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Some Names To Look For In This Newsletter:
President's Corner, Editorials, Don Baker a former Road Runner passed away 4/19/2010, The Passing of Kenney "The Action Man" Goodell, I would like to invite you to join us for a panel discussion celebrating the life and achievements of Mickey Thompson: First American to 400 presented by Banks Power, Spring Shakedown Cruise, The following report was sent to us by Dave Crouse, The following appears to be an excellent way to get around while at car shows and events, How do I become a member of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians, Back in the 1950's I was gathering materials for my 1932 Ford Coupe Jalopy I was building to race at Culver City Speedway, Thank you for the invite to post my information in your newsletter, I am contacting you from Australia regarding a 1972 model Edmunds midget, More old racers reliving the 'good ol' days' and Jess Sturgeon's jackets, Ratmuller-Australia. A big block Ghia that turned 127 mph at Lake Gairdner last month down under, Team Deadwood-Dyno test for this coming years World of Speed. Also a big block, Formula V driven by John Milner, To Jack Osborne: A few months ago you said the Schiefer roadster's frame had a pretty big kick-up in the back, Chop Shop Customs' newsletter, May 15 2010 is a dry lake's meet date, There's a site called SPOKEO.COM and it's an online phone book that has your address, Gone Racin'...Diggers Funnies Gassers & Altereds Drag Racing's Golden Age by Bob McClurg, Gone Racin'...Heroes of Hot Rodding by David Fetherston
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President's Corner:
Hoorah! My computer is back up and running. Now all I have to do is dig out of the pile of stuff that arrived in its absence. Last weekend was the annual S.C.T.A. inspector's clinic. Everything was covered in the way of new rule changes and the usual smart and dumb questions were asked and answered. It's funny how at the end of last year you could see everybody wanted to take a break from racing and now everybody is chomping at the bit to get the season started. Come Friday, May 14, El Mirage lake bed will see the racers once more invade the playa for inspection and the popping of the obligatory beers. Hope you'll be there.
Not having a computer hooked to the net sure puts a crimp in things these days so I went through some older shots for this week's pictures.
Let's start out with a shot from the last Oakland Roadster Show in Pomona. JMC_1146 shows the name of and old dragster that you might of heard about. If you ask "why the dragster pitch," well this one also visited our favorite piece of terra firma. The Glass Slipper Made an appearance at Speedweek in 1955 sporting for the first time its famous plex canopy. Entered as the Cortopassi Brothers-Davis-Garrett car from Sacramento and sporting #150, it ran in Class C Lakester and was powered by a little 274" flattie. The car posted a respectable speed of 181.17 mph that got it a fourth in class.
Next up is a drawing of Culver City muffler man and early lakes racer Sandy Belond's Indy entry for 1955 (JMC_1133). He hired Quinn Epperly to work his magic on an old 1953 Kurtis 500B with the addition of a new streamlined body as seen here. Next he hired Jim Rathman to drive the yellow and blue ride and that he did by starting in 20th spot and soldiering home in to a 14th place finish. If you're wondering about a land speed connection here it is. After being out of sight for a long time the car showed up at Bonneville in 1965 as the Fireside Inn-C. N. Blue entry. The car was entered in Class AA Sports Racing and was gunning for Knott Farrington's "Hell's Angel" T-Bird record of 241.786 mph set in '63. With the wheels covered with revised bodywork and now sporting a monster 457 CI supercharged Ford engine they thought it would be easy pickings. There was a slight problem though, seems Mr Rain decided to make a dry lake a wet one that year so the team packed up and went home. Bummer.
For those of you who like toys, how about this one (JMC_1148). All dressed up in its 1969 paint job is the Barr-Lloyd, E. T. Mags Class G Streamliner. This puppy was powered by a 63: Mercury outboard and ran a quick for the day 164.83 mph for first in class. Driver Don Barr then went out and set the class record at 153.037 mph. As a side note in the mid-1990's Don was one of the first to outfit lakes cars with electronic sensors to record data. If you turn the clock back to '64 you'll find this car first showed as Dick Beith's Wheel Center Company entry. In class H she did a one-way run at 141.50 mph for a first in class.
Here's one for you bike lovers (JMC_1145). This little scoot was shot at the GNRS also and is owned by Dean Lowe. If we look back to '69 we will also find that Dean took his pride and joy to a place called Bonneville. Run in Class A-A-100, the little 98 c.c. Honda mill was looking to take the 82.315 mph record. A lap at 85.693 in the first mile, 89.825 in the second and 87.489 in the last mile says it all. As a tune up he took it to Lions before B-ville and ran 82.79 mph in 15.57 seconds. Wow. I like to look at lakes cars in build so here are some coupes for you. The first (JMC_1149) is the former So-Cal/GM HHR that Jim Miniker put on it's lid after it decided to fly. It's in private hands today and has undergone a complete rebuild with a new chassis so I bet it's gonna really haul when its finished. Last up is yet another kinda GM product called a Cobalt (JMC_1150). A long time back I snapped some pix of the "in white" body panels on a jig with the coolest top chop in the world being done to it. As you can see in this pix the chassis is now being fitted inside the body shell. Oh yea, the builders are none other than Art Chrisman and his son, and Art's gonna drive it at Bonneville. How cool is that.
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JMC_1133 Belond - Indy - Stream. Photograph courtesy of Jim Miller
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JMC_1145. Bike. Photograph courtesy of Jim Miller
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JMC_1146 Glass Slipper. Photograph courtesy of Jim Miller
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JMC_1148 E.T. Mags Liner. . Photograph courtesy of Jim Miller
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JMC_1149 HHR - Rebuilt. . Photograph courtesy of Jim Miller
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JMC_1150 Chrisman’s - New Ride. . Photograph courtesy of Jim Miller
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32 Coupe After Crash LGB-Dad Weeps. Photograph courtesy of Bob Falcon
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Editorial:
The following emails were received and they make a great editorial for The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians newsletter. The issue is core to all racing. The first issue is the importance of the Indianapolis 500 and the answer is simple; it is a special event that cannot be replicated anywhere, even for non-circle track racers. The second issue is over the importance of innovation in racing. Innovation and discovery is at the heart of racing and when it is regulated, then racing becomes standardized, boring and dies. These two issues concern us all, but I watched as my father struggled with innovation in racing, for as the speeds went up, safety standards often lagged behind, injuries, accidents and death increased. This in turn brought an outcry for outlawing racing. It happens frequently and will always be a problem unique to auto racing. Accidents and deaths killed Ascot Legion Speedway in East Los Angeles in the 1930's, according to the author John Lucero. Illegal street racing almost caused the death of land speed and drag racing. It takes hard work, dedication and blunt politics to drive back the opposition to auto racing in the United States. It also takes increased attention to safety features and breakthroughs in equipment technology. That's one of the reasons that the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) was founded, then the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), SEMA and other fine organizations. There were many more great oval track associations and groups who also work diligently to increase safety and speeds at the same time.
