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

Here's where we go to kick back after the races with our pals. Pour a tall one, punch a few buttons on the jukebox, and relax...
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WildcatOne
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Feb 15, 2016 9:14 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Ross Whelan, from Hawera, New Zealand. I found Ross while I was checking out the drag races held by the NZDRA last year. Ross and his wife Helene have a 1934 Ford Y sedan that he has been through many ups and downs with over the years, but he is a dedicated drag racer and from having gotten to know him over tha last few months, he is also a very cool guy and he's one of the most popular and respected racers in the country. Ross sent me his info recently and I'm gonna read it tonight word-for-word as it reflects his friendly personality and his optimistic outlook on his racing endeavors. He said:

My name is Ross Whelan I am 51 years old, I have been drag racing street cars as long as I can remember. I brought my 1934 Ford Y body shell 15 years ago for $300.00 NZ dollars off a mate , then set about designing & building a chassis that would suit 95% drag racing , 5 % street driven. In 2007 we managed to have a NZ cert plate allowing me to get a warrant of fitness for street driving. The car has 3” x 2” box chassis , owner built independent front suspension with XJ6 Jag stubs & PBR race disc’s, rear end is a 4 bar disc braked 9” of course which started out with 3.9 gears & up front was a 355 Chev for power & a turbo 350 trans with reverse pattern valve body & shift kit fitted. Over the years we tried every little trick in the book to get this car in the 10 .99 sec bracket (Super Sedan) in NZ .

In 2010 we finally made it, after many changes , gear sets, fuel etc running a 10.89 @ 136 mph , I was over the moon , until things went bad at a Auckland meeting losing control of the car at the 1000 ft mark I crossed the centre line going straight into the wall , bounced of the wall only to be hit by the car I was racing, (who’s lane I was in). I had built the car once , it was time to do it again, over the winter months & many late nights we straightened the car out , back off to paint ( My Dad ) & back to the track next season .

After having a great time & some good results my poor little 355 self-destructed totally destroying my engine , the only parts I managed to save where the tappet covers , inlet manifold & carb. At this stage due to the cost of building a new engine in NZ with parts from the USA was out of my depth , so time to sit & watch for a while . 2 years ago I started out building a brand new engine , starting with a Dart block to build a 427 cube small block with 13.5 compression & AFR heads , good intake etc to make a little more HP, we ended up with around 800 hp , my car weighs in at 980 kgs , 2100 lb your terms , there a bout’s . To date the car is handling the power very well , just going in small steps , best ET to date 9.705 @ 137 MPH , all good for a street legal car ?

That's Ross Whelan, folks. Ross, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

Tonight's the conclusion of a 3-part story I'm giving on the saga of the legendary psychedelic band, the 13th Floor Elevators, the world's first psychedelic band. This was the most influential band in our region and actually across the world in an underground function if nothing else, throughout the mid-to-late 60s. When I left off last week, After several years wandering the wasteland of rock n' roll damage, Roky Erickson, the great singer and guitar player for the original band, had hit rock-bottom. It was down to a matter of time before he would die if something didn't happen to change his course in life.

After a few years in his mother Evelyn's custody, during which she shielded him from his friends, his kids, his brother and the world in general, also not giving him his meds and letting him disintegrate into having the personality of a 5-year old, Roky's brother Sumner stepped in and gained legal guardianship of him.

Roky's recording and performing career since the early 70s was in total shambles, and although he had released several albums of horror movie-themed material, he had absolutely nothing to show for it, and by the time Sumner showed up, he was a total basket-case, mentally, physically and emotionally. Yet creatively his spirit continued to thrive, as did his abilities as a singer and songwriter. He just wasn't all there in a professional and personal sense.

Sumner took Roky to the best doctors in the world. He got him on a new medication schedule, got his teeth fixed, put him on a healthy diet and gave him musical and artistic freedom to begin his career again. The results were nothing short of miraculous. Roky, by now well into his 50s, was back on stage with a potent band, singing better than ever and playing solid rock n' roll again. For the first time in his life, he got a driver's license, registered to vote and was able to make arrangements to receive royalties on his records for the first time. Within a couple of years, Roky Erickson had returned and he was not only self-sufficient, he had gained a level of maturity, control and stability that he'd never had before.

A tribute concert was put together in honor of Roky's great contributions to the art of rock n' roll, with the backup band being led by Billy Gibbons. In the post-concert interview, Gibbons said that Roky's voice is a universal treasure that is deserving to be acknowledged and recognized worldwide. It already is, but Roky's voice was never given the exposure or mainstream credit that it should have had.

As it stands now, Roky Erickson is back at it, playing shows all over the United States and enjoying his status as a pioneer of psychedelic music and a major influence on world-famous bands and vocalists, from Janis Joplin to Robert Plant by way of Billy Gibbons, among many others.
Last year at the annual Levitation Festival, an annual event held in honor of the Elevators, the headline act was a reunion of the 13th Floor Elevators. Stacey Sutherland could not attend because he no longer exists in our dimension any more, but Tommy Hall, Rocky Erickson, John Ike Walton and Bennie Thurman from the original band performed a set of the Elevators' best songs after 45 years of not playing together. I wish I had known about this, but I have been content to hold my memories intact of witnessing the most powerful and overwhelming of psychedelic experiences when I saw them play in 1966 and again in 1967.

Although they were light years ahead of everybody else in terms of musicianship and philosophy, that was the problem. The world just wasn't ready to accept their thing yet. I understood it, along with a few million others, but I also chose to create my own destiny in life and go my own way without following the Elevators' book so far out that I'd lose my place and forget what I was doing like they did. But what I got out of the Elevators and the psychedelic fad of the late 60s, was a sense of creativity and musical adventure that has never left me. This was a band that took artistic freedom to infinity and back.

As the lyrics to "I've Got Levitation" say: "I don't need these wings to guide me, they are hardly ever there. It's the clear I've made inside me makes me feel light as air." I've got Levitation!

Thanks to Danny White for his input and advice to me in putting these stories together!

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, and Happy Leap Year! I'll see y'all on February 29th.
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby Wheelzman » Tue Feb 16, 2016 8:54 am

That yellow 34 is just awesome.
Thanks for the band info too Cat.

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

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:33 pm

Thanks, Wheelz! It's fun doing this!

