|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|||||||
 |
|||||||
|
SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS |
|||||||
|
Click On All Images For Larger View |
|||||||
|
|
|
Some Names To Look For In This Newsletter: |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ President's Corner: |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Editorial: |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is his obituary, perhaps it could be posted. He and my mom were the founders of a sports car club called Shifters South Bay back in the 1960's and were also members of SCAT & ISCARA Sports Car Clubs. Rallying was a big event in my childhood years. Bob McGrath would remember him just by name as they were friends. I am finding pictures of trips to Bonneville, including the one I was included in on to babysit for Bob & Anitra's (wife at the time) daughter, Jessica, whom I named my daughter after. My dad was so proud of those days and the Redhead that I wanted to let Bob know, if we can locate him. Thanks, Vicki Houser |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gil Coraine sent in the following information. |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just so you know I am still working on my Bio. Lots of ground to cover for 75 years. I want it to be right and give you room to edit once I send to you. I am also working on the Gear Grinders history which is covering a lot of years. Jim Miller sent me a copy of the 1st members and Larry Lindsley has tons of stuff from his Dad Jim. This will take some time and there are some holes in it in the 1950s era. There is a lot of research to dig thru. I am so happy for what you and Jim are doing for the greatest motor sport and its longevity. We are so lucky to have been around in its growth and to the pioneers that gave us this chance. Hope you are recovering from your data loss with your server. Glen Barrett |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Editor: The following story comes to us from Bob Falcon, a member of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians. |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mile Shootout racing is coming to the West coast! That's right - standing-start, flat out speed, as fast as you can go in ONE MILE! In conjunction with the Mojave Air and Space Port, a private airfield in Mojave, CA, we will host the first ever Mojave Mile Shootout event on March 6, 2010. This facility features a 12,000' runway which will allow for very fast speeds (250+ mph) and a comfortable braking margin. Since Mile Shootout racing is already very popular in Texas, the Midwest, and the East Coast, we look forward to being the premiere site for Mile Shootouts in the West! While the premiere of the Mojave Mile is scheduled to be a one-day event, future events will be 2-3 days long and will attract up to 300 participants! The Mojave Mile will be open to both cars and motorcycles, and, as the event grows in popularity, is forecasted to be held multiple times per year. Mark your calendar to attend one of the most exciting new racing venues in the country! |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Joe, hope you and Donna are doing well and are ready for the holidays. As you probably know Richard Parks and Jim Miller along with the American Hot Rod Foundation have been working on the history of land speed racing. Do you have a historian in ECTA that could put something together for AHRF. I know it's only a few years old and now is the time to work on the history as it's the best time to start. Thanks for any help. Glen Barrett |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Racing Clubs: Historians listed for each club |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Web Address to some old drag racing pics from 1964 that I just received. See http://www.vaautoracing.org/Gallery2.html. Keith Ferrell |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, based at Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, Ocala, Florida has announced the induction to the Hall of Fame for the year 2010. The list of eight inductees is as follows: |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gone Racin'…Tex Smith's Hot Rod History; Book One the Beginnings, by Tom Medley. Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz Tex Smith's Hot Rod History; Book One the Beginnings, by Tom Medley is a historical book on Hot Rodding that should be a staple of every hot rodder's library. The book is in paperback format and measures 8 � by 11 inches in size with 202 pages. The book contains 692 black and white photos, 3 Sepia and 4 color photos. The captions are quite good where the author knows the car and driver. There is an adequate amount of text surrounding the photos. There is no index and that is a huge drawback in finding and locating names and subject matter. The photos go back into the 1920's and '30's and are very clear for their age. The paper is non-glossy normal bond and the book would not be considered of a coffee table quality. The book itself does not look spectacular but that is misleading. The reason to buy this book and read it is because of the author, Tom Medley. A writer, author, cartoonist and reporter, Medley knows hot rodding intimately. His text explains the history of the hot rodding movement and the photos amply cover the story. This is a book you will pick up repeatedly and pore over until you know each