SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS
NEWSLETTER 97 - February 5, 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:
 Article was sent by Dale Moreau to Don Pennington, who shared it with the SLSRH, Do you have any information on Harvey "Papa" Jackson?, An outline to help with bio’s, I was wondering if you have info on Mr. Foster?, Rooms are now available for Bonneville, The SCTA/Sidewinders Award Banquet is scheduled for Saturday, February 21, 2009, A copy of Dick Wells a bio, Petersen Automotive Museum events, A three-disc DVD documentary series, "Lions - the Greatest Drag Strip, California has enacted a Bill to allow illegally registered hot rods to avoid prosecution and fines, Random Items.

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President's Corner:  
   Last weekend we had the Grand National Roadster Show to deal with and a few land speed cars showed up. The coolest one also doubled as a drag car and was called the Chopstick Special. Nice name huh! It was run buy a couple of guys named Shinoda and Robinson. They were members of the Eagle Rock Trompers and raced at the lakes as members of the Trompers Car Club that still exists. The Robinson guy first worked for a guy named Weiand and then later hooked up with a Zable guy and went drag racing and track roadster racing across the U.S.A. Later they even had an auto repair shop. The Shinoda guy went to a far off place called Detroit and worked on the design of a car called the Stingray for Chevrolet. Pretty cool for a land speed racer. After the car was sold it ended up in the hands of another drag guy called Don Montgomery who put the fenders back on it. You may know him from his series of great Hot Rod books. The chopped Deuce 3-window was restored back to it's first fenderless version by Dave Crouse's Custom Auto out of Colorado and is a real ten pointer. It was probably the first coupe that had the engine set way back into the drivers area and had all these tubes in place to keep the chassis from flexing. This car was a real trend setter. The second coolest LSR car was the old King & Hansen bellytank lakester. It was always one or two mph slower the the Xydias So-Cal tanker when it was S.C.T.A.'s top dog. This puppy is all together in its original un-restored shape. I want it and so would you. As a surprise how about the first picture being one of editor Richard Parks carring a couple of Chip Foose's mom's decorated mini-mailboxes. Now we've got some real dirt on him.
   Fast foreward to this weekend and the Annual S.C.T.A. Banquet. As usual our hero's were there in the guise of Senter, Isky, Deist, Gene Ohly and Jack Lufkin not to mention everyone who went fast at El Mirage this year. Add to that Mark Brazeau's great video clips of the season and a sneak-peak of Faith Granger's new hot rod movie Deuce of Spades, and naturally Richard and his Brother David Parks. Quite a time was had by all. Last night I was thinking about speed record cars and I flashed on Colin Chapman's Lotus 11. This is probably the all time greatest land speed car hiding out as a sports car. The swoopy body was designed by one Frank Costin. These two Brit's defined style in the mid to late '50's. In September, 1956 a guy named Stirling Moss ran the car for fifty miles and set a Class G Record at 132.77 mph. That wasn't too shabby for a little car with 1100cc's or 66." A few days later one Mackey Fraser took the 11 out again and went even faster at 137.5 mph for the hundred mile record. A year later another 11, this time with faired-in headlights, was taken for a ride by Cliff Allison to a speed of 140 mph for a hundred miles to grab the record again and become the fastest 1100cc car in the world. As a comparison, today's unblown Class H Fuel Modified Sports record at Bonneville stands at 133.884. The gas class is slightly higher at 151.521 mph. Considering the Lotus went that fast 50 plus years ago says a lot about the aerodynamics. The attached scan shows a side and front view of the car. One look will tell you the car should be fast. Costin was a trained aerodynamicist and a hands on guy. His most important contribution to the sport was looking at how the air flowed inside the car as well. I've seen one picture of him laying on the hood of the 11 at speed studying the tuffs taped inside the wheel well. Talk about dedicated. Just think of Chet Herbert's Beast III driven at Bonneville by Art Crisman. How fast do you think he could have gone if the car had had inner fender wells instead of spraying salt all over the driver. It's only fitting that we steal ideas wherever we can find them in the spirit of going fast.

