A Visit with Hal Wood - August 18, 2008
By
A Visit with Hal Wood
08-18-08
Biography & Photographs by Hal Wood and editing By Richard Parks photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz
My grandfather, and namesake, was born on November 11, 1900. This is his draft notice. He missed World War I by a few hours. |
I was born in Syracuse, NY on December 21, 1950 to Robert Wood and Carol Schug Wood and named Harold after my grandfather who died in 1945 while my dad was serving in the Army Air Force in Panama. Grandpa Wood was born on November 11, 1900 and was on his way to his draft physical when the Armistice was signed, ending World War I. He worked as a draftsman until he lost his job in the Depression; he worked on WPA public works projects in central New York. He was working in the parts department of a construction supply company when he died. My mother’s father Peter Schug was born in 1892 and served as a MP at Fort Dix, New Jersey in World War I. He became a police officer in Syracuse and rose to the rank of precinct sergeant until he retired in 1947. He passed away in 1953. My grandmothers worked at various jobs as well as keeping the home fires burning. Bertha Zobel Wood was the elected treasurer for the town of Salina, New York during the 1930’s and '40’s, and had her office in her home. She also volunteered for the United Way and the U.S.O. and its predecessor, serving stateside during four wars (WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam). Bertha passed away in 1972. Hilda Letterman Schug worked down the hill from their home at a meat packing plant and raised three daughters, two of whom were twins (my mother and her sister Carolyn). Grandma Schug passed away in 1980. Mom’s Uncle George Luttinger was a talented artist who painted gold leaf letters and pin stripes. One of his largest clients was the Franklin Motor Car Company which manufactured fast, powerful luxury and racing cars with air cooled engines
We lived in the suburb of Liverpool where I attended Salt City and Chestnut Hill schools and graduated in 1968 from Liverpool High School. I was interested in history, geography and political science. I was also interested in cars, but there were only wood and metal shops so I had to pursue my interest outside of school with my father. He developed an interest in cars and racing when he returned home from his war service. My father was in the Air Force and was stationed in Florida, Texas, Nevada and Panama where his Caribbean squadron of B-17's protected the Panama Canal from enemy submarines. He was a bombardier on the B-17's. He owned several high performance Hudsons until he became a family man and switched to Studebakers and Chevrolets. My first recollection of racing was the Indy Car races held at the one mile dirt horse track at the New York State Fairgrounds in the mid 1950’s. I recall the moan of the big Offy four cylinder engines and being showered with dirt outside of Turn Two. The Labor Day Race was an annual stop on the AAA and later USAC circuit, with famous drivers like Bill Vukovich, Tony Bettenhausen, Rodger Ward and a young Anthony Foyt. I also recall an attempt by Donald Campbell to break the water speed record on Onondaga Lake with one of his piston engine Bluebirds around 1957. My dad and I had the best vantage point high above the lake at the Salt City School playground. We heard the Bluebird long before we could see it, the engine howling as it flashed by, a small boat with a huge rooster tail plume behind it. The lake proved to be too short for his purposes. He later lost his life on Loch Ness in Scotland when his turbine craft went airborne at over 300 mph.
In those days, racing was available to anyone with a trailer, tow vehicle, and a garage. Most of the two bay gas stations had a stock car or drag racer in one of the bays. The car was outside during working hours and provided good advertising for the business. No one cared if the cars got wet or covered with snow; the bay was needed for servicing customer cars. Our neighbors, Norm and Butch Patrick, raced a modified ’32 Ford V-8 flathead at the local dirt track and paved ovals which seemed to be everywhere in upstate New York (Brewerton, Fulton, Weedsport and Oswego). My dad would help out on race night and I tagged along. Most of these tracks were quarter mile ovals although Oswego was a half mile paved oval with banking and would later be a feature on the super modified circuit. Sundays were spent at the Eastern States Timing Association (ESTA) drag strip in Cicero, New York where a lot of guys would try to buy my dad’s two-tone red and black ’56 Chevy Bel Air with the four barrel, solid lifter 265 V-8. He finally sold it after my brother and sister, Alan and April, were born on April 19, 1958. ESTA was a fairly low key operation. The stock classes were the major attraction along with the pure drag racers, which we saw in front of the local gas stations. Corvettes, gassers and altereds were the hot set ups as there were very few dragsters in the area. Later, the muscle cars brought a whole new era to our Sunday afternoons. Our biggest thrill was the occasional appearance of a scruffy local Harley/Davidson drag bike which was fast enough to beat most of the cars in match races. We would occasionally be treated to celebrity racers such as the Little Red Wagon, the Hemi Under Glass, and a rare appearance by Richard Petty in 1965. Chrysler was boycotting NASCAR because the Hemi was banned and the "King," Richard Petty went drag racing in a Barracuda. I joined the NHRA and eagerly awaited the monthly newsletter from Wally Parks along with Bob Peterson’s Hot Rod Magazine.
