History Putting a Face with a Name: Cars and Drivers in the 1950s

Gene Mooneyham & Al Sharp: Forever Linked to the Number 554

When you ask any died-in-the-wool hot rodder to tell you the first image that comes to mind when you say the number "554," the mental picture of Mooneyham & Sharp's '34 fuel altered coupe leaps to their mind. It doesn't even have to be an old-timer. I asked my 47-year-old son what picture of a car came to mind when I said, "554." He likes old hot rod history. He said, "blue '34 coupe, gold-leaf number on the door." Good answer. When I asked him if he knew the names of the builders, he was at a loss. We know the car, but the names or faces of the owners, builders, or drivers don't always readily spring to mind as quickly as the image of the car does. In the spirit of this thread, I will write less about the famous fuel altered coupe associated with its builders than about them as people. Although both of them were in the drag racing business for many decades, I will focus primarily on them (and their cars) in the 1950s. I will attempt to put a face with a name, which is the central purpose of this thread.


This is the car that comes to mind for every average Joe with an undying love of drag racing--one of the most seminal cars in the history of drag racing: Mooneyham and Sharp's steel-bodied '34 Ford fuel coupe #554. I'll just write a few things about the car before moving on to focus on the guys who made it go. The car gained an almost cult-like following, persisting to this day. Why is that? Jimmy White used to work for Gene Mooneyham in his blower shop. He was curious about what Gene thought about the acclaim his fuel coupe had garnered. "I asked Gene one day if he realized how bad-ass of a car the 554 was," said Jimmy. "He shrugged and said, 'Not really.'" That about sizes it up. It's hard to put into words, but there was just something about the car--its stance, its sound, its looks. It just emanated everything that defined drag racing. In fact, Webster's Dictionary could replace the words in their definition of "drag racing" with this picture of "554" and that would suffice. Before I turn my focus on the two men behind "554," I'll let Jimmy White tell us about the car number. "The 554 came from the lakes," Jimmy said of its early days racing at the dry lakes. "That was the number it was assigned. When Gene went to repaint it--the metallic blue--the numbers were still visible. So they decided to just re-paint the 554 back on."


This is as good a picture as any to lead into putting a face on the two men behind this fabulous car: Al Sharp (left) and Gene Mooneyham (right).

Gene Mooneyham


Gene was born in Oklahoma, but moved to California with his family in the early 1940s. His father worked in construction in support of the war effort. Gene's only brother, Charles, joined the Navy in 1944. Sadly, he died in 1945 aboard a destroyer in the South Pacific. Gene graduated from Banning High School in Wilmington, California, in 1949. He began working as a gas station attendant.


Gene started out street racing in his '40 Ford coupe, running with the standard flathead V8 engine.


Gene bought his first race car, a '34 Ford sedan, for $20. He took the engine out of his '40 Ford coupe, installed it in the '34 sedan, and raced it at the dry lakes. He and his partner, Bill Smith, took 9th place in the B Sedan class on May 20, 1951, with a speed of 103.17 mph. Exactly a week later, he married Dorothy. She had to know what she was getting into.


Gene continued running his '34 sedan at the dry lakes with his new partner, Carl Johnson. This photo shows Gene's neat '40 Ford pickup behind his sedan. The Mooneyham and Johnson duo also began running at the drag races at the Orange County airport in Santa Ana. They got their first victory at Santa Ana in the light coupe class on November 25, 1951. They picked up another win on February 3, 1952, at Santa Ana.


This photo shows us the back of his '34 sedan, on which Gene lettered his affiliation with the Rod Riders of San Pedro. In 1953, he still continued to race on the dry lakes, but he also began drag racing more frequently, too. He also picked up a couple of new partners that year. At Pomona on January 18, he and Balck (or Black?) took the '34 sedan to a C Fuel Coupe victory with 102 mph. On March 22, he partnered with Baker for a win in the light coupe and sedan class at Santa Ana with a speed of 106.38 mph.


Here we go. Now we enter the era of the 5-window "554" '34 Ford fuel coupe. The '34 sedan was no longer in Gene's racing picture. From here on, Gene would be running the fuel coupe, with help from his old partner, Carl Johnson. He initially wanted to just paint the number on the side of the door with poster paint (so he could change it easily), but mistakenly used marine paint. When he tried to get it off, even using sandpaper, it wouldn't come off. He was stuck with the number "554." Oh, well. Note that the car was fenderless and had a rudimentary flame paint job. Nice. In this photo, the car was set up for running at dry lakes and at Bonneville.


The Mooneyham-Johnson duo began hitting drag strips in Southern California in 1955. On April 17 at Santa Ana, running a Merc flathead, they won the light coupe class in 112.95 mph. This photo shows Don "Rockerhead" Montgomery (right) in his '32 Ford coupe racing Gene at the NHRA regional at Colton on May 15. "Gene had a flathead in the coupe," Montgomery said, "while my coupe had a GMC engine. My win at 120.32 mph was the fast A/F Coupe that year." You can see in this photo that the top had been chopped from how it appeared in the previous photo. Carl Johnson had topped it 3-1/2 inches to give it that oh-so-cool appearance. Gene had a Ford flathead in the Mooneyham-Johnson fuel coupe when they took a win on July 17 at Santa Ana with 119.09 mph, good enough for a new strip record in the light coupe class. At the grand opening of Lions on October 9, Mooneyham-Johnson won the A fuel coupe class with 115.53 mph. This was light years ahead of the national record (106.89 mph) that Robert Chapman set at the U.S. Nationals at Great Bend. On October 23 at Lions, Mooneyham won the A fuel coupe class with his Merc flathead with 116.12 mph. After that outing, then followed months of rebuilding the coupe to more resemble what we think of as closer to the "554."


In this photo, Carl Johnson (wearing jacket) admires the immaculate fendered version of their "554" coupe, with his partner, Gene (right). They had spent the latter part of 1955 and the first half of 1956 rebuilding the car to look like this. They chose wisteria as the color for their car and had Jim Hoff do the lettering and pin striping. It had one of its first outings with this new look at Saugus on August 11, 1956. What's interesting about this, is that Al Sharp came into the picture here. That might be Sharp standing behind the car with a white shirt, but that's a big maybe. He installed his '55 259ci Dodge engine for that mid-year debut outing. Gene drove the car to a class win, clocking a very impressive 122.45 mph. This was about 7 mph faster than the NHRA national record! Mooneyham & Johnson's next winning outing took place at Santa Ana on September 30. They had installed a 353ci '52 Chrysler engine and won the fuel coupe class with 116.27 mph. On October 14, Santa Ana held a Fuel Coupe Invitational, attracting some of the hottest fuel coupes in the Southland, if not the country. Although Mooneyham was beaten by Don Montgomery in light coupe eliminations, he turned a blistering new class strip record of 132.11 mph! This was really kind of a break-out moment that really got the attention of others. At the 2-day event celebrating the first anniversary of Lions Drag Strip on October 27-28, Mooneyham set a new strip A Fuel Coupe record with 133.50 mph. However he lost in eliminations again to Don Montgomery's blown Chrysler fuel coupe. Gene's car lacked a blower, fuel being guzzled by six Stromberg carbs. Their standard load of fuel was mixed at a ratio of 90% nitro and 10% alcohol. At Lions on December 9, Mooneyham & Johnson beat the Walker Bros. to take the A Fuel Coupe trophy with 10.95 at 130.24 mph. They also had a hefty single run of 10.78 at 130.34 mph. That's where the year ended. They were putting up good numbers, but Don Montgomery seemed to have their number when it came to winning big races.


It seemed like the trajectory would only continue upward for "554" when the 1957 season started. Drag News (1/26/57) published a 2-page feature article about the car entitled "A Coupe to Go." One interesting fact briefly mentioned in the article is that Al Sharp was one of several men helping with "the necessary preparations at the track and elsewhere." He would become involved in a major way in 1959. In that same issue of Drag News, an advertisement testimonial written by Gene credited the eight-inch slicks from Bruce's Tire Shop for much of the car's elapsed time improvement. "After purchasing our slicks from Bruce's Tire Shop, top speed handling of our coupe was corrected," Gene attested. "I can now feel 'bite' all the way to the finish line. They got me off the starting line much quicker, and since installing, have lowered my E.T. to 10.78 seconds from my former consistent 11.71. Nearly 1 full second! I sincerely believe that your slicks are by far the best thing we have done to help put our car at the top of its class." Well, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but such glowing product tributes certainly didn't hurt when it came to attracting sponsors or getting free or reduced-cost parts.

