On The First Part Of The Journey

© 2006 Bill Ott

I was reminded of the line, “Happiness is Lubbock, Texas my rear view mirror” (1) as I watched the lights of Wilcox fade to an invisible twinkle in my own rear view. Quite a place, Wilcox, Arizona.

Everything’s broke.

Gas pumps, kitchen appliances, bathrooms, roads. Hell... even the cash register in the TA.*

“Sorry... we don’t take credit cards here,” the waitress said, all the while keeping a perfectly straight face, as I tried in vain to pay for breakfast with plastic. I though to myself “She’s gotta be joking. Right?”

Wrong. Turned out she wasn’t. Now this is serious stuff... think about it. Here we are at one of the links in what is probably the largest chain of truck stops in the good ol' USA... and they ain’t taking credit cards today! Sure am glad all we took on was two orders of biscuits and gravy instead of say... oh, two hundred plus gallons of number two diesel fuel! Imagine the look of surprise on that truckers face! “Ah... that’ll be five hundred dollars, cash only sir.” But, I guess that’s why truckers make the big bucks, huh?

Ah... but here we are just a few minutes later Westbound on I-10, the rising sun at our backs... with all memories of our visit to Wilcox completely erased from our memory banks. Permanently erased too, I might add. You see, none of the gizmos that print receipts were working either. So we just managed to spend an hour or so in some small mysterious town in the Arizona desert, and buy gas and breakfast without leaving a paper trail of any sort. Makes you wonder... did it really happen? Before dropping by Wilcox I would advise checking first with the local Chamber of Commerce and inquire if the town's been ‘fixed’ yet. That is... if the phones are working.

But we got more important things on our minds than malfunctioning machinery.

Yes sir. This Friday morning The Boopster and I are headed for the ‘burbs of Phoenix, Arizona. Speedworld Raceway Park to be exact. Seems that the legendary and cryptic Standard 1320 Group is having their once yearly ‘Annual - Invitational - Race - Reunion - Gathering - Picnic - Memorial - Throw Down - Hootenanny’ (thanks for all the adjectives Ron). I’m hoping maybe this year to get some insider to teach me their secret handshake.

The rest of the ride was uneventful... we managed to get through Tucson just ahead of the morning traffic, and Phoenix just after the morning rush. We found ourselves at the entrance to Speedworld about 9:30 AM.

Now the Padrone of this whole deal is none other than Winslow Arizona’s own Ron Miller... or ‘Captain Ron’ as I like to call him. Ron’s already checked in with us twice this morning to make sure we had directions to Speedworld and knew which gate to use... oh, and he wanted to know about what time we figured we’d be arriving. Now tell me... does this guy know how to ram rod an event or what? Talk about paying attention to details!

Peter and Yvonne Broadribb... know collectively as the ‘Madbrits’... had beat us to the gate, and also to the distinction of being able to say we were the first ones here. Damned Englishmen!

This was my first opportunity to see the Freightliner chassied motor home - transporter they’d literally built from the ground up. Their Moody’s Garage ‘55 Chevy C/Gasser gets pulled around in real style now. These guys have done a great job on both the transporter and the Gasser.

I recall the first time I saw the Moody Gasser... it was being pulled around on an open trailer at the California Hot Rod Reunion a few years ago. It was left parked on the lot at the Vagabond Inn on Olive Ave. And some smart ass taped a homemade sign to the windshield that stated, “This is NOT an abandoned vehicle!” You’ve come a long way guys.

