Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

[WildcatOne]

My pick for Racer of the Week is Tony Betts, from Wickford, Essex, United Kingdom. Tony was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, Lee Cohen. Thanks, Lee! Tony's '34 Ford Supercharged Outlaw Fuel Altered is on the graphic for his feature, but there are many outstanding hot rods in his life. He drove Funny Cars in the 1980s, ran Fuel Altereds all throughout his career in Drag Racing, notably the Venom Fiat Fuel Altered which unfortunately experienced one of the most devastating crashes at the European Finals at Santa Pod in 2009 that Tony walked away from, but it led to a new era in his Drag Racing life.

Tony drove Richard Hartman's Nostalgia Funny Car at the 2015 California Hot Rod Reunion, and his name as a driver is world-known and respected by all. The '34 features a blown Chrysler Hemi and although it has the look and stance of a street rod, it's drag racing only, however the chassis is all-tube on top and has a stock pan underneath. The '55 Chevy that Tony has is his street rod, and the '34 is quite a sight to behold when it makes appearances in the UK. Tony has been in Drag Racing for decades, and his current ride is sensible as well as competitive. We look forward to seeing what he comes up with next. Tony Betts, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

Tonight will be the last segment on the first Supergroup, Cream, and it centers on the most enigmatic and complicated personality in the band, the great Eric Clapton. Eric Patrick Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England in 1945 to a 16-year-old mom and an absentee Dad. He was raised by his grandparents, believing that the girl he grew up with was his sister. He withdrew in his teens when he learned the truth, and he began seriously playing guitar when he was 15 years old. He was enthralled by American Blues music, and he patterned his style on that of the great Robert Johnson, whose 29 recordings from the 1930s have yet to be bettered.

Eric got real good, real fast. By the time he was 18 in 1963, he joined the Yardbirds, an electric Blues Band that stretched the limits of the genre. His style was a lot like Buddy Guy, Freddie and BB King, but with his own tone. During his time with the Birds, he was given the nickname "Slowhand", which had a reference to every time he broke a string, he'd replace it onstage and the crowd would do a slow hand clap while he was fixing his instrument. The Yardbirds went commerical with their recording of "For Your Love", which was written by Graham Gouldman, who later formed 10cc and Clapton was not pleased, being a blues purist. He left the band the day "For Your Love" was released and joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. While with that band, he became the greatest electric guitar player in England. "Clapton Is God" was painted on walls throughout London. There is no doubt that he was playing like the devil himself, but he was still not happy or settled into his role.

This is the main feature about Eric Clapton that has run through his life. He was never satisfied or happy with his life, and his personal life was never completely fulfilled. So after a gig in 1966, Ginger Baker made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Let's put a supergroup together. Clapton's only rider on that gig was that Baker's nemesis, Jack Bruce, would be the bass player. It was a formula for success and failure at the same time, but Baker agreed and Cream began their rocky climb to the top of the rock world.

Cream was arguably the best live musical act in the world. Each member was known as the very best you could get at their respective positions, and the icing on the cake was Clapton's unbelievably fluid and precise yet bluesy style. He was like no other. In his early 20s and with a head full of far-reaching ideas, he covered musical territory with Cream that had never been done before.

Yet behind the scenes, there was constant trouble and friction going on in that band, with the trouble being drugs and the friction being the Baker-Bruce war. Clapton grew weary of trying to reconcile the fights between the other two, and he became withdrawn and reclusive in the last year of the band's existence. This is when I saw them live. Another factor in Clapton's life was that after collaborating and playing on George Harrison's Wonderwall Music album, he found himself hopelessly in love with George's wife, Patti Boyd. Harrison and Clapton remained friends, but Clapton was heart-renderingly in love with that woman. I can't figure that out, but I wasn't involved, thank God, so I can only say what happened. He developed a nasty drug problem and by the time Cream's last album "Goodbye" came out, there was no more band.