Everything was going without so much as a hitch for Mooneyham, Johnson, "554," and company until February, when the fuel racer's world imploded. Don Montgomery, the top dog in the fuel coupe world and Gene's nemesis, sold his car solely because places to race it evaporated. "I raced the 554 coupe several times in the next 2 years," Montgomery wrote of racing Gene in 1956-57. "By then we both had Chrysler engines. Then they banned fuel and I sold my car." There have been several versions about who and why the nitro ban was started, most of them pointing a finger at Wally Parks. I wasn't there at the start of the ban, but I was sitting in the stands on the opening day time trials of the 1963 Winternationals when Don Garlits threw a tizzy-fit at the starting line. He was incensed that he and so many other fuel car drivers weren't allowed to race. He fumed, kicked around, and refused to budge from the line until Wally Parks would give him an ear. Wally came down from the tower. They talked (lots of yelling on Don's part) and almost an hour after the race was to start, Wally gave his blessing to the fuel drivers. And just like that, the fuel ban was over. For years, I have been in the blame-Wally-for-the-fuel-ban camp, but now I'm almost persuaded otherwise. In 2020, Brian Lohnes wrote an article that was published online entitled "Everything You Know About the Nitro Ban Is Wrong: The Real History of the Infamous NHRA Nitro Ban." His arguments are very convincing. He contends that the ban can be traced to fuel drivers' concerns about the "skyrocketing costs of drag racing." He argued that when Cook & Bedwell's A/FD broke the then-existing world record at Lions on February 3, 1957, by more than 7 miles per hour, "the drag racing world was stunned and repercussions were immediate," Lohnes wrote. "Three days after Cook’s runs, C.J. Hart announced gasoline would be the only fuel permitted at his Santa Ana (CA) Drag Strip beginning on February 10, 1957. While Hart cited the lack of stopping room at many tracks as a problem, his decision was based on an entirely different concern. Hart insisted he was responding almost solely on the clamor from participants to curb the skyrocketing costs of drag racing." In order to compete with Cook and Bedwell, the drivers would have to dig deep into their wallets to buy more and better parts. "On February 15, a meeting was held in Los Angeles involving a total of seven other California drag strips all of which agreed to follow Hart’s ban on nitromethane," Lohnes wrote. "The tracks were San Fernando, Pomona, San Gabriel, Lions, Saugus and the northern California track at Kingdon." And just like that, strips in Southern California that formerly put fuel cars on top billing, suddenly closed their gates to them. They had no convenient place to race and had to spend even more money to travel to strips that let them run--and those were fast dwindling. So, that was where Mooneyham and Johnson found themselves in fast order--a fast fuel car, with no close-by place to go. "When fuel was banned we both parked our coupes," Don Montgomery recalled. Partially true. Mooneyham ran a couple of times, but after parking it for a bit, Montgomery sold his. But, Mooneyham kept his, hoping to get in an occasional run or lifting of the fuel ban. After a few months of idleness, Carl Johnson opted out of his partial ownership.

Colton let them run occasionally, but Morrow Field mostly ran gas-only like so many other strips. However, on June 9, 1957, Colton ran their periodic fuel and gas meet and Gene dusted off "554" and won the fendered fuel coupe class with 131.57 mph.

1958. Mostly the same story--a couple of outings, couple of wins. Colton on February 9, 1958--A Fuel Coupe win with 11.22 ET (no speed, wiring problems).

1959. Sometimes when you set out to write a history, you can't find out all the facts. This is one of those parts of the story of "554" where things are a little murky. I'm pretty sure that Gene was driving the car at Paradise Mesa. His obituary said that he retired from driving after he crashed the car. It was probably 1959. Old timers like Don Montgomery, remembered a little of this and a little of that, but some of what some of these old timers thought they remembered, didn't line up. One old timer thought he was driving a flathead when he crashed. Huh? Memory is sometimes fuzzy. Brian Lohnes wrote a feature about "554" that is online. In the absence of any better research on my part, I'll turn to Lohnes for this part of the story that he uncovered: "Mooneyham wrecked the car at the now defunct Paradise Mesa strip outside of San Diego. With a taco’d frame and body that had seen better days the fate of the coupe was hanging in the balance. Cooler heads prevailed with the idea to repair the car, but take it to the next plateau of performance. The frame was straightened using jacks, chains, and trees. The top was chopped a shade more than 3 inches and all the rest of the sheetmetal was straightened and smoothed. Car sponsor, Al Sharp, was impressed with the repaired piece and had it painted silver. In typical temperamental drag racer fashion, Mooneyham didn’t like the silver, so he had the car painted blue, the color it would remain through most of its career and the one color that everyone who knows the car thinks about when it is mentioned. During the repair process, the lead body man was Larry Faust."


In this photo, Larry Faust and Dorothy Mooneyham stand beside the car. We are looking at Al Sharp's '51 390ci Chrysler Hemi engine. Al was a magician with motors. Inside the Hemi was a Clay Smith 284-model cam and ForgedTrue pistons. On top is a GMC 6-71 blower fed by Enderle injection, nitro mix of 60-70 percent. Power to the wheels came via a Sharp Engineering flywheel and Schiefer clutch.

Brian Lohnes continued: "Larry Faust was a drag racer himself and went by the nickname 'Jungle.' The guy was reputed to be able to drive anything and he said he could back that claim up. Mooneyham liked what he saw in Faust and asked him to drive the car, although with the new blower atop the Hemi, Mooneyham was worried that Faust would be unable to tame the beast. As a test, Mooneyham brought Faust to San Gabriel Drag Strip on a day that the place was closed up and let him make a few hits, first with 25 percent nitro in the tank, to which Faust is reported to have said, 'It don’t feel like much.' Upping the percentage to 50 percent resulted in Faust shutting down the car at half track and matter of factly telling Mooneyham that he needed to put a full load of pop in it so they could see what it was really capable of. Unfortunately the motor was broke so another run was out of the question. Faust told Mooneyham that he could handle the car. The next time he would drive it would be in competition. Of driving the car, Faust was quoted as saying, 'It would go left one time and right the next. It would hook up differently because it would smoke the tires so hard.' You just have to love these guys."

We next pick up the story after the coupe was repaired and "Jungle" Larry Faust was in the driver's seat. It was 1960. "The Bakersfield Smokers, with fuel insurance in hand, scheduled their soon to be famous Fuel Championships meet," Don Montgomery said. "Gene took the fenders off of his coupe, added a blower, and proceded to thrill the crowds with great, tire smoking, runs down the strip." The coupe, now Mooneyham & Sharp, took the win in at the second March Meet in A Fuel Coupe with 10.44 and 148.27 mph, good enough for a new Drag News 1320 record. Al Sharp's blown Chrysler engine really upped the car's speed big time and they were quicker by about half a second, too.


Let's jump to 1963. Mooneyham and Sharp sold the car for $3,500. They had enjoyed a good run with it, made a chunk of change, had good times. They left going out on top, holders of the national record at 9.05 and 178.21 mph. The above photo shows Gene and Ruth, Al Sharp's wife. Jungle Larry stayed on as driver with the new owner, Emmit White. Old timers recall that White took ownership of the car and had Jungle Larry put it to the test for the first time under his ownership at Lions. Jungle Larry was absolutely fearless. "Faust was not afraid of anything and he would take the car as far to the limit as Gene would let him," said one old timer. "Faust said the car was extremely loud inside, as the individual exhausts ran directly under the aluminum floor pan. The last time I saw it run, it was the last run of the day for the car, and Emmit White wanted to have Larry go for broke!" They upped the nitro load to about 90%. Not good. The car exploded into flames. Faust got the car stopped and got out with minor burns. That was it for "554." “It was pretty simple. Gene (Mooneyham) got paid Saturday morning," Faust quipped later, "and I blew it up on Saturday night.” End of story for Mooneyham and Sharp's history with their famous fuel coupe.


Gene continued his involvement in racing, owning/sponsoring a flock of different top fuel cars. His most successful car was a top fueler that won the 1970 Gatornationals, with Dave Chenevert driving. In this photo, Gene is seen kneeling down on the right, lending his practiced hand to resolve an issue with a dragster's engine.


He started up the Mooneyham Blowers business in Downey, California, in 1974. "His real contribution to the sport came in the area of superchargers," Don Garlits said. "Some of my best runs were with his Mooneyham Blowers. He was very innovative." He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from NHRA in 1996 and was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2001. He died at age 75 in 2006.

Al Sharp


In this photo, Al looks at a later rebuild of his old car. In 1953, he co-founded Venolia Piston Company with Bob Toros. After 1963, he left racing and devoted full time to his racing equipment business ventures. Al was something else--World War II vet, innovator, businessman, machinist, pattern maker. He built Ford flathead equipment. He and Gene built and sold some of the first aluminum heads for the Chrysler Hemi. He helped Craig Breedlove with his Spirit of America record-setting runs. His manifolds and valve covers graced the twin mills of the Hurst Hairy Olds. And on and on. He was a guy who loved to make things that made you go faster. He died in 2004.

 

Sam Brollier: Speed Merchant on Dry Lakes and Drag Strip

Being caught up in the '50s with drag racing history, I keep running across Sam Brollier's name in old newspapers. So, I'm intrigued enough to find out more about him. I'm not the only one who is curious. About ten years ago, Dave Sanderson wondered what had become of Sammy. Sanderson, who worked eons ago at Blair's Speed Shop, used to see Sam periodically in the shop as he was a regular customer. " He was an Ardun guy who later went drag racing. He ran one of the earliest drag racing Fiat coupes. His cars were well built. I wonder what happened to him?" Well, I'm going to try to find out.

That's how historical research starts. Born out of curiosity, I begin looking here and there, poking into newspapers, census records, and such, hoping to find something. Here goes.

I like to start out with genealogical resources. You know, find out when/where they were born, where they lived, when they died. That kind of stuff. The basics.


Hot on his trail, I found out that he was born in Nebraska in 1926. Like everyone else when the war started, he had to register for the draft. He was nineteen years old. No job.


Rather than wait to get drafted, he signed up with the Navy. He served on an aircraft carrier.


"Hot rodding grew tremendously after WWII," Dave Sanderson said. "Single guys built hot rods and raced them at the lakes, but when they got married and had kids, hot rods were pretty impractical. That's why we saw lots of street roadsters converted into drag roadsters, still with filled grill shells and holes where the '39 Ford taillights were." In this photo (dated March 23, 1947), Sam Brollier sits in his hot rod roadster with his girlfriend, Dorothy Shaffer.


