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Some Names To Look For In This Newsletter:
President's Corner, Editorials, My friend and mentor of twenty five years Bill Summers past away this morning Friday the 13th of May 2011, Jack Dolan is still in the hospital, Thank you! I have a passion for nostalgia drag racing salt flats etc, Sam Auxier Jr 10 June 2011 "Your Automotive Radio Super Station", Impound Insights By Dan Warner, The annual Automobile Driving Museum (ADM) Auto & Aero Historical Expo, I just wanted to let you know that a fine article written by Preston Lerner and edited by Pat Trenner came out in the July issue of the prestigious Smithsonian's Air and Space magazine, I found your name googling an item that I bought at local garage sale (very south Louisiana), While searching around my shop yesterday juggling stuff around to make some extra floor space way under a bench I discovered a Halibrand Bonneville cast magnesium alloy wheel, The following report comes from Brian Taylor in England, Well June to July is pretty packed with 5 upcoming events on 5 consecutive weekends so I thought I'd deal with them all in one post so here goes, THE START OF IT ALL (well, duh, it hasn’t always been this way!) By LeRoi Tex Smith, Hi Spencer Thanks for all of the photos, The Cummins Diesel picture is from Jimmy Correia The Federal with Agabashian picture and the other one is from Norm Rapp.
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President's Corner:
Jim Miller is either lost in England or suffering jet lag. Either way he will return to his column next week.
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Editorial:
I hope that you enjoyed last week’s story on Karl and Veda Orr. I really enjoyed the collaborative effort to bring you this special article on two very important land speed and oval track pioneers. My father and many people within the land speed racing community looked up to and admired both Karl and Veda, even though Karl could be a real pain sometimes. I know that I used the term rebel in the past to describe Karl, but that isn’t really accurate. Karl carved out his own set of standards, which he thought of as normal, and expected and demanded that people accept him for what he was. The issue of the argument that had the makings of a potential brawl at the SCTA headquarters was over a misunderstanding and not some petulant act by Karl. In the SCTA News was a comment by my father, meant in respect, that Karl was “the sire of” his record setting race car. It was meant as a term of respect, but Karl took it as a slur against his manliness, since he could not have children. Karl Orr, in the new letters and research that has come out, with the memories of Carole Sweikert, was a man of intense loyalty and generosity. It is easy to mislabel and to misunderstand who and what a person is when the facts are nearly non-existent and difficult to interpret. As new facts emerged the grumpy old man that we thought Karl Orr to be turned out to be wrong. Karl could be stern and grumpy at times, but the real Karl Orr was a much more complicated, likeable and loyal person than we originally thought he was. Karl was the kind of guy that I believe that all of us would have enjoyed knowing as a friend.
The issue of timeliness comes up periodically. The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter and the editor and support staff are non-paid volunteers. We try to be consistent and timely. However, we are a historical society and therefore current events, car shows, races, obituaries and other news of a timely nature are shown in the newsletter. We try to be a weekly newsletter that comes out once a week. The editor sends the latest issue on Wednesday and the website operator/owner attempts to get the latest issue on the website within a day or two. Sometimes I have so much material that I have to send out two or more issues within one week’s time. But there have been times when due to a lack of news and research or the illness of the editor or volunteer staff that I have had to miss a week or even two weeks. I should have dated, rather than numbered the newsletters; or perhaps numbered and dated the issues. But somewhere back I simply chose to number each week’s issue and so it is sometimes difficult to know exactly how long the newsletter has been in existence. The problem with timeliness is that people send me news of a car show, race, funeral or other very important information and hope that I can get the news out so that the public will attend.
That is very laudable and I would love to do everything in my power to help them, but I can’t without spending a huge amount of time and effort on my part. Literally, this becomes a project that takes up every second of my time, ten hours a day, to email, phone call or visit those I know in order to beat the deadline that you have set. I can do only 400 emails a day and far fewer phone calls and as far as the newsletter is concerned; it is an impossibility. Here’s why; Funerals, shows and races are usually on Saturday. My due date to get the newsletter in is on Wednesday, so you literally have to tell me immediately for me to make that date. Then the newsletter is reviewed and posted on-line by the website staff and they may not get to it until Thursday or Friday. Then they have to send out emailed notices to the public that the newsletter is ready and on-line to read. Most people don’t read their emails immediately, but get to them after a few days. If after all of this the general public does read the news prior to the event, they have busy and full calendars too and just may not be able to break a previously scheduled commitment in order to attend your event.
That’s why I always encourage you to plan your car shows, races and other events a year in advance and send me news reports according to this schedule;
9-12 months before an event send me one news report every other month.
5-8 months before an event send me one news report each month.
2-4 months before an event send me a report every other week.
1 month before an event send me weekly news reports and updates.