Eric Clapton quickly put a new supergroup together called Blind Faith, but after one record and a shaky tour, it disbanded and Clapton went home and stayed there for the next few years, trying to sort out his life. He did go on the road for a while with Delaney and Bonnie, and recruited most of their band to record his solo album in 1971, but he pretty much stayed out of the limelight until Pete Townsend dragged him out of the haze and had him play a comeback concert in 1973, and star in his movie, Tommy as the high priest. He also showed up sick for George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh but he got through it and went straight home afterwards.

Even though Cream was a fantastic band, the late 60s and early 70s were purgatory for Eric Clapton. He has since conquered his demons and went on to make some of the best music ever over the last 45 years, and we're all very happy for him. It's strange that I thought the best music he ever made was when he was totally miserable in his personal life...he invented "Woman Tone" with his custom-painted Gibson SG run into a Marshall amp stack, but what he wanted was peace in his life, which was a long, hard way from getting there when he was in Cream.

I want to thank Danny White for his input and advice in doing these segments. Next week I'm going to start the story of what is probably the greatest American band of all time, Steely Dan.

Y'all be sure to tune in tomorrow evening at 7 PM Eastern on Racers Reunion Radio for Racing Through History. It's Thee Goat Rodeo you don't want to miss! Thanks, I'll see y'all next week.

[WildcatOne]

My pick for Racer of the Week is Bryan Gomes, from Kaneohe, on the ilsand of Oahu, Hawaii. Bryan was recommended to me by our friend in Hilo, Michael Baba Balbarino. Thanks, Michael! Bryan's '69 Chevy Camaro is not only a beautiful piece of machinery, it's also the Fast Gas Track Champion at Maui and at Hilo.

I was surprised last week to get a phone call from Bryan, and he related his story to me. Bryan Gomes is a third-generation Hawaiian Drag Racer. His grandfather got the family into it when drag racing was just beginning to catch on in Hawaii. From chatting with Bryan, I was amazed to hear for the first time a native Hawaiian speak. It's a beautiful dialect, with equal elements of English and Polynesian throughout.

He told me that he's had this car for 20 years. It started out as a street car and once he took it to the drag strip and made a pass in it, he went to work on it and it's been a full-race car ever since. Over the years, it has been modified again and again. Bryan and his crew back-halved the car first, then they front-halved it so that it now sits on a tube chassis. They also did all the bodywork necessary to accommodate the scoop.

The 427 hooked up to a PowerGlide gives plenty of power to run 8.50s at over 150 mph in the quarter mile. Bryan doesn't take all the credit for his success. His crew includes his Dad, his wifeLeah, Edna and a couple of his buddies. He said he couldn't have had the success he's enjoyed if it wasn't for these people backing him up with all of his projects.

Bryan is shipping the car to the track at Maui Memorial Day to run the big event there. I was staggered to learn that it costs Bryan $6200 to ship the car to another island, but his dedication to Drag Racing is all that matters to him. Good luck at that race on Memorial Weekend, Bryan, and we wish you safe racing and the best of times in the future.

In all of American Music History, there has never been a band like Steely Dan. The songwriting team of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker has produced some unforgettable songs and they've been a huge influence on me in my songwriting and studio production projects. If the Beach Boys were about surf, sun, girls, hot rods and fun, Steely Dan was the antithesis of those ideals, with songs about crime, hate, loss, crooked business, drugs and divorce. But that just scratches the surface of what was behind the Dan's image and substance.

The original band only toured for 2 years and gave up the road for life in the studio, before it broke up, and they ended up using an army of the best session musicians in the world to perfect their ideas. The production team of Roger Nichols and Gary Katz was to Steely Dan what George Martin was to the Beatles. Both Becker and Fagen acknowledge those 2 guys' involvement as absolutely essential to their sound.

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen met by chance when they were both attending Bard College in Annondale, New York in 1968. They found that they had converging interests in music, and they began writing songs together. They began playing in local groups together, lived like Beatniks and lived a very unhealthy lifestyle. But they were good, and they got noticed. In one of the bands they had called the Bad Rock Group and later the Leather Canary, Chevy Chase was the drummer. Fagen later said that it was the only time in his life that he actually had friends.