Hey... now's a good time to check this place out. Never been to Speedworld before; it’s quite an impressive facility. Right next to where we were parked was their Radio Controlled Model Airplane facility... complete with paved runways. Guess you could call it an airport. Already there were quite a few folks there flying planes at this early hour. Great stuff! There is also a RC Model Car track here, as well as (for the full-grown stuff) a Dirt Track, Sand Drags Strip, Motocross Track, and a Jr. Dragster track. This is quite an impressive facility, and damned easy to negotiate. It’s not as big as I made it sound and it’s laid out quite well. Even heard that the shut-off area is longer than Firebird Raceway’s over on the other side of town. Find out more at www.speedworldmotorplex.com

By the time someone had found the key to the gate and opened it up, there were quite a few more of us waiting to get in. I remember Ronnie Rapp, Bob Bradley, Ronnie Roberts, and Hal Sanguinetti among others whose names and faces slip my mind at the moment (sorry).

Speaking of Hal... one of the true unsung ‘heroes’ if this whole deal if there is one. Along with Captain Ron, Hal was busy tying up a lot of the loose ends that always come unraveled at one of these things... he also brought his own, just completed ‘Tigger’s Digger’... and also handled a lot of the announcing and logistics chores. Turns out, Hal is a Professional Announcer as well as the CEO of TNT Distributing/Torco Oils, the Phoenix area’s only Torco distributor. Sounds like a busy guy, no? Check out ‘Tigger’s Digger’ at http://spaces.msn.com/members/tiggersdigger

Now our original plan was to set up our canopy as part of the Standard 1320 member’s area. But Mother Nature had other ideas. The wind started picking up late in the morning and by mid-afternoon was unbearable. Blowing dust sucks! Heard that one or two Porta-Potties got blown over too. Oh... the humanity!

We decided to retire to the Best Western on Grand Avenue in Sun City, and ride the storm out, as it were. Gonna be a big gathering of Geezers and old farts later today and we’re gonna have to rest up a little to deal with that crowd. The Best Western was nice, and compared to some of the other places around here, a real ‘bargain’. A Four Star place.

Speaking of Four Stars... it was decided that tonight’s Dinner and Get-Together was going to be at the El Paso BBQ Company on Bell Road. No more than a mile or two from where we were staying. Again... hats off to Mr. Sanguinetti for the decision to have dinner here. Great food and service. The original plan was for all of us to be on the patio outside. Nope. Not with that wind blowing! The Boopster and I shared a table with Gary (Mr.’C’) and Marie Cochran, Don (The Wavemaker) Prieto, and a bunch of other characters as well as a few members of the Arizona Motorsports Hall of Fame.

By the time everyone was fed and starting to run out of lies to tell (well, almost) the wind wasn’t much of a factor anymore, so we all adjourned to the patio. Vintage racing videos were in the original plan out here on the patio, but again, the weather forced ‘Plan B’ upon us: a short speech by Captain Miller, some hilarious poetry and prose from Winslow Drag Strip Hall of Famer Floyd Martin, presentation of a well deserved plaque of recognition to our ‘man in charge,’ and a bit of copper art courtesy of Jim Davis.

Well... no point in hanging around here any longer. There’s a nice cool, wind and dust free motel room just up the street that’s calling to us.

***Hey... what a difference a day makes!***

Saturday morning we woke up to some of the finest weather you could imagine. It seemed all the more calm after a good night’s sleep... the tranquility of which was only occasionally shattered by the loud partying and general hell raising heard from the room next door. Those guys were jammin’! Ain’t gonna mention who they were, but I’m sure the ringleader knows who I’m talking about. MM?

Breakfast was almost a repeat of last night... well... not quite. But we did eat outside. Nothing like coffee, juice, and cereal under a cloudless sky, accompanied by music supplied by a few Mockingbirds and a Grackle or two.

The first thing we noticed upon arriving at the track? Something that was definitely missing yesterday. That’s right... race cars! Actually, there were three in attendance yesterday... the Madbrit’s ‘Moody Gasser’, Hal’s ‘Tigger’s Digger’, and Chris Stinson’s twin Chevy engined ‘Laff Clown’ but they were all kept under wraps because of the winds.

But today... way different! There were Drag Cars everywhere. Old ones, new ones, bracket cars, altereds, funny cars, front engine dragsters, rear engine dragsters, NITRO, alky, and gas burning cars.