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Editorial:
Several readers have asked Jim and I what the difference is between a bio, an obituary and a story. Here's a brief description.
NOTICE: A notice or item is a short statement, sometimes just one sentence and sometimes as long as a paragraph or two, describing events, people or a story. It is usually short, from 10 to 250 words and the purpose is to inform us quickly about something we need to act upon. Often these are notices of reunions, funerals, races or something having to do with people or activities.
OBITUARY: An obituary is a shortened biography of a person's life and can be as short as a few sentences or as long as a biography. Or, from 50 words to 500 words or so. It tells about the birth of the individual, what he/she did in their life, the people and family they had and a short mention of what made them special. Then it ends with a funeral announcement.
BIOGRAPHY: A biography is longer than an obituary, but shorter than a History. It is meant to give a rundown of a person's life and touch upon all the major successes and failures, but does not intend to go into depth or detail. An adequate biography will be around 1500 to 3000 words.
ARTICLE: An article can be of any size, but generally runs about 600 words for print media, i.e. magazines and newspapers, to 3000 words or more for on-line websites. An article has a purpose and may only delve into a particular subject matter, such as a person's racing career. It might report on some aspects of a person's life, such as his/her family, as in a biography, but the main purpose is to follow the reason and theme for the article. The article is usually commissioned by someone, such as an editor, and details a specific part of a person's life. A shop tour is a good example of an article and it could completely avoid mentioning people and stay on a specific topic.
HISTORY: A history is a comprehensive volume of work on one or more persons and one or more events. It is larger and may run to 200 pages or more and 50,000 words and up. It is intended to not only mention the events, as in a biography, but to explain them in detail and why the people and events are so important. A history will often view many angles to an event or a person. A biography is usually told by the person involved or the narrator, but in a history there will be many people quoted and sources reviewed. A history of one man will also include accounts by all those who came into his life as well as all the events that molded that person to do what he did. A history of a country, company, racing league, etc, will give a comprehensive picture of many events and people.
STORY: A story can be of any size. It can be as small as two or three sentences or larger than any history. The story of many famous men and women can equal a history and even go on beyond that in size. A series of stories can be woven together into an anthology. The story of drag racing, for example, can be a never ending, open book that stretches out forever. Or it can be as short as an article. A story is different than a history. A history is supposed to be true, factual, researched and documented. A story has elements in it that can be truthful, or fiction, or mythical in nature. A story often has a moral built into it. For example, one story tells of a racer who never helped anyone and then when he needed help, no one would come to his aid. Moral of the story; do good to those around you and they will do good in return to you. A story tells us how we think of each other. A story doesn't have to be completely factual as long as it is believable. Stories and Benchracing are sometimes considered synonymous. We believe what we want to believe, facts aren't really a part of the story, but they often are. Most of what we read, talk about or enjoy are stories, not histories and not fiction. We start off with mostly fact and as we tell and retell the story the more boring parts are forgotten and more interesting parts are added. They say that Ak Miller, the Master of the Story, never told the exact same story the same way. It changed and evolved, becoming more interesting and riveting each time he told the story. Story and oratory are often on similar grounds. A spell-binding preacher or orator teaches us a moral lesson that is wrapped up in theatrical word play that we all enjoy.
FICTION/NOVEL: A novel is fiction, which is make believe and not real. But you cannot construct a novel without incorporating something that really did happen or is believable. Even the most outlandish works of fiction are based on things that people COULD have done, or probably did do at one time. Fiction is different than a story. In a story the elements of truth are believed, that is, the teller of a story tells you that a story is true, but we have to take his word for it. In fiction or a novel, the author is telling you that it isn't true, that it is contrived and made up. He is telling you that you will enjoy the fiction or novel and that is the reason that it was created. What the author is not telling you is that parts of the fiction may be based on real events. In some cases the author will tell you, "This really happened, some of the people are real, but that the main characters and the events they are in, are make belief. In a novel or fiction, the reader is never quite sure what is real or what isn't. Fictions and novels are usually as big as an article and shorter than a history. Fictions and novels are great moral tales, though a story makes the claim of being more authentic and truthful.

