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DryLakes Hall of Fame Landspeed Historians Sports Fans
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080115
SOCIETY
OF LAND
SPEED
RACING
HISTORIANS
NEWSLETTER
#40.
Websites
posting
the
newsletter
are:
www.oilstick.com,
President's
Corner:
By Jim
Miller.
In the
last newsletter I
referred to digging into
some old '30's magazines
for info on land speed
race cars. Well, let's
not forget that cars
were not the only things
that can set records.
Motorcycles aren't
usually on a car guys
mind, but today they are
along with some other
speed machines. Last
Friday was an S.C.T.A.
board meeting and I go
as a representative of
my car club, the
Sidewinders. I was
sitting with Dan Warner,
head of impound and car
certification at
Bonneville and El Mirage
when up walks Bruce
Vaughan. Bruce inspects
cars at both events and
also is a good friend
(he also has a bottle of
Tequila that's real
good) and crews for Sam
Wheeler, the fastest man
on the planet on two
wheels with a speed of
355.303 mph.
He handed me a copy of John Stein's great new book "World's Fastest Motorcycle." I opened it and inside is an inscription to me from Sam, needless to say I was blown away. Thanks Sam! All this is a lead-up to my digging for Eyston info last weekend from my library and the web and running across some other things that might be of interest to you. I'm a sucker for great Magazine covers, especially if they have things speed related on them and there is usually something inside that justifies buying them. Here is a sampling of some covers that are really cool.
Now
back to Sam and the
motorcycles. In the
February '32 issue is a
concept drawing of Joe
Wright's proposed
Excelsior racer that
would look right at home
on the salt today. There
was only one problem and
that was called the
depression. Seems
Excelsior-Henderson was
owned by Bicycle Magnate
Ignaz Schwinn and he
wasn't making any money
off the motorcycles so
he shut the company down
before the bike was
built. Back in the
1930's, bike
owner/builder Claude
Temple had chosen Wright
to ride for a record.
So Joe
climbed on and set the
World Motorcycle Record
on November 6 at Cork,
Ireland on a Zenith-J.A.P.
after his OEC/Temple-J.A.P.
developed a problem. A
supercharged 1000cc
(James A. Prestwich)
engine powered the bike
to 150.736 mph so
predicting a 170 mph
speed on his new
creation was quite
something. For the
record, Ernst Henne took
the record from Joe on a
factory prepped BMW at
151.86 mph on November
2, 1932. The predicted
170 speed was finally
eclipsed in October of
1937 by none other than
Piero Taruffi riding a
Gilera and setting a
World record at 170.37
mph. It's also fitting
that the cover of the
January '52 Mechanics
Illustrated (attached)
shows Taruffi's "Tarf"
after breaking Goldie
Gardner's MG EX 135
What's
more incredible is Piero
did it on a section of
ancient Roman roadway
through the Pontine
Marshes southeast of
Rome.
Continuing the Motorcycle theme, get a load of Fred Luther's wild machine from July '35 predicting 300 mph speeds that didn't happen until Don Vesco did it in 1975 at 302.66 mph. Seems Luther worked for Chrysler and talked them out of a '34 PF six along with a tranny and dropped them into a much modified Henderson X chassis fitted with skidplates to keep the thing upright as well as for braking. Firestone antied up the 30x5"8-ply tires with special tread. Luther then talked Harry Miller (that took some money) into doing the motor and raised its stock 77 hp @ 3,600 rpm to 125 ponies @ 4,500. On the salt in 1935 and going after a $10K prize, (later found to be a hoax), the first lap was run at 140 mph. On the return run at an estimated 180 mph in second gear a con-rod let go ending his dream.
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Editor's notes:
Several members have
mentioned to me that the
size of the Newsletter
could be a problem and
that some members might
not read it. That's
always a possibility,
but you know me by now
and terseness is a habit
that my father and
brother possess, and a
character trait that I
did not inherit. The
newsletter is always
changing and perhaps one
day the look will be
cleaner, shorter and
neater, but not very
likely as long as I'm
the editor. I do try
and keep the length of
the newsletter to under
8 computer screens in
size, but that sometimes
means that I have to put
out 2 or more
newsletters a week.
Some members have said
more than one newsletter
a week is confusing.