Seven of the guys in the Pasadena Roadster Club show off their cars on a quiet Pasadena neighborhood street. Just wait until they all start up and pull out, then look out Pasadena. You can just barely see Sammy, peeking over the hood of Harold Simpson's roadster. Seated next to Sammy is Dorothy, looking straight ahead, waiting for all the boys to finish with all their boy stuff. Sammy and Dorothy got married in late 1947.


Sam was a member of the Pasadena Roadster Club. He ran his roadster at Harper's and El Mirage dry lakes. His Model T roadster, shown in this photo, was powered by a big Merc flathead. At one dry lakes event, he turned 111.66 mph.


In this photo, Sam (in light colored shirt, left hand raised up to side of his face; Harold Yoder is leaning on car, looking at camera) and his buddies in the Pasadena Roadster Club, visit while Dorothy's face says it all at being ignored. Sometimes, girlfriends or wives of hot rodders got to feeling that they came in a distant second place in their partner's affection. Don Montgomery worked with Sam for a bit. "I worked as the late operator to close up a Mobil station on east Colorado Blvd. around 1949," Montgomery recalled. "One of the mechanics who worked there for a while was Sam Brollier."


This photo shows the back side of Brollier's T roadster, at a dry lakes event. Note the Pasadena Roadster Club plaque hanging between the taillights, below the hand-lettered "21 Studs." "He was in the Pasadena Roadster Club then," Montgomery continued. "In 1947 he had a '27 T roadster. I think when he had the Ardun powered roadster a few years later he was from the Azusa area."


Mornings could get cold out on the dusty dry lakes. Dorothy was a good sport about it, so she could be with her man.

In 1950, he began working as a supply clerk in a heater manufacturing concern, trying to make ends meet. He and Dorothy had a little boy then, living in a house in Monrovia. His mother and a cousin lived with them. In 1952, he worked as a truck driver for a concrete block manufacturing company.


In this colorized black and white photo, Sam is seen finishing up his T roadster. By at least 1953, Sam started drag racing. At that time he was living in Azusa, so it was a hop, a skip, and a jump to get to Pomona. On February 15, he won a trophy in the B/MR class in his '27 T roadster with a speed of 102.98 mph. From then on, he became a regular at Pomona, winning almost weekly. His best speed in the '53 season was 114.85 mph, clocking it in taking an A/MR class win on June 7. He started out the 1954 season with an A/MR class win with a speed of 123.00 mph.


By summer of 1954, he drove a blue '48 Fiat Topolino A/MC, owned by another Azusa guy, Bobby Alvarez. Both were members of the Azusa Cruisers car club.


In this grainy newspaper photo, Sam Brollier (left) and Bobby Alvarez (right) are all smiles as they accept trophies for winning at Colton's grand opening race on August 22. They got top eliminator honors and the meet's fastest speed with 125 mph. On October 3, they took another top eliminator win at Colton. On November 14 at Colton, Broillier was making his final run in the top eliminator race when his clutch exploded. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance with slight injuries to his face and hands. He and the coupe were back on the Colton track on December 26, taking a class win.

1955: The year began in good order for Brollier, taking top eliminator and best time of the day at Colton on January 9 with 116.56 mph in the Fiat coupe. He was absent from Colton for the next three months, ostensibly looking for a new ride. He was a driver for hire. He picked up a driving gig from Mel Zatinsky, racing at Pomona on February 20 in Mel's Merc flathead-motored A/Fuel Competition Coupe. Zatinsky was from Arcadia. The Brollier-Zatinsky duo won the class with 113.58 mph. They won at Pomona again on March 6 (108.96 mph) and March 13 (115 mph). Al Rocha lined him up to drive his Merc flathead fuel dragster at Colton on March 27. He took a trophy in the A/FD class with 117.88 mph.


It appears that he bought the Merc-powered '48 Fiat from Bobby Alvarez that he had raced at Colton back in 1954. The above photo was published in Drag News (6/9/55), reporting on the race at Pomona on May 29. He won the A Fuel Competition Coupe class and got the meet's top time trophy with 117.00 mph. In October, he was back at Colton with his Fiat competition coupe. He won an A Competition Coupe class trophy on October 1 with 93.72 mph.


The above grainy newspaper photo appeared in Drag News (11/11/55), reporting on the race at Colton on October 30. He won the B Fuel Competition Coupe, but broke his axle while going through the traps doing 110 mph during eliminations.

1956: Colton was Brollier's track of choice. He was back there again in the beginning of the '56 season on January 8 with his Ardun-Merc engined '48 Fiat B Competition Coupe. He took the class win with 121.52 mph. He took runner-up to B & B Construction's belly tank A/D in the top eliminator finals.


This photo was published in Drag News (3/2/56) reporting the race at Colton on February 26. Here we learn that the owner was Vincent Solgat and Brollier was the driver. We can only speculate, but Sam was the sole breadwinner at home. He may have needed to spend less on race cars and more on the family. You know. Happy wife, happy life. Anyway, he sold the car to Solgat, but continued as driver. But there was another reason Sam sold his Fiat--he had bought another race car. And this one came with a pedigree.


Sam had bought Mickey Thompson's sling-shot dragster, called the Panorama City Special. Mickey's duties as strip manager at Lions and his attention drawn to building a new dual-engine dragster were reason enough for him to sell his old dragster to Brollier. Mickey posted the dragster for sale in Drag News (1/20/56): "FOR SALE: Fully enclosed bodied dragster with canopy. 151.26 speed and E.T. of 9.9. Complete less engine. Steel quick change center section, axle setup for single or dual Mag. wheels, slicks, extra-heavy duty axles, teardrop tube frame, special built Cad box adaptable to any engine and many other features and extras. Write Mickey Thompson, 508 Winston Drive, El Monte. Ph. FOrrest 0-2772." The Colton Courier (2/24/56) reported: "The 144.47 m.p.h. [Colton] track record holder, known as the Mickey Thompson sling shot dragster, has been acquired by Sam Brollier, Azusa speed merchant. Brollier will attempt to break the present record on Sunday with the car that ran 151.40 m.p.h. on another Southern California strip. This Ardun-Mercury powered job is weird in appearance attracting a great deal of spectator interest." Sam started making the rounds of drag strips in the SoCal Southland with two cars--the Fiat and the old MT dragster. Of the two, he was more successful with the Fiat. He installed an engine in the dragster and had it ready to run sometime in March. He had it running at Colton for several weeks, but he kept bumping up against John Bradley in the Gene's Brake Shop dragster. Bradley had a lock on top eliminator for weeks on end. It was discouraging. The last time that I found Sam taking home a trophy for a class win, he was running an Ardun-Merc in B/A class at Pomona on March 17, 1957. He turned 108.63 mph.

He died in 1984 when he was 58 years old.

 

John Bradley: Mr. Flathead


Bradley joined the Navy in 1943 when he was seventeen years old. He had been working as a welder for his father, who operated Bradley Wrecking Yard. After he enlisted, he was assigned to the Navy's diesel motor school in San Diego. During the war, he served in five different combat campaigns in the North Pacific aboard the USS Golden City and the USS Hercules.


After he was discharged, he filled out a draft registration card in 1946. The back of the card noted some of his physical features such an appendix scar, height 5-8, weight 143, brown hair, brown eyes, ruddy complexion, and a tattoo on his left arm. Of course there was a tattoo. He had been in the Navy. That's what sailors did.

It didn't take John too long after his discharge before he was racing a '31 Ford roadster. Of course, it was street racing. No drag strips in 1946. "I've been in this business since 1948 running the Ford flathead old dragsters," John said in a 2008 TV interview. I think John meant that he began tinkering with old flathead engines in 1948. He probably put them in street rods. It wasn't until 1952 that he built his first dragster out of Model T frame rails with a Ford flathead V8. By 1953, Bradley was running nitromethane in his dragster and learning how to make it go fast.


1955: "My 4 banger from 1952-55," Bradley said of this photo. "Note the fine helmet, punctured Model T rails, and the master cylinder hanging on the outside. Managed to turn 115 mph, without any major complications. Put the brake shop V-8 in the same chassis. Ran in the 140 bracket. Must have had a death wish!!!" Bradley lived in Highland, a small city just east of San Bernardino. Colton was the closest drag strip to where he lived. The first report of him winning at Colton was for the race on February 6, 1955. He took a trophy for a win in the 4-Banger X Class with 70.31 mph. At his next outing, he won with 98.57 mph--a huge improvement. He was on an upward trajectory on every outing. For variety, he towed his black dragster to Pomona on May 8, taking a trophy in the 4-Barrel class with 87.89 mph. At the NHRA regional at Colton on May 15, he set a new track record with 104.89 mph. On May 29, he set a new (guess what) track record with 105.63 mph. He didn't just break a track record, he obliterated them. At Colton on June 9, he set another strip record in his fuel-burning 4-barrel dragster with 109.00 mph. On June 26, he set a new strip record for his fourth straight time at Colton with 111.94 mph. Of the ninety entries, he was the only record breaker. It was almost expected that each week at Colton, he would set another track record. At Pomona on July 4, he took a class victory with 110.97 mph. The above photo shows his dragster later in the year, after he painted it from black to a lighter color. In October, he installed a new, more powerful four-cylinder motor. He ran 109.85 mph on October 1 at Colton for a class win, but blew a head gasket which kept him from competing for top eliminator.


1956: This was the year that Bradley acquired a sponsor: Gene's Brake Shop in San Bernardino. It was located at 958 W. Base Line Road. This photo is a frame taken from an 8mm home movie that John took between 1955-59. The photos are somewhat blurred, but they document some important early drag racing history.


