Vintage shots from days gone by!

Fred Carrillo's streamliner. It used to be the Post Streamliner. Otto Ryssman drove it in 1953 (Otto Ryssman Collection

 

Louis Senter posing behind the Holmes & Kugel Bonneville roadster. Louis Senter Collection

 

Bonneville August 25-31, 1958. The Kamboor-Sanchez-Ansen Special #201 Class D Coupe and Sedan. A 1953 Studebaker set a new two-way average of 184.479 mph powered by a Chrysler Hemi early in the week. With 100% Nitromethane the car qualified for a new record at 210.40 mph. The first leg the car ran 210. On the return run the engine blew up. This is the first Coupe and Sedan class car to exceed 200 mph, 4th from left, Louis Senter. Louis Senter Collection

 

Taking a wild ride at Carrol Speedway. Louis Senter Collection

 

An early version of Louis Senter with his V8-60 powered midget shown at 5-H Ranch. Driver Marty Kline was a SCMRA driver. Lou adding some rollover and side nerf bars later on. Louis Senter Collection

 

Louis Senter and Doc Harvey ran this V8-80 powered midget in 1946-47. Driver Eddie Johnson. Louis Senter Collection

 

As young teenagers In 1930, Tom and Bill Spalding took a 1923 Chevy, stripped it down and raced through their orange groves. from that moment on they were hooked. Their next venture was a 1929 Ford Touring Car on which they tested four different cylinder heads: 2 flatheads a Miller-Schofield and a Miller 4-O-V overhead valve unit. When they took the car to Muroc the overhead camshaft froze.
Not to be deterred, the brothers got their hands on a '29 roadster chassis and body and installed a 1935 Ford V-8 (which the ported and relieved. Tom milled a set of aluminum heads at his high school auto shop and Bill made a two carburetor intake manifold for two #48 carbs. with the help of Kenny Harmon's camshaft, they were set for their next venture to the lakes. While they turned a respectable 96 MPH, the brothers noticed the ignition cut out at 4750 RPM. Back home, Tom Bill and John Blackwood invented the first Spalding ignition which exceeded 8000 RPM- something that had never been done.

 

Front view of Dave Thormin's '27 T bodied street rod. Dave "Monk Thormin Collection

 

A Gophers car gets muddy. El Mirage 1945. Dave "monk" Thormin Collection

 

A pair of Gophers getting ready to roll. Dave "Monk" Thormin Collection

 

El Mirage 1945

 

#19 is Albatas Edward Neally, #100 is Jimmy Narin's sharp '29, #17 is Albatas Veda Orr's Denver headed '32. They are waiting to run at the first S.C.T.A. event after the war on 10/7/45. It got rained out. Rosemond. Dave "Monk Thormin Collection

 

Dave Thormin's '27. Dave "Monk Thormin Collection

 

The dashboard of Dave Thormin's '27 roadster. Note cut down steering wheel, brodie knob gagues and the manditory wine bottle. Dave "Monk" Thormin Collection

 

Autocrats Dave Thormin ran this model A chassis with a V-8 installed sporting a '27 body. Dave "Monk" Thormin Collection

 

Jack Underwood. When you have a father whose idea of a weekend outing is a trip to El Mirage or Santa Ana, you cannot fail to fall in love with hot rodding. From as far back as Jack can remember, hot rodding has always been an integral part of his life.
At the age of 14 Jack got his first roadster. His childhood was consumed with drag racing and the dry lakes. In 1955 Jack and his dad made a pilgrimage to Bonneville with their roadster where Jack turned 136.96 mph. There was no turning back.
Jack Underwood is known throughout the hot rodding community as the SCTA historian, a well deserved reputation for a man who cares passionately about preserving and promoting this wonderful history. You can still find Jack each morning holding court in his museum/library/garage, bench racing and B-Sing with fellow old timers.

 

Don Waite
Unfairly known as “The Dumb Kid” Don proved at an early age to be anything but. At the age of 16 Don was racing a Model T with a Cragar overhead and 4-banger at the lakes. In order transfer weight and get traction to the back he put the engine in the rear. The next year, 1948, Don placed a Model A engine and ran 111 mph. With fine tuning and more experience he finally got the car up to 150 mph in 1950. Suddenly the Dumb Kid from Temple City was setting all the records, much to the annoyance of the older guys.
It was at Bonneville that Bobby Meeks introduced Don to nitro methane. Without knowing what he was running on (but with eyes stinging) Don turned a remarkable 196 mph, much to his own amazement and that of other hot rodders.

 

A Ford man through and through, John Wolf was an engine builder that competed with the best of them. As a young man working for the Ford Agency, John would spend his nights building engines preparing his cars for the lakes.
After serving as a helicopter mechanic in the Korean war, John got straight back to racing and built a 27 T modified roadster with a blown flathead that turned 188 mph at Bonneville. In 1959 John and Bob Bowen went to Bonneville with the Shadoff Special, a streamliner in which Ray Brown still held the SCTA record. With a 258-ci Dodge built by John they managed to clock 259 mph to be the new record holders. In 1960 they returned to challenge the FIA record and managed to get a one mile record of 252 mph.

 

Bonneville 1950.

 

El Mirage.

 

El Mirage 1950.

 

El Mirage 1950.