Having said that, the primary problem is with the venue sites, not the organizations or track owners. The associations and track owners want a competitive race, happy fans, short beer lines, clean restrooms and a safe race. What they don't want is negative publicity, increasing accidents and burgeoning insurance rates. As speeds improve and safety equipment also, there is a balance that should guarantee that innovation continues without accidents, but the problem is that you have to remove the angles. It's the curves that kill. In the end, if a racing organization encourages greater and greater innovation leading to greater and greater speeds, then the race tracks have to become straighter and less curved until at a certain point it becomes a straight, Bonneville style course. Land speed and road course racing are the grand-daddies of racing, since the first cars created had to find a venue site to test them on. We are back to the venue site as the problem again. Even straight-line racing has its problems even though there is less opportunity to hit something going in a straight line. The greater the speeds are the more imperative that the course, car, driver, security, inspection and safety equipment function at its peak performance, for there is less margin for error. When you add spectators, you increase the danger of lawsuits. A track owner, promoter or racing association now has to implement more and more rules until the result is the loss of true innovation.
What is the use of having the Indy 500 or any other race unless you can test man and machine against time itself? In racing, a car and driver has opposition from other cars and drivers, but the goal is to race and control time itself. It's a simple axiom that the fastest car at the end of the race is the winner. We talk about three main things when we think of racing; who won, what was the time and what great innovations did we see. No one remembers the runner-ups or whether the car was just normal. I remember Rodger Ward and Parnelli Jones. I remember the times they ran to win the race. And I remember the turbines and Novis that set the racing world into a titter. But at a certain time, all that pales into insignificance when a MacDonald or a Vukovich crashes and dies. I've seen a number of people die on the race track and it isn't something that I wish to ever see again; but I will, if I continue to watch racing. So the track owner, race promoter and racing association has to balance out safety, profits, insurance, speed, innovation and other factors and it is this balancing act that causes purists in the sport of auto racing grief. Personally, for me, the Indy 500 stopped being the Indy 500 as soon as the roadsters and Offy's left and were replaced by cars that all looked like clones. It was a car owner who worked long hours in his garage coming up with something different and unique that interested me. It was drivers hanging around the garages looking for rides that made the story real and personal. But that's just me and every car guy has their own idea of what's right and what's wrong.
My father saw accidents and fatalities start to rise, the media and public in an uproar and track operators asking for help. He convened a meeting and since he was a consensus leader, went along with the decision to ban nitro in drag racing, earning the opprobrium and hatred of car racers everywhere. He stepped on innovation and it cost him. I later saw one of those who opposed his decision change his mind and state that cutting the amount of nitro from 100% to 70% was the only way to curb engine damage, oil downs and accidents. There is only ONE way in which to allow complete innovation to continue without having controls imposed on engine size, fuel percentages and other inhibitors. You can turn the Indy 500 into a 16 mile straight-line course, in effect a super drag strip, and then ban spectators except for the safety vehicles and course officials. Otherwise, at some point, race officials have to step in and put requirements on the cars. I hate that and any true car racer or fan hates that, but there simply isn't any alternative, or at least, none of us has found a solution yet. But just as a famed Cal Tech engineer once said, "Cars simply can't be engineered to go faster than 140 mph on the dragstrip," hot rodders proved him wrong. So maybe there is a solution and we will find it someday, but until that day comes, if you want innovation, speed and safety, go straight-line racing at Bonneville, Black Rock or Lake Gairdner.
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The Indianapolis 500 IS NOT like any other race and the people who remember what it was and understand its history don't have a problem wondering. The Indianapolis 500 is being turned into something I never thought it would be. If people who think the "500" is just another race would have never bothered to be a part of it or would have never bothered to attend one I for one would not be at all unhappy about it. Those who are all for changing the "500" because "if Lemans can do it so can the 500," can quite frankly (deletion)! If you feel that way you do not have a clue what the Indianapolis Motor Speedway WAS and should still be. I hate to blow your fantasy world apart, but the first green flag at Indianapolis was not in 1990! If you can walk thru the museum at The Speedway, look at the old race cars and pictures, walk past the former winning cars; Ruttman, Wallard, Parsons, Sweikert, Hanks, Bryan and those before them Shaw, Meyers, etc ... the #14 Fuel Injection car that Vukovich dominated in with in 1952, '53, and '54 and see what he looked like after 500 miles and then say ..."it's just another race." Dennis Johansen
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I am not a fan of One Make racing at the highest level of the sport - Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, NHRA or Sports cars! It takes what was the technological test bed that was auto racing out of the equation and the, "I can build a better car than you," as it was in the days of Watson and Kurtis and relegates the sport to a procession of 33 guys and girls driving "the same car with the same engine and the same tires!"
What's the big deal about that? Back when the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was founded, the premise for the track was to serve as a place where the auto manufacturers could test their theories and prove their endurance against each other! That ain't happened in years! Gil Bouffard
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Don Baker, a former Road Runner, passed away 4/19/2010. George Rubio and I ran his rear-engined 1927 T chassis at Bonneville in 1950. I have been corresponding with him via email for the last couple of years, attached is the link to the notice. Bob Morton
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Biography; Donald Charles Baker, 82, passed away on Monday, April 19, 2010 in Sagle, Idaho. Private inurnment will take place at the Pack River Cemetery. Don was born on August 31, 1927 in Long Beach, California to Charles and Ethel Peek Baker, and was later joined by twin brothers Roger and Clyde. In 1944 during World War II, at the age of 17 he enlisted in the United States Navy and served on the USS Henderson DD-785 and was honorably discharged in 1946. Don was married to Dollie Jean Meckley and had two children, John Brian and Sally Jean. During this time he was employed with the Shell Oil Refinery for 15 years. He was also a member of the Long Beach Roadrunners Club, built Model-T roadsters, and raced them on the dry lake beds in southern California.