There is a way out of this problem now that we have the newsletter on several websites and especially on our home website at www.landspeedracing.com. Those members that feel overwhelmed can go back to archived newsletters when they have more time and view the past issues. We have a purpose and that is to record all the facts and figures that we can find about land speed racing and hot rodding. To do that means that I can't be a trim and svelte editor. I intend to fill the newsletter up with news and events on land speed racing and associated topics that tie into LSR so that we can build up a repository of knowledge that we can leave behind us as our legacy. Keep feeding me information as fast as you can. On another note; who has control of the records from land speed racing? Who has the FIA/MIA, SCTA, ETA, Russetta, Australian, Muroc TA, Bell TA, Western TA, Mansell's race of 1927 and all the Bonneville records from the 1890's to the present? If no one is the repository of all the records up to this time, then perhaps we should consider trying to find them and keep an official record. This would call for a SLSRH Recorder, a volunteer who would accumulate and maintain lists of all the records from the beginning of land speed racing. If not us, then which sanctioning organization will do it?
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1) I
am writing a Fuel For
Thought column on
the SLSRH and letting
folks know they can join
our merry band – which
email address should I
publish as a contact for
you? Speedy Regards, "LandSpeed"
Louise Ann Noeth
Dear
LandSpeed: You
can use
Rnparks1@juno.com.
It is public record and
anyone in the group may
pass that on to others.
As the editor, I have to
be available to answer
questions. None of the
members of the SLSRH
will have their email
addresses or phone
numbers divulged unless
they tell me that it is
okay to give out that
information.
2)
My job at the
Post Office is
processing
bad-addressed mail.
In the course of a
month I see hundreds
of different
magazines. Today I
saw the February Hot
Rod magazine with
your father on the
cover. I could not
read the whole
story, but was able
to skim over it.
What a story. What
a tribute. Another
thought - poor Steve
Fossett. We will
never know what he
might have done with
the Breedlove car.
Best regards for a
Happy and Healthy
New Year. Bob
Senior
Bob: Thank you for the nice words. Wally Parks will be missed.
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3) Passing this along in hopes that you may know someone who fits the need. It is a fun job. Speedy Regards, "LandSpeed" Louise Ann Noeth "MPG is seeking a new administrator. The Request for a Quotation has been designed to offer prospective bidders a variety of options so that our administrative needs might be performed by either one or two persons, depending on the applicants' skill set and experience. This person or persons will manage MPG's administrative needs, everything from processing mail and fielding member phone calls to bookkeeping and overseeing suppliers, attention to detail is imperative. Please download the RFQ for the details. Deadline for bids is February 1, 2008. The job begins approximately March 1, 2008. To download a PDF or Word document of the Request for Statements of Qualifications, go to www.motorpressguild.org/news.
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4)
Thought
you would like to see
this report concerning
conditions at El Mirage
Dry Lakes that I
received from George
Callaway. You might
want to run it in the
Land Speed Historians
Newsletter...if you do
choose to run it, please
credit George. Thanks,
Bob Falcon
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5)
It's time
for me to come clean,
and inform you how much
I've been enjoying your
web-site. I've been
reading the newsletters,
enjoying the vibe that
comes from being in such
great company of the
members of this
society. Living in
Australia, I have little
to contribute to the
Society, but my
enthusiasm, and moral
support for what you are
doing. I've never been
to Bonneville, El
mirage, or even the US,
and have only been to
Lake Gairdner the once,
in 1994. I ran 113mph
in a friend's E/GR,
after he told be to be
easy on it.