Hey... how about this? After only fourteen hundred and twenty words we’re gonna finally mention race cars! Who knows? At this... rate we may even get around to reporting about an actual race or event of some sort.

Again, we managed to find ourselves getting the VIP treatment, parking within ten paces of where the Standard 1320 gang was headquartered. Our canopy wound up being part of their display area. And what a display it was.

Roger and Julie Lee brought along some of his renowned, built from scratch metal model miniature (munchkin?) dragsters. While over on the other side of the exhibit area, The Cactus Car Modelers Club had some of their handiwork on display. Sharing the area with the Cactus guys was Arizona Motorsports Hall of Fame member J.R. Bloom, who brought an absolutely amazing collection of photos and albums of images dating back to the very beginning of drag racing in Arizona. I only got to spend about a half hour checking out some of J.R.’s images with Standard 1320 Head Honcho Lee Schelin... but easily could have spent half the day. On my way out of this display, I ran into former Alcohol Funny Car racer Lyle Greenberg and his daughter Rachel who was competing with the family’s Albuquerque based Jr. Dragster. She made it all the way to the Jr. Dragster final later in the day... only to foul out. Hey... if you don’t get a red one every once in a while... you ain’t doing your job! Ok... where were we? Oh yeah, the stuff on display.

Ora Mae Millar brought along a ton of her late husband Pete’s ‘Drag Cartoons’ artwork to both enjoy and purchase. Also on display at the Millar booth was the previously mentioned copper artwork of Jim Davis. Jim also had his ‘The Purple Gang Kids’ Jr. Fuel dragster here. Jim’s been plagued by mechanical gremlins lately... here’s hoping he ‘exorcizes’ them soon.

Former Texas Fuel pilot and race car painter John Cox brought along some things from his racing days including a helmet, gloves, and his old Filler fire suit (circa 1970). Bob Filler was an employee of Simpson’s Safety Products who set out on his own in Costa Mesa, CA. Can’t find out a thing about the now defunct Filler Safety Products but did find out that both John and Shirley Muldowney wore Filler fire suits. Both were featured in ads appearing in National Dragster sometime in 1970. John moved away from our beloved Lone Star State and now calls Scottsdale, AZ home. John was accompanied by his son Gary. Standard 1320 member Rod McCarrell brought a table full of old books, posters, handouts, etc. to share with us all. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to really check it all out. There’s only twenty four hours in a day, ya know.

Also sitting in the display area was the yellow fuel dragster of Larry Steinegger and Al Eshenbaugh... and hey, I finally got to meet Al this year. Sitting next to the S&E digger was the beautiful Woody Gilmore built ‘Old Timer,’ with its multi hued blue paint and shiny Hemi. Paul Henderson brought a still under construction re-do of one of the early S and E diggers, this one based on a Scotty Fenn K-88 chassis. Gonna be a looker when it’s finished. The Steineggers (Larry and Jamie) along with Paul are also to be commended for bringing along a fifty-five gallon drum of NITRO purchased from Funny Car shoe Dale Pulde. The NITRO was dispersed among the Standard 1320 members for ‘Cacklin’ as a way of saying thanks to those who towed their cars here for all to enjoy.

Did he say towing? Wayne Luddington and partner John Hoffman made the long tow all the way from Florida with two diggers in the trailer! John’s is a Jimmy Billings built chassis with a 261” Chevy truck engine for power. The other was Wayne’s 1960 (!) Dragmaster chassied Flathead powered ride. The Dragmaster has been ‘tweaked’ over the years to keep up with safety regs but still looks brand new.

After the long ride to Arizona, the boys were itching to get out on the track. But John’s car had to be shut off as soon as it was fired in the pits. Sounded like the main bearings were damaged. That left Wayne’s flathead still in the hunt... that is until its second pass later in the day. The rear end broke just off the line putting an end to these guys’ racing.

