death drives a midget, part five

King almost stumbles onto the plot to kill Cyclone, and then a monkey wrench is thrown into the plan with some news:

Langley Speedway, July 31, 1966

Almost too much info here. That's a good thing I suppose. From the usual sources: Columbian, Advance, Leader, Sun and Province.

2500 in attendance.

50 cars in pits.

early-late dash:
Wayne Trotter

overhead super stock dash:
Clare Walsh

modified stock dash:
Bruce Allan

B modified dash:
Alvin Edwards (Skagit)

A modified dash:
Jerry Birdsey (Skagit)

1st early-late flathead heat:
1--Skip Cornwall
2--Lloyd Green
3--Mel Barber

2nd early-late flathead heat:
1--Bill Goldstone (or Al Baldwin)
2--Les Spratt
3--Graydon Evans

3rd early-late flathead heat:
1--Lyn Briggs
2--Clarence Regenwetter
3--Mike Olshaski

early-late overhead heat:
1--Clare Walsh
2--Gordie Hemrich
3--Bill Strachan

stocker heat:
1--Jack Graham
2--Jerry Fink
3--Bruce Allan

A modified heat:
1--Lloyd Armey
2--Jerry Birdsey
3--Bob Horton

B modified heat:
1--Alvin Edwards
2--Don Putnam
3--Glen Hardenbrook

early-late consi:
1--Dennis Corfe
2--Gordy Plastow
3--Don Sherbert

early-late flathead main:
19 start, 10 finish

1--Mike Olshaski
2--Skip Cornwall
3--Lyn Briggs

stock and modified combined main (30 laps):

stock:
1--Bruce Allan
2--Jerry Fink
3--Doug Firth

B modified:
1--Alvin Edwards
2--Don Putnam
3--Bill Blockley

A modified:
1--Jerry Birdsey
2--Ken Hamilton
3--Bob Horton

early vancouver, part six

1918 and racing returns to Vancouver. Introducing U.S. drivers like Gus Duray and Walter "Tip" Blume. Stutz, "the car that made good in a day", and the return of the Romano Special.



18--July 1, 1918--Hastings Park

--Mile against time
--Gus Duray, Stutz Special 1:15
--Cliff MacBeth, Yakima Special 1:17 1/2
--Ritchie, Ford Special 1:22 1/2
--Gus Duray, Paige Special 1:23
--J. Erdman, Erdman Special 1:25
--Walter Brooks, Duthie Special 1:27
--Harry Skar, Comet Special 1:28 1/2
--H. Lillie, Vancouver Special 1:35

--12 mile free for all
1st, Cliff MacBeth, Yakima Special
2nd, Gus Duray, Stutz Special
3rd, Harry Skar, Comet Special
4th, J. Erdman, Erdman Special

--Australian Pursuit
1st, Gus Duray, Stutz
2nd, Cliff MacBeth, Yakima
3rd, ???, Paige Special
4th, Ritchie, Ford

--small cars (270 cu. in. and under), 6-miles
1st, J. Erdman, Erdman Special
2nd, Ritchie, Ford Special
3rd, Walter Brooks, Duthie Special
time, 7:41


--large cars (300 cu. in. and over), 6-miles
1st, Gus Duray, Stutz
2nd, Cliff MacBeth, Yakima Special
3rd, ???, Paige

--small cars, 8-miles
1st, J. Erdman, Erdman Special
2nd, Walter Brooks, Duthie Special
3rd, Ritchie, Ford Special


19--August 24, 1918--Hastings Park

--free for all tire change, 5-miles
1st, Gus Duray, Stutz Special
2nd, Henry North, Romano Special
3rd, Walter Blume, Blume Special
4th, Cliff MacBeth, Mercer Special
time, 7:29 1/2

--small cars, 7-miles
1st, Harry Schuck, Ford Special
2nd, Cliff MacBeth, Mercer Special
3rd, Walter Blume, Blume Special
time, 10:34

--over 300 cu. in., 8-miles
1st, Gus Duray, Stutz Special
2nd, Henry North, Romano Special
3rd, Sam Carmichael, Stutz Special

--Vancouver Exhibition Sweepstakes, 25-miles
1st, Gus Duray, Stutz Special
2nd, Henry North, Romano Special
3rd, Cliff MacBeth, Mercer Special
4th, Sam Carmichael, Stutz Special
time, 30:55

--special invitational, 5-miles
1st, Gus Duray, Stutz Special
2nd, Henry North, Romano Special
time, 5:37

better get serious

So back to some real racing, etc. Season ending standing for the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs (ICSCC) featured some from the Westwood circuit, Gio Coletta, Charley Godecke and G.B. Sterne (who took two class titles).