My DLRA number is 101, so I've taken the first step to racing, be it long ago. I'm building a Chev 6 powered 29 Model A coupe for the street, and have a bunch of parts for a roadster that I intend to run at the salt, 'One day at a time, so it's the coupe first. Thanks again for taking the steps to document the stories of the racers of days gone. Long live their stories, and by appreciating the past, we can look forward into the future. Cheers, Mark Plunkett Mark: We love to get letters like this. Why? Because land speed racing and hot rodding is a creation of man against nature and not man against man. It is the most egalitarian and equilizing sport ever invented. Yes, our list is filled with people who are either the originators or the second and third generation, but none of us feel superior in any way to anyone else. We look upon our cousins in Australia as equals and we doff our hats to the Aussies, Kiwis, Swedes, Germans and especially the British for what they have helped to achieve in land speed racing and hot rodding. You are one of us, not simply an outsider enjoying a foreign sport. As we go through our personal archives and memories and add these stories and articles to the public domain, it will become clear that many people from many countries contributed to hot rodding and land speed racing. We look at your Lake Gairdner with awe and respect, wishing we could race on the lake bed more frequently. We admire the perseverance of Kiwis, Aussies and others who come from half way across the world to race at El Mirage or Bonneville. Our Society of Land Speed Racing Historians is not simply a site or a free membership organization that exists to compete with the other websites or blogs. Each and every member and prospective members who joins must be interested in preserving the history and heritage of land speed racing and hot rodding. We do not specify how our members are to do that and we now consider you to be an official member of the Society. Welcome aboard. How are you and our other members going to carry out the tasks required of preserving and saving our heritage and history? Members can be interested, read, study and learn. We can find libraries, museums or other foundations that will receive, save, restore and exhibit photos, stories and memorabilia. We can write articles or books on the subjects. We can photograph or acquire and save photographs and equally important, write captions for the photos. We can save memorabilia wherever possible. We can get other people interested in this endeavor. For the importance of what we do affects history. The story WE tell will become the official story for all time. Do we want other, disinterested parties, telling our story or do we want to make sure that we tell the story as we saw it. We are as happy to invite you to our group as you are to join. There are no fees, dues, duties or responsibilities other than what you want to do. The first step is to write down your history. Be as thorough as possible, then record the stories of those you know around you so that their history is not lost. Then share that with us.
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6)
Our
automated newsletter
system is required to
have a link at the
bottom of any emailing
that allows people
to "unsubscribe" from
any email list we have.
We got this "removal"
notice from the Land
Speed Racing list and I
wanted to pass it along
to you as sometimes
people accidentally
remove themselves from
lists and I don't want
anyone to miss this
newsletter. I thought
you would know who this
is and might want to
double check and see if
they removed themselves
by accident and if we
need to put them back
on.
We have a few people adding themselves each week and I think this only serves to expand the people we reach and thus the material we may receive in the future. I am leaving on Friday a.m. for an Easy Rider show in Sacramento and then we will drive from there to Pomona for GNRS so I will not be in the office but will check email once or twice a day. See you soon. Mary Ann Lawford Dear Mary Ann and the Members: I'm not sending out the newsletter anymore. After I edit the material, do research and add the mail that I receive to the newsletter, it goes to Mary Ann at www.landspeedracing.com and is sent out on a LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Not that anyone has to pay anything as we normally think of a subscribers list, but sometimes people hit the unsubscribe by mistake. I've done that myself. If you do that and think that you're going to get the newsletter directly from me, then you won't get it. I have to lessen the workload since I have five newsletters that I edit and send out and the volume keeps me busy all week long. However, you don't have to get the newsletter as an email. We set up the process so that you can get an email version or go to the website or both. Some people live on websites and you can't pry them off with a crowbar. Others like your editor will hardly ever go to a website and the only way to keep them informed is to send them an email to read. Some will never open an attachment, thus it has to be a long email. The Newsletter is purposely made easy so that the computer literate and the 'puter dummies can all get the news. The Grand National Roadster Show will be at Pomona, California on January 25-27, 2008. John Buck is the promoter and he is hot rod and land speed friendly and will expand coverage for our type of cars. If you don't go and make your presence felt, then we can't complain later. I'll be there for most of the weekend and try to spend as much time in the www.hotrodhotline.com booth as possible so that you can come up and visit us for awhile. Remember to check with the following websites: www.oilstick.com,
www.landspeedproductions.biz,
http://www.landracing.com,
www.speedrecordclub.com,
http://www.ahrf.com/video.php,
and
www.hotrodhotline.com.
Each in their own
way try to expand
and keep our sport
alive and thriving.
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7)
RACING SCENE Column
- By Tim Kennedy,
Los Angeles,
California.
(Edited) "City
of Speed - Los
Angeles and the Rise
of American
Racing" by Joe Scalzo. The publisher is Motorbooks, an imprint of MBI Publishing Co, Galtier Plaza, Suite 200, 380 Jackson St, St Paul, MN 55101-3885. This 2007 book covers the Los Angeles area as an early and still vital base for all types of motor racing disciplines.
The
11 chapter, 190-page
book is an
interesting read and
contains 259 photos,
many in color and
many photos that
have not been
published
previously.