car and person portrayed within its covers. Medley had help in putting the book together. Leroi Tex Smith, Richard Johnson, Ron Ceridono and Bob Reece helped in putting this book together. There is a brief table of contents, a foreword by Tex Smith and then 11 chapters, each a biography of a famous hot rodder from the past. In the first chapter, Tex Smith introduces the author, Tom Medley. Medley was born in Oregon, served in the military during World War II, then went to work for Pete Petersen at the new Hot Rod Magazine. He is famous for his cartoon hero "Stroker McGurk." Medley would let his imagination soar with Stroker, who did all the crazy stuff that hot rodders were famous for. In one cartoon, Stroker has trouble stopping his car and in desperation, attaches a parachute on the back. Hot rodders everywhere took that idea seriously and chutes became a customary safety equipment improvement. In Chapter Two, Medley takes over the interviewing, this time talking with Kong Jackson about the great cam grinder, Ed Winfield. Ed was a generation older than the kids that grew up during the Great Depression and went off to war after Pearl Harbor. Winfield was a mechanical genius and quite a racer in his youth. He inspired men like Kong Jackson and others. His speed equipment is still being produced for those wanting to race Flathead engines. Chapter Three discusses Kong Jackson's hot rodding experiences. Kong went to the dry lakes in 1937 and remained a faithful SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) member for the rest of his life. In Chapter Four, Medley talks to the Spalding brothers, Bill and Tom. The brothers first went to the dry lakes of Southern California in 1934. They built the famous Spalding Brothers streamliner that ran at the lakes and at Bonneville. One of the irritations in the book is that the photos do not always fit the story and some of the pictures should have been placed in the back of the book so as not to be confusing. Ray Brown is interviewed in Chapter Nine. Brown grew up in the Hollywood area and worked for Eddie Meyer. He raced at the lakes and at Bonneville and was one of the first to use the new Chrysler motors. His innovative speed shop and other businesses helped to promote hot rodding in its early years. Ray was a member of the Road Runners Car club and served as the President of the SCTA in 1953. In Chapter Ten, Medley interviews his old friend and boss, Wally Parks, who after WWII became the first full-time professional editor of Hot Rod Magazine, while leading the reorganization of the SCTA as its President and Secretary. Parks was a member of the Road Runners Car club and in 1951 he created the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association), which became the largest drag racing sanctioning body in the world. Chapter Eleven is about Dick Martin. He is from Oregon and got his first car in 1941. He was impressed with the Porter Muffler shop in Los Angeles and opened several Porter Muffler dealerships in the Oregon and Washington area. Martin raced oval track roadsters and drag raced. Tex Smith's Hot Rod History; Book One the Beginnings and its sister publication, Tex Smith's Hot Rod History; Book Two the Glory Years are two books that belong in every hot rodder's library. They give a good historical overview based on the recollections of the men who were there in the beginning. Gone Racin' is at [email protected]. |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gone Racin'…I Am Your Disease, by Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis, with Heiko Ganzer, LCSW, CASAC. Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz. I do book reviews on hot rodding, car racing and other automotive related topics, but every now and then I will review a book on a subject that impacts the car culture. Car guys are typically hands on people who enjoy working on problems and solving them. The more difficult the problem, the more they are motivated to see if they can learn and then create a solution. The book, I Am Your Disease, by Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis, with Heiko Ganzer, LCSW, CASAC, is a very difficult one to read on a topic that is unpleasant at best. The typical car guy would rather avoid this issue and head out to the garage to work on engines, frames and parts for his hot rod. For many of us, the subject of drug addiction and death is one that we can't seem to grasp, nor solve, and thus we avoid the topic altogether. However, we can't walk away from this issue, for drug abuse and the consequences to our friends and family are simply too great to ignore. I Am Your Disease is a paperback book, measuring 6x9 inches, with a full one inch thickness. There are 357 pages of text and 80 photographs, 41 in color. The importance of the book is in the text and the messages, while the photographs are mere haunting reminders of the lives lost to drug addiction. In fact the photographs are barely a half inch by a half inch in size, but they show the subjects of the book in happier days, before the ugliness of drug addiction twisted their lives and ended them. The book is divided into chapters, one for each of the 39 people whose lives are portrayed. There are three pages of testimonials, a title page, five page table of contents, but no index. Normally an index would denote a higher quality of work by the author, but here it is not really needed. Each person's story