On occasion, John would work on his dragster at the brake shop. This photo shows John, possibly in the center standing upright, while two mechanics huddle over the engine. Eugene Long, the shop owner, stands to the right, an interested observer.


During the '56 season, he raced at Pomona, Santa Ana, Lions, and mainly at Colton, his home track. During the season, he racked up 28 Top Eliminator wins. While he ran a four-cylinder engine in 1955, he opted to run an eight-cylinder 296ci Merc flathead engine on fuel in 1956. I suppose he wanted to compete against the faster fuel racers and didn't think he could do it with a four-banger. The above photo was published in the San Bernardino Sun (4/1/56). The accompanying caption said that Bradley had raced his Merc flathead Gene's Brake Shop fuel dragster at Colton on March 25 to a top eliminator victory with 10.52 at 128.933 mph, both times good for new strip marks. On February 5 at Colton, he beat Dudley Stauffacher, driving the belly tank B & B Construction dragster in a match race. Bradley clocked a best of 122.75 mph. In losing, Dud Stauffacher had to ride a kid's bike the length of the strip as part of the match race requirements. Each week, Bradley made little improvements to better his times. On July 7 at Colton he notched his sixteenth top eliminator victory and set a new Colton track record with 136.88 mph. He was also consistently under 11 seconds. Drag News (7/13/56) reported that his "hard working flathead has proven the undoing of many bigger and more powerful OHV's." The wins just kept coming. "I beat up on every overhead’s you could name back in the days," Bradley asserted in his 2008 interview. It sounds like boasting, but he was mostly just stating the facts.


On October 27-28, Lions held a 2-day drag race to celebrate its first anniversary. John was going up against some heavy-hitters and their Chrysler Hemis. To compete with the big boys, he ran the eight-cylinder fuel Merc motor instead of the old four-banger that he ran in '55. In fact, there was only a single four-barrel dragster in the field. It was Art Chrisman, driving the Merrymen car club dragster and he didn't last past the first round of eliminations. The above photo has been cropped to focus on John's dragster. The original photo shows about eleven race cars lined up in a row. John, in the driver's seat of the Gene's Brake Shop Special (#127-D), is smiling up at the camera. Behind the dragster is his crew, a person in white coveralls, in front of four other dark-jacketed assistant helpers. Flanking John's dragster is the Merrymen car club 4-banger dragster, nearest to camera, and below John. Above John's dragster, furthest from the camera, is the powerful Armstrong & Richer injected fuel "Nesbitt's Orange Special" dragster, driven by Maurice Richer. Bradley lost to Art Chrisman when he blew his transmission on the line. On December 6 at Santa Ana, he garnered his 28th top eliminator win of the season and set a world record for flathead dragsters with 145.46 mph to finish out the season.


1957: After winning top eliminator at San Fernando on February 10, Bradley retired his old antiquated dragster. He had a new dragster waiting in the wings--one with big, backward-swooping Texas-style exhaust pipes. This photo is a frame taken from the 8mm home movie that shows the new dragster prior to it being lettered with Gene's Brake Shop on the front cowl.


He drove primarily in fuel classes, but occasionally ran on gas in his new dragster in '57. In this photo, taken from a frame in his 8mm home movie, he waits for the starter to wave the flag at Colton. He had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve when he was at the starting line. For him, anything to win. "I could outfox them on the line," he said in his TV interview. "It used to be you could jump start and shut off and cool it and all that." Stan Back, a member of the San Berdoo Roadsters car club, used to race at Colton. He asserted that Bradley even resorted to a bit of underhanded, dirty shenanigans to get a jump on his opponent. "Colton used a flagman in those days," Back said. "In fact, I think that led to the 38 top eliminators that John Bradley had in one year in the late 50s. We later found out that one of the starters, for a six-pack, would raise the flag when you left." In other words, Bradley would leave the line, and in that split second of his car's movement, the starter would lift the flag high in the air. It made it look like Bradley was super quick off the line. But in reality, Bradley essentially changed places with the flagman, as it was his start from the line that dictated when the flagman would raise the flag. In my book, that's called cheating.

I never did go to Colton when I started going to drag races in the late '50s. I was just a kid with only a bike for wheels. It was just seven miles from my house to Pomona, fourteen miles to Fontana, and twenty-five to Colton. Colton was just too far away. Plus, Pomona and Fontana attracted the bigger-name racers. I wish now that I'd gone to Colton to see Bradley run there. He owned that place. I undoubtedly saw him run at Fontana and Pomona. He ran at both those places back in the day when I was peddling to see the races at those strips. Don Montgomery said that Colton was a place where he liked to race his fuel coupe. "Colton was a fun, low key place to race," he said. "Most of the top cars made passes there. Probably the most talked about guy was John Bradley. His flathead dragster won over faster and bigger overhead V-8 powered dragsters so many times. He was a 'giant killer.' He was also a flathead engine killer."

Colton also ran a lot on Saturday night. That just wouldn't have worked for me on a bike. Bradley said that running at night could get real interesting if the races went past 10 o'clock. "The old man who ran the searchlights at Colton was of the opinion that if he was paid until 10 p.m. that's when he shut off the lights!," Bradley recalled. "I can remember at least three times, running on 100% at half-track, when that old devil would kill all the lights! Great sport -- all you could do was steer to the outside of the lane until you hit the dirt, and hang on the brake for dear life (no chute in those days). It would take at least a six pack to calm me down. Anyway, not too many drivers had such problems. Aahh for the good old days!"


In '57, he also raced at more distant strips than he had done in 1956, e.g., Bakersfield, Half Moon Bay, and Tucson. On the back panel of his tow station wagon vehicle, he had lettered "World's Fastest Flathead, San Bernardino, Cal." He towed his dragster back to Illinois with this wagon in August.


This newspaper photo shows the dragster just prior to leaving for Illinois to race at Cordova's World Series of Drag Racing event. Bradley (right) poses with his hand on the rollbar. His pit crew are Roy Kloutwyk (left) and Al Bellavance (right), garbed in white coveralls.


The above photo shows him at Cordova. At that distant event, he set a new record for flathead dragsters on the opening day of 147.30 mph. On the second day, he broke that record with 147.54 mph.


Following his record-setting performance at Cordova, an Iowa newspaper ran a feature article about Bradley with the above photo. With his arm resting on the rollbar, John appears pleased with the work of his two crewmen. Rocky Stone (left) gives some attention to something in the cockpit under the approving watchfulness of fellow crewman, Al Bellavance (right). This photo offers a nice close view of his '50 Merc 312ci flathead motor. Bradley shared the best engineered car trophy with Speed Sport at the ATAA meet.


In the latter part of the year, he set a world record for flathead dragsters at Bakersfield of 9.51 at 147.54 mph. Earlier in the year he had run a world record 9.52 at Bakersfield, also. He raced at Bakersfield many times. "I raced on this track [Bakersfield] when they had to go and kick the beer cans off the starting line," Bradley recalled in his TV interview, "so I’ve been to Bakersfield more than once." The above photo shows beer cans in the staging lanes at Colton, taken from a frame of John's home movies. The words on the asphalt read "Bikes Over." Bradley threw his share of empty beer cans on the asphalt. Stan Back attested that Bradley always drank a can of beer before making a run. "At Colton, when firing on the strip," Back said, "John Bradley always chucked his beer can out before he got to the line. That's class!" Different times. Bradley confessed to beer drinking on race days at Colton. "During the races at Colton, I used to hang out at a bar called the 106 Club," he said. "I would qualify the flatty, and take off for the back door of the club. Tony (the track operator) would send a peon over for us when it was time to run against whoever was left! Considering our condition, and that of the roll cage, etc., I have used up eight of my nine lives!" He ended up racking up 26 top eliminator wins in 1957.


1958: Bradley towed to Nevada to start the year. The event was the Las Vegas Championship, held January 12. The event attracted some big-name racers from four states including Speed Sport, Tony Waters, and Tex Cameron's "Dubble Trubble" twin Triumph fuel bike. John thought the field of heavy hitters called for something different for him. He'd been toying with the idea of running a blower on his flathead--and that's what he did. He put a S.Co.T. blower on top, nestled below four Stromberg carburetors. The starting procedure was somewhat involved, his pit crew having to handfill the carburetor float chambers with straight alcohol. When the smoke had cleared at Vegas, John came out on the losing end against Red Greth's Speed Sport. Given that it was his first time running with a blower on the flathead, his 142.83 mph time wasn't too shabby. At most strips, when he ran with a blower, it upped him into an OHV category. He tied his world mark of 147.54 mph at Colton on February 23 while snagging top eliminator honors. He also set a new track record at that race with 9.87.


On March 2 at Bakersfield, John took the measure of Red Greth and won top fuel eliminator for a little payback from his loss earlier at Vegas. It was a big race, the Howard Stamp Memorial, so John's win was noteworthy. The above photo shows John, at Bakersfield, waving for his tow car to give him a push start. It was always a cheap thrill for me to stand just outside the fence and have the fuelers light up their engines right in front of me at Pomona. They gave them the outside lane of the staging lanes at Pomona, right next to the north fence, to push start their dragsters. They usually got going fast enough to light up right in front of me when I was peeking over the fence in the "cheap" (read free) seats (well, there weren't seats; we had to stand on the railroad tracks to watch). The brown canvas hanging on the fence would flap away as they sped by and dirt and trash would get blown around for a bit. A lovely memory.


