 |
 |
|
|||||||
Vintage Road Runners pictures - a nostalgic visit to Dry Lakes Racing and Hot Rods!
| This page is and will always be
"Under Construction". As time goes by we continue to receive pictures and information from Road Runners, past and current, and their families and friends. We greatly appreciate them sharing these valuable pieces of Dry Lakes and Hot Rod history. As new pictures and information is received, it will be added to our Road Runners website and to our historical archives. New Material added: Wednesday, July 12, 2017 © Copyright Notice: All material on this page, associated pages and on the Road Runners website is copyrighted. If you would like to use any of the pictures or information herein, please contact us and request permission. When used, please give source credit for all material. |
**
Click on any image for full page view **
Page
optimized for 1024x768 display
Jack Ratledge collection: Road Runners Member, 1947-ca. 1948
Webmaster note: The
Jack Ratledge collection of pictures is what started our quest to
find old Road Runners pictures and directly led to the
development of this webpage. We continue to discover more
information and learn more about the individuals and cars in
these pictures even as we receive new pictures. We hope you enjoy
your visit to "yesterday" and invite you back often.
| (The following pictures and
information is from Jim Ratledge, Jack's
son.) I found some old pictures that my dad had (from his
Dry Lakes racing days). Amongst the pictures are two
inspection slips, both are for S.C.T.A. One is for 1945
at Rosamond Dry Lake and the other one does not say, but
it has Wally Parks listed as secretary and this one is
for 1947. There doesn't seem to be a lot of pictures of
my dad and his car. Some pictures have names: Crager,
Noble, Minos, Muroc, Herb Days, Paul Pedigo and some show
numbers on the cars. The album is in very poor condition
and some of the pictures are of a very poor quality (and
are damaged.) Webmaster Note: I spoke at some length with Jim Miller (SCTA & AHRF Historian). He reviewed the pictures and read your information along with what I found in the 1948 SCTA El Mirage program. Jim says he is pretty sure he knows your Dad's roadster and has some pictures of it in his archives. He said there was only one Bantam (Austin) Roadster that ran at El Mirage that he has ever found in his research. That had to be your Dad's. |
|
|
|
|||||||
| Album - Page 1: | ||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Album - Page 2: | |||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||
| Webmaster Note:
* The October 21, 1945, SCTA Inspection Slip is rather
interesting - According to various books written about
Dry Lakes Racing, a US Government Decree suspended all
racing activities in the US during the War (due to gas,
oil, rubber, etc., rationing and shortages). Following
the War, the SCTA was reorganized on September 7, 1945.
Wally Parks was elected President, Randy Shinn was
elected Secretary and Mel Leighton was elected Treasurer
(all were members of the Road Runners). The first
post-War SCTA Meet was scheduled at El Mirage Dry Lake
for April 4, 1946. A later reference says the date was
April 28, 1946. (There is no explanation given why the
dates are different. Very well could have been a rain out
that caused the rescheduling.) It appears the Inspection Slip for the October 21, 1945, Meet at Rosamond Dry Lake was either a non-sanctioned Meet that was using old SCTA Inspection Slips or, it was a SCTA sanctioned event that pre-dates the meet at El Mirage in 1946, therefore providing possible evidence to "re-write the history books". Or ????? - who knows! If someone does have information about the "mystery", please contact us. Very interesting!! |
| The following from Jim
Miller, SCTA and Historian/Curator, American Hot
Rod Foundation regarding the October 21, 1945 Rosamond