The news reports should be short and to the point. Give me lots of names, dates and activities planned. Forget the use of extraneous fluff. I always get rid of words like; stupendous, legendary, spectacular, monstrous, mythic, gigantic, fabulous, outrageous, catastrophic, worldly, fantastic, etc. I also delete these types of wasted statements; “You can’t miss this, out of this world, you’ll regret not coming, Holey moley, tell your friends, not to be missed, once in a lifetime, 86% will pass this message on, will you?” If you repeat yourself, I cut it down. If you use red, purple, puce, yellow, pink or any other color than black then you are wasting yours and my time and I will make it all black type. I will get rid of your BOLD DARK CAPITALIZED letters. I will take your 64 font size and reduce it to the standardized font size 12. I will remove your serifs and curlicues and make it a standard Arial font. And if you make it super hard on me and time consuming I will simply delete your fancy email or file. If I think you are trying, but simply unknowingly obtuse I will return your email and ask you to simplify.
Think about this; you can send out an email but you can’t guarantee that it will be read or reacted to. Frankly, most PR and show event media types, both amateurs and professionals, send out poorly written and overly wordy news releases that have to be re-edited. Many groups send me jpegs and pdf files that are impossible to open, copy and paste. They also send out infrequent notices and often they are too late to do any good. Groups and shows that are good at PR include; IMS, Petersen Automotive Museum, Santa Maria Speedway, the Grand National Roadster Show and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. There are a few others in this category. If your show or race is not in this group then you are doing a pathetic attempt at publicizing your event. So let’s restate the issue; Make it SHORT, fact filled, on a regular email format, without the fancy lettering and logos that can’t be copied and pasted. Send it to me on a regular basis far in advance so that you can beat the drum constantly and give your audience a chance to plan for and calendar your event. Some events like surprise parties or funerals cannot fit into this category. In that case, I advise you to get four or five people together and send as many emails as you can to everyone on the address book of the deceased. Then send emails to people you think might be interested. Immediately start making phone calls. Each of the five people in the group should call as many people as they can before the event and end with this statement, “Please call your friends and family and tell them about so-and-so’s funeral date.” Phone calls are the only effective means of communication when the event is only a week or a few days away.
Don’t forget the Literature Expo coming up on June 26, 2011. Bob Falcon, one of our original members, helped to keep this event going. The Expo is a swap meet type of event where you can purchase or sell documents, including; posters, magazines, books, paintings, car manuals, photographs, pictures, historical documents and anything related to the car culture. The Expo does not allow the selling of cars or car parts. However, if you are restoring a car and need documentation to complete your project, then this is an excellent event to find those rare and very useful historical papers. Www.HotRodHotLine.com, www.landspeedracing.com and The Society of Land Speed Racing Historians will be on hand to represent their organizations at the Literature Expo. Come out and see us and look over the vendors selections. The Museum offers a special fee to come in and see their exhibits. My brother, David Parks, recently toured the museum and highly recommends that you see this facility. We need to support all the car museums that we can, for they archive, store and exhibit our car racing history and heritage.
And another issue concerning photographs sent to the SLSRH Newsletter. Please, you need to ALWAYS CC Roger Rohrdanz at [email protected]. I like to see the photos that people send to me, but it takes a lot of my time to resend them to Roger, who is our photographic editor. Don't BCC them to Roger, because I need to know that you sent the captioned photographs to him so that I don't duplicate what you have already done. Another problem; Roger and I are often confused about the captions that come with the photographs. Often our contributors didn't provide any captions at all or what you sent to us on the explanation in your email and the photographs were confusing. Roger is willing to rewrite the captions if you are concerned about grammar or writing them. But we often try to figure out who was who in the photographs and it isn't easy. Roger makes all the final decisions as to what goes into the website concerning all photos. His rule is this; if he has to take time to find out the who, what, where and when, then he won't process them, but simply toss them. Then your work and mine is wasted. I did the same thing when I was doing the photos; if I couldn't understand the captions, then I tossed them. So here's what Roger needs for all photo captions;
1) What's happening in the photos.
2) Who's in the photos.
3) When did it all take place.
4) Where did it all take place.
5) Who owns the photo or took the photo.
Here's an example: "Johnny Boyd is in the Go Fast Special race car at the Indy 500, May 30, 1955. Photo courtesy of the Fabio Puttzy Collection.” The caption is informative, simple and quick. Yes, it takes work, but we really need your help to make our jobs easier.
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My friend and mentor of twenty five years Bill Summers past away this morning, Friday the 13th of May 2011. I will surely miss him as we talked frequently and he would always start off the conversation without ever saying who it was. He would start out every phone call with “What are you up to today?” It always took me a few seconds to figure out who was calling and I never got used to it. He would always ask how the rocket car construction was progressing and no matter what I told him he understood. He really asked it out of consideration because rocket cars are of absolutely no interest to a Chrysler engine automobile man.
