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| RACING SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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Los Angeles, CA. - Christmas is a time of giving. Giving a book as a present to others or to your self is a good idea anytime. One such book for auto racing fans is "City of Speed - Los Angeles and the Rise of American Racing" by well-known author Joe Scalzo, an area resident. The publisher is Motorbooks, an imprint of MBI Publishing Co., Galtier Plaza, Suite 200, 380 Jackson St., St. Paul, MN 55101-3885. Decades ago Scalzo wrote the well-received book "Stand on the Gas" about sprint-car racing. The author has been voted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, IA as a media member. Joe has also written about Grand National racing, flat track motorcycle racing, Grand Prix racing, and about famous racers. This 2007 book covers the Los Angeles area as an early and still vital base for all types of motor racing disciplines. The 11
chapter, 190-page book is an interesting read and contains 259 photos, many in color and many photos that have not been published previously. To quote the opening paragraphs of the book, "Throughout the adrenaline-splashed century of roaring and careering race cars that's just been put to sleep, racing's one almighty city of speed was…the megalopolis of Los Angeles. Hilarious Los Angeles, lair of freaks and glorious eccentrics that all the rubes in the sap-head sticks love to hate! Goofy Los Angeles, holy oasis for the radically enlightened, where the endless sun and finely poisoned smog invigorate the mind. Cool Los Angeles, where soft currents fan across the blue western ocean, massaging the soul. Dangerous Los Angeles, whose red devil winds kick in the hormones, jump-speed pulses, and spiral brain-revs off the tach!" Scalzo's unique prose details the racing millennium erupting right along the Pacific shore. In his own words, he talks about go-fast addicts, geniuses, legends, struggling artists, nervous small businessmen, sugar daddies, doomed playboys, war heroes, romantic fools, tragic villains, joker screwballs, blacklisted victims, tax deadbeats, deranged alcoholics, and sad suicides. There are doll faces, sirens, divas, pinups, mobster molls and more. The first chapter highlights the origins and genius of Harry Miller, who came from Prussian stock, and changed from a surname Mueller. His 1920s shop on Long Beach Ave. produced sleek Miller race-cars that made an indelible imprint at the Indianapolis 500, including the first Miller car victory by Jimmy Murphy in 1922. The "junk formula" during the Depression hurt Miller finances and the closing of Miller's shop in 1933 led him to relocate to Detroit. He died in 1943. Riding mechanics, such as Chickie Hirashima, are covered on page 74. Interesting information in this chapter included the rate of pay for riding mechanics being 3 to 5% of race winnings. Scalzo presents his information in present tense, not past tense. For example, remains (not remained). The book shows Los Angeles as home to racing engine development. It covers the transition of the Miller engine to Offenhauser, to Meyer-Drake, to turbo-charged Drake, Drake-Goosen-Sparks that dethroned Ford, to Cosworth. Now in the seventh decade of racing engine development we have the Honda and TRD (Toyota) engines in the greater Los Angeles megalopolis providing engines to competitors in major league racing circuits. The numerous Indy 500 victories by Miller engines are listed on page 31. Millers and its successors won six of ten Indy 500s in the 1920s, eight of ten in the 30s, four of five in the 40s, ten of ten in the 50s, four of ten in the 60s and five of ten in the 70s. During one span the Miller-based engine won 18 Indianapolis 500s in a row. Los Angeles area engine-builders and suppliers of the modern era are shown on page 33. They include Bartz, Unser, Faulkner, Traco (Travers & Coon), Donovan, Moroso, Cosworth, Ron Shaver, Manley, Brodex, Mondello, Iskenderian, Brownfield and Carillo. Scalzo presents considerable information about the Ed Winfield engine that conquered the Millers at Legion Ascot Speedway in eastern Los Angles during the 1930s. Ed's brother Bud is highlighted as well for his role in developing the powerful Novi engine. Keith Black and Ed Pink also receive praise for their innovative engine work. Another chapter covers playboy Lance Reventlow, the son of Woolworth heir Barbara Hutton. Reventlow's Can-Am Scarab sports cars from Venice, near the Pacific Ocean, won eight times in 13 races in 1958 with Chuck Daigh the star and Lance the driver of a second Scarab. The famous Troutman-Barnes, 1960 Scarab Formula One cars, Ol' Yeller cars of Max Balchowsky and his wife Ina, receive major, interesting attention and photo coverage. Chaparral (1961), Cobra and King Cobra sports cars get well-deserved coverage as well. Reventlow's manufacturing site later became Carroll Shelby's Cobra manufacturing plant. All greater Los Angeles Indianapolis 500 roadster constructors/designers are profiled starting on page 70. The book repeats the affectionate roadster nickname "big cucumbers". Great LA Indy roadster constructors/builders covered are Frank Kurtis, Eddie Kuzma, Quin Epperly, Lujie Lesovsky and A. J. Watson. The author wrote, "the under-financed and unlettered fraternity worked in