The Wolf Pack by Michelle M. Yiatras Timechanic™ OverviewMal Hooper drove his streamliner, fiberglass body designed by Dean Batchelor and chassis designed by Carl Fleischman, with Ray Brown’s newfangled Chrysler hemi OHV V8 destroked 302 ci engine fueled with 75-25 nitromethane and alcohol, and took all the F.I.A. Class C flying start records, from one K to ten miles, at best speed of 1 mile at 236.36 mph, in 1953. In 1954 rocket tech Bob Bowen piloted the car, setting the new Bonneville Nationals two-way average record of 248.26 mph, and was referred to by Nov 1 Sports Illustrated as “The Hottest Man of Them All”. That year he earned the ‘Bonneville Life Member 200 MPH Club’ title for his speed, ultimately topping at 273.68 mph in his racing years. In 1959 Bowen and John Wolf took over the ‘Shadoff Special’ from Hooper, and Wolf built the ’59 Plymouth 259 cubes destroked engine with Dodge hemispherical heads, while Bowen further streamlined the chassis and flew it sure and swift as Crazy Horse’s arrow. Fueled by 50-50 nitro-alcohol to an astonishing Class C average record of 251.74 mph with a top time of 258.24, pending it was reestablished again by Bowen and Wolf the following year, accelerating the flying mile record to 252.22 mph gauged by sanctioned chronometers. Exceeding themselves in 1960, Bob Bowen rebuilt the engine with John Wolf, and drove the renovated Shadoff Special intending to beat his own previous record and break five new International Class C (183-305 ci), and four Class B (305-488 ci) records. He averaged 251.98 in claiming these five new records. Altogether from 1954 to 1960, Bob Bowen, partnered with John Wolf in 1959-60 for Class C, campaigned the ‘Shadoff Special’ Bonneville streamliner setting twentyNational and International flying start speed records in Classes B and C (not including Hooper’s original 1953 six FIA International and six AAA National records, as well as Bonneville Nationals first in class). Bowen and Wolf’s 1960 record held for over half the decade. Until busted by Bob Herda (who gave his all by the close of the decade) in 1965 (National and International Class C flying 1 mile average 298.359), in his ‘Herda, Knapp, & Milodon’ streamliner, and again in 1967 (National and International Class B flying 1 mile average 345.755), in his renamed ‘Autolite 999’ streamliner, ascertained with the resource of Jim Miller/AHRF. I accurately determined all of these records after combing, untangling, and stringing together the loose leaves of past land speed archives blown to the four directions. As octogenarians, this is Bowen and Wolf’s chartered account from the boyhood streets of L.A., to the dry lakes and drag strips, to the salt flats of Bonneville, and trajectoried above and beyond by boat and missile propulsion. This is where all the hot rods have gone…
Part 1 Running With the Alpha Wolf by Michelle M. Yiatras Timechanic™ Born January 25, 1931 in Hollywood, CA, to Paul and Alma Wolf. They had a family grocery, with Paul’s brother Lester, ‘Wolf Brothers Market’ in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd and Cherokee. His first fav style of car the ’41 Buick Special two-door sedanette Torpedo. At 14 was gifted a worn out V8 engine from a ’34 Ford. Tore apart and rebuilt it. He learned by doing, cleaned and examined it, and figured out how to put it back together. Put it in a ’32 five-window coupe that belonged to friend Harold Mason, and ran it together doing 100 mph in 1947 at Rosemond dry lakes under another name of Bill Yates, because they were under age and didn’t belong to a club. “Right after Yates joined the Auto Union, a Russetta Timing Association club that ran coupes. In 1948-49 ran in the RTA. My first car club was the Crotch Cannibals. Glendale Coupe & Roadster Club came later in the early 1950’s. I didn’t join the Sidewinders until1950, a lifetime member now.” “My first car in 1949 was a dark blue ’40 Ford coupe, ran the El Mirage dry lakes, four or five times. Went 121 mph on a 1 3/16 miles course in a class B coupe. I’d put the race motor in to run the dry lakes, and then put the street motor in to drive to school. Built the race engine a Mercury flathead, 249 ci, 3 5/16” bore, 1/8” destroke, giving a 2 5/8” stroke; two 48 Stromberg carbs, Ord manifold, Evans heads, Winfield ground the cam. The street engine was a mildly hot rodded flathead ’41 Mercury. Friday night put in the race engine, and Sunday night worked like hell to get the street engine in for school. Every weekend like that.” “Bought my first ’36 Ford three-window coupe in 1950. Worked on it and first ran it in 1951. Smaller and more aerodynamic than the ’40, or even the ’32. To run the coupe I kept it stock for the coupe and sedan class. Did not modify or chop this coupe, so it wasn’t competition class. Partial to the aerodynamics of the ’36, ’32-33-34 were more squared and the ’40 was heavier. The ’36’s were more affordable, $15 for my first, and $25 for the second in 1954.” “In January 1952 I got drafted in the Army, a private in boot camp, and they tested and selected me for the aircraft and helicopter school in San Marcos, TX, specializing in engine and frame work in aircraft, and top three’d on to helicopter engine and chassis and rotary blade work, and became aircraft and engine (A & E) mechanic, for a whole year. Then they sent me on to Korea in 1953. I ran the Magnaflux and Zyglo processes in the parts shop 25 miles behind the front lines in Incheon, 8AM – 4PM, and then poker, steak for dinner. We befriended the cook so he’d cook us steak in our tent so we didn’t have to go to the mess hall. He would bake us cakes and pies. He was regular army from CA and we CA’s stuck together. Later in the year I was discharged in time for Christmas 1953. All the North Korean POW’s they had in the camps were freed by the U.S. Government by 1953. I can’t relate as to why it all happened, why did they release them if they were fighting them? The N.K. would bomb the pipelines at the bases and we weren’t allowed to shoot them. No one ever explained that to me. Similar to how they fight it now in Afghanistan. I fulfilled