I have two picks this week for Racer of the Week, and a new rock n' roll band story. My pick for Racer of the Week #1 is Chaelani Harris, from Mililani Town, Oahu, Hawaii. Chaelani was recommended to me by our friend Michael Baba Balbarino, in Hilo. Thanks, Michael! I highly recommend checking out Michael's 808_Fuel page on Facebook. He consistently features the greatest drag racers in Hawaii, and Chaelani is definitely one of them. Her gorgeous modern hot pink rear-engine dragster is a winner on the track and in the showroom. The HDRL runs a class that is similar to the NHRA's Top Dragster class called Big Gun, and nobody can beat Chaelani in Big Gun. She is just now entering her mid-20's and with help from her Dad and her brother and sister, she has established herself as a top drag racer in Hawaii. She's won track championships at Hilo multiple times, and has instinctive skills behind the wheel which have given her the reputation of being the most consistent of drivers there. Chaelani, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

My pick for tonight is our leap-year favorite Outlaw Anglia racer from the UK, Mr. Paul Hensher. Paul's awesome '48 Anglia has run mind-boggling numbers since he put it on track a few years ago. It's being rebuilt at this time, but Paul expects to have the Gas Attack back out there in 2016. And well he should! It runs mid-7 second ETs at 172 mph! The engine is a 605 cu indymax Chrysler block with Koffel Bi pro stock heads, twin 1350 hollies, NOS pro shot fogger, Peterson oil pump and dry sump, JW transmission 'full on' powerglide. Paul was the 2005 season runner-up. He started drag racing in 1989, campaigning "Pinball Wizard" & joined the Outlaw Anglia class in 1992, winning the championship in 1995, 1996 & 2003. He is a founder of the Outlaw Anglias club in the UK and is featured regularly on their Facebook page. I fell in love with the Gas Attack when I first saw it, and when I learned of its incredible performance, I had to feature it tonight. Paul, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

Now it's a new band story. After having several lengthy and deep discussions with Danny White about it, I've decided to tell the story of the Doors...band of darkness, band of trouble and band of incredible music. There has never been a band with such polarizing and magnetizing qualities as this one was, and although the band had who were in my opinion the best musicians of their era, it was the non-musician member who drew the most attention, and it was him who ultimately not only spelled the doom of the band, which was bound to happen, but also his own doom, which was bound to happen as well.

James Douglas Morrison's troubles in life didn't begin when he formed the Doors with Ray Manzarek in the summer of 1965. He had a good 10 years of total pandemonium in his life by the time he graduated from the UCLA film school. He wrote the lyrics to many of the Doors' hits while living on a rooftop and subsisting on canned beans and drugs. His family was actually well-to-do. His father was a rear admiral in the Navy and was commanding the US fleet of carriers at the time of the Gulf of Tonkin incident which triggered the Vietnam War. Morrison was a natural-born misfit with a bad attitude all his life, and he had already been thrown in jail a few times before he ever picked up a microphone and unzipped his trousers in front of a live audience. He was driven beyond anything anybody had seen up to that point to get across his message of destruction, chaos, sex, drugs and rock n' roll to the world. And he more than got the job done. His story reminds me of something my Dad told me when I was in art college, studying to begin a career in graphic arts. He told me "If you're going to be a graphic artist, be the best graphic artist. If you're going to be a bum, be the best bum." I think Morrison must have gotten the same advice from his Dad.

With a musical genius in Ray Manzarek in the band, making great music was never going to be too difficult for those guys. The addition of John Densmore on drums, who I consider to be the best rock drummer ever, and Robbie Krieger on guitar, who was responsible for most of their hit material, this band couldn't miss. Dansmore, Manzarek and Krieger were all devotees of transcendental meditation, but Morrison said he didn't meditate. They were perfect for the times. They did some woodshedding to get the act together and it was during this time that Robbie Krieger came up with a unique bossa nova type chord progression that had the vocal and lyric that said "Light My Fire". Manzarek added the killer intro to it and the next thing you know, they had their first #1 hit in the can. They also worked up a Willie Dixon song called "Back Door Man" and a couple of Morrison-penned songs, "The End" and "Break On Through", both of which were featured on the incredible First Album.

They chose the name of the band from the Aldous Huxley book The Doors Of Perception, which was about how the limits of the mind can be unlocked through the use of psychedelics. Let the good times roll! This band was really different and they were one of the most powerful and intriguing acts in the LA area. In June of 1966, their first gig at the Whiskey was opening for Van Morrison's band Them, and Jim took his near-namesake's stage act into his own head and picked up a lot of his stage presence but added his own tincture of evil to it. The other bands who were gigging in LA at that time were Love, the Byrds, the Mamas & Papas, the Seeds, and still Johnny Rivers was there. But the Doors were blowing everybody away with their unbelievably complex and seductive music matched up with the roaring insanity of their clearly disturbed frontman.

They were one of the first bands to produce their own short films. Several of the songs on their first album had accompanying films with them, and their deal with Elektra encouraged their creativity. The first signs of real trouble happened when they got the Ed Sullivan gig, to perform their #1 hit "Light My Fire". The censors insisted that Morrison change the lyric from "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" to "Girl, we couldn't get much better". After assuring the Sullivan folks that they would comply with that demand, Morrison stepped into the camera when it came to the lyric that had to be changed and yelled "HIGHER! YEAH" into the homes of 50 million Americans. Ed Sullivan was not pleased. He let it be known after refusing to shake hands with the band after they played their song that they would never be allowed back on his show again. They couldn't care less, and this began an ongoing pattern of the Doors playing one gig only at every place they went. I find it kind of humorous, because it takes a lot more than a singer's bad behavior or a controversial lyric to hurt my feelings and it never has. But they were on their way to the top of the heap with that first hit, and many more were to follow, as were many more instances of music gone mad in their world.

The guys in the band didn't particularly get along too well with Morrison. He was violent, insane and out of control, and they were actually pretty mellow, laid-back guys. Densmore in particular took exception to Morrison's escapades. They were peaceful hippies, and here's their frontman making himself out to be some kind of antichrist with a clear agenda. It didn't sit well with Densmore. Krieger and Manzarek were more like just shaking their heads at the stuff Morrison pulled, but Densmore stood up to him and let him know it was unacceptable...but he kept on, however grudgingly and against his better judgment. Those concessions would ultimately come back a few years later to remind him of how he'd let the lure of fame and money take priority over his own personal principles, and it taught me some things I'd needed to learn in my own life.

Thanks to Danny White for his input and advice on this story. It is not an easy story to tell because it hit peaks and valleys that no other band ever had, and without being a Morrison apologist, I, like may others, came to see him as a wino with an Alexander The Great haircut, and I'll try to keep it as objective as I can while still delivering the facts behind what happened to the Doors.

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

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:36 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Tom Scriffignano, from Middletown, New Jersey. Tom was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week Jack Alloway. Thanks, Jack!