On various occasions and for different reasons in '58, Bradley ran in several different classes, including B/D, B/FD, and D/FD, but mainly in A/FD. As in his previous three seasons, he was a frequent top eliminator and class winner. As he did in the previous season, he towed his dragster to even more different and far away strips. He ran at Bakersfield, Holtville, Half Moon Bay, and the World Series of Drag Racing event at Cordova, Illinois, for a second year. At Cordova, he set a new world record for flathead dragsters of 151.26 mph with a 9.86 time. But mostly, he raced at Colton, his home track. At the race on December 14, he installed a 4:71 GMC blower onto his Merc flathead, a move that bumped him up to the B/FD class. The next week on December 21 at Colton, he set a new B/FD world record with a 9.90 clocking.

Colton staged several match races between Speed Sport and Bradley, starting with the first one on Memorial Day. They were very popular. "There was a time when they would drive up from Tucson to race me at the old Colton track and the next week, I would drive to Tucson to race them down there," Bradley recalled in his 2008 TV interview. "Big wars going on. There was a time when they’d run out of gas money and it rained. I had to loan them $25 so they could go back to Tucson. That’s back when gas was like 49 cents or 39 cents, or something. 25 bucks would get you 400 miles."

Bradley had discussions about selling his dragster to a Kansas man. The sale was to have been made in early December, but the Kansas man was snowed in and the sale didn't materialize.

1959: Bradley started out the '59 season in winning fashion, taking top eliminator laurels at Colton on January 4. He installed a new engine for the race at Colton on January 25. Unfortunately, the engine blew up while it was being fired. On February 15 at Colton, he set a West Coast and strip record for flatheads with 148.02 mph. On the run, he broke his crankshaft.


Bradley was in elite company on the Isky Cam advertisement in Drag News (2/21/59) for the following week's first-ever March Meet at Bakersfield. He made a valiant effort during eliminations, but Art Chrisman walloped him in the second round with a blistering 174 mph blast. The next week at Colton, the promoter had Bradley multi-tasking with match races against two top-notch blown Chrysler fuel dragsters. He lost both, but we're talking Cyr & Hopper in the first match and Serop Postoian in the second match. Tough cookies both.


Bradley went through a lot of engines in 1959. It almost seemed like he was putting in a new engine monthly. Jim Ward lent him an Ardun-Merc motor (above) in early summer, which placed him in C/FD.


He won top fuel eliminator at the Southern California Championship Drag Races at Pomona on July 5 with 9.66 and 142.18 mph. The above photo shows the setup he had when he won at Pomona. He was classed in D/FD.

1959 was a year when strips throughout the country tried different distances. Pomona tried 1/8th-mile. Riverside had been running half-mile drags, with some success. Colton got into the act with 3/16th-mile drags. Bradley set a new world record on September 7 at the 3/16th-mile distance with 8.05 seconds. After a few weeks, Colton returned to quarter-mile racing. In November, Bradley put a Chrysler motor in his dragster. He ran the Chrysler through the rest of the year, breaking parts right and left.

During his long career, Bradley built and drove a myriad of race cars--even twin-engine dragsters. "I’ve run mouse Chevies on fuel," he said in his 2008 TV interview. "I’ve run a carbureted Chrysler, I’ve run the blown Chryslers, all kinds of different things, but my true love is that old flat motor because I can make them talk." That he could.

Racing for John only stopped after his wife, Jeanne, died in 1998. He lost enthusiasm for it. But during his racing days, his mind was fixed on building and racing cars. "I don’t spend a dime on anything that I don’t have to," he asserted in his 2008 TV interview. "I made all the parts and pieces. Did all the work myself. I have a little machine shop. I go in there and close the door and lock it, turn the phone off, turn on the good music, and go to work. I build anything I can think of. I lay in bed and think of these things. And by god, that will work, I go and build it. If it don’t work, toss it, and think of something else. It’s been a long and wonderful career."


Bradley had a simple formula for his winning ways, "I found out something that I could do good," he said in the 2008 interview, "so I stuck with it." That was the formula that he used for about fifty-five years. That's why he got tagged with the nickname "Mr. Flathead." He was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1994. He died in 2012 at age 87.

 

It was 1960. "The Bakersfield Smokers, with fuel insurance in hand, scheduled their soon to be famous Fuel Championships meet," Don Montgomery said. "Gene took the fenders off of his coupe, added a blower, and proceeded to thrill the crowds with great, tire smoking, runs down the strip." The coupe, now Mooneyham & Sharp, took the win in at the second March Meet in A Fuel Coupe with 10.44 and 148.27 mph, good enough for a new Drag News 1320 record. Al Sharp's blown Chrysler engine really upped the car's speed big time and they were quicker by about half a second, too.


Hello,

I have liked 1934 Ford Coupes since I saw one sitting in my driveway, back in 1957. My brother’s friend had a big ,modified Oldsmobile motor and a LaSalle transmission as well as a nice muffler system that made a rumbling sound. It was a full fender version and as I got to go for rides in it. In my mind, the coupe became my possible future hot rod. In three years, he was ready to sell and sold so fast that when he told me, I was gathering some money, an offer came in fast, and sold quickly.

Ever since I saw this coupe in Lakewood, CA during the 58-59 season, it was also one of my favorited coupes. I was able to ride in a street/strip 34 coupe with a big Oldsmobile motor that ran in A/Gas class and was a daily driver to high school. it rumbled and had the style of 34 Ford style.

But, the minute we rolled around a corner and saw this coupe in a driveway, it was a great moment. Then a year later in March of 1960, I probably lost some hearing as I was at the fence watching the silver 34 Mooneyham-Sharp Coupe blast by in the Altered Coupe/Sedan Class eliminations. Talk about loud sounds, at full blast and seconds seemed like forever with the pipes rumbling loudly as it whipped by my location. Remember, I did not have a telephoto lens and the camera was a 16mm point and shoot movie camera.


Jnaki

My ears took a beating standing there in my crowded location as I continued filming a lot of elimination races. Compared to the Top Gas FED racers of the day, the Mooneyham-Sharpe Altered Coupe just had the set up to create some ear pounding sounds coming from the powerful motor. YRMV

Mooneyham & Sharp 1960

 

Lonnie Butts: He Was There in the Beginning


Don "Rockerhead" Montgomery, an old fuel coupe driver with a good memory of the old days, raced at Goleta, the place where the Santa Barbara Acceleration Association arranged to have drag racing's first drag races. This old historic photo brought back memories for him. He said that the fellow on the left, taking a picture, was Tom Medley, from Oregon. "Note the narrow side road on the airport and the narrow bridge at the finish line," Montgomery pointed out. "There were no clocks at these early drag races that were the first organized drag races here. The chopped Model A coupe losing the race was Lonnie Butts from Los Angeles. I do not remember the identify of the winning coupe. I was racing there also. It is a great photo to show how legal drag racing looked in the beginning."


This photo shows a scene that would have been very familiar to Lonnie Butts--the starting line at Goleta. Since Lonnie raced at the site where drag racing was born, it might be of interest to delve into drag racing's historical roots at this place before we turn our attention to Lonnie.


In this photo, Bob Joehnck is the helmeted driver standing next to his roadster (#45B) on the starting line at Goleta. His story of the beginnings of drag racing is a documentary gem for drag racing history. “After the war, there was a lot of street racing going on in Southern California,” Joehnck said. “It came naturally for thousands of young men coming home, because they had several years to think about getting this Model A or that V-8 or whatever, and the first thing they’d want to know was, how fast will it go? We were tearing around, and a lot of us gravitated to running our cars at El Mirage Dry Lake in San Bernardino Country, California. I was 21 years old the first time I ran my roadster there in late 1946. I had a cloth helmet, some goggles and an old Army surplus seatbelt—that was it. The interest was so high, there were 51 cars just in my class. It was huge. They had a couple of sealed beams and pylons, and you’d go down there and just try to keep between them. Everyone wanted to say that they had gone 100 mph. At the same time, a local group of us also used to go out to the municipal airport in Goleta. The west end of the airport used to be a Marine Corps Air Station, and there were a bunch of little revetments where they stored munitions. We used to go out there on Sunday and roar around the buildings one at a time. There was one little straightaway there, just a narrow little 2-lane road on some lost land, and we decided we could race side by side there. No one had adopted any standard length for acceleration runs—the distance was typically whatever the available road permitted. At the time there was a gentleman who was the airport manager. So we went to him and asked, ‘Can we go over there and run our cars?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I don’t see why not.’ Then he said to me, ‘Do you think you could get some kind of insurance?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think so. Let me try.’ So I went to a nice gentleman who was in the insurance business and told him what we wanted to do and asked if we could get some insurance. As I remember it was quite cheap, somewhere around $50 for the whole year, and it was with Lloyd’s of London. So in 1947, we formed this little thing called the Santa Barbara Acceleration Association. And that’s how it got started. We didn’t advertise it, we just went and did it."


"We didn’t have many classes, and there wasn’t much to it," Joehnck continued. "We passed the hat so we could buy the trophies. There was no rent, and the insurance was next to nothing. The reason why the drag-racing distance became a quarter mile is that a fellow came up from Disney Studios to write a little article. He liked cars and wanted to take some pictures. He interviewed me because I was kind of the ‘chief cook and bottle washer’ for the club. He said, ‘What do you do?’ And I said, ‘Well, we kind of come down here’—there was a start line with a flagman—‘and we take a rolling start and race down to that bridge.’ There was a bump at the bridge, and we could tell who won by seeing which car hit it first. And he asked, ‘Well, how far is that?’ I had to give him some dimension, so I said, ‘It’s a quarter mile.’ That was it. From then on we raced for a quarter mile." And there you have it, from the horse's mouth, so to speak--the story of drag racing's first drag strip.