Scalzo's unique
prose details the
racing millennium
erupting right along
the Pacific shore.
In his own words, he
talks about go-fast
addicts, geniuses,
legends, struggling
artists, nervous
small businessmen,
sugar daddies,
doomed There are doll faces, sirens, divas, pinups, mobster molls and more.
The first chapter
highlights the
origins and genius
of Harry Miller, who
came from Prussian
stock, and changed
from a surname
Mueller. His 1920s
shop on Long Beach
Avenue produced
sleek Miller
race-cars that made
an indelible imprint
at the Indianapolis
500, including the
first Miller car
victory by Jimmy
Murphy in 1922. The
"junk formula"
during the
Depression hurt
Miller finances and
the closing of
Miller's shop in
1933 led him to
relocate to Detroit.
He died in 1943. Riding mechanics, such as Chickie Hirashima, are covered on page 74. Interesting information in this chapter included the rate of pay for riding mechanics being 3 to 5% of race winnings. The book shows Los Angeles as home to racing engine development. It covers the transition of the Miller engine to Offenhauser, to Meyer-Drake, to turbo-charged Drake, Drake-Goosen-Sparks that dethroned Ford, to Cosworth. Now in the seventh decade of racing engine development we have the Honda and TRD (Toyota) engines in the greater Los Angeles megalopolis providing engines to competitors in major league racing circuits. The numerous Indy 500 victories by Miller engines are listed on page 31. Millers and its successors won six of ten Indy 500s in the 1920s, eight of ten in the 30s, four of five in the 40s, ten of ten in the 50s, four of ten in the 60s and five of ten in the 70s. During one span the Miller-based engine won 18 Indianapolis 500s in a row.
Los Angeles
area engine-builders
and suppliers of the
modern era are shown
on page 33. They
include Bartz, Unser,
Faulkner, Traco
(Travers & Coon),
Donovan, Moroso,
Cosworth, Ron
Shaver, Manley,
Brodex, Mondello,
Iskenderian,
Brownfield and
Carillo. Scalzo
presents
considerable
information about
the Ed Winfield
engine that
conquered the
Millers at Legion
Ascot Speedway in
eastern Los Angles
during the 1930s.
Ed's brother Bud is
highlighted as well
for his role in
developing the
powerful Novi
engine. Keith Black
and Ed Pink also
receive praise for
their innovative
engine work.
Another chapter
covers playboy Lance
Reventlow, the son
of Woolworth heir
Barbara Hutton.
Reventlow's Can-Am
Scarab sports cars
from Venice, near
the Pacific Ocean,
won eight times in
13 races in 1958
with Chuck
Daigh the
star and Lance the
driver of a second
Scarab. The famous
Troutman-Barnes,
1960 Scarab Formula
One cars, Ol' Yeller
cars of Max
Balchowsky and his
wife Ina,
receive major, interesting attention and photo coverage. Chaparral (1961), Cobra and King Cobra sports cars get well-deserved coverage as well. Reventlow's manufacturing site later became Carroll Shelby's Cobra manufacturing plant. All greater Los Angeles Indianapolis 500 roadster constructors/designers are profiled starting on page 70. The book repeats the affectionate roadster nickname "big cucumbers." Great LA Indy roadster constructors/builders covered are Frank Kurtis, Eddie Kuzma, Quin Epperly, Lujie Lesovsky and A. J. Watson. The book describes how frames were constructed from chalk outlines on the floor. Indy car owner J. C. Agajanian, painter Dean Jeffries and Von Dutch striping receive coverage, as do Joe Hunt Magnetos, and Ted Halibrand Engineering center sections and wheels.
The book covers
the change from
roadsters to the
rear engine Lotus,
to Lotus-copies by
car builders in the
USA to well-received
later rear-engine
cars such as
Vel's-Parnelli Jones
Johnny Lightning
cars (two-time Indy
500 winner in
1970-71) and Dan
Gurney Eagles from
Santa Ana in the
1970s. Scalzo
states the
Indianapolis 500 had
not been a Los
Angeles-dominated
race for almost 40
years. The 1950s
Carrera
Pan-Americana
(Mexican Road Race)
receives detailed
coverage, as do the
Clay Smith
and Bill Stroppe
Lincoln Team that
won the Baja
California
long-distance race
four times in five
years.
