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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)
The following is courtesy of
Charles Rollins. Ak Miller
was an exceptional hot rodder
and a close
friend of the family. He
served my father in the early
days of the SCTA, and was a
fellow member
of the Road Runners Car Club.
He followed my father, who was
president of the SCTA in 1946,
with 2 terms as the SCTA
President. In 1951 he helped
found the NHRA, and served my
father
as his vice-president. For an
article which contains
biographical and obituary
material, please send
me a request.
Richard Parks
*Kenny Parks, CRA member, Jalopy racer, and previous owner of Bell Auto Helmets, has been
diagnosed with bone cancer. He is at home under
hospice care. Due to his condition, it is advised
that you do not contact him by phone as this is
hard on his family, and they need their strength to
care for him. Kenny's two sons have asked that
you send emails to them and they will print them
out and take them to Kenny. You can use the
following email addresses to reach him:
Kenny was a long time employee at Bell Auto
Parts under Roy Richter, and
was involved in
racing all of his life. He painted his cars pink,
so that if there was an accident, his family and
crew
would know that it was his car and not someone
else. Please include your home phone number
if you would like to speak to Kenny. Based on his
health and strength, he may be able to call you.
If not, you can continue to communicate with Kenny
through his two sons.
*There are some people that you just like at first
sight. Topper Chasse was one of them.
There
are some people that seem to be missing a mean bone in
their body. Topper was one of them.
There are some people that can make order out of a
state of confusion, Topper was one of them.
Topper had these and many more quali-ties that we will
all miss. Topper you were a good friend.
(Bill Pollack)
------------------------------------------------
*I'm sad to inform you of the passing of one of my closest friends, Maurice Raymond Chasse',
known to all of us as "Topper". He started with race
cars at the age of 14. His first racer was a
Model A dragster raced at Santa Ana, Saugus, San
Fernando, and the old Pomona drag strips.
This was followed by dirt track oval racing until his
mother found out! He served in the Navy just
after WWII. After his discharge he built a 29' on 32'
rails and won the L.A. Motor Sports and
Hot Rod Show with it. He bought his first sports car,
a 1957 Porsche coupe and had been
involved in road racing ever since. He was 5 times Porsche Owners Club president and one of the
founding members of its racing team. Later on Topper
won championships in GT1, GT2, Super
Production and SCCA's "Driver Of The Year" award.
Still later his energy had been focused on
Vintage Racing, Head Drivers Instructor at the L.A. Region Porsche Club of America, and HSR-
West. He was the pace car driver at many vintage
events. Up until last year he ran one SCCA
Enduro a year with Geary Smith in a Porsche 914-6 to
keep his SCCA license cur-rent. He also
had current competition licenses for POC, PCA, VARA
and HSR-West. He has been an avid
volunteer for various motor sports clubs, including our Fabulous Fifties Non-Club. I learned of the
great Fabulous Fifties from Topper and he sponsored my
non-membership. Topper's interest
went beyond motor sports. A successful entrepreneur,
he founded MR Chasse Co, a construction
development and environmental services firm. In trap
shooting, he had awards for breaking 100
of 100 clay pigeons. He also held a second-degree
black belt in Judo. Topper was admitted to
Huntington Memorial Hospital August 19th with chest
pains. They found his heart was fine, but he
had Acute Leukemia. With the advanced nature of his
ailment, they decided on a massive four-
dose treatment of Chemo. After the treatments, with
his immune system almost nonexistent, the
doctor said he had sepsis running rampant through his
body. Even the iron man that he was, he
couldn't dodge this bullet. He passed away on the
morning of September 8. Topper has touched
many lives and he will be sorely missed. He is
survived by his lovely wife, Barbara, of 43 years,
and three nieces. Topper was 77 years old. (Davey
Jordan)
*The distressing news this month was the passing of
Topper Chasse. Topper was truly a
valuable
asset for our organization. Whenever there was a job
to do, there was Topper. He was in charge
of our concours d’provenance display this spring at
Paramount Ranch and then stood in as a
judge. Funeral services were held on September 14.
We’ll all miss him. (Art Evans)
November 2005 issue. (From Doug Stokes
818-845-0707 and Greg Lovell 818-845-0707)
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