Oh yeah, this looks like it's post # 200. Hooray for me!

it was the 70s after all

Found this ad while looking through an old issue of Competition Press:

Name and phone number has been deleted.

Cheeky bastard. Couldn't get away with that these days. (I think.)

Wonder which went.

death drives a midget, part four

Humpy's a bad guy, but there's somebody even badder (if that's a word) and King suspects badness to be abounding:

drag racing in Seattle

I love the wheel stand the fueler does. Getting up on one wheel. Could end in disaster. But it didn't.

Some big names at Seattle International Raceway, sometimes known as Kent or Pacific Raceways.

books

Picked up a couple books last weekend, the newest of which is the just published Weekends of Glory. It's a follow-up to Martin Rudow's Long Straights and Tight Hairpins. The first book is sold out apparently but the second covers the 1960s sports car racing era of the Pacific northwest including southwest B.C.'s Westwood.

Here's a link for the book.

Also spent far too much money on other books. But they were there and I was there and now the books are here and my money is elsewhere.

Langley Speedway, July 24, 1966

Very confusing race reports from the Columbian, Leader and Advance. I'll do my best here.

3000 in attendance.

Mac Morrison set new class record for what was called super modified stock (I think it's super stock, or as it was called then overhead early-late) at 18.98 (one newspaper had it at 18.97).

Early-late flathead dash:
1--Gerry Adams
also running were Frank Fletcher, Chris Palm and Clarence Regenwetter.

overhead early-late dash:
1--Clare Walsh

stock dash:
1--Jack Graham

modified dash:
1--Bert Baxter

One flathead heat reported on had Lyn Briggs winning followed by Chris Palm and Russ Gould. Also running were Ron Hattfield, Vic Mossey, Bill Goldstone and Ralph Widdess.

Widdess rolled his #4 1949 Ford.

1st overhead early-late heat:
1--Wild Red Tisdale
2--Mike Clyde
3--Otto Heins

2nd overhead early-late heat:
1--Clare Walsh
2--Gordie Hemrich
3--Hal Launchberry

combined modified and stocker heat:
1--Bert Baxter (modified)

1--Carman Parton (stocker)

early-late flathead main (25 laps)
21 start, by lap 10 only 11 running, 9 finished

1--Chris Palm
2--Mike Olshaski
3--Clarence Regenwetter

early-late overhead main
13 start, 7 finish

1--Gordie Hemrich
2--Wild Red Tisdale

combined modified and stocker main

1--Larry Gibbons (stocker)

1--Bert Baxter (modifieds)

Other names I came across included Doug Firth, Bob Farquarhar, Wayne Trotter and Gerry Meyer.

Hopefully some of this can be made clearer in the future.

early vancouver racing, part five

A pair of race dates from 1914. The Romano Special makes its first appearance in Vancouver.

I'm not too sure about the results of the Tetzlaff date but the names Billy Carlson, Hughie Hughes and Wilbur D'Alene were pretty big in their day:

15--July 1, 1914, Minoru Park

--Mile against time
1st, Percy Barnes, Romano Special 1:00 1/2
2nd, Hugo Pagano, Speedwell 1:11
3rd, W.H. Smythe, Stearns 1:12
4th, ???, Pacific Car Special 1:13

--Vancouver owned cars for Vancouver City championship, 10-miles
1st, C.R. Thomas, American 13:01
2nd, W.H. Smythe, Stearns 13:01 1-5
3rd, Fred Franklin, Ford 15:00

--15-miles, standing start
1st, Fred Barsby, Studebaker 20:20
2nd, ???, American 20:20.55
3rd, ???, Pacific Car Special 22:40

--International free for all, 10-miles
1st, Romano Special 13:55
2nd, Speedwell 13:56
3rd, Stearns 14:15

