| Gone Racin' Newsletter by Richard Parks #102 051221 | ||
|
BLOG/POBB
Home
|
*Thursday, December 15, at around 5:30 PM, Ak Miller
passed away. Many family and friends
found time to stop in and have one last visit with Ak before
he died. Pages can be written about
Ak but I would like to simply focus on our memories from his
"Roast"/Tribute not so long ago at
the Wally Park's Motorsports Museum in
Pomona. We should all be so lucky to have such a
wonderful gathering of friends before we pass away. Ak will
always be remembered as the
"Ultimate Hot Rodder" and we will all miss him but find
comfort in knowing he is in a much
better place now. There are no plans for a memorial service
as this would be redundant to the
event at the Museum. His ashes will be scattered at Bonneville, Baja, and Pike's Peak.Regards,
Charles Rollins & Joann Brock.
Look for an upcoming story on Ak's induction into the
ORMSHOF this last summer and a brief recap of his tribute at
the NHRA Museum. See
www.Bench-Racing.com
(Charles Rollins)
*Will Scott (Gold Coast Roadster and
Racing Club/SCTA) was scheduled for open heart
surgery, on Dec 15, at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara,
CA. He went in to the doctor for a
check up and was given tests. Angiogram changed to open
heart surgery. (Evelyn Roth)
*I just got a call from Bob Webb, starting
to sound like his old self, says to tell everyone hello and
thanks again. He should be home mid next week. He is
really feeling and sounding good, says
Navy food was better. Still cannot recieve phone calls,
Glen Barrett. (Becca Livingston)
*Today (December 15th) I went down and waited around for
Will Scott (Gold Coast Roadster
and Racing Club/SCTA) to come back into the world. He
did. Tubes removed on schedule. He
had trouble talking, but looks great. Pain is not a
stranger to him. His cholesterol has always
been good. Hopefully he will be home around the first
of the week. (Evelyn Roth)
------------------------------
*Shav Glick, sportswriter/editor, has retired
from the Los Angeles Times. He felt the time was
right, at age 85, to retire. The Times, owned by the Tribune
Company, offered their employees a
buy-out and Shav states that he was not forced out, as the
internet articles have been suggesting.
We wish Shav a well earned rest after supporting our car
culture in California for half a century.
*Replacing Shav Glick, from LA Observed. Car
racing has a long history in the Los Angeles
area. Legendary driver Barney Oldfield
lived and raced on Wilshire Boulevard and drove on
the speedway that stood where the Beverly Wilshire and
Barney's New York are today. So Cal
kids grew up tinkering with engines and racing on streets
and at strips all over the place. Shav
Glick is an 85-year-old L.A. Times sportswriter who covered
so much of that racing lore and
the national scene that the Pomona drag strip's press room
is named for him, the California
Speedway in Fontana presents an annual Shav Glick Award,
and he's been inducted in some
racing halls of fame. Glick worked for 55 years at the Times
and its former sister paper the
Mirror, and took the recent buyout offer. (Whether he was
encouraged like some other older
staffers I don't know, but Glick did tell some retirees
recently, "I don't look at it as me leaving
the L.A. Times; I see it as the Times leaving me." His last
day is January 16. Glick's replacement
on the auto racing beat is Jim Peltz, a
reporter in the Business section. The memo follows:
To: The Staff, From:
Bill Dwyre, Sports Editor
Jim Peltz, a business writer at The Times the past 18 years,
will move to the Sports Department,
effective Jan. 9, and become the paper's motorsports writer.
Peltz will replace a Times legend,
Shav Glick, who covered racing here for a large portion of
his 55 years as a reporter for the old
Mirror and The Times. Glick, 85, took a voluntary separation
package and will leave the paper
Jan. 16. Peltz, who covers a wide range of business and
financial topics, will bring a unique
financial expertise to the coverage of a motorsports
industry that has taken an increasing share of
the sports world's consumer dollar in the last 10 years. The
motorsports beat is one that demands
the ability to understand and write about athletes and
celebrities, as well as technical and financial
elements, all things Peltz is nicely qualified to handle.