Bill and his younger brother Bob AKA “Butch” started building hot rods in the late 1950s. They started running at Bonneville with a roadster and then later a streamliner which were both powered by Chrysler hemispherical head engines. Bill said “We were always Chrysler guys and that was it. You could do whatever to those engines and they stayed together.” Their early streamliner affectionately known as the “Pollywog” was a very novel front wheel drive design and ran to a new class record of 302 M.P.H. in the early 1960s. Butch and Bill shared the driving but Butch was the better driver of the team so Bill let Butch drive all the later creations. Butch was studying fabrication and welding with various famous LSR guys such as Fred Carrillo who was Butch’s mentor and taught him the finer points of building exotic machinery. Butch got so good that later Butch even taught welding at the college. Meanwhile Bill drove trucks to fund the race car building and campaigns.
Bill and Butch Summers are famous in the land speed record racing world for building the “Goldenrod.” Goldenrod was a 32 foot long, 6,000 pound, four wheel drive, four-engined automobile which set the wheel driven record of 409 M.P.H. in the winter of 1965. The car was a super streamlined vehicle (8.65 square feet of frontal area at a Cd. Of .17) whose body was designed by famous aerodynamicist Walter Korf. Walter was promised a few thousand dollars for his work but was never paid for his world beating design as promised and never complained about it as all the money that was generated from sponsors actually went into the car and the attempt. Walter was happy to see Donald Campbell’s one year old 403 M.P.H. record fall in only nine runs made by the Goldenrod on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The success of the Goldenrod made Walter even more famous in the racing world and his consulting business did better after that. By contrast, Donald Campbell was after his wheel driven land speed record with cutting edge aircraft technology, a turbine engine of twice the horse power of Goldenrod and a total of $6 Million dollars spent on the project during 5 years of work. Remember this is in 1964!
Bill told me he figures they spent a total of $175,000.00 on the Goldenrod project. Although magazines claim $250,000.00 was spent. The 4 engines that powered the Goldenrod were essentially stock 1964 vintage Chrysler 426 cubic inch Hemis using a mechanical fuel injection. The engines were all dyno tested showing between 418 and 425 horse power as each engine varied. These figures were achieved running the engines on straight pump gasoline. Magazines and books claim the engines were making 600 horsepower and Bill told me that they never were dyno tested running the fuel that they used for the record runs which was straight Methanol. He guessed that 600 was about what it might be and when asked by the press how much horsepower each engine made, Bill said 600 because it sounded like a good round number. This gave the Goldenrod a theoretical “guestimated” output of 2,400 horsepower but it was all just a story.
In the end the Goldenrod ran as high as 431 miles per hour on one pass in only third gear and she was a four speed. No one really knew how fast the car could really run flat out but a top speed of 500 M.P.H. was not considered out of its reach. All other 500 plus M.P.H. top end numbers posted on websites are just folklore. After the record runs the brothers didn’t know what to do next and they never cared much for jet or rocket cars at all so there was no point in going after the absolute land speed record. They had accomplished what they set out to do, build the world’s fastest automobile so Bill took the car on the car show circuit and Butch started Summers Brothers Machine Inc. This was a company which specialized in developing high performance drive line components for racing applications. Butch who had driven the Goldenrod to record speeds and had designed the chassis and all the mechanical systems of the Goldenrod now had no interest in the car as he was solely focused on the new business based in Ontario, California. “He made it very successful.” Bill said. “Once Butch was done with something that was it, he was done and moved on to something else. I was the one who really reaped the glory from the Goldenrod and he didn’t care much about it after the record runs.”
Irony being what it is Butch who was a runner and a bit health conscious died about twenty years ago from a heart attack. Bill who was a heavy man with terrible eating habits outlived his younger and much thinner brother. Later the Goldenrod was sold to the Henry Ford museum of technology in Detroit where it now resides. Bill split the money with Butch’s widow and paid off his modest house and began building a new lakester to run on the dirt (El Mirage) and the Bonneville Salt Flats later this year. Sadly he didn’t live long enough to see what it could do. One little story I can tell you now that Bill has passed is that the name of Goldenrod was actually sort of stolen or borrowed from another racer who was campaigning another class streamliner on the salt flats. Bill said “The other guy really wasn’t doing much with the name or having any real class speed record success with the name so I stole it. I liked the name so I used it. The other racer never contacted me about it so I figured it was OK.” It sure was….. Bill and Butch made the name “Goldenrod” internationally famous. Waldo Stakes
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Jack Dolan is still in the hospital. Hope to get more questions answered tomorrow. He looks a lot better the last couple days. His spirits aren't as down as earlier. Doc's working on reason for (health issue). No episodes for 1 week. Doing physical therapy daily. Doing ok with it. Appetite is good. Not complaining about hospital food lately. Sami Dolan
Sami: Give Jack our best wishes for a speedy recovery.
