Story by Richard Parks
Photographs by Roger Rohrdanz
Leslie Long and Gene Mitchell organized the latest reunion for the Santa Ana Airport Drag Strip and Main Street Malt Shop on Saturday, October 12, 2013 at the park alongside of East Memory Lane and Main Street in the city of Orange, California. The day was bright, sunny and warm; a typical Southern California autumn day. The event honors all those who raced at or attended the first professionally run drag strip in California and possibly the world. We also honor those who used the old malt shop on Main Street and Chestnut Avenue in Santa Ana as their hang-out. Today the malt shop is still there, across the street from Pomeroy’s garage, though it is now a Mexican bakery. Leslie Long was an early dry lakes and drag racer and his interest in the sport has never waned. He is the historian and caretaker of the records, photographs and lists of people who raced at El Mirage dry lake and at the old airport in Santa Ana before it was remodeled and rebuilt into one of the most heavily used airports in the United States today. Gene Mitchell, from Fountain Valley, California supports the reunion by bringing sandwiches, condiments, drinks, vegetable trays, chips and desserts for those in attendance. He also supplies tents and chairs and he does this twice a year all free of charge to those who come to the event.
Roger and I got to the reunion slightly before 10 AM to find that Leslie Long was already there with his photo albums and historical records and Gene Mitchell, who had already set up the tables, tents and chairs. Gene has an auto repair garage in Anaheim and Leslie is retired and lives in Yorba Linda. The next to arrive was Howard Holman and Wayne Harper. They are partners in a dragster that runs in the nostalgia races around California. Howard is the driver and Wayne is the chief mechanic. The dragster is a ’27 T roadster slingshot from the early 1960’s. Wayne also partners with Hank Becker and they race a sprint car at Willow Springs, Devore and other tracks in the WRA. Hank missed this reunion. Next to appear were Mac McClelland, Bob Batchelor, Otto Ryssman and Patty Mitchell Ryssman. Mac raced at the Santa Ana drags in 1952-53, entered the service and then returned to race from 1955-57. He then raced drag boats at Perris, Marine Stadium in Long Beach and other sites during the golden age of powerboat racing in the 1960’s. Bob raced at Santa Ana in 1954-56 and also at Colton, Orange County International Raceway (OCIR) in Irvine, and at other drag strips in the area. He built his own four-banger flathead engine and installed it in a ’29 roadster. Otto Ryssman is an original Santa Ana Drags racer, having started at the track in 1950 when it opened and continuing up until 1956, when an accident ended his racing career. He was a consistent winner and big name of the era and if things had gone better for him in that 1956 race, he might have continued on for many more years. He drove down from his home in Arizona and then came to the reunion with his daughter Patty Mitchell. Otto was also a land speed racer and was one of the original participants in the first Bonneville meet in 1949. “I’m an original Forty-niner, and went back in 1999 for the 50th Anniversary,” he told me with a smile. Patty’s husband is also a drag racer and ran at OCIR in the 1960’s and ‘70’s.
Roger and I got to the reunion slightly before 10 AM to find that Leslie Long was already there with his photo albums and historical records and Gene Mitchell, who had already set up the tables, tents and chairs. Gene has an auto repair garage in Anaheim and Leslie is retired and lives in Yorba Linda. The next to arrive was Howard Holman and Wayne Harper. They are partners in a dragster that runs in the nostalgia races around California. Howard is the driver and Wayne is the chief mechanic. The dragster is a ’27 T roadster slingshot from the early 1960’s. Wayne also partners with Hank Becker and they race a sprint car at Willow Springs, Devore and other tracks in the WRA. Hank missed this reunion. Next to appear were Mac McClelland, Bob Batchelor, Otto Ryssman and Patty Mitchell Ryssman. Mac raced at the Santa Ana drags in 1952-53, entered the service and then returned to race from 1955-57. He then raced drag boats at Perris, Marine Stadium in Long Beach and other sites during the golden age of powerboat racing in the 1960’s. Bob raced at Santa Ana in 1954-56 and also at Colton, Orange County International Raceway (OCIR) in Irvine, and at other drag strips in the area. He built his own four-banger flathead engine and installed it in a ’29 roadster. Otto Ryssman is an original Santa Ana Drags racer, having started at the track in 1950 when it opened and continuing up until 1956, when an accident ended his racing career. He was a consistent winner and big name of the era and if things had gone better for him in that 1956 race, he might have continued on for many more years. He drove down from his home in Arizona and then came to the reunion with his daughter Patty Mitchell. Otto was also a land speed racer and was one of the original participants in the first Bonneville meet in 1949. “I’m an original Forty-niner, and went back in 1999 for the 50th Anniversary,” he told me with a smile. Patty’s husband is also a drag racer and ran at OCIR in the 1960’s and ‘70’s.
