a couple more from Golden Wheels

Again, from the Johnny Wright collection. Pike Green.

Saturday music, Midget Auto Blues

I remember Pike Green, one of the inspirations for this blog, having the 78.

Langford Speedway, Pike Green

A couple more photos from Langford Speedway. These actually come from the web at this site.

Pike Green, one of the inspirations for this blog.

another inspiration for this blog

Pike Green, like Don Radbruch, was a great source of information and encouragement for me to continue to research racing history around the Greater Vancouver area. So, like with Don, I have to thank him and can only wish he was still around.

Fortunately he still is in his writings. He sent me many photocopies of stories wrote for Racing Wheels in the early 1970s on racers he knew from his years in the northwest, starting with Langford Speedway in the 1930s. He also started Golden Wheels, a fraternity of racers that helps keep the history alive with vintage racing exhibitions.

This story is on Swede Lindskog. The links up on the sidebar show The Swede Lindskog Project, a nephew of the late racer who is compiling material on the man.

One thing I found, and pointed out to Pike, was that Swede did lose a feature (or two) at Langford Speedway. I hate having to "set the record straight".

(Sorry about the quality of the scans. Taken from poor photocopies of yellowed newsprint.)

another Pike story, this time on Allen Heath

There are many Allen Heath stories. Pike Green wrote about Allan in the September 26, 1973 issue of Racing Wheels.

There will be more Heath stories to come.

(Sorry for being slow. Watched the Daytona Duels today having taped them on Thursday. Have to be up to date for the race later on.)

Mario Bianchi by Pike Green

One of my favourite people that I came to know early on while doing this racing history stuff was Pike Green. Pike grew up in Victoria, BC, Canada, was a "pit kid" at Langford Speedway during the 1930s, raced midgets, sprint cars, stock cars and what have you during the 1940s and 1950s, boats in the 1960s, and then, (deep breath), started writing about the people he knew and things he had seen in the racing world in the 1970s for the now lamentably defunct publication Racing Wheels.

And if that wasn't enough in the mid-1970s Pike started (with a little help from friends) Golden Wheels, a vintage car club which still exists today. In its early days Pike would give honorary memberships in Golden Wheels to those who had helped build the sport in the Pacific Northwest.

I can't find my mid-70s Golden Wheels membership roster right at the moment (figures!) but if Mario didn't join he should have. And, of course, Pike knew that Mario Bianchi's story was worthy as he had definitely been a pioneer of the sport.

I believe the story reproduced here comes from July 11, 1973. It's a photocopy of some yellowed pages that Dick Downes, a friend of Don Radbruch, had clipped out and saved and then shipped to me because he thought I should have them as I was interested. Racers have to be the most generous people in the world. So for Dick, Don, Pike and all the rest here is just a small sampling of what racing was like way back when.