Ryan submitted a new blog post: The Price Of Speed Was Gra***ude Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Sheriff Stocker must have been a pompous twit. Just like most politicians nowadays as Ryan pointed out.
Sending a letter that you have to put in print, thanking me….. geez tell me I’m important. And future agreements with locals / politicians is the political handshake….. Righthand up higher to shake and left hand lower, palm up to catch the $…..
Just doing a quick search. Stocker ran cattle in the area from sometime around 194?-1950 in addition to being sheriff. That might've been one of the reasons he didn't like the idea of hot rods. I'm also guessing he may've been jealous of the guys who returned from WWII as he was a little too old to have served. I remember meeting some guys like that when I was young.
I did some of my own research and found an article in a 1987 edition of The SB County Sun. James W. Stocker was Sheriff Stocker's son and he certainly lead a "car guy" life. 1987 was his rookie year in the Great American Race, but he participated for a few years afterwards. But just as I was starting to feel bad about publishing the letter, I found this quote in the article: So… something worth keeping in the back of your head… Everyone’s coming from somewhere. Everyone’s carrying a version of the story you can’t see. And just because you ended up where you are doesn’t mean the next guy didn’t take a completely different road to get where he is. And then there’s time. Most of us are looking at all of this from decades away. I wasn’t even born until thirty years after it went down. I wasn’t there. I didn’t hear the conversations. Didn’t feel the pressure. Maybe Stocker had his reasons. Maybe there was more at play than what shows up on paper. Point is… don’t take everything at face value. History’s got layers. And you gotta let the evidence stack before you can feel safe with a broad ***umption. Note: Writing this to myself mostly.
I grew up in Chicago and if there’s one thing I learned early on it’s that the vote is very important, you want to keep your name out there. Might mom and dad pick up that program and read the note regarding Sheriff Stocker? Well gee, he’s looking out for the kids, he’s got my vote next time. Chicago’s city seal has this Latin motto- Urbs in Horto, City In A Garden. There are some that believe it should be Ubi Est Mei- Where’s mine?
Yeah… this is where it gets slippery. Because if you lock yourself into the paper trail alone, none of it lines up clean. In 1948, public sentiment was absolutely stacked against hot rodding. Newspapers were beating the drum hard, editorials warning about danger, calling it reckless, tying organized racing directly to street racing like it was some kind of gateway vice. You had citizens writing letters, pissed off that the police were “giving in” to a bunch of hoodlums with flatheads and bad judgment by giving them race tracks to get faster on, etc... And that wasn’t just noise. That pressure was real. Hell, years later, cops down in San Diego were still raiding Paradise Mesa, hauling kids off for doing the exact same thing on an abandoned airstrip. So it’s not like the system suddenly flipped and welcomed everyone in with open arms. Which is why that letter feels… off. Too clean. Too cooperative. Too transactional in a way that doesn’t quite match the broader hostility of the time. I mean, I don't think allowing hot rodders to hot rod was a super popular campaign point at the time at all. There’s almost certainly more to it. Maybe Stocker was playing both sides. Publicly holding the line while quietly working deals behind the curtain. Maybe he needed cover, needed that public acknowledgment in the program to show the community he was “in control” of the situation. Or maybe this is just Los Angeles being Los Angeles. Because if there was anywhere in the country where hot rodding was going to force its way into legitimacy faster than anyone was comfortable with, it was the LA area. The density, the culture, the sheer number of kids building cars… it might’ve created just enough momentum to bend the rules quicker there than anywhere else. Or maybe we’re still missing a piece. That’s the frustrating part. You can feel the edges of the truth, but you can’t quite grab it.
It’s like hot rodding followed the steps of illegal liquor in the 30s. The ****’s and Politician’s figured out the two handed handshake I mentioned in a couple posts above. Both sides of the fence? You can bet on it.
People naturally fear what they don't understand. Sitting down across a table, talking civilly, shaking hands was the way it was done. Stocker was just a good 'ol boy in a system he didn't invent. Thanking him in the program is an easy, small price to pay. If you were a parent and didn't understand what we do now about hot rodders you'd feel the same.
"Now, I know this kind of paperwork puts a lot of people to sleep. Old letters. Old programs. Dusty details. But to me, this stuff is gold." I don't feel the least bit sleepy. Gold, indeed!