After Fagen graduated from Bard in 1969, they moved to Brooklyn and started to pitch their songs on the Brill Building scene. A couple of gigs came out of it. Barbra Streisand recorded "I Mean To Shine" on her Barbra Joan Streisand album, and they worked on the soundtrack to the Richard Pryor movie, called You've Got To Walk It Like You Talk It Or You'll Lose That Beat. Becker said they did it for the money, but I have the bootleg of their songs from that movie, and in my opinion it's as good as anything Steely Dan ever did. It was Kenny Vance, who produced Jay and the Americans, who gave them a break, and they went on tour with that band for 2 years. Jay Black didn't like them, but it gave them road experience and a solid training in professional music elements.

It was around this time that Gary Katz offered them positions as staff songwriters and they moved to LA and met Roger Nichols. Katz and Nichols saw incredible potential in the duo, but they all realized that their songs were too complex for any standard roster of talent, so he signed them as recording artists. They put together a band with guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff Batxter, drummer Jim Hodder and vocalist David Palmer. They named the band Steely Dan after the steam-powered steel dildo in the William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.

Fagen insisted on having a singer because he was uncomfortable singing in front of an audience and he said he was self-conscious about bearing a resemblance to Victor Mature, but David Palmer's time with the band was only for the first couple of albums until Fagen was convinced by Katz and Nichols to take over the signature sound of Steely Dan vocals. After David Palmer left the group, he co-wrote the song "Jazzman" with Carole King. Anyway, the wheels were turning for the band, and they recorded their first album, "Can't Buy A Thrill" and it was released in 1972, containing 3 singles that are now classic rock staples: Do It Again, Reelin' In The Years, and Dirty Work.

This was the band we saw play on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert when those hits came out. The second album, Countdown To Ecstasy, was not as commercially successful as the first album, but it contained some amazing material. Show Biz Kids, and My Old School were the singles that were released from that album, with Show Biz Kids featuring some blistering slide guitar from Rick Derringer, but my favorite songs from that album were Black Friday and Boddhisattva.

They were required to tour to support the records, and Becker and Fagen abhorred the very idea of touring. They wanted to stay at home and write songs, not go out on the road for thousands of endless miles and put up with the hype and absurdity of rock stardom. By the time their third album Pretzel Logic was released, the band broke up over not touring or playing live, and that was OK with some but not all of them. Jeff Baxter left to join the Doobie Brothers and went on the conquer the world with them, Jim Hodder still played occasionally on Dan sessions, and Denny Dias stayed with Becker and Fagen.

Pretzel Logic is arguably Steely Dan's best effort as a band. Rikki Don't Lose That Number and East St. Louis Toodle-oo were chart hits, and it was the first time Walter Becker was featured with the band playing guitar. Becker said once he heard the bass player Chuck Rainey play, he decided he didn't need to play bass for the band anymore. They were still having fun, it was an extremely creative and fantastic time for Steely Dan, and the best (and the worst) was yet to come.

Thanks to Danny White for his input and advice in helping me put these segments together. His calls on these shots have been perfect.

Y'all be sure to tune in tomorrow evening at 7 PM Eastern on Racers Reunion Radio for Racing Through History. It's Thee Goat Rodeo you don't want to miss! Thanks, I'll see y'all next week.

[Wheelzman]

Beautiful race car from the Islands. Us mainland bound souls need to take note of the absurd cost of living on the islands as it is way costly. Whew, that is outrageous. Kudos to Bryan for being such a dedicated racer.

Cat, I didn't know Chevy Chase had such musical talent so I researched him and found that he is also an accomplished pianist. Many talents under one hat for that guy. Thanks for the info on Fagen and strange as I have been listening to him for the last few weeks on youtube. What a talent!

[WildcatOne]

Thanks, Wheelz...this week was full of talent with Bryan as Racer of the Week and Fagen and Becker from Steely Dan. Best, WC1

[pro70z28]

WC you stayin' dry down there?

[Wheelzman]

Yeah, is your litter box high and dry??????????????????????

[WildcatOne]

Last I checked it was still dry in there, Wheelz!

