SOCIETY OF LAND SPEED RACING HISTORIANS
NEWSLETTER 152 - February 25, 2010
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, Susan Gail Peters Cornelison Biography and Memorial Services, Dear Friends & Family, I'm sorry for my delay in writing all of you as I've been under the weather and my computer has been in the shop twice since January, The wind is doing its JOB over the weekend the wind blew out of the west & the "standing" water was moved completely out of sight (to the east), Recently I received a letter from Carol and Steve Memishian of the American Hot Rod Foundation (AHRF) Here is an open letter to them as a response published in the SLSRH, Leslie Long called to give us some updates, To Vic Enyart: Yes I remember De May's Drive-In located on La Brea Avenue in Inglewood and as I recall it was on the Northeast corner of La Brea and either Slauson or Centinela Avenues, How do I get that book you mentioned on Mickey Thompson at your dad's museum, Guest Columnist Tim Kennedy is our "eyes and ears" on the racing scene, Racing Clubs: Historians listed for each club, Because my email address is open to so many people I get tons of ads and I don't mind running some of them in the newsletters as long as the ads are rewritten to look like news items, I am finishing up a small book and I am not clear on using other people's photographs, To Michael Brennan. I'm so pleased that Richard has put me in touch with you, The following is a letter from and an answer to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, Bud had spoken to you about the award we gave Mousie, As you know Race Car Safety is one of my major interests and I become very inquisitive in these modern times when errant race car wheels find their way into the grandstands, The 6th Annual Norwood Arena Reunion started five years ago and has grown, The following photographs show Iwo Jima in the spring of 1945, It appears that your advice of getting local media involved with telling the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum's story is paying off, Gone Racin'…Run to Glory chasing the World's Water Speed record 1967-1989 by Donald W. Peterson, Gone Racin'…High Performance; The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing 1959-1990 by Robert C. Post

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President's Corner:  
Looks like the party season is starting off with a bang. This weekend there were two. The Gear Grinders Car Club held a party and awards banquet at member Keith Black's house and was it fun. A few club members brought their racers for all to look at and when there's something cool I'll take a picture of it.
   The first shot (JMC_1036) is the nose of an in the works streamliner. The cage section showed up at El Mirage sometime ago for inspectors to have a look at and since then it's been off the radar. It looks like its back on now and hopefully the lakes aren't far off.
   Not far from the liner were two more fun machines (JMC_1035). A T-bucket that's street driven and a GM product that looks like it will do well over a deuce (200 mph) standing still.
   About twenty feet away we found editor Richard Parks (JMC_1037) on the left wrangling folks to get their picture taken in Ron Henderson's Lady Dragon custom. Richard did his job with around 60 people getting snapped with a leather racing hat on like Ron's. For you LSR info junkies, back about '58 Ron did some designs and built a model for Mickey Thompson's twin-Chrysler powered dragster that was featured in Hot Rod Magazine. Seems the car stopped off at B-ville on the way to Great Bend for the drags and ran 286.85 mph and set a record at 266.866 mph. Mick and his partner Fritz Voigt forgot about the drags and headed home to start work on what became Challenger I. Thanks Ron for the inspiration.
   On the other side of the Dragon was Bob Stahl's little VW stump puller that he runs at the lakes and salt (JMC_1038). He's been running this car close to 20 years and it's still a beauty. The cool thing is every time you see it he's done another mod to make it go faster and keep you guessing.
   The oddest ride at the party has to be this little 3-wheeled thing that was called the Scorpion III (JMC_1039). My guess is that it had a BMW engine for power. From all the looks it got could it be far off that someone shows up at one of our LSR events.
   Soon after my snooping stopped the food was served and the awards ceremony took place. It was great to see the camaraderie between the Grinders and how everyone roots for his fellow competitor. Another great thing about these gatherings is the prizes given away at the raffle. I especially liked the items autographed by Dan Gurney.
   I hot footed it out of there around four and drove over to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum for the Sidewinders Banquet. It's the perfect place to hold a function for car addicts with all the cool cars and items to look at. The Mickey Thompson display was like frosting on the cake. Naturally we had important guests. Barney Navarro's toys were on display courtesy of H&H Flatheads and it was a treat listening to Isky talk about Barney's AMC-6 Indy engine and all the crazy stuff he did. About 10 feet away Louie Senter was holding court talking about his exploits at Indy and our shrine, Bonneville. That the great part about our old friends. You always learn something new with the stories you've never heard before.
   Four days from now is another party and it will be hosted by the Rod Riders. The best part of this one is they always use Ermie Immerso's fiberglass streamliner body as a serving table. I'll let you know what happens at this one next week.

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Editorial:   
The word "eclectic" defines your editor. It means wide-ranging, but the more ungenerous among you prefer the synonym "scatter-brained" instead. It is the opposite of focused. Most of the drivers and mechanics in land speed racing are "focused." They have a goal and the only thing that matters to them is to complete the goal and that usually means a car or bike and the end goal of racing it at the dry lakes or Bonneville. Sometimes the focused types are forced from their concentration, as when the tech or rules committee says, "Illegal, rebuild it," or the wife, tired from telling you that your food is cold actually takes the pan and dumps her meal on your head. Believe me, I side with your wives. LSR people are obtuse, another favorite word of mine. Again, obtuse can be defined in several ways and the racers would say that obtuse simply means "focused" again. I would define obtuse as incredibly dense and prone to constant abuse by your wives. In fact I intend to write a special chapter in my future book called, "The travails and misery that wives have to put up with when they marry car racers." Now sometimes the drivers are in the right. I remember Danny Oakes telling me that he had to keep a sharp eye on his trophy wife, one of six wives in all, because if she left the grandstand that meant trouble. So he had her sit in a special place where he could see her when he came out of the turn onto the straightaway near the stands. It took him about half a minute or less to make the lap and if he caught a glimpse of her he knew everything was alright. If he didn't then something was wrong and as soon as the race was over he would jump out of his car, run past the waiting trophy girl and head for the stands. On a few occasions he found wife number "xyz" under the stands with another driver and fists would fly. 
   I love those stories, because they tell us what racing was really like and not the dull and drab bios that we do all the time. Harry Schooler, the track promoter and manager has a thousand such stories and they will curl your hair, or in some cases straighten your hair out. But back to the main theme; racers are simply obtuse, which we all know to be my word for focused and thus they overlook the needs of their wives and families. I'm always amused by the number of marriages and divorces among racers. I remember that I was taking Rodger Ward, Danny Oakes and Ron Henderson to a reunion once and they got to talking about their wives. It turns out that the three of them had 17 wives among them and each of them said, "My last wife was the best and I wish that I'd found her first." I felt sort of overwhelmed since I've only had ONE wife and we've been married 42 years. I think I challenged her once and asked her if she couldn't put up with me why she didn't just leave. Her answer was a questioning; "Why?" Definitely I have a very stubborn and patient wife or I'm simply too Unfocused to give her as many problems as do the more focused land speed racers. Now this might seem a rather silly editorial, but I assure you that it is not and your wives and girlfriends are probably saying "right on." We do tend to get so involved with racing, meetings, rules committees and other needs of the land speed racing world that we forget about our wives. We leave them home, then come back all dirty and dusty, just what wives and girlfriends love to see. Ak Miller, Johnny Ryan and many other early dry lakes guys told me on many occasions that there was an unwritten rule. We could do what we wanted on Fridays and Saturdays, but you had better be back in time to take your sweetheart to the Sunday night dances, or if it was a one day meet, to the Saturday night dances. And when you got to the pavilion, you had to dance even if you were all toes, thumbs and flat footed. The dashing and debonair guys, like Ryan, Danny Oakes, Hank Negley and others who could cut a rug with the best of them got to dance with all the pretty girls. This was one time when hot rodders actually didn't care if their gals danced with other guys as their feet probably hurt from trudging around the desert at the meets.
   Today we don't have formal dancing like they once did and thus when we come home we sit in front of the boob tube and grow old. Or we go out to the garage and spend more time on the car. But do we talk to our wives? No, we don't, and if we do it's definitely not to cuddle and coo. It's time to break down that focus and spend some time with the missus. Do you guys know what a divorce will cost you? You can expect to pay the equivalent of two AMBR cars at the Grand National Roadster Show. If you don't know how much that is, just ask Roger Rohrdanz or Jim Miller. It's time for you to invest some time in your wives and family and that means that you need to listen to her. Yes, I know that the little woman says she wants to have a communication with you, but we all know that it means that it is going to be a one-way chat. Invite her out to the garage and ask her about her day and what she has been doing. Listen to her arguments with her mother, or more likely your mother. Nod and agree with her and try and show your appreciation for the time she had to spend listening to you gripe about the SCTA Board of Directors or the tech committee. Involve her into the race car and let her help you. Take her out to the movies or for a walk along the mall or the beach. Be romantic instead of the oaf that you normally are. Remember, someday she will have the final say as to where you find yourself interred and who gets your toys, so treat your better half well.

