Fellow HAMBers, For the past 2 years I have been working on my roadster, which you may know raced in the SCTA organization from 1947 - 1949 under the car club the GATERS out of South Gate, CA. I have tried to find as much information about Ray Pyle (my family relative) and the South Gate Gaters. I have spoken to or contacted many Hot Rod experts, from my perspective, including Jack Underwood, Don Montgomery, Robert Genat, Richard Parks, Jim Miller, Kay Kimes to name a few. I owe all these gentlemen a debt of gra***ude for their help in my quest for information. I only mention them so that you understand the depth of my search so far. Here is my request to any one reading this to help further my fact gathering. I am looking for anything Gaters related, club photos, SCTA event photos, memorabilia, trophies, etc. Any one that was once part of the SCTA during that time 1947 - 1949 and knew someone in the South Gate Gaters, I would like to speak with you. Any leads to contact members of the South Gate Gaters, including family, friends or former SCTA compe***ors of that era would be great. To give you an idea of how one thing leads to another, I wrote to Richard Parks some time back. He posted my email in his newsletter and Kay Kimes emails me information to contact Chuck Hersom, an original member of the South Gate Gaters. I've been speaking with Chuck for the past 2 years. He has shared some incredible stories with me including his adventure to the first SCTA sanctioned Bonneville trials in 1949. He's a 49er!!! Just recently, I'd come across a few relics on the internet that really had me excited and has caused me to prompt the m***es with this message. I found an authentic Gaters T-Shirt and two pictures of Gaters members wearing the t-shirt items on a Japanese website. After a little work, I was able to contact this gentleman, who is a Hot Rod enthusiast and a Hot Rod owner. He understood my family relation to the Gaters and what they meant to me and sent me copies of the photos through our email correspondence. This was the first I'd seen of these pictures of the two young gentlemen with their Gaters t-shirts on. It's these hidden gems I am searching for. I realize that some of these gentlemen may no longer be with us but they may have family that you know there whereabouts and could possibly put me in contact with them. In the chance they are still living, I would like to capture their story and experiences. What's the payout? My plan is to start a Gaters Web Site to share these stories I have learned from my Dad (who is the cousin to Ray Pyle and hung around the club back at that time), Chuck Hersom and any contacts I make through the generosity of those who may help in my quest. Here is a list of Gaters members that I was able to gather from the SCTA Racing News Programs. South Gate Gaters SCTA Members 1947 - 600 series 1948 - 180 to 200 series 1949 - 400 series Name (known car number) Ray Pyle (181B, 660B, 464B) Jim & Art Michaud Bros. (188B) John Danny Tipler & Bob Byars (190C) Chuck Dunn (191C) Richard McGuckin (192B, 663B) Leo Wise (194B) Chuck & Eugene Hersom Bros. (197B, 474B) Kenny Parks (200C) N. Davis & Pettigrew (205C) Harold West (199B) Bob Wendt (210C) N. Davis & H. Pettigrew (205C) Jim Goodwin & Moxley (187C) John Tipler (664C) Bob Byars (203C) Weinberg & Edwards (204D) Roland Tibbett (203C) N. Davis & Pettigrew (205C) Chandler & Hersom Bros. (197C) Emil Dietrich (657, 1, 20C) John Danny Tipler (664C) Chuck Hossfeld (666C) Richard McGuckni (663B) Regg Schlemmer (657, 1, 20C) I'd appreciate anything you might be able to provide. I can be contacted at chriseichert@cox.net Thanks, Gaters (Chris)
You might try posting over at http://www.landracing.com/forum/ , lots of dirt and salt guys over there.
You might try the society of land racing historians at landspeedracing.com They are a wealth of information and might be able to help you. SCTA history is something that not a lot of people gave a lot thought to for many years. Gerry Cornelison is the Road Runners historian. I am amazed at the amount of info he dug up on the Road Runners. Check out our website at road runners scta. Worth a look. Good luck with your search.
Sorry I cannot help you Chris, but I second the praise you deserve in your efforts to maintain the memory of these forefathers of hot rodding. good luck with your quest.
Hey Chris, Will this photo work. Billy Crewl sent me a link to this thread and asked if I could search my photo archives. I have about 4000 dry lakes photos from the 30s and 40s. I was hoping to find a photo of it in the background, I did not expect to find a 1947 photo of just the car. The photo was taken by Ron Sutherland of Mentone, CA. It looks like he went to El Mirage and took a whole roll of 4-banger header photos and the Pyle Roadster just happened to be one of them. I have a copy of the other photo you posted with the car in the starting line. Danny O'Regan took that photo. I was able to borrow Danny's collection of over 400 5X7 photos that were taken around 1947. Here is another one of his that was used by Don Montgomery. That's Jack Mickelson in his '32 Roadster. I drove all the way to Arizona a couple of years ago to meet Jack and borrow his photos. In the background of this picture there is a guy with a Gaters shirt on. It looks like the same shirt you posted photos of. I scanned the photo at 1200 dpi and zoomed in on the shirt. It looks like it has drawing of a gator with wheels and a header. Send me your e-mail and I will send you a large file so you can print out an 8X10. Enjoy, Jerry
I GOT CHILLS!!!!! This is freaking Awesome!!!! I can't thank you enough for searching your catalog of photos. My dad had always told me about the side tail pipe and now I know what it looks like from this side of the roadster too. I still can't believe it, thank you SOOOO much! I still need to show the picture of the guy with the Gaters t-shirt on to my mom and dad but I think that is my Dad. My dad had polio when he was a kid so he has a club foot. His left leg is shorter than his right and that's exactly how he stands. I called my Dad straight away when I came to your response. He wanted to thank you as well. He's excited to see the photo. Man, you made my day, holiday weekend, month!! I just spoke with Billy to thank him as well. Much appreciated. Chris
Just a bump back to the top, With a question of course...@Gaters love your mission and I am curious if you ever got your Gators Tribute Site Up and Away? One other thing it is truly amazing how this p***ion for Vintage Hotrod/Custom reachs places where you wouldn't imagine. The Conviction to Tradition Period Perfection is also heartfelt...What was your Japanese friend running?
Wow! This is a long time coming I guess. And I appreciate the follow up to this post. I think there’s great news about the GATERS coming up. I know I’m excited. @ironfly28 has made real effort to get a kickstart back into the GATERS car club existence. Expanding it beyond just me or me and Frank and what we’d discussed years ago. Gosh the last decade has been a lot of changes for me personally. With life changes, priorities, events, moving and a bit of loss of motivation to be honest. I’d really come out strong when I tore into my roadster in 2007. I pushed hard to get it in running order for my Dad. I’d say I’d accomplished a major task in doing so. After he p***ed, it was a blow to my motivation and focus to work on the roadster. Although I did try and maintain a running roadster, I ran into expenses of trying to do so with little to no result to keep me on the road. The roadster still sits in the same condition today. I p*** it nearly every day, and now with a bit more pep and a quick glance and words to an ol time friend, “This is the year! We’re getting back on the road buddy”. A few short days ago Frank called me about the GATERS. There are some really good positive discussions with a few more guys in the group to make some headway into a really cool GATERS future as a car club. We’re in the beginning stages but there’s a really talented group of guys involved along with a few long time good friends. There is not much to this discuss on specifics but when those come about, it’ll be a point of public notification I believe. But to your point, the traditional period cars will be a main focus and core to our decision making process. To your question about a website or communication channel, there has been a discussion about how we can begin to share info and I think that’ll be coming out shortly. Look for more up dates. GATERS
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