President's Corner: By Jim Miller. 

  I was running around last week in Orange County and stopped by C.W. Moss to buy some '30's Ford parts.

  It dawned on me that old friend Randy Ema who restores Duesenbergs for a living was just down the street. I
  stopped in for a little chat and ended up staying over four hours. We talked about Board Track racing in the

  golden era and some of Fred and Augie's land speed adventures.  I casually mentioned about being on a quest

  to search out dry lake history and you could see a lightbulb go on in his head. He lead me to one of his back

  rooms filled with antique parts and stacks of old photo albums. He rifles through a couple of albums and starts

  pulling out some pictures of old lakes cars and says here you go. Wow! I can't believe it. You never know

  where a treasure will come from. Thanks Randy.  I've included one picture from June 15, 1941. In the shot

  are from the left, Jack Ingle, Howard Wilson (sitting on the front tire) and Phil Remington. All these boys were

  Santa Monica Low Flyers. Howard's T is pretty crude by todays standards but fast enough to turn 88.23 mph

  with a Cragar head on the B-motor. He later drove fellow Flyer member Stu Hilborn's Streamliner/Lakester

  and become the first ever to set a record at the lakes of 150 mph.  As a little reminder that yes indeed land

  speed racing is still going strong, and I do live in the present sometimes, I've included a snapshot of Chet

  Herbert's last streamlier that had more than its fair share of bugs. The wild thing about this car was the motor

  and driveline. Chet whittled the block, heads etc. from chunks of aluminum as only he could.  The front wheel

  drive car featured three 30" Mickey's up front and a weird rear wheel steer setup with one tire in what looked

  like a cast off Harley fork setup that was trailing. The two fins in the rear were to assist in sreering the thing.

  Needless to say the setup didn't work. The torque steer prevented the car from even thinking about going

  straight in some runs at Bonneville. You could probably even call it a motorcycle as it was on two wheels a

  couple of times and almost rolled over. Yes he cut the car up but kept the engine and three tire setup. That is

  now going in yet another one of his creations, this time a rear drive liner designed by the man himself on his

  computer.

1) I'm looking for photos of my dad Buddy Cagle racing midgets in the 1950's, can you help.  Buddy Cagle

  Jr  Scagle2828@aol.com
 

2) I really like how the obits have gone, including Barbara along with Wally, which is  the way I always

  knew them. I hope you share my feelings. You have been doing a great job, keeping the museum well

  publicized since the loss of your dad. I will send you a copy of my novel in the hope that you will review

  it for your rabid constituency.  A fan who came to Carlsbad to meet me not long ago hounded

  Amazon.com till he found a copy of my original book, "The Fastest Men in the World -- on Wheels,"

  published in the early '70s by World Publishing. In your list of reviews I didn't note it, which I regret. I

  don't know how to recover this for you, but I do know how to get an autographed copy of "Blood on

  the Wall" to you and will do so as soon as possible. It's on Indy car racing during the USAC period,

  but I'm sure you will feel at home with the subject. -- Deke Houlgate houlgate@sbcglobal.net 
3) I keep hearing “the car guys think we have too many classes” and we have to reduce the number of

  classes.  Why make this a car vs motorcycle issue? I keep asking what is the problem are we trying to

  solve? Bookkeeping, tech inspection, number of entrants, track damage, etc.  The perception is that

  reducing the number of classes will solve the long lines and short number of runs at Bonneville and this

  perception is sadly misguided.  You could cut the classes in half and if we had the same type, number

  of entrants and procedures, nothing would change.  Motorcycles had historically represent 30-40% of

  the entries, runs and records.  I don’t have access to all records in digital form so some of this is from

  the Speed Week Official Results.  This year at Speed Week motorcycles were: 32% of entries, 31% of

  runs, 42% of records, the slowest MC record was 33.4mph 50cc, but the second slowest was 50.7mph

  from a 650cc HD.  Who would have predicted that a 650cc would run that slow?  Attached right off

  the SCTA website yesterday are 2 spreadsheets reflecting 40+ years of reality, not theory, not minimums.

  Not classes that don’t exist or never existed but real records.  Where all you need to do was make two

  runs against ALL those potential open classes and guess what?  Cars 648 record, bikes 480 records,

  42%.  A proposal:  I think we can solve the perceived problem by requiring and informing every slow

  VEHICLE that cannot break 100mph, MUST exit at the 2 mile or lose your qualifying run.  This is car

  and motorcycles…just like the rookie run…unless you are running on a 100mph record or have run

  100mph at EM (for the open class issue)...You must exit at the 2 mile or lose that run.  At Speed Week,

  there were 7 car records under 100 mph this year and 24 motorcycle records under 100 mph.  I just

  picked 100 mph, there could be a better number.  My proposal would not be a rule change, just a

  procedural change.  Procedures for El Mirage and Bonneville will always be different because of the

  nature of the racing and venue.  Derek McLeish            Derek: According to the Minutes of the SCTA

  1937-1948, unpublished, the SCTA was tempted to buy the land and pave a runway for cars to race on that

  would allow continued usage.  Perhaps it is the methods and not the length of the course that causes delays?