He married JoEllen Walker in May 1958 and started Don's Tune-up for a short time in Newport Beach, California. They had three children, Christine, Dan, and Jeff and moved to Sandpoint, Idaho in 1961 and operated Baker's Shell Station on the Dover Highway. In 1972, Don opened Baker's Carburetor and Electric located at 1207 Dover Highway and gained an exceptional reputation for carburetor repair. Many stories and jokes were told in the shop; old acquaintances would call, sometimes long distance, to tell Don a joke. He was very honest, upstanding, highly regarded and always enjoyed a good conversation about guitars, astronomy, hunting, photography and hot rods. Don played guitar with the Old Time Fiddlers for over 30 years and especially enjoyed playing with Mary Ellen Black, Bud Ingram, Chet Howell, and Bernie Langsdorf.
In 1992 he retired and moved to Eagen Mountain in Hope, Idaho, and wintered in Green Valley, Arizona until 2006. In Green Valley he played guitar with an 18 piece band, "Big Band Sounds of Green Valley." He sold and moved to Sagle, Idaho in 2004. There he took great pleasure in gardening and raised award winning onions with his triplet granddaughters. Especially big in size were the Ailsa Craig onions suggested by his friend Barney Blasko. He is survived by his wife of almost 52 years, JoEllen of Sagle, Idaho, four children: Sally Baker of Portland, Oregon, Christine (Gregory) Miller of Sagle, Idaho, Dan (Angie) Baker of Sandpoint, Idaho, and Jeff (Leony) Baker of Old Town, Idaho, and 8 grandchildren: Brian, Morgan, Andrew, Kyle, Wesley, Ariel, Emily and Zoe. He was preceded in death by his parents, twin brothers, and eldest son John Baker in 2008.
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The Passing of Kenney "The Action Man" Goodell. Former Northwest Funny Car standout Kenney Goodell passed away on Tuesday night after experiencing a massive heart attack a week prior at his home in Sherwood, Oregon. Goodell, 64, will always be remembered for his long line of nitro funny cars and his successful marketing partnerships with Portland area businesses. He was a true showman in the wild and colorful world of drag racing. Goodell's most successful funny car was the orange and purple Wynn's Stormer (1973-1974) which won the Stardust National Open in Las Vegas, as well as the prestigious Northwest National Open in Seattle. He was also undefeated at one of the popular Manufacturer's Meets at Orange County International Raceway. The "Action Man'' as he has always been billed, had clean looking equipment that matched and looked meticulous every where the funny car went and at one time also included a top fuel dragster. Goodell went on to drive the ultra low Beaverton Dodge funny car in 1976 until a bad crash in Boise sidelined him for several years. He later returned to the drag racing in 1980 to drive Chuck Byrd's "Jean Machine" Arrow and later an alcohol funny car sponsored by the Burgerville chain.
He was a true promoter who knew how to grab people's attention. He also could sell the sport and give something back to the community, as he participated in the "Night of Fire" charitable events every year. He also devised the "Safety on Wheels" program which centered around traffic safety. He designed this program to work in conjunction with his Beaverton Dodge sponsorship. He was involved in community programs before it became popular to do so which made him a good role model. Goodell not only loved the competition, but he loved the whole culture centered around drag racing. The cars were just one aspect of it. It was also the people, the sponsors, the corporate image, and the look of drag racing that motivated his interests. He returned to the sport for a final time in 2005 driving an Anglia bodied coup sponsored by ICS Best Way, but his true love were the nitro burning dragsters and funny cars. His renewed involvement in drag racing was good for the sport throughout the northwest region. Kenney Goodell had a stellar career that was appreciated and remembered by many. Sent in by Big Al Liebmann and Mary Ann Lawford
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The Passing of Kenney "The Action Man" Goodell. Funny Car. Courtesy of Big Al Liebmann
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The Passing of Kenney "The Action Man" Goodell. Dragster. Courtesy of Big Al Liebmann
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Greetings. This is Richard Parks, editor of The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter. I received an email from Tony Thacker, Executive Director of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum about a very special event hosted by Banks Power, concerning Mickey Thompson. The event is a panel discussion about Mickey Thompson and his impact on American auto racing. Our family has known Mickey and his family since the mid-1940's and the speakers have a great deal of knowledge about Mickey and the times that he was influencing American racing. Judy is Mickey's first wife and Danny is Judy and Mickey's son. Alex Xydias and his So-Cal Speed Shop was at the center of dry lakes, Bonneville and land speed racing in the late 1940's and '50's. Tom Jobe knows drag racing's ins and outs. Gale Banks at Banks Power knows land speed racing and how to build powerful engines. Dave McClelland is one of the best at announcing all types of auto racing events. Every panel discussion that I have attended at the Museum has been a great experience and I hope that you will be able to attend. Sincerely, Richard Parks (www.landspeedracing.com)
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INVITATION
Dear friend of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum:
I would like to invite you to join us for a panel discussion celebrating the life and achievements of Mickey Thompson: First American to 400 presented by Banks Power.
WHEN: Saturday, May 15, 2010 from 2 - 4 p.m.
WHERE: Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Bldg 3A, Pomona, CA 91768. For more information on this
event call 909-622-2133, or Google http://museum.nhra.com.
PANELISTS: Judy Thompson Creach, Danny Thompson, Alex Xydias, Tom Jobe, and Gale Banks.
MODERATOR: Dave McClelland
COST: $20 includes museum admission and light refreshments. Tickets can be purchased at the door and all proceeds benefit the museum.
FREE PARKING: Enter the Fairplex at Gate 1 on McKinley and turn right into the museum parking lot.
We sincerely hope you can make it and feel free to bring a guest. Sincerely,
Tony Thacker, Executive Director, Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum
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Spring Shakedown Cruise. The Tour Committees of the Mass Street Rod Association and the Strokers Car Club under the direction of Chairman Bob Caviasca have set up a Breakfast Cruise for this coming Sunday, May 2, 2010, to the beautiful Cliff House in York, Maine. Plan is to meet at the weigh station on I-95 northbound just after the Route 97 exit. Be there by 9:00am, leave there by 9:15am and cruise north to the restaurant. Cost of the buffet breakfast/lunch menu is $21.00 per person. Look forward to seeing you Sunday Morning. Directions; About 75 miles from Boston, take the I-95 north, cross the Piscataqua Bridge into Maine to the York/Ogunquit Exit #7. Then go north on US1 for 3.3 miles, right on River Road for 0.5 mile, bear left onto Old County Road, and then left on Shore Road for approximately 3 miles. Gil Coraine
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The following report was sent to us by Dave Crouse. I met Dave at the SCTA Banquet in January, 2010 and challenged him to compile a history of Custom Auto, out of Loveland, Colorado. It is the auto shops and car builders who contribute a great deal to our history. Dave agreed and here is the first part of his story and that of the skilled workmen at his shop. Now I want all of the other car builders and restorers to send me reports, biographies and histories of their shops, craftsmen and the stories on their projects.