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Thank you! I have a passion for nostalgia drag racing, salt flats, etc. My 'Bucket List' includes a visit To Bonneville one of these days! Since I live in NNJ, I am going to go to Maine in July to attend the LSR's up there. A lot closer and if Mother Nature does not cooperate, I'll drive back home. Maybe the salt flats one of these days if I can figure out how to schedule a business meeting in Salt Lake City around race time. Bob Kolatac
Bob: Welcome to the newsletter. We would be happy to post any reports on the meet in Maine. Tell us if you have a car or if you just enjoy the sport of land speed racing.
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Sam Auxier Jr, 10 June 2011, "Your Automotive Radio Super Station" at [email protected], phone 240-876-9284. We have just completed our all new website at www.TheSamAuxierJrShow.com. We are the home of the super stars of racing every Monday night live from 7-9PM EST. Interviewing the greatest names in racing" all live interviews. Your host is Sam Auxier Jr, co-host on the programs is Lou Santago, with Kristin Moeser as our weekly female host and our weekly super star is "Fast Jack Beckman." Jack's our weekly tech guy for the nitro Funny Car, "Track Facts with Fast Jack," from the 300 mph driver’s seat. Easy to access, click to listen, sign up to chat, from the home page we have blogs, racing news, pictures, list of past interviews, archived iTunes. From Sam Auxier Jr, Lou Santago, Fast Jack Beckman, and Kristin Moeser.
Sam: I know Beckman. He's a real pro who has worked his way up the ranks and who always cares about those around him. He taught drag racing to students at Frank Hawley's school of drag racing and his students are his biggest fans.
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Impound Insights, By Dan Warner.
500 MPH ROADSTERS!!!!! That was the story at the June El Mirage meet. The rest of the story is that there were two roadsters that exceeded the 250 MPH speed on the dirt. First and fastest was the Dave Davidson driven Cummins Beck Davidson Thornsberry A/BFR with a speed of 251.553. This run was also the Top Speed of the meet. This is the same ’34 Ford highboy that ran the 301 speed at last year’s World Finals event. Second, and equally impressive was the BMR Racing C/FR with a speed of 250.600. Driver Alan Fogliadini drove out of a sideways jump from the truck, straighten it out and got ‘er done.
Back to the story of the meet. Real good weather on Sunday greeted the approx. 100 entries Runs were made to a full three rounds which was all the track could hold. In addition to the two roadster records noted in the above paragraph we had the Lattin & Gillett American Austin coupe driven by Billy Lattin at 99 MPH in V4F/VGAlt class. Tyler Osborn drove his Dad Monte’s 1937 Ford Tudor with blown Ardun power for the Ferguson & Osborn team to a 161 record in the XXF/BVGCC class. The little J/GC Honda with the Suzuki 750 engine transplant for V & M Racing with 300 MPH Pete Prentice up ran a 99 MPH class record. Robert Sights, Prozac & Bag Lady’s son, Took his Mazda powered H/BGMR ’27 to a new record of 168+ MPH. The Hayabusa/ ’29 Ford roadster combination of Edwall Eyres Moreland ran in the H/BFR class and put giant 32 MPH on the old record of 152. Mark Lintner was behind the wheel on this one. One comment from me – put it in the box and head to Utah. The SCTA mother hen, Miriam Macmillan, got in the wrong door(right side) of her Hondata CRX and was able to add 10 MPH to the H/BFCC class mark. And yet again another V4F engine car was the Nelson & Creel V4F/FMR entry driven be Eric Nelson. Eric set the class record to 138.5 MPH, a scant .5 over the old mark.
At the motorcycle impound four records were set. The fastest by John Noonan on the 1350-APS-BG Hayabusa entry of Noonan Moreland Dashle at 232.721 for Top Bike Speed of the meet honors. Team McLeish Bros ran two classes at the meet. First was the 1000-SCS-F class. Derek bumped last month’s record to 180, a plus 10 MPH increase. Derek also entered the 50-SC-BF class with the Team McLeish/Grether entry and posted a 65.267 record, only .006 over last month. Every little bit helps in the drive to the championship! Ralph Hudson continues to set records, this month he was in the 650-APS-G class and recorded a 182+ number.
There were no new 200 MPH Club members. I am sure that this will be taken care of in short order this season. I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who attended or donated to the fund raiser for Mike Cook Jr. There were a ton of people who tuned out for the feed and raffle to support our brother. Word on the lakebed was that Mikey had had surgery on Friday and the doctors are confident that all the tumors were removed. Dad Mike reported Jr. up and about on Saturday and watching the NASCAR race over the weekend. The next meet is July 10th, last time to perfect a tune up before Speed Week.