Tom's '86 Monte Carlo is a winner in the hotly-contested Street Eliminator class, and he's still a young guy with a bright future in Drag Racing. Tom told me: I would like to thank my dad for getting me into racing and for the car, my friends for their support and teaching me the ropes. 2015 was my first year racing in big car after several years in the junior dragster ranks. I picked up 2 wins in 4 finals, got down to 3 cars at the big 20k footbrake race at Piedmont in November. My goal this season is to keep on bettering myself behind the wheel and get to as many big money footbrake races as possible.

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

The story of the Doors and their everlasting impact and influence on modern music continues with the band getting tighter and better (they were already fantastic to begin with) and they were playing bigger venues and touring, leaving in their wake stunned audiences and infuriated promoters who swore they'd never play there again, and this was due to the antics of the band's Agent Provocateur, Jim Morrison. John Densmore, Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek were all fairly-well established gents with a calm, professional demeanor, but Morrison was wreaking havoc everywhere they went. I'm being polite when I say I've read No One Here Gets Out Alive and Riders On The Storm. Those books told the unvarnished truth about what really went on with the band.

Their records, all of their studio albums - are absolutely first-rate performances by everybody and they put up a united front to the media, but away from the unblinking glare of the spotlight, there were problems of unspeakable magnitude tearing the band to pieces, and those problems had Jim Morrison written all over them. When the guys in the band had a drink, Morrison would have 20 and wreck the party. When the guys in the band occasionally sampled euphorics, Morrison would consume gargantuan quantities. When the guys in the band had stable, caring and loving relationships, Morrison had a total train-wreck affair with Pamela and it was all but destroyed by his infidelity and binges of raising all kinds of hell everywhere he went.

The hits continued. After Light My Fire, there were 20 more chart entries for the band. Some of the best songs, ever. To review and analyze all of them would take months, and I'm going to move on after another segment, but thankfully, the band never did what I would call a concept album. Morrison's Celebration of the Lizard was almost what would classify the cut as a concept, but it was on an album with several other songs, including Hello, I Love You. The band had no shortage whatsoever of top-notch songs, and they remained high on the charts all the way through the Morrison years.

I call them the Morrison Years because after 1971, he wasn't in it anymore. But the band played on and recorded 3 more albums without him, one titled "An American Prayer", which was done after his death using recordings of Morrison's voice reciting his poetry and the band playing music that they had composed to match up with it. That album was panned by the critics, but I thought it was outstanding. It was a work of pure genius to even attempt that project, and the band played great on it! I'm getting a little ahead of the hard part of this story, and I'll finish it off with the cold, hard facts of what happened to end the band's incredible success.

It was 1969, the band was on tour, and they pulled into Miami. The concert turned into a riot; a free-for-all, with Morrison calling the shots. By the time the concert was over, Morrison was under arrest for public profanity and indecent exposure. He'd been hanging out with some theater people and their thing was to get naked and dance, inspiring Touch Me, which was on the charts during the tour, and by the time they went onstage in Miami, Morrison was roaring drunk and determined to make a spectacle out of himself. He did, and as it turned out, it was the gig that turned the band's fortunes from the peaks to the valleys as far as performing live went.

Their final two albums with Morrison, Morrison Hotel and LA Woman, are in my opinion two of the greatest rock albums ever recorded. The band concentrated on delivering the best performances they ever did, and Morrison's singing, although deeper and more thoughtful, reflected a talent that had developed into one of the finest voices in rock n' roll. But the gigs had dried up. Morrison was faced with a lengthy prison sentence if he stayed in the country, so in 1971 he decided to move to Paris with Pamela and continue to write his poetry...and party.

He died at the age of 27 on July 3rd, 1971 of a drug overdose, to no one's surprise. An autopsy was not performed, and he was buried outside of Paris in a cemetery filled with celebrities and people of influence. His family bought the grave in perpetuity, and he'll stay there forever, but extra security had to be hired to keep vandals and grafitti artists out. Pamela Courson moved back to LA and ended her affair with life with a drug overdose in 1974.

I thoroughly enjoyed the band's subsequent albums, Other Voices and Full Circle, so I have to say it wasn't necessarily Jim Morrison who kept me interested in that band. But An American Prayer was an excellent tribute and posthumous collaboration with him that I believe stands to this day and holds up his work as something of merit.

The recent Doors' reunion went well, but I didn't agree with Ian Astbury taking over the vocals. He had a lot in common with Morrison but I never considered him to be half the vocalist or creative force that Morrison was, but the gigs came in and they were lucrative, so they played, and they were great. As of this night, the Doors have 9 studio albums, 5 live albums, 19 compilation albums, 21 singles, 2 soundtrack albums, 22 videos, and 8 Boxed Sets. I highly recommend any and all of these recordings, and I wish the best for John Densmore and Robbie Krieger, who are the surviving members of the band.

Thanks to Danny White for his input and advice on these stories. He's been a great source of information and opinions.

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

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Mar 14, 2016 9:13 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Bruce Carlson, from Cambridge, Illinois. Bruce was recommended to me by his son and former Racer of the Week, Erik Carlson. Thanks, Erik! Bruce is actually one of the living legends of the Quad Cities Area, and his lifelong dedication to the sport of drag racing is one that we all look up to. His story, as told to me by Erik, will take up my entire segment tonight and I'm more than happy to be able to tell it. Next week, after several skull sessions with Danny White, I will begin a 3-part series detailing the story of the band Cream.

From Erik, I got this:

Here's some info on dad and his racing career.....use as much or little of it as you like.
 My dad started drag racing pretty much as soon as he could drive..I think he first raced a late 50's Pontiac at Cordova in some sort of stock class. but I believe the car that got him hooked was his 65 GTO 389 tri power 4 speed car he ran in the unit stock classes here at Cordova and Rockford (Byron) dragway. He drove the car to the track raced it and drove it home. after a detour with Uncle Sam in Vietnam when he returned he married my mom and they had me. in this time frame  he had started helping a local guy with a pulling tractor that ran a twin turboed 427 Chevy , then later a blown 427 that was built by Don Haywood of the Haywood and Near funnycar fame. he also built and raced dirt late models for a couple years. during that time my parents split up and I didn't get to see my dad that much. but I always got to go to the World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova to see him race!  A welder by trade Dad has always built his own race cars his first "real" race car was a 73 Vega Station wagon that he partnered with Ronnie Hepner on. this is the first car I got to see dad win a race with, I doubt he knows I was there but I got to go to the track one weekend and got to watch him win! interesting to note this car is still out there being raced by Jason Huggins having been through 3-4 people and it is basically the same as when my dad built it! Dad and Ron's next venture didn't go so well..Dad built an Opel GT and Ron Built a 65 Vette this would be around 1981. the Vette lasted about three weeks before the trans locked up in high gear in the lights and Ronnie rolled it completely destroying the car. a few weeks later dad would do the same to the opel!...this was when they decided to buy the Ex Jim Wemmett "WOMBAT" funnycar this was the division winning Vette that George Johnson had driven for Jim. it is interesting that this is the only car my dad ever raced that he didn't build,the only car he had a name for (the COUNTRY CORVETTE) and it is also the only car he really didn't like an ex nitro funny is NOT the thing to try and bracket race he found out!....another funny thing is when they debuted the car they hadn't yet painted it so they lettered it upside down!..classic move and one a LOT of guys remember they also had team shirts that had the sponsor logo upside down! before I go on with more about dad's cars I have to say this, back then my dad and Ron raced with a local group of buddies those guys included Rock Island Jim Wilson,Pat Richardson, Dave Lindberg,Jeff Malmen(pronounced mall main), and Jim and Diane Harder I look up to them all! They raced everywhere Cordova , Byron, Eddyville,Union Grove... and trust me when these guys pulled in people noticed! Dad says "no they didn't" but I talk to guys who have told me "when Carlson&Hepner showed up we knew we had better bring it or go home early"! Now I look up to a lot of people I wanted to be either Evel Kneivel or Jungle Jim when I grew up..... but actually all I really wanted to be was as good as my dad was behind the wheel. and also be able to not only drive it but build it and tune it. my dad always did more with less than just about anyone he raced against. this is not a derogatory statement either his stuff was homebuilt , on a small budget, and it always ran well..and he could drive!!...I doubt I will ever be the driver he was....and probably still is, but if i am respected like he is that will be fine too. I also have to say not only did he build all of his cars but he built a bunch of others and the number of roll bar tubes he bent with that home built tubing bender of his has to number in the thousands!! I took a buddy to the track one time we were about 16 or 17 and just went to watch dad went rounds that day and we walked the pits. now I know I was excited pointing out all the cars that either had "Carlson Welding" on the side or ones I knew he had worked on....finally my buddy says wouldn't it be easier to point out the cars he has NOT had something to do with??! dad and Ron Built a few more cars including an 81 Camaro and a 77 Vette as time went on Ron decided he didn't want to race(that is the PC version) and he and dad had a falling out. Dad soldiered on he built a dragster which is the one and only dragster he ever built and ran, that got to be too much work for he and my stepmom to run by themselves so at her Request he built another doorcar this one another Camaro..he ran it a couple years but with my brother and sister being little he decided to sell it and "retire"....this is about the time I got the balls to go over and see him after not actually seeing him for 15 years or so! when I showed up they were taking the race car apart he had sold it to a guy in Canada. My heart sank I had waited too long and now that I was  half done with my first race car..the first version of the 62, he was going to hang it up.....so I went ahead and built the 62 making a ton of mistakes that , if he had been there I would not have made, about that time Ted Vandine who runs the local auto parts store Cambridge, had a plan he had a parts car for his studebaker that was either going to be cut up or hey let's make it a race car! they built the first version of the studebaker a steel body that dad and Ted chopped and shortened, Ted and Jeff Leach built the molds for the glass front end, dad built the mild steel tube chassis and off they went bracket racing. the first year they qualified for the bracket finals at Indy. they also ran with the now defunct North Central Super Gas association, always doing well in the points there as well. when everything around here went IHRA they decided to chase the division points they'd hit all the races. they did this for many years and also again did very well in the points, as well as receiving Editors choice at the Summer nationals here at Cordova one year somewhere in there they decided to build an all glass body for the car, this is the body dad and I used to build our version of the stude PLAN A.  when the NCSGA disbanded they decided to try their hand at Super comp and ran with the Midwest Super Comp series. they won  at the world series with that group .then the only doorcar in the bunch! they finished in the top of the points every year they ran with them they did well enough that some trailers had pictures of the stude circled in red and crossed out !!...They decided to step it up and run top sportsman and in this timeframe they also ran the quick 16 series that Byron had, and the one Cordova ran back then..I too decided that with my new car I'd try it. and yes dad put me on the trailer the only three times we raced each other!! now I have to say up until now dad had not shown a whole lot of interest in helping me with my car.....I am not sure if he thought I would not want his help or what??....with the new chassis I was struggling with some stuff and finally here comes dad over to see whats going on I was dejected and just said "I should have made it a street car I am over my head" he smiled and put his arm around me..which was also probably a first. and said "I am gonna TEACH you how to do this stuff if you want to learn".....now call it divine intervention or whatever but that was the last season Dad and Ted raced. they had decided to put a moly chassis under the stude.after  the last race at Byron. they failed to qualify and hurt the motor that was  it Ted decided he was not having fun any more. this was the beginning of dad and I racing together a long time coming but the day was here. we decided to redo the stude and run my car in the meantime. it took us 4 years to build the new chassis doing it on weekends between racing and keeping my car going. and boy did I learn a LOT as most know I crashed that car this year and destroyed it but I walked away from it I also went quicker than I ever have with that car, the only regret I have is I could not get dad to drive it! he loved that car he raced that Stude longer than any other car he ever had...and this verison was a Cadillac!.. we are in the planning stages of a new car  and we are going to run the 62 with a blown motor in it this season ..thats about it there's a ton more I could say....I will say this my dad has never wanted or gotten the recognition he deserves. he won a lot of races in less than stellar equipment, stepped up when he had to and BUILT better stuff each one better than the last..his famous words to me when building the stude were "I saw this in a magazine let's try and build it like that!...and away we'd go fire up the antique bender and bend some tubes until it looked right  that is HOT RODDING 101!....I was able to not only win  a Wally at rt66 because of him and his help, but I also won the world series..dad runner upped at the series twice once in Dave Lindberg's car and once subbing for Diane Harder both cars he built.... but never won it...it is safe to say I would not be where I am in the racing world without my dad. of all of those guys I looked up to when I was 4 I guess I only ever wanted to be one guy....my dad!

From the graphic I made featuring Bruce's cars, Erik sent another picture and he said: here's another pic from the i think the 83 WS program...this Firebird was the last Carlson & Hepner car it replaced the funnycar and they did well with this car finishing 7th in points that year...the car was sold to a guy here in Geneseo(dad is from Cambridge IL) who ran it sparingly he moved to new mexico and took it with last dad heard about 10 years ago he was still running it....not sure now..like with the others it was homebuilt from a wrecked firebird shell out in the shed at Ronnie Hepner's farm...it ran in the low nines....back when that was a quick doorcar...