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Custom Auto Loveland, Colorado. Google; www.realhotrods.com.
In 1996 Dave Crouse started Custom Auto as full-time venture after his lifelong passion for restoring and building vintage hot rods lead him to Colorado. He has established a shop that is dedicated to preserving and restoring the history of the hot rod community, as well as creating vintage-style hot rods with the utmost consideration into the period correct details and functionality that our customers demand. Dave started out by restoring the Joe Nitti Roadster and was awarded the Bruce Meyer Preservation Award, which is a great accomplishment for any shop. Over the years Dave has put together a team that fits well into the company's goal of building and restoring some of the automotive community's most valued cars. Each crew member is dedicated to their skill set and continues to utilize their knowledge, experience, and versatility as well as adjust their overlapping skills that compliment the others. Custom Auto has been privileged enough to receive the RM Auctions Best Open Car at the 15th Amelia Isle 2010 with the Norman Timbs Special; the Dean Bachelor Award at Pebble Beach in 2007 with the Berardini Brothers 404Jr; Won the Bruce Meyer Preservation Award twice, as well as many other notable awards and accomplishment. Custom Auto prides itself on accurately resurrecting these pieces of our past and letting the history of the cars and the men that built them live on and not let their original accomplishments fade. We continue to seek out new projects to welcome into our shop.
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Crew;
Dave Crouse. He was born and raised on a dairy farm in N.W. New Jersey. His father built a race track in the early 60's (5/8 dirt oval and a 1/8 mile drag strip) and spent early years hanging out with racers and helping at the track working on the cars. Dave Worked at Stone Barn in the 80's on big classic cars but still played with hot rods and race cars on the side. In 1989 he moved out to Colorado and in 1996 opened up Custom Auto and has been involved in restoring some of our industry's most notable hot rods and racecars. Dave has a lifelong passion in preserving our automotive heritage.
Jake Yenny. He was born and raised in Nebraska and has been tinkering with anything mechanical from a young age. Jake bought his first car, a 1970 Chevelle 454 SS, when he was 13. After high school he attended McPherson College and received his Associates Degree. Shortly after graduating Jake moved to the beautiful state of Colorado and started working for Custom Auto. He has been employed with Custom Auto for nine years and specializes in chassis fabrication, engine and drive train, and final assembly.
Rex Rogers. He was raised in the Texas panhandle, and through an outstanding high school shop he was able to build a 1962 Chevy Apache 1/2 ton as his first vehicle. From there, Rex joined the United States Marines Corps as an auto body repairman and sheet metal fabricator. When the time came for him to leave the Marines he found his calling and was off to McPherson College for their Automotive Restoration program. While at McPherson, Rex decided that the metal shaping end of our industry was what he wanted to work in and he was fortunate enough to be able to take an apprenticeship with Ron Fournier in Michigan for a year. He has been with Custom Auto in Colorado for nine years and has been in the metal shaping community for 16 years. Rex has been given the opportunity to work on some outstanding cars and help preserve our automotive history over the course of his career and will continue to help preserve and build more cars for many years to come.
Dustin Nere. He grew up in southern Minnesota and was introduced to the car scene as a boy by his father. In high school he and his father restored a 1962 Chevy Impala together. He also participated in an internship program throughout high school, which allowed him to work in a collision shop in the afternoons. After high school Dustin enrolled at Wyoming Technical Institute where he learned about collision, refinishing, and fabrication for 18 months. Following graduation Dustin was offered a job at Custom Auto and has been there for almost eight years. He enjoys working at Custom Auto where he gets to perform some sheet metal work and fabrication, but specializes in paint and body work.
Fred Frank. He was born and raised in Colorado and grew up along the Front Range. He has always been interested in cars and is currently working on projects of his own. Fred's training in this field includes classes from Fay Butler, Ron Covell, Gene Winfield, and instruction from Rex Rogers, Dustin Nere, Jake Yenny and Dave Crouse. Fred is currently twenty-one years old and has worked for Custom Auto for four years. He does sheet metal repair and fabrication, body and paint, assembly, and any other tasks he is asked to perform.
Custom Auto is located at 1067 Des Moines Avenue, Loveland, Colorado 80537. The phone number is 970-669-6691 or Google; www.realhotrods.com.
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How do I become a member of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians? My most sincere condolences to you. Thanks, Dave Crouse
Dave: There are no membership requirements, dues or duties. You simply belong by participating. Add www.landspeedracing.com to your list of favorites and go there once a week to read the new issues of the newsletter. Then send us information that you have learned, including your biography and projects that you are working on. Caption your photographs and send us pictures of your latest constructions to add to the newsletter. Welcome aboard and write in often.
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Back in the 1950's I was gathering materials for my 1932 Ford Coupe Jalopy I was building to race at Culver City Speedway. During a visit to Ideal Metals on Jefferson Blvd in Culver City, California, I spotted a loaded rack of this airfoil shaped steel tubing and gave serious thought to using it for the roll cage in the coupe. I figured it would be lighter than the 4130 I had planned to use. But after deciding that this material was intended for use to support the wing of an airplane and quite strong in tension, but the roll cage needed to be strong in shear strength, I opted for the round 2.0" x 0.125" Alloy 4130 tubing. Boy, am I glad that I did! See attached picture of the coupe after the steering failed, hit the fence at a gate that opened went about forty feet in the air and landed top first on top of the crash wall and proceeded to roll end-over-end for about 250 feet! Bob Falcon
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Thank you for the invite to post my information in your newsletter. I hope to capture more GATERS info through your audience. For the past two years I have been working on my roadster that belonged to Ray Pyle who joined the SCTA organization in the post WWII years from 1947-1949 under the car club the GATERS out of South Gate, California. I have tried to find as much information about Ray Pyle and the South Gate Gaters. I have spoken to or contacted many Hot Rod experts, from my perspective, including Jack Underwood, Don Montgomery, Robert Genat, Richard Parks, Jim Miller, Kay Kimes to name a few. I owe all these gentlemen a debt of gratitude for their help in my quest for information. I only mention them so that you understand the depth of my search so far. Here is my request to any one reading this to help further my fact gathering. I am looking for anything Gaters related; club photos, SCTA event photos, memorabilia, trophies, etc.