Lonnie Butts

Lonnie was born in North Carolina in 1928. He was a cute feller, so much so that his parents entered him in a baby pageant sponsored by the American Legion in Charlotte in 1930. The judges were a group of local physicians, looking for perfection of physique, not cuteness. So Lonnie didn't get a silver loving cup. While he missed out on a trophy then, he collected quite a few when he took up drag racing. Did maybe missing out on a loving cup when he was an infant, made him yearn later, to go after drag racing trophies? We can only speculate.


All silliness aside, Lonnie ended up in Atlanta, Georgia, registering for the draft when he was 18 years old. The back side of his draft registration listed his physical features: height 5-8, weight 168 pounds, brown eyes and hair, and light brown complexion. Shortly after registering, he enlisted in the Navy.

1951: Like most other hot rodders in the Southland, Lonnie probably did his share of street racing. He got a taste of something like organized racing on the drag strip at Goleta. The first time his name showed up in a newspaper report for winning at a drag strip was at Santa Ana on July 15. He won the Stripped Coupe class. On August 18 at Santa Ana, Lonnie won a trophy in the All-Out Coupe class. C. J. Hart, who headed up the Santa Ana racing program, was innovative when it came to car classifications. Of course, this was before there were standardized classifications uniformly run at each strip. It was a regular potpourri of classes for Lonnie at Santa Ana as he won the Modified Coupe class on September 9. The next week at Santa Ana on September 16, he won the Modified Strip Coupe class. That's four wins in four entirely different-named classes in the space of three months. My bet is that Lonnie raced the same car each time, but it was C. J. Hart who created a new class on the fly each week to clump together similar cars for each week's racing program. Lonnie won five times in 1951 at Santa Ana.

1952: In '52, Lonnie went with a roadster instead of a coupe. On August 10 at Santa Ana, he took home the trophy for Class C Roadster. Two weeks later, he won the C Roadster class with a speed of 106.80 mph.

1953: This year was a dry spell for Lonnie. No wins at Santa Ana, Pomona, or Paradise Mesa. Nada.

1954: Lonnie started out the New Year right with a victory at Santa Ana on January 3 in C/R class with 112.35 mph. He took a few more trophies at Santa Ana in the Class C Roadster with wins on January 17 (120.98 mph) and February 28 (121 mph). His chief competitors had been Martin Weinstein, Red Henslee, Tony Waters, and Tom Morgan. Couple of names in there stand out.

1955: While not really Lonnie's breakout year, one win late in the season at Lions gave him some promise. He ran in a tough, competitive class--A Fuel Modified Roadster. The class rules stated that roadsters in this class had two or more modifications. Gutting and radiator were not considered modifications. Any roadster of 1927 vintage or earlier was considered a modified roadster. The winning moment came for him at Lions on November 20. He won A/FMR with 112.78 mph with his '51 Chrysler-engined roadster. The win came with a price. He dropped a valve. The strip gave him the Hard Luck Award of a case of oil. Nice gesture. Earlier in the year, he got married to Marlene, which might explain his absence from racing until later in the year.

1956: Lonnie and his wife, Marlene, were living in Torrance. Marlene undoubtedly learned early that Lonnie and she would not be spending a quiet day at home on Sundays. They (or he) would be spending their Sundays at a drag strip. Lonnie was at Santa Ana on Sunday, February 26, taking home a trophy in C/R with a time of 110.50. But for the rest of the year, he was (1) hibernating, (2) doing honey-do's for Marlene, or (3) racing, but not winning.

1957: At the 2-day Multiple Acceleration Clocking Tests held at Lions on February 16-17, Lonnie wheeled the Hughes Auto A/FMR to a class win with 136.15 mph. His fuel roadster was powered by a '53 Chrysler engine. Six months later, Lonnie showed up at Lions with a new Chrysler-engined B dragster on August 17. It was a great first outing as he snagged top eliminator honors with 121.75 mph. Drag News (8/24/57) stated it was a "new entry," a dragster, not his old fuel roadster. The next week, he lost in the opening round of eliminations to Reese Adams' Chrysler-engined B/D. On September 28 at Lions, Lonnie beat Willie Butler's bike in the first round of eliminations with 11.27 at 123.96 mph. But he lost to Cyr & Hopper in the second round by two car lengths. At the 2-day race at Lions on October 5-6, Lonnie beat the Waterworth & Miller A/Competition Coupe with 11.74 at 124.00 mph in the first round. But there were too many tough competitors for him to go any further. On November 10 at Lions, he was beaten by Lefty Mudersbach in round two.

1958: Lonnie took a new partner, Dick Hanning, in his "completely new" injected 400ci Chrysler gas-fueled B/D at the mid-point in the season. Hanning & Butts took top eliminator at Santa Ana on June 15, clocking 10.30 and 126.01 mph. The Santa Ana Register (6/16/58) stated that "it was the first time that Butts had raced his new car." Two weeks later on June 29, they snagged top eliminator again at Santa Ana. The best time for the car at the meet was 10.40 at 132.78 mph. They repeated with another top eliminator win at Santa Ana on July 13. Best times were 10.18 and 129.80 mph. After a very successful two months, the Hanning-Butts dragster seems to have vanished from the drag racing scene. There were no more reports about it in Drag News. It was a three-win wonder--then pffft. Gone.

1959-60: Has anybody seen Lonnie? There are rumors that he was building a new car.


1961: It had been a long time since Lonnie had raced, but he had been a busy boy. He fielded a brand new A Competition Coupe--and she was a beauty. It was an absolutely gorgeous '48 Fiat Topolino coupe powered by a blown 392ci Chrysler Hemi. Lonnie called her "Twitch-a-Wee." Not sure why. Was she fidgety, high-strung, a bit wiggly down the track? Don't know. I think that is Lonnie in the yellow shirt packing the chute. The place is the pits at Pomona. Note the drive gears mounted on the front axle to keep 'er down. Lonnie raced his coupe almost exclusively at Lions in '61. He won the A/C class on August 19 (10.59, 123.96 mph), September 23 (10.39, 143.76 mph), September 30 (10.39, 144.92 mph), October 7 (10.22, 145.16 mph), October 14 (10.44, 142.85 mph), October 21 (10.95, 141.73 mph), November 4 (10.55, 136.56 mph), and November 11 (10.33, 144.64 mph).


1962: Lonnie started the season in fine form with a class win at the Winternationals. In this photo, he weighs in at Pomona. The only visible difference between the '61 car and the '62 car is that the headers were shortened and poke out straight rather than swept back in the '62 car. His winning time in the class win at the Winternationals was 10.70 at 141.73 mph. I think Lonnie is wearing the red coat (right) with a rag draped over his left shoulder, anxious to see what the scales read.


1963: I was wandering through the pits at the '63 Winternationals, when Lonnie's competition coupe, then called Twitch-a-Wee Too, caught my eye. I undoubtedly watched him run at the '62 and '63 Winternationals, as I attended both. Generally his track of choice to race at was Lions, so the only track I would have seen him run at was Pomona. He has returned to backswept headers, like he ran in '61. It looks like Lonnie (on right) in white shirt.


Lonnie is sporting the plexiglass wing plate at Lions in '63. Got to keep that front end on the ground. Don't want to get twitchy at high speeds.


It was only seven miles from Lonnie's house in Torrance to Lions. In other words, it was just a couple of minutes drive for him to get to the strip. Reason enough for him to race almost exclusively at Lions. This is another '63 photo.


The Day-Glo orange paint was an eye-catcher.


1964: This photo shows Lonnie at Riverside in '64, sporting a transparent plexiglass wing on his front axle.


The starter seems to be saying, "Come on Lonnie, twitch that thing up here just a few more inches."


In this photo taken in '64 at Pomona, Lonnie may have been experimenting with heavier wheels to keep the front end on the ground.


1966: Lonnie won the AA/C class at the Bakersfield March Meet with 9.52 at 165.44 mph. He definitely got a lot of mileage out of his Fiat hot rod coupe, racing it for six years. In this photo, Lonnie is on the top end of the push road at Lions. Although the photo was purportedly taken in '64, with the different number, class in AA/C, and shorter headers, I peg it as '66.

At age 72, he died in 2000.

 

Hank Vincent: The Contradictory Tale of Two Top Bananas

Hank Vincent built two iconic dragsters in the 1950s. Both of them were named "Top Banana." The story of the first one is a tale of triumph, while the story of the second one is a tale of tragedy. Thus, they are contradictory tales.

Hank was born in Hawaii into a family where both parents, also Hawaiians, spoke English and Portuguese. That is because both of Hank's grandparents had been born in Portugal. But Hank's grandparents had both passed away prior to his birth, so Hank spoke only English. Hank grew up on a sugar plantation on the big island of Hawaii, where his father was a truck driver for the sugar farm. Hank's surname at birth was Medeiros, but sometime before 1940, his father decided that their last name would be Vincent. Hank's first given name at birth was Henry. He went by that name when he first started drag racing in 1952, but shortly thereafter, everyone called him Hank. Hank's family moved to Hayward, California, after the war. His father got a job working as a sheet metal worker.

