Rudy in the Champion Speed Shop ~ Ted Gotelli fuel dragster at the Cow Palace Car Show: photographer unknown
I attended the Rudy Perez Memorial gathering today at Concannon Vineyards in Livermore, CA: Rudy's (last) Deuce Roadster ... his granddaughter is its new caretaker Rudy's urn (just a small part of) Rudy's Hot Rodding History Rudy's 2003 GNRS "Brizio Family Award"
At the memorial people were asked to tell a story about Rudy. Below is what Rudy wrote about his last ride in the 404 jr roadster. "Day before Roger was go'n to pick it up, I took my last ride.... Ignacio Valley to Clayton...Irish Canyon, Marsh Creek Road...(photo stop) Right on Tassajara to Blackhawk, Stone Valley to Round Hill...Round Hill Rd home...Only freeway was from Alamo to Ignacio Valley Rd...Once in Clayton all back roads...The way it should be when you say Adios to an old friend...185,702miles into Rogers trailer with Diane...We sat there, and she said: "Your gonna miss it"..."
Glenn (@akbo47) - Thanks for sharing your "Rudy Memory" yesterday at the Memorial. Funny that you posted the "Good-bye 404jr." story ... 'cuz I came on here tonight to add some of Rudy's stories ... including this one: - Todd (@HEMI32)
Here's Rudy's Top Fuel dragster at the 1962 San Mateo Rod & Custom Show: image by Rudy Perez Here's Rudy's caption for this photo: My new 1961 Jim Davis chassis covered with a Jack Hagemann body ... sponsored by Ted Gotelli Speed Shop ... 1962 San Mateo Rod & Custom ... Four Top Fuel dragsters in Ted's corner booth ... Show of force against Champion Speed Shop. By 1965, Ted was sponsoring five Top Fuel dragsters ... The shop name was done in 24K gold leaf on each rail. Remember, I met Ted in 1946, when he put me in his midget so I wouldn't get run'd over in the pits at Bayshore Speedway ... Ted always had one name for me no matter where we were ... "Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudy".
Rudy appeared on the cover of the June 1967 issue of CAR CRAFT magazine: NOTE: This circa 1966 photo was taken in Fresno ... as members of the and the were preparing to head out on a tour of the Sequoia National Park and then to a private tour of "John {Siroonian}'s Custom Wheels".
Here's a circa 1956 photo of Rudy with his first dragster at a San Francisco shopping center car show: Here's Rudy's caption for this photo: 1956 ... 1st auto show ever at the new Stonestown Shopping Center ... My first dragster using a '28 fram, Stewart axle, '40 rear end ... Aluminum courstesy of Atlas Heating and hand formed by my Dad. I lived 8 blocks away on 21st Ave so we rope towed it to and fro ... Ran a 284", 3 port Offy intake, Offy 8.5 heads ... $15 reground Winfield Clay Smith cam. Sold it to the Accelerators club when Scotty started building his K-88 chassis, $150.
At the 1958 (Oakland) National Roadster Show, George Barris/Richard Peters' Ala Kart '29 RPU won the America's Most Beautiful Roadster award ... and Romeo Palamides' slingshot dragster won the America's Best Competition Car award: The "World's Most Beautiful Dragster" was featured in the December 1958 issue of CAR CRAFT magazine: Fast forward to the early '90s ... Rudy Perez (and friends) decided to "clone" the famous Romeo Palamides Slingshot dragster. Before they had even finished the car, Tom Prufer had advertised a "Match Race" between their (cloned) Palamides Slingshot dragster and the (restored) Cortopassi "Glass Slipper" dragster ... They finished the car in time ... made it to the track ("El Dorado" Sacramento Raceway) ... but were unable to fire the HEMI as the 50-year-old magneto had other ideas (its shaft broke off) ... so other Nostalgia dragsters paired up with the Glass Slipper. NOTE: The Romeo Palamides Slingshot clone now resides in the Justice Brothers Automotive Museum: photographer unknown
Rudy had become good friends with Carol Doda. He told me he took a member of the LA Roadsters to her club and recieved VIP treatment and after the word got out a lot of the club members visited her club with Rudy as the host.