my draft obligation of two years. I was discharged Corporal. I wasn’t interested in regular army, it was like being put in jail.” “While I was over in Korea, friends Buddy Fox and Tom Cobbs wanted to run my ’36 with their engine at the El Mirage dry lakes. They ran it max at 151 mph, and ended up crashing it. It spun out and went end over end and destroyed it. Major Gilbert was driving over 150 mph, he broke a leg. When I got back we got another car, another ’36 Ford three-window coupe in 1954. I lightened it and gutted it and put in a bucket seat, but otherwise kept it stock for dry lakes racing. We started with a running flathead, and by 1955 put a hemi Dodge in it, and started racing at Saugus and Riverside drag strips until about 1960. The Dodge was better than the flathead. It had a GMC model 471 blower on it for a while, and the OHV on the Dodge breathed better. The flathead was on its way out by then.” “I had my driver’s license by 14 delivering groceries all over Hollywood and Beverly Hills for the family store in our ’41 Ford pickup truck. I started street racing by 1946-47. All over L.A. basin, every night of the week was a different place. Wednesday night at midnight was North Sepulveda from San Fernando Rd to Chatsworth St, a couple miles. Out by the reservoir, way before the 405 freeway. No freeways then. On Wednesday Sepulveda we met at Kay’s Drive-In in North Hollywood and go over to N Sepulveda. The Studio Drive-In in Culver City, we’d meet and go to Lincoln Blvd to race. Also by the L.A. River road, Riverside Dr along Griffith Park by the zoo. My favorite street was Sepulveda. Wally Ransom’s ’37 two-door sedan I drove at 15 years old. I’d ride my bike over, and Wally would be too drunk to drive so I’d be his driver while he rode along. Just around 100 mph, maybe a little more.” “I street raced my ’40 Ford coupe out on the 101 at Ventura Blvd in 1949-50. One night the highway patrol came and pulled in front of me with his lights flashing. My buddy Herbie Papasian was sitting next to my bucket seat on a milk crate. We were warming the car when the cop put the light on us. I asked him, ‘What do you want to do?’ Herbie said ‘Go!’, so I put it in gear and on the ramp down the 101 south until I ran out of fuel, straight alcohol, from Francisco’s Fuel & Oil in Glendale. Ten miles away at 100 mph through Agoura. Ended up in an orange grove in Tarzana. A cement contractor named Ernie Monders who towed me out in the first place came looking for me. I flagged him down by 3 AM. He towed me and Herbie home. The cop said, ‘Who was that crazy son-of-a-gun?’ I got way too many tickets, fifteen in one year, and lost my driver’s license for a year when I was about 16 or 17. I had somebody else drive me in my ’41 Ford pickup to run around in.” “When I was without my driver’s license because the judge took it, the cops would watch for me to see what I was going to do, they’d watch for my truck. They’d find me at Sanacola’s and ask me where was the truck. I’d show it to them across the street and they’d search it for something. Once the registration wasn’t signed on both sides, and they wrote me a ticket for it even though it was just parked, and the judge threw it out.” “My all time favorite speed shop was So-Cal Burbank on Victory Blvd. Alex helped me out with parts, so I ran with the So-Cal name on it. The first ’36 Ford was in grey primer when I first ran it, and by 1950 they were red and white So-Cal colors. Alex wanted it with the white scallops, the first paint was all red. Alex opened that shop in 1946. Alex married my best friend, Dave DeLangdon’s, sister. I quit speed racing dry lakes and Bonneville driving at 24, the cars spooked me because when that first ’36 three-window coupe ran flat out it would wander around. It would no longer go any faster, so it wouldn’t stay nice and straight. It would do that at about 130 mph. It went up to 135, and that was risky. The second ’36 went to the drag races at Saugus in 1950, and San Fernando when Saugus closed down in 1955. When I quit, Dave drove it for me quite a bit until he got killed. He got hurt in Alex’s ’34 Ford coupe with a blown Ardun in it at Pomona drag races in 1955. He died from the injuries. After these experiences I realized it was time to stop driving. I didn’t slow though.” “I didn’t change from blue Levi’s all the time, I wore them one cuff. A cuffed white t-shirt, with Camel unfiltered cigarettes (smoked until 1961). Brown lace-up oxford shoes. Also for dress white narrow wale corduroys, and a cotton or wool flannel shirt. A brown leather bomber jacket in winter, didn’t like sweatshirts, nor coveralls in the garage. Levi’s and t-shirts in sunny CA. A pompadour without the ducktail. I hung out at Herbert’s drive-in at Sepulveda and Ventura Blvds, Frankie’s Brass Rail at Ventura Blvd and Woodman Av, and Sanacola’s at Sherman Oaks Av and Ventura Blvd, all in Sherman Oaks, for hamburgers, chocolate milkshakes, and bottled ice cold Cokes and black coffee. Scrivner’s in Hollywood was further away and not convenient. The hot rodders were social with the customizers. A lot of the custom cars were hot rods also. Most of the customizers were more well off than the hot rodders, money was tight in those days.” When I asked him, since he was a flathead Ford and Mercury, and V8-60’s, guy to start, what did he think of Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Dodge, and Chrysler V8’s that came along in the early 1950’s, and the flathead was no longer competitive since the new OHV engines replaced it? That was a loaded question. “Never gave the OHV a whole lot of thought because we were still running the flathead in 1955 and it was still competitive. I knew the flathead was on its way out. So I decided to experiment with a Dodge engine and wasn’t sure yet what I was going to put it in. Didn’t run an OHV until 1959 with the Dodge 258 ci in the streamliner. I put a Dodge in the streamliner, but it wasn’t specifically for the streamliner to start. I initially built it for a 12’ class B runabout boat to be the fastest boat, and it ended up being a failure. The way the boat