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The following article was sent by Dale Moreau to Don Pennington, who shared it with the SLSRH.
Dee Wescott was born in Portland Oregon August, 13 1927 to Mabel Elliott Westcott and Jay A. Wescott. While in grade school the family lost everything in the depression and moved to the Damascus, Oregon area where family could help out. Dee had started grade school in Portland, and graduated from the Damascus Grade School. Dee Wescott bought his first car in 1939, when he was twelve years old. It was a Model T Ford pickup which, he said, he soon began to modify, rebuilding the motor in his bedroom. A few years later he was racing a Model T roadster through the orchards of his community, Damascus, Oregon. Dodging trees was a little rough on the cars, so Dee started a backyard repair shop with a homemade wooden hoist, a humble beginning for his future rod-building career. December 6, 1941 the family took delivery of a new Ford Tractor, Dee remembered they were using it the first time the next day when his mother ran out with the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. While in high school Dee not only played football but joined the Oregon Guard (mostly consisting of those too old or too young to serve in the active armed forces) and participated in searches for Japanese parachute bombs. Dee enlisted in the Navy on graduating high school, while 17. Dee was selected for advanced avionics training and became a radio and radar technician, and served two carrier tours in 1946-1947.
After discharge Dee entered vocational school for both auto mechanics and auto body repair, while working part time for an upholstery shop. Went into a partnership with his cousin in an auto related business. In 1953 the partnership ended, and Dee went into business as "Wescotts Auto Restyling." The new business specialized in "Hot Rodding" and "customization" of cars, along with body and fender repair and painting. By 1953, Dee was involved with the Motor Sports Association which held races at the Jantzen Beach raceway. When a fellow driver was badly burned Dee took on the promoters insisting that they provide and maintain adequate firefighting equipment to prevent further tragedy. At the same time, Dee was driving his 1932 Ford Coupe in loosely organized street races around town. Numerous local "hot-rod clubs" would meet on little-used roads anytime of the day or night to race. Sheriff Terry Shrunk (later mayor of Portland) was sympathetic to the rodders' desire for speed, but concerned about the safety of the community, so he approached the street rodders to see if some sort of compromise could be reached. Having proved himself as a leader, Dee was the natural spokesman for the rodders. When the clubs organized the Multnomah Hot Rod Council in 1954, Dee became the first president.
The first order of business was to move the races off of city streets, so the council negotiated for permission to race on idle airstrips until a permanent racing facility could be found. In 1958, the council purchased the Woodburn Drag Strip, and the races became more official. In the meantime, the council organized car shows where the public was invited to share in the rodders love of cars. Dee showed the first known rod customized from a current model car: his 1953 Oldsmobile pickup. It had started out as a sedan, but had been rolled on a mountain road. Dee salvaged the chassis and some front end sheet metal, grafted on a Chevy bed, and hand built the fenders. In 1955 Dee married his wife Kay Lear. The Portland Roadster Show was born in 1956, and has met every year since. This is the longest running annual car show in history. Early on, many of the cars shown were customized in Dee's business, Wescott's Auto Restyling. In the 1950's Dee experimented with fiberglass repair in order to work on Corvettes. This became a significant part of his business with industrial, marine and Wescott's high-quality replacement street rod parts and reproduction Ford bodies. These are generally recognized as the best in the industry and form the basis of hundreds of prize winning street rods. In the 1980's the industrial, marine, paint, and repair parts of the business were phased out in favor of concentrating on the Early Ford Replacement Parts and Body business.
Dee joined the Boring Fire District as a volunteer firefighter. In 1958, Dee became volunteer Chief. He remained active as a volunteer until 1997, at age 70. He was elected to the Fire District Board of Directors in 1968 and served as Chairman for many years. He loaned the fire district a small lot for a station, and for many years the air horn that summoned firefighters was kept on top of his building. 1959 was the 100th anniversary of Oregon's Statehood. When official celebration plans fell apart the community of Damascus came together and decided to do one themselves. 100 days of gunfights, covered wagons, bear feeds, buffalo feeds and a 40 foot tall wax candle. Dee was a major part of the organization and played a gunfighter. All men in the community were asked to wear beads for the celebration, to honor the pioneering spirit. When members serving in the national guard were threatened with court martial, Dee along with two others, telegraphed President Eisenhower requesting special dispensation. It was given. With money left over from the celebration the Damascus Civic Club was founded and purchased land for a community park. Dee was part of it from the beginning. Dee was active in the formation of the Damascus Water District. Shortly after it was formed he was elected to the Board of Directors and served many years, several as Chairman.
In 1979 the fiberglass industry was being threatened by unreasonable OSHA requirements. He helped form the Oregon Reinforced Plastics Association to educate industry on safe practices, and regulators on what are and are not the specific hazards and challenges for the industry. This led to the adoption of a special and workable Oregon OSHA standard for the fiberglass industry. He served as President for several years. In 2005, after spearheading an effort to incorporate his childhood community of Damascus, Oregon, Dee became the first mayor of the new city. He was re-elected in 2007 for a second two-year term and served through 2008. In May 2007 Dee was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He retired from day to day work in his business. Despite chemotherapy and other complications, Dee continued to keep active working through December 2008 on a customized 1933 coupe, the Fire District Board, and as Mayor of Damascus. Dee was preceeded in death by his parents, his older brother Jay Alonzo Jr, and his younger brother Coe. He is survived by his wife Kay, his children Karl Wescott, Julie Meyer, Amy Hutchins, and Tim Wescott and 6 granchildren. Dee passed away peacefully on January 29, 2009

