Folks Of Interest Washington State Hot Rodding Legends

i don't think so. we were in the marine corps in o.c ,ca. in 1957. fyi

 

Dan Phillips in Bellingham not famous but has built a lot of nice cars. Pete.

 

Was that Gotcha's Speed Shop on Martin Way and later in Tumwater?

 

Wow! Didn't expect that one. I've known Dan for years and he is indeed a great guy. Can't imagine him ever jumping on the HAMB, though. One of those quiet, humble, graybeard-types.

 

Thanks for the correction Hidez.

 

Claude Freund. Washington State Hot rod Hall of fame member!

 

Jim Waldon and the "DEMONOS" car club of Tacoma ran a club car 32 Ford 3 window coupe at Thunfield and Shelton dragstrips in the later 50's , and there was "Ed Kneeland" that raced a model A altered roadster and later became the promoter of the Shelton Dragstrip in the early 60's.

 

John Grimm ( The Butcher Shop) Tacoma area.

 

Gary Johanson (might have last name spelled wrong)

Took some classes from him 15yrs ago at Clover Park Tech College. Awesome metalworker and really planted the seed for me on what proper work looked like.

Not sure if he is still around, heard he might have had some health issues. Lived in Lake Tapps area.

 

Last saw Gary in 2004. He had a new liver (I think). A new "something".

 

I am working to get him on the hamb. He has lurked a bit. likes what he has seen but bet he would not be a big poster.pete.

 

The Travel-On's racing team.

 

Come on you guys. If you want this thread to continue you've got to contribute. Get in the game. Washington has contributed alot to this thing that we love.

 

Guess I am getting old also and my memory needs a tuneup. It was Bates college and he lived a block away from Bonney Lake. Was able to do some digging and found his address, etc.

I now live 2500 miles away though.

 

A true legend!!!
And all around great guy!

 

In the drag racing group can't leave out the "Joint Venture" bunch or
George Hadler "Cascade Welding"
Steve Barker 1960 El Camino the pride of the Puyallup Valley (50 years later still talking the talk)
Wayne Miller (mentioned in this months back pages of R&C)
Jerry Day Sprint cars

 

I think it would be extremely helpful and interesting if there was some background with these names. Example: Claude Freund???? Where in Washington? When? What was he known for? How did he impact you? etc..

 

Was Steve Barker's El Camino the red one with all the pipes coming out the back? What's Jerry Day doing these days? I know Jim Warter was part of the Joint Venture (real joints by the way). Who else was in it with him? Is George still around? His shop was in the old fire station on hiway 99. George would tell the story about Jerry Ruth coming in to get something done for free... "because".

 

Ok, we can do that.
It will take some time though.

 

Steve still has the car in question, Tuesday nights at the "Barker Barn" or daily at Andy's for a little BS. I bought a spare Anglia body from George in '74, heard later he was an instructor at one of the colleges or trade schools. As for Jerry Day he's busy on the internet ebay site "vinsprints" selling parts, gets behind the wheel, tho heard there was a rough outing in Yakima awhile back. Sold him some parts this past Feb. at a local swap meet, looks healthy. Wish I could give you more info but limited to what I know from 1973 on.

 

This helps. Thank you very much.

 

"MacDonald, Sorte, Bowers, Whitworth, Jensen, Weiskind, Grossman, Stieber, Samuelson, Gustafson, Lazore, Washington, Grant, Walrath, Perry, Kalivoda, Green, Fish, Duffy, Rice,
Dennett, Hatcher, Walsh, Liesmaki, Watson, Budschat, Kirkwood, Sterett, Zornes, Williams, Mooring, and several I left out because they were known cheaters."