My father drove a long distance to work at Vega Industries and Bristol Laboratories, where he worked in purchasing, facilities management and logistics. He had to be at the factory every day in the winter (he was in charge of snow removal) so he always had a rear engine car which he believed to be superior in the snow. He considered the 2 stroke front wheel drive Saabs to be weird so we had a Volkswagen Beetle followed by three Corvairs. He called them his Poor Man’s Porsches and drove them with great enthusiasm. Our interest in road racing began during this period. With Watkins Glen only two hours from home, we saw some classic Grand Prix and Can Am races in the mid and late 1960’s. The Glen was in its original layout, which looked like a bent paper clip with a high speed back straight, followed by a hairpin turn. It was the golden age of Formula One racing with Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme and John Surtees. Many of these drivers also returned to the Glen in the summer for the six hour sports car race and the Can-Am, which featured the sleek sports racers with monstrous American V-8 motors. Everyone's favorite was Jim Hall's Chaparrals, because he always had something new, like automatic transmissions, spoilers and later he put wings on his car. I went to college at the State University of New York at Albany in 1968, one of the watershed years in American history marked by the Tet offensive in Vietnam, the Kennedy and King assassinations and the election of Richard Nixon as president. One of my fellow freshmen was Greg Rickes, a local guy who was nuts about cars and racing like me. Greg was a regular at Albany Saratoga Speedway and Lebanon Valley Dragway and we shared an interest in road racing as spectators.
The late Bill Kane was a pioneer road racer in the Northeast. He pursued a number of automotive enterprises including a Lotus dealership and foreign car repair shop in Schenectady, New York. |
We joined the Sports Car Club of America and met a lot of people who would shape our motorsports futures. Two of the most memorable characters were Bill Kane and Bruce Cargill, both of whom have recently driven through the Pearly Gates. Bill was a Navy veteran who was stationed in Europe in the ‘50’s where he was able to earn a living as a journeyman road racer at some of the classic venues, such as Germany's Nurburgring and England's Brands Hatch. When he returned to the States, he pursued a number of automotive enterprises including a Lotus dealership and foreign car repair shop in Schenectady, New York. That connection led him to Bruce who started racing a Jaguar when he was discharged from the Marine Corps. Bruce eventually went to work for the Lotus distributorship in Millerton, New York and commuted long distances to advance the science of Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus cars and one of the most innovative designers and constructors in racing history. Both men were unique in very different ways. Bill was the only African American to be found in the paddocks of the sports car tracks which we frequented in the Northeast and eastern Canada. Bruce was a big bear of a man with a hearty “Hey Weenie!” greeting, and a heart of gold. Bill, too, was generous to a fault and often struggled to maintain his passion financially. Bruce won the first Car and Driver Showroom Stock Challenge at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut in 1972, soundly beating the sponsor’s multi car team with his little yellow Dodge Colt. He went on to a second career engineering theme park rides in Orlando, Florida. Greg had a flair for broadcasting and became the announcer at Lime Rock Park, a position he holds to this day in addition to his career job with the information technology department at our alma mater.
Another friend had a Sunbeam Alpine which he raced in the SCCA amateur F Production class. Sandy Fisher was an Army veteran whose brother Charlie had lost an arm in a rocket attack in Vietnam. Along with Greg and I and another friend, Rich Waring, the Fisher brothers formed the Group W Bench Racing Team, named after the bench at the draft board in Arlo Guthrie’s memorable Alice’s Restaurant song. In those days, it didn’t cost a lot to have a sports car for racing. Some guys were still driving their cars to the track, taping the lights, pulling the mufflers and hubcaps, and driving home, if they didn’t wreck. We had many adventures with “Al Pine” and destroyed a lot of brain cells in the process. Our most memorable outing was at Watkins Glen for "The Fun One" in October, 1969. It was very cold and we were in a cabin, which smelled like propane gas. Everyone was afraid to light the heater for fear of blowing us to Buffalo. Finally, Sandy put on his Nomex suit and lit the pilot light. A huge tongue of flame shot out from the bottom of the stove. He turned the gas down and we slept comfortably. We broke a stud changing a tire on the car and glued it back on with epoxy. "Al" rewarded us for our efforts by blowing a head gasket in the race. We also discovered a very cheap form of motorsports which is unique to our northern climates: ice racing. Today, it struggles in the face of climate change but, in our era, you could go racing for $25 if you had a tow car and a trailer. We did it with a Nash Metropolitan and a Renault Dauphine. Twenty five bucks each with some more cash for a tune up and a radiator flush. Buy a helmet and install a seat belt and you were ready to go. We had a blast. There was incidental contact with the frozen snow banks and other cars but you were racing a $25 car so who cared? The courses were fairly tight so you spent most of your lap time in third gear. The snow banks allowed you to carom, which added a new element to our driving style, which guard rails did not allow.