Any one that was once part of the SCTA during that time 1947-1949 and knew someone in the South Gate Gaters, I would like to speak with you. Any leads to contact members of the South Gate Gaters, including family, friends or former SCTA competitors would be great. To give you an idea of how one thing leads to another, I wrote to Richard (Land Speed Racing Newsletter) some time back. He posted my information and Kay Kimes response put me in contact with Chuck Hersom, an original member of the South Gate Gaters. I've been speaking with Chuck for the past two years. He has shared some incredible stories with me including his adventure to the first SCTA sanctioned Bonneville trials in 1949. He's a 49er!
Just recently, I'd come across a few relics on the internet that really has me excited and has caused me to prompt the masses with this message. I found an authentic Gaters T-Shirt and two pictures of Gaters members wearing the t-shirt items on a Japanese website. After a little work, I was able to contact this gentleman, who is a Hot Rod enthusiast and a Hot Rod owner. He understood my family relation to the Gaters and what they meant to me and sent me copies of the photos through our email correspondence. This was the first I'd seen of these pictures of the two young gentlemen with their Gaters t-shirts on. It's these hidden gems I am seeking and stories surrounding the Gaters.
I realize that some of these gentlemen are no longer with us but they may have family that you know and could possibly put me in contact with them. In the chance they are still living, I would like to capture their story and experiences. My plan is to start a simple Gaters website to share the stories I have learned from my Dad (who is the cousin to Ray Pyle and hung around the club back at that time), Chuck Hersom and any contacts I make through the generosity of those who may help in my quest. Here is a list of Gaters members that I was able to gather from the SCTA Racing News Programs. South Gate Gaters SCTA Members; 1947-600 series/1948-180 to 200 series/1949-400 series.
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Name (known car number)
Ray Pyle (181B, 660B, 464B)
Jim & Art Michaud Bros. (188B)
John Danny Tipler & Bob Byars (190C)
Chuck Dunn (191C)
Richard McGuckin (192B, 663B)
Leo Wise (194B)
Chuck & Eugene Hersom Bros. (197B, 474B)
Kenny Parks (200C)
N. Davis & Pettigrew (205C)
Harold West (199B)
Bob Wendt (210C)
N. Davis & H. Pettigrew (205C)
Jim Goodwin & Moxley (187C)
John Tipler (664C)
Bob Byars (203C)
Weinberg & Edwards (204D)
Roland Tibbett (203C)
N. Davis & Pettigrew (205C)
Chandler & Hersom Bros. (197C)
Emil Dietrich (657, 1, 20C)
John Danny Tipler (664C)
Chuck Hossfeld (666C)
Richard McGuckin (663B)
Regg Schlemmer (657, 1, 20C)
I'd appreciate anything you might be able to provide. I can be contacted at [email protected]. Best regards, Chris Eichert
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1940's Car Club South Gate Gaters.............Just recently, I'd come across a few relics on the internet that really had me excited and has caused me to prompt the masses with this message. I found an authentic Gaters T-Shirt and two pictures of Gaters members wearing the t-shirt items on a Japanese website. Second photo Pyle's car. Chris Eichert [email protected]
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I am contacting you from Australia regarding a 1972 model Edmunds midget. A friend of mine has purchased the car and he is trying to track the history of the car. It has been confirmed by Don Edmunds via the dash plate number that he sold the car to Danny McKnight in 1972. I want to get in contact with Danny McKnight. Do you have any idea where he may be? Any details at all such as what area he lives or a contact email would be appreciated. Many thanks, Paul Field [email protected]
Paul: I believe Danny was honored recently by Don Weaver at one of the Legends of Ascot Reunions. I'm sending on your email to Hila Sweet and Don Weaver to see if they know how to contact Danny. I'll also post this in the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter to see if any other of our readers can help you out with contact information or personal knowledge of the car and where it raced. I'm going to include your email address so that anyone with information can contact you. If you don't hear from them, send me another email and I will make some calls on your behalf.
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More old racers reliving the 'good ol' days,' and Jess Sturgeon's jackets. Dragville USA. I was lucky enough to be able to tag along with Tommy "The Watchdog" Allen for a morning fire up of his "Trick Car" at Mike Kuhl's shop. It's quite the place! The headline in the local paper, the next day, should have said, "Flea bites Dog!" You'll see what I mean. There will be a follow-up YouTube episode that shows a little of what went on at Roy Fjastad's party a little later on that day. Google http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-S6iNiDIxM. Steve Swaja
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To Jack Osborne: A few months ago you said the Schiefer roadster's frame had a pretty big kick-up in the back. Do you remember if the frame was one solid piece, or if it was pieces bolted together? I can construct it either way. If the frame was entirely of one piece, then it would have been almost all aluminum: because, if the frame was chromoly 4130 and aluminum welded together, Schiefer's frame would have likely been too brittle/flimsy to safely run on the lakes at 150 mph. If the frame consisted of a few to several pieces, then that means he probably included some old Ford frame parts in the frame construction, using spacers and bolts to attach a rear clip and front cross member through vacated rivet holes. I am slowly working out the geometry of how Schiefer accomplished this fairly simple frame, and either way should work for this application. I very much appreciate your effort, the information you provide. David Walker
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May 15, 2010 is a dry lake's meet date. Victor Enyart
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There's a site called SPOKEO.COM and it's an online phone book that has your address, phone number, profession, age, how many people live in the house, relatives' names. Remove yourself by the Privacy link on the bottom center of the main screen. I looked up several of you and it is really there! I opted out as they had me on both address: P.O. Box and street. Google; http://www.spokeo.com/. Evelyn
Evelyn: I checked and it has very garbled and strange information and I can't determine where they got all this information. They have my son as my father, etc. I tried to remove the information, but was unsuccessful. This may be a hoax. The more we try to remove the information the more damage we could cause.