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The following biography was sent to us by Jerry Cornelison, a Road Runners member and club historian. He recently lost his wife to cancer and we send our condolences to Jerry and his family on the passing of Susan.
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Susan Gail Peters Cornelison Biography:
   Susan was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 6, 1945. She and her parents, Joe and Jane Peters, moved to Riverside, California around 1947. Sue went to school in Riverside and graduated from Ramona High School in 1963. She attended Riverside City College, part time, and at the same time began working. Sue met me (Gerald Cornelison) in November 1967 after I had a Home Port change to San Diego while on the submarine, USS Archerfish. My cousin, Peggy Davis and Sue were very good friends in Riverside. Sue was a Deputy Marshall and Peggy worked at City Hall. Peggy thought Sue would be the perfect girl for me. In fact, Sue met most of my family well before she met me. We went on a double date with Sue and I, my cousin Peggy and one of my Archerfish Shipmates. I proposed to Sue in 1968 and we planned to get married in the Fall. However, I had left Archerfish and went to the nuclear powered sub, USS Permit. Over the next 11 months, I spent 9 months at sea on Cold War Patrols. Sue and I had to reschedule our wedding twice. Finally, on April 12, 1969, we got married.
   Shortly after we married, I made E5 (Radioman Second Class) and qualified to have Sue come with me to Hawaii. The USS Permit was to have an extended overhaul at the Pearl Harbor Shipyard. Since the Navy would move us and our belongings to Honolulu it made perfect sense.
We loved our 14 months in Hawaii. We came home with twins, Mindy and Mike, who were born in Trippler Army Hospital in Honolulu. When we got back to Riverside and I was out of the Navy, I went to work for Pacific Bell and Susan (with the harder job) stayed home as homemaker and mother of twins. When our twins started school, Susan began a long career of volunteer work. Her many talents were quickly recognized and she soon was on boards or officer level of the organizations she volunteered for. She was involved with so many, it was hard for me to keep track. Her volunteer activities soon led to some PAID work. She worked for several years as Public Relations Director for the Riverside Humane Society - SPCA. Later she worked for the Riverside County Transportation Commission as the Commuter Rail Program Manager. She had been the one non-elected, public member on the Commission for 12 years prior and Chairperson in 1984 and 1985. She was instrumental in the development and startup of the Riverside County portion of Metrolink Commuter Rail.
   When Metrolink began around 1993 in Riverside, they needed a qualified person to manage the program. A job opening was announced and Susan, along with a dozen or so other candidates from around the country, applied. Naturally, Susan aced the 2 day written and oral testing and evaluation and got the job. She received a lot of satisfaction from that job and was excellent at it. Sue retired in late 2000 when our second grandchild, but first in Riverside, was born. The deal with my daughter was, "You give us a grandbaby here (our first grandchild was in Virginia) and I will retire and take care of him while you work." Mindy did give us a grandson and Sue did retire. Three years later, Mindy and husband Phil gave us our second Riverside grandbaby, this time a little girl. Sue took care of Reece and Remy until she got sick last fall (Oct 2009). Of all the jobs and activities Susan was involved with over the years the best and most satisfying for her was being "Grandma" to Mindy and Phil's two, grandson Reece and granddaughter Remy and to our son Mike and Nancy's three, granddaughter Natalie (first grandchild) and identical twins, Jackie and Haley.
   Susan was diagnosed with Stage 4, terminal lung cancer in October 2009. She entered the hospital on November 12 and was there until she passed. She fought the cancer valiantly and bravely. She always had a smile for visitors, especially the grandkids and she didn't complain. She left us on February 20, 2010 at 9:40 in the evening with loving family at her side. Susan touched many lives through community volunteerism, through work, with friends and family, especially the grandkids. She is loved by many and will be missed greatly. She was my friend and companion for 43 years and we would have celebrated 41 years of marriage on April 12 this year. I love her and will miss her. Jerry Cornelison

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Dear Friends & Family, I'm sorry for my delay in writing all of you as I've been under the weather and my computer has been in the shop twice since January.  I just got it back last night so I am amazed at the things I've seen thus far.  Thank you all for your condolence wishes, cards and flowers.  It was overwhelming.  We have lost a wonderful, caring man and I will miss him very much but he had a full life doing the thing he loved the most, racing and he gave it his all.  I have the wonderful memories I'll always treasure. The service here in Springfield was small as the weather was a huge factor and most people came and went as we had snow, ice and sleet. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Christine Artega as she lives in St. Louis, 200 miles away. It was a wonderful tribute to KS.
  The weather remained cold in Mineral Wells, Texas the day of the final service.  In honor of KS, Rocky Pirrone, Dave Hale, and Freddy Bear arrived with the KS Pittman tribute 33 which they placed in front of the chapel.  Rocky asked me if I wanted it fired up, and of course, you all know I said no but I was so thrilled as this was a great way of saying good-by to KS.  I was asked to sit in the driver's seat as it was fired, KS was with me for a fleeting moment and that I will treasure for the rest of my life.  Thank you Rocky!  When we entered the chapel, I smelled gas fumes and I could just hear KS say, "What a sendoff."
  I want to thank everyone that came, not only family and friends but all those who came from great distances in such bad weather.  KS and I are truly blessed to have such great friends and family.  Also another blessing is my sister- in-law Evelyn, who is KS's sister, without her I don't think I could have managed.  She is a jewel. My daughter, Linda and Son-in-law, Ron were such a big help too. My granddaughter, Sommer, came to stay with me for 10 days and on the way home from Texas I said, "Sommer, I don't feel Grandpa's presence," and she replied, "Well Grandma, think about it.  He just got up there and he's having too much fun with all his racing buddies, friends and family. He'll get to you later."  In closing, thank you, not only for the outpouring of love but for all you've done throughout the years to make KS's life more pleasant. I will write.  Love LaVaun Pittman

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The wind is doing its JOB, over the weekend, the wind blew out of the west & the "standing" water was moved completely out of sight (to the east). This morning, I have "Lake front property" again. We had gotten little or NO rain out of these last storms. As long as it stays cool, there will be less loss. The water seems to be all down on the west end, sure hope the BLM is/are doing their job & keeping the people off the dry spots on the east end. George Callaway (received 23 February 2010)

