Racing stories from the past....
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Joined: Feb 2000
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From: Snowwhitepillowformybigfathead
Racing stories from the past....
Last weekend I was being lazy and worthless - half watching the Daytona 500 and half digging about online - when the phone rang. It was my friend Bill who was also half watching Daytona, and half going thru a box of old magazines and literature of my Dad's that I'd given him after last weeks TCO meeting.
So like a couple of school girls we talked while we watched tv. Bill mentioned that each item in the box appeared unremarkable at first glance, but as he flipped thru each he found a reason why it wound up in the box.
Our conversation meandered thru some familiar territory, and alot of new. Upon reflection these stories are kind of universal.
Bill was a young kid when he first started hanging out at local motorcycle and racing car dealers in the early 60's. Portland in those years was very much alive in motorsports culture.
Bills mentor was a guy named Pat Connolly - one of the names on the crew roster on my decklid. Pat was a cam grinder and a salt flats racer, who's cams for Triumph twins were THE ones to use during the 60's.
Portlands local motorcycle flat track - Sidewinders - was particularly interesting: it was laid out on the side of a hill. Triumphs ruled at Sidewinders. I have the dim memories a little kid would have of bean oil, cups of beer, portacans, and a big deal I didn't really understand. Everybody seemed to go to Sidewinders every week that they weren't themselves racing. My friend Chucks kitchen ceiling is lined with photo's of the local flattrackers from this era.
Bill told me that it was largely thru chance that Pat came up with a profile that worked good on the Triumph's. As the years and era in equipment passed him by that became more clear. But as a simple man, and then an old man, that's what you'd expect. He was maniacly devoted to the idea of steady experimental progress. Today I'd characterize it as groping in the dark. But he was a small legend in his day.
Pat was, after my Dad, my first real role model. I remember my first introduction to Pat by my Dad: Dad pointed Pat out and said something to the effect of what a big deal Pat was - that he was really something, that he was the real thing. Looking back I can see that it was his results that earned him that kind of reputation at that time. He wasn't a genius. He was a really good guy though. My friend Jerry who's dad also worked at the shop remembers like I do walking down the parts aisle to Pat's bay and having him greet us in a loud voice "Hello Men!" and offer us a stick of chewing gum.
I still remember his workbench - it was a pile of **** that sloped upwards toward the wall behind it. When the shop was expanded in the early 70's and Pat had to move to the new wing it was quite a scene as this "treasure" was evaluated and disposed of. I remember Dad telling me that Pat was a product of the depression and that his ideas of thrift were at odds with both efficiency and value in the modern world. Pat was abruptly retired shortly after my Dad died.
Almost all the old guys from Pat's era are gone now. The youngest of them meet every single day for brunch at a diner on the eastside.
My friend Chucks grandfather had a Motorcycle shop that sold Kawasaki when I was just starting to race. His uncle Jerry ran a Skunk Works style machine shop in a hut in the back of the yard behind the main building. Kawasaki's MX bikes were **** in about 74-75 - particularly the 125's. When Rick Burgett and Chuck Sun left to take factory rides and win National Championships, Kawasaki City's rider Mark Gregson was the new top dog. HE had a 125 Kawi that he could win on. Jerry took the Rotary Valve 125 motor, and added a Case Reed assembly and ran it as a dual induction motor. We were all blown away by how "trick" it was. Gregson won races, nobody bought any Kawi's anyway, and it passed into memory as the years went by. Trick stuff is always SECKSY.
Among my younger car racing friends - and they're still quite a bit older than I am - there have been pretty serious rivalries and politics that have left pretty deep scars. Back in the 60's my Dad's group of friends did a better job of keeping it light.
That group of friends included a remarkable guy named Bill Pendleton. Remember me writing about my friend Joe who raced in the Trans Am and IMSA for so many years? In the mid 60's Joe and Bill were fighting each other in A-Sedan.
Bill was a Lumberjack with Really Rough Edges. And he went like hell. He'd bought a year old factory Cougar at one point and went really hard - more about that later. Joe worked and spent like crazy to beat Bill.
Joe tells this story often enough that it surely must stand as one of his proudest moments: One day when Joe knew he was in striking range he approached Bill before the race and said "Bill, I've never beaten you before, but todays the day that I'm gonna burn your *** down in front of all these people". Joe says Bill was psyched out by this. During the race Joe put a banzai move on Bill, and passed him cleanly coming into the circus - kind of where 9-10-11 are now. Bill lost it and did some mega rolling and tumbling - really seriously scary. Everybody thought Joe had bumped him and the hot pits were full of talk about that SOB Joe. Joe kept going and looked for Bill to be alright lap after lap. When Joe pulled into the hot pits after the checkered, he started getting alot of ****. Bill walked up and demanded to know what was going on. Hearing what it was he said: "The Hell He Did". Bill gave it all fighting off Joe, and paid the third highest price we all fear.