Editor's notes: This email was received in March 2007.

4) To all of our friends....or more appropriately "extended family", I say THANK YOU from the bottom

  of my heart for all of your concerns and thoughtful words.  Many of you have heard that my Dad left

  us  this last Saturday morning due to liver cancer.  Everything happened so fast it's still hard for me to

  accept.  In short, I took him to Long Beach Memorial on Feb 16th because he was very week and

  delusional.  He spent the night....then another night, and on it went until the doctor informed me on

  Sunday Feb 25th what was going on.  He was moved to a nursing home, and finally a hospice home

  where he was in great care for his last remaining days.  I was told he had 3 to 6 months left; 13 days

  later he was gone.  Per his wishes, there will be a private memorial service for family only.   I will be

  hosting an event in his honor in the near future(probably at the Peterson), and promise to keep every

  body informed when I have a final date and details.  It's going to be an evening of some serious bench

  racing!  I apologize to those I haven't returned phone calls yet, but will do so shortly.  Again, thank you 

  for your thoughts, and I look forward to seeing all you soon very soon.  Sincerely, Rex McAfee  
5) Good to meet with you again and talk about those wonderful early dry lake years. The best times of my

  life, when we had the two day meets right after the war, 1946 -1949. I would go up on Thursdays with

  Harvey Haller and Frank Breen to assist J. Otto Crocker set up the timing lights and the timing stand.

  Also we would try to choose a good course. The Lake bed was always tricky. We would camp out by a

  little row of Cypress trees and dream of going fast. Thank you for a wonderful evening and your courtesy.

  I hope we can keep in contact.   Doug Harrisonn    Readers: Doug Harrison worked for the Miller Brothers

  in the 1940's and was with Ak at the Carrera PanAmericana Road races in the 1950's.  His heart was stolen by

  a young lady while in Leon, Mexico on a stop during the race and he married her.  It was one of Ak Miller's

  favorite stories and he retold it often.  Doug is one that we have to interview for stories about the 1940's dry

  lakes experience.

Editor's notes: Received in March 2007.

6) DEUCE: The Definitive Documentary on an American Icon.  The DEUCE documentary is now avail

  able at our online store!  STARRING Lil' John Buterra, Ray Brown, Alex Xydias, Jeff Beck, Jay Leno,

  Billy F Gibbons and Chip Foose, Ed Iskenderian, Robert Williams, Wally Parks, Robert Petersen and

  many more...This one hour documentary celebrates the history of the ’32 Ford.  From Detroit to the

  dry lakes and drag strips to Hollywood and the Billboard charts, this film captures the essence of one

  of America’s most enduring legacies, as told by the legends who made it all happen.  Full of never-

  before-seen film footage and photos from the AHRF archives, this is a film for gearheads and anyone

  interested in American history and culture. Visit our store and get your copy today!  Get 20% off the

  listed price when you become an AHRF member!  www.ahrf.com/store.php   All net proceeds from

  dvd sales go to The American Hot Rod Foundation and help us further preserve and promote hot rod

  history.  The AHRF is a 501(c)3 charity.

Editor's notes: Received in March 2007.

7) Rick Stewart did announcing for me at Laguna, teamed with Bruce Flanders ... Art Glattke

  "Sacramento Radio Vet Rick Stewart Dies.  Written for the web by Jason Kobely, Internet News Producer  

  Radio personality Rick Stewart, a veteran news anchor who spent more than 30 years on Sacramento air-

  waves during stints at KFBK and KRAK, died Friday afternoon at Mercy San Juan Hospital.  Stewart, who

  most recently anchored the KFBK News at Noon, had been hospitalized several weeks battling a kidney

  ailment. After starting his broadcast career in Nebraska, Stewart became a Sacramento radio fixture starting

  in 1974 on then Gold County 1140 KRAK.  Stewart, known to friends for his wry wit, encyclopedic know-

  ledge of country music and a passion for auto racing, joined KFBK sister station KSTE in 1992. Over his

  15-year stint at KSTE and KFBK, Stewart filled a variety of roles, including several years as co-anchor of

  the KFBK Afternoon News.  Stewart was a former NASCAR driver, who kept a hand in the sport for more

  than 20 years as the radio voice of Grand Prix events at Long Beach and Laguna Seca.  Stewart is survived

  by his wife Nina, son Michael and daughter Andrea.

8) Could anyone tell me which year Jack Mendenhall was born? Or even better, exact date of birth thanks. 

  Henry Astor    Henry: Jack's son, Mark can be reached at Vvulture@hwy246.net.