I'd like to start my segment tonight by asking for a moment of silence in honor of the great artist, Prince. Thank you for your incredibly fantastic music, for helping so many to achieve their dreams, and for creating an image and persona that will never be outdone, Prince. May you rest in peace, your majesty.

My pick for Racer of the Week is Jen Gibbons, from Wellington, New Zealand. Jen is racing in a 3-car team for which she and her Dad Matt and her boyfriend Shane are the main ingredients. Jen is one of the most popular and well-known drag racers in New Zealand, and she sent me the following information about her cars and her life in racing. She said:

We have a1968 Dodge Dart Engine: 426 Hemi Trans: 727 Auto Diff: Dana 60 Best ET and mph 10.1 at 133 The Dart was purchased by my dad Matt in Christchurch, NZ in fairly rough shape in 1986, and He built it as a ground up resto as a replica of a super stock car. It wasDebuted in 1987. I started Racing the dart in 2013 in super sedan, that year i won the nz super sedan class for the 2013/14 season. The Dart gets towed around by dads 1968 440 J2 Bedford truck.

1968 Plymouth GTX Convertable 440 6pak Chrysler engine 727 Auto 8 3/4 Best Et and mph is 13.3 at 101 Also purchased from christchurch in bits as the previous owner had pulled it apart with the intention to restore it but that never happened. We started, cleaning and putting her back together in about 2005, finished in 2006 we took her to the 2006, and 2007 beach hop in whangamata Its a pretty original # matching car (altho currently not in the car we are saving the original motor and trans for her retirement) we have kept it original, all the original paint, shopping & trolley dents etc. Started racing her in 2007, raced her for 5 years before i was offered the dart for a bit of a change of pace! Still pull her out for the annual port road street drags and the occasional meet.

1989 Dodge daytona 440 Chrysler (soon to be 426 Hemi tho) 727 Auto trans Dana 60 rear end Best Et 9.3 at 145 Car was purchased in 2010, Was also in rough shape, He spent a year fixing it up and debuted at the fundrester event for masterton motorplex in 2011 Dad Matt got 3nz wins for super sedan in the 2013/14 season Was Built along the lines of the Pro stock cars produced by the Wayne county speed shop
This season dad and i swapped cars, and i raced the daytona for the first 1/2 of the season, however unforantly we had motor troubles with the 440 and we took it out and replaced it with the hemi, which we hope to bring back out next month.

Jen Gibbons, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

My favorite Steely Dan album by far is The Royal Scam. It is often overlooked in recounting this band's finest moments, but in 1976 I was completely knocked over backwards by this album. It's by far the Dan's most guitar-oriented album, and although it doesn't actually feature a hit single, there were several songs on it that to me are unforgettable. I was tremendously influenced as a songwriter by the diversity of the songs on The Royal Scam, but it was the totally uninhibited passion that the players delivered that grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I became a Steely Dan advocate and disciple from then on.

The next album, the jazz-influenced Aja, was one of the first American albums to be certified platinum with sales of over one million units. The smooth-flowing, easy sound that the band produced won them an engineering award, but in my world, after The Royal Scam, I wouldn't say it was a letdown, but it was not an overpowering piece of music to me. The Dan planned to tour behind this new album, but the tour never happened when the band members started comparing pay. After the album's fantastic success, Becker and Fagen were offered to write the title track for the movie FM. The movie was a disaster, but the song was a hit and became a staple of classic rock stations from then on.

They suspended their writing partnership for most of 1978 before they began to work on the next album, Gaucho. The project was plagued with legal, technical and personal problems, and at the completion of the album, Becker and Fagen suspended their partnership for over a decade. Turmoil in Becker's personal life and a terrible accident with him being hit by a taxi in New York put him out of action for a long time.

Despite its tortured story, Gaucho was another fantastic success. Hey Nineteen hit #10 on the pop charts, and time Out Of Mind, featuring Mark Knopfler, was another hit. Roger Nichols won another engineering grammy, but the band split up in 1981. Donald Fagen released his first solo album, The Nightfly, and I enjoyed Fagen's style as a solo artist. Walter Becker moved his family to Maui and became an avocado rancer and critic of contemporary music. He gave up using drugs, and began to feel much better after having been through hell in New York for several years.