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Editor's notes: Recently I received a letter from Carol and Steve Memishian of the American Hot Rod Foundation (AHRF). Here is an open letter to them as a response, published in the SLSRH. 
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   Thank you for the nice card and the sentiments that you expressed. That was very thoughtful of you. Your enterprise, the American Hot Rod Foundation is a God-send to historians, fans and archivist everywhere. My father had a large selection of books, pamphlets and other work that was published by the AHRF. Jim Miller has found his calling in helping you and that keeps him out of trouble. The task that you have taken on will bear great results in the future, even if they are not quite so evident now. People often wonder if they have made a difference in their life. We ponder whether our life has been worth the efforts that we made. Most of us will never really know what good or ill we have done until long after we are gone. But I can say with assurance, that your efforts to promote the very essence of who we are as a people, the hot rodding spirit of America, have borne good fruit. We don't have to wait for generations to come to thank you for your efforts at saving our history and heritage. Your reward my only be our gratitude and thankfulness, but it is an immediate gratitude and heartfelt thanks for what you have done. I think my father's opinion was and will always be consternation. Hot rodding to him was a lifestyle and the wealth that came into the hot rodding community was totally unexpected. 
   A hot rodder in the day was simply a poor man and his wife trying to keep a roof over their heads and their family fed and clothed. Nothing more or less was hoped for. To make a little more of their lives, they scrounged around for cheap parts and with imagination and ingenuity created something useful and beautiful. They never thought an industry would form around the hot rodding world or that they would become household names. They simply lived life as it came to them and in their later years, these hot rodders of the 1930's and '40's could lead a very comfortable existence and be amazed at the wonder of it all. I remember some of those days. I feel a little strange at the consumptive habits of Americans today. We didn't spend money; we kept it in our pockets, because we didn't know when we would have another pay day to come our way. We made do with what we had and we were thankful for everything that we did have. None of the hot rodders of that era felt poor though. They had friends and they shared what they had. They made a great deal of what they possessed. It wasn't easy, but no one knew at the time that it wasn't easy. It was hot and it was cold and trips to the dry lakes took all day over dirt roads and extreme conditions. Today we ride in air conditioned cars on excellent roads and reach the dry lakes in less than two hours. It hardly seems like a trek worthy of the effort. I don't think any of us would care to go back to those times in reality, but in our minds those were the times that we wished we could have lived in, if only in our thoughts. Your efforts and the AHRF allow us to do just that; relive the memories of the greatest era in our country's history.

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Leslie Long called to give us some updates. He has put together all the SCTA Programs from 1938 through 1949, with the exception of two programs from 1938 that he is still looking for. If you have any SCTA programs from 1938, please let me know so that I can tell Leslie. He is trying to get a complete set and he will photocopy and return your original. The programs contain a wealth of information for the land speed racing researcher. The second news item is that Leslie is hosting another Santa Ana Drags and Main Street Malt Shop Reunion, scheduled for April 10, 2010 at the Park bordering Santiago Creek in Orange. Directions: South on Main Street, between the 22 and 5 freeways, turn left on East Memory Lane, go 500 feet and turn right into the creek bed where there is a paved parking lot. The Park is right above the parking lot. The Santa Ana Drags and Main Street Malt Shop Reunion celebrate the first professional drag strip and the young men and women who would race there and then go to the Main Street Malt shop to hang out. There are no costs or parking fees, but bring along food and water and maybe a treat to share. This is a great place to sit and talk to the original pioneers of drag racing. They were the first and they are leaving us rapidly, so make it a point to come and tape record the histories and experiences of these men and women of early drag racing. Because of the age of the reunion attendees, please be sure to check with me to see if the reunion is still going to go on or if it will be cancelled.

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To Vic Enyart: Yes I remember De May's Drive-In located on La Brea Avenue in Inglewood, and as I recall it was on the Northeast corner of La Brea and either Slauson or Centinela Avenues. I also recall Connie Weidell as a hot shot in his roadster. Wasn't it maroon color? One night Connie and Karl Orr got into a heated discussion and Karl was all set to go across the street to his Speed Shop and fire up his Lakes Modified and drive over to Culver Blvd to race Connie! But I think Veda calmed him down before he got too far out into Washington Place. Connie also frequented Piccadilly's, but when the Culver City cops began to pull curfew raids at Pic's a bunch of guys began to go to The Clock and De May's. The Clock soon became a drug hang-out so a lot of the car guys stayed away from there. The huge Culver City Police Force in the beginning days of Pic's gatherings was composed of two cars (a Plymouth and a De Soto) and two Indian four-cylinder bikes. The bike cops were Ed Meese and Mr Postal both of who were regular visitors to my dad's wheel alignment shop. They always tipped me off of any impending raids. When I got out of the Navy, I purchased a 1949 Ford Coupe from a Culver City cop. All the personal cars on the police force had license numbers that began with 1V followed by three digits. Mine was 1V292 and I never received a ticket of any kind in Culver City all the time I owned that car. Hmmmm! I hope our paths cross some day Vic. Bob Falcon
   Bob: I'm returning this response to you and also I've BCC'd Vic Enyart's email address. If the two of you want to trade email addresses, just let me know and I'll share that information with you both. What else can you tell us about Connie Weidell? He appears in the records of the SCTA quite a few times and I heard my dad speak of him often. Was he injured in an accident and crippled? If you recall any more stories about Connie and Karl, please send them in. They were two very influential men in the beginning of LSR efforts in the United States. Do you have any additional information on the police in your old town? That's a subject that needs to be expanded; the influence that the police had on hot rodding in the early days. People always jump to the conclusion that the police were opposed to hot-rodding and auto racing, whereas in fact there were quite a few policemen who made it possible for hot rodding to continue. Men like Ezra Earhart, Pollard, Bud Coons, Chief Parker, Gordon Browning and many more like them aided and inspired young men to race on organized tracks with safety crews. Coons led the Safety or Drag Safari back in the 1950's that organized timing associations all over the United States. Some policemen also put up barricades and let the racers drag race on the streets. I heard one story where a policeman also took bets. Not all policemen busted heads as is commonly believed. I would love to publish more cops and hot rodders stories from our members and readers.

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How do I get that book you mentioned on Mickey Thompson at your dad's museum?  Spencer Simon
   Spencer: I believe Jim Miller mentioned that book or booklet in his column. He attended the open house for the new Mickey Thompson exhibit at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsport Museum, in Pomona, California. I should have gone but was unable to and missed out on a great activity. The director of the museum is British born hot rodder Tony Thacker and he is a whiz at running a first class museum. He can talk drag and other types of racers into just about anything. Helping Tony is his right hand man, Greg Sharp who is the museum's curator and historian. If there is something that Greg doesn't know, then that is news. Sharp has an extensive collection of photographs and has studied and lived hot rodding for a long time; how long he wouldn't tell me. He is a retired policeman and so maybe he knows hot rodding from the other side of the fence. Thacker has a great staff and dedicated volunteers and they are always looking for new cars and more memorabilia. They also need donations of money and collectibles to auction off at their fundraisers, because running a museum is not cheap. Call 909-622-2133 and ask Sherry Watson or anyone manning the front desk if the book is available for sale. They have a great gift shop and sell by their website and can take a credit card over the phone and ship out the merchandise that you want. 
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   I have placed the order on a couple of books from your dad's museum; they were very nice at the front desk. I mentioned that I was to speak to that gal you mentioned, but she does not work there on weekends. I also left a message for Greg Sharp on his voicemail and hopefully he may call me back. Thank you for helping me out.  Spencer Simon
   Spencer: The museum has a private board of directors and is affiliated with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and does not belong to my late father or to his estate (my brother and I). We have donated to the museum in money and artifacts and they hold a great number of objects which belongs to the estate of my late father and step-mother, but we have no ownership or affiliation with the museum, other than as donors. The museum does a very credible job of keeping the history and heritage of all motorsports alive. They are not a drag racing museum, but dedicated to all motorsports. Their gift shop is rather extensive and they have an interesting selection of material for sale at prices that on the whole are quite reasonable. I support the gift shop at many museums and I would have to say that the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum has an impressive amount of salable items for fans of auto racing. Their phone number is 909-622-2133 and they are very friendly and helpful. They will tell you what they have, perhaps provide you with a catalog or on-line shopping list of items for sale, or refer you to other sources to help you put together your library and collection. 
   The gift shop is a major revenue source and I would like all fans of motorsports to consider giving gift certificates for the holidays, birthdays and special occasions. This is a great way for wives to find something their husbands really like by giving them a gift certificate and let their husbands shop at the gift shop. It works the other way around as the gift shop has a nice selection of women's and children's wear by specialty t-shirt makers. One designer that I interviewed for my articles was Julie Hisel and her line of women's clothing is called Nitro Diva. There are two other lines called Motor Cult and Sygnus, but I don't know who the designers are. We often think of ourselves and we forget our wives and girlfriends, so a gift certificate for them is important too. Greg Sharp is often overlooked by many of the racing guys as he is a very quiet man. But every time that I see him he is busy at work recording the history of auto racing, specializing in hot rodding and drag racing. He is a great resource of knowledge and I suggest that everyone who is doing research into a lost car or the history of auto racing write or call him and see if Greg can give you some leads. In my opinion, he is one of the more valuable and knowledgeable of the hot rodding historians. While I am on museums, don't forget the Don Garlits International Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Florida. Don was collecting cars and restoring them before it was a popular thing to do. Support his gift shop as well. Another fine gift shop is the Petersen Automotive Museum (PAM) and their gift shop has a huge variety of books and memorabilia for sale. Often all these gift shops have sales and you can pick up some very valuable things for a very reasonable price. All our members should find and make these museum's websites a favorite on their links