EL MIRAGE CAR RECORDS thru 06/11
10.B Vintage Category
Blown Fuel Modified Roadster - /BFMR
G Pro Per Racing D. Stringfellow 05/11 172.983
H On Line Racing R. Sights 05/11 165.015
Unblown Fuel Modified Roadster - /FMR
V4F Nelson & Creel E. Nelson 06/11 138.551
Blown Gas Modified Roadster - /BGMR
H On Line Racing B. Sights 06/11 168.233
Unblown Gas Modified Roadster - /GMR
C Lefevers & Jesel K. Lefevers 05/11 213.609
Blown Fuel Rear Engine Modified Roadster - /BFRMR
C Emmons Special C. M. Emmons 05/11 236.476
Unblown Gas Rear Engine Modified Roadster - /GRMR
C Low Sodium W. Boelcke 05/11 201.413
D Vintage Hammer Spl F. Valdez 05/11 196.588
Blown Fuel Roadster - /BFR
A Cummins Beck Davidson Thornsberry
D. Davidson 06/11 251.553
H Edwall Eyres Moreland M. Lintner 06/11 184.337
Unblown Fuel Roadster - /FR
C BMR Racing A. Fogliadini 06/11 250.600
Blown Gas Roadster - /BGR
H Edwall Eyres Moreland M. Lintner 05/11 170.627
Blown Street Roadster - /BSTR
C Vintage Hot Rod D. Cummins 05/11 208.723
G LTD Sights Racing B. Sights 05/11 146.573
Blown Vintage Gas Competition Coupe - /BVGCC
XXF Ferguson & Osborn T. Osborn 06/11 161.169
Blown Vintage Gas Altered Coupe - /BVGALT
XXF Ferguson & Osborn T. Osborn 05/11 159.101
Unblown Vintage Gas Altered Coupe - /VGALT
V4F Lattin & Gillett By. Lattin 06/11 99.737
10.D Modified Category
Blown Fuel Competition Coupe - /BFCC
H Hondata CRX M. Macmillan 06/11 170.721
Blown Gas Competition Coupe - /BGCC
H Hondata CRX M. Macmillan 05/11 201.666
Unblown Gas Coupe - /GC
J V & M Racing P. Prentice 06/11 99.196
Unblown Gas Modified Sports - /GMS
B Jesel & Cook M. Cook Sr 05/11 220.302
MOTORCYCLE RECORDS thru 06/11
50cc
SC-BF Team McLeish/Grether D. McLeish 06/11 65.267
250cc
P-P Mercury M. Anderson 05/11 141.988
650cc
APS-G Ralph Hudson R. Hudson 06/11 182.116
P-P Honda Racing R. Leclercq 05/11 165.063
750cc
A-PG Long Gone MS C. Klimiek 05/11 140.181
SC-PBG MPH Racing H. Meeker 05/11 134.419
1000cc
A-G Butler, Pflum, Wagner J. Pflum 05/11 186.050
APS-F Jim Hoogerhyde J. Hoogerhyde 05/11 203.149
APS-G Ralph Hudson R. Hudson 05/11 207.161
A-VG Jim Robinson J. Robinson 05/11 138.066
P-P Butler, Pflum, Wagner J. Pflum 05/11 196.190
SCS-F Team McLeish Bros D. McLeish 06/11 180.796
1350cc
A-BG Womack Sandin Tudor P. Womack 05/11 227.870
APS-BF Noonan Noonan Moreland J. Noonan 05/11 239.580
APS-BG Noonan Moreland Dashle J. Noonan 06/11 232.721
SC-PBF Isley Racing D. Isley 05/11 165.106
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The annual Automobile Driving Museum (ADM) Auto & Aero Historical Expo featuring the sale of old publications and research information by writers, collectors and vendors of such has extended the reservation deadline by ten days. The original announcements for the event declared a vendor selling space reservation deadline of 10 June has now moved that date to 20 June because, more vendor space will become available due to renovations at the facility. ADM has recently expanded to include the property located adjacent to their southern border. Construction tying the two locations together has been completed in record time, opening-up more selling spaces for vendors. So if you feel you have run out of time to compress and clear-out your collections of no longer needed auto and aero memorabilia, you still have time to pack the boxes. The event date is the last Sunday in June (this year the date is the 26th) the traditional date that has been the standard for a “Literature Fair and Exchange” for many years. Previously, a local automobile historical group organized and promoted the fair, but they have chosen to forgo promotion for the past two years. ADM stepped-in to continue this popular Southern California annual event for literature collectors. More specific information is available at www.theADM.org. Space can be booked by contacting Jodee Hulsebus direct at [email protected] or calling at 310/909-1593. Bob Falcon ([email protected])
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I just wanted to let you know that a fine article written by Preston Lerner and edited by Pat Trenner came out in the July issue of the prestigious Smithsonian's Air and Space magazine. It is the issue with the UCAV on the cover and located on page 11. I am very thankful to Preston Lerner and Pat Trenner for the article and grateful that Air and Space gets the importance of the land speed record in the quest for man's progression in ground technology. Waldo Stakes
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I found your name googling an item that I bought at local garage sale (very south Louisiana). It is an Ormond Garage something or another? My dad says a grill emblem, my pawpaw said a dash badge. Prior to buying it I knew Ormond Garage history and since from researching the (?) I have learned more. The man who owned it passed away in the early 1980's but from other items I bought I can place him living in Ormond Beach in the '60's. I know he worked for NASA at that time but was retired from the military. And from other items that I bought read and traveled extensively. I believe you are located on or near the west coast but I thought maybe still you might have some information that could lead me in the right direction. Thanks, Amy (225-683-5063)
Amy: You have reached the editor of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter. We are west coast based, but we research and write on land speed racing anywhere in the world. I can't help you on this matter, but I did send your email to our President, Jim Miller, who has done research on Daytona and Ormond Beach land speed racing. Miller's phone number is located on the masthead of the newsletter. The information and the photographs are limited and small. It would be better if the jpegs were around 300 kb and you provided a history of what you have found out. Here's why that is so important; the more information that you provide the more memories you will jog in our members. Another step is to start making phone calls. One source on the east coast is the Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum in Ocala, Florida. Whenever you call someone, before you end the call, ask that person if they can give you a few more names and phone numbers to call. You will be surprised at what you can learn in a short time. I will run your request in the newsletter, so check the next couple of issues at www.landspeedracing.com.