Peltz, a 1976 graduate of UCLA in English,
with a master's degree in journalism from the University of
Colorado in 1978, joined The Times
in 1987 as a business writer in the Valley edition and moved
to the main business staff in 1993.
Prior to joining The Times, he spent eight years as a
national business writer for the Associated
Press in New York City. (sent in by Doug Stokes
stokes28@earthlink.net)
-------------------------
*Grand National Roadster Show tickets are
available at Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports
Museum. This includes discounted Museum admission,
the GNRS admission and the opening of
the new SO-CAL exhibit 60 Years of SO-CAL Speed,
running from Jan 20-Apr 9. The GNRS
will be at the Fairplex from Jan 20-22, 2006, in
Pomona. Designer Chip Foose, Mike Lavallee
of Killer Paint and the voice of Discovery Channel's Monster
Garage, "The Big Schwag," will be
at the show. America's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR)
is the title award and nine-foot-tall
trophy given at the show. "We're pleased to welcome the
oldest running hot rod show back to
our home," said Greg Sharp, curator of the Museum. There will
be special events, including an
opening day autograph session with Xydias and Chapouris from
the So-Cal Speed Shop. For
more info call Rose Dickinson 909-622-2757 or visit
http://museum.nhra.com.
For the GNRS
call 877-763-7469 or visit
http://www.hotrodshows.com.
(Michael Hollander)
-------------------------
*Safety innovator Robert Falcon of Temple City
received a Pioneer in Racing award from the
AARWBA for inventing and developing the Shoehorn
Rapid Extraction device, used to remove
drivers from crashed race cars without aggravating possible spinal
injuries. (December 16, 2006
LA Times Motorsports column by Shav Glick)
*My successor will be James Peltz of the business
section. He has worked with me on several
stories in the past involving business deals in motor sports. He
is also an avid NASCAR fan.
Shav Glick. (via Doug Stokes)
*Ryan Partridge, 17 year old grandson of
Bernie Partridge, and son of John Partridge, won
the California State PRO championship in the INEX Legends
cars. Ryan will be at the Lowes
Motor Speedway on January 21, 2006, to receive this prestigious
award. Ryan ran 28 races this
racing season, winning 8 times. 20 times he ran third or better,
and 23 times he was in the top 5
spots, for an exceptional efficiency rate. In the 2006 racing
season, Ryan will drive for A&R
Motorsports, a very well funded team, in the Late
Models division at Irwindale Speedway. He
will also race at The Bullring in Las Vegas and in a
limited schedule in the AutoZone WEST
series events. (John Partridge)
*Engineer Remi Lanteigne has joined Andersen
Walko Racing for the 2006 Star Mazda Season.
The Formula Car team is based out of Fairfield, NJ. (Linda K.
Mansfield)
-------------------------------
*1st Annual Team USA Speedway Testimonial,
January 28-29, 2006, in Long Beach, CA,
will take place aboard the historic RMS Queen Mary ocean liner
and will honor several of the
greatest American riders in the history of motorcycle speedway
racing. The Team USA Speed-
way Testimonial will be a fund-raiser to defray the cost of
participation by American teams in the
2006 Speedway World Cup and Junior Speedway World
Championships. System Edström of
Sweden is the event sponsor and a primary sponsor of America’s
only current Grand Prix rider,
1997 World Champion Greg Hancock. Hancock
is currently ranked #5 in the world and will
be one of the honorees. The inaugural Team USA Testimonial is
sanctioned by the American
Motorcyclist Association. On Sunday, January 29, a lavish
brunch and Honoree Ceremony will
recognizing the six American Speedway greats who have won
Federation Internationale de Moto-
cyclisme (FIM) individual world championships, followed by a
memorabilia auction. For more
information on this event see www.heartlandmedia.info,
teamusaspeedway@yahoo.com, and
www.SystemEdstrom.com.