was made couldn’t handle the over 100 mph street. It had dual counter rotating propellers and the rudder was ¾ up front of the boat and was ill handling and uncontrollable and a disaster when we brought it to 75 mph. Putting the Dodge engine in the boat was an experiment that didn’t work.” “We got to thinking of something to do to go to Bonneville. The guy that owned, built, and drove the streamliner, Mal Hooper (designed by Dean Batchelor, chassis by Carl Fleishmann, Ray Brown put his engine in it), they ran it first. Then he turned it over to me and Bob Bowen (rebuilder and driver) in 1958 because he wasn’t using it and we wanted to run it. He gave it to us to run and he still owned it. When we were done with it we gave it back to him. We thought we could do better than Ray so we put our engine in it. Ray had a Chrysler 305 ci to fit the International class. When we put the Dodge Red Ram, shoulder heads on a Plymouth block, all interchangeable Chrysler stuff, actually called it a Plymouth at that time. The Plymouth block was a heavier block so I could bore it more. I made it into a 258 ci. When we put the Dodge in it we gave away about 50 ci, the class rules allowed up to 305. Bore 3 9/16” and 3 ¼” stroke stock. It had to stay under 260 ci, for SCTA International requirement was 305 ci.” “Bill Shadoff, the Chrysler-Plymouth dealer from Pomona, who also sponsored Ray Brown before with it, he sponsored the car to run. He paid the way to Bonneville and bought the Hilborne injectors for me. I ran it with six 97 Stromberg carburetors before that. When we did so well at the SCTA Bonneville Nationals in August 1959, he continued to sponsor us into 1960. Chrysler put some money on that too for the International record. Ran the 1 kilometer, 1 mile, 5 kilometer, 5 mile, 10 kilometers, not 10 miles, the salt was all wet and we couldn’t go the 10 miles that time. Top speed at those distances averaged 252 mph, a new International world record, held for several years.” The Shadoff Special streamliner beat Ray Brown’s previous SCTA record by clocking up to 259 mph one way with a 251.74 average new National C class record in 1959, followed in 1960 by the new Federation Internationale de l’Automobile I mile C class record at 252.22 mph. Firestone tires also paid for the FIA fees and timers expenses, and furnished the 1960 special Bonneville racing tires (6.50 x 18’s front, 7.50 x 18’s rear). We didn’t wear the name brand sponsor banners then. We tore down the engines and they were strictly inspected for certification, in a Wendover, UT gas station garage a few miles from Bonneville. The engines were sealed on the salt at the end of the race and trailered into town for inspection. Putting that Dodge engine in the streamliner was a very successful experiment.” “It came right out after that. Later I put it in a Crackerbox boat and ran it for a couple years 1966-68. Then I put it in storage where it still is now. I’m dickering with a guy who wants to put it on display. Bob and I worked as best friends together from 1948 in the Crotch Cannibals and Glendale Coupe and Roadster Club, all the way until today. Shadoff was about twenty years older than us. For being a dealer, he was really down to earth and like the rest of the boys, and was really interested in everything. We thought he was wonderful for bringing in the sponsorship because we didn’t have money. Ray Brown was my really good friend. In the very beginning Bob Bowen worked for Ray Brown Automotive in Hollywood as a mechanic. Ray was a little older. We always tried as hard as we could to outdo each other. We were always very competitive because we wanted to beat his record, he had it for a few years, we had it for a lot longer. He minded a little. He was always good natured. We were together a lot in his last several years. He passed away in 2007. Breakfast twice a week. We still liked racing. He got so busy with Superior Industries wheel manufacturing of aftermarket and OEM. He started making seatbelts in the mid 1950’s and eventually sold his seatbelt company to Superior and then made Vice President. He liked to take it easy at breakfast. He’d drive in the ’36 and his ’32. Then he sold them both. He bought the ’36 from me, then he talked me into buying it back. Later I sold it to David. He drove a modern Jaguar every day in the end. He didn’t go out so much, even after he retired. His health was OK, until he got sick for a month and died of cancer. He was tickled by Kirk White that bought and restored the #99 ’32 roadster. He never thought it would be so notable.” “I started boat racing in the early 1960’s. I quit car racing completely and boat raced until about 1979. My five litre hydroplane with a 302 ci Ford engine, ‘The Going Thing’, world record I set in 1971 in Parker AZ, still stands 152.13 mph 1 kilometer straighaway run, Union Internationale Motonautique, with a top one-way speed mark of 156.104 mph. I worked on a couple of Bud Meyer’s boats, Randy Meyer drove the boats, one a 266 hydroplane. I went from boat racing back to Bonneville in 1990. Then in 1991 I built a modified ’27 T roadster, named ‘880 SO-CAL’, with a 258 ci turbocharger small block Ford with Hilborn injection, and ran it in the mid 1990’s for four Bonneville records fastest one way 265 mph. I took the engine out before I sold it.” You can see the engine in the pic with John and Alex Xydias on the dyno in Ed Pink’s shop, and the racecar on the salt with John and Alex. Still lean and keen at 5’10’ and 150 lbs, John goes to Bob’s (Big Boy) in Burbank on Friday nights to shoot the breeze with the Valley V8’s, in one of his two ’40 Ford (blue and maroon) coupes, ’40 Ford two-door black sedan. Or his ’41 Ford pickup (flathead 3 5/16” bore and 4” stroke, Navarro heads, Edelbrock super manifold with 2 Holley 2bbl carbs, stock electronic Ford 21A distributor), that he drove at Muroc in 1995 at a SCTA record holding 110 mph for 1½ miles. He drove it up there, drove it through, and drove it home. Yeah, sure he slowed down. All photos from the private collection of John & Virginia Wolf, used by permission of John & Virginia Wolf.