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While searching around my shop yesterday, juggling stuff around to make some extra floor space, way under a bench I discovered a Halibrand Bonneville cast magnesium alloy wheel. Originally Ted made these specially beefed-up wheels for Mickey Thompson for his four engine LSR car. This wheel is the very last one that was manufactured for the LSR guys and he gave it to me when he was clearing the warehouse area after he sold the biz to Curt Waters. I can certify that this item is the very last wheel of the type manufactured at the Torrance facility. All the machine work has been accomplished except for the lug bolt pattern. Standard practice was to do all the Tracer Lathe work on units when they came back from the foundry but if there was not a standing order with customer specifications for the lug pattern the wheel went into inventory as a "blank". The center hole for the hub protrusion has been machined. This wheel would look really neat on a guy's shop or car collection wall and is available. If you would like, I can send some JPEG pix. Bob Falcon
Bob: Please send the jpeg.
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The following report comes from Brian Taylor in England.
1 JUNE 2011. Raining pounds in May. Another update to keep you abreast of developments and all the things happening next month - July. We’ll start with the end of May. It may have been raining ‘cats and dogs’ outside during finals day at the Main Event held at Santa Pod Raceway on May 30th, but inside the Team West-Tec marquee it was raining twenty-pound notes as new Top Fuel dragster team F&A Racing handed over a second donation for our restoration. This time it was �500.00 and following on from their original �1000.00, it makes F&A Racing the largest individual financial supporter of the Allard Chrysler restoration project apart from insurance company Performance Direct. Chris Andrews said, “We are really happy to support the ACAG team and their dedication to restoring Europe’s first dragster. And we pledge more funds in the future. The ACAG‟?s dedication and enthusiasm for this important task needs to be rewarded by all those involved in our sport. It is so rare to have the first of a kind in original condition and we are looking forward to the day when we can fire up our own car and Sydney Allard’s 1961 Allard Chrysler at the same event”. When I first prepared a list of potential supporters of our project I must admit that a Top Fuel Dragster team was not heading the names of those most likely to be interested. My thoughts were that they would have more than enough problems sorting out the financing of their own activities.
The contact from F&A came out of the blue and, to be honest, at first I didn’t believe it and thought it a bit of a wind-up. But I soon found out how serious they were. As well as seeing it as a good business proposal attractive to their own potential sponsors as part of an overall package, I think this support comes very much from the heart and I thank them sincerely. With projects like ours it sometimes gets quite depressing as far as raising funds – particularly in such a tough economic climate. Donations like this really give a lift. Since the last Update in May, Colin Warnes of the Allard Register in the USA has sent through details of a little bit of goldust – a comic published in the USA during 1965 showing (in true comic style) the visit of Dante Duce and Mooneyes to the UK in 1963 when he raced Sydney in the Allard Chrysler. The comic was called ‘Drag Strip Hotrodders’ and it does take lots of liberties with the story line and the colour of the cars; but it is great fun. How many British dragsters do you know were featured in an American comic strip? The full comic strip is now posted on www.allardchrysler.org under downloads and this is just one page from the story.
New Allard Artshirts. Because we only produce ACAG shirts to order, as promised in the last Update we can now offer ACAG T-shirts featuring a range of Allard paintings on the front plus a page from that recently discovered comic or Gordon Bruce’s fantastic schematic drawing of the car. The original ACAG shirt design is still. I have now posted this on the www.allardchrysler.org merchandise page. July Tour of Northampton; As already announced, the Allard Chrysler dragster will be taken out of the museum during the Hot Rod Drive-In held at Beaulieu over June 18/19 and (weather permitting) be displayed out in the open next to the main entrance of the restaurant. Myself, Syd McDonald, Chris Eames and John Hunt will be on hand to give everyone the latest news about the restoration along with the opportunity to support the project with donations or buying ACAG goodies, so drop by and say hello. But July will see the dragster away from the museum for a full two weeks. It will first appear at the Dragstalgia Event held at Santa Pod Raceway over July 16/17 where it will be on static display with Commuter and others. Among those down to man the display are myself, Syd McDonald and Stu Bradbury.