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Guest Columnist Tim Kennedy is our "eyes and ears" on the racing scene. Tim Kennedy has covered motorsports since 1968. His racing results stories and Weekly Racing Scene column have been read by racing enthusiasts all over the country. Be sure to check Tim's column often for the latest Racing News. From www.Hotrodhotline.com. Jack Lawford
Jack: I get to brag here, because I asked Tim to send his columns to www.hotrodhotline.com. Tim had few outlets for his work, but like all struggling writers, it's very hard to find publications to take one's work. Tim Kennedy is simply a great writer, but one of the most reticent and unassuming man I've ever met. He doesn't like to brag, so I will do it for him. He's a great roundy-round sportswriter in the mold of the good old writers from the past; like Shav Glick. He sticks to the facts and he has an eye for detail and a good story. He finds good racers before they get a name and he generously gives them ink. Tim is well liked by all the racers and I'm thankful that you have given him a forum to expand his readership. At first he told me, "Do you think they will take my work?" I told Tim that they would be delighted to after seeing one of his columns. I'm telling that to my readers too, if you get a chance go to www.hotrodhotline.com, guest columnist/Tim Kennedy and read his latest and his archived stories. Read my stories too while you are there.

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Racing Clubs: Historians listed for each club
Eliminators...............................................................none
Gear Grinders..........................................................Glen Barrett
Gold Coast Roadster and Racing Club................none
Gophers...................................................................Michael Brennan
Hi Desert Racers....................................................none
Idlers.........................................................................Michael Brennan
Lakers......................................................................none
LSR..........................................................................Mike Cook Jr
Milers.......................................................................none
Road Runners.........................................................Jerry Cornelison
Rod Riders..............................................................none
San Diego Roadster Club.....................................none
Sidewinders............................................................Ron Main
Super Fours............................................................Roy Creel
Throttlers.................................................................Michael Brennan

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Because my email address is open to so many people I get tons of ads and I don't mind running some of them in the newsletters as long as the ads are rewritten to look like news items. But if you send me your ads and I am simply on your group mailing list there is a good likelihood that I will simply delete your notice. What you should do is send me a short note telling me what you are doing, what is available and where readers can go for more information. Ads that I run as news items often come from Mark Brazeau's videos, Ugo Fadini's models, Tom Fritz's art work, car shows like the L. A. Roadsters and Grand National Roadster Show and fund raising events like Cruisin' For A Cure. I will run your event, reunion, car show, movie, videos, models, art work and more because our members are interested in collecting and attending events. But if you treat me as a spam receiver I will treat your work as spam. How often will I run your creative work or car event? As often as you send it to me and as often as you make it newsy and not adsy. The editor

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I am finishing up a small book and I am not clear on using other people's photographs. Do I need their permission or is giving credit enough? You used a photo of Isky taken by Roger Rohrdanz. Do you have an email contact for him? I would like to use the photo he took of Isky. Thanks for the help. Anonymous writer
Anonymous: I am CC'ing Roger Rohrdanz, Jim Miller and Mary Ann Lawford at www.hotrodhotline.com so that you can get in touch with them or they can get in touch with you. This is a great question and you may know most of the answers, but it gives me a chance to discuss this in print with our readers. Perhaps we will hear from "LandSpeed" Louise Ann Noeth and several other professionals in the field of photography and property rights. There is a great deal of uncertainty in our field, as to who owns what, when and where. This even pertains to people, their names and their personal property. I talked to a lawyer and also to my son, Scott Parks, who is a lawyer. Also, over the years I have talked to writers, photographers, publishers and professional men and women. Here's what I believe to be the case and I invite other members of the SLSRH to write in and give me their views on the subject. Whoever takes a photograph, writes a story or article, paints or sculpts an image or in any way is the creative force is the owner of the product and that ownership continues until such time as the owner sells or conveys the property rights to someone else. Conveying ownership could be through working for an employer like Hot Rod magazine, since Eric "Rick" Rickman complained about not being able to get his photographs back from their archives. But an employee does not automatically give his work to his employer, so we have to check the employment contract. Today most employees are contracted and thus they "sell the rights" to publish to a media company, but retain the rights to sell them to others. Usually they "sell an exclusive" along with the photo or object of their creativity for a period of time, such as 30 days after the object is published. Often a photographer or writer will create two different versions so that he can sell a photograph or article to one outlet and another slightly different photograph or article to a second media company.
Often, especially with photographs, someone will find, borrow, inherit, steal or buy a picture and consider it theirs. It is not. They have bought or acquired the object, but not the rights to the reproduction of the object. You hear this all the time, "But he gave me the photo and there is only one of them and no negative." Or you will hear this, "He's dead, so I own the photo and the rights to reproduce it." Wrong again, for the rights go with the deceased and then to his estate, heirs or children. In the absence of a will, the rights and possessions belong to the closest relatives, understood to be the spouse first, then the children, then the next closest blood relatives. Simply giving photo credit is insufficient, because no one owns the rights to the photo even though they have possession of the photograph and even if it is the only photograph ever made, it still belongs to the original creator. Now sometimes you will hear this, "But he gave it to me. He wanted me to have it." Perhaps that is so but without a contract it just doesn't wash in the courts and the heirs can sue to reclaim it. You also hear this, "Possession is 9/10ths of the law," and this means, "I stole it fair and square, so bring your shotgun if you want it back." Well, unfortunately the 9/10ths law is quite old, when knights brought their maces and swords and smashed the skulls of their enemies and took what they wanted. Courts today are rather bitchy about exercising the 9/10ths of the law rationale. But here's where "possession is the law" comes into effect. If you have photographs and collectibles then someone else has to prove that they don't belong to you. Since there are a lot of unscrupulous people in the world who beg, borrow or steal what isn't theirs, the courts are pretty busy and if a person wants their possessions back then they have to sue to get them back. How can that happen when many of the owners are dead and their children have no idea who owns what. Dishonest people will write on the back, "This is my photograph, taken 50 years before I was born and I stole this fair and square." Or more likely they'll just say, "Joe Blow collection," and leave it at that.
Most of the time nobody wants a photograph or object and is glad to clean out their closets and get rid of stuff. Or the original owner is dead and there are no heirs, or family. Sometimes there is no monetary value and so no one makes a claim. And sometimes it is good that the picture or object was taken, probably out of the trashcan or dump before it was lost forever. What should you do to acquire the photograph and the rights to the photograph? Well if you can't write up a contract, buy some 2x4 inch peel off stickers and caption the photograph, then have the original photographer of the picture say this, "I, Herman Melville, gave this photo to Joe Blow on Aug 8, 1992," and have Herman sign his name on the label. That does three important things; tells the world you are honest, gives you the photo and the rights to it, and now you have a signature and that can really enhance the value of the picture. Of course, all contracts are predicated on several factors; can the giver legally convey the photo and was there a transfer of value. A contract is a transfer of value, otherwise it is a gift. "Here's ten bucks for your whole collection," is a contract. "Thanks for the album," is a gift. It pays to know the difference. If it is a gift it can be contested when the heirs go to court and say, "He stole it from my senile old father." It's always wise to get it in writing. No one cares most of the time and we are glad that the object didn't end up in the dump. If you want to publish someone's words, photographs or creative work then you need to get them to give you a release, identify the owner in the caption and probably pay a fee or royalty for the usage of the material. But what if you don't and you just go ahead and publish? Most people will be probably tickled pink that you used their photo and gave them photo credit. But they could sue you for damages, most likely a royalty on every book sold and sometimes triple damages for committing a tort violation. A tort means an injury; you injured their ability to earn a living. So there you have it, a wordy explanation and probably not the whole answer to a complex problem.