--5-miles
1st, Romano Special 6:19
2nd, Speedwell 7:29
3rd, Stearns 7:45


16--July 24, 1914, Minoru Park

--Teddy Tetzlaff, Blitzen Benz, 56 seconds for one mile

--1st event, 5 miles
1st, Hughie Hughes
2nd, Billy Carlson
Time, 5:27

--2nd event, heat for free-for-all
1st, Wilbur D’Alene
2nd, Billy Carlson
3rd, Hughie Hughes

--3rd event, heat for free-for-all
1st, Wilbur D’Alene
2nd, Billy Carlson

--4th event, heat for free-for-all
1st, Billy Carlson
2nd, Wilbur D’Alene


17--July 25, 1914, Minoru Park

--rained out?

agassiz speedway

Went to Agassiz Speedway last Saturday night for a big Sportsman class race. Sitting beside me was a former mini stock driver, Steve Hora.

I dug around in my photos and found a couple shots from 1997.

I believe the no. 52 is Hora with the no. 50 being Ken Jorgenson. Ken is still at it with his no. 57 Sportsman. He had some bad luck last Saturday.

The two bigger cars are the Hobby Stocks (before the change to the Sportsman class) of no. 12 Darrell Porayko and no. 22 Robbie Haslam (of Victoria, BC).

Of course this was back when Agassiz Speedway was known as Kent Raceways and they raced on Sunday afternoons. Now those were some hot days.

historic sports car races at mission

Got to the humid Mission Raceway at noon, just about when the sun broke through and the temperature rose. Hot and humid with some showers and some lightning.

And a lot of cars.

Spent too much money as well.

The theme in 2008 was "Germania". The special Formula Vee race was won by Al Ores, who has been at this for many decades.

Good times, good people, and I spent too much money on some books. (More about the books in a future post.)

death drives a midget, part three

There's Shorty, there's the real bad guy and of course there's a woman involved. "Cyclone" and King have their work cut out for them:

to the winner

August used to be the traditional time for the Gold Cup to be run in Edmonton.

This year it was held on July 12th, and won by Brock Lemley from Bellingham, WA. It's now a dirt race and not held on the pavement.

All sorts of traditions end. And new ones begin.

Reminds me, the Daffodil Cup at Western Speedway is happening August 16th. That used to be held on the Labour Day weekend. And it was a two day event. Traditions end, traditions start.

Has kissing the trophy girl remained a constant?

1968 winner Jim Roberts passed away earlier this year which was noted on this blog.

Langley Speedway, July 17, 1966

Doesn't appear that any racing happened at Langley on July 3rd or 10th. Rain-outs? If I find different from further research I'll change the record.

From information out of the Columbian, Advance and Leader comes the following:

60 cars in the pits.

early-late flathead dash:

Frank Fletcher

early-late overhead dash:

Mac Morison

modified stock dash:

Bruce Allen

B modified dash:

Len Cook
(had fast time for B modifieds, 17.03, in former Frank Carr machine now owned, in 1966, by Howard Wares)

A modified dash:

Lloyd Armey

1st flathead heat (12 started, 7 finished):

1--Wayne Trotter
2--Ted Cannon
3--Allan Schmidke

also ran: Dewey Morrison, Ray Scibinsky, Ken Sayers, Jerry Meyers, Don Clarke and Ralph Bellemy.

2nd flathead heat (12 started, 7 finished):

1--Ron Hubbe
2--Ron Morrison
3--Gerry Adams

3rd heat:

1--Ralph Widdess
2--Mike Olshaski
3--Dennis Corfe

overhead heat:

Clare Walsh

stock heat:

Doug Rutherford

A-B combined main (11 started, 6 finished):

1--#37, Lloyd Armey
2--#13, Len Cook

To add to the excitement driver Carman Parton and Columbian newspaper columnist Alan Jay layed on the hood of the W00 early-late and drove through a flaming board fence. Jay looked up at the last second and broke his nose. But he got a column out of his for the Monday edition.

The side of the W00 early-late said "WATCH W00 GO THRU". Great poetry for a 1966 nine-year-old but for older guys it was best to be inside W00 if it was actually going to go through.

early vancouver racing, part four

Wild Bob Burman came north to Vancouver with an entourage of professional drivers.

The big deal of the two weekends that he raced at Minoru Park was his attempts to run the Blitzen Benz at record speeds. According to the newspaper reports of the day he did drop the time for the mile consistently. No world's record, maybe a Canadian record, but nothing seems to have been official.