Stroppe employed 1950s Indianapolis 500 drivers Manuel Ayulo, Jack McGrath, Walt Faulkner, Johnny Mantz, Chuck Stevenson and 1953-54 Indy 500 winner Bill Vukovich to race his Lincolns through Mexico. The So Cal-based Stroppe/Parnelli Jones "Big Oly" (Olympia Beer) Ford Bronco exploits in off-road racing and in the record-breaking Baja 1,000 are covered prominently in words and photos.
Chapter 4,
titled
"Battlegrounds,"
covers famous So Cal
race-tracks, such as
Ascot Park in
Gardena. Ascot
("where the Harbor,
San Diego and 91
Freeways collide")
hosted 170
promotions/races a
year and was the
self-proclaimed
"busiest race track
in America." Weekly
races on Wednesday,
Friday, Saturday and
Sunday nights were
common. Ascot
operated from
1957-90, as did
Riverside
International Raceway ironically. Ontario Motor Speedway (the 2.5-mile copy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) opened to 180,000 spectators in 1970 and closed after 1980 when it defaulted on a $25.5 million bond. Scalzo wrote that of the more than 100 race-tracks in So Cal only three survive today. The book covers So Cal jalopy derbies and racing sugar-daddies who provided sponsorship or cars for talented, upcoming race drivers. These benefactors in sports car racing included Tony Parravano, Frank Arciero and Johnny von Neumann. Some of the stories in this section are among the most interesting in the book. Scalzo relates numerous stories about the tough, fighting breed of So Cal race drivers, such as Rufus "Parnelli" Jones, Ralph "Scotty" Cain, Dick Rathmann, Dave MacDonald, Ronnie Bucknum and the early era African-American driver Rajo Jack (real name Dewey Gatson) from Watts in south-central Los Angeles. MacDonald's rise to prominence and his role in the ill-fated 1964 Indianapolis 500 fiery turn four crash that claimed the lives of Eddie Sachs and MacDonald is a compelling part of the book.
Chapter 7, titled
"Salt Shakers,"
covers the land
speed record
attempts from
Florida, to
California and
Utah. LSR daredevil
drivers Frank
Lockhart, Craig
Breedlove, Mickey
Thompson, Art Arfons,
Gary Gabelich and
Kitty O'Neil receive
ample coverage about
their daring speed
runs and mishaps.
Bob
"Hurricane" Hannah
and moto-cross stars
get their
recognition too.
Author Scalzo even
describes his
motorcycle racer
experience in his
younger days and he
relates his travels
with racing
participants. So Cal
racing promoters J.
C. Agajanian,
Ascot's Harry
Schooler, plus
stadium racing
pioneers Mike
Goodwin and
Mickey Thompson
are profiled. Scalzo,
a resident of nearby
Sierra Madre,
relates the fact
that Thompson and
his wife Trudy were
murdered at their
Bradbury, CA home in
the San Gabriel
Valley during 1988.
In a pre-production entry he updated the fact that Goodwin was in jail charged with the Thompson double murders. A couple of corrections are needed if the book goes into a second printing. Mark Dees, a So Cal lawyer and biographer of Harry Miller, died in 1994 in a head-on auto accident as noted. However, the site was on Highway 126 (the dangerous Fillmore-Santa Paula highway, not Highway 118 (the northern San Fernando Valley-Simi Valley highway). Dees served a term as a member of the CRA sprint car board of directors. Page 121 makes reference to Italian actress Sophia Loren as Sophia Lauren. On page 122 F.1 driver Luigi Muss should be Musso. Performance houses in So Cal, such as Edelbrock, So Cal Speed Shop, Grant Piston Rings, Bell Auto Parts, Blair's Speed Shop and Iskenderian Racing Cams, plus Andy Granatelli's shop (STP and gas turbine engine of the 1970's) in Santa Monica are covered in the book. Other coverage and photos went to Eddie Meyer Engineering, A. J. Watson, Frank Kurtis and Louie Unser Racing Engines. Stories about Pasadena racing personalities Cal Bailey and versatile driver George Follmer and the "Gilmore (Stadium) Roars Again" annual parties conclude the interesting read. Some racing people consider Daytona Beach or Indianapolis the premier birthplaces of speed. In his latest effort, author Scalzo makes a strong case for inclusion of greater Los Angeles as a worthy challenger for that lofty honor. The $40 book is available at major bookstore chains and Amazon.com. Tim Kennedy
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