Back in 2017, Don Jensen, a former president of the Hayward Head Hunters car club, got in touch with me to share some history about his racing and their car club to include on my Drag Strip List website. Don had built and raced one of the very earliest twin-engined dragsters. "The Head Hunters were started about 1949 by a group of kids that wanted to drag-race," Jensen said. Hank Vincent had been a member of the Head Hunters club. Jensen said that between 1949 and 1960, Hank had "built more hot rods than anyone [in the club], about 15 or so, including the Top Banana fuel dragster." Jensen supplied me with a list of the cars that he could remember that Hank had built and raced. I wasn't able to find anything about Hank's cars until newspapers began reporting him winning races in 1952.


1952: The first report of Vincent winning drag races was at Tidelands Circuit in San Carlos. He was racing in the hot stock pre-1940 class and had been undefeated in all racing prior to late August. His best time had been 96.77 mph. This grainy newspaper photo shows the '48 Mercury flathead engine in his '34 Ford. This is the motor that confounded all his opposition at San Carlos. Hank estimated that he had spent $600 building his beat-all-comers engine. Note all the notes and names lettered all over the body of his hot rod in a childish manner. It reminds me of the way sometimes unthinking little children do when they write or draw with crayons on their bedroom walls. Was this reflective of Hank's personality? Was it the "little boy" in him that made him write all over the fenders and doors of his hot rod? James "Bud" Fraser was one of the pit crew for Hank on Top Banana II. Fraser remembered one of Hank's quirks. "He never wanted to be seen without a hat," Fraser recalled. Hank would have been 23 years old when he was racing in 1952. He was an electrician by trade. At Kingdon on October 12, he won Class F, for pre-1934 hot stock cars, at a speed of 90 mph. He repeated for a win in Class F on October 26, with a speed of 88.24 mph.

1953: The Head Hunters club members often raced at Kingdon. On March 22, Vincent won the Class D for pre-1934 hot stock cars with 88.24 mph. Gene Winfield (the car customizer), from Modesto, honed his racing skills each week at Kingdon with a modified roadster. On May 3 at Kingdon, Hank won Class B (Light Stock) for flatheads under 300 cubic inches with 69.23 mph. At that race, George Santos, another Head Hunter club member, won the Modified Roadster class. Santos and Vincent would later join forces in a Top Banana dragster endeavor. At the Northern California Drag Race Championships at Kingdon on September 26-27, he won the A Fuel Coupe-Sedan class.

1954: On March 28 at the Winters-Davis Air Strip, he won B/G class with 104 mph. On April 4 at Kingdon, he won a trophy in Class CX Hot Stock with 91.84 mph, repeating again on May 23 with 90.64 mph. At the NHRA half-mile championships at Winters on July 11, he won the A/A gas class with 106 mph.

1955: By my count he raced in over ten different classes before he built his first "Top Banana" dragster. That probably doesn't mean that he built a different car for each different class, but Don Jensen said that he built about 15 different hot rods. So, the jury is out on that.

1956: At Kingdon on July 15, he won the AA/A class, in a Ford Model A coupe, using a flathead Merc engine, with 104.65 mph. He wanted to test his mettle against SoCal drag racers and drove to Santa Ana for a race on September 2. He won the Heavy Gas Overhead class with a speed of 109.69 mph. He was runner-up for top eliminator honors.


1957: This is the year that he debuted his first "Top Banana" dragster. In conjunction with many of the SoCal strips, Kingdon instituted a fuel ban effective on April 1. The Stockton Record (4/20/57) stated: "The recent change to a 'gas only' policy gave a boost to old timer, Hank Vincent of the Hayward Head Hunters." The newspaper was referencing his top eliminator win at Kingdon on April 7. Vincent snagged top eliminator, beating Elmer Snyder with his Merc flathead-engined dragster at a time of 11.06 at 118.42 mph. The above photo shows Hank seated in the cockpit of that original "Top Banana" dragster, behind the flathead Merc motor. It was not as streamlined as the second "Top Banana" dragster. There are many photos of "Top Banana Two," but I have only found three photos of the original "Top Banana" dragster. This is the best photo of the three, the others being grainy newspaper photos. On April 14 he ran at Little Bonneville Drag Strip at the San Jose Airport, copping top eliminator honors with 110.92 mph. At Kingdon, running in A Open Gas class, on April 21, Vincent copped a top eliminator win with 120 mph. On May 5 at Kingdon, he beat Jay Cheatham to take top gas eliminator with a speed of 120 mph. Hank teamed up with master engine-builder, Al Hubbard, for the May 19 race at Kingdon. The top eliminator final pitted Hank against Ed Cortopassi's beautiful "Glass Slipper" B/D. The Vincent-Hubbard A/D took the win with a speedy 134.38 mph. During that race event, Hank blew second gear earlier in the meet and had to run eliminations using only high gear. With the success they had, they opted to run future races with only high gear. During June, they experimented running the dragster with Al Hubbard's Chevy motor. At Half Moon Bay on June 30, he got the days top time with 133.17 mph. At the July 7 meet at Kingdon, Hank decided to return to his ever-faithful flathead Merc motor. He tipped the can, as they say, and ran in the A/FD class, winning it and also taking top fuel eliminator with 133.33 mph. In July, Hubbard and Hank parted ways. Hank enlisted his brother-in-law, George Santos, to join him in partnership in the dragster. Santos was married to Hank's sister, Cecelia. Santos had a 306 cubic inch Chevy V8 that they squeezed into the dragster. Santos and Hank ran the Chevy motor in the dragster at Half Moon Bay on July 28, clocking 10.38 at 135.53 mph. Due to darkness, they shared top eliminator honors with Jazzy Nelson's twin-engined fuel dragster. Back at Kingdon on August 4, the Vincent-Santos Chevy B/FD took top fuel eliminator with 144 mph. It was the first time Santos ran fuel in his engine.


On August 11 at Half Moon Bay, the Chevy gas dragster took top eliminator with 10.71 at 132.15 mph. Hillary Govia joined Santos and Vincent as a co-owner. With his co-ownership, the car was given the sponsorship name, "City Garage Special." Govia's contribution, in addition to his garage sponsorship, was to lend his talents to tuning the engines. The photo of Govia (above) appeared in a 1933 Oakland newspaper. Although still in high school, Govia was racing in 100-milers at the Oakland Speedway. In a Drag News (7/26/58) column, Govia divulged some of his speed secrets and his racing background. "I've been building on some form of Chevorlet engine since 1931," said Hillary. "Makes me sound like an old man. In the passing of all these years we've done a lot of experimenting and spent a lot of hard U.S. money. Our first sprint car was on the Oakland Speedway with Bob Sweikert of Indy fame as pilot. That car had a war surplus 270 GMC in it. We called that high boy 'The Old Goat.'"

The capstone of their '57 season was undoubtedly the 2nd annual Smokers, Inc.-Drag Racers, Inc. World Championships at Bakersfield on September 1-2. He won the A/FD class with 147.29 mph and took top eliminator with 137.82 mph. It was a balancing act throughout the meet, switching between the flathead and Chevy engine. When the flattie developed problems, they installed the Chevy. During eliminations, Hank beat some stout competition, taking the final against Del Nero & Thorkelson's twin-engine dragster. He won with his best run of 147.29 mph. In the Drag News (9/21/57) column "Northern Briefs," written by Al Caldwell, he stated that Hank was disappointed that the top eliminator race ended so late. "Hank Vincent is all shook up," Caldwell wrote. "The trophy girl had to go home before the top eliminator race was held. So, when all the dust had settled, night had fallen, and all poor ol' Hank had left was trophies and money. Too bad Hank, she was a real doll." At Vacaville on September 8, they got the meet's second fastest time with 145.10 mph. On September 15 at Kingdon, all three co-owners took a turn at the wheel of the dragster. Hillary Govia was the fastest of the three with 144 mph. They ran with the flathead motor at Vacaville on September 22, clocking 132 mph in C/D. On October 6 at Kingdon, Hank picked up the top eliminator trophy with a time of 10.38 and 141.43 mph with the Chevy engine in the dragster. They installed Algon injectors on the Chevy motor for the 2-day Northern California Championships at Vacaville. That addition helped boost their dragster over 150 mph for the first time. They ran 153 mph, but had to quit from further competition because of mechanical problems. "We are running Algon fuel injection," Hillary Govia later said when Drag News (7/26/58) interviewed him about his engine specs. "Previously we ran three 97's. We find this Algon set-up a great improvement." Even though there were many meets still left on the calendar, Hank Vincent and crew were nowhere to be found. That also continued all the way into the early months of 1958. Something was afoot.


1958: That something that occupied the time of the fellows for several months in the City Garage was "Top Banana Two." This fully-streamlined fuel dragster rivaled the "Glass Slipper" in gorgeousness. Jack Hagemann did the stylish body work. George Santos's old 306 cubic inch injected Chevy that performed so well in the original "Top Banana" was installed in "Banana" number two. Hardly a whiff of information leaked out about their car from the City Garage before its first outing on May 4 at Kingdon. The potential of the car was apparent right out of the gate when it turned 158.24 mph and a new strip ET record of 9.33 seconds.


This photo shows the "Banana Two" dragster outside the door of the City Garage just after the car was finished, but before the engine was installed. "This shot shows the Top Banana as a brand new car in front of our shop in Hayward, Calif.," Skip Govia said. "The picture includes from left to right, Hillary Govia (my dad), Hank Vincent and Tom Welch." Notice how tall Hank is compared to the other two men.