The following Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday it will be at the Northampton Chrysler dealership Westaway Motors at Moulton Park. This is an important development that will hopefully impress the Fiat Group that now owns Chrysler. During most days at the dealership ACAG personnel will be on hand to talk about the car and they will include myself, Stuart Bradbury and Liz Rowland (aka Liz Burn in the 1970s/80s). If you live in the area watch the local press for details. Westaway Motors Chrysler Jeep dealership in Northampton (source; Westaway Motors) Derek Westaway said, “We are proud to host such an iconic Chrysler vehicle during its tour in Northamptonshire and we thank the National Motor Museum and the ACAG for entrusting it to our care. The Chrysler Jeep brand is very much about heritage and tradition so sharing our showroom with such a historically important drag racing and sprinting machine is most fitting. A particular honour is that this is the first time the car has appeared at a Chrysler dealership anywhere in the world and we look forward to welcoming all those interested to see it close up”.
The car then moves on to the Allard Owners Club stand at the Silverstone Classic July 23/24. Sydney would have been 100 had he lived so this is a special year and we are proud to have the car displayed along with the sports cars made by Sydney back in the day. As we have drawn closer to completing the restoration of the dragster, the Allard Owners Club has become an increasingly important source of information and parts so it is nice to say thank you in this way. Myself and Stu Bradbury are down to man the stand at the moment. July 26/27/28 will see the car back at Westaway Motors in Northampton with Stu and me before being escorted with a Guard of Honour of Mopar Classics back to Santa Pod for the Mopar Euro Nationals on July 29, remaining there for the weekend. For some time I have been working with Mopar Muscle Association UK (MMAUK) Chairman Ivor Hawkins with the idea of the car appearing at a MMAUK supported event and circumstances have enabled this to happen at this year’s Mopar Euro Nationals. Myself and Stu Bradbury have our names down to man the stand. Ivor Hawkins said, “I’m really pleased that the Allard Chrysler dragster is able to join us.
I think this is one of the most important Mopar restorations taking place at the moment and hopefully its appearance at the Mopar Euro Nationals will enable the ACAG to raise more funds to help complete the work required to take it to “cacklefest‟? capability. Volunteers needed. This foray into Northamptonshire will need the support of ACAG members each time it is displayed. We need people to talk about the project, sell ACAG merchandise and get donations. At the moment, apart from Dragstalgia it is mainly down to Stu and me and as I live in Sidmouth it will mean me staying in the Northamptonshire area for two weeks. Furthermore, if someone in the area can help with transport between the venues that could be useful to back up Santa Pod’s kind offer in this area. So please contact me if you are able to be on the Northamptonshire ACAG team at Dragstalgia, Silverstone or Westaway Motors so that I can arrange passes etc. [email protected] or Tel 01395 579733. It will also be nice for me to get back to Sidmouth to wash some shirts or I’ll start to smell a bit. ACAG cap. Finally Syd McDonald has found a UK supplier of ACAG caps. One size fits all and they are available from the ACAG website merchandise page for �12.00 plus postage. Note to Editors; This Update is also available as a Word File with pics attached as jpg files (CLICK HERE). Contact [email protected] for further details and specify Word version required.
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Well June to July is pretty packed with 5 upcoming events on 5 consecutive weekends so I thought I'd deal with them all in one post so here goes.
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Schedule of events in England, by Martin Squires.
June 18th - 19th Brooklands Double 12. Billed as "The biggest motoring competition held at Brooklands since 1939" this is going to be a spectacular event and I'm very honoured to be invited to show at this event. I will be displaying new artwork and running a painting demonstration throughout the weekend in the ERA shed. More details can be found here: http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/index.php?/double12/
June 25th Bentley Drivers Club Concours d'Elegance. This year is the 75th Anniversary of the formation of the Bentley Drivers Club, and so this year’s Concours d’Elegance is set to be a well attended event with cars from all over the globe attending Broughton Castle for this annual event. Especially seeing that the Britain by Bentley Tour is taking place at the same time, with visitors from far and wide joining a group of 50 Bentleys travelling the length and breadth of Britain throughout June and July the turnout will include cars that are not normally seen in this country!