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Hi Jim, Do you have any information on Harvey "Papa" Jackson? He was a black Hot Rodder who was involved in a variety of forms of racing for years. He passed away here in Riverside in November at age 99. One of the cars he used to race is the '39 Chevy Coupe, which he called the "Ostrich," now owned and raced by Chandler & Keith Young. Our local PBS station, KVCR, has over 2 hours of video taped interviews with Papa Jackson. They are putting together a documentary and are looking for interviews and memorabilia for the program. Here is a link to a story printed in the Monday, February 2, 2009 issue of the Press-Enterprise: http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_racer02.302012a.html. Jerry Cornelison, Road Runners - SCTA (established 1937), http://www.ussarcherfish.com/roadrunners.
Jerry: If anyone knows more information about Harvey, I will refer them to you or to the newspaper. I read the article and the author claims that Harvey Jackson was denied his claim to fame because of his racial background. The writer claims that the NHRA should "give him credit." This is nonsense, pure and stupid nonsense. We formed as a historical society to save as much of the past as we could. Does the NHRA or the SCTA exclude records based on ethnicity or racial stereotyping? No, they don't. The problem is that they don't keep records AT ALL, past a certain time span. Some of the tracks and events were not sanctioned by the NHRA or the SCTA and these records, if they were ever kept at all, have been lost when the tracks closed down or the promoters died. There are dedicated historians out there who strive to find and save all the race results and keep this era alive. To say that the lack of record keeping was racially motivated to keep people of color from "their glory," is utter nonsense and we historians know better.

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As you know I have never done our bio as I am just too darn busy, but some day I would like to do it even if it is for me and my family. You said you have an outline to help with the bio. Can you send me one. Then someday down the road when I have more time I will start on it. There is so much to tell. I have had lots of people say I should write a book. They started that back when Bob was still with me. I don't want to write a book, but I sure want to put down my memories before I get to old to remember. Eileen Daniels
   Eileen: I've included the bio outline guide below. I do the bios in an assembly-line fashion. Answer the questions to the best level that you can, then send it back to me and I will edit it and ask you more questions where I see it. The goal is to take about 20 minutes, write all that you can, send it to me. I will then revise the bio, ask you more questions, and send it back to you. You will be surprised at how much you can write, as fast as you can write. Biographies should start out short, to the point and answer the main points; Who, what, where, when, how and why. Bios are broken down into chronological time periods so that later, when you have time and remember something special, you can add to them. Biographies are for everyone, not just the famous. Bios can also include stories, but they don't have to. After you do your bio and Bob's, or combine them into one, then I will get you to send me stories. Stories might include biographical material and facts, or they may simply be narrative tales of events as you saw them.
  a) Where did your family come from; your parents and grandparents and what did they do for a living?
  b) Where were you born and where did you grow up? What elementary, junior high and high school did you attend?
  c) Did you take any shop classes, while you were in school? Name your friends, especially those interested in racing.
  d) Did you join any car clubs or work on or own a car, or a race car, or work as a crewman on a race car while in school?
  e) What kind of jobs did you have as a young person while growing up? What kinds of hobbies and interests did you have?
  f) What did you do after graduation? Did you join the military? Were you drafted? Did you fight in the war?
  g) What kind of racing did you get involved in? Did you own a racecar, drive a racecar or work as a crewman? 
  h) Who were some of your friends that were involved in racing with you? Name and describe them.
  i) Tell us about your family, your wife and children. Were they involved in racing?
  j) What kind of work did you find after you left school? Was it racing related employment?
  k) Are you retired from racing? What are you doing today?