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Gone Racin'...Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds; Drag Racing's Golden Age, by Bob McClurg. Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz.
A drag racer's delight is Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds; Drag Racing's Golden Age, by Bob McClurg. This is a hard-bound book measuring 10 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches in size and suitable as a coffee table book or as a historical work on the subject of drag racing. The pages are high quality waxed photographic paper, which are bound to the spine of the book with a cloth binding. The dust cover jacket is very colorful with a sling-shot dragster on the line and flames coming out of the headers as it awaits the green light from the Christmas Tree. If you lose the jacket there is an identical photographic display on the cover of the book and the same on the reverse back cover. But don't lose the dust cover jacket, because it adds value to the book. The book was published in 2004 by Car Tech Auto Books and Manuals and the ISBN# is 1-884089-90-9. No price was quoted and if you can't find this book at your local book dealer, try calling the publisher at 1-800-551-4754 or go on-line at www.cartechbooks.com. Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds has 204 pages, a foreword by John Force, an introduction and short bio on the author, eight chapters and a comprehensive three page index. Many books of this nature are simply "fill and chill" books, meaning that the writer grabbed some captioned photographs, added some text and had the material published. When an author takes the time to add an index, it is a sign that you can expect a professionally done book. McClurg has a good reputation and an index only heightens one's expectations. We shall see if those expectations are true or false. Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds has 254 color and 127 black and white photographs, all of excellent quality. There are also 27 posters and five magazine covers. Most of the photographs have ample and complete captions, but a few have no captions at all. There is also a substantial amount of textual material with photographs interspersed throughout, making it easy to read with a casual glance at the supporting pictures. The book is free of graphs, charts and maps. It is the quality of the photographs that stand out and make this book riveting to look at. I found myself picking the book up constantly and scanning through the photographs and then reading the textual material. But this is more than just eye candy for the serious drag racing fan.
The foreword by John Force is worth the read. Anything by John Force is worth the effort. He revolutionized what it meant to be a drag racer. There are drag racers that have big egos, or are almost as flamboyant, but none quite like Force. Not only is he the winningest drag racer who ever lived, in terms of National event wins and season's championships, but he is also the marketing departments answer to the second coming of the Messiah. I like John Force, but then I'm joined by millions more who like him. Strangely, there are a dozen people out there who don't like him and Force is still trying to figure out why they don't. When Force thinks back to ancient history, that is the 1960's and '70's in drag racing, he becomes downright melodramatic. It's worth buying this book just for the foreword by Force. In fact, it's a keeper because of it. Bob McClurg then gives us a two page introduction. He has a good understanding of the rise and growth of drag racing. Maybe that's because McClurg has been around nearly forever. He seems so ageless, but his credentials go back to his friendship with Jack Hart in the '50's and by the mid-1960's McClurg found that being a photojournalist was a way to enjoy drag racing. Bob started out as a photographer for a local school newspaper and earned his credentials to cover the races. This led to jobs with racing magazines and newspapers and then into freelancing his work. He went to work for Petersen Publishing in 1976 and a year later was promoted to the job of photo editor at Hot Rod magazine. As with all journalists, McClurg worked for many publishing companies, promoting, transferring and often returning to the same job years later. He also managed to write the following books; The Complete 50-State Book to Street Rod & Kit Car Registration, Classics in Colour #6 Mustang, Mustang the Next Generation, and Mustang - Marketing the Legend.
Chapter one is called The Roadsters. Few people understand the importance of the roadster in the history of drag racing. The roadster was the force du jour, the hot rod of the 1930's and a statement made by the youth of my father's generation to tell the world that we exist and we are here. Take an old Ford, or a Chevy or some other coupe, and chop it up. Those hot rodders from yesteryear removed the top from the body of the car and all the fenders and panels that weren't necessary and created their version of the roadster. Yes, roadsters did exist and they were flashy and expensive, but those young men of the Great Depression era didn't have the money to buy those cars. Function, speed, style and creativity made a coupe into a roadster. If you were into the "in" crowd then you drove a roadster. Everybody knew that a roadster was faster and way more cool. If you had a coupe, don't bother showing up was the cry. Of course, that wasn't true, coupes did alright on the dry lakes, but nobody wanted to admit that. Roadsters were the basis of early drag racing. The first drag racers, like Dick Kraft, lengthened the frames and bodies and cut away even more of the roadster, until all that was left was a "rail." Essentially a steel frame, wheels, axles, drive shaft and engine was all that was left. The drag racers experimented until they turned the old roadsters into today's dragster and funny cars. That's what we love about the sport of drag racing; the innovation sparked by creative minds. The basic building block was the roadster; the original DNA of drag racing cars to this very day. Chapter two is titled The Gassers and this is perhaps one of the most endearing of all the types of drag cars that have ever drag raced. Some people prefer the funny cars and some the top fuelers or "rail cars," but perhaps there was never a more exciting or colorful bunch of cars and people than the Gassers. Who can forget Stone/Woods/Cook, K.S. Pittman, Ohio George Montgomery, Big John Mazmanian and others of the 1960's and early '70's.
Chapter three is called The Altereds. These cars were very much like the Gassers with short wheel bases, and were loaded up on chemically enhanced fuels, with huge engines. They squirmed and slid as much sideways as they rocketed down the straight-a-way. It was awesome and it left a mark on our memories that can never be erased. They raced, they toured, they wowed the pants off the drag racing public and we loved them for it. It was more than just the cars that thundered by; it was also the personalities of the men who drove these slippery cars. Some of the drivers in this class included Wild Willie Borsch, Leroy Chadderton, Leon Fitzgerald, Rich Guasco; and they drove cars named Rat Trap, Pure Heaven, Nanook and Pure Hell. Chapter four is named Front-Engine Dragsters and the first two photographs show Dick Kraft in the Bug and the #25 car, the elongated Art Chrisman roadster. You can see the evolution of the top fuel rails in these early cars. The beautiful #25 car is actually older than the ugly looking Bug. Looking at the Bug you would think that this junk-yard dog was simply an afterthought meant as a joke. But Kraft knew what he was doing. Stripping away all the excess weight, including the radiator and installing a 296 c.i. Ford flathead engine gave this light weight car a huge advantage at the Santa Ana drag strip when drag racing was first codifying its rules. Few cars could beat the Bug and it became the prototype for the new dragsters that were to follow. Chrisman's car also set the styling pattern for the 1950's. Originally a dry lakes land speed car, its sleek look inspired a number of drag racers to experiment with styling a more aerodynamic shape for drag cars. Drag cars exploded in many designs and styles, some with more than one engine and with all sorts of body shapes, but the trend was for longer and lower looking bodies and less weight.