I'm informed that Bill was absolutely dynamite. When he campaigned a TR4 under a deal with Cal-Auto he smoked everybody by a wide margin. He went to Daytona for the USRRC and did the same till he broke.
At Kent one year for the Trans Am, one of the factory Ford teams had no driver for qualifying due to a time conflict. In those days anybody could qualify the car, and so Bill wound up doing it. His times were shockingly quicker than the factory drivers - and those would be names like Gurney, Follmer, Revson, etc. When he came in he was thanked and never spoken to again.
All these years later he's remembered by just a few. I remember how he stacked up in the world of my Dad's friends though - he was Respected and Loved. Cool eh? They'd all go out to dinner after the races and get drunk and have a great time with each other.
I also got to hear more about who ran what and who showed how much brains they had.
Dad's greatest success was a black 101 chassis Alfa roadster. It was a broken Hollywood Sports Cars car that was delivered thru Alfa after that project fell apart. It had a trick Conrero motor from the factory Daytona 24 hr TZ's. Somebody had overreved it and broke a rod, and that's how it showed up. It continued to throw rods until a very young and unproven Bill talked somebody into letting him rebuild it AND replace ALL of the rods. Problem solved. Glorious victories followed. Names were made. Fun was had. It was a couple of years before anyone seriously developed anything better - Shankle.
Another local racer - Bob Kaletta - did the same thing more or less when he bought a factory GTA. He wen't fast, everybody got to see what the state of the art looked like, and then inevitably things moved on.
Another local legend is Monte Shelton. Monte was a used car dealer who dealt pretty serious volume in race cars. He quite literally raced on Sunday and sold on Monday. Monte was fast enough that few were capable of getting as much as he did out of the car they bought from him - but there you go. He bought obsolete Can-Am cars and the like and ran Trans-Am and IMSA too in Porsche 930 variants. Monte's mechanic - Dick Evelrude - is considered by the very best race car mechanics I know to be the very best they know. That's pretty serious.
Seems like some of these guys were smart enough to buy right and enjoy their racing, instead of burning up piles of money trying to reinvent the wheel. Duane Davis, mega GT champion, is smart like this too. His steady refinement of his Preston Toyota's is very impressive, and despite how expensive the effort is, it's probably among the smartest routes to his goals.
Joe did try to reinvent the wheel a little. His most advanced IMSA Corvette had front suspension borrowed from a McLaren sports car, and Everett Hatch - who built his Chev's - did ground up development. It was sufficient to attract the attention of Mark Donohue who wanted to know who was building motors that worked as good as his Traco's. Everett was a competitor of Joe's who basically gave up racing himself to develop motors for Joe - and whatever market he could build. He was pretty successful.
The days of so many of these type of stories are kinda gone in some ways, but still with us in others. Glen bought an ex-DC ITR - same story. He doesn't always know how smart that was, but I'm sure we can all think of how he could have been stupider.
I'm looking toward the same uncertainties this coming year as we all are, and with my own unique twists and turns. It kinda breaks my heart to contemplate not racing as much as I'd like in 2003 - I'm enjoying making up my racing story as I go.
Scott, who knows it's only cars...but it's mostly about people...you know...
So like a couple of school girls we talked while we watched tv. Bill mentioned that each item in the box appeared unremarkable at first glance, but as he flipped thru each he found a reason why it wound up in the box.
Our conversation meandered thru some familiar territory, and alot of new. Upon reflection these stories are kind of universal.
Bill was a young kid when he first started hanging out at local motorcycle and racing car dealers in the early 60's. Portland in those years was very much alive in motorsports culture.
Bills mentor was a guy named Pat Connolly - one of the names on the crew roster on my decklid. Pat was a cam grinder and a salt flats racer, who's cams for Triumph twins were THE ones to use during the 60's.
Portlands local motorcycle flat track - Sidewinders - was particularly interesting: it was laid out on the side of a hill. Triumphs ruled at Sidewinders. I have the dim memories a little kid would have of bean oil, cups of beer, portacans, and a big deal I didn't really understand. Everybody seemed to go to Sidewinders every week that they weren't themselves racing. My friend Chucks kitchen ceiling is lined with photo's of the local flattrackers from this era.
Bill told me that it was largely thru chance that Pat came up with a profile that worked good on the Triumph's. As the years and era in equipment passed him by that became more clear. But as a simple man, and then an old man, that's what you'd expect. He was maniacly devoted to the idea of steady experimental progress. Today I'd characterize it as groping in the dark. But he was a small legend in his day.