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I only did road racing in a small sports car.  Dean Hatch
   Dean: The bio project is more than just about racing. We learn a great deal from people who merely witnessed events and we don't exclude anyone, so sports car racing is important too. The other aspect is that leaving behind bios, even if not published, is important to families and friends, who want to know what our lives were like. Not everyone cares, but enough will so that our lives will have an impact on those that come after us. Those who leave a history behind, define history, those that don't write their stories, have little effect on what is written and remembered. So if you want to write your bio and just leave it to family, that's alright too. If you want to write and share what you know with us, here's the guideline that we use. I will help you edit your bio if you want me to. Also, don't forget to caption your photos, for uncaptioned photos are nearly worthless over time.

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Do you know where the Marvin Faw shop was located? Could it have been in Culver City on National Blvd, in that stretch between Washington and Venice Blvd's? There was a fabricator located there in the 1950's who built many different types of race cars; Track Roadsters, Sprint Cars, Sporty Cars and anything else that a customer wanted. I cannot recall his name but Faw seems to ring a bell. If this all proves to be true, I knew him! He was a frequent visitor to my dad's front end shop and we did the set up on several of his customer car projects. The "mystery guy" I knew drove a Sprint Car he built in the CRA events at the time the organization was changing from Track Roadsters to Sprinters. During this period CRA events featured both types of cars racing together. He really did some nice work but he just kind of disappeared!  Bob Falcon
   Jim Miller responds:
I believe the shop location you're talking about was Emil Diedt's. I was also there when I was a kid. If I remember right Marvin might have worked with Emil. I'll do some checking to verify this. Jim Miller.

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Could I get on your mailing list? Thank you, Bob
Bob: Greetings. Below is a guideline for your biography if you want to write it and share with us. www.landspeedracing.com and www.hotrodhotline.com are free websites and all that you have to do is go to the sites and sign in. You can either receive a free weekly email or you can just go to the sites and read the newsletters and stories whenever you wish. Don't forget to caption your photographs.

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We have a big feature on Dave McClelland, and your dad is mentioned several times and there are a couple of photos. You can find that at www.speedstylemagazine.com, in the Features Section.
You can find that at... Bill Moore:
 http://speedstylemagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=607&Itemid=31.

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I am curious how you obtained my email address? Andy Vail
Andy: I can't say exactly, as I receive 80 emails a day and send out just as many. I'm the editor of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians newsletter and our goal is to try and save as much history as we can concerning hot rodding, land speed and early drag racing. If I receive an email and the sender does not BCC their email, I will often resend it back to all on the list and notify them of our project. I only do it once and then dispose of the email addresses, so if it isn't welcome, I won't continue to be a bother to anyone. I won't save your email address unless you want to join www.landspeedracing.com, which is a free site, otherwise I delete all email addresses received. I do encourage people to BCC their emails, but I have given up trying to teach them to do so.

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I just bought a 1962 Hillman from the estate of Ralph Foster I was wondering if you had more info on Mr. Foster? I'm redoing the Hillman and wanted to make a Tribute to His Life via airbrush history on the Hillman. I read your article on Ralph. Thank You, Richard Santarsiero [email protected]
Richard: I have a tape recording of some of Ralph's life and stories and I'm giving it to Jim Miller to have transcribed into print. Ralph outlived a lot of his friends and racing buddies and so many of his past history has been lost. There are a few sources that you can try. One, I'll run your question in my newsletter and maybe some of our members may contact you with more information. Secondly, you should contact the Gear Grinders car club and talk to those that knew Ralph. Foster's racing career was short, but while he raced, he won a lot of races and made friends with many famous racers. World War II ended his chance at the Indy 500. He knew how to win races and keep cars running. He was also a great pilot and survived quite a few crashes. Another source to check is his friends that went with him to the car reunions. Walt James and Don Weaver hold reunions, one in January and the other in October, but you had better make reservations soon, because we're all getting old and it won't be long until the car reunions, like the racers, are all gone from the golden age of auto racing.