In order of post:
Deloye MacDonald- Teamed with John Gorman to build inovative track roadsters in the late 40's and early 50's.
Don Sorte- MacDonald's business partner. I went to high school with both of them.
Ralph Bowers- Owned a dragster that Jim Whitworth put his blown Olds in after we got done with the engine in my Bonneville car.
Jim Whitworth- My Bonneville partner (engine owner) for Bonneville in 1956 when we won the street roadster class. A neat guy that I wish I knew where he was now. I have his trophy belt buckle he never picked up.
Don Jensen- Top dragster in the NW in 1954/1955. Went on to SCCA sports car racing. Collecting early V8's now.(Cord)
Ron Weiskind- Owned 36 Ford roadster when I met him. Very fast at the drags. Went on to several sprint car championships as a car owner.
Shelly Grossman- Owned the first chassis dyno in Seattle..A consistant winner at the drags with a straight 8 Pontiac. Still around in the Longbeach,Ca. area. Restoring vintage Cadillacs now as a hobby.
Buck Stieber- Seldom seen but when he brought his flathead powered track roadster to the drags, he always won.Well designed car. Neat guy.
Pete Samuelson- Machine shop owner and cam grinder in the NW. Still active in vintage circle track racing and Bonneville. Won street roadster class at Bonneville in 1956.
Bill Gustafson- Inovative builder from Seattle. Drove to Bonneville with 1953 Ford in 1956, ran all week and then drove home.
Arley Lazore- Sprint car builder and inovator in the early 50's. Ran mostly Chrysler flathead 6's.
Reg Washington- Boeing engineer and drag racer early on and later turned sprint car owner.
Ran GMC 6's. Very competetive.
Jerry Grant- Got started in drag racing and sports car racing then went to USAC sprint cars and midgets. Drove Indy and the USAC champ circuit for many years. Still drives an ocassional vintage sports car race.
Harry Walrath- Had the first roots blown flathead street hot rod in the NW. (36 Ford 5 window).
Leal Perry- Well known drag racer in the 50's...Started with a 32 roadster and the went to a front driven roots blower Pontiac engine in a drag roadster.
Dick Kalavoda- Drag racer in the 50's with Desoto powered car.
Jim Green- He was a customer I didn't know too well. We did a 348 Chev engine for him before they were selling them in the dealers.
Clarence Fish- From the Harbor area. He was teamed with Joe Duffy in the early days of Shelton drags...Later took a Corvette to Bonneville. Always a winner at the drags.
Joe Duffy- Same as Fish.
Doug Rice- From Montesano. Very inovative builder. Had a chopped, sectioned 39 Ford coupe in the early days. Always a winner at the drags. Ran Bonneville in the mid 50's. Another one that drove there, raced and drove home. His original car is still around in the Harbor area. He is still active in restoring horse drawn carriages.
Gene Dennett- Drag raced a chopped 39 Ford coupe in the mid 50's at Shelton. His wife, Babe, drove most of the time.
He later took up autocross racing and was the Ford factory sponsored national champion in 1968 and 1969 in a Boss 429.
He is still alive but in a nursing home.
Buddy Hatcher- Probably the fastest pit man in existance in the late 50's. Worked on Ron Weiskinds crew.
Tom Walsh- One of the early Kustom Klub members. Didn't have much to say but went fast. Did his own engines. Still hot rodding in Ca.
Ben Liesmaki- My business partner. Still in business and building engines. About to retire and go racing for himself again.
Jim Watson- Early circle track racer and yard foreman at the biggest junk yard in Seattle. A handy person to know in those days.
Has one of the nicest looking T roadsters around now.
Bob Budschat- National number 13 in the AMA for several years. 250 and 500 class champion several times.
Ralph Kirkwood- My boss for several years. Owned midgets and after we developed fuel injection for the Ford had cars that were Offy beaters as noted by the USAC races at Saugus. He knew more about flatheads than anyone around and he was a superb teacher. He would never let anyone write anything about his abilities. Very humble. My best friend.
Bud Sterett- A good friend. Met him in high school. A good car builder but a SUPERB circle track driver. Sadly he was killed in the Fikes Plumbing Special in the late 50's. (sprint car)
Jerry Zornes- My GF in the mid 50's. She was an eastern Washington powder puff champion before I met her. I let her drive my car several times. Very nice person and I still see her ocassionally. She owns a tavern in Seattle.
Len Williams- I worked at Boeing with Len. We were across the hall so to speak. He built the first 32 Ford roadster with a gas turbine in it. The car is in the Lemay collection now. Len is still kicking and I have lunch with him quite often.
Sid Mooring- Probably was the second one to open a speed shop in Seattle (behind Al Cooper) I built my first race car in his shop.
A good teacher also.
Jack Turner- 1954 USAC midget champion. He could change 4 wheels from dirt tires to pavement tires in 20 minutes with nothing but 2 screwdrivers and a ball peen hammer. Drove the Bardahl car at Indy in the late 50's. A real friend.
Jack Conner- One of my best friends. He was Washington hardtop racing champion so many times I can't remember. First with flathead Fords and later with a Red Ram Dodge. I used to eat dinner at their place so often I think they thought I belonged there.
His wife was a super gal. I met her in grade school.
These have been some of the more notable people in my life from the past. Like I said before if I was to get into all of them I have known and met, there is not enough time to write.
Some of the ones mentioned by others, I knew but will leave out because they were known cheaters.
Life is good.

 

Incredible, fantastic, amazing, awesome. Thank you, thank you. And to think, this is the generation BEFORE me. See, Washington rocked even when WE were'nt here. I'm thinkin' we just got started here. Pics would be nice with some of these posts.

So Pete, were you and Ben B&G Machine?

 

No. That was actually Ralph and Gail. You can never go by names.

 

Here's some pics I have in my computer..I don't have everyone yet.

Here's MacDonald and Sorte with a salvage sub they built by hand in the old days.
No pics of their race cars....Mac is on the left.

 

Here's a pic of Reg Washington.

 

Jerry Grant.

 

Harry Walrath.

 

Jim Watson present car. The original was stolen.
I have some later pics but not in the computer.

 

Bob Budschat.