Dry Lake Meet: Here is a little info to clear up some misinformation and add more confusion to the year 1945. Boswell "Bozzie" Willis was the S.C.T.A. president, Nick DeFabrity was Secretary and Mel Leighton was Treasurer when they shut down official racing in June of '42 due to WWII. Willis, resumed his role as President along with Leighton and new Secretary Thatcher Darwin in '45. They decided to get things rolling again and scheduled a race to be held on October 7, 1945 on Rosamond Dry Lake. A program was printed with 70 entrants listed. After being inspected and some cars running, mother nature came along and deposited rain on the formerly dry lake to make it a mud hole. Needless to say the event was called. Some of the boys took off for dry El Mirage where the Pacific Coast Timing Association would time runs for a nominal fee. After that things hit the proverbial fan. Some guys said it was unfair to hold races without everyone back, two scheduled races didn't equal a Championship. Others said the orginization wasn't legal since paperwork to re-incorporate wasn't done. And what about elections for Officers? The October 21st timing slip is a mystery as no mention of it was published in the S.C.T.A. Racing News. There was another meet scheduled for November 25 but that too was scrubbed because of Sacremento "Red Tape" reguarding Incorporation. The boys had to wait till April 28, 1946 for racing to begin in earnest under the guideance of its new leaders, President Wally Parks, Vice President Bob Rufi, Secretary Randy Shinn and Treasurer Mel Leighton. Road Runners listed in the '45 program were Ray Brown, Vic Edelbrock, Randolph Shinn, Harold Anderson, Robert Montgomery, Zeke Miller, John Browning, Bert Letner and D. J. Caruthers. Hope that clears up a few things. Jim Miller |
 |
|
 |
|
||||||||||
| Jack Ratledge's Bantam Roadster (far right) had a '28 A, 4cyl engine. Jim (son) remembers, "All I know is that when I was growing up from '53 till the late 60's that it had a V-8 in it and it just sat in our back yard before he sold it to a Sgt. in the Air Force, named Ernie, while I was in the military. I tried for quite a while to try and find it, ran ads in the local papers and out in papers around Edwards Air Force Base to no avail.... Oh, a little bit of information on the Bantam - - - he named it "The Jimmy Special"." Webmaster Note: My guess is that the SCTA Inspection Slip from the October 19, 1947 Meet (above) is for Jack's Bantam Roadster, after the engine swap from the '28 A "4 banger" to the 140cu.in. V8-60 flathead. He ran as a "Guest" entry and likely joined the Road Runners following that meet since he did join the Road Runners in the 1947 season. |
| Album - Page 3: | |||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||
|
|
Don Baker collection: Road Runners Member, 1948-1949
 |
 |
Hi, my name is Don Baker, I was in
the club in 1948 and '49. I ran a 29 A roadster and later
a 27 T rear engine roadster. My partner in the T was Fred
Reno also a member. We took 1st in B roadster class a
couple of times with the T at El Mirage. My 29 A number
was 148 the T's number was 55. All picture of the T have
been lost. Hoping someone has pictures. (Note and photos from Don Baker) |
|
More from Don Baker:
Frank Breen and Harvey Haller (Road Runners) had built a Bill Burke type streamliner with a flathead Ford engine. I made the rear end in the T the same as their streamliner, with the idea of changing back and forth if need be. Mine had 3:27 gears theirs had 2:84's. We never did change. Breen and Haller later put a Chrysler Hemi in the tank and took it to the salt flats and I think they broke 200 mph. Unfortunately Harvey died from an accident he had there. I rebuilt my Ford engine, bored it to 3 and 3/8's inch's and had it stroked 3/8's, which put it in C class. The Smith cam was shot, so I put in a Winfield cam and a 3 carb manifold. I put the engine in a friends 32 street roadster to break it in. It seemed to be very strong. I put the engine in the 27 T, put it on it's trailer and took it to El Mirage. I thought it should make 150 mph, but I couldn't get it run right. I took it back to Long Beach. I was very disappointed. In the meantime I got married and my hot rod days were over. I sold the T roadster, minus engine and its trailer, to the Sumner [sp] brothers. I don't remember what club they were in, but I heard they did well with it at the salt flats. - Don Webmaster Note: Fred Reno's name recorded as Renoe in some records. |
|
|||
| The panoramic shot looks like it
was shot at Santa Anita. Ak is standing next to his deuce
powered by a Buick straight-8 and featuring Buick
independant front suspension. He ran the car at the lakes
in '47 as car # 115. The fellow to his right in the
darker jumpsuit looks like Ak's brother Sigfred. Don't