Bruce Carlson, Racer of the Week and one for all-time in the Quad Cities area. Bruce, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future.

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

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Mar 14, 2016 9:13 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Bruce Carlson, from Cambridge, Illinois. Bruce was recommended to me by his son and former Racer of the Week, Erik Carlson. Thanks, Erik! Bruce is actually one of the living legends of the Quad Cities Area, and his lifelong dedication to the sport of drag racing is one that we all look up to. His story, as told to me by Erik, will take up my entire segment tonight and I'm more than happy to be able to tell it. Next week, after several skull sessions with Danny White, I will begin a 3-part series detailing the story of the band Cream.

From Erik, I got this:

Here's some info on dad and his racing career.....use as much or little of it as you like.
 My dad started drag racing pretty much as soon as he could drive..I think he first raced a late 50's Pontiac at Cordova in some sort of stock class. but I believe the car that got him hooked was his 65 GTO 389 tri power 4 speed car he ran in the unit stock classes here at Cordova and Rockford (Byron) dragway. He drove the car to the track raced it and drove it home. after a detour with Uncle Sam in Vietnam when he returned he married my mom and they had me. in this time frame  he had started helping a local guy with a pulling tractor that ran a twin turboed 427 Chevy , then later a blown 427 that was built by Don Haywood of the Haywood and Near funnycar fame. he also built and raced dirt late models for a couple years. during that time my parents split up and I didn't get to see my dad that much. but I always got to go to the World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova to see him race!  A welder by trade Dad has always built his own race cars his first "real" race car was a 73 Vega Station wagon that he partnered with Ronnie Hepner on. this is the first car I got to see dad win a race with, I doubt he knows I was there but I got to go to the track one weekend and got to watch him win! interesting to note this car is still out there being raced by Jason Huggins having been through 3-4 people and it is basically the same as when my dad built it! Dad and Ron's next venture didn't go so well..Dad built an Opel GT and Ron Built a 65 Vette this would be around 1981. the Vette lasted about three weeks before the trans locked up in high gear in the lights and Ronnie rolled it completely destroying the car. a few weeks later dad would do the same to the opel!...this was when they decided to buy the Ex Jim Wemmett "WOMBAT" funnycar this was the division winning Vette that George Johnson had driven for Jim. it is interesting that this is the only car my dad ever raced that he didn't build,the only car he had a name for (the COUNTRY CORVETTE) and it is also the only car he really didn't like an ex nitro funny is NOT the thing to try and bracket race he found out!....another funny thing is when they debuted the car they hadn't yet painted it so they lettered it upside down!..classic move and one a LOT of guys remember they also had team shirts that had the sponsor logo upside down! before I go on with more about dad's cars I have to say this, back then my dad and Ron raced with a local group of buddies those guys included Rock Island Jim Wilson,Pat Richardson, Dave Lindberg,Jeff Malmen(pronounced mall main), and Jim and Diane Harder I look up to them all! They raced everywhere Cordova , Byron, Eddyville,Union Grove... and trust me when these guys pulled in people noticed! Dad says "no they didn't" but I talk to guys who have told me "when Carlson&Hepner showed up we knew we had better bring it or go home early"! Now I look up to a lot of people I wanted to be either Evel Kneivel or Jungle Jim when I grew up..... but actually all I really wanted to be was as good as my dad was behind the wheel. and also be able to not only drive it but build it and tune it. my dad always did more with less than just about anyone he raced against. this is not a derogatory statement either his stuff was homebuilt , on a small budget, and it always ran well..and he could drive!!...I doubt I will ever be the driver he was....and probably still is, but if i am respected like he is that will be fine too. I also have to say not only did he build all of his cars but he built a bunch of others and the number of roll bar tubes he bent with that home built tubing bender of his has to number in the thousands!! I took a buddy to the track one time we were about 16 or 17 and just went to watch dad went rounds that day and we walked the pits. now I know I was excited pointing out all the cars that either had "Carlson Welding" on the side or ones I knew he had worked on....finally my buddy says wouldn't it be easier to point out the cars he has NOT had something to do with??! dad and Ron Built a few more cars including an 81 Camaro and a 77 Vette as time went on Ron decided he didn't want to race(that is the PC version) and he and dad had a falling out. Dad soldiered on he built a dragster which is the one and only dragster he ever built and ran, that got to be too much work for he and my stepmom to run by themselves so at her Request he built another doorcar this one another Camaro..he ran it a couple years but with my brother and sister being little he decided to sell it and "retire"....this is about the time I got the balls to go over and see him after not actually seeing him for 15 years or so! when I showed up they were taking the race car apart he had sold it to a guy in Canada. My heart sank I had waited too long and now that I was  half done with my first race car..the first version of the 62, he was going to hang it up.....so I went ahead and built the 62 making a ton of mistakes that , if he had been there I would not have made, about that time Ted Vandine who runs the local auto parts store Cambridge, had a plan he had a parts car for his studebaker that was either going to be cut up or hey let's make it a race car! they built the first version of the studebaker a steel body that dad and Ted chopped and shortened, Ted and Jeff Leach built the molds for the glass front end, dad built the mild steel tube chassis and off they went bracket racing. the first year they qualified for the bracket finals at Indy. they also ran with the now defunct North Central Super Gas association, always doing well in the points there as well. when everything around here went IHRA they decided to chase the division points they'd hit all the races. they did this for many years and also again did very well in the points, as well as receiving Editors choice at the Summer nationals here at Cordova one year somewhere in there they decided to build an all glass body for the car, this is the body dad and I used to build our version of the stude PLAN A.  when the NCSGA disbanded they decided to try their hand at Super comp and ran with the Midwest Super Comp series. they won  at the world series with that group .then the only doorcar in the bunch! they finished in the top of the points every year they ran with them they did well enough that some trailers had pictures of the stude circled in red and crossed out !!...They decided to step it up and run top sportsman and in this timeframe they also ran the quick 16 series that Byron had, and the one Cordova ran back then..I too decided that with my new car I'd try it. and yes dad put me on the trailer the only three times we raced each other!! now I have to say up until now dad had not shown a whole lot of interest in helping me with my car.....I am not sure if he thought I would not want his help or what??....with the new chassis I was struggling with some stuff and finally here comes dad over to see whats going on I was dejected and just said "I should have made it a street car I am over my head" he smiled and put his arm around me..which was also probably a first. and said "I am gonna TEACH you how to do this stuff if you want to learn".....now call it divine intervention or whatever but that was the last season Dad and Ted raced. they had decided to put a moly chassis under the stude.after  the last race at Byron. they failed to qualify and hurt the motor that was  it Ted decided he was not having fun any more. this was the beginning of dad and I racing together a long time coming but the day was here. we decided to redo the stude and run my car in the meantime. it took us 4 years to build the new chassis doing it on weekends between racing and keeping my car going. and boy did I learn a LOT as most know I crashed that car this year and destroyed it but I walked away from it I also went quicker than I ever have with that car, the only regret I have is I could not get dad to drive it! he loved that car he raced that Stude longer than any other car he ever had...and this verison was a Cadillac!.. we are in the planning stages of a new car  and we are going to run the 62 with a blown motor in it this season ..thats about it there's a ton more I could say....I will say this my dad has never wanted or gotten the recognition he deserves. he won a lot of races in less than stellar equipment, stepped up when he had to and BUILT better stuff each one better than the last..his famous words to me when building the stude were "I saw this in a magazine let's try and build it like that!...and away we'd go fire up the antique bender and bend some tubes until it looked right  that is HOT RODDING 101!....I was able to not only win  a Wally at rt66 because of him and his help, but I also won the world series..dad runner upped at the series twice once in Dave Lindberg's car and once subbing for Diane Harder both cars he built.... but never won it...it is safe to say I would not be where I am in the racing world without my dad. of all of those guys I looked up to when I was 4 I guess I only ever wanted to be one guy....my dad!

