We Think We’ve Done It!

February 21, 2012

Forever we’ve had problems with receiving e-mails sent to us at the foundation. After getting nowhere with trying to fix it, it was time to do a hot rod fix and follow the old KISS form of thinking with scrapping the e-mail deal and going with something us simple folks can deal with and that’s called a telephone. If you need to reach us now all you have to do now is call. We can be reached at 818-846-5139. This one will work because it my home number and I’m about two feet away from it 24-7 unless were out there taking pictures or crawling under a car somewhere.

The cool thing about the change is it’s already starting to work for you and I. Longtime Bonneville racer Gary Harstock gets credit for starting the ball rolling. Monday we received a package from him with some great little goodies in it. With every package there is always a little frosting and this one definitely had some in the guise of a few rolls of color film from around 50 years ago. It’s at the lab being transferred to a digital format as we speak. We can’t wait to take a look at the way it was back in the good old days of land speed and dragging.

While we’re waiting it won’t stop us from looking at some of his shots from Speedweek back in ‘59. What better way than to start off with seeing the nose of Gary’s ’57 Corvette that ran in Class B Grand Touring fitted with the car’s unpowered mode of transportation called a tow bar (GHC_014). It was a longer and slower way to get to the salt from the Oakland area but then again things were a lot simpler back then. The Vette was fitted with a tricked out for the day 327″ and ran 133.72 mph for a second in class. That was just a tad slower than the World’s Ugliest Bird entry that finished first with a 134.93 mph lap. They were both just a bit a short of the 162.602 mph record set the year before. In the background we see the Stecker-Golden entry from San Pedro. The ’34 three window had a supercharged 250″ Dodge under the hood and ran 173.07 mph for a first in class against the 175.696 mph record set two years earlier.

The Quincy Automotive, Brissette Brothers & Eichenhofer Lakester is seen getting ready to take a lap at Bonneville in 1959 and was snapped by Gary himself at the starting line. (GHC_021). The tank was entered in two classes, as number 2 in Class A Lakester and as number 11 in Class B Lakester. They ran the car in Class B first off on Wednesday the 26th. The engine installed was a supercharged 299″ Chrysler and had Bob Brissette behind the wheel. He clicked the lights at 232.40 mph but had to settle for second in class against Tom Beatty’s run of 240.80 mph. On Friday the 28th it was team-mate Howard Eichenhofer’s turn to drive. They switched to a 355″ Blown Chrysler for a Class A go and Howard took off. He was having a good run and just as he clicked the final lights at 238.09 mph went into a spin consisting of 18 loop-de-loops. When they checked to see how they had fared against old Tom Beatty, who had also switched classes, had had piped them by a mere .47 mph to grab first place. Bummer!

While were on exotica at the salt lets have a look at J. A. Stallings Ferrari from Phoenix, AZ (GHC_004). He showed up at Speedweek in 1959 with a car that’s most likely worth over a million bucks today. Not being an expert on the prancing horses I contacted our friend Terry Baldwin who knows things exotic and filled me-us in on a few details. The car is a 410 Superamerica and carried serial number1285. Mr. Stalling was listed as the car’s first owner and it had the distinction of being the third of three cars made in its limited series. The Lampredi designed V-12 engine displaced 4.9 Liters from the factory but our program said it was a 302 incher so who knows. In the end the car ran 151.77 mph to take third in class out of eight entries. Not to shabby for a possible daily driver, and lets just hope J.A. cleaned it up real good back then so there’s something left of it today.

For a different kind of exotic lets go back to the salt with Gary in 1960 and spy on one Triumph powered motorcycle called a streamliner (GHC_008). Triumph dealer Bill Martin came all the way from Burbank with this missile wanting to scream across the salt. For locomotion it had a 498cc Triumph lurking behind Bill’s back. Unfortunately there were no motorcycle results published by the S.C.T.A. as the AMA was in charge of the cycle runs. It’s to late to call Bill’s sons, Dale and Lonnie, right now but I bet they have his speeds. Tomorrow should bring us some answers. In ‘59 Bill had run the bike with a 12″ single-cylinder Triumph power plant and had set a AMA Formula SC record of 139.83 mph. His quickest one way at 149.315 mph.

