of southern California, and participated in speed trials at Daytona Beach. He was the first professional editor of Hot Rod Magazine, and a friend and colleague of Bill France, Sr. Among his accomplishments, he created the Wally Parks Motorsports Museum at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, California. Because of his many contributions to motorsports, the Tallahassee Automobile Museum management has turned the Wally Parks tribute into an annual event. Activities to honor this occasion will include an automobile cruise-in on Saturday featuring many of North Florida's automobile clubs. The tribute to Wally Parks will be on display Saturday and Sunday inside the Museum. Entrance to the cruise-in is free but does not include museum admission. Group discounts are available. Among the dignitaries expected to be in attendance will be David Parks, the youngest son of Wally Parks, from California. John and Beth Collins will be displaying their 1932 Ford Roadster which was similar to the car that Wally Parks owned and drove "back in the day." This wonderful 100,000 square-foot facility is located at 6800 Mahan Drive, in Tallahassee, Florida (I-10 at US 90 East, Exit 209A), telephone 850-942-0137, or www.tacm.com. The museum includes over 140 rare, antique, classic, muscle and new cars and a wide variety of other collectibles. Ernie Schorb, the creator of this tribute, was NHRA's first Southeastern Director and worked directly for Wally Parks in a number of positions over a 25-year period from the early fifties to the late seventies.

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Gone Racin'…Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970, by Harold W. Pace and Mark R. Brinker.
Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970 is a hard-cover book by Harold W. Pace and Mark R. Brinker, published by Motorbooks International, an MBI imprint company, based in St Paul, Minnesota. The publication date is 2004 and the ISBN number is 0-7603-1783-6. Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970 is another excellent book from Motorbooks, which has a reputation as a publisher for putting out works that are of high quality. This book is no exception to their rule. Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970 measures 10 � by 10 � and is an excellent reference book on road racing as well as a fine coffee table book. Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970 has 304 pages, on heavy waxed paper, a cloth spine binding and an attractive dust cover jacket. The book is bound and not glued and the acid-free, waxed paper should last several lifetimes. The dust cover jacket is eye-catching and enhances the value of the book. You should always take care of the jacket, because the value of any book diminishes when they are torn or lost. There are 242 black and white photographs, 200 color photographs and 308 additional aids, including maps, insets, diagrams, ads, programs and drawings. The photographs and miscellaneous aids are outstanding for the most part, though some of the photos are old. The captions are clear, but short and you need to read the text to fully understand the intent of the photographs. There are insets which give specific details on each type of car. Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970 has a table of contents, acknowledgments, introduction, seven chapters, a five part appendix, bibliography and an index. The appendix was very helpful and gave a breakdown of the cars by year, constructor, body builder, powerplant and racing class. The bibliography was informative, thorough and complete. The five page index was accurate and complete and makes this book a serious historical and encyclopedic work. The first chapter is entitled The Way We Were and gives a short history of amateur road racing in the United States from 1950 through 1970, the heyday of American road racing. Road racing in Europe began in the 1890's or a little thereafter. Americans were quick to enter road racing and imported European cars to compete against some of the early domestic cars. The Vanderbilt Cup, Indy 500, Corona and Santa Monica road races all began prior to World War I. Hill climbs, road courses, rallies, time trials and road races were well entrenched and favorite sports of Americans after WWI ended, but the heyday of road course racing occurred after the end of World War II in 1945. GIs returned from the Eastern Theatre of War with a love of English, French, Italian, German and other European sports cars and with our currency strong and vibrant, brought many cars with them. Road racing had an air of excitement and charm. Many of the drivers were rich, or aspired to be, and the parties after the races were sometimes lavish. The authors describe the racing categories and the associations that sanctioned the races. In Chapter Two, the authors break down each and every car that they could find that raced from 1950-70 by manufacturers. Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970 is encyclopedic in nature and the index and table of contents make it quite easy to find what you are looking for. This book would be a great addition on American road racing in conjunction with those books written by Art Evans and Michael Lynch. The list of manufacturers is alphabetized, in fact everything is alphabetized and very easy to find. The insets give the names, addresses and breakdown of the various makers. Chapter Three is called American Specials and contains about one-third of the book. These are the cars that were individually built by hot rodders, racers and mechanics. They represent some of the most famous race cars, such as Ak Miller's El Caballo de Hierro and Thatcher Darwin's Beetle. Miller's car is on display at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, in Pomona, California. Darwin's car has been restored and is still in use as a road course racer. Some of the most unique and interesting sports cars are listed in this chapter. Max Balchowsky's Old Yeller is placed in another chapter, but if there is a car anywhere that can claim the title, 'Junkyard Dog,' it was the Old Yellers. Max would claim that his cars were the throwaway parts that no one wanted, yet his racing cars had the ferocious bite on the road courses similar to the bite of those dogs that patrolled the junkyard premises. Chapter Four is named Engine Swap Specials and lists all those cars with recognizable chassis and bodies, but whose owners swapped out the engines for ones that they felt gave them more power and control. Chapter Five is titled American Kit Car Manufacturers and lists firms like Ambro, Bocar, Byers, Devin, Kurtis, Glasspar, Victress and others. These manufacturers would sell you a good looking fiberglass body, chassis and other parts. Chapter six is called American Racing Engines and tells us about the motors that were available. The usual Detroit engines were sold, such as Buick, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Cadillac and Ford. But there were other engines available, such as Crosley, McAfee, Meyer & Drake, Taylor Super Sport and others. The Crosley was popular in boats as well and the clones of the old Miller and Offenhauser engines were very strong up through the early 1960's. Chapter Seven is named Racing Classes and gives an overview of the classes that cars raced in under different Associations. Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970 closes with five appendices and a great index. Each of the appendices holds a great deal of information. If you are newcomer to road racing and would like to learn more, or a seasoned veteran who just wants to have some information at hand, Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1970 will fit the bill. I give this book a 7.5 out of a possible 8 sparkplugs and heartily recommend it. Gone Racin' is at [email protected].

