Dema Elgin emailed that Doug King had passed on. I hope Dema is mistaken. Besides flathead and Ardun things Doug made and sold. I am most impressed by his working his way from the ground into left seat on a wide body. I never heard of such a thing. But I guess at one time TWA was hurting for cockpit crew and hired trainees to be navigators or engineers. At UA second officers had to be captain qualified. But from not flying Doug worked into Captain on L1011. Not bad
Hope this is not true...I never met him but he knew more about Arduns than anyone ... built a blown Ardun dragster, he has a real legacy among Ardun guys...
Saw it on landracing.com. Met him at a flathead race in Denver, and then again on the salt. He was the real shit for sure in that black'n'flamed T roadster. RIP Doug.
How sad to hear - I hadn't spoken to him in a couple of years but heard that he was not well. RIP Doug
I bought some parts from Doug back in late 90's and got a invite to visit when I was in town for the roadster show.He couldn't have been more friendly and accomodating to an ardun rookie.He had a great collection and was a blast to hang out with.
Yes - Doug passed yesterday morning . . . received an eMail from his son Brian. Doug went through a lot in the last couple of weeks. Doug was a wonderful man who spent quite a bit of time with me on not only Ardun stuff, but flatheads in general. He diagnosed my Ardun sickness early and got a good laugh over seeing another guy head down the path that he'd blazed for so many years. He was always willing to have a conversation, to lend some ideas, to help with a technical question. Also, his main caps and girdles were really nicely made and he sold them at a fair price. RIP Doug . . . we'll miss you!
Met Doug at Bonneville he offered much help and insight to myself and Phil as we ran a Flat head car on the salt. Doug had a wealth of knowledge he was willing to share. Prayers for his family.
We lost another great asset to our hobby, Doug was a great guy and loved all things mechanical. My condolonces to his family. R.I.P. my friend.
Thia is terrible, so many of our greats have passed on recently. Any man that can accomplish what he did is a loss to all of us. My condolences to the family and friends. Doc.
We met Doug as many did at Bonneville. He was very interested in the blown Ardun we were running in the Original Goldenrod streamliner, and we were thrilled to hear about his lakester project. God Speed
RIP Doug. We had many a great day together with those OHV conversions. They were impressive. No wonder Arkus Duntov (ARDUN) went on to become the father of the Chevrolet special engine cars. He too was genius. Now Don Ferguson carries the flag. Normbc9
Sad news, I never got to meet him, but enjoyed his Landracing posts. He had a nice T speedster and an Indian Double Twin from around 1915 that was really nice. Thoughts and prayers going out to his family and friends.
Many years back he had spun his Ardun powered lakester @ Bonneville after setting the record & the announcer asked if anyone had video. This was when we were allowed on the north side of the track & a lot closer. Anyway I gave him my tape so he could copy it & send it back to me. We traded an Ardun spark plug I still have & he sent me a copy of the Ardun booklets he sold. He was a really nice guy.
mtkawboy -- I was pretty close to Doug King. I'm still trying to deal with his passing. Little story here about that spin........ That spin with the lakester was at 1990 or 91 Speedweek (gotta dig into my archives for the exact details). It was the return run and it got him an XX lakester record He went around right in front of the pits and we drove my old Dodge van back down the return road pretty quick to pick him up. When we got to him he was out of the car and really unhappy figuring he had blown the opportunity. I had heard the announcement on the CB about the speed and it being a record. Doug just took off his firesuit and climbed in the front seat of the van and sat quietly stewing. After we started to tow back all he wanted to do was go back to his pit and hide; but I told him about the announcement and that since I was driving the tow car we were going to impound whether he liked it or not. So he got his record and a spin pin and finally started to smile. .......Ed Weldon
I will miss Doug. We kept in touch over the past 13 years. I rebuilt a number of magnetos for Doug, and visited with him at the airport occasionally. He would take the time to fly up to my mag shop in the hills, just to buy me lunch and talk tinkering. The proverbial $300 cheeseburger. Doug had what some might call "insatiable curiosity". Spotting the rare and unusual, and sometimes, acquiring these things. His emails were priceless at times, carrying fascinating history and oddities of hot-rodding past. Very pleasant, experienced, knowledgeable man that loved old iron. A truly first class fast guy. Rest in peace brother. -Andy
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