Motorsports Newsletter, 5/26/23

By Richard Parks

1) Don Smith wrote that John Sofilos of Unlimited Marine in Clear Lake, California, has passed away recently. His shop was located next to Champion Speed Shop, according to Don. Does anyone have a bio or obit for John?

2) Thank you very much. I enjoyed these newsletters a lot. Lots of memories from Ascot. Keep them coming. Roy Robinson

ROY: Tell me about your memories of Ascot. I save stories and have lots of them, which I make available to the public free of charge. The tracks may leave us, but the memories should remain forever. I use nouns to create biographies of people and stories. Think of a person, place,or thing and then write about it; short or long it doesn’t matter. I will edit it for you and keep it in my archives. For example, you mentioned:
a) Parnelli Jones
b) Your racing partners
c) Ascot
d) AJ Foyt
Just write what you know and remember, and have fun with the memories. They’re yours, and they’re special. 714-818-1281, call me anytime.

3) EDITOR: People I’d love to ride with exploring the world: Mike Cook (Bolivian land speed event), Ak Miller (Pikes Peak), Le Roi “Tex” Smith (hunting for old tin), Jack Mendenhall (again), Dave Marquez (to Great Bend), Bill Burke (Bonneville), Oscar Koveleski (Giant’s Despair Hillclimb), David Parks (Silver State), Wally Parks (in the Jeepney during WWII), Don Edwards (in his drag boat), Mike Uribe (along Route 50 in Nevada), John Sherin (in his crackerbox), and many more. Could you tell us who you wanted to ride with and why?

4) From Doug Stokes: “DRIVEN TO CRIME: TRUE STORIES OF WRONGDOING IN MOTOR RACING,” by Crispian Besley. US $55.00, Canadian $70.00, ISBN: 9781910505700, Format: 9.2in x 6.1in, Hardback, Pages 480, 100 photos, mainly color. Evro Publishing books are distributed in North America by Quarto Publishing Group USA. Books can be ordered from Quarto by email: sales; phone number: 800-328-0590; or website: www.quartoknows.com. Please use the relevant ISBN number when ordering.
Doug: WOW, what a topic for Book 2. Start gathering stories for TRUE CRIMES in MOTORSPORTS.

5) I was reminded by Don Smith of the news that he sees on The Starting Line on DRAGZINE feedback Here’s something I didn’t know. Travis Tritt recorded “She’s Going Home With Me” and included segments of the John Force Race Team in the music video. Tritt also included Tony Pedregon, Kenny Bernstein, Eddie Hill, and Mark Roberts. Tritt attended Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School and earned his NHRA Super Comp license. Tritt was also the Winston Finals grand marshal and co-host of the 1996 NHRA Winston Championship Awards Ceremony. John Force and Tritt also teamed up with a one-hour TNN television special titled “Burning Thunder” in 1997 that also featured many other stars from NHRA.
And this: “After years of delay, a motorsports facility in Mingo County is set to open this fall. A project nearly a decade in the making, the first race at the Twin Branch Motorsports Complex in Delbarton, West Virginia has been scheduled for October 22. The mountaintop drag strip is set to host grudge runs and time trails on opening day, according to a news release from Senator Mark Maynard, R-Wayne. Maynard is a racing enthusiast who served as a crew member for motorsports teams from 2006 to 2014, before his entry into politics.” From Don Smith
And this: “Clay Millican (Top Fuel), Tim Wilkerson (Funny Car), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock), and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) won the NHRA’s first race at Chicago’s Route 66 Raceway since 2019.
FANS: Twin Branch is a gnarly course built on a ridge, with about 150 feet on both sides and then a steep hill dropping away into a valley of trees on both sides and only for the bravest to test it. If you don’t like politicians, then make an exception for Mark Maynard.

6) Hi Richard. The latest issue is at https://indd.adobe.com/view/78e06d4b-29fa-49c0-8ece-8fe19e0e6648. Hope you enjoy it. Regards, Bob Campbell, Editor Vintage Metal, PO Box 5046, MIDLAND Western Australia 6056, Mob: 0419 849 835, Email: robertcampbell4@icloud.com.
Bob: Love those old cars and the photos of the hillclimbs, but do you have HILLS in Australia?

7) Try this link. It opened for me. Tons of information. Keep up the great work! John Towle. See: https://carcruisefinder.com/
John: I tried, it did, and it’s a great website.

8) Bill Montgomery and the Hidden Pioneers (motorsports old-timers) were at the Pomona Food bank drive at Ganesha Park on May 20, 2023, which is right across the street from the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California. This event was hosted by Hollywood Actor Rodney Allen Rippy and supported by the many members of the Hidden Pioneers, including among many were Bill, Ed “Isky” Iskenderian, Scott Gordon Parks, Jerry Rangel, Richard Nicholson, et al, to raise funds and food for the Pomona Valley Food Bank.
On Saturday and Sunday, May 20-21, 2023, Hidden Pioneers was represented at the Electrify Exposition in Long Beach, California. Tesla was there as well as hundreds of companies at the Convention Center. There was a children’s zone with electric go-carts, e-bikes, and for adults, there were also test drives, demolition course, EV experts, electric powered cars, trucks, scooters, motorcycles, skateboards, etc. Contact Bill Montgomery at hiddenpioneers.