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Rooms are now available for Bonneville as a 3-night package (non-refundable) at http://www.wendoverfun.com. Ron Main

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Sidewinders; Established 1934 - The Oldest Hot Rod Club in America. The SCTA/Sidewinders Award Banquet is scheduled for Saturday, February 21, 2009. Member's dinner reservation forms must be sent in for the banquet due to the Limited Seating Available. No reservations, no entry. No tickets sold at the door. Deadline is February 17, no exceptions will be made. We need door prizes and if you have something to donate, call Ron Main at 818-998-7848 or 818-523-7005. The location will be the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, 1101 W. McKinley Avenue, Pomona, California. For info call; 909-622-2133, or http://museum.nhra.com. We are having our annual banquet at the Wally Parks National Hot Rod Museum this year. I hope all of you will be able to join for this special night when we celebrate you, our members. All of the museum we be available for exploration. We will all be able to see "Banks Power - The First 50 Years" the 3,400 square-foot exhibit is currently on display with hundreds of photos, racing films, engineering drawings, machine shop artifacts, a sixty-five foot long/200-item 1958-2008 timeline, including three pickup trucks, a Chevrolet S-10, a Dodge Dakota, and a GMC Sierra, the quickest (drag racing) and the fastest (Bonneville) diesel pickups in existence. The final machine in the exhibit hall is Banks' stock-bodied Pontiac Trans Am that sizzled over the salt at a record-busting 267.618 miles per hour! Menu; Tri-Tip Roast and Chicken Barbeque, Tossed Green Salad, Grilled Fresh Vegetables, Rolls and Butter, Coffee, Ice Tea/Soft drinks and dessert. Schedule of Events; 4-6pm, NHRA Museum Tour, Cocktail Social Hour, no host bar. 6-7pm, Dinner is served. 7-10pm, Entertainment, Awards Ceremony, Raffle Prizes. $15.00 per person for Sidewinder members, Non-members $35.00 per person/Limited Seating Available-No tickets will be sold at the door. Paid reservations must be received no later than February 17, 2009. Reservations on a first come, first served basis. Guests will pickup their banquet tickets at the Will Call Table on the night of the Banquet. For more information or to donate door prizes please contact Ron Main at 818-998-7848 or Nicky Wheeler at 818-363-4901.

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Hope you don't find all that I'm sending to boring. If you have any questions after reading it let me know. I spoke with my sister tonight and she is just as excited as I am. I will do the scanning this weekend and send it off soon after that. Having to pick just a few pictures was hard and I've come up with 12, but there are more. I also have the trophy that says Albata Club High Point Trophy 1947 Chuck Spurgin 122.61 MPH. Is that something I should take a picture of or bring with me in July? I'd hate to have it just sitting out at a big event, I'm concerned about security and the trophy but you can let me know. Karin Spurgin Edla
Karin: There is no limit to the number of photographs you can send to the website operator to post on-line. We usually ask for half a dozen, because that is what is easiest for most people. Please caption the photographs and send in several small batches. We will soon have the Spurgin/Giovanine/Borgh story ready for the newsletter and it is an important story to tell. The Albata and the Road Runners were the bluebloods of the dry lakes and their competitions for the club points championships was fierce and legendary. While they were competitors when racing, they were good friends away from the lakes. We need a good history of the Albata

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Not to sound annoying here, but when can we get away from these blunt tail, aerodynamically unstable, slab sided, high drag designs? A car with more internal volume, less than 1/4th the drag, and far more stability is easily designed. Good subsonic design and pitch stability dictate very different shapes. The dihedral tail is very, very dangerous. If the car gets loose, the correcting yaw force will also include a roll AWAY from the correct direction. It is time to move beyond the notion, "we build it this way because we've always built it this way." Eric Ahlstrom, President, Star Aerospace LLC
   Eric: Thank you for your suggestion, which I will post to the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter. Please feel free to offer any comments on design, technology and the history of land speed cars for our publication, or to report on your projects. Our members would be delighted to hear from you.

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Petersen Automotive Museum events are at www.petersen.org. "What were they thinking? The Misfits of Motordom" will open on the 28th of February. "From Autocamps to Airstreams" will exhibit through February 8th. On the 10th, they will use cranes to dismantle the exhibit and that will be quite a sight. Chris Brown

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Thank you for your letter. While I have attached my current bio, please send along any guidelines I can use to improve it. Are you by any chance related to Wally Parks? Do you know Dick Wells? Eric Studer
Eric: I'm the oldest son of Wally Parks, and Dick Wells is a close friend of the family ever since he left Nebraska and came to California in the 1960's. The bio project is part of www.landspeedracing.com and is an attempt to save as much history as we can. Thanks for joining and sharing your memories with us. Below is our guideline. Fill it out as fast as you can, send it back to me to edit, and then I will send it back to you to add to it. When it is done, perhaps after two or three revisions, if you want me to I will publish it on-line with the other bios that we have accumulated. You can see those bios at www.hotrodhotline.com.