tiny, crowded garages making great race cars without blueprints and of course computers." The book describes how frames were constructed from chalk outlines on the floor. Indy car owner J. C. Agajanian, painter Dean Jeffries and Von Dutch striping receive coverage, as do Joe Hunt Magnetos, and Ted Halibrand Engineering center sections and wheels. The book covers the change from roadsters to the rear engine Lotus, to Lotus-copies by car builders in the USA to well-received later rear-engine cars such as Vel's-Parnelli Jones Johnny Lightning cars (two-time Indy 500 winner in 1970-71) and Dan Gurney Eagles from Santa Ana in the 1970s. Scalzo states the Indianapolis 500 had not been a Los Angeles-dominated race for almost 40 years. The 1950s Carrera Pan-Americana (Mexican Road Race) receives detailed coverage, as do the Clay Smith and Bill Stroppe Lincoln Team that won the Baja California long-distance race four times in five years. Stroppe employed 1950s Indianapolis 500 drivers Manuel Ayulo, Jack McGrath, Walt Faulkner, Johnny Mantz, Chuck Stevenson and 1953-54 Indy 500 winner Bill Vukovich to race his Lincolns through Mexico. The So Cal-based Stroppe/Parnelli Jones "Big Oly" (Olympia Beer) Ford Bronco exploits in off-road racing and in the record-breaking Baja 1,000 are covered prominently in words and photos. Chapter 4, titled "Battlegrounds", covers famous So Cal race-tracks, such as Ascot Park in Gardena. Ascot ("where the Harbor, San Diego and 91 Freeways collide") hosted 170 promotions/races a year and was the self-proclaimed "busiest race track in America". Weekly races on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights were common. Ascot operated from 1957-90, as did Riverside International Raceway ironically. Ontario Motor Speedway (the 2.5-mile copy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) opened to 180,000 spectators in 1970 and closed after 1980 when it defaulted on a $25.5 million bond. Scalzo wrote that of the more than 100 race-tracks in So Cal only three survive today. The book covers So Cal jalopy derbies and racing sugar-daddies who provided sponsorship or cars for talented, upcoming race drivers. These benefactors in sports car racing included Tony Parravano, Frank Arciero and Johnny von Neumann. Some of the stories in this section are among the most interesting in the book. Scalzo relates numerous stories about the tough, fighting breed of So Cal race drivers, such as Rufus "Parnelli" Jones, Ralph "Scotty" Cain, Dick Rathmann, Dave MacDonald, Ronnie Bucknum and the early era African-American driver Rajo Jack (real name Dewey Gatson) from Watts in south-central Los Angeles. MacDonald's rise to prominence and his role in the ill-fated 1964 Indianapolis 500 fiery turn four crash that claimed the lives of Eddie Sachs and MacDonald is a compelling part of the book. Chapter 7, titled "Salt Shakers", covers the land speed record attempts from Florida, to California and Utah. LSR daredevil drivers Frank Lockhart, Craig Breedlove, Mickey Thompson, Art Arfons, Gary Gabelich and Kitty O'Neil receive ample coverage about their daring speed runs and mishaps. Bob "Hurricane" Hannah and moto-cross stars get their recognition too. Author Scalzo even describes his motorcycle racer experience in his younger days and he relates his travels with racing participants. So Cal racing promoters J. C. Agajanian, Ascot's Harry Schooler, plus stadium racing pioneers Mike Goodwin and Mickey Thompson are profiled. Scalzo, a resident of nearby Sierra Madre, relates the fact that Thompson and his wife Trudy were murdered at their Bradbury, CA home in the San Gabriel Valley during 1988. In a pre-production entry he updated the fact that Goodwin was in jail charged with the Thompson double murders. A couple of corrections are needed if the book goes into a second printing. Mark Dees, a So Cal lawyer and biographer of Harry Miller, died in 1994 in a head-on auto accident as noted. However, the site was on Highway 126 (the dangerous Fillmore-Santa Paula highway, not Highway 118 (the northern San Fernando Valley-Simi Valley highway). Dees served a term as a member of the CRA sprint car board of directors. Page 121 makes reference to Italian actress Sophia Loren as Sophia Lauren. On page 122 F.1 driver Luigi Muss should be Musso. Performance houses in So Cal, such as Edelbrock, So Cal Speed Shop, Grant Piston Rings, Bell Auto Parts, Blair's Speed Shop and Iskenderian Racing Cams, plus Andy Granatelli's shop (STP and gas turbine engine of the 1970s) in Santa Monica are covered in the book. Other coverage and photos went to Eddie Meyer Engineering, A. J. Watson, Frank Kurtis and Louie Unser Racing Engines. Stories about Pasadena racing personalities Cal Bailey and versatile driver George Follmer and the "Gilmore (Stadium) Roars Again" annual parties conclude the interesting read. Some racing people consider Daytona Beach or Indianapolis the premier birthplaces of speed. In his latest effort, author Scalzo makes a strong case for inclusion of greater Los Angeles as a worthy challenger for that lofty honor. The $40 book is available at major bookstore chains and Amazon.com. If you are looking for something to buy with a Christmas gift certificate, or just wish to treat yourself to a great read, you cannot go wrong by purchasing Scalzo's "City of Speed - Los Angeles and the Rise of American Racing". |