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To Michael Brennan. I'm so pleased that Richard has put me in touch with you. Rex McAfee, who is Jack McAfee's son, happens to be a neighbor. I'm also in regular contact with Dave Seely, Jim's son and with Ted Cannon's nephew Rick. They jointly own the Beetle, the car I built, and they're still racing it. Rex recently gave me a large photo of a Throttlers picnic, taken some time in the mid-1950's. He hoped I could help him identify the 15 or 20 people in the photo. I recognized several of my close friends, of course, but there were others in the picture who I couldn't name. They look familiar to me but I just couldn't come up with their names. On the off chance that Richard might have a Throttlers roster from his father's files, I phoned him and was delighted that he could refer me to you. If you'd be kind enough to share with me whatever you have I'd be very grateful. I'm sure that seeing the names would bring to mind many of my old friends. By any chance, does your roster include the name Clint Seccombe? For another reason entirely, Clint's name came up recently. He's now quite along in years but I've been referred to his son. If there's any way I can help with compiling your records, I'll be delighted to do so. Give me your street address and I'll mail you some material I've written for the Society of Land Speed Historians. You may find it interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. With very best regards, cordially, Thatcher Darwin
Thatcher: Would you send me Clint Seccombe and his son's phone number. His name comes up in photographs and in the SCTA minutes and I would like to talk to Clint.
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To Thatcher Darwin: Your name has come before me so many times and it is really special to find this email from you today. I came to be involved with early lakes history because I own Sandy Belond's pre-war dry lakes racing roadster and the gentleman I bought it from made it a stipulation of the sale that I educate myself about the man that built this car because he was a good man and he had become forgotten after doing a great deal for the sport and the aftermarket industry. It has taken me down quite a path that has enriched my life more then the car itself probably ever will, I now understand why your generation has been coined "The Greatest Generation."
My research for the Throttlers developed because a man named Bob North approached me and told me we was Sandy Belond's best friend and they had dinner together every Friday evening up until the day he died. Bob is in his 90's now and pretty sharp, he was a founding member of the Hollywood Throttlers. He gave me the directions to Jim and Jack Morgan's' home in Hollywood where he said the first plans were laid to create the club. Bob said he was there the first night that they talked about becoming a club at the Morgan's' home, which was a couple of blocks West of Crescent Heights and about four blocks North of Santa Monica Blvd. Does Bob's name or any of that ring a bell with you? On a side note Bob was a regular at the Loyola midget races when he was ten years old. He later married Jack McGrath's widow Louise, and she has recently passed away.
With regards to the most current Hollywood Throttlers roster list it does include Clint Seccombe. I am surprised and thrilled to hear he is still with us. Is he in Southern California? I'd like to ask him if he recalls Sandy's roadster going 125 mph at a REVS meet in 1942. I have a trophy awarded to Sandy for the fastest roadster from that meet and there is speculation that it may have been in his '32 but it doesn't really make sense that his street car would run faster then his purpose-built racer. Any info about the REVS or that meet would be real helpful. I do know the REVS only did invitational meets with no spectators and therefore programs may not even exist, my hope is for a timing sheet of some sort from a participant. Maybe even a REVS roster and I could begin contacting some of the old members.
I was recently cross referring some names found in the Albert Drake book with the Throttlers Roster and I will email you the latest version this weekend or I can put a printed copy in the mail for you. Did you know Sandy Belond or Sam Hanks? There was also a group of guys that would hang around his shop after the midget races; they were known as The Gilmore Bar Gang. Did you have any involvement with them? Most of them were "Big Car" guys like Kelly Petillo, George Connor and Chet Miller, but Roy Richter has been linked to the goings on over there as well as Swede Lindskog, Gordon Betz and many of the Idlers, Sandy's club. My Very Best Regards, Michael Brennan
Michael: Thatcher Darwin and Roy Richter were partners in a foreign car import business. Art Bagnall's excellent book on Roy Richter will give you lots of leads in your search. Richter employed my uncle, Kenny Parks, and the Bell Auto Parts was the hang-out for all the car racers of the 1930's and '40's. Many of the shops, like the Conze Brother's, had a sign in sheet. If you can find those lists they will sometimes sign their names and put Idlers, or some other club name, after their signature. Go to www.hotrodhotline.com, guest/columnist/book reviews and look up the books that I have reviewed. Some of them may have information in them that will help you find people's names and then you can start looking for them. Send me copies by way of computer of what you send Thatcher, that way I can publish it and give you more publicity. The more that our members know what you are doing the more likely that they will contact you with information. I've mentioned before the contributions that Thatcher Darwin made to the survival of post-war land speed racing. Bozzie Willis and Thatcher Darwin formed a team that made it possible for the returning war veterans to find a positive climate for auto racing. We owe much to Thatcher, a great friend and influential racer.
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By all means go ahead and publish. I did purchase the last two copies of the Roy Richter book after reading your review some months ago. I purchased them from Jack Stewart and he said there are no plans to print a second edition, hold onto yours only 100 books were ever printed, FYI. Michael Brennan
Michael: I believe that Art Bagnall printed up more than 100 copies of the Roy Richter book. It may be that Jack Stewart purchased the last 100 copies of the book. I can't possibly stress the fact that as a book of history on the Southern California racing scene that Bagnall's book is by far the best I have ever seen and is the Bible of such books. I can only hope that author's elsewhere in the country record their area's racing history with as much detail and accuracy as Art Bagnall did in his seminal work on Roy Richter.

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The following is a letter from and an answer to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. Finding a place for one's collectibles is not easy. Also, bear in mind that unless an object is truly valuable that the museum that you are dealing with may not have room and may be forced to sell the artifact in order to make space available and to raise funds to keep the museum going. If you do not wish to see your donated articles resold to others then don't donate them. Museums, because of the revenue that they have to raise and the shortage of space, must sell much of the donated objects given to them. Never expect a museum to hold onto your prized collections forever. They just can't promise you that.
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Thank you so much for the auction materials donated to the museum-we really appreciate it. Unfortunately, the items arrived too late to be included in the recent Legends dinner but we will keep them on hand for a future fund raiser. Again, thank you and look forward to seeing you soon. Best wishes Tony Thacker
Donated items: Straw hat with the name Wally on the tag. Cast brass letters: WBP. Three plastic For Sale/Rent signs with the name Wally.
One brass framed cartoon. One small Hotrod & Performance trophy. One Youth Education Network appreciation award. One fuse assembly mounted on wooden base. Two ties.
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Tony: If you would like a provenance on the objects I will write one up. Dad wore the straw hat. A lot of the objects that he kept were gag gifts. If you can find out who participated in these gifts back and forth, such as Alex Xydias, Art Bagnall, Kenny Parks, Dick Wells, Steve Gibbs, et al, then they have some real value, otherwise they aren't worth much. I don't know if Dad bought the brass letters or they were a gift. The 3 plastic signs were gag gifts and I would be interested if anyone knew the history behind them. I haven't thrown anything away, because for some people these mean a great deal. The framed cartoon hung in his condo in the kitchen and he seemed to prize it greatly so I think it came from one of his close friends and was another gag gift. The small glass trophy is unknown. The SEMA Youth Education Network Appreciation award is also unknown, but more easily authenticated. The Fuse plaque is a gag gift and I would like to know if anyone could find out who gave it to him. It meant, "Don't blow a fuse." That's the kind of thing that Chick Saffell, Kenny Parks or Art Bagnall would give him. These gag gifts meant a great deal to him and he kept them all. The ties were part of a great number of wild ties and again they are gag gifts from friends. One of them and I can't tell you which one, but Steve Gibbs might, was the famous "Rain" tie that he always wore at Indy to make the "rain go away." It could be that all these ties were used in such a manner and I have more of them if you want them. I gave you only two because if you can't use them I'll find someone else to give them to. Again, there are objects that have value in themselves, other objects that have value because they belonged to my Dad or my step-mother and other objects that have value because of the relationship of other people who gave them to him. Some people, whom we know, gave objects to him and we are returning those items to those individuals and we will ask them if they so choose to donate them to the museum. I hope this helps you to catalog what was in the box.