The next to come were Bob Falcon, Craig Durham, John Durham, Gary Fisk, Doug Westfall, Jonathan Chambers, and Nautica Williams. Bob Falcon is a member of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians and a close friend. Bob worked for Halibrand Engineering, was an engineer and inventor and raced on oval tracks. He knows everybody in the sport of car racing and his knowledge is extremely valuable as a resource in our group. Bob brought with him Craig Durham and his son John, who have purchased the Halibrand Engineering name and plan on bringing the old and honored company back to life with new products and development. One of their new products will be the Halibrand wheels made out of magnesium alloys and made right here in the USA. Gary Fisk also came with Bob. Gary is the archivist and historian at the Automobile Driving Museum (ADM) in Torrance, California. It is a unique museum in that the cars on display are frequently taken out and driven with the docents and museum guests. Doug Westfall is a racing publisher who owns Paragon Agency and is looking for information on Calvin Rice for a book project. Calvin was a local Orange County racer who won the first NHRA Nationals race at Great Bend, Kansas in 1955. This was the race that put the NHRA on the drag racing map and led to their success. Doug brought his grandchildren with him; Jonathan Chambers and Nautica Williams. It was nice to have some young people with us for a change.
Jerry Hart is the son of C. J. and Peggy Hart, iconic founders of the Santa Ana Airport drag strip and originators of many of the rules and procedures for modern day drag racing. People speculate endlessly over who was the founder of drag racing as we know it today. Some say that it is C. J. Hart, or my father Wally Parks, or Robert E. “Pete” Petersen, Mickey Thompson or a number of other renowned figures. The answer is simple; it was all of them and more. Hart’s Santa Ana Airport drag strip wasn’t the first, but in many ways it was the seminal drag strip from which all other drags strips formed. Seminal means that it was the cornerstone for all that follows and in Hart’s Santa Ana Airport drag strip the prototype was developed. C. J. Hart was a friend, competitor and employee of my father. Hart learned from the early dry lakes racers, then he developed rules and regulations based on his ideas and trial and error. His drag strip lasted a decade until the County of Orange decided that the growing needs of the area didn’t include a drag strip. But in those ten years the ideas that Hart developed with others exploded in the sport that we call drag racing. “People remember my dad, but my mom was a formidable racer. Her specialty was road racing and she could beat a lot of drag racers as well,” said Jerry. With Jerry was Betty Belcourt, a long-time friend. Betty was once married to Dick Rosberg, a drag racer who was inducted into Don Garlits’ International Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Betty’s son, Terry Rosberg, drives a funny car and jet dragster in nostalgia races in the North Carolina area. “We’re Cherokee on my side and my son, Terry, is the fastest drag racer with American Indian heritage,” she proudly beamed.
Daryl Boothe came all the way from Morro Bay to attend the reunion. He relates some early stories, “My mother was Patricia Allen (Boothe) and she worked in the concession stand at the Santa Ana drags with her friend, Joan Hart, selling hot dogs and drinks. My mother, Joan and Jerry Hart attended Garden Grove High School. Peggy would bring Joan and Jerry to school and after they got out of the car she would do some burnouts in the parking lot to the cheers of the student body, but it was not amusing to the teachers,” Daryl related. I asked Jerry if this was true and he smiled and nodded. “My mother often drove in road races and my father would just sleep in the back seat,” added Jerry. Peggy Hart was a formidable woman and drag raced during a time when many women were excluded from the sport for fear of accidents that would generate unneeded newspaper attention. Doug Wilson is a SCTA and USRC midget racer and a regular at Jack’s Garage in Fountain Valley. Jack’s Garage is an actual garage belonging to Jack Underwood, on a regular street, in an unimposing tract of homes, but it is the place to be if you are a land speed or drag racing fan. Norm Stevenson didn’t race at Santa Ana, but he did race jalopies and sprint cars at Ascot in Gardena, Huntington Beach and other Southern California oval tracks.