(Harald "Howie" Zechner, Irwindale Speedway Videos)
*Sept 15-16, West Capital Raceway Alumni (WCRA) will present the
All American Vintage
Classic at the Roseville Speedway
(All American Speedway). Entries have been received from
Colorado, Arizona, Washington, Oregon and California. 100 cars
from the 1920's to the 1970's
are expected. These vintage cars will put on an outstanding
show. On Saturday the WCRA will
be inducting 6 people into the West Capital Hall of Fame
with a great BBQ put on by the Back
Forty. Tickets are on sale now. To enter a vintage race car or
for more details call 916-944-1443
or email
narchampion@yahoo.com. (Brenda Anderson)
----------------------------------
*Shav Glick, on taking the 2005 buyout, after
51 consecutive years at Times Mirror newspapers
(eight at the Los Angeles Mirror and then 43 at the Los
Angeles Times): "I don't look at it as
me leaving the L.A. Times; I see it as the Times leaving
me." (Deke Houlgate)
*Jan 1 Dirt Late Model team of Jason & Kristin Flory
of Creston, Ohio, will appear on Dirt
Racers Radio. Jason Flory was 2nd in points in 2005 at the
highly competitive KC Raceway in
Chillicothe, Ohio, while Kristin Flory finished second in
points at Lakeville Speedway in Lakeville,
Ohio. Jason Flory also competes in a wide array of special
sanctioned events in the Midwest and
east coast with MACS, World of Outlaws Late Model Series, UMP,
Lucas Oil Late Model
Series and Sunoco ALMS. Both have competed together in
special events like the Dirt Track
World Championship and Big 4 Series. Dirt Racers Radio airs
every Sunday evening on WQKT
104.5 FM from 6–8PM. The show, hosted by Doc Lehman &
Ryan Pearson, can also be
heard over the internet at:
www.wqkt.com (Doc Lehman)
*Racing 4 KidsR Hitman Funny Car T. See;
http://groups.msn.com/BMRACING/shoebox.msnw,
http://www.nhra.com/streetlegal/funfacts.html, www.nitroproductions.com/gallery/ngk2.jpg, http://www.reveal.ca/60smotorsports/racing4kids.html. Bob Meek, NitroProductions Business Manager/Driver, Calgary, Canada 403-312-6901
*The current issue of Calabasas; Life at its Best
(Magazine #6) has an article on the two years
of racing at Paramount Ranch with remarks from Ruth
Levy, Pete Vanlaw, Dan Gurney and
Cy Yedor, along with my photographs.
(Allen R. Kuhn)
--------------------------------
*Jan 1, New Year's Day fun run taking place in Orange
County. This will be the 3rd Annual Tour
d'Orange and all cars are invited. Go to
www.bench-racing.com
and click on Event Calendar for
all the details. See http://www.bench-racing.com/html/event_calendar.html
(Charles Rollins)
*Grand Am Champs Wayne Taylor and
Max Angelelli, NASCAR’s Kenny Schrader
were
on the SpeedFreaks show last December 17. They
have new times; Saturday's 8:30pm Pst,
11:30pm Est, replayed on Tuesday's at 7:30am Est. See www.speedtv.com/programs/219/,
*We warmly remember our weeks on the Black Rock
Desert eight years ago. We'll miss Jack
Mendenhall. In late September, we
visited with Ron Christensen in Salt
Lake City on our
way to Ariz. and N.M. Do you know Ron? He announces
most of the salt flats events on 1610
kHz and has done some racing himself. In 1996, he
helped Craig Breedlove quite a bit with
graphic designs and such. He wasn't able to be in
Gerlach very long in 1997 because his first
wife was dying of cancer. In the fall of 2004, Ron
spent several months working with the movie
crew for "The World's Fastest Indian" in
Wendover. He grew up in Wendover and he made
sure that they got the look of the town, timing stand,
and period cars correct. See the movie
Web site:
http://www.worldsfastestindian.com/ I think the
movie was released last week in Los
Angeles, at the AMC Century City, in order to qualify
for the Oscars. But general release in the
USA will not be until Feb 2006. (Charley & Jean
Shaffer, Seattle)
--------------------------------
*Gear Grinders/SCTA News: Neil Thompson
is in the hospital for a triple by-pass and valve re-
placement. Dana Wilson broke the
C2 vertebrae in his neck, has a skull fracture, and is
in a
neck brace but he can walk. George Callaway
has had knee surgery to replace a knee joint.