More info can be seen at the Bentley Drivers Club here: http://www.bdcl.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=226&Itemid=12 0
July 3rd UK Roadster Nationals. The UK Roadster Nationals are open to all convertible and open top cars including Veteran, Classic, Custom, Americans, Hot Rods and Replicas. So this is going to be a really interesting event as the range of cars is huge. Along with a special painting demonstration planned I'm really looking forward to this. More Info Can be found here: http://www.claphamclassicevents.co.uk/roadsternationals.htm
8th - 10th July VMCC Festival of 1000 Bikes. This is the Vintage Motorcycle Clubs main event of the year and it has a vast line up "the event gives enthusiasts the opportunity to ride their own machines in multiple track sessions over the weekend. On the Saturday of the event we cater for all classes of road machines from the earliest Veterans (discounted entry fee available for pre 1925 machines) through to machines of the super bike era which reflect the wide range of interests within the VMCC. With lesser noise restrictions Sunday is the day for riders to display their racing machinery in special track sessions running throughout the day. It is now recognised that this unique event provides the best line up of “Past Masters” and famous machines assembled every year in the UK." More info here: http://www.vmcc.net/1000bikes/index.htm
16th July Pre War Prescott
This is the first year that this event is being run and it is set to be an annual event from now on. The event is being run by the Vintage Minor Register and a great range of Pre war Cars is expected. I'm hoping to organise a special painting demonstration for this event too. More info here: http://www.prewarprescott.com/. I look forward to seeing you if you are attending. If you are unable to attend then as always I will be posting up event reports.
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THE START OF IT ALL (well, duh, it hasn’t always been this way!) By LeRoi Tex Smith.
In the beginning, there was everything. And there was nothing. A few cared, a precious few had visions. Most had no conception, or even cared about, what might be, what might become. And it was rather biblical. Desolate, sere, uncomfortable. But it was all car guys had to work with, and it had to start somewhere. Sounds fairly dramatic, but the birth of American, and by extension, the world of hot rodding was much more mundane. I’m retelling you all this because from my perusal of contemporary missives, it is apparent that all them whut has been borned of late have little, more often no, understanding how all of this hot rodding stuff came about. I’m talking about all of hot rodding here, bucko. The assumption is more and more that the hobby/sport has always been around, and will always be. It just popped into being, and it needs no support or protection. Just remember, He who alloweth can also un-alloweth! Them being the Big Bosses of Politik. In reality, hot rodding is just one element of competition that is rampant in the American Psyche. Hot Rodding is a mechanical manifestation of this competition, and with the introduction of the second automobile contraption in the late l800’s, competition was born.
One-upmanship took over, and those pioneers were instantly utilizing cut-and-try engineering (read: hot rodding) on everything automotive. Interestingly, formal engineering (like they teach in universities) has usually come after the fact of invention and innovation, seldom the other way around. But, as I am often reminded from those guys and gals who labor in racing’s obscurity (the midnight garages, the pits, the test ovals, the back lots), just because something is used in racing doesn’t mean it is ideally suited for the highway. In racing, just as long as it finishes a race in the lead means much more than it being ready for re-use. A three hour five minute lifetime is good enough for a three hour gig! I am reminded of a saying my old Air Force flight trainer said: “I am going to teach you how to get every bit of performance from your plane. I am going to help you stay alive. I don’t care how pretty your landing is, as long as you can walk away for another day!” Very wise man. If the original concept of an airplane was good, if the subsequent engineering was solid, the final test comes from ultimate use. Now, if that experience can be applied to a mass utilized product, great. But it is not the be-all cure.
Racing may improve the breed from Detroit, but the user needs some improvement, as well. If we apply this to everyday street rod use, then it would behove each rod owner to understand his ride. Inside, outside, upside down. Nothing makes me more nervous than climbing in the cockpit of a homemade airplane, going for a spin. I don’t know that bird nearly well enough, and it is only as good as the worst weld. Same for a race car, same for a street rod. Example: A few years back I ended up with a roadster that had been built by a recognized pro shop. Well, supposedly recognized and professional. One day I decided to pull the radiator and clean up the front end. To my dismay, I found that the front cross member (suicide type) was within a simple hard road bump of leaving the chassis rails. There were no gussets anywhere, the metal used was substandard, and here was an accident narrowly averted. Street rodding (and racing) only improves the breed when good common sense starts the game of play. On this subject, I am reminded of what Boyd Coddington said when he came to Australia and discovered a person driving one of his highly publicized creations ---“You Drive That Car? We didn’t build it to be driven!”
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Hi Spencer, Thanks for all of the photos. I printed them all out and gave your email to Stuart to read. After a few days he came into the office with these photos and said he would like me to send them to you. He has been working on an autobiography and is almost finished with it. The first photo is, of course, Vucky in the winners circle, 1953. The second photo shows the crew behind him. The crew members from left to right are: Jim Travers, Frank Coon, Howard Keck, Stuart Hilborn, Jim Nairn, Bill Hook, and Herb Porter. Hope you enjoy these! Edris Snipes, Hilborn Fuel Injection, www.HilbornInjection.com
Click images below for larger view
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Click for Image #1232 - Does anyone know the driver in this Indy car?
Click for Image #0940 - 1956 Freddie Agabashian driving the Federal Engineering Special.
Click for Image #0535 - Freddie Agabashian driving the Cummins Diesel Special.
The Cummins Diesel picture is from Jimmy Correia, The Federal with Agabashian picture, and the other one is from Norm Rapp
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