Part 2 Bob Bowen, the Engine, the Salt, and the Wind by Michelle M. Yiatras Timechanic™ Born November 24, 1928, in Glendale, CA. Father owned the ‘Furniture & Appliance’ store in Oxnard, CA, mother was a housewife. An only child. Ordinary beginnings in the burbs. He started hot rodding at thirteen taking engines apart. He went as far as the eighth grade, and then skipped high school, working at a turkey ranch in Palmdale. His first car at fifteen was a ’29 Ford Model A roadster with a ’36 Ford V8 engine in it, Auburn dash, fuel tank in trunk, radio, side curtains. He got lucky as if somebody anticipated him, selling it to him in 1943 for $250 customized. Bob went to work as auto mechanic at ‘Ray Brown Automotive’ in Hollywood on Western Av. “I immediately installed two Stromberg 97 carburetors and a Winfield cam ground by Ed, that kinda pumped up the speed a bit. Kept the ignition stock. Drove it on the streets.” He sold it in 1944, because he inducted in the U.S. Merchant Marine barely of age at 16, traveling up and down the west coast, Alaska, the Philippines, Shanghai China, for two years during WW2. “When the War was over, the party was over.” Met John when he was about eighteen years old in 1946, John was about fifteen. “We’re probably the only survivors left of our group, the others already went down the drain.” He came back to Hollywood, and to work at Ray’s until 1951-53, when he was drafted for two years to Fort Ord, CA, military watch repair school, and then on to Seoul, Korea as head motor pool mechanic. “I hopped up the jeeps, with milled heads and intake manifolds, installing double carbs. I made Sergeant, and got broke down to Corporal for sneaking out at night repeatedly. I met up with John in the Army, we knew each other from San Fernando Valley. When we got discharged back home in 1953 we met up again. I went back to Ray Brown Automotive. When I got back the flathead engine was disappeared. In 1953 the Chrysler hemispherical V8 OHV engine replaced it as a power plant.” Bob was on his own without parental supervision or siblings as a youth. Ray Brown, American Hot Rod Foundation Pioneer (as is John Wolf), was the closest family he had growing up and as a young man. “Ray Brown was very talented. He worked for Eddie Meyer in the late-1930’s out of high school building heads and manifolds. Ray learned a great deal from Eddie Meyer. Ray taught me everything he knew, both as a mechanic and businessman. He went into business for himself in 1943. I started working for him right away. We became personal friends. He was the major influence in my life. Taught me how to build engines. He took time to teach me. He moved from Western Av to Santa Monica Blvd. He was advised to build seat belts. That became so big that the engine building went aside. He got a contract with ATT to build safety seat belts for their fleet cars and trucks. He bought the rights to make the buckles and he and I started making buckles in 1955. He taught me to be a quality engine builder and person. He was kind and friendly, we became family friends.” “The whole engine program changed from flathead to Chrysler. Ray brought the deal in from Chrysler to build the Shadoff Special streamliner engine in 1953. I just got back from Korea and went back to work for him, so I drove it in 1954. The owner, Mal Hooper, didn’t want to drive it anymore. I needed a thrill. He was too big for the cockpit (to Bob’s 5’6” 155 lbs in his levi’s and white t-shirt, his ‘Motor Life 200 mph Club’ t-shirt was awarded after the meet), and plus it developed into a two-speed transmission, with a two-speed rear end, and that became a three-speed operation. First shift in second gear transmission, then in the meantime shift the rear end into the higher gear ratio. It’s two shifts to have to pay attention to at 100 mph. We made the Bonneville salt flats SCTA National record fastest two way average for the one mile distance 248.26 mph. They gave us a big trophy to take home. Held that record until John and I took the car from Mal Hooper and ran it again in 1959. Bill Shadoff was very nice to us, and paid for our expenses all along. I left Ray Brown Automotive in 1955, because the seat belt business took off and we no longer built engines. I went to work at the new Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, a division of North American Aviation, which designed, built, and tested post-War experimental rocket missile engines. I got ideas for building better car engines from the high tech skills I learned at Rocketdyne. I was a lead man over a group for producing and testing missile engines.” “We were drag racing from 1953-54, a ’32 Ford roadster with a flathead engine on El Mirage near Palmdale. It was primitive quarter mile racing with a flag start. No club for me then because after Korea everybody disbanded and everything changed. We all went to work in different directions. We grew up a little more. We got serious about life and women. There were other interests once you got married. John did his own engines. Later he had a Dodge 259 ci engine. We got Hooper’s car and put it in. It was John’s engine work and maintenance. I maintenanced the chassis, and drove the car. The same complicated shifting combination from 1954. John’s engines go fast because he was innovative to know what to do to get more out of the engine. It’s a God-Given gift. What he does to get more out of the engine is like a better cam shaft with higher timing 280-290° allows the valve to stay open longer. Compression ratio was moved up, 10:1. We didn’t have the expertise, we never cc’d like today. We had instinct.” “We tried to improve the car and engine to break our own record. The body shell remained the same, the changes were in the engine. The chassis remained reliable so the engine could go faster. With the small engine I was able to maintain it and it was an easy car to drive. It didn’t move around or slip traction at all. It had the right pressure at the front and rear to keep the traction straight. We were shooting to break our own record, and it was a good day without wind variables to slow us down. The salt condition was good to complete all the traps that year. It was hard packed because there was just enough rain to dry it level. You could stay in the middle of the salt bed where it’s thicker and not get on the edge of it where it thins out and the car can sink into the mud. It was quiet. No engine noise because it was behind me. Just heard the wind noise going over the front of the car. The front of the car takes a lot of wind pressure. Rushing air around the car. It had an otherworldly feel. I had to keep the car straight for ten miles. Weather was one way at one end and another way at the other end. I