But that’s alright... after a thirty-eight hour drive to get here, they were sure they had bragging rights for the longest ride to get here. Well, maybe not. It seems one of the original Frantic 4 guys... Dennis Holding... dropped in from Brazil to attend this one day gig! Now THAT’S a long distance ride! Don’t think he drove all the way though. But in spite of their hard luck, Wayne and John still obviously had a damn good time.

Hey... did he say Frantic 4? Why yes... he did. ‘Stormin’ Norman Weekly brought the famous fueler as well as the whole Frantic 4 set-up. Posters, photos, hats, Tee Shirts, NITRO pickles(?), your photo in the digger, hell - even ‘seat time’ as it Cackles were all available. Norm’s enthusiasm is always cool, too. And while we’re on the subject of enthusiasm... parked right next door... Dennis Prater had the magnificent Stellings and Hampshire ‘Red Stamp Special’ on display. You know, after all of these years (forty plus) the S&H dragster still gets my vote as the prettiest working dragster ever built. How many out there know it’s a ‘legs under’ car. Meaning... the driver sat with his legs underneath the rear axle. That’s what gives it that long and low look.

Parked directly across from these two beauties was the dragster that got the most stares and looks of bewilderment and/or amazement on the grounds. Ray Muller’s rear engined ‘Sidewinder’. Yep... the engine sits in it sideways! It’s also chain driven, the chain driving the center of BOTH live rear axles. That’s right... both rear axles... although the rear most axle may also be considered a sort of wheelie bar. Bill Turney (of Speed Sport Roadster fame) told me that Ray said, “There wasn’t anything in the rule book that said the wheelie bar wheels couldn’t be powered.” There’s hardly anything on this car that could be called ‘conventional.’ And the real beauty of this baby is... it was built in 1968! Look at that roll cage! And that’s a damn near bone stock Hemi that ran on pump gas. Ray is one of the Speed Sport crew and someday I hope to track him down and do a more ‘in depth’ feature on this beauty. Suffice to say, the ‘Winder’ was the center of attention all day.

Hey... you know what? I’m about tired of typing this thing and I’m sure you’re getting tired of reading it. How about we give this story a rest for a day or two (or three) and pick up where we left off. There’s still some more people and cars worthy of mention. And yes... there was some action out on the track as well. And don’t forget... we’ll be sharing that secret handshake... as soon as we learn it.

More old B.S. later.

Badco

Forward advise, rebuttals, and death threats to badco@elp.rr.com

**”A Horse With No Name”

©1972 Warner Brothers Music

Words and Music by Dewey Bunnell

Originally performed by ‘America’ from the Warner Brothers release of the same title

America could probably be described as the most popular Folk-Rock group of their era. Originally formed in England (all were sons of US Serviceman), this first self titled album spawned two hits... ‘A Horse With No Name’, which reached #1 in March of ‘72 (and remained there for three weeks) and ‘I Need You’, which peaked at #9 a few months later. The album itself reached #1 about a month after “Horse” and remained the top album for five weeks. America’s last Top 10 single was 1982’s "You Can Do Magic.” Ten years is a long time for any band to stay together and still make hits.

1. “Texas In My Rear View Mirror”

©1980 Polygram Music

Words and Music and vocal By Mac Davis

From the Columbia Records release of the same title

“Texas In My Rear View Mirror” was just one of a string of hits that Mac either performed himself or wrote for others. He penned “In The Ghetto” and “Daddy Don’t Cry” for Elvis. “Texas” peaked at #9 on BillBoard’s Top 40 Country Chart in 1980. Mac also hosted his own TV show and appeared in quite a few movies as well as on Broadway.

Again... a word of thanks to all of the usual characters here at the ranch, as well as ‘Captain’ Ron Miller, John Cox, The Madbrits, Hal Sanguinetti, the staff at Speedworld, and the whole gang over at El Paso BBQ Co.

THANKS BUD