10--July 18, 1913, Minoru Park

--Bob Burman, Blitzen Benz, 2:15 p.m., 55 4-5 second for the mile

--Bob Burman, Blitzen Benz, 6:00 p.m., 54 2-5 seconds for the mile

--1st heat, free-for-all
1st, Burman

--600 c.I. displacement or more
1st, Burman (Keaton)


11--July 19, 1913, Minoru Park

--10,000 in attendance

--Bob Burman, Blitzen Benz, 52 2-5 seconds for the mile


12--July 25, 1913, Minoru Park

--Bob Burman, Blitzen Benz, 51 3-5 for the mile

--1st heat, free-for-all
1st, Burman
2nd, Endicott
3rd, Benedict (Mercedes)

--2nd heat,
1st, Benedict

--3rd heat,
1st, Burman


13--July 26, 1913, Minoru Park

--Bob Burman, Blitzen Benz, 50 4-5 for the mile

--Burman vs. horse (Flying Squirrel)
3-32nds of of mile
1st, Burman

the demolition derby at the PNE

I did a quick google of the demolition derby at the PNE and it still seems to carry potent memories for many, even a petition to have it returned as part of the show.

The above clipping is from the glory days.

world record set at Mission in 1970

I know, lots of records were set at Mission. The near to sea level track produced lots of good air for combustion. The above clipping notes that the AA/FD mph record was set there back in 1970. Note sure how long that lasted. 232.55 seems slow these days, even with the 1000 foot finish line of today.

Bring back the quarter-mile!

This was back in the days when the divisional points meets included top fuel, top gas and funny car.

death drives a midget, part two

King and the kid meet Cyclone Billy, pull him out of the mud, and another, more sinister, character arrives as well:

rea lentz in the romano

While there will be more about Rea Lentz racing the Seattle-based Romano Special in Vancouver in future posts here is one reason why this car is important.

It won the first Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 1916. The above clipping is from the Seattle PI.

Years later Vancouver-based driver, and first SCCBC president, Roy Shadbolt went to the Peak.

some loafer photos

Went to the drag races last Sunday. Here's some photos from the track and the show and shine:

Langley Speedway, June 26, 1966

Rain, what was it the sports writers liked to call it, Jupe Pluvious?, stopped the racing card part way into the afternoon.

Up till then the racing went as follows:

55 cars, 4000 in attendance.

A modified dash:

1st, Bob Horton
2nd, Lloyd Armey
3rd, Butch Gilbert

B modified dash:

1st, Carl Detillion
2nd, Don Putnam
3rd, George Wyse

modified stock dash:

1st, Larry Gibbons (LARA)
2nd, Doug Firth (LARA)

early-late B dash, flathead:

1st, Wayne Trotter (LARA)
2nd, Bob Franks (LARA)


early-late A dash, flathead:

1st, Carman Parton (LARA)
2nd, Bill Mandy (LARA)
3rd, Otto Hein (ELRA)

ELRA overhead dash:

1st, Mac Morison
2nd, Gord Hemrich
3rd, Clare Walsh

1st early-late heat:

1st, Tom Waltko
2nd, Doug Phillips
3rd, Al Howie

2nd early-late heat:

1st, Rick Lester
2nd, Clarence Regenwetter


And then the rains came.

early vancouver racing, part three

Some 1913 racing. Beginning with motorcycles.

I'm not going to go chronologically here (lots of syllables back there). I'll do the motorcycles first, then the automobiles

The Bennett mentioned is Alex Bennett who went back to the U.K. and Europe and was a works rider winning some major races. He was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame last year:

7--June 14, 1913, The Willows

--motorcycles

--1st race--Smith, Victoria, won over Scott, Victoria, in 2-mile sidecar race, time, 3:27 ¾

--2nd race--5-mile amateur:
1st, Art Creeck, Victoria
2nd, C.O. Rayner, Victoria
3rd, George Griffin
4th, Comyow, Victoria
Time, 6:44

--3rd race--3-mile professional:
1st, Coburn
2nd, Berreth
3rd, Godfrey
Time, 4:09 ¾