had my hands full keeping the car straight.” It’s a tunnel of just you, the engine, the salt, and the wind. “It takes a few days of calibrating the clocks to determine if your record was solid. Sense of time once you start seems like a long time to finish the run from one end to the other. It seemed like it was never going to end as you went through the traps. At that speed you’d think it would go faster. Four miles on the National with a three mile approach and a one mile trap. Thirteen miles actually on the International with a three mile approach and ten miles of traps, so it grinds pretty good. You have to be aware of the chassis, of what it’s doing with the ground. If you feel it slipping you back off on the throttle so you don’t spin out. Let it catch up with itself and ease back in again. You have to correct quickly at that speed and distance. You’d spin around and upside down if you didn’t do it correctly.” “I learned precision driving skills on the dry lakes, El Mirage east of Palmdale. We learned to drive high speed on the dry lakes when the surface was good and hard during the summer. We drove in 1948-49-50-51. It wasn’t the same after the Korean War. From there I went to the salt flats of Bonneville. I drove a ’36 Ford two-door sedan from 1948-51. I built that car when I got back from WW2 Merchant Marine service. Found it in a junkyard in Van Nuys. Put high compression Ord heads, an Ord manifold, two Stromberg 48 carbs, and a Winfield ground cam on it. Stock ignition. Kurten and Spalding ignitions were expensive and we were broke all the time. Ran pure methanol alcohol fuel. I drove it to work. I changed the engine Monday for the weekdays and the racing engine on the weekend, kept it in my two car garage shop in Studio City. I got it to go 118 mph in the flying mile, in 1949 at El Mirage. Once every month we had a meet in summer and winter. My club in those days was the Auto Union of North Hollywood, about ten of us. You can’t change the chassis much, so I put power in the engine. Very limited what I could do to raise the compression ratio. I couldn’t afford to do any fancy bore and stroke then. I had a touch. I streamlined by removing the headlights, front and rear bumpers, better Firestone racing tires, 16” x 7.50 or 8.50. You have to have a good feel for the car, or you’ll crash and burn. The seat of your pants has to be stuck to the car to know which way you were going. You feel what the car is doing moving around side to side. You feel it in your body that it’s slipping. You have to have a good feel for the seat of the car to know that it’s drifting so it doesn’t lose control. If you don’t have that feel…You do crazy things when you’re young.” “I also street raced that car from 1948-51. The best spot was Sepulveda Blvd just northwest of San Fernando Valley above the Grenada Hills. Newhall downhill into the Valley was 2-3 mile stretch that was a good deal with no cross streets. A waterfall came down the mountain to the northeast side of Sepulveda Blvd. We started there and went south. We lined up equally in pairs for a rolling start and then hit the throttle. The best man wins a couple miles later. Usually this was 1-2 AM in the morning, because there was no activity, no traffic, and no cops. Until they found us out. Word traveled quickly. They would block the south end and wait and ticket each car as it sped by. During the middle of the week, Wednesday, we’d meet at the drive-in first; Bob’s in Van Nuys on Van Nuys Blvd, and Kay’s in N. Hollywood on Magnolia Blvd. We’d have a good time until enough cars showed up to compete. We chose up with comparable cars; coupes to coupes, sedans to sedans, coupes to sedans, roadsters to roadsters. Also a place down in Culver City on Lincoln Blvd. Got only one ticket for racing. I was twenty in 1948 racing on Laurel Canyon Blvd, there was a cop cruising and he gave me a reckless driving ticket and two days in Van Nuys jail because I didn’t have fine money. A cop’s radio is faster than your car. We raced a couple times a month.” “After Korea it was legal drag racing at San Fernando Drag Strip, Saugus Drag Strip, then Lions came in. In 1955 Mickey Thompson, who was working as a pressman at the L.A. Times, had a front engine chassis. He wanted one of our engines to run in his slingshotchassis. Ray Brown and I built this engine in 1954. It was the very same engine we ran in the streamliner, we put it in the dragster. A 302 ci Chrysler. We ran at San Fernando Drag Strip, Santa Ana Drag Strip, San Gabriel Drag Strip, and Lions Drag Strip. Mickey blew away the record by going 151.26 mph, and after that called it the ‘Panorama City Special’ when they sponsored it. Later I worked for Mickey in 1959-60 at his Long Beach shop Mickey Thompson Enterprises building Pontiac 400 ci racing engines that we hopped up. I left to work on the streamliner for its second and third runs in August. After that in 1961 at San Fernando Drag Strip I raced my own homemade dragster. John built the engine and I built and drove the car. It was a standard wheel base, nothing trick, sat in the back with the engine in front. Dodge wedge head engine. Flag start, 30% nitromethane mixed with 70% alcohol.” “I got married in 1955 to Laura for thirteen years. We had five children, three boys and twin girls. She didn’t make too much fuss about me driving fast. She was excited for me. She was happy raising the kids. I stopped race driving after 1961. I worked at Rocketdyne for eight years and went back to the car engine building business. Professional dragster and funny car race engine builder all through 1963-72 for Ed Pinks Racing Engines in Van Nuys as main engine assembler. Most of the customers were from back east as they had all the money. They’d come and pick up the engines and put them in their cars and then ran them on the CA drag strips; Orange County International Raceway drag strip in Irvine, Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, Irwindale Raceway drag strip east of LA, and Pomona Raceway drag strip. We did Lou Baney’s Ford front engine dragster, a 427 big block overhead cam with a blown GMC 671 roots type blower. Gas Rhonda’s Ford Mustang funny car, also a 427 with a GMC 671 blower sitting on it. Ford supplied the parts. We completely maintained those engines. Jim Lee, descended from General Lee of Virginia, ran a blown dragster on the back east circuits rather than CA, on an engine that we built and maintained.” “Remarried to Marta in 1969 in LV, with one girl child, for twenty-nine years until she passed. Tom Shaddon (who worked sales for Ray Brown seat belts in the late 50’s), the president of Cragar Industries was a personal friend and hired me for an experimental engine program in 1972. Instead