John Rush is now home from the
convalescent home and can walk. Doug McLeish
has a
brand new granddaughter. Awards Banquet is 11 March
2006, at Joe's Garage in Tustin, CA.
New Gear Grinders officers for 2006: President-Bob
Webb, Vice President-Bob Sights,
Sec-
retary-Becca Livingston, Treasurer-Cathy
Butler, Sergeant at Arms-Bob Chilson. Jim
Kitasaki was voted in as a new
member. 2006 SCTA El Mirage Race Dates: May 6-7, Jun
11, Jul 16, Sept 10, Oct 22, Nov 11-12. 2006
SCTA/BNI Bonneville Speedweek: Aug 12-
18, 2006. 2006 SCTA/BNI Bonneville World Finals:
Oct 11-14, 2006.
--------------------------------
*Chad Kemenah was crowned Champion of the All Star
Circuit of Champions for the 4th cons-
ecutive year, at 2005 Awards Banquet. The All Stars will start off
the 2006 season at Volusia
County Speedway in Barberville, FL (Daytona) on Feb. 7-8, and
11-12. For more information
see
www.volusiaspeedwaypark.com. Guy Webb announced
that the All Star series has not
been sold as some internet rumors that had been circulating have
stated. He has teamed up with
Indiana businessman Glynn Barber and Michigan based
businessman Mike Bowen to form a
company that will be involved in land acquisitions that will include
several dirt tracks around the
country. The model for these acquisitions is not to run these
tracks under the All Star banner,
but instead to put capable teams in place to promote these
facilities and handle the day to day
operations, while running weekly racing programs and special
events. Guy Webb welcomed
back Wayne County Speedway to the Speedweek schedule for next
year. The 2006 schedule
currently has 46 dates and the goal is to have 60 dates. The Hard
Charger award went to Paul
May. Rookie of the Year award went to Cody
Geldart. The Crew Chief of the Year award
went to Danny Smith. See
www.allstarsprint.com
(Bryan Autullo)
--------------------------------
*Federal Scrappage Program: In August 2005, the SAN celebrated the fact
that it had once again
convinced lawmakers to prohibit the use of federal monies to fund
motor vehicle scrappage pro-
grams. The latest victory came as Congress completed work on
legislation to fund highway cons-
truction through fiscal 2009. President Bush signed the $286.5 billion
bill into law. The U.S.
Department of Transportation had proposed funding state and local
scrappage programs through
one of the highway programs but the SAN was able to convince leaders
in the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives that these programs are not cost effective.
Meanwhile, the unnecessary
removal of vehicle parts from the marketplace poses a threat to car
enthusiasts and the restoration
industry. (SEMA)
*Roadless Rule: The Bush Administration issued a final rule allowing
states to petition the Forest
Service to open areas previously closed under the Clinton
Administration's so-called roadless rule.
The new rule establishes a process for considering state
recommendations on which roadless
areas should remain closed and which should be opened to logging,
mining or other commercial
ventures. The revision is consistent with the SAN's position that
state government and local
communities should participate in forest management decisions. The
rule covers nearly 58.5 million
acres of national forests and grasslands, mostly in western states. (SEMA)
---------------------------------
|