Chapter five is titled The Funny Car and these stock cars were called that because they simply looked a little funny compared to the showroom models. There was nothing funny about their speeds and performance and it is the funny car that finally drove the fuel altereds into oblivion. The moods of the public and fans changed and funny cars took off in popularity that has not abated to this day. The early funny car drivers included; Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Hubert Platt, Jere Stahl, Al Eckstrand, Sox and Martin and other early stock car racers who made the transition into the funny car class. Having the Detroit automakers behind you as sponsors made this class very successful. In the stands you would see fans that rooted in sections for their "brand" of car. Ford, Chevy, Dodge and Plymouth fans avoided straying into each other's territory and the spectators yelled raucously for their heroes and car company to beat the other guy and his brand. Don Prudhomme, Tom McEwen, Kenny Bernstein and John Force would become the next generation of funny car heroes. Chapter six is named Rear-Engine Dragsters and this is simply a subclass of the top fuel and alcohol rails that are called "dragsters," for their long and sleek looks. They evolved from roadsters and sling shot rail jobs where the drivers sat behind a huge engine over the rear wheels. Many racers toyed with the concept of moving the engine behind the driver. It's only a small pain to pilot a front engined dragster down a drag strip at speed, but it becomes a huge pain when the engine explodes or throws hot oil and parts in your face. After a serious and almost fatal accident, Don Garlits had enough of these monsters and put his creative mind to finding a solution once and for all. He succeeded and the sling shot style became extinct, except in nostalgia drag racing. Kenny Bernstein, Don Prudhomme, Shirley Muldowney and Don Garlits would become the dominant drivers in this category.
Chapter seven is called Pro Stockers. Like the Funny Cars, these stock cars are supposed to be cars that you can buy right off the show room floor, but it's doubtful you will ever find one of these fast and beautiful cars. Bob Glidden would dominate this class like no other racer ever dominated any other class, until John Force and Warren Johnson came along. Force took control of the Funny Car class and Johnson dominated in the stock car class. Others in the Pro Stock class who made lasting contributions included; "Dyno" Don Nicholson, Butch Leal, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Dick Landy, Bruce Larsen, Hubert Platt, the Coughlin family, Sox and Martin and many others. The last chapter is a sort of catch-all category and is named Drag Racing Nostalgia. What goes wrong in all motorsports is speed. Innovation in engine power, aerodynamics, speed and safety equipment, fuel, tires and other breakthroughs enables the drag cars to constantly improve their speed and elapsed times. But it comes at a price. There are more accidents and the cost to race goes way up. Sponsors are hard to find and other race team owners with big sponsorships hire away the best mechanics and drivers to form multiple teams. The fun simply leaves the sport as competition becomes fierce.
When the speeds become excessively dangerous the sanctioning bodies create rules to lower the speeds, increase the safety and standardize the cars. It's a constant job to find ways within the rules to let your team go just a little faster than everyone else and when your secrets are found out they are copied by everyone else. Many racers and fans of drag racing simply leave the competitive nature of professional drag racing and build a car in one of the nostalgia associations. The costs are less and the nostalgia racer can build a car in almost any fashion that he chooses under a broad set of rules, never as onerous or controlling as in the pro series. Diggers, Funnies, Gassers & Altereds; Drag Racing's Golden Age is an excellent book, either as a history or as a coffee tablepictorial. I give it a 7 1/2 rating out of a possible 8 spark plugs. Gone Racin' is at [email protected].
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Gone Racin'...Heroes of Hot Rodding, by David Fetherston. Book review by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz.
Heroes of Hot Rodding, by David Fetherston, is a paperback book with photographs and interviews with some of the well-known and popular hot rodders and car racers of the 20th Century. Heroes of Hot Rodding measures 8 by 10 inches, and has an appealing color photograph of a red roadster at Bonneville. The book is 192 pages in length and was published by Motorbooks International, located in Osceola, Wisconsin. Motorbooks has an exceptional reputation for automotive books and Heroes of Hot Rodding fits right in with their high standards. The ISBN # is 0-87938-384-4 and the book was first published in 1992. You may be able to find copies at bookstores or in used bookstores. The photographs are mostly black and white, but very clear and processed on the highest quality paper. There are 271 black and white and 2 color photographs. In addition there are five cartoons, one magazine cover, three ads, one list, two drawings and one catalog cover and insert. The book does not have a dust cover jacket and the binding is glued, not cloth woven. There is an easy to read table of contents and a preface by the author, then he jumps right into the subject chapters. The chapters are easy to grasp, since each famous personality gets their own, except for Bobby and Bill Summers who share a chapter between them. Thirty-three of the most interesting and important hot rodders and car guys are portrayed in this well-researched and informative book. The text is ample, full and complete. The photographs complement the story lines. Fetherston wastes no time in getting right to the subjects themselves and their stories and lives are what give this book its title. Fetherston barely mentions his efforts on this book and I would have liked to have known a little more about him as an author and researcher and what other books he may have written. There is a two page index at the back of the book and it should have been more comprehensive than that. It is a minor flaw.
The thirty-three heroes of hot rodding are; Joe Bailon, Craig Breedlove, Andy Brizio, Art Chrisman, Bill Cushenberry, Jim Deist, Bill Devin, Vic Edelbrock, Don Garlits, C. J. Hart, Joe Hunt, Ermie Immerso, Ed Iskenderian, Tommy Ivo, Dean Jeffries, Robert "Jocko" Johnson, Dick Landy, Tom Medley, Bruce Meyers, Ak Miller, Dean Moon, Tony Nancy, Wally Parks, Robert E. "Pete" Petersen, Ed Roth, Bill Stroppe, Bobby and Bill Summers, Mickey Thompson, Linda Vaughn, "Von Dutch" (Kenny Howard) and Gene Winfield. That's an all-star cast if ever there was one. The first bio that I read was the one on Linda Vaughn, the only lady among the numerous men portrayed. Right from the very beginning of her career it became apparent that Linda was more than just a pretty face. Now everyone will agree that she was knock-down gorgeous, with those long and graceful legs, that beautiful face and a bosom that few women can ever match. But what made Linda Vaughn stand out in our minds to this very day is her personality and character. It isn't only her bubbly and expressive personality, or her southern belle charm, but a deeper sense of caring and concern that makes every hot rodder adore this lady. Young men fantasized over her photographs and bought copies of her "gentleman's magazine" showing a tastefully, but only partially clad Linda in various poses. But once you meet Linda Vaughn you realize that there is something so profound and emotionally satisfying that you no longer just fixate on her looks. She was an adman's dream and a public relations bonanza. She looks as gorgeous today, nearly 50 years later, than she did as a teenager winning beauty pageants. Linda simply steals your heart away and of the starlets of the age, Linda Vaughn and Marilyn Monroe are the only blondes most of us can remember.