know the others. Here is a list of some Road Runners from that year. The names might ring a bell. George Kalem, Pete Henderson, Ric Howard, John Bedford, (?) Crawford, Jerry Stoner (or Stroner) , Jack "John" McDermott, Ray Charbonneau, Harvey Haller, Frank Breen, Charles Ferris, Don Lodes, Ed Scheller, Si Westbrook, Glen Roark, Dick Westling, Johnny Johnson, Dean Batchelor, Earnest Thompson, Ralph Chamberlain, Luther Eldridge, Doug Caruthers, Paul Laurance, Jack Avakian, Bert Letner, Randy Shinn, Johnny McCoy, Bob Byars, Reed Bingham, Roland Mays, Walter Rose, Ed Scheller, Tommy Thompkins, Dave Glotch, Leland McCormick, Bill McBurney, Fred Reidman, Dave Cruz, Bud Marcia, Henry Johnson, Dick King, Dick Finkle, Jim Woods, Lee Enfiajian, Jack Ratledge, Lute Eldridge, Bill Phy, King Fisher. (Courtesy of Jim Miller) Webmaster Note: If anyone can help us identify these Road Runners and the rest in "Part 2" of the picture (See the Walt Rose entry below), please e-mail me at: glc311@earthlink.net |
Walt Rose: Charter Member Road Runners, 1937-ca. 1948
|
 |
Doug Caruthers collection: Road Runners Member, ca. 1940-1948
| The majority of the following
images were provided by Doug Caruthers'
youngest son, and Associate Road Runners Member, Roy
Caruthers. Some pictures provided by Jim
Miller. Roy is also building a replica of Doug's #6 C&C Special and hopes to bring it to El Mirage to display. Roy lives in Indianapolis. |
 |
 |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
Bill Burke: Road Runners Member, ca. 1946-1950's
| Following WWII, Belly Tank
Lakesters began to appear at the dry lakes. In 1946, Road
Runners member Bill Burke is recognized
as having been the first person to take an Army Air
Corps, surplus P-51 wing tank, build a rolling chassis,
stuff in an engine and run it at an impressive 131.96
mph. Bill's first Belly Tank Lakester was a front engine
design. The first four pictures below are of that trend
setting racecar. Bill went on to design and build
numerous Land Speed race vehicles, including the famous
SoCal Speed Shop Belly Tank Lakester. Bill has a long list of accomplishments, accolades and honors including: AHRF (American Hot Rod Foundation) Pioneer, inventor of the Belly Tank Lakester, participant at the first Bonneville Speedweek - 1949, SCTA Points Champion 1949 with fellow Road Runners member Don Francisco, SCTA President - 1951, Bonneville 200 MPH Club - 1960, Dry Lake Racers Hall of Fame - Inducted 1996 and many more. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
|
|
|
|
| Burke Bantam at Bonneville - '51 | |||||||||
| Bill Burke teamed up with Jim and
Tommy Dahm for an assult on Bonneville in 1951. Running
out of San Gabriel, the boys entered this Class B
Modified Coupe consisting of a chopped Austin/American
Bantam body fitted with a 249 Merc flattie that powered
the car to 141.509 mph for second in class. Look closely to see more WWII aircraft influences on Burke. A Douglas A-26 Invader wing radiator duct was used for the nose grill-shell. It is said that this is the last car Bell Autoparts ever sponsored. Bill also acted as the starter at the beginning of the meet and then quit. A young fellow by the name of Bob Higbee stepped up for the next 50+ years. |
|
|
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
#888
Super Shaker Burke-Laster Bonneville Streamliner circa 1959/1960 Restoration by Jerry
Weeks-Baker, Indianapolis. |
 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| February 1947, Mechanix Illustrated article by Earl Bruce about SCTA Racing at El Mirage. Story features Randy Shinn, Doug Caruthers and the Road Runners. Interesting to read what it cost to build and run a Lakes car back then! (Courtesy of Roy Caruthers ) |
Road Runners featured in
Veda Orr's Lakes Pictorial - 1946 Season:
Bill Barrett, ca. 1946;
Bill Burke, ca. 1940-1950's; Doug Caruthers, ca.
1940-1948; Verne Houle, ca. 1942-1946;
Ed Korgan, ca. 1946; Mel Leighton, ca.
1940-1947; Bert Letner, ca. 1946-1948; Johnny McCoy, ca.
1946-1948;
Wally Parks, ca. 1937-1951; John Pugh, ca.
1940-1946; Rob Pugh ca. 1940-1946; Randy Shinn, ca.
1940-1948
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|||||
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|||||
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
 |
|||||
|
|
|
Road Runners featured in
first issue of HOT ROD
Magazine, January, 1948:
Bill Burke, ca.
1940-1950's; Doug Caruthers, ca. 1940-1948; Johnny
Johnson, ca. 1946-1948; Wally Parks, ca.
1937-1951
 |
|
 |
||||||||
|
 |
|
Doug Ray collection (Dixson
& Ray): Doug Ray - Road Runners Member, 1957
- ca. 1961;
Howard Dixson - Road Runners Member, 1956 - ca.