Pat was, after my Dad, my first real role model. I remember my first introduction to Pat by my Dad: Dad pointed Pat out and said something to the effect of what a big deal Pat was - that he was really something, that he was the real thing. Looking back I can see that it was his results that earned him that kind of reputation at that time. He wasn't a genius. He was a really good guy though. My friend Jerry who's dad also worked at the shop remembers like I do walking down the parts aisle to Pat's bay and having him greet us in a loud voice "Hello Men!" and offer us a stick of chewing gum.
I still remember his workbench - it was a pile of **** that sloped upwards toward the wall behind it. When the shop was expanded in the early 70's and Pat had to move to the new wing it was quite a scene as this "treasure" was evaluated and disposed of. I remember Dad telling me that Pat was a product of the depression and that his ideas of thrift were at odds with both efficiency and value in the modern world. Pat was abruptly retired shortly after my Dad died.
Almost all the old guys from Pat's era are gone now. The youngest of them meet every single day for brunch at a diner on the eastside.
My friend Chucks grandfather had a Motorcycle shop that sold Kawasaki when I was just starting to race. His uncle Jerry ran a Skunk Works style machine shop in a hut in the back of the yard behind the main building. Kawasaki's MX bikes were **** in about 74-75 - particularly the 125's. When Rick Burgett and Chuck Sun left to take factory rides and win National Championships, Kawasaki City's rider Mark Gregson was the new top dog. HE had a 125 Kawi that he could win on. Jerry took the Rotary Valve 125 motor, and added a Case Reed assembly and ran it as a dual induction motor. We were all blown away by how "trick" it was. Gregson won races, nobody bought any Kawi's anyway, and it passed into memory as the years went by. Trick stuff is always SECKSY.
Among my younger car racing friends - and they're still quite a bit older than I am - there have been pretty serious rivalries and politics that have left pretty deep scars. Back in the 60's my Dad's group of friends did a better job of keeping it light.
That group of friends included a remarkable guy named Bill Pendleton. Remember me writing about my friend Joe who raced in the Trans Am and IMSA for so many years? In the mid 60's Joe and Bill were fighting each other in A-Sedan.
Bill was a Lumberjack with Really Rough Edges. And he went like hell. He'd bought a year old factory Cougar at one point and went really hard - more about that later. Joe worked and spent like crazy to beat Bill.
Joe tells this story often enough that it surely must stand as one of his proudest moments: One day when Joe knew he was in striking range he approached Bill before the race and said "Bill, I've never beaten you before, but todays the day that I'm gonna burn your *** down in front of all these people". Joe says Bill was psyched out by this. During the race Joe put a banzai move on Bill, and passed him cleanly coming into the circus - kind of where 9-10-11 are now. Bill lost it and did some mega rolling and tumbling - really seriously scary. Everybody thought Joe had bumped him and the hot pits were full of talk about that SOB Joe. Joe kept going and looked for Bill to be alright lap after lap. When Joe pulled into the hot pits after the checkered, he started getting alot of ****. Bill walked up and demanded to know what was going on. Hearing what it was he said: "The Hell He Did". Bill gave it all fighting off Joe, and paid the third highest price we all fear.
I'm informed that Bill was absolutely dynamite. When he campaigned a TR4 under a deal with Cal-Auto he smoked everybody by a wide margin. He went to Daytona for the USRRC and did the same till he broke.
At Kent one year for the Trans Am, one of the factory Ford teams had no driver for qualifying due to a time conflict. In those days anybody could qualify the car, and so Bill wound up doing it. His times were shockingly quicker than the factory drivers - and those would be names like Gurney, Follmer, Revson, etc. When he came in he was thanked and never spoken to again.
All these years later he's remembered by just a few. I remember how he stacked up in the world of my Dad's friends though - he was Respected and Loved. Cool eh? They'd all go out to dinner after the races and get drunk and have a great time with each other.
I also got to hear more about who ran what and who showed how much brains they had.
Dad's greatest success was a black 101 chassis Alfa roadster. It was a broken Hollywood Sports Cars car that was delivered thru Alfa after that project fell apart. It had a trick Conrero motor from the factory Daytona 24 hr TZ's. Somebody had overreved it and broke a rod, and that's how it showed up. It continued to throw rods until a very young and unproven Bill talked somebody into letting him rebuild it AND replace ALL of the rods. Problem solved. Glorious victories followed. Names were made. Fun was had. It was a couple of years before anyone seriously developed anything better - Shankle.
Another local racer - Bob Kaletta - did the same thing more or less when he bought a factory GTA. He wen't fast, everybody got to see what the state of the art looked like, and then inevitably things moved on.
Another local legend is Monte Shelton. Monte was a used car dealer who dealt pretty serious volume in race cars. He quite literally raced on Sunday and sold on Monday. Monte was fast enough that few were capable of getting as much as he did out of the car they bought from him - but there you go. He bought obsolete Can-Am cars and the like and ran Trans-Am and IMSA too in Porsche 930 variants. Monte's mechanic - Dick Evelrude - is considered by the very best race car mechanics I know to be the very best they know. That's pretty serious.