Carolyn & I with our new AMC Hornet. Christmas in Syracuse NY, 1973. |
I also had to pay attention to my studies because I was in college to get a formal education in addition to playing with cars. I was also studying a beautiful Italian girl named Carolyn Valle. We saw each other on campus and in the dining hall. In time, a romance blossomed and we took the bus to her home in Kingston, New York, to meet her parents, Tony and Jennie Valle. Her brother, Joe Valle, drove us from the bus station in a roaring 1967 Camaro SS 350; it was so powerful that I could feel the exhaust pulses from the headers through the floor. Joe Valle and his Golden Camaro were local legends in the Hudson Valley and once had a match race at Lebanon Valley, New York with Shirley Muldowney and her Corvette, which he lost. I was hooked We were married on August 14, 1971 and we recently celebrated our 37th anniversary. I majored in geography and graduated in 1972. Kurt Vonnegut was our commencement speaker (his brother was a professor of atmospheric science at our school). It was right after Watergate and his speech was filled with disguised references which made the graduates howl with laughter but left our parents scratching their heads. I continued to race my street car in autocrosses (in those days, they were known as gymkhanas) until I moved to Boston at the end of 1976 where I began my career with the U.S. Census Bureau. Although I remained a motor head, I was no longer an active participant. I had developed another passion: distance running. My professional career involved extensive travel and Carolyn and I were raising our sons Erich (1978) and Ryan (1980) while she worked in accounting. We moved to Kentucky in 1986 and back to Massachusetts in 1989 with my job transfers. The boys caught the car bug from me although Ryan was more interested in motorcycles. We lived in the woods in Hopkinton, MA and the boys could ride their enduro bikes all the way to Rhode Island and only have to cross three highways. Erich had a Chevy El Camino and an old Toyota Celica before he got his first Mustang, a 1988 LX 5.0. That car would shape his future as the trees in our forest would do likewise for Ryan.
In 1999, I was transferred to Atlanta, Georgia. Erich had graduated from New Hampshire Tech and was working as a machinist. Ryan was a student at Paul Smiths College of the Adirondacks, majoring in urban forestry. The move to Georgia was manna from auto and football heaven. I became a barking Georgia Bulldogs fan and I renewed my interest in stock car racing by attending NASCAR races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Daytona. Road Atlanta beckoned and I crewed for a friend from New England who was racing a Toyota Supra Turbo in the Speed Challenge GT class. I attended my first drag races in 30 years at Atlanta Dragway. I was amazed at how the sport had changed on the pro level with multi-million dollar team operations. Drag racing had also become the only form of racing for the average guy or girl to compete behind the wheel of their daily driver. Road racing and stock car racing became very expensive and those modifieds and little British sports cars disappeared from the gas station bays into large shops. Erich had purchased another Mustang and modified the engine with a Vortech supercharger. He started racing in the stock class with the ’88 LX and moved into the modified class with the Vortech car, competing against young people like him. He raced for several years at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire and Lebanon Valley Speedway in eastern New York. His best run was 11.5 seconds @126 mph in a car that was barely street legal.
After 30 years of Federal service, I retired on January 3, 2007. Two weeks later, we moved to Holiday, FL where Carolyn’s family lives. Erich moved in 2005 to nearby Palm Harbor and is a GM Certified ASE Master Technician at a Chevrolet dealership here. He still has the black ’93 Mustang GT although he has since retired from racing and replaced the Vortech engine with a 347 EFI crate motor. Ryan has his own business as a certified arborist in Uxbridge, MA and is the proud owner of a mildly customized ’92 Harley Sportster 1200. Carolyn indulges her passion for decorating, gardening, and walking. My parents finally retired at age 82 and are avid viewers of any race that’s on TV. I recently underwent successful prostate surgery. The cancer was caught in an early stage for which I was grateful because I had no symptoms or family history. I am a frequent contributor to Speed Style Magazine, a webzine founded by Bill Moore in Oakland, CA. Along with my colleagues, we write about anything that goes fast and looks good. Check us out at www.speedstylemagazine.com. For many years, I drove sensible cars because I couldn’t afford anything that was fun. The boys had the Mustangs and bikes while Carolyn and I drove Camrys and Corollas. Retirement brought me the opportunity to own the modern reincarnation of the car which I idolized as a teenager: the Pontiac GTO. Mine was built in October, 2003 and was one of the first imported to the US from the factory in Elizabeth, Australia where it began life as a right hand drive Holden Monaro in the mid 1990’s. Only 48,000 cars were manufactured from 2003 to 2006 so they are not a common sight on the road and you wave to other drivers as they pass, just like the old days.
Gone Racin' is at [email protected].
I’m behind the wheel of the Pontiac Firebird Official Pace Car for the 100th Boston Marathon with WBZ-TV anchor Liz Walker. |
Carolyn & I at the 2000 Daytona 500. |
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Hal and Don Gartlits in Big Daddy's office at his museums in Ocala, FL. |