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Bud had spoken to you about the award we gave Mousie. We are sending a couple of pictures and a short story about the award. It is too bad your Dad couldn't have been here for the 50th anniversary. But, he was with us in spirit. Thanks. Bud & Lynne Rasmus
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                  CELEBRATING TWO 50 YEAR ANNIVERSARIES IN POMONA
   In the opening season of 2010 NHRA Drag Racing Series and as we begin to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Winternationals in Pomona, another legend is also celebrating 50 years -- the famed AA/FA Winged Express. On Thursday, February 11, two honorary crew members of the Winged Express, Bud & Lynne Rasmus, presented owner Al "Mousie" Marcellus and "Wild" Willie too, an award commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the Winged Express. The Winged Express was on display in the NHRA Golden 50 Corral with "Wild" Willie in the driver's seat.

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As you know Race Car Safety is one of my major interests and I become very inquisitive in these modern times when errant race car wheels find their way into the grandstands. As I recall the Fuelers use a rear axle system that is full floating. In the 1950's in CRA Roadster racing a Safety Hub device was developed to keep the wheel on the car when an axle broke and with a locked rear end differential that's the axle that breaks! The Safety Hubs then placed the "weak link" in the chain to the wheel center and a device was created that, in the event of a wheel diaphragm fracture in the lug bolt area, the wheel was secured to the axle stub. With my long experience at Halibrand Engineering we suffered very few cases of the cast wheels breaking due to impacts because of the web structure inherent in the wheel design. Do either of you have any feedback from Arizona about the cause of the deadly accident yesterday? Do you know the typical equipment used in today's Top Fuel cars?
Just curious...perhaps NHRA should be looking into the wheel retaining systems used on the IRL Indy Cars. But that won't do the job if it was a wheel failure. Bob Falcon
   Bob: The technical department is always trying to come up with better techniques and rules for driver, crew and fan safety. It was an accident at the Santa Ana Drags in the late 1950's that caused the death of a spectator and eventually led to the closing of the track due to a lawsuit. The driver of the car was Otto Ryssman and he was named in the lawsuit along with C.J. Hart, the promoter of the drag strip. The lawsuit was eventually thrown out, but the damage to the track and to Ryssman's future as a racer was tragic. Ryssman stopped racing and soon after that the track closed. I've seen my share of fatal accidents. I was at the dry lakes in the late 1940's when a man flipped his roadster and died. I saw, if you could say that it's possible to see something a half mile away, the accident that took the life of Sneaky Pete Robinson in the early 1970's. I was at the track, but not close by when a lady was crushed by a car that rolled off a transporter. I saw a sky-diver plummet to earth with the lines tangled and hit the concrete retaining wall, then smash to the pavement. A man in the audience brought his plastic knee socket ball to me when it bounced free and into the stands. I was on the exit road when Sonny Arnett died at El Mirage. In fact, I was one of the last to have spoken to Sonny before he died. It is impossible to know every accident waiting to happen. Often the Safety Safari, administration and technical committees are the last to know that something is dangerous. 
   It is accident first then damage control next, followed by new rules and regulations to stop further casualties. It would be nice if the technical and safety committees in racing would try and regulate before injuries and deaths occurred. However, often the owners, mechanics, drivers, sponsors and fans put up obstructions and arguments that keep the sanctioning bodies from taking preventive actions. Remember the fuel ban that the NHRA imposed to slow down the speeds? NHRA suffered terribly as other racing groups ignored the fuel ban and kept on racing with nitro. It takes a strong man or individual to step up and tell everyone that this is how it is going to work, lump it or leave it, and Bill France is dead. Safety and inspections can only go so far though and then it is pure luck and the best skill of the mechanics and drivers that determine what the outcome will be. How many racers have crashed at the Indy 500 because of a failure in a 30 cent part? The consternation is not in the accidents that happen, but in the fact that so many races are completed safely. We would think that there should be far more accidents, injuries and deaths than now occur. These are 5000 to 8000 horsepower machines blasting off at 7 G's and only capable of going a quarter of a mile and no more, lest their engines explode like a grenade. I can't believe that there haven't been more accidents than there so far has been. I can't answer your question about the procedures of the NHRA. They are an organization that prides themselves on keeping their procedures and operations within their own group. I've said before and I will say it again, that if our CIA and FBI could be as secretive as the NHRA we would never have a national security breach.

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The 6th Annual Norwood Arena Reunion started five years ago and has grown. Adding a street classic, muscle and antique car show complimented the gathering of race cars, drivers, car owners and officials. Last year's superb weather resulted in a total of 105 combined race cars, street classic, muscle and antique race cars. Last year the addition of motorcycles resulted in some great looking bikes in attendance. Dash plaques went to the first 100 entries into the reunion and trophy was awarded to be best looking race car, street car and motorcycle. The Bezema family, owners of the dealership on the well known Auto Mile in Norwood, plan to continue on with this event every year on the first Sunday in June. The loss of patriarch Marty Bezema, Sr. last year didn't put a damper on the festivities planned last June. "My father would have wanted this event to continue," said Erik Bezema, the principal of the dealership. With that said, fans attending this year's event on Sunday, June 6, 2010 can look forward to a another large turnout of oval race cars, drag cars, classic street vehicles and motorcycles. Over the years memorabilia collectors and vendors have requested space. More turn out every year coming from all over New England to show and display their wares.
   Other displays have included a slot car track, radio controlled race cars and fans displaying their collection of pictures, programs, tickets and news reports about the now shuttered Norwood Arena which closed in 1972. The track hosted midget, stockcars, sports cars and motorcycle racing on the oval. The adjacent paved parking lot was dubbed New England Dragway South as an eighth-mile drag strip that ran street drags all the way up to Fuel Dragsters, Funny Cars, Altereds and even Jet Cars. The latter caused quite a stir with neighbors and it was one factor, among many, that resulted in a bad decision by the stockholders to shut down the race plant and turn it into an industrial park. The result of this saw the original stockholders lose their investment as the result of a foreclosure by the old Norfolk County Trust Company to take possession of the property and sold it to a development group which turned the property into a vast industrial/office park which stands on the property to this day. The vintage race cars of NEAR, STARS and ACOT are all expected to return to the 6th Annual Norwood Arena Reunion. An invitation to the Maine Vintage Car Racing Assn and the Wicked Good Vintage Racing Assn., also in Maine, was extended by the organizers of the Norwood Arena Reunion. The Norwood Arena event is also promoted year-round at various indoor and outdoor auto shows and cruise nights all over New England. Don Thomas, webmaster of NorwoodArena.com of the internet site plans to make his annual trip from California to southeastern MA.
   Fans attending the event on Sunday, June 6, 2010 can look forward to meet some of the legendary Norwood Arena competitors, share memories, view memorabilia and talk racing. They can also take photos of race cars, hot rods, classic cars and motorcycles. The Bezema family who host the event every year will feed the attendees a free light lunch consisting of hamburgers and hotdogs. It begins at 11 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m. that day. Bezema Buick, Pontiac, GMC is located at 402 Providence Hwy (Route US 1), Norwood, MA 02062. For further information call the dealership at 781-769-4700 or the Norwood Arena Reunion Organizer at 781-784-7857.  Sent in by Gil Coraine

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The following photographs show Iwo Jima in the spring of 1945. This was sent in by Evelyn Roth who had uncles who fought on the island. My uncle Roy Eves was there in the first wave and remained there, working on aircraft maintenance if my memory serves me right. In a few photos you will see belly tanks, later used as streamlined bodies for land speed racing cars. http://tinyurl.com/ykt7v6j.