Rose Hartelt came with her daughter Susan Hartelt Whitney, son-in-law Ron Whitney, and great granddaughters Tracy Whitney and Chloe Kolberg. Rose’s husband, Doug Hartelt, passed away this last September, just a few weeks before the reunion. Doug raced at the dry lakes, Bonneville Salt Flats, Santa Ana drags and other race tracks. The following is quoted from www.landspeedracing.com, “Doug Hartelt was friends with nearly all the early day land speed and drag racers such as Chuck Potvin, Dean Moon, Johnny Ryan, Nellie Taylor, Otto Ryssman, Bob Herda, Melvin Dodd (partner), Ollie Morris (The White Owl), Leslie Long, C. J. Hart (drag strip operator) and many more. It would probably be better and shorter to list the people that he didn’t know. He built the motors for the Post Special that Otto Ryssman drove. He was also partners and the engine builder for the Herda/Knapp/Hartelt Bonneville car. He and Mel Dodd formed a fearsome team. Doug was a special man and we should also mention that his wife Rose is a special lady too and attends all of the reunions to keep up with their racing friends.” Susan Whitney remembers watching her father race at Santa Ana and at the Pomona fairgrounds.
A special visitor to the reunion was Johnny Ryan, who came with his son Greg Ryan. Johnny Ryan was a partner in the Taylor and Ryan garage and built many of the flathead motors that the successful racers of the day used to win races and set records in all kinds of auto racing. The shop is still in operation today in Whittier, California under new owners. Nellie Taylor and Johnny Ryan ran at the dry lakes then entered the military during World War II. Nellie was in the Battle of the Bulge and suffered from frostbite and battle wounds. Johnny survived the sinking of his transport ship and also served in Europe. After the war the two partners returned to Southern California and continued to race and build great engines. Jim Miller showed up with his ever-present camera. Jim is the director of the American Hot Rod Foundation and the President of the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians and a top-flight researcher and historian on all forms of motor racing. His family goes back three generations in racing with his grandfather who was a riding mechanic at the Indy 500 before World War I. His father raced at the dry lakes and so did Jim. Janet and Ron Griebenow brought their little dog Bandit. Janet is the niece of Ed Iskenderian, who couldn’t make it to the reunion this time.
John Thawley III came to the reunion. He is the son of writer/photographer John Thawley Jr who wrote automotive books under the pen name of Bob Waar. “My dad worked for Petersen Publishing and they wouldn’t allow their writers and photographers to work for anyone else in those days. He wrote under the pen name of Bob Waar until Petersen found out what he was doing,” said John. Both father and son raced in the SCTA during the 1970’s and ‘80’s. George Hale came in time for the group photo shot. He was a member of the Russetta Timing Association and raced at the dry lakes from 1948 to ’50. Ken Freund is a free lance writer/photographer and former editor of motorcycle magazines. “The media business has gone through a lot of retrenchment and has smaller staffs nowadays, so most of us are now freelancing,” Ken told me. Freund keeps busy covering events and races for several magazines. Tom Gerardi and Jim Meyer were the last to arrive. Jim raced at Lions Drag Strip with Waldo Hershfield and then got into NASCAR and sprint car racing. He also worked for Mickey Thompson. Roger Rohrdanz organized the group photo shoot and Jim Miller took some photographs too. Gene Mitchell provided the delicious food, chairs, tables and tents. Our thanks to Leslie Long for keeping this event going after the original organizers could no longer do so. The reunion lasted from around 10 AM to 2 PM and then we headed home. Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].