From the graphic I made featuring Bruce's cars, Erik sent another picture and he said: here's another pic from the i think the 83 WS program...this Firebird was the last Carlson & Hepner car it replaced the funnycar and they did well with this car finishing 7th in points that year...the car was sold to a guy here in Geneseo(dad is from Cambridge IL) who ran it sparingly he moved to new mexico and took it with last dad heard about 10 years ago he was still running it....not sure now..like with the others it was homebuilt from a wrecked firebird shell out in the shed at Ronnie Hepner's farm...it ran in the low nines....back when that was a quick doorcar...

Bruce Carlson, Racer of the Week and one for all-time in the Quad Cities area. Bruce, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future.

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

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Mar 21, 2016 10:14 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Wendell Duarte, from Kaneohe, Hawaii. Wendell was referred to me by our friend in Hilo, Michael Baba Balbarino. Thanks, Michael! Since I posted Wendell's graphic on Facebook last week, it has come in Fourth all-time in likes, and it's now #1 in shares. That speaks volumes of Wendell's character and popularity at his home track and with his many friends in and around Hilo. He's one of their very best people. Wendell is 49 years old, he's self-employed and he is the owner and operator of W. Duarte trucking company, which is a small family-run business. They can haul in or out anything you need for your home or business needs. The company has a Facebook page for Wendell's contact information on his trucking company.

Wendell won first place in the shotgun class at the fourth of July race in Hilo this year. His '32 Bantam roadster has run a best et: of 8.97 at 151mph, at this time, the engine is a 406 small block chevy with a power glide tranny and 456 gearing. Wendell sends thanks to: Tom Brown & Sportcraftracing, Louie Perreira & Louie Auto Repair, Cliff Duarte for the fabrication, Peter Fernando, Micheal Baba Balbarino @ 808 fuel, Alika Harris & Harris trucking, & my wife Ilima Duarte. Without these people I wouldn't be able to race. His goals are to run an 8.50 ET. Wemdell is a lifelong resident of Kaneohe, and he is glad to be able to finally pursue his dream of racing.

Wendell Duarte, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future.

After discussing this with Danny White for the last couple of weeks, I've decided to go with Danny's idea and give the story of the first Supergroup, Cream. They were the prototypical power trio from 1966 until 1969, and the term "Supergroup" was invented for them when they hit the scene in 1966. Each member of the band has a totally different and unique story, and it will be my intention to give some details and facts about each guy in the band separately as well as collectively. Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker were the three performing members of the band, but the poet and lyricist Pete Brown and the multitalented record producer Felix Pappalardi were ghost members of the band who contributed a significant amount of material and production to their sound, their style, their image and their success.

After Cream disbanded, Felix would put a band behind the American guitar player Leslie West and call it Mountain, and Jack Bruce played with West and their drummer Corky Laing in the power trio West, Bruce and Laing in the early 70s. Another collaborator who was listed in some credits and not listed at all in others was George Harrison, Clapton's best friend, and at Cream's peak of success, George was touring with Delaney and Bonnie from Tulsa and writing material on his own time when he wasn't up to his neck in the Beatles' situation. He brought Clapton in to play lead guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" when the Beatles recorded the White Album during Cream's time as well.

They were the first Supergroup, being a band founded under a 3-way democratic principle. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was actually Hendrix with a backup group, and the Who, the Stones, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and many other bands of that time were not singular in their makeup like Cream was. Although during the Cream era, we all enjoyed and were influenced by the many bands that were performing and being played on the radio, Cream stood out as the most dynamic instrumental and vocal bands we ever had the privilege to hear.

I saw Cream play live here in Houston on their farewell tour. The music was indescribably beautiful, and Jack Bruce put on a stage show that I have not ever seen equalled by any performer. He pretty much stayed 2 feet in the air above the stage, and used his instrument as a magic wand over the crowd. On top of that, he sang and played like he was 3 guys doing it and he didn't miss a beat. He was absolutely fantastic. Ginger Baker did tricks behind his kit with his drumsticks and he played with all the power and intensity of a locomotive behind the band. Eric Clapton was playing a Black Stratocaster. I'm not sure if it was "Blackie", that was on the cover of Layla a couple of years later with Derek and the Dominoes, but he played the whole show like a statue, not moving except for his hands, and he sang, but as a stage performer, he was extremely well-dressed and groomed, but not doing anything at all other than just playing his guitar, which was certainly more than enough.

Cream was a troubled band, and it barely lasted 2 years. There were some major, serious issues internally that liked to drove each of them crazy, but the time they spent onstage and in the studio is what founded their legacy as the greatest of all live bands and as songwriters as well. To clear up any misconceptions about how this band came to be, the fact is that it was Ginger Baker's band. His idea, his concept and his driving force that put it together and kept it going.

Everybody including myself thought that it was Eric Clapton, who had the extreme dynamics and face that identified the band. Each member of the band had outstanding credentials and something different to bring to the group, but it was Ginger Baker who had the idea for it and one day he picked Clapton up after a gig he'd played with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and during their ride home, he made the offer to him to put a group together. When Clapton said yes, it blew Ginger Baker's mind, but the conversation went from one extreme to the other when Clapton told him he'd join only under the condition that Jack Bruce would be the bass player. Baker almost passed out and crashed his car when Clapton said that. Ginger Baker HATED Jack Bruce, but he made the decisiono to put his personal feelings aside and let Bruce in the band. I'll get into Baker's reasons in one of my next segments on Cream, but for now, suffice it to say that there was an underlying theme of hatred running through the band from the very beginning.