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It appears that your advice of getting local media involved with telling the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum's story is paying off. Please find enclosed an excerpt from the latest WRHS newsletter explaining to its membership the upcoming article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. When reading between the lines it becomes obvious the museum has been hurt in both financially and in reputation, hence the Open House. I have also forwarded the entire newsletter as it has been sent to me and the entire society's membership. This seems to me to be an act of desperation and an attempt at damage control even prior to the article. Thanks again for your advice and support, Mike Kacsala
Mike: It isn't the purpose of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians or the editor of the newsletter to tear anyone down or to make their lives more difficult. That's what you call a yabut (Yeah/But). The problem with the Crawford Auto and Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio isn't their statements or their policy briefings, but their actions. The entire country has gotten past the pretensions of our leaders and now they only want results. In a way that is a return to the hot rodding spirit. "All flash and no cash," is one of the slogans we use, as is "all show and no go." The museum sold off the cars, so what do they expect from us, gratitude that they did that? How can a donor have any confidence in a management style that guts our donations? I read the news and everywhere there are Cleveland bashers. The city ranks as one of the unhappiest places among large American cities. It's a place where homes can't be sold or given away. Business is terrible there. One piece of bad news after another permeates the place.

But there is a way out for Cleveland and that's to decide to make the best decision in every case regardless of whether it benefits one group or another. In other words, the city needs to pull itself up by its bootstraps one smart decision after another. But running up a budget deficit and then selling off the donations from the past is simply a way to perpetuate the myth that Cleveland is a lost cause. Treating the volunteers poorly is another way to weaken the foundation of a great museum. I haven't seen the Crawford, but I've got friends who have visited the institution and they tell me it is one of the elite museums in the country. How should I or any other admirer of the automotive world take to the sell-off of the Crawford's treasures? The state of Ohio isn't the only state that is suffering and languishing in a sea of red ink. But I have to be brutally frank; hot rodders are impressed not by talk, but by results. I hope that you and the many committed fans and volunteers of the Crawford can make a positive impact on the policies and management style of their board of directors.
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Excerpt from WRHS Newsletter: No Publicity is Bad Publicity? (This is a statement by the Museum's management)
We just wanted to let our friends and supporters know, in advance, that WRHS will be the featured subject of a major Plain Dealer story appearing as soon as this Sunday, February 21 - or on some Sunday shortly thereafter. The reporter working on the story has described its purpose as "telling the whole story about WRHS" - from the end of the lakefront transportation museum project several years ago, to our current status, and future plans. We have cooperated fully and forthrightly with the PD reporter. Despite our best efforts to provide accurate and comprehensive information about our past, present and future challenges, we have reason to believe the article will take a negative approach to WRHS - both in terms of the failed lakefront project and our recent sale of collection items in order to pay off debt. As we have explained to the press and our supporters, the health and wellbeing of the entire Historical Society must be our paramount concern. We continue to stand by our decisions to take the actions we did in selling items from our collections in order to secure our future stability. Indeed, our actions have led to great success in retiring long-term debt. We will respond to The Plain Dealer article if appropriate or necessary. Meanwhile, we wanted to be sure you knew about this article in advance. We hope you will continue to stand by WRHS and support us through this very challenging time and extreme public scrutiny.
Readers: This was a statement made by the management of the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in anticipation of a newspaper article. The situation as it has been reported in the press, for we have no inside information, is that the museum undertook expensive capital projects to increase the museum and expand it. There is nothing wrong with such a plan. The problem is that the recession hit, donations dwindled and debt rose; all foreseeable problems that a wise management plans for. Faced with debt and a fall-off in donations, the management decided to sell off cars to pay the debt. The question is this, once this precedent has been set, how can any donor feel comfortable donating money or cars to the Crawford ever again. I wouldn't trust them and neither would you. Here's another question; when the next crisis hits or managements wants a bonus, what will they sell off then? Faith and trust is all that binds our words and our promises. When faith and trust is lost then our word is worthless and we can no longer achieve the aims that we seek to achieve.

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Gone Racin'…Run to Glory, chasing the World's Water Speed record 1967-1989, by Donald W. Peterson. Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz
A short but very interesting little paperback book is Run to Glory, chasing the World's Water Speed record 1967-1989, by Donald W. Peterson. The author has written and published many books on speedboat racing and this is one of his best and most informative. Run to Glory, chasing the World's Water Speed record 1967-1989 is a paperback, measuring 6 inches by 9 inches and is about a � inch thick with 94 pages. The book has 56 black and white photos, 3 color photos, 2 posters and 7 drawings including the inner workings of famous race boats. There is a preface by the author, a table of contents, a bibliography broken down by chapters and a good index, which is almost complete. The book is written like a historical text but Peterson loves his subject and it comes alive as interesting and heartfelt. The book is self-published and the only outlet for you to purchase copies is through the author at 360-835-7499 or email him at [email protected], or [email protected]. Run to Glory, chasing the World's Water Speed record 1967-1989, is a short book but one that can be read then set down for awhile and picked back up again. I found myself reading the book over and over again because it was so short. The photos are somewhat grainy but they help to support the story and the text was well researched and written. Other books by Peterson are; 1) The Oregon Wolf (Pacific Powerboat Racing 1904-1927), 2) Slo-Mo-Shun (The Sayres Legacy), 3) The Harmsworth Trophy, 4) The Spotters Guide for Antique and Classic Outboards, 5) Peterson's Price Guide for Antique, Classic and Collectable Outboards and 6) Racing Outboards.
There are ten chapters with each averaging about 9 pages each. Run to Glory, chasing the World's Water Speed record 1967-1989 is really an overview of water speed racing. For more details look through the bibliography for other sources, though much of the research was done in personal archives or newspaper reports. Chapter One concerns Lee Taylor Jr and his efforts to break the water speed record. The chapter is called The End and the Beginning and tells of Taylor's run for the record, which he set on June 30th, 1966 at Lake Guntersville, Alabama. The boat was called the Hustler, built by master boat builder Rich Hallett Sr. Taylor's crew chief was Johnny Beaudoin. Chapter Two is titled Art Arfons and the Green Monster Cyclops and tells how the famous land speed record setter got involved in the pursuit of the water speed record. The boat never did reach a satisfactory plane and the team gave up and returned to land speed racing. Chapter Three is named The Saga of Johnny Beaudoin and relates to the argument that broke up the Taylor/Beaudoin team. Taylor left and new owners took over and put Beaudoin in charge. Beaudoin came close but could not break Taylor's record. Chapter Four is called More Challengers and discusses Lee Taylor's attempts to take a new race boat, U. S. Discovery I to the record, but lack of sponsorship and money doomed his efforts. Chapter Five is entitled Warby and is about the Australian challenger. Ken Warby is one of those unique men who enter the scene when most of the action seems to have ended and breathes new life into the sport again. Warby begins racing in the Hellcat, then to the Monte Cristo and finally to his crowning achievement, the J34 Westinghouse Jet engines which provided the power for the Spirit of Australia. On October 8, 1978 Ken Warby piloted the Spirit of Australia to a two-way speed of 317.596 mile per hour record.
Chapter Six is named U.S. Discovery II and is the race boat that Lee Taylor hoped would successfully allow him to recapture the water speed record from Warby. The beautifully styled race boat had the power and ability to recapture the record but in a tragic accident the boat crashed and Taylor drowned. This accident robbed the boat racing world of a first class boat racer. It also took away a threat to Ken Warby's record, but worse, without a fierce competitor it made Warby's job of raising sponsorship money much harder. Chapter Seven is called The British Pursuit Team and discusses the efforts of Tony Fahey and the British to recapture the water speed record that they had held for so many years prior to Taylor and Warby. The race boat was to be called the Alton Towers. Chapter Eight is titled Craig Arfons Challenge and talks about the attempt of the Arfons family to reenter the water speed contest. Craig and David Loebenberg built the Rain X Challenger with the help of Eliminator Boats and Ken Warby. The record holder helping to build the challenger is not necessarily against his interests. Remember, Warby needed competition to be able to get funds for future water speed records for his own boat. Arfons easily took the speed up to nearly 350-mph and the boat simply flew over the water with only the tip of the bottom touching the froth. On the return record run the boat encountered problems and flung Arfons through the canopy, killing a very brave man. Warby's record was safe but it was not what he had wanted and funds for Warby's efforts waned. Chapter Nine is named The Challengers; Excalibur, Spirit of America, Quicksilver and American Challenge. None of these boats seriously challenged the Spirit of Australia's record and so Warby designed and built his own challenger which he named Aussie Spirit and is in the testing stage. Chapter Ten is called Jet Boat Contenders from an earlier Era and should really have been in the beginning of the book. For light and interesting reading this is a good book to add to your library on speed. Gone Racin' is at [email protected].

