I figured it couldn’t be but just had to ask. Could this be one of the Pierson Brothers and could this have been their coupe ? Holy Shit !!!
Good stuff! This one is on a five window I sold to a friend. Research showed that Ken Bigelow was known for building Chevy six cylinder motors for stock cars. The 32 it is on had a small block Chevy in it . The block was 1962 so tag not for this engine. Any one have some history? Previous owner was Dwayne or Duane, Rogers.
Ed Iskenderian ground both short and long duration cams for six cylinder GMC racer Ken Bigelow, they were known as the Short Bigelow and Long Bigelow. IDK if Ken ever built a SBC but Isky had small block grinds with the same name.
Peterson Museum would be a great place to donate those tags. I'm sure they could make a cool display of that collection.
George was 16 when he held a record at Bonneville, and 20 when he earned this tag at El Mirage. He went back to school and became a lawyer. George Arnold Cromer, 73, of Las Vegas, passed away Saturday, Feb. 25, 2006. He was born May 3, 1932, in Los Angeles, and resided in Las Vegas for 73 years. George graduated from Las Vegas High School, class of 1950, and was a member of the track team. Upon graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served during the Korean War. In 1957, George graduated from the University of Southern California. He then attended the University of Denver School of Law, graduating in 1959, and passed the State Bar of Nevada in 1960. In 1977, he was president of the Clark County Bar Association, and a trial advocate with the Trial Lawyers Association. George loved drag racing. In 1948, he held a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats, in Utah, and the El Mirage Dry Lake, in California. He was also a member of the NHRA, the Los Angeles Strokers and the Las Vegas Gamblers car clubs.
DAMN !!!! @corncobcoupe , when I got to help with the Carrillo Roadster restoration, I got off on all the history and the car.
Wow...those are incredible timing tags! Here's one I have, it was given to me by a fellow swapper that knew I'd appreciate it. Sadly he passed away recently....I tinkered with the picture a little to make it easier to read the stampings..but it made it look a little weird.
Just asking , Maybe I over looked , Why was all these tags in a collection ? They looked not to have been mounted Originally to car , A very preserved like new .
My thoughts exactly. They look brand new to me... But we don't have answers I'm afraid. They were in a collection that Fran owned... Randy just wants to get them into any family hands that want them.
??? More likely all have passed , taken average 20 years old in 49 all would be 90 pule now,, & all tags are Oct & Nov Maybe Miss print on time , car # speed , ext . Instead of going in trash saved ! I would think ever person that ran would want that Tag, " Accomplishment " Little & off topic , Trophies , In my Opinion , most all Trophies handed Out mid 70s to present in power sports Look & are Commercial, even @ small tracks Not the classic Sterling Silver Cups , Car on pedestal & 4 foot plus tall
This time I am going to say that this suggestion may be the proper way to insure that these pieces are honored. All too many decendents of people who accomplished something in their lives could give a rats ass about great granddad's old _____ memorabilia. That includes old sports awards, military medals and awards and racing awards. It might be far better if somone crafted a nice plaque for them to be mounted on to be displayed in/with the proper dry lakes display at the Peterson Museum. That way they can be honored by those who will appreciate them an not tossed in another junk box and sold at a yard sale in a couple of years.
i'm sure timing tags were, to some racers, similar to car show participation trophies. they were just goin fast. not writing pages for the history books. now that i think about it, i think i have an unstamped timing tag from the first HAMB Drags hangin on my shop wall.
Ryan has an official machine in his shop that he prints our Tags with...I suspect he may have done some visual verification to compare...but we'll see...and if the Association that distributes Tags sold them as trinkets I guess they may in fact have done just that but you'd think it would be verifiable... Where were those reproductions sold from your referencing? I just looked online there are a number available but they lack lettering and some the 4 attach holes...I agree, it's easy to imagine shadies selling these for elevated dollars as originals... Funny I was thinking they were scooped as the Ole Hotrods were sent to the chopping block... I have several Hamb tags sitting around maybe they didn't bother screwing them on... They could be scientifically dated I'll bet with a non destructive process... Locating kinfolk may yield more stories and relevant material such as never before seen imagery so I think that route is a pretty neat thing to do and if that proves fruitless the Museum sounds great...
The reproduction tags I've seen don't look anything like the real thing upon close examination. They are silk screened or otherwise painted. Originals have the all the areas that don't have lettering or areas to be stamped, acid etched ( I think that's what it's called). In other words when you rub your fingers over the tag you can feel the letters...they are higher slightly than the red areas in the case of a Russetta tag. Why do they look new? I don't think they stamped the tags at the event they were earned...they probably did it later. Even if they did stamp it at the event, what would a guy do with a tag? Probably put it away in a drawer, most never got mounted I'm sure. Lastly..assuming you could find the same acid etched tag, and you stamped some info on there...would you pick someone that nobody's ever heard of? That requires serious investigation to find its history? This is the second real tag I've had..the other Joe Reath was involved. But after much research..no other info could be learned about it. I seriously doubt Fran Hernandez would have had reproduction tags.
I think all Russetta tags were silk screened. I know early SCTA tags were acid etched, but I think those are super rare. I own the NumberAll that stamped about a third of the the SCTA timing tags from ‘48 until ‘55 or so… What’s cool is that I can tell you which tags my machine stamped due to minor differences in letter spacing and other quirks. All alliance tags are stamped with that machine…
Early ones were etched, around 1949-on they were silk screened. The reason they were never attached to a car is because you had to pay for the timing tags, most would only collect, pay for the faster times they had done during the meet. This left large amounts of timing tags unclaimed both in SCTA & Russetta. I have had a couple friends tell me sellers at LARS swap in the 1980s had piles of SCTA & Russetta timing tags for sale at $10-$20, all stamped never attached all from the 40s early 50s. Don Waite is still alive, I believe @sr still in contact. He restored/preserved Don's A drag roadster and was restoring Don's T lakes roadster
I would like to add some additional insight regarding these tags. They were not a collection that my father consciously amassed over time. My brother and I were going through one of his Gerstner Tool Boxes and in a drawer we found these tags. This certainly explains their mint condition. Our best guess is, Dad had them in his possession to pass out at their next club meeting. Obviously, for whatever reason, that didn't happen. Back in the late 40s, they were racing every month at El Mirage. These guys had more of these tags than they knew what to do with. No big deal at the time! Certainly no one thought this could be potential treasure 75 years later. Enjoy these tags for what they are, apiece of Hot Rodding history!
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