9) Another story for the DRAG Cartoons Comic Paper 2023-2024, will be “in the eyes of the beholder.” This story takes us back to the first California Hot Rod Reunion. Some of the people who were there and were reminiscing about days gone by. I was at the Antique Nationals Sunday for the first time. What have I been missing? Great racing, and fun people. Met some “Bean Bandits.” Something you may not know is that when my dad was racing down San Diego way, he was always getting beat by a team called the BEAN BANDITS! Robin Millar

10) Organized in 1959 the AACF (Automobile Aftermarket Charitable Foundation) helps those in the industry who have fallen on hard times, according to Don Smith, founder of the PWA (Parts Warehouse Association). They are listed at 5716 Folsom Blvd, #149, Sacramento, CA, United States, 95819, 772-286-5500 or write to info.
EDITOR: Another great charitable organization is DRAW (Drag Racing Association of Women), which since 1985 has raised almost $5 million dollars to help injured drag racers and their families recover from accidents and get back on their feet again. They’re at drawonline.org.

11) My name is Dave Nicholas. I have a website devoted to 50’s and 60’s sportscar racing – www.barcboys.com. I was a good friend of Oscar Koveleski, and he was a BARC member. Please let me know what you’d like for your story. There are about a dozen of us who knew Big O well. In 2021 we had a grand party at Watkins Glen for Oscar and created a slide show from all our images. We served a full Polish dinner and lots of beer. I wish I could remember it. DN
DAVE: Whatever you remember and wish to add would be much appreciated.

12) Veloce Publishing presents “Porsche Boxster and Cayman – The 981 series 2012 to 2016,” by Brian Long. The full history of Porsche’s 981-type Boxster and Cayman lines, written with the help of the factory by an acknowledged marque expert. PRICE: £55 UK, $80 USA, $104 CAN SKU: V5793 Hardback: 25x25cm -192 pages – 293 pictures ISBN: 978-1-787117-93-8, UPC: 6-36847-01793-4. info

13) Another book from Veloce Publishing is “Lotus Evora – Speed and Style,” by Johnny Tipler. Lotus’s range-topping Type 122 Evora was introduced in 2008. This book, by Lotus expert Johnny Tipler, tells the whole Evora story from concept until the end of production in 2021. PRICE: £50 UK – $80 USA – $105 CAN SKU: V5767 FORMAT: Hardback, 25x25cm, 240 pages, 329 pictures, ISBN: 978-1-787117-67-9. UPC: 6-36847-01767-5. info.

14) Lions Drag Strip Museum founder Rick Lorenzen and the Lions crew are going full throttle on the museum’s 10,000-square-foot expansion. “The Lions Automobilia Foundation and museum are not just dedicated to preserving the history of Lions Drag Strip, but of all forms of motorsports in the Long Beach and Southern California areas – both past and present,” said Lorenzen. The expansion will include a tribute to Long Beach Marine Stadium, where a lineup of authentic Blown Fuel Hydros will once again be on the holding rope. Thousands more square feet of wall murals and custom-designed displays will showcase vehicles from the dry lakes of El Mirage, to off-road, NASCAR and Ascot Speedway. Tributes to Southern California’s drag strips, speed equipment pioneers (like Ed Iskenderian) and racing Hall of Famers will also be included, as well as a ‘surprise’ movie car display. Lorenzen has re-assembled The Dream Team, “Doing anything on this scale requires a team of artists and specialists dedicated to the project, and we’re blessed to have the same people back who did such an amazing job on the Lions display.” Those artisans include painters Yvonne Mecialis and Keith Moreland, digital designers Tim Sieger and Tommy Naccarato, and constructors Johnny Wood and Rick Romaniello. Historians Dave Mandella and Rob Marchese will fill the display cases with memorabilia, while Kenny Youngblood oversees the design, and Rick Lorenzen makes it all happen! For more information, contact: LionsAutomobilia.org. From Kenny Youngblood
EDITOR: I’ve been there, wrote an article on the Museum and it is a fascinating place.

15) Royce Rumsey just published “Oly Olé!” Arguably, the most famous Ford Bronco in history is the Olympia Beer-sponsored Mexico 1000 Blue Oval livery of Parnelli Jones and Bill Stroppe. After “Rufus’” initial failed attempt at the legendary El Pais peninsula mille in a mostly stock Bronco in 1968, his partner Bill Stroppe (of famous Holman-Moody-Stroppe fame) and mechanic Dick Russel fabricated the chrome-moly framed, lifted suspension, Bronco-esque fiberglass body, and signature airfoiled Bronco that went on to win the 1971 and 1972 NORRA Mexican 1000 in grand fashion. And to further secure its rightful place in racing history, also taking the checkers in the 1973 Mint 400. It’s been called the first ‘supercar’ of off-road racing. It became affectionately known and remembered as “Big Oly.” Royce Rumsey is at roycer924_2.