of a roots blower on top of it, we used a breathing air with aluminum scuba diving tanks, supplying the engine with high pressure air instead of outside air. Four tanks bolted on the side of the frame rails of the car, two on each side and forward into a T, running air through the regulator at 2200 psi regulated down to 35 psi like a blower into the engine. To go a quarter mile drag race. It was successful to a point. The alcohol fuel doesn’t like cold air. That was the problem we couldn’t overcome. It was competitive, but at sustained high speed and pressure it would get cold, and the engine didn’t like that the fuel turned to liquid instead of vapor. We worked on it for three years. Left Cragar and went to Edelbrock in 1976, working in the engine room developing and testing intake manifolds. I also worked on Vic Edelbrock Jr’s hobby 20’ flat bottom race boat manifolds and built the engine. For five years, it was a great job. We didn’t want the kids to be bused into south L.A. to go to school so we went to Atascadero. I worked sixteen years for Lockheed at Vandenberg Air Force Base at Lompoc as a quality control engineer for space vehicle engines that sit on top of the rocket. Martin made the boosters that put the space vehicles into orbit. I retired from Lockheed Martin in 1998.” Bob holds two U.S. patents; one for an adjustable spring clutch design that he gave to Ed Pink in 1969, and another for GMC 671 blower two-gear rotors that he sold to Pink in 1972. The money is in the manufacturing rather than the designing. He would improve the engines as he built them. His avocation is carpentering cedar and pine Early American 1700’s style furniture including cabinets, chests, and tables in a shop carpeted with saw dust as well as metal filings. The lathe is as familiar as the drill press. He hand constructed his cedar ranch house heated with Vermont cast iron stoves. Inventions that operate our livelihoods and make our existences convenient did not spring from rare air out of the head of Zeus. They were conceived, developed, manufactured, and sustained by the minds of archetektons like Bob Bowen. “Ford motor cars are my daily drivers. A blue ’36 fordor sedan, engine bored to 3 5/16” + .020 and 4” stroke, Edelbrock heads, Edelbrock two carb manifold, copy Winfield cam shaft (copied from John’s original SU-1A), four wheel front and rear disk brakes -I made the rear end brake drums and backing plate set up myself since only the front end could be bought as an assembly and 1940 parts were unavailable. Also a ’90 Ford f100 truck, an ’03 Lincoln LS sedan, and an ’07 Explorer Sport Trac four-door pickup. I belong to the Early Ford V8 Club of Atascadero. My wife, Callie, and I meet and cruise the Pacific Highway 1 coast at least once a week.” All photos from the private collection of Bob Bowen, used by permission of Bob Bowen.
Part 3 Virginia’s Not Afraid by Michelle M. Yiatras Timechanic™ Virginia Wolf, wife of pioneer hot rodder John Wolf, was born May 11, 1931, in New York, NY to Charles and Rose Loiselle of French Canadian descent. Charles worked for Lockheed as plaster pattern maker first of cathedrals and then of P-38 planes, and moved the family to Eagle Rock, CA in 1940. Rose was a millenary hat maker specializing in felt and straw. One of twelve siblings, eight girls/four boys, third from youngest. A practicing Roman Catholic family. Attended Catholic school in NY, which charged too much in CA. Raised in Northern San Fernando Valley, CA. An elderly companion and babysitter as a young teen. Her major subject in high school was home ec and seamstress. Worked as a Prudential insurance clerk after high school for several years. Height 5’ tall, weight 104 lbs, proud of her 22” waist. “We all were that way. I only gained 13 lbs while pregnant -weighed the most at 117 lbs before delivery. We were all thin, it was normal for me. I shopped at House of Nine clothes for smaller bodies.” In those days size 9 was equivalent to today’s size 3. “I wore high heels and silk stockings. We didn’t have all those fast foods and junk foods like today –the downfall of this generation. My waist stayed the same after giving birth –remained 22” after it all settled down. I never had a belly. My legs and arms were always skinny. I have a long slender neck. My two best girlfriends were surprisingly taller and chunkier though. We didn’t gorge on food and we walked everywhere. I played some sports in P.E. We were so active at home and no convenient public transportation. I wore rolled up Levi’s jeans rolled wide twice to mid-calf and large white cotton men’s oxford shirts with tails out, with natural hauraches, chicken shit shoes because they stunk from the old way of leather tanning with urine, or red bead moccasins, brown penny loafers, or black and white saddle shoes. Also a little silk scarf around my neck. A set ponytail with a little silk scarf tied around to match.” These were the days before luxurious hair grooming conditioners, electric blow dryers, electric curlers and irons, plastic clips, and styling brushes. “Pin curls for the bangs in front, and brush rollers fixed with bobby pins. Pink or light blue wave set gel in a glass jar. I curled my head every night, slept on rollers with a silk scarf. We bathed in the tub because you can’t get those curlers wet. Alberto Vo5 shampoo, no conditioner. I Toni home permed every six months. We gave each other home perms, my sisters and I. I’d have to sit under one of the GE pink plastic cap hair dryers hooked to a blower.” “No foundation, no eyeshadow, nor eyeliner. Just lipstick, and a little rouge. Flame-Glo Raspberry lipstick in a tube. John didn’t like all that makeup stuff, so my girlfriends tried to get me to use eyebrow pencil and nail polish. I used plain clear or translucent pink polish from the dime store on my medium length fingernails, with bright red on my toenails for my white wedgie sandals. My favorite date perfume was Soir de Paris in the midnight cobalt blue bottle. I wore button screw on earrings in different colors. My favorite outfit when I was seventeen was a new Easter cotton dress with cap sleeves and full skirt, navy blue with white polka dots and a wide white belt, with white high-heeled slingback sandals, and a flat small white hat with a net veil, white short gloves, and white shoulder bag.” Her teen favs in the 1940’s included Perry Como, Les Brown, Clark Gable, Ann Sheridan, and the jitterbug. In those days 78 rpm flip-side records and double-feature movies were 25¢. “I made my own celebrity scrapbook cut from movie mags. I babysat for 25-50¢ and hour. I’d save it to spend going to movies. Took the bus into Hollywood to the Pantages Theater, and then went roller skating at Hollywood