I read the bios on Wally Parks and Pete Petersen, two larger than life men who came from humble conditions and who circled each other like celestial moons around a planet. At one time Petersen worked for Parks, and then Parks went to work for Petersen. It really didn't matter what their titles were, they needed each other and though they had their arguments, they also had a deep respect for each other. Parks was the older of the two and in control of the SCTA, a land speed timing association in Southern California. The SCTA was as large as any other racing organization at the time, but felt that their image was being destroyed by the illegal street racing of that era. Petersen and his associates were hired to do publicity work and Petersen created a pamphlet sized magazine which he called Hot Rod, since it was to promote the Hot Rod Exposition at the Armory in Los Angeles in 1948. The show was a mild success, but Hot Rod magazine took off like a rocket. Petersen offered Parks a partnership, which was turned down, for no one expected hot rodding to last very long. Petersen on the other hand had no doubts at all; he knew from the beginning that he would make a success of his growing businesses. Parks wasn't so sure, for several times the economy and the weather almost brought down his fledgling NHRA, formed to get young kids off the street racing and onto safe and sanctioned tracks. Both men passed away within a year of each other, leaving behind a legacy that few can match. Their reputed feuds were overstated while their mutual help and support made each of them a success.
The seven pages allotted to Ak Miller just don't seem to be enough for this very important man. He was always seen as only a good natured man who would drop what he was doing and go racing at the blink of an eye. Or that's the story that I heard from Dorothy Miller, Ak's sister-in-law. He was a man of legendary proportions and he did just about everything and anything that a hot rodder or race car driver could do, except maybe run at the Indy 500. A lot of great talent never ran at Indy. It takes good fortune, a good car and talent to race there. Ak simply wasn't interested in going around in circles, or "turning left" as he called it. He preferred land speed racing, car and motorcycle road racing and simply outrunning the cops. He later joined with Wally Parks to be a Vice President of the National Hot Rod Association or NHRA and lobby against illegal street racing. He led the SCTA as its president when that group had a huge impact on the hot rodding culture. Ak Miller and Wally Parks were a team their entire life. He had a charisma and a charm that wooed everyone that came into his sphere of influence, and especially the ladies. My father once told me that Bill Stroppe was the best mechanic that he ever met. That's pretty good praise, but makes me wonder where that puts Danny Oakes and a host of other great mechanics and race car builders. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and "Von Dutch" vied for the craziest personalities of the last century. Both were bigger than life and the stories told about them, whether true or false, are what made them cult figures for today's youth. They still have a following that goes beyond what they achieved. They are men for the ages and ageless in their abilities and craftsmanship.
Heroes of Hot Rodding is a book that keeps the hot rodder in mind. Fetherston wastes no time in bringing the readers a group of likable guys and one gal and stories and photos that give the essence of the people being portrayed. The text is easy to read and yet it can also be considered a historical text for it saves and records the golden years of hot rodding and the people who made it happen. Many readers will appreciate the alphabetical nature of the chapters, with Joe Bailon first and Gene Winfield last. This is a book that hot rodders can read a chapter or two, put down, then come back later to read more. The systematic approach to doing short biographies makes this a fast, but pleasant reading. It also makes it easy for the author to do a second and third book as he interviews more hot rodders. I especially liked the chapters on Don Garlits, Tommy Ivo and Tom Medley. I don't get the opportunity to see Garlits that much as he lives on the east coast and so every story that I can get on Don is a treasure. There is no end to the stories that Ivo and Medley can tell us. Ivo once told us about the time that he was bugging Dave Zeuschel at his shop. Ivo's curiosity knows no bounds and evidently Zeuschel's patience was likely short, for he put a hook on Tommy's belt and hoisted him up to the ceiling, then turned off the lights, locked the door and left his shop, leaving Ivo to swing in the air. Dave did come back soon thereafter and let Ivo down, but the retelling of the story keeps getting better and better. Heroes of Hot Rodding is a book worth adding to your library. It rates a 7 out of 8 spark plugs and a buy recommendation. Gone Racin' is at [email protected].
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Land Speed Racing Websites:
www.hotrodhotline.com, www.landspeedracing.com
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Members:
Jonathan Amo, Brett Arena, Henry Astor, Gale Banks, Glen Barrett, Mike Bastian, Lee Blaisdell, Jim Bremner, Warren Bullis, Burly Burlile, George Callaway, Gary Carmichael, John Backus, John Chambard, Jerry Cornelison, G. Thatcher Darwin, Jack Dolan, Ugo Fadini, Bob Falcon, Rich Fox, Glenn Freudenberger, Don Garlits, Bruce Geisler, Stan Goldstein, Andy Granatelli, Walt James, Wendy Jeffries, Ken Kelley, Mike Kelly, Bret Kepner, Kay Kimes, Jim Lattin, Mary Ann and Jack Lawford, Fred Lobello, Eric Loe, Dick Martin, Ron Martinez, Tom McIntyre, Don McMeekin, Bob McMillian, Tom Medley, Jim Miller, Don Montgomery, Bob Morton, Mark Morton, Paula Murphy, Landspeed Louise Ann Noeth, Frank Oddo, David Parks, Richard Parks, Wally Parks (in memoriam), Eric Rickman, Willard Ritchie, Roger Rohrdanz, Evelyn Roth, Ed Safarik, Frank Salzberg, Dave Seely, Charles Shaffer, Mike Stanton, David Steele, Doug Stokes, Bob Storck, Zach Suhr, Maggie Summers, Gary Svoboda, Pat Swanson, Al Teague, JD Tone, Jim Travis, Randy Travis, Jack Underwood and Tina Van Curen, Richard Venza.
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