Seems like some of these guys were smart enough to buy right and enjoy their racing, instead of burning up piles of money trying to reinvent the wheel. Duane Davis, mega GT champion, is smart like this too. His steady refinement of his Preston Toyota's is very impressive, and despite how expensive the effort is, it's probably among the smartest routes to his goals.
Joe did try to reinvent the wheel a little. His most advanced IMSA Corvette had front suspension borrowed from a McLaren sports car, and Everett Hatch - who built his Chev's - did ground up development. It was sufficient to attract the attention of Mark Donohue who wanted to know who was building motors that worked as good as his Traco's. Everett was a competitor of Joe's who basically gave up racing himself to develop motors for Joe - and whatever market he could build. He was pretty successful.
The days of so many of these type of stories are kinda gone in some ways, but still with us in others. Glen bought an ex-DC ITR - same story. He doesn't always know how smart that was, but I'm sure we can all think of how he could have been stupider.
I'm looking toward the same uncertainties this coming year as we all are, and with my own unique twists and turns. It kinda breaks my heart to contemplate not racing as much as I'd like in 2003 - I'm enjoying making up my racing story as I go.
Scott, who knows it's only cars...but it's mostly about people...you know...
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 48
Likes: 0
From: Toronto, Ont, Canada
Re: Racing stories from the past.... (RR98ITR)
That was great!!
I find it is really hard to find true car guys out there. Not the guys that are just in the hobby, but people that have made cars, the racing, the modifying, and most importantly the people part of their lifestyle.
Those stories were really cool. You just put my workday on hold. Appreciate it.
Keep 'em coming...
I find it is really hard to find true car guys out there. Not the guys that are just in the hobby, but people that have made cars, the racing, the modifying, and most importantly the people part of their lifestyle.
Those stories were really cool. You just put my workday on hold. Appreciate it.
Keep 'em coming...
Thread Starter
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 4,049
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From: Snowwhitepillowformybigfathead
Re: Racing stories from the past.... (rattletrap)
....part of their lifestyle.
Scott, who believes it is important to have a normal life alongside the obsession with motorsports too...it can be done...
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 48
Likes: 0
From: Toronto, Ont, Canada
Re: Racing stories from the past.... (RR98ITR)
This is true...although I have compared the guys at the local speed shop to crack dealers before.
Chris - who can't afford a motorsport obsession yet, but soon...very, very soon.
Chris - who can't afford a motorsport obsession yet, but soon...very, very soon.
Member
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,984
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From: Charlotte, NC, USA
Re: Racing stories from the past.... (RR98ITR)
Scott, who believes it is important to have a normal life alongside the obsession with motorsports too...it can be done...
Nice Reading... thanks Scott.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,768
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From: Kings Mt., NC
Re: Racing stories from the past.... (XR4racer)
I always kinda envied the kids who grew up with racing, or at least in the neighborhood of it. Closest I ever got was a cousin's go-cart....
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Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Union, KY, USA
Re: Racing stories from the past.... (MaddMatt)
Scott... funny that you mentioned Mark Donahue (my hero as a kid and today) and Traco yesterday as I had actually mentioned them to a fellow CRX racer on the phone yesterday as well.
We we actually talking about racers and illegal cars and how some racers will offer up something that can visually be seen on a car that might not be legal or at least becomes a topic of discussion to pull possible attention away from other very illegal items.
I knew a SCCA B Production National Champ Corvette racer in the '70s who had water cooled brakes on his car. If anyone was looking for something to talk about or question legality on, they went immediately to discussing the legality of his brakes (apparantly they were borderline but were allowed so he kept them). This drew attention away from the engine under his hood that was a Traco built, ex-Mark Donahue/Penske Trans Am series Camaro bad dude small block that was not really legally built for the Corvette.
Didn't mean to hike your thread but rarely does one hear about those guys from deacdes ago multiple times in a day.
[Modified by CRX Lee, 3:11 AM 2/20/2003]
We we actually talking about racers and illegal cars and how some racers will offer up something that can visually be seen on a car that might not be legal or at least becomes a topic of discussion to pull possible attention away from other very illegal items.
I knew a SCCA B Production National Champ Corvette racer in the '70s who had water cooled brakes on his car. If anyone was looking for something to talk about or question legality on, they went immediately to discussing the legality of his brakes (apparantly they were borderline but were allowed so he kept them). This drew attention away from the engine under his hood that was a Traco built, ex-Mark Donahue/Penske Trans Am series Camaro bad dude small block that was not really legally built for the Corvette.
Didn't mean to hike your thread but rarely does one hear about those guys from deacdes ago multiple times in a day.
[Modified by CRX Lee, 3:11 AM 2/20/2003]
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