This photo shows the brand new dragster after the engine was installed. "This is when the car was brand new," Skip Govia said. "The entire car was built in our old shop (in Hayward) except for the Jack Hagemann body. The frame was made of angle aluminum boxed and welded together." Bud Fraser clarified some of the information about the engine, which has always been reported as being solely the work of George Santos. "Santos and [Henry] Stapleton owned S & S Automotive in Hayward," Fraser said. "Somehow Stapleton gets left out of the discussions. Santos always gets linked to the Banana and he should, but so should Stapleton. He was a key person in the engine building process. Santos was a master machinist."


On May 11 at Vacaville, Hank turned 157 mph. The triumvirate (or brain trust or whatever you want to call them) have eyes turned toward the cameraman. What a beautiful and hot-performing dragster they built. Hank is bending over (wearing dark jacket) behind Hillary Govia (left) and George Santos (right). At Kingdon on May 18, Hank won top fuel eliminator honors with 9.98 at 150 mph. This was the event where the "Glass Slipper" was totally destroyed. Thus, the two similar streamlined cars never got to face each other in '58. Half Moon Bay turned out to be one of their favorite strips in '58. They garnered top eliminator there on May 25 with 147.05 mph.


At a 2-day race at Kingdon on May 31-June 1, Hank topped 160 mph for the first time, running 161.87 mph. That was a new world's record for Chevy-engined dragsters. He was running Hubbard cams, but later in the year, switched to Herbert cams.


The dragster always drew a crowd of admirers. This is an interesting photo showing the towing trailer, a couple of young men peering into the cockpit, and another group at the front of the car. On June 8, they returned to Half Moon Bay, taking another top eliminator win with 153.32 mph. They ventured back and forth between Half Moon and Kingdon, taking a B/FD win and top eliminator at the latter strip on June 15 with a best run of 9.57 at 150.00 mph.


In this photo, you can barely see the top of the head and hand of the driver on the steering wheel as number 53 is wheeled through the pit area. Hank is probably not driving as you rarely see photos of him without a hat or helmet on his head. Venturing down to Bakersfield for a race on July 6, they were sidelined after they blew a rod on a new strip B/D record run of 149.25 mph. Blowing a rod in a Chevy motor did not have the same horrible consequences that it did in other engines. Hillary Govia talked about this in a Drag News (7/26/58) column. "In '55 Chev came out with the first of the V-8's and we went for it in a big way," Hillary said. "This engine will breathe, which is more than can be said for most. One of the best characteristics of this engine is that when you throw a rod you don't usually wind up with a ruined block. We've tossed several rods without block damage."


From every angle, in black & white or color, "Banana Two" is stunning. It's one of those cars that you can't stop staring at. From top to bottom, front to back, it's a looker.


In this photo, Hank is checking out something in the cockpit. The closest two to the camera are George Santos (left) and Hillary Govia (right).

In one of the rounds at Half Moon Bay on August 10, Hank beat Jay Cheatham, class national record holder, with 9.55 at 154.37 mph during eliminations. Back at Half Moon Bay on September 14, Hank set a new strip ET record with 9.40, breaking Emery Cook's old mark of 9.45. He took top eliminator with a speed of 156.27 mph.


1959: While racing almost every week in '58, Hank made limited appearances in '59, mostly running at Kingdon every month or so in the first half of the year. They installed Hilborn injectors in '59, prior to August. In this photo, Hillary (left) and Hank (right) are in deep discussion over something important.


Hank was at Fremont when that strip had its grand opening on June 28. He was nosed out in the top eliminator finals to Chuck Gireth in the Gireth-Oliphant B/FD. This photo shows that clash between the two Hayward-based dragsters. Technically, Hank lived in nearby Castro Valley. The dragster also changed sponsorship from City Garage to the S & S Automotive, co-owned by George Santos.


On October 18 at Fremont, Hank set a new world's record for a C/FD with 156.45 mph. Their Chevy motor was 292 cubic inches. In this photo taken at Fremont, Hillary Govia (left) has his glasses on to get a really good look at something needing his attention in the engine. From the looks of Hank's not-so-white pants, he's been doing a smidge more than driving. And, of course, he's wearing a hat. On November 1 at Fremont, he set a new world ET record with a time of 9.42, giving him a hold on both marks for C/FD. On November 15 at Fremont, he ran a 9.29, upping his old mark and good for another new world ET record. On December 13 at Fremont, he beat his world speed national record with 159.57, but the old record stood on some technicality.


1960: The addition of a supercharger bumped the Banana up to a B/FD. They had enjoyed having a lock on both ends of the C/FD world record in 1959. Could they make some waves world record-wise in the B/FD ranks? They weren't long in finding out. Yeiji Toyota had set both ends of the B/FD record back in October 1959 in his "Black Marauder."


On February 21 at Fremont, Hank set a new world record with 171.42 mph. They finally got the right combination to set the new mark: blown 292 cubic inch Chevy on straight alcohol. Toyota's previous world mark had been 170.13 mph.


At the Bakersfield Smokers March Meet, Hank won the B/FD class with 9.09 and 169.00 mph. This photo was taken at the Smokers Meet. Information accompanying the photo states that Hank is sitting in the cockpit. I'm not convinced; he looks a little young to be Hank. Could it be Bud Fraser? He was a part-time crew member with the guys. "I became good friends with all of them and often crewed with them," Fraser said. "I was a flunky. I traveled with them to events all over California. We were at the the Smokers in Bakersfield when Garlits appeared. When you were with a dragster like the Top Banana, his [Garlits] car did not impress you. One of my flunky tasks was to get into the Top Banana after Hank made a run and drive it back to the pits. When you are a twenty year old kid, all of this was big deal stuff."


On March 20 at Fremont, Hank set a new national ET record, giving him both ends of the record. He turned 8.89. This is phenomenal. At this point, he still held both ends of the C/FD national record--and now he held both ends of the B/FD national record. The Fremont race produced five national records. Don Garlits, with Art Malone driving, broke the A/FD national record with a speed of 187.10 mph. Attendance at the 2-day race was estimated to be 10,000 people. The above Drag News cover shows faces of the "top dogs" who were at the race. From the top (row 1): Art Malone, Don Garlits, Ted Cyr, Bill Hopper; (row 2): Jim McLennan, Jack Chrisman, Frank Cannon, Art Chrisman; (row 3): Bob Haines, Hank Vincent, Ed Cortopassi, Chris Karamesines; (row 4): Tommy Ivo, Ron Lawrence (Fremont Drag Strip manager), Bob Cress (Kingdon Drag Strip manager), Frank Jimenez.


This photo was taken in the pits at the Bay View Drag Strip, near Mount Vernon, Washington. They towed the car there to run in the Spring Championships on May 15. On one hand, the trip was successful in that they set a new national record on both ends in B/FD: 8.84 at 170.77. But they also blew a hole in the block during eliminations. They were having trouble keeping the car going straight. Drag News (5/29/60) reported that on one of their record run attempts, "Hank really got on it hard. About 300 feet out it started sideways. Hank corrected it, but in doing so it spun itself completely around." A spectator in attendance at the race recalled something different. "He ran the car off the track . . . . He was lucky that day. I always wondered if there was something wrong with his [Hank's] vision." In the above photo, Hillary (right) is where we almost always see him, on his knees, working intently on some intricate engine-tuning detail. The pith helmet he's wearing is what we used to call a Ramar of the Jungle helmet. He's also wearing a Fremont Drag Strip winner's jacket. Although we can't see his head, I'm betting that is Hank (left, in smudged white pants) leaning on the tire, peering into the cockpit.


"We were pitted not too far from these guys," said Fred Vosk, when the "Top Banana" towed to Washington to race at Bayview in May. "We looked at the car a bunch, and my buddy Mike thought the roll bar looked kinda weird. He got a magnet and checked and kind rubbed it up against their roll bar. No pull at all. Aluminum. The chassis was, too."

Two weeks later, Fremont held a 2-day race on May 28-29, to celebrate its first year anniversary. Hank Vincent and "Top Banana Two" were there. On the second day of the race, Hank broke his old national speed record, turning 171.75 mph for the new record. Going into eliminations, everything was positive for a successful afternoon for Hank. He was paired against Bob Haines, driving the California Equipment AA/FD from Seattle. Hank was in the right lane.


During the run, he lost control and veered off into the dirt on the right. Hank brought it back onto the track, but at those speeds, the slightest correction was usually an over-correction. The dragster started rolling, then flipping end over end in the air. "Jet Car" Bob Smith was near the scene of the accident after the car came to rest. "I was a unlucky spectator and one of the first to the Top Banana when it crashed," Smith said. "I do not believe it went over the finish line flags. But it did go over the car it was running, which if I remember correctly was Bob Haines. It was not a good sight to arrive at a scene and there was nothing you could to to help. The car started to go off the track and when Hank brought it back it flipped in the air." Hank was transported to the hospital, but died en route. He was only thirty years old. He was survived by a wife and two stepsons. The above article reporting Hank's fatal run was printed in the Fremont News Register (6/2/60).

 

Setto Postoian: One of Drag Racing's Earliest Touring Pros

Some of the earliest barnstorming drag racers in the sport were Tommy Ivo, Speed Sport, and Don Garlits. Serop "Setto" Postoian was another one in the 1950s who drag strips paid to appear at their tracks, draw crowds, and see him race. He was a Big Name. He had drawing power. He probably isn't as well known today, except among die-hard drag race history buffs, because his flame flickered brightly, but too briefly, before he stopped racing.


He was a Detroit boy, and after high school, was working at Ford Motor Company. He was 20 years old when the war came and he registered for the draft. He was 5'6" and weighed 140 pounds, sopping wet.

Not Finished -- More to Come