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An article in the November 30, 1972, Long Beach Press-Telegram read: "Lions Drag strip, opened for racing on Oct. 9, 1955 by the nine harbor-area Lions Clubs, has had its lease cancelled. The famed facility at 223rd and Alameda streets in Wilmington must be vacated by December 31, according to a decision executed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department. The land is scheduled to be developed into a cargo-handling facility." A three-disc DVD documentary series, "Lions - the Greatest Drag Strip," assembled by longtime motorsports photographer Don Gillespie, who first visited the track in 1969. The first video detailed the track's inception with Long Beach-based racing legend Mickey Thompson as Lions' first manager, through the triumphant return of the once-banned Nitro Racers in 1962. Gillespie was looking for people with memories of the track. "The response was heartfelt," says Gillespie, now of Weber City, Virginia. "There were a lot of hand-scribbled notes by people who were obviously older, and who had great memories of the racetrack." Part Two of the series came out in 2007 and covered the track's wild and formative years, from 1962 through 1966, with the first 200-mph race, the advent of Funny Cars and such match races as Tom McEwen vs. Don "The Snake" Prudhomme.
Gillespie's final episode is "Lions - the Greatest Drag Strip." This one covers the final, but ever-glorious years when you had the Top Fuelers streaking the track in less than 6 seconds at speeds topping 220 mph. You had your AA/Gas supercharged, AA/fuel altereds, injected Funny Cars and, almost jerkingly abruptly, The End - an end hastened by noise complaints from people who built near the drag strip, and a greater need from the harbor for storage. Lions was an early sell-out Dec. 2, 1972 - a crowd three times larger than could be accommodated showed up. "It was, and still is, described as the Woodstock of drag racing," says Gillespie. As was the case at that legendary music fest, the throng would not be denied. The fences were torn down. "Security, basically, had to just walk away," says Gillespie. "It was like an Irish wake; very sad, but very boisterous." Gillespie's three-disc set, clocking in at more than five hours, is almost real-time in its exhaustiveness, and if you're one of the thousands who spent so many nights under the lights - or on the track - or if you are a student of motorsports, you will love these flashbacks to a great time in Long Beach and racing history. The DVDs retail for $29.95 each and are available at www.lionsvideo.com, or at other online e-tailers, including www.amazon.com. Sent in by George Callaway from an internet article.

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California has enacted a Bill to allow illegally registered hot rods to avoid prosecution and fines. You have from January 1 through December 31, 2010 to request amnesty and register your car and avoid penalties. It includes a kit to reduce smog pollution and will make your car legal. While the state of California admits that they are the ones who set up the categories, it is the owner of the vehicles that have lapsed into the new illegalities due to updates in the law. Some 70,000 hot rodders are now on the roads with cars that do not fit any legal categories for registration, even if at one time they did. SEMA General Counsel Russ Deane announced the new legislation, called the "Green Rod Project." Retrofitting is required. For more info, see www.SEMA.com.

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Just discovered your site. What can I say but .....thank you.
Born in '51 I grew up in Columbus, Ohio and hitch hiked to National Trail Raceway every Sunday after church. Worked for Jeg Coughlin Sr. after school and watched his son's grow up. Got to know Gordon Collett during his hay days in AA/GD and was best man in his son's wedding years later.
Worked at "The Rod Shop" during their hay days and helped build several national event winning cars. Worked and traveled with the likes of Bob Riffle, Jim Thompson, Mike Fons and Gil Kirk, founder of The Rod Shop in the early 70's. 2006 toured with the Serta Mattress Top Fuel team as team engineer. Recently met a friend of my parents, John Hollansworth, Sr., who recreated and drove the Ab Jenkins Special 1934 Pierce Arrow at Bonneville in 2003. He gave a us a private tour of his facilities which is a museum of speed. John Hollansworth, Sr. is the embodiment of true grit.
My brother, Eric Studer, was Sr. V. P. of Marketing Motel-6 for ten years and got them and Accor, parent to Motel-6, involved with the NHRA. This allowed me to met Dick Wells and many of the old sticks during the 50th running of the Nationals at Indy in 2004.
It also allow me to write this.  <<Click to View The '65 Yearbook.pdf>>
Thanks for the website. I'll be back often.

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