Roller Skater on Bronson Av.” The Pantages Theater is on Hollywood Blvd near Vine St. Around the block from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Bronson Gate is now part of Paramount Studios lot. “I met John in 1947 in my junior year. I went to North Hollywood High School and he went to Van Nuys High School. A mutual friend Chuck would pick me up after school in a ’32. John would ride along. Every Friday night the Valley Park Country Club owned by Barney Oldfield Indianapolis racer would have a dance. John and I hooked up there. His left hand was wrapped in a clean white handkerchief because he was at the lakes the weekend before and burned his hand on grease. We hung out in groups of friends. I transferred to Van Nuys H.S. to be closer to John for the rest of my junior and my senior graduating year. It was more convenient for me anyways because I was closer to ride the school bus.” “He was always with the boys at the dry lakes. The first time I went to the El Mirage dry lakes I was 17 in 1948. It was filthy dirty and everyone slept in sleeping bags by the campfire with cars zooming around all night. The hot rods were driven on the lakes and the streets then, not just for show. It was cold at night and hot during the day, and a lot of wind. I didn’t know to wear a hat or sunglasses, so I got a bit sun tanned. I loved the Santa Monica Beach sun and tanned with iodine in baby oil.” Before the Coppertone girl and Hawaiian Tropic. You can see in the photos what a dolly she was. “I wore my levi’s and a little blouse. Girls didn’t usually go. It was boys’ turf. They were always working on the cars and getting back in line to race. We brought sandwiches to eat. It was just an overnighter on the weekend. You wanted to get there early to get your car in line. There were hardly any girls there to talk to and very noisy all day and night.” “I immediately started helping him while he was working on the cars when we started dating in 1947. At first I sat in the garage and watched. John went drag racing every weekend at El Mirage, San Fernando Drag Strip at the airport, Saugus Speedway. I went to the EM dry lakes and the SF drag strip. The drag strip was a day trip. I’d stand around with the few other girls. Sometimes it was very hot, sometimes cold, and always windy. The Valley was easier and not as dusty as the desert. Jeans and shorts with halters in the summer.” “In the garage he would change engines, his street engine with his racing engine every weekend Saturday morning. Friday night we went to movies or Bob’s Big Boy on Van Nuys Blvd. He had a different street engine from his racing engine. He’d pick me up and I’d get into the small places to line up the pistons and valve tappets. I knew where everything in the flathead went. I knew the parts. Little nitty gritty things, and lifting the engine. We didn’t have a cherry picker then. I helped LIFT the bare block, from the back of the pickup onto the engine stand. I was 104 and it was 300 lbs. Before I learned how to drive, if the ’40 Ford flathead car had a rattle he’d put me in the trunk to listen for the rattles and squeaks to locate them, his car had to be perfect. When we went to the shop to get it bored he had me sit in the back of the truck to hold the engine steady on its chocks. I learned how to drive and got my license when he went into the service after he got his ‘Greetings’ and left me his ’40 Ford car while he was overseas. I was 22 in 1953. We got engaged when I was 18, the ring didn’t mean as much, when he left me with the car then I knew he loved me.” “No one ever drank at the lakes or drags. It wasn’t allowed and we weren’t drinkers, to this day. The cops all knew John in the Valley. His car looked very stock but his engines were all hopped up. The cops watched him from street racing and drags. There was a big campaign against his hot rods in the Valley and when they gave you a ticket they wrote across it in big letters ‘HOT ROD’, and anyone who got stopped was asked, ‘Do you know John Wolf?’ John got ticketed frequently, he was the Valley hot rodder. He lost his license for a bit because he got so many tickets. His mom had to go in front of the judge because he was still under age twenty-one. He actually got his license at age 14 driving the pickup to deliver groceries for the family store, ‘Wolf’s Market’ on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.” “We towed the cars out at night because we didn’t want to waste the fuel for the street races. One night on San Fernando Rd by the orange groves at the line they had their engines ready to go, and suddenly a policeman shows up. Just as they were going to start. One or two guys didn’t know what to do so they stayed. John took off like a bat out of hell. John floored it and went down as far as he could go until he ran out of gas They pushed the car off the road in an orange grove and waited all night until 4 am and someone went and got him with a tow bar to get him home. He had to lay low from the cops. ‘Who the hell was that?!’ As John streaked past. With a racing engine and fuel in his car he would have never caught him. That’s how it was after hours on an every night date in his ’36 roadster or ’40 Ford coupe.” “John’s early club was GCRC (Glendale Coupe & Roadster Club) in our late teens and twenties. I was the gopher chasing parts when he was building. He worked all day during the week and worked on the cars on Saturday, so he didn’t have time to chase parts. C & T Automotive in Sherman Oaks, Finish Line Engineering Speed Shop in Van Nuys, Bob Gorsuch in Burbank, all did machine work and built engines and sold parts. I brought out hot chocolate, cold Cokes, and chocolate chip cookies when the guys were in the garage working. I had to send the large Campfire marshmallows and cookies every month to Korea. Plus a down pillow. He wanted me to send airplane fuel for his model planes, but they wouldn’t let me.” “We got engaged in 1949 and married in 1954, six months after John got out of the service, drafted into the Army on his 21st birthday, ‘Greetings’ from the U.S. Government for twenty months. He was an airplane and engine mechanic stationed in San Marcos, TX Air Force Base eight months, and then on to Korea thirteen months as an airplane and helicopter mechanic. Also he taught himself Magnafluxing of the rifles and parts. I was twenty-three. We bought our house in Sherman Oaks in 1955, and have lived here ever since. We raised two daughters. We also have a little ranch in Castaic in the Santa Clarita Valley with goats, deer, chickens, horses, and a donkey, with dogs, cats, and fish. The families of deer eat all my roses.” “I was never afraid of John’s racing, whether on the street or dry lakes. They