Being that I am originally from the "Winton/A****er/Merced" area of the San Joaquin Valley, on Saturday nights, me and I family would attend the Saturday night races, which back then, the cl*** was called "Sportsman" cl***. The races were at the Merced County Fairgrounds, which is now known as The Merced Speedway. The local track champion was for a lot of years "Dennis Moomjean". His dad had a used car lot and this particular car hauler was a well known rig around town. This truck now belongs to a fellow HAMBER. Another major influencer in my younger days was another track champion Vern Wilhoite. He was a friend of my dads, we had a wrecking yard just down the street from E & H Garage, I worked there as a kid sweeping the floor and doing all of the steam rack, and hot tank duties, plus I also worked for Lud's Auto parts back then as well, learning the big catalog rack of books back then. Both of these people were local track legends and they were friends of mine, watching them at the track on Saturday nights was a tremendous influence on me and my immersion into the realm of all things mechanical and automotive. Thanks from Dennis.
Lots of top notch stuff so far. For muscle dreams, it was Hemi Darts and 'Cudas, and Steve Lisk's Challenger. Always liked the light car, big engine deal, so Sunbeam Tigers and the g***er Willys and Anglias were a part of the mindset. The dream rod stuff was '33-'34 coupes like The California Kid and the Black one (small block 5 speed) that came out of PA (?) can't remember the builder, and Alloway's BB stuff. All too new for HAMB, but this is the OT section. HAMB stuff was The Hirohata Merc, The Inman Chrysler, the 554 car, Doyle's '32 coupe, and the McMullin 32 roadster. For more down to earth rod stuff, it was the light, simple T-Buckets. I've finally got hold of a low end bucket and am having fun. EDIT: @Weedburner 's post reminded me. I saw Roth's Yellow Fang way back as a kid at Half Moon Bay Dragstrip. A foggy memory, it didn't really click until I finally saw a picture here on the HAMB of it bare with marker on it, before it was painted. Not Yellow, not Gold, not Multi Panel, bare. All the other pics I'd seen were painted. Yeah, that hit hard. https://public.fotki.com/LOUD-PEDAL/famous-hot-rods/ed-roths-yellow-fang/
As an impressionable kid living in Nipomo CA, I got to sit in Tommy Ivo's 4 engine car when it was in the showroom of a Buick/Olds/GMC dealership where my uncle Jim was a mechanic. I also got to see "the Sydicate" double engine dragster at a local car show. Meanwhile, I attended quite a few dirt track shows at Santa Maria Speedway. Fast forward to my adult life, I built a double engine rotary powered dirt latemodel... Grant
Thanks guys! more pics and info on my double engine rotary dirt car here... https://grannys.tripod.com/4rotor.html Scroll down to the bottom of that link to see the dirt latemodel that I built with a backwards mounted Mopar 440. Grant
The Jalopy Journal