They were originally called "Sweet & Sour Rock n' Roll" but that name was soon changed to "The Cream", signifying that they were the cream of the crop of British musicians on the scene at that time. The name was soon shortened to "Cream" and off they went.

The band developed musically and artistically throughout their time together, there is no denying that fact, and by the time they played their final farewell concert, each of them were having second thoughts about disbanding, but as it was in Houston, they stayed at separate hotels, rode in separate limousines to the gig and didn't hang out with each other, much less have conversations. The intensity of their situation was clear for all to see, but for the music, they played on, and I am very grateful to them for doing it as long as they did.

Next week I'll go into some details and facts about Ginger Baker, the founder of Cream. It's a rough ride, and I want everybody to know that I'm not going to be talking about the king of peace and love, but as a musician and the creator of this band, he had a stroke of genius that changed the course of rock music and its legend will last forever. That aside, I want y'all to hang on tight because the Ginger Baker story is pretty spooky, one of the darkest and scariest in the history of rock.

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

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:31 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Dwane Garrett, from Masterton, New Zealand. Dwane was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week Monique Duckett. Thanks, Monique! Dwane is the owner, crewchief and pilot of the awesome "Torquing Heads" Top Alcohol Dragster, which is now sporting a new engine as Dwane described to me.
He said:
We are moving from a BBC and Powerglide to a Brad Anderson 511 cubic inch Hemi and Lenco.
Yeah.going hard at fitting the combo. Getting very close now. We will run the 16/71 blower for this and maybe next season, then go to a psi. It should be interesting. Can't wait.!!

Torquing heads dragster and team: 250" Kiwi race car dragster (nz made), 511 bae- with a 16/71. blower and a 3 spd lenco. 9-inch fabricated differential. Crew: Andrew ,Shane, Elise, and Kevin. The car is Sponsored by Redline oil, Dzine signs, Magoo's street rods, and Kiwi race cars.
Dwane is the Nzdra 2016 runner up in top acohol. He has run a personal best of 6.25@223mph

The first 1st season with the hemi combo,coming from running a blown 540 chevy combo of a best of 6.50@203mph.
Before this car Dwane ran a 240" r/e dragster with a injected then a blown and injected sbc, and before that he raced a 23t-bucket with a tunnel-ram 383. Dwane has been drag racing for 16 years with plenty more to come. He said these are exciting times for top alcohol with a new travelling series called TARA. This group pulled all cars together for some great racing.
I would like to say thanks to all my crew,sponsors,nzdra for a great series. Dwane has 1 more meeting at his home town track Masterton motor plex. He said Bring it on.

Concluding Dwane's message, he said: We are all excited to have the opportunity to be featured on your show. What you are doing to highlight drag racers around the world is awesome coverage for the sport, and we are privileged to be invited to be part of your feature. Thanks again from myself and the team for this wicked opportunity. Keep up the great work!

That's Dwane Garrett, Top Alcohol Dragster racer from Masterton, New Zealand. Dwane, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

Tonight I'm going to give an outline and a few extra words on the drummer and founder of the band Cream, Ginger Baker. At this time, he isn't playing drums because he is having some serious health issues, but his career and life defy normal limits. He has always been an extreme personality with extreme feelings and motivations. His legacy includes stretching the limits of jazz drumming as well as being a creator of Heavy Metal and a foremost exponent of World Music before anybody else was the least bit interested in it. Ginger Baker was born in 1939, the week Hitler started bombing England, and his first memory was chasing after the train that carried his father off to war, where he was killed in action and he never saw his dad again.

He was an athletic boy, excelling in football and bicycle racing, until he became interested in jazz drumming at the age of 15. He took a few lessons and went from there, establishing himself as a top-notch prospect by the time he was in his late teens. He joined Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and played with the most notable future rock stars on the planet during his time with that band, but his time as the bandleader for the Graham Bond Organization is what put Ginger Baker's name at the top of the list for musicianship, stamina, and...bad vibes. Graham Bond was a great organ player, but he was a very messed-up guy with a lot of messed-up head trips, and his influence on Ginger brought about a lifelong struggle with substance abuse and violence. He developed a very deep and sincere hatred for the gifted bassist Jack Bruce, who played loud and proud and more often than not, messed with Baker's head both on and off stage. Their last gig together in the GBO ended with Baker pulling a knife and threatening to slice Bruce everywhere but the soles of his feet.

They went their separate ways after that night, but he had an idea in 1966 to start what became the world's first Supergroup. He was taking Eric Clapton home after a gig with John Mayall and he made the pitch to form a power trio that would conquer the world. He was thrilled when Clapton accepted the offer, but he was all but completely against the idea when EC told him that he'd join on the condition that Jack Bruce would be the bass player. After agonizing over it, Baker agreed to put his personal differences with Bruce aside and form a 3-way democracy and get going with it. But from the very beginning, there was a dark undercurrent of hatred that ran beneath this fantastic but troubled band.

At first they called it Sweet and Sour Rock n' Roll, but it was Alexis Korner who renamed them Cream, representing the cream of the crop of British musicians. The name stuck, and off they went, leaving audiences stunned with their unbelievable musical ability and mind-blowing stage presence. The band recorded their first 2 albums that included reworkings of old blues material, but it was their originals that broke them through to worldwide acclaim, and Ginger Baker's drumming was remarkable by any standards, earning him the description of "World's Greatest Drummer".

But offstage, his life was in constant turmoil, with his interpersonal relationships and his mental and physical health being assaulted by the devils that occupied his existence. His performances were 100% rock-solid and inspiring with his creative and energetic style. He began to gain interest in African rhythyms and musical styles, and he spent his fortune building a studio in Nigeria to apply his newfound musical endeavors with, but he was run out of the country eventually by political pressure.

But getting back to Cream, by the time they went into their second year with the release of the unbelievable "Wheels of Fire" album, which was the world's first platinum double-album, they had splintered to the point of no return. With contract fulfillments and tour committments facing them, they finished up in late 1968 with a Farewell tour in which they all stayed at separate hotels, rode in separate limousines and didn't speak to each other. In 1969 they released an album that had no band to back it up. All 3 members of the band were relieved, but they were also strung-out from constant gigging and touring, and after a brief break, a second Supergroup was formed by Baker, EC, Rick Grech and Steve Winwood, called Blind Faith. His career was far from over, but this is about Cream, and I'll leave Ginger Baker alone with the end of that band.