1963
| Following information
and pictures are from Doug Ray Jr. - I was looking at your Road Runners members list and noticed my Dad, Doug Ray (Ray, Ray & Dixson) listed. His racing partner and next door neighbor was Howard Dixson. My Dad also helped build Dr. Nathan Ostich's J47 Jet Car, The Flying Caduceus back in the early 60's. The Jet Car is housed at Harrah's Museum in Reno, Nevada. I hope this helps you with your research. More from Doug Ray Jr. - I forgot to mention that my Dad became the first person to break and exceed 100mph in the 1/4mile in a factory produced stock car at Lions Drag Strip. He did this in 1957 and I believe the month was sometime in the summer (July or August). He drove a 1957 Pontiac Chieftan with a 347. I remember reading the story about this in (I believe) Hot Rod Magazine. The story started out by saying, "Name any track in Southern California and you can bet Doug Ray of Missile (Firestone Missile Division) holds the record...." My Dad and Howard Dixson raced together as Ray and Dixson. My Dad drove the Pontiac and Howard drove a Chevy pickup truck. I think it was a 1956 stepside. They both knew Ak Miller, Ray Brock, Mickey Thompson, Dean Moon and many others as well. As I come up with more info from my father's memorabilia I will forward it on to you. I feel these pioneers need more recognition on the internet because they played a big part in racing history. |
|
|||
| Road Runners mentioned
in Doug's notes: Doug Ray: Member
1957-ca.1961 |
 |
 |
||
| "The
Flying Caduceus" Dr.
Nathan Ostich: Road Runners Member, ca.1961 |
Cars from "The World's Fastest
Indian" The Pumpkin Seed -
Built by Bill Burke Bold print =Road Runners members |
Chuck Embrey collection: Road Runners Member, 1959-1967
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
| 707
Roadster The car was a 5 window coupe (belonged to Marlon Sefton, Rod Rider Pres). Later belonged to Holmes & Kugel, Road Runners. Jerry Tucker: Road Runners Member, ca.1963 (RR Pres) Jerry Kugel: Road Runners Member 1959-ca.1973 |
Holmes
Bikeliner Lowell, has his back to us, wearing brown plaid shirt. You can see why we called him "Big Red". Lowel Holmes: Road Runners Member, 1961-1970 |
Crowe's
Crutch Dickie Valenzuela, behind Roger Crowe's 34 sedan. The sign says, "Have Chevy Will Race", hidden behind Dickie's head is a painting of a crow with a crutch under one wing (the car was known as "Crowe's Crutch). Dick Valenzuela: Road
Runners Member, 1962-ca.1969 |
Fullerton
Muffler The Fulerton Muffler crew. Thats Emil Grissotti (Grigs) with cigar on the right. Emil Grissotti: Road Runners Member 1959-1963 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
| Dixson/Ray
Pontiac Howard Dixson under hood of Dixson/Ray Pontiac Howard Dixson: Road
Runners Member, 1956-ca.1963 |
Bell
& Embrey 29/32 Roadster At Bonneville, 1966 (record in X/FR). Ted Pearson stading by car, and Chuck Embrey behind wheel. Photo was in Hot Rod's event coverage of Bonneville Speedweek. Ted Pearson: Road Runners Member, 1960-1966 |
Miller
Roadster Larry Miller Jr. Larry Miller Jr. : Road Runners Member, 1961-1989 |
Miller
Roadster "In the genes" - Larry Jr. is the son of Larry "Dad" Miller, and nephew of Ak Miller and "Zeke" Miller, Charter Members of the Road Runners, 1937. Ak Miller: Road
Runners Member 1937-ca.1960's |
||||
 |
 |
|
|||||
| Willow
Springs road course, Chuck Embrey behind wheel and Glenn
Miller sitting on car. Also "in the genes" - Glenn is another son of Larry "Dad"
Miller |
Stan's
'55 Can't remember Stan's last name. Ask Jerry Kugel, he should remember. Webmaster note: Could be Stan Johnson: Road Runners Member, ca.1960's-1973 |
Road Runners featured in El Mirage Program - Sept 23, 1962: Officials, Racing participants, Advertisers
|
Road Runners/vehicles entered:
|
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
| Program ads by Road
Runners Members: RR
Club - Good Luck for 1962 Season |
 |
 |
|||
|
Display of SCTA race
cars - 1948 @ Lincoln-Mercury Plant, Maywood Front row,
second from left - Baker/Reno
"B" Lakester |
The Howard Eater Story (Or the tale of two Studebakers)
Click on link abobe for a great Road Runners story from the early 60's
More to come! Keep watching this page.......
Last Update - 07/12/2017 05:50 PM