didn’t go very far on the streets, only ¼ mile or ½ mile intersection to intersection, so it was over quick. On the dry lakes it was land speed racing and that went further 1 mile or an accelerated speed for another mile. I was never afraid until after we were married, and John’s best friend, Dave DeLangdon, brother-in-law of Alex Xydias (married to his sister), the clutch broke and came through the firewall and the fuel caught the engine on fire at 100 mph, at El Mirage dry lake, a ’32 coupe chopped top, So-Cal speed colors red and white (restored by Bruce Meyer at the Peterson Museum with the rest of the So-Cal cars). He jumped out and broke a collar bone with bad burns. He died of pneumonia and his burns a month later. He was twenty-four. He was going to come live with us in Sherman Oaks. That changed John. He stopped racing a few years after that because we were having kids by 1960. He was smart enough to quit when he didn’t feel comfortable in the cars anymore. They started going too fast for him. In Wally Parks Museum in the So-Cal section there’s a picture of John and his car in the early days, a ’36 three-window coupe still under construction not yet painted. I guess we were young, and he was so good at it, it didn’t occur to me to be afraid.” “John started boat racing in 1961. He built an engine for a hydroplane of Wayne Thompson. It was so successful that Marion Beaver, the mayor of Parker, AZ who owned the Ford agency, had three boats that he wanted John to build engines for. They were the Gummy boats. He ran them on the Colorado River. This lead to SuperStocks and Crackerboxes and his own 16’ 5 liter Picklefork hydroplane. Ron James from Seattle built the boat. Wayne Thompson and Buddy Fox were his partners in the boat, ‘The Going Thing’, after the Ford ad. John was still working for Wray Brothers Ford in Van Nuys then. Thirty years from 1950 to 1980, started delivering vehicles and worked up to service writer and then manager. It was too wide and long to carry on the streets, so it had to have a hydraulic to side tilt tow it on the highway. It was a 302 ci Ford engine, the one that got international water speed trial records. It was an expensive, time consuming, and dangerous hobby. Wayne got thrown and paralyzed. He and Buddy continued racing though into the 1990’s.” “In 1981 we joined the V8 Club. John thought it was a good way to find parts. It was fun to go to the meetings. He took me and I was the homemade coffee and cookies lady. I did it mostly and then we drew names as the club got larger. We met at bank conference rooms and even in a fire station rec room So many good outings, Solvang; overnighters, antiquing, luncheons; Julian mining town that grew apples, apple everything, the town smelled like apples; Tehachapi with the circular railroad; lots of pit stops and barbecues; Big Bear Lake; Escondido for the Clyde and Gail antique parts store; Palm Springs for the Follies (John sat outside and smoked his pipe, and then he finally went in and loved the dog show); Steamboat Springs, CO for the Western National Meet. It’s grown and we’ve been quite involved. John held two offices including Vice President, and I held three offices including Sunshine Girl. John is still the Technical Advisor and we get calls from all over the world. We meet in restaurants these days, Coco’s in Canoga Park, a lot of women now. We have two retired CHP officers, American Red Cross emergency instructors, and three Fire Captains in the club. Also we belong to San Fernando Valley V8 Ford Club of America Chapter 40, and Ventura County Ford Club of America although the freeway takes us longer to get there than the meeting. It used to be all male, now it’s husband and wife and family oriented, with our yearly Christmas party, and our summer barbecue, and our autumn fund raising auction, at different homes. Some guys think it’s too social. We have automotive trivia quiz contests, food, raffles, model race car games. We have projector shows for the regional and national meets and cruises. Every car is inspected for all original to the bolt parts if entered at the meets. John has a lead foot and likes to drive and modify his cars without too much regiment.” All photos from the private collection of John & Virginia Wolf, used by permission of John & Virginia Wolf.
Another great 'read' Michelle, I always keep my stash of early "Hot Rod" at hand whenever you come up with something new so I can see any available pics of the cars mentioned. Pretty cool seeing the ones from the Wolfs' private collection too! Thanks again for starting my day off with a smile. John
Everytime I think you outdid yourself you post something even more exciting than the last. Thank you once again.
Wow, very nice job, Michelle. (As a former editor, I appreciate the fact that you broke it into paragraphs--but I question whether "the" needs to be in red. Just sayin!) Keep up the good work.
Thanks Theo, Actually it's the convenience link I sent out that has the search term "The Wolf Pack" completely highlighted in red. Just search it yourself or refer to the HAMB threads or my profile threads and it will open without the highlights. Getting used to the template is still a learning curve for me... All the Best! ~Michelley
The time and effort that you put into your work is much acknowledged and appreciated. I really enjoy your style. Thanks
Fantastic writing! WOW... I don't think they make'em like Virginia Wolf any more? Also, great to see what the women were thinking during that era. Regards, X
Thank You Michelle, for the great stories. It was sad to hear that Ray Brown had passed. He truly was a gentleman and very approachable.
AMAZINGLY detailed and researched Michelley as usual! Great stuff and thank you for putting it down for all to read in one place. Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Thank you Michelle for yet another trip back in time ! Could you possibly send this history to Alvin Marcellus (Mousie) I'm sure he would get a bang from it . He raced the lakes and street raced back in the day ,was parly crippled for life running from the cops in his roadster.
Wow! You have been one busy lady Michelley! Thanks so much for bringing all of this information together in one place. Its great history, relevant to the speed world and very insightful as to what kind of monumental undertakings were taking place in the early days of land speed records. Very much appreciate all of your time and effort! Great photos too!
I have spent a enjoyable afternoon reading this - Always a true lady behind every good man - Thanks Michelley You are #1
Another good read Michelley, thanks for the PM I would have missed your article with out the PM, awesome as all ways....
The Jalopy Journal