On Saturday the Milers Car Club had their once a year meeting at Doug Robinson’s shop so it was a must attend. After some Chili made by the “Preacher” (it was goooood) Dan Warner and I had to split before things got jumping as there was a special seminar being held at the NHRA Museum. This was no wimpy deal as Gail Banks was Mr. MC and the panel of talkers consisted of Ron Main, Co-owner of SpeedDemon, Kenny Duttweiler, Engine builder of the Demon, Al Teague, everybody’s Hero, Mike Akatiff, owner of the worlds fastest Motorcycle and Bruce Meyer, car nut and the latest victim of Salt Fever. It was as they say very interesting. Not ones to waste a great evening at the Museum, about an hour after the seminar the Sidewinders held their Annual Banquet in the same room. Needless to say to much food and liquid refreshments were consumed.

Outside the Museum, and between events, was this cool looking Deuce roadster gathering Pomona dust on a once shiny body (JMC_3629). This Deuce instantly reminded me that the more adventurous rod builders have been pushing the envelope by looking back to the past to figure out the future. In Chet Knox’s treasure trove of old time shots I found the perfect car for you to look at then decide if the new Deuce’s grill-shell doesn’t pay homage to our next shot (CKC_3629) taken way back on January 5, 1931. It’s Russ Garnant’s Miller powered dirt car with driver Floyd Roberts behind the wheel. This car won the last 100 lapper for single seat cars at Legion Ascot the day the picture was taken. It doesn’t have the swoopy radius rods like the deuce, but then again the Deuce doesn’t have to be beefy enough to take on chuckholes all crossed up at 80 mph. In our retro rod world i’m still waiting for GNRS entrant to to step up and bolt a big old ugly plate on the outside of their frame-body and use a cap off an slightly used con rod to anchor their cross steering. While were at it why not ditch the newer heim joint-Ford steering ball joints type setup that everybody uses on the rear radius rods and retro back the way old racecars did it in the day.

Lets look at a side view of or Deuce for a moment (JMC_3630). I dig the headrest fairing and wire wheels but somehow they just don’t look right. When you start digging weird graphics on the old cars really set them apart so why not. Now take a peek at our next shot, the Ray Brady ride with George Fonder up at the Langhorn, PA  dirt track in ‘48 (CKC-864). If you’re an Indy fan you might recognize it as the mount George Robson won the ‘46 500 in. Like the Deuce it’s got wire wheels but check out those monster backing plates with swiss cheese holes in them. It takes the car over the top in the looks department. It makes you wondered why anybody would want Buick drums when you could step up to something like this. Another cool touch besides the headrest fairing and rear of hood louvers to let the heat out is the oil tank and radiator tank caps flying out in the breeze.

I like stirring the pot and getting people thinking, these days most builders are stuck in the I gotta use this part or that one because that’s the way so and so did it on Jan.12 1949 at 11:30 PM. The heck with that.

But waite, with Monday (today) being a goof off day a road trip was taken to AHRF contributor Leslie Schlom’s shop for a little bench racing. Seems Les’ dad exited his racing business exploits sometime during WWII but left us with a great legacy that no one knows about. He helped one Vic Edelbrock with some bucks to turn his little repair shop business into an empire. His tire company in the hands of new owner Bill Kretch took the name Inglewood Tire Company and turned into the go-to place for race tires in the L. A. area. His old business location and more dinero set up Jack Andrews and Louis Senter’s new venture called Ansen Automotive. We got some more new stuff to scan for you thanks to Les.

To finish off the late afternoon before Mr. Computer beckoned, a dinner with the man, so far 90 racing seasons and counting, made this one special day. Thanks Doty.