100, one hundred, ONE HUNDRED!!!!

I mean:


So here are a few "100s" to celebrate:


Jack Spalding at Con Jones Park in east Vancouver, 1940 with a midget race car. Jack's nickname was "the little man with the big cigar". The cigar doesn't show up all that well in this shot taken off the t.v. screen from a vhs tape. (I can even see my lamp reflected in the shot. Real high tech!)

When Jack raced in Vancouver he was from Victoria, and when he raced in Victoria he was from Vancouver. Originally he was from the States. His brother was Ernie Spalding whose son was/is Cliff Spalding. Cliff raced at Langley Speedway with the midgets in 1966.

With most of the midgets coming from the U.S. the numbering of the few Canadian cars were three digits. The car in the foreground is numbered for the next post, 101.

Larry McBride first raced with the midgets and track roadsters (hot rods) at Digney Speedway. He was pretty successful in both classes. When the stock cars took over Larry switched to them and was even more successful. He won the first 100-lap stock car championship race at Digney in 1952.



A bit of news from Clutch Chatter, the newsletter of the BC Custom Car Association. According to Larry B., who raced back then, a stop watch had been used in earlier years and by 1955 Chrondek timing lights were installed at Abbotsford Airport for the drag races. So it appears that Ron Hackett was the first officially to run 100 mph or more.

The photo below is of Ron with his 1923 Model T:



And below here is the patch from the BCCCA that drivers would get if they made a pass at 100 mph or more. This is off Stew Braddick's club jacket and is courtesy of Sylvia B.


On the international front, Milt and Ross Blewett ran the hydros. While they alternated driving chores from year to year, Milt was the one on board when he qualified for the 100 mph club. That was a big deal recognized by the American Power Boat Association.



Now who was the first to run a 100 mph lap at Westwood? Had to do some math calculations, something I'm out of practice doing. Figure a 64.8 second lap gets it done. (That right, Tom?)

Looking at some race results from the early 1970s finally got me to someone making the claim, in print, that the first 100 mph lap was done at the Player's Pacific race May 27, 1973 by Formula B driver, Allan Lader of Gresham, OR.

From the Canadian Motorsport Bulletin, July 1973: "In a late attempt to move up on race leader Lader, Craig Hill pressed the Castrol Brabham to a new Westwood lap record of 1:05.1 and an average speed of just over 99 MPH. Lader's crew responded with a 'record'? pit signal to Lader at the beginning of his third to last lap, and a 'Got It' two laps later when Lader replied with a 1:04.4, then a 1:04.3, making him the first driver to break the 100 MPH average speed barrier at Westwood."

The photo below shows Lader being given help back to the start-finish line as he, as well as Hill, ran out of fuel on the cool down lap after the checkered flag.


Now that's cutting it close.

And I should close this entry out. My one hundreth! Amazing. As with anything improvements are needed and will be worked on over the next 100.

That might take a bit longer than the 100 days (hey!) it took to get this many posted.

Shift changes, etc., are looming, starting this week, so hopefully I can keep up with the regularly scheduled stuff (IMCA, Langley, and comics!) and other things. Might take two days to get a post prepared. That might make them look a bit more slick than some of the 15 minutes of prep, one minute of corrections, then hit "publish post" and sign out ones I've got done.

Always trying to be "best appearing" even if that is a lost cause. Here's the last "100" for this 100th post. Ron Livingston's number 100 demolition derby car at Callister Park before it lost its best appearing appearance:


(Thanks to Tom J., Sylvia B., Larry B., and Murray C. for help and contributions to this biggie. Cheers all.)
bfp