stands alone and is sufficient in itself. The reader doesn't need to know where to find a story of horrific proportions, for each and every story has that quality. In additions to the stories are poems, a list to help people see how to grieve, a story concerning peer pressure and what our children are saying to us, if we would but listen to them before it is too late. There is a section on where to go to find help and what types of drugs our children are finding on the streets. Another section presents coping skills for parents and family. Heiko Ganzer describes what addiction and gambling does to our young people and what family and friends can do. Ms McGinnis ends the book with an afterword, five short pages, terse and to the point. The final page gives websites where family and friends can go for more information and help. I Am Your Disease is not an owner's manual on drug abuse or how to control it. The photographs show small images of happy faces, all but one who is white, mostly male, in their late teens and twenties. There are no graphic images of bloated bodies, cars mangled against trees, needle marks on the corpses arms or disfigured loved ones. The author left that to our imagination. I Am Your Disease is published by Outskirts Press, Inc, Denver, Colorado and is available from the author or at book stores or Amazon.com. The price is $16.95 and the ISBN # is 10:1-59800-699-1. I Am Your Disease appears to be a self-publish book, but the style of writing is quite good. Now to the content itself, and it is the content that makes this book valuable. It is a parent who writes each of the chapters about their son or daughter. In that respect, I Am Your Disease should rightly be called an anthology, with many authors writing a chapter. The quality of the writing is not lessened by multiple authors. Many of the stories are only a few pages, but some are more than twenty pages long. Some parents express their grief quickly, while others go into detail about the causes of the drug addiction and the effect that it has on family and friends. In one case the death of one young man led to the depression, anger, sorrow and addiction of another young man, who eventually died as well. All of the mothers, fathers, relatives and friends tell us that drug addiction can happen to anyone and that no one is bad. Of course this is true, for all children are innocent at birth and the disease of addiction comes about silently with stealth. Even those who survive their addictions to dangerous and lethal drug usage are often unaware of the early signs. The bright, shining, smiling faces in the photographs show no evil intentions. As you look on the front cover at the 32 men and 7 women in the prime of their lives and ponder what they could have been, a profound sadness grips your mind. These were young men and women who had careers ahead of them. They might have had happy husbands and wives and wonderful children of their own. There might have been grandchildren and great-grandchildren to dote on someday. As you read their stories and grasp the reality that their drug addiction has led to tragedy, not only for themselves, but for their family and friends, a great sadness envelops your thoughts. That's exactly why Sherry McGinnis compiled the stories of people who have lost their children. The author is committed to doing something to try and spare another mother or father from the anguish that she feels on the loss of her son to drug addiction. Now I know the hot rodding community very well. My father before me knew the hot rodding community even better than I. He spent his life trying to bring order to the chaos of Illegal Street racing by organizing the youth into clubs and later into the National Hot Rod Association, or NHRA. Wally Parks spent his life saving your children from killing themselves on the highways of America. Thousands heeded the call and joined the NHRA and they are alive today, to see their children and grandchildren prosper. But it isn't just illegal street racing that kills the children of hot rodders around the world. We also have car people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol and who suffer these diseases. We also have children and grandchildren who suffer from addiction. We have friends and family members who are addicted to excessive risky behavior. We all take risks and we all have our dysfunctions, but through luck or divine providence we survive to tell our families and give our examples of what to avoid. Can this book solve all your problems and keep your children from gambling with their lives? The answer is no, it is not going to be the answer to all your problems concerning addiction and drugs. But it will do something very important. It takes a subject that we don't want to talk about and maybe even fear, and in a loving and compassionate manner it examines how lives have been ruined. If you care enough to protect your loved ones, you will put down your tools, turn off the TV set, put your racing schedule on hold and read this book. I Am Your Disease is not going to tell you what Step One is, or how to magically change the behavior of your children in regards to drugs. If you are a user and abuser, this book will not cure you either. If your children see you using drugs or alcohol, all the books in the world aren't going to be of much help. What I Am Your Disease will do for you is set the mood and maybe get you to