Rudy Perez wrote "90*degrees here and nada to do...Dug into some files...Lookie here... My Romeo and Bernstein's NFC he got burned in...Justice Bros bought the 2 side by side at the auction and brought them to their Justice Bros Racing Museum in Pasadena...Heard both still there... Amigo Tom Prufer was Manager of El Dorado Raceways in Sacramento... Tom set up a match race with the Glass Slipper...McLennan of Champion had his single engine and twin-engine CSS rails there...Saw Jim race'n over to see it on his mini-bike..."Where did you find it?"...Drop'd his jaw... Diane, Chris and Matt set up a table under the EZ Up canopy and started to sell the Romeo t-shirts...Sold out all 6 dozen by Noon... Got assistance from fellow Jugger Wally Allred set'n up the new Hilborn's... Fired on the return road and it sounded bitch'n on alcohol...Amigo Ray Caster filled in as driver wait'n for my driver Jugger Karl Langford to arrive... Figured out a few fuel injector set'n to fire on 70%...ZOUNDED awesome on the return road, loud, deep throat with a dry crisp exhaust on my palm hands...We push'd further down, made the 180...Ray only had a t-shirt on... He was to stab it, idle, stab it again and shut down... It's there when my (our) day ended...Didn't know till we push'd out for the first match race -vs- Glass Slipper, the cam gear drive to the Hunt mag had broken off the 50year old Chet Herbert roller cam... Mike McLennan offered to fill in with his CSS twin-engine and raced the Glass Slipper...Cortopassi & Butler came over to see what happened... Long silent return home...Found the problem immediately, tried to lift the mag out and it wouldn't lift...Jam'd, twist and twist and still no mag... The eccentric mag drive on the end of the cam was sheared off...It's function to survive for over 50 years, and no one knows how many runs caused it to brake... Pete and I were together for 60 years...When NASCAR was on Tv Diane and I would go to Pete and Marge's Pleasant Hill home and enjoyed her bbq... Romeo Palamides & Pete Ogden, R.I.P." When I told Rudy that the Justice Bros. Museum claimed it was the original and not the repo he built Rudy emailed a photo of the dragster in he shop in Alamo. "Old words: ROMEO = "Retired Old Men Eating Out"... Checked out the sign again at the museum...PHONY not the sign Herbie made...LIARS... Sign claims it's the original Romeo, restored by Pete.. Across the bottom is my photo taken at Bako in 1959... On the side is a Car Craft and a GNRS book... "Wonder where my $450 sign is?"...It listed everyone who had anthing to build it... "Why do people lie?"..."
Rudy always had a story to tell. He and Jim Nelson were in Jim's Volks Rod in Carlsbad. "CHP stop'd us on the Coast Hwy...Cop was going to issue Jim a ticket for no fenders... I ask'd, "Officer do you know the law regarding fenders?"... "Has to have fenders, it's the law"... I explained that DMV in February of 1952 made the law for fenders on any vehicle weighing over 1500pounds... Told him the roadster weighed 900 pounds... Jim laughed as he picked up the front axle to his waist... No ticket and now the cop was better informed.." Nelson's Volksrod is now owned and was fully restored in 2020 by Don Richardson of Richardson's Custom Autobody in Holquim, WA with help from Rudy. We'll save the story of how Rudy provided Don with some valuable information for another day.
"Forgot to show you this, after I drop'd and cracked it yesterday...Rafter hook hanger... If you ran at the salt, everyone got a pith helmet...Came with the BNI decal...On a table by registration were boxes full of sponsor decals...Lasted about 4-5 years, but as the event grew with too many entries, it ended... Intro'd to the salt in '55, and by '59 I was run'n a '31 C/FR with a Red Ram...All went well to 165 till at the 2nd lights the crank decided to exit thru the oil pan... Starter Bob Higbee wasn't too happy about my mess, and let me know it...Closed the course and scraped it before another run... Fun, fun, fun, and a long tow home..." Rudy Perez
My favorite photo of Rudy in his goggles he used for a dust storm in Tulsa. He told me that I would need a pair when I told him I was heading to Bartlesville, OK.
Glenn (@akbo47) - Thanks for adding these "Rudy Stories" to this tribute to our friend ... much appreciated! Here's yet another very HAMB-friendly "Rudy Story": When Rudy saw a pic of a Model A Roadster among the photos from the 2020 Nor Cal Reliability Run that Sherm (@fuely32) Porter had sent him, he replied: The light tan '31 hiboy...When you see the dash, it has a "Firestone" emblem on the dash in front of the passenger...Belonged to my amigo Fred Oberti... In 1956, I helped Fred take it apart...Stuffed the body under the stairs of his folks home on 16th Ave...He was go'n to put a SBC in it...Never happened... Fred's folks owned Homestead Ravioli Co in the City...When his folks passed he sold the hiboy to someone in Petaluma {Dave @redbeard Bautista}, who put it back together...Fred took over Homestead as CEO, 3 brothers and one sister became the Board... "DAMN", there's Fred's hiboy like when we used to drag race across the Great Highway, Fred in his '31, me in my '23.. Back then, we started the "Kam-Busters"... I can't believe it's all together... The Fred Oberti Roadster now owned by Brandon Flaner (of East Bay Speed & Custom) - Todd (@HEMI32)
Over the years it seemed like his name would be in most hot rod articles. RIP. Condolences to His Family.
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