Fagen wrote the score for the movie Bright Lights, Big City and wrote a song for the soundtrack and did occasional work as an independent producer. He most notably produced the British group China Crisis' album, and Becker produced Fagen's second solo album called Kamakiriad, which Fagen later said was the most satisfying experience of his career.

The two reunited for an American tour to support Kamakiriad under assumed names, and although the album was nominated for a grammy award, it sold poorly. MCA released an anthology of the band's recorded work, and the band toured the world to support its release. When it ended, they went back into the studio to do another album.

Two Against Nature was their first studio album in 20 years: It won four Grammy Awards: Best Engineered Album – Non-Classical, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal ("Cousin Dupree"), and Album of the Year. In the summer of 2000, they began another American tour, followed by an international tour later that year. They released the Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party DVD, which documented a live-in-the-studio concert performance of popular songs from throughout their career. In March 2001, Steely Dan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2003 Steely Dan released Everything Must Go and began a new tour. In contrast to their earlier work, they had tried to write music that captured a live feel. Becker sang lead vocals on a Steely Dan studio album for the first time ("Slang of Ages" — he had sung lead on his own song, "Book of Liars" on Alive in America). Fewer session musicians played on Everything Must Go than had become typical of previous Dan albums: Becker played bass on every track and lead guitar on five tracks; Fagen added piano, electric piano, organ, synthesizers, and percussion on top of his vocals.

Since Everything must go, Steely Dan has dedicated itself to touring and performing. Several worldwide and American tours have all been tremendously successful, and the future for these two supremely gifted artists is as bright now as it was in the beginning. Their endless supply of original, creative and inspiring music shows no signs whatsoever of dimming, and we can look forward to being treated to live performances by Steely Dan for some time to come. To me, it's a story with a happy ending, but it hasn't ended and I doubt that it ever will.

Thanks to Danny White for his input and advice in helping me put these segments together. Your calls have always been right on the money, and I appreciate your help, Danny.

Y'all be sure to tune in tomorrow evening at 7 PM Eastern on Racers Reunion Radio for Racing Through History. It's Thee Goat Rodeo you don't want to miss! Thanks, I'll see y'all next week.

[Wheelzman]

[WildcatOne]

My pick for Racer of the Week is Laura Landry, from Selbyville, Delaware. Laura was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, Jack Alloway. Thanks, Jack! Division 1 Sportsman Drag Racing is fiercely competitive, and Laura is one of the top runners there. She sent me the following information...she said:

I have been racing for 16 years now. I started out in a Jr Dragster then transitioned over to Super pro and ran super street also throughout the years. I have won both NHRA and IHRA Best Engineering awards in 2015 along with 2013 Super Pro Championship at US 13 Dragway.

The car is a 1967 Chevelle with a 434 small block chevy, it has been 9.31 at 143 mph.

I have always had the goal of being able to run pro stock and even wanting to run over 200 mph before the age of 30. Recently I got the interest of running in the top sportsman class also.

Thanks to my parents and family for all their support. WBOC 16 in Salisbury, MD , NAPA in Middletown, DE, Triton Strength out of Ocean City, MD.

That's Laura Landry, Racer of the Week. Laura, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

Last week I left off when ZZ Top decided to take a break in the late 70s. They released the album El Loco which had some of their racier material, such as Pearl Necklace, 10-Foot Pole, and Tube Snake Boogie. Great album and great songs, but they'd been going full-force for 10 years straight, and it was time to kick back and enjoy their success and fortunes.

During the break, Dusty and Billy grew chest-length beards and this became a major feature of their act in the future. Frank struggled to overcome personal problems and he came out healthy and bright, ready for the next challenge. Dusty had a mishap when he was taking off his boots one night and the pistola that he kept in his right boot went off and shot him in his lower abdomen. He had to have surgery to get himself fixed, but he was back up and running in no time.