thinking. Maybe you have been doing too much racing or cruising to the detriment of your family. I Am Your Disease is step one in your future sobriety, or the salvation of your children who are experimenting with the drug culture. There is also a lot of smugness on the part of families who haven't suffered a lot from drug abuse. But in my life I have never seen a family that didn't have some sort of dysfunctional behaviors and addiction is one of the worst. Sometimes it is simply dumb luck that determines whether our addictions kill us or spare us. I Am Your Disease is simply an eye opener, a book intended to give you some examples of how drug addiction kills. There are as many ways to suffer irreparable damage and death as there are people who experiment with drugs. You are car guys and hot rodders and you pride yourself on finding solutions to problems that arise in the automotive culture. Now it is time for you to spend some time and read this book and see how some young men and women got themselves into this problem and how it caused their deaths. It's time to educate yourselves and learn what addiction is and what you can do to help prevent it. I Am Your Disease is an easy to read book that is easy for the whole family to read, separately and then later as a group, to promote a family unity. Before your children go to Junior High School, High School and College, have them read this book and discuss it with you. I know what you are going to say, "My children don't talk to me and even if they did, I wouldn't know what to say." Unfortunately, you won't be able to say very much at their funerals either. You'll be just as tongue tied at the gravesite as you are sitting in the living room with a belligerent young person who would rather be somewhere else. But this is your child and you love them and your prized '32 Deuce is going to be left to them to live the hot rodding life that you love so much. You'll spend thousands of hours in the garage or auto shop building the car of your dreams, but you won't spend an hour of your time with your wife and children on a topic that could save their lives. Typical of the stories is one written by the mother of Mike DiGiantommaso who died from an overdose of heroin. His mother gave the timeline of addiction; experimentation, abuse, addiction and death. But in between these phases comes other harmful aspects. Debt, theft, inability to function or see the plight of others as one's life is being extinguished. For the parents and friends, a despair at the alienation of their child and friend as they are lost to a world of drugs. Mike began to use alcohol and marijuana at the age of 15, and then progressed on to harder and more addictive drugs. Since the majority of Americans have gone through the same stage, how was anyone to see the tragedy that was to unfold before their eyes? The mother feels responsible and says her denial was a factor, but in a world where drugs and alcohol addiction is the norm, how could she have known what would happen to her son. Most addicts to drugs survive, though their health may never be as good as if they had never gotten hooked. Sometimes a parent feels that they are trying to hold back a flood of modern day behaviors from reaching their family. Guilt and shame are useless emotions after a child has died from addictive drugs. In some respects that is all that we have, this blaming of our inability to face the truth. Even in homes that do not use drugs, tobacco or alcohol, our children are still at risk. If we band together and send letters to our Congressmen when laws are proposed to curtail our car culture, shouldn't we band together to save the lives of our family members too? Frankly, there is no easy solution and every program to curtail drug addiction has limitations. The author and the reviewer disagree on some of the programs, but this is unimportant. I Am Your Disease is a book for beginners. It isn't intended to be a book for experienced professionals. The purpose of the book is to get you to think about the problem and then to talk about it and finally to act. In that respect, I Am Your Disease is a success, and frankly, based only on its content, one of the better books on my list of "must have for your library." I rate this book a solid 8 out of 8 spark plugs, or a superior book. Gone Racin' is at [email protected]. The author can be reached at www.theaddictionmonster.com. |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Caption: |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Caption: |
|
|
|
|
|
Indeed, rest your life upon. I witnessed such a moment when the driveshaft, which ran along the driver's legs and hips, got loose in the 411 streamliner during a World Record attempt. Son Tom got the beast stopped and had a few bruises from the twirling steel beating the life out of a one-inch plate covering it in the cockpit, stretching it and managing to rip slightly like you would a seam in your britches, but the welds held. That, my friends, is a testament of build quality; to have such talent that can provide such strength, such protection to a land speed racing vehicle. Gene was a gentle, sincere man, with a ready handshake and smile who loved his wife, his kids, his sport. How wonderfully blessed we were to have known him. |
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Land Speed Racing Websites: |
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 "image002")