--4th race--3-miles, Coburn vs. Godfrey:
1st, Coburn, time, 4:07 ¼

--5th race--3-miles, Berreth vs. Jimmy Bergstadt
1st, Berreth, time 4:18 ¼

--6th race--10-miles, amateur:
1st, C.O. Rayner
2nd, George Griffin
Time, 13:40

--7th race--4-miles, professional:
1st, Godfrey
2nd, Coburn
3rd, Berreth

--8th race--5-miles, amateur:
1st, Creech
2nd, Rayner
3rd, Griffin



8--July 1, 1913, Hastings Park

--motorcycles, rained out


9--July 8, 1913, Hastings Park

--motorcycles

--one-mile, flying start
1st, Harry Cogburn, California, 1:16 (Province newspaper says 1:14), track record

--2-miles, free-for-all
1st, J. Emery, Seattle
2nd, H. Cogburn, California
3rd, Homer Des Rosier, Vancouver
Time, 2:32

--5-miles, professional riders
1st, H.Cogburn
2nd, Emery
3rd, Harry Meagher
Time, 5:59

--3-miles, amateur riders
1st, Bennett
2nd, McEwen
3rd, Slim Watts
4:06

--5-miles, free-for-all
1st, Cogburn
2nd, Emery
3rd, Meagher
Time, 6:41

--5-miles, amateur, for Con Jones Trophy
1st, George McEwen
2nd, Pat Pettipiece
3rd, Bennett
Time, 7:05 1-2

--3-miles, professional riders
1st, Emory
2nd, Cogburn
3rd, Des Rosier
Time, 3:57 1-2

14--August 9, 1913, Hastings Park

--motorcycles

--5-miles, Vancouver riders
1st, Tom McEwan, (Indian)
2nd, George McEwen, (Indian)
3rd, Bud Parker, (Indian)
4th, Lloyd Purdy (Excelsior)
Time, 6:42

--3-miles, professional
1st, Bennett (only one to finish)
Emory, hurt
Time, 3:45

--5-mile, professional, and
4-mile match race

No results declared.

--6-miles, free-for-all
1st, Bennett (Indian)
2nd, Harry Meagher (Harley-Davidson)
3rd, Harry Cogburn (Indian)
Time, 6:38

--8-miles, Vancouver riders
1st, Bud Parker (Indian)
2nd, George McEwen (Indian)
Time, 10:41

--Hotel Lotus event, 10-miles,
Between Harry Cogburn and Bennett
1st, Bennett
Time, 13:03 2-5

early slot car racing?

Found this ad from 1912. Pretty impressive idea. Not sure how it all worked but it was patented so maybe there are plans somewhere. Way before its time. We could buy the patent and make millions. Millions, I tells ya!

150 years of British Columbia

So today, Monday, August 4, 2008 we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of B.C.

Back in 1958 a special race was held at Digney Speedway for the 100th anniversary.

Have an anniversary, hold a race. What's happening this Monday? Nothing that I can find. Music and health food, but no racing.

death drives a midget, part one

A new King of the Mounted story. I goofed up initially and did a 1948 story. This one is from 1946. I've been searching around and have found other stories from other years that feature stock cars, stunt driving and the Indianapolis 500. Lots of King to kome.

So we'll just get this story rolling and figure out together who the bad guy is:

early vancouver racing, adding to the addenum

Digging through the archive (i.e., cleaning up) I came across this 1911 motorcycle race at Hastings Park. From the text it sounds like there were earlier races.

Red Sebastian's name shows up in later years racing automobiles. And Earl Godfrey is named racing motorcycles later on as well.

Here's the results all typed out:

1911a--June 17, 1911, Hastings Park, motorcycles

--exhibition riding:
1st, Red Sebastian, 7 h.p. Indian

--Four h.p. class, 5 miles, for R.H. McClinton Cup:
1st, E. Earl Godfrey, time, 7:08 3-5

--Two and three-quarter h.p. class, 3 miles:
1st, E. Earl, time, 3:01 1-5

--Six h.p. class, 5 miles, for James D. McCormack Cup:
1st, Red Sebastian, time, 6:44 3-5

--Seven h.p. class, 3 miles, for the International Trophy, presented by J.M. McMillan:
1st, Red Sebastian, time, 6:12

--Twin cylinder, 5-mile handicap, for Hemphill Bros. Cup:
1st, 6:02 2-5

--Free-for-all, twin cylinder, 3 miles:
1st, Red Sebastian, time, 3:05 2-5

--Free-for-all, single cylinder, 3 miles:
1st, R. Hemphill, time 4:15 2-5