"When there were far fewer people around, far fewer laws and regulations, when the legal speed limit was 75 mph, when gas was cheap, when driving was a pleasure, if you owned a hot machine you could point the grill down an empty road and go!" In the Portland Oregon area in the mid fifties a rare collaboration happened between "City Hall" and the hot rodding and racing community. An excerpt from a letter from Portland Mayor Terry Shrunk to the Portland Hot Rod Clubs of 1955. From Here: https://flatoutpress.blogspot.com/2013/06/portland-mayor-terry-shrunk-on-hot.html
Terry Shrunk is someone we don't talk about enough. It's been years since I've researched this, but I believe Terry was pretty instrumental in enlisting Dee Wescott as the first president of the Multnomah Hot Rod Council... which, in turn, lit a fire under Dee to start the Portland Roadster Show. Also... by 1955, California had pretty much turned the corner in accepting hot rods... Oregon was super slow to follow, but Terry was a god damned bulldog and would press the matter at every opportunity. Here's just the first example of that I could find in my archives: And this is just one example of probably hundreds... He never shied away from arguing in favor of hot rods. From everything I've read, he was an amazing guy... I don't even know if he was a hot rodder... like, at all... I think he just saw a group of kids getting ****ed over and decided he was in a position to help.
I mean... seriously... this was from 1953: Find me another sheriff in America prior to even 1960 willing to go this far out on the line. Although, what's he got against Jalopies god damnit?
Having spent several years of my young adult life working in a small town courthouse, I find it telling that he only served one term as sheriff.
Thinking Terry Shrunk would be absolutely "gobsmacked" as our Brit brothers would say when seeing where we have gotten to, not even counting the size of the industry created. Also guessing he's rolling in his grave over the whole r@t r@d movement. Terry also went on to become mayor of Portland from 1957 to 1973.
I'm glad they did what they did to get the approval to race...and they did. The letter wasn't really ignorant or hostile. Sure it was a form of pressure and the law or a lawman flexing its/his muscle. The targeting of Racing elsewhere was part of the evolution to the legalized racing. I suppose there was no shortage of the dark side of Hotrod all the time these changes were evolving...crashes, death, drinking and racing...it still is happening now... Perhaps the targeting of racing elsewhere as in landing strips was due to less monitoring for safety and organization...and permissions by those owning the property...
I did a lot of snooping in old derelict buildings and searching old cars over the years...with no permission...I learned over time you can't just plant your *** on a property and do whatever you feel as sure as **** some one owns it and can charge you with tresp***ing if they catch you...so the same goes for racing anywhere...you need permission and the fact we all know people die in the participation makes for a little more than a request...perhaps some rules had to go down...because liability could fall on the owner whether it be Government or a citizen owned... Back then was likely loosey goosey but nowadays...better ask first... I know I'm a fun spoiler at times... Great history there Ryan...the fine print of the yesteryear was much simpler than today...
Yeah, I bet your are fun to party with. Kidding. But I don't think anyone would disagree with that. Through the late ’40s and well into the ’50s, adults across the country were fighting like hell to keep hot rods off the street… and off the track… legal or not. Didn’t matter if you were trying to organize it or just mind your own business. To them, it was all the same problem. Meanwhile, guys like Wally Parks were trying to thread a needle that probably shouldn’t have been threadable. Make a living. Build something legitimate. Convince the same people trying to shut it all down that it could be controlled, civilized… safe enough to tolerate. Plus, he had to sell the kids doing the actual hot rodding on the same. And for a brief window, yeah… it really does feel like there was a quiet war going on. Hot rodders on one side, just trying to run their cars without getting chased off or locked up… and on the other side, a mix of politicians, police, and everyday folks who saw the whole thing as a problem that needed to be stamped out. That tension is where all the interesting stuff lives. Back when it was still a little dangerous… and nobody had quite figured out who was going to win. I was born for **** like that.
...It's funny driving these vintage rides today almost feels like a divide between public opinion, the m*** of newness and the Law/Government a juxtaposition kinda. I agree there were many who thankfully went to bat to keep the dream alive...and sure as **** in the Hotrodders favor was the regular non Hotrod populace terrorizing the world in likely more ways than their nemesis's...drinking, speeding and doing the same ****... So yeah a fine balancing act...and in light of that Dry Lakes Program...a truly diplomatic accomplishment between Joe Hotrod and the Big Guys...heck he was possibly a Veteran. I see a Brown in the Racers list...His name sounds familiar...some big names in that booklet...the Ron Browne you speak of isn't on the program anywhere...
but wait there's more ...this entry list is a who's-who of our Hot Rod heroes, Phil Wiand in a Stream.Rdstr = Streamlined Roadster Thomes S. Cobbs our unsung hero in an Unl Roadster = Unlimited roadster is Thomes a misspelled Thomas Earl Bruce in a Stock Rdstr Robert Montgomery in a Unl Coupe =Unlimited Coupe...is the author Robert Montgomery ?? Marion I Thompson, Jr (isn't this Mickey Thompson) in a Stock Coupe any I missed or got wrong ??
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