Thanks to Danny White for his input and advice on these segments. His friendship has been extremely valuable in helping me put shape to these words.

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

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:46 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Myranda Cozad, from Davenport, Iowa. Myranda was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week Aaron Koehler. Thanks, Aaron! Myranda is very busy at this time with her motorsports career, and I can see that she has a very bright future in whichever direction she goes. Here is what Myranda told me:

Racing has always been in my blood. My dad has been racing since he was a boy so it was inevitable that I would be doing the same thing. He started out in every type of racing possible. Motocross, 3 wheelers, dirt track and eventually made his way to drag racing. I went to the dirt track the first 5 years of my life and then switched over to drag racing where I would find a true passion for motorsports. I spent every weekend at the track learning the science and waiting for the day I got my license. When I turned 16 I was dedicated every weekend at my home track, Cordova Dragway, learning from some of the best bracket racers in the sport.

Today I am 25 years old and have many wins and finishes under my belt in the drag racing field. I have 3 semi finals finishes, 1 runner up, and 1 first place finish in the well known World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova Dragway. Anyone in the drag racing community dreams of winning this event. I made it to the bracket finals in Topeka, Kansas where I would make it to the semi finals for the race to the Nationals, in California. In 2015 I would win my first Championship ever in the Super Et Class at Cordova International Raceway. I’m the only woman to have ever won the class and only street car to drive their vehicle back and forth to the track. My 89’ Iroc-z Camaro’s best ET is 11.20 @ 121 mph. It has a 400cc Small block Chevy Motor, 750 quick fuel carb, dart heads, dynode at 500 hp, Turbo 400 tranny with a transbrake. Is also in the process of a new black colored paint job!

This car is completely street legal and I drive it to the track and back home! My love for motorsports would lead me to my dream job and my grass roots of the dirt track. I would find myself driving a 10,000 lb Monster Jam Truck for Monster Jam! I drive the Zombie Hunter Monster Jam Truck and it’s absolutely incredible. I’m lucky enough to have my my passion a career.
Thanks to:
I would like to thank my dad, Dave Cozad (Cozad Trucking), for everything he has done for me, from helping build my car, to encouraging me, to introducing me to my life passion.

The “Bomb Squad” who has taught me all I need to know about bracket racing, and being my race family and lifelong friends.
Variom Racing, who is a sponsor and race family all in its own. They are not just there for financial help but moral support.

Myranda's Hobbies are:
Drag racing, riding ATVs, fishing, dirt track racing, working out, working in the garage.

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

Last week I gave a take on the founder of the band Cream, Peter "Ginger" Baker. In that segment, I spoke the truth about his tumultuous relationship with the band's bass player, Jack Bruce, and tonight I'm going to talk about the man who was the voice and the spark plug of Cream.

John Symon Asher Bruce was born in 1943 in Scotland. He came from a musical family and they were almost always moving, so he attended several schools as a child, but his prodigious musical talent landed him a scholarship in his teens at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. While there, he received intensive classical training as a cellist. During his time at the academy, Jack moonlighted playing bass in a jazz band to support himself, but when the academy found out he was playing jazz on the side, they gave him a choice: either quit playing jazz, or leave the school.

He left. But he was loaded with a full musical education, and by the time he made it to London and played in Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, he was on another level of musical knowledge entirely than the guys he was playing with. He did great in that band, but eventually 4 guys split from that group and formed the Graham Bond Organization. It was Jack, Ginger Baker, Graham Bond and the mighty guitarist John McLaughlin who formed that band. The GBO was not commerically successful, and after numerous clashes with the irascible Ginger Baker and a detached relationship with Graham Bond, who was not the coolest musician in town, Jack moved on, freelancing his way through a few bands, notably Powerhouse, then The Bluesbreakers with John Mayall and Eric Clapton, then Manfred Mann, which seemed to be the most secure and long-lasting of all the gigs he did, including his solo album that he made after leaving Bond's band.

One fine day in 1966, Jack Bruce got the call from Eric Clapton that would change not only his life, but the future of rock music. Clapton and Baker were forming a new band. A Supergroup. Jack would be the missing piece to complete the puzzle. I should mention here that even though there were hard feelings towards Jack from Ginger, the feeling was not mutual. Jack liked Ginger Baker, and he enjoyed playing with him. It was Ginger who got all uptight about him and his style of playing, which was above and beyond anything anybody had ever heard come out of a bass player.
Jack said yeah, sure, sounds like fun. They all got together and made some of the most incredible music any band had ever made, instrumentally and thanks to Jack, vocally. He started out with Cream playing a Fender 6-string bass, which for all intents and purposes was a guitar tuned an octave lower than standard.

His bass and Eric's guitars were custom painted by a Dutch hippie artist conglomerate known as The Fool. They also painted the wall of the Apple Store owned by the Beatles in London and did some album covers and John Lennon's Rolly Royce, but the guitars they painted for Cream stood out, and they became a visual staple of the band's identity. Todd Rundgren owns EC's Fool-painted SG, and Jack's original Fender VI is on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Memphis.

Jack Bruce was a total dynamo. He threw himself into Cream full-force and he created fantastic songs that changed the world, with his collaborators Pete Brown and Felix Pappalardi. He was a major influence on me as a songwriter and a musician, and I'm just one guy in a million who heard a special sound in Jack Bruce that inspired me to take it all to the next level. He was the only member of the band with musical training and he was a doubly powerful asset as both a vocalist and as a bass player.

He was perfect for Cream, but the vibes continued with Ginger Baker, and the band only lasted a couple of years before it broke apart. But they made 4 albums that have stood the test of time, and you can hear the progression of quality in each one, with Wheels of Fire, in my opinion being the peak of their achievements as a live act as well as a recording ensemble. And Jack Bruce is right up front in all of it, playing and singing his ass off like nobody had done before or since.

He could have played with anybody. He had the knowledge, the education and the chops to play in any orchestra he wanted, but he was one-third of the world's first supergroup, and it was the right choice for him to have made. His career remained top-notch, whether he was playing hard rock, blues, jazz, fusion, acoustic or classical, and he did it all. I could give another entire segment on all of the projects he took and was successful at, but this is about Cream. By 1969, it was behind him.

We lost Jack Bruce in 2014 when he was 71 years old. I can only say that we won't be seeing another talent as great as his come along again in our lifetimes, and we were lucky to have him with us when we did. His music is as much a part of our lives as the National Anthem, and I will always hold him in my highest esteem among my influences. Rest in peace, Jack. You were the best.

Thanks to Danny White for his input and advice in helping me put these segments together.

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

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:30 pm

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.
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