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Racin'… Aventura, Alaska, Brasil, by William Carroll Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz

William Carroll now resides in the mountains of New Mexico, but when I met him he lived in a small town just north of San Diego. He's a very approachable and humorous man with a tenacious will to experience life. Carroll was a journalist and photographer for automotive magazines and a hot rodder at heart. I asked him about his past and he jovially kept me in tears with his stories, until that is, he got to the 1950's, which he skipped over. "What happened then," I asked. "If I tell you then I will have to kill you," he said with a twinkle in my eye. I did manage to get out of him that it had something to do with Central America and my imagination soared to subjects about smuggling, spies, wild affairs and worse. Carroll's book Aventura, Alaska, Brasil is partially set in those areas he refused to talk about and recounts a journey of exploration that any hot rodder could appreciate. The book is a soft-cover edition on non-glossy paper containing 230 pages. The size is 6 inches by 9 inches and has 4 color photographs on the covers only, with 2 maps. Aventura, Alaska, Brasil is written in the style of a travel journal but has the feeling of a mystery novel. It is hard to believe that it isn't a novel had I not known Carroll. There is no index and yet the lack of one should not seriously deter the reader. Since this is not a pictorial, it will interest the serious reader who enjoys travel adventures. Carroll has a style of writing that easily goes from event to event in a seamless way. The book is a series of adventures that the foreign traveler will appreciate. The events proceed from story to story, country to country in an even and interesting way with humor spread throughout.
It is obvious that by the time he has reached Central America that this is going to be a long, hard, tiring and frustrating trip. Carroll's wife, Renee, accompanied him on the trip. The purpose was to road test-drive a new 1968 Mercury coupe under all conditions and then report the results. Carroll received sponsorship to make the trip from Ford Motor Company, Morton International, STP and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. To make things even more difficult, he did not change the oil or parts, only adding oil when it was low. Some countries drew raves from the couple, while other nations proved to be unbearable. Roads might be paved and well taken care of in one area and dirt tracks later on. Mudslides, lack of gas stations and hotels made some stretches of the trip very difficult and the distances traveled, long and tedious. In some areas there were rock cairns deliberately placed on the road forcing motorists to detour around them on to side roads. Border patrol guards could be friendly, fair and hard working or slow, contentious and dangerous. Some guards spoke English and some only a dialect their mother's could understand. Nowhere does Carroll tell us what year he went on this saga, but we can infer that it was late 1967 or 1968 based on his statement that he was going to test drive a 'new' 1968 Mercury coupe. Forty years has passed and travelers still encounter similar experiences when they undertake the 'Pole to Pole' trek along the spine of the great mountain chains that make up North and South America. It wasn't all hardship. The Carroll's talk excitedly about their short cruise when they reach the Panama Canal. It is obvious by the reading that there are many stretches of the intercontinental road network that tourists should avoid.
There are twenty chapters in the book, 18 of which correspond to the country that they traveled through. The shortest chapter was on their trip into and out of the nation of Honduras, which took them only a short time and covered a third of a page and only 4 hours to drive. Ironically, it was also one of the most pleasant places they saw. Nicaragua proved to be very difficult and not much has changed since then. The same thing was true with Venezuela, Peru and Brazil. The Carroll's found Costa Rica, Chile and Panama to be enchanting places, just as tourists today find them to be. Carroll remarked that the most beautiful women on the trip were found in Costa Rica. Customs inspectors in Brazil locked up the Carroll's believing that their documents were forged. It was days before they could be freed and the problem turned out to be that the inspectors were unlearned and could not understand the car registrations and other documents. The lesson in all of this is to fluently speak the language and stay out of small border crossing areas. Pares, or the border guards, is a word that pops up continually in the story and they vex the traveler's whether the guards are honest or not. They would be stopped anywhere, sometimes hundreds of miles from the border. But travel is about discovery and the Carroll's found new friends and experiences all along the 24,876-mile journey from Anchorage to Rio de Janeiro. The book is fascinating and hard to put down. From Alaska to Brazil is truly a wonderful experience and Aventura, Alaska, Brasil is a wonderful book. Aventura, Alaska, Brasil is published by Coda Publications, P.O. Box 71, Raton, New Mexico 87740, or send an email to Carroll at [email protected], for a copy. Gone Racin' is at [email protected].

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Random Photos

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Hey Bob, What can I say? You guys really pulled off one of the best events I've seen in a long time. Great job putting it all together. The internet chatter gives you a big thumbs up. Congratulations!! Sorry I couldn't be there for Sunday, but I'll plan on both days next year. Did you get to run your car? How fast? Any problems? Paul

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