The band collectively contributed and raised funds for the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi, which is the legendary birthplace of the Blues, near the Crossroads at the intersection of Highways 61 and 49, where legend has it that in the early 1930s, Robert Johnson met Legba, Satan's Imp, and sold his soul to the Devil there so that he would become the greatest Blues guitarist in history (and he did, by the way). The museum is located in the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Passenger Depot, also known as Illinois Central Passenger Depot or Clarksdale Passenger Depot. The 1918 brick building served as the passenger rail station for the area. Muddy Waters' house from his youth is the area, and Gibbons had a guitar made out of a piece of wood from it.

During this time, Gibbons began to pursue his interest in hot rods and custom car design. He and his friend Jeff Beck were both hot rod enthusiasts, and they collaborated on ideas in both a musical and technological level. Gibbons designed the '33 Ford coupe which he named Eliminator that became the icon of the Top's future video domination in the early 1980s. This wasn't his only car design, as Cadzilla, the Slam-Pala and his '50 Ford Business Coupe and '58 T-Bird would all be world-reknown for their excellence in engineering and design.

I should note that Billy Gibbons didn't become complacent for one minute in his musical career. He moved on from one style to another and conquered all the challenges that faced him. Starting out with Psychedelic Blues-Rock, he moved into Hard Rock Boogie, then a mellower studio sound, and now he was poised to create a new style of music that was simply unheard of before and it would be a sound that changed the world.

One night in 1982, I was on Washington Avenue in the Houston Heights, visiting the club where my band the Rollercoasters had a monthly gig, and I heard a band playing across the street at Rockefeller's, which was the ultimate local gig for any band in this town. I walked over to the entrance to have a listen. It was locked down for a private party, invitation only, and the band onstage was playing a gloriously heavy and beautiful song with a beat and guitar sound that only enhanced the gorgeous harmonies that they were singing. The song was "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and the band, to my amazement when I took a peek through a crack in the door, was ZZ Top. It was the party for their upcoming album release, and they were performing it live.

I was stopped dead in my tracks. The sound was absolutely incredible. The energy was contagious and the songs grabbed me where I live. I stayed outside the front door and listened to a few of their new songs: Legs, TV Dinners, and Sharp Dressed Man before I had to leave, but I knew that ZZ Top was about to explode by changing modern music with a style and a sound that was completely original and fascinating: New Wave Blues. They did it better than anybody, and they made videos to go along with their music. It was a fantastic time for everybody.

Eliminator sold over 20 million copies and put ZZ Top at the peak of the rock n' roll world. No party was complete without Eliminator playing on the stereo. Gibbons, Hill and Beard had completely reinvented the Blues as a popular music vehicle and their subject matter was not only amusing at times but relevant to what was going on at that time. It was without question a stroke of genius by these guys who were already the best Boogie band around, but with this new album, it transcended anything they'd done before and put them up into the dizzying heights of rock superstardom. Danny told me that some of ZZ Top's critics accused them of selling out with the new sound, but there was no arguing with this success. They handled it with the same smooth, easy-going way they handled all of their previous accomplishments. It's just what they do. As you can tell, I, for one, was completely blown away by their new sound.

I went to their show at the Summit in Houston in 1985, and they played for 2 1/2 hours and sounded fantastic. The packed house went crazy. In concert, they played extended instrumental passages to their album material, such as Arrested for Driving While Blind and 10 Foot Pole, which went on for a wonderful 10 minutes each. They played all their hits as well, and they left nothing to be desired by the end of the night.

The ZZ Top story is far from over. There are 6 more studio albums, 6 compilation albums and 3 live albums to go, but the 1983 album Eliminator was a turning point in the history of this band that forever changed their direction, image and style, and it changed rock music for the better from then on. For this week, I'm going to bask in the glow of that outstanding musical accomplishment. There will be much more to come. Stay tuned.

Thanks to Danny White for his input and advice in helping me put these segments together. Your help has been invaluable, Danny. Thank you.

Y'all be sure to tune in tomorrow evening at 7 PM Eastern on Racers Reunion Radio for Racing Through History. It's Thee Goat Rodeo you don't want to miss! Thanks, I'll see y'all next week.

[draglist]

Great stuff as always, John! bp