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Gone Racin'…High Performance; The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing 1959-1990, by Robert C. Post. Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz
High Performance; The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing 1959-1990, was written by Robert C. Post. It is a very readable and entertaining history of drag racing and Dr Post is an eminent historian, researcher and writer. High Performance is a hard-bound book, measuring 7 � by 10 � inches and has 437 pages of photographs and text on acid free paper. The book was published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, under the auspices of the Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology. Merritt Roe Smith is the series editor. This is a scholarly history book that also serves to inform the average drag racing fan. The book has a high quality cloth binding and is meant to last. The cover is silver and black and comes with an interesting and distinctive dust cover jacket, which gives the book a finished and racy appearance. Take excellent care of the jacket as the book looks very ordinary without it. The ISBN number is 0-8018-4654-4, and there may be some copies left in bookstores or on the internet book stores. The footnotes are worthy of the finest university subjects and the 18 page index is the most thorough and comprehensive that I've ever seen. High Performance also has a 9 page preface, another 9 page introduction, 14 chapters covering 309 pages, appendixes covering 19 pages, 39 pages of notes, 13 pages of essays and sources and one page devoted to other books in the technology series. There are 3 color photographs, all on the dust cover jacket, and 143 black and white photographs with excellent captions. The photos are not on glossy waxed paper so the quality suffers somewhat. This book is meant to be read, pondered, studied, researched and argued over in a scholarly manner. High Performance is not difficult to read, even though it was written for a classroom setting. In fact, before you write your own book on your life in hot rodding or auto racing, buy a copy of this book and study how it was written, researched and published. It's a first class work.
The chapters are written in a chronological sequence and for better or worse they have blue-collar names; Warming up, Staging, Gathering Speed, Power, Fame, Fortune, Competition, Hustling, Revolution, Finesse, Television, Men and Women, Enthusiasm and Choice. This is as far as Dr Post is going to go to be plebeian about drag racing. From the table of contents, the book opens up on a world that hot rodders know by heart, but the rest of humanity only cares about when there's an accident scene on the 10 O'clock news. High Performance also has a knock on it, that it expresses the opinions of Don 'Big Daddy' Garlits and that it's unfair to Wally Parks and the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). The same has been said about The Fast Lane, that it is a picture book for high-schoolers that puts down Don Garlits and hypes the NHRA. Both canards are false and both books are far better than their critics avow. My reviews on both books are open to the public. Both books have a story to tell and they do so based on the research that they worked with. Dr Post spent a lot of time with Don Garlits and the National Hot Rod Association and drew his own conclusions. Let's look at some of the topics in the index. The American Hot Rod Association (AHRA) is mentioned 26 times, the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) is mentioned 17 times, and the United Drag Racers Association (UDRA) is listed 20 times. The NHRA is mentioned 164 times, about what you would expect considering that it was in existence for longer than the other groups and is the largest drag racing organization in the world. Let's look at some personalities. Jim Tice is mentioned 11 times, TV Tom Ivo is listed 26 times, Connie Kalitta 19 times, Kenny Bernstein 19 times, Don Prudhomme 56 times and Wally Parks is mentioned 59 times. Don Garlits is mentioned 166 times, far and away the most celebrated person in the book.
However, Don Garlits is the Babe Ruth of drag racing. A number of drag racers have beat Garlits' record for total wins and championships, but Don raced when there were only a handful of national events to race in and he was the dominant and most feared racer for a long, long time. Had Garlits enjoyed the sponsorship that is available today and competed in 23 national events over the same length of time that John Force has been able to, the victory count would very likely be higher than anybody else's. The other complaint is that Garlits sees things differently than do other people. Well, that isn't a unique observation. I've interviewed a lot of people and none of them ever saw the same event in the same way. Give me a thousand observers and I'll give you a thousand observations, all different, yet basically telling you the same story. Nobody sees the same thing, remembers it the same events and writes it down the same as anybody else. I've seen some doozy accidents and each person is impressed differently. I've seen agents who insure the races and when the cars roar off the starting lines, these men quake and shiver. The only thought in their minds is "I hope there are no claims." When a car goes up in flames or crashes, everyone on the scene reacts differently. The driver always seems to say, "My crew gave me a great hot rod that saved my life," but what he's really thinking is "damn, I'm a lucky bastard." The sponsors are thinking, "Is this going to be on TV and will I lose my job for sponsoring drag racing?" The crew members are saying, "Those Safety Safari guys are fantastic," but thinking, "The blinking idiot who didn't tighten up the frachet is going to be kicked into the next state." The owner is yelling, "That's my guy," but he's thinking, "damn, there go the points." The fans are simply stunned or screaming.
Yes, there are interpretations in High Performance that I don't exactly agree with. But that doesn't mean that Post got it wrong. He states that NHRA, and perhaps others, let their impartiality and fairness lapse in order to keep sponsors happy. If that's so, then I'd like to see the receipts and under the table payoffs, because I was watching and listening and didn't see any great wealth. In fact, the NHRA almost folded a few times and if it wasn't for the dedication of honest and loyal men and women, there wouldn't be any drag racing as we know it today. On two occasions, Barbara Parks took what little money she had in her savings account and paid salaries and kept the group together. Does this mean Post was mislead or wrong? No, it doesn't, because I also have heard from many people how a promoter of a track could rig a start for a buck. It happened in oval track and drag racing. That's one reason why the electronic Christmas tree came into being. You have to read High Performance with an open mind and understand that Post did an excellent job with the material that he had available to him. I've seen a lot of races and I couldn't even begin to tell a well rounded story of the sport. It is huge and the number of people involved is mind-boggling. Don't ever expect to find just one book that tells the whole story, not in a sport as large as drag racing. Post made an excellent start and his book should be the one that you build your library around. Did he get it all? Not by a long shot. He forgot Melvin Dodd and Dave Marquez, but he remembered Ollie Morris, Leroy Neumayer and Otto Ryssman. High Performance is a fine book and I give it a 7 out of a possible 8 spark plugs. Gone Racin' is at [email protected].

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