Landracing Forum
Misc Forums => Health, Welfare, and Passings => Topic started by: jimmy six on April 03, 2019, 03:46:31 PM
-
I was given notice that a MAINSTAY of the SCTA Warren Bullis passed away on Saturday March 30th. He was 83. I have no details.
Warren gave his adult life to the SCTA and BNI organizations. He held the office of Secretary and Treasurer for more years than I can remember. He has been the recipient of countless awards which he cherished but never spoke of. There are to many to mention here. He was my mentor when I was SCTA secretary. He was probably the longest member of the SCTA Club the Lakers until their membership fell to below 10. He was very instrumental in the the SCTA Banquets for many years. In the past every SCTA results sheets were sent by Warren.
He worked well into his 70's and was a Mechanical Engineer by trade. We traveled to many Board and Reps meetings together to use the carpool lane on Friday nights and also to Bonneville when no longer wanted to drive.
We met at the door of his Ford van when it served as the SCTA registration site at El Mirage. He was a member of Jack's Garage daily coffee group for years after his retirement driving from Fullerton to Fountain Valley. The last few years a friend, Ruben, brought him down to Jacks and to the Thursday BBQ at Kiwi Steve's.....
I will miss my Friend...JD
-
Thanks JD for the background!!
-
I only knew Warren from registration at El Mirage [ many years] but he was always friendly.
A nice guy.
Rest in peace Warren, we'll miss you.
JL222
-
I remember watching Warren "race" his van at El Mirage back in the '70's & '80's to get club points when you could still do that sort of thing.
Always there to help out however he could at both the lakebed and Bonneville. He would stop by my shop on his way home from work in his later years to shoot the bull. A Wonderful human being who I called a friend.
God Speed Warren Bullis.
-
Rest in Peace, and Godspeed Warren Bullis. You were a wonderful person, always had a smile, and would go out of your way to help anyone who asked. The SCTA would not be what it is today without people like you.
Tom G.
-
He always had that "what are you whackos up to now, smile" when I saw him at the registration trailer. Godspeed Warren.
-
Warren was always the "friendly" side of the SCTA to a lot of us (non-Californians) at SpeedWeek. A great guy that always had a smile... even when the registration trailer was not running smoothly
GoodSpeed Warren... we are better to have known you :cheers:
-
Knew him a little, liked him a lot.
He'll be missed.
-
Warren Bullis - wasn't he the guy...?
Like so many, I betcha, we're not from SoCal so only knew Warren through our infrequent visits to the salt. Much of my memories of him - are faint and just in passing - yet as I read the notes from all of you regarding his death - I guess Stan's phrase is what I'll use:
Knew him a little, liked him a lot.
May you Rest in Peace, Warren. It was good to know you.
-
Warren Bullis Bio from 2004 Dry Lakes Racing Hall of Fame induction
Growing up during WWII didn't give an opportunity for seeing much new stuff, there was always plenty of old things to fix and make due until the great war was over. The old family Chrysler served well until after the war but there was always something to fix. My father wanted me to be a doctor but I ended up a mechanical engineer instead and fixed cars instead of bodies. Maybe if my neighbor hadn't started taking me to the midget and hot rod roaster races cars wouldn't have been so exciting. My brother was a sports car nut and my first car was a MG sports car, it didn't go very fast and didn't carry much. Bigger cars with bigger motors seemed to be the answer. My father help me build my first hot rod, a '40 Ford coupe with a Chevrolet V-8. He was a shop teacher but didn't know much about building hot rods but at least all the equipment I needed was available.
My first trip to the salt was in 1960 to see why people closed their businesses and put a sign on the door "Gone to Bonneville".. Well, I found out why people went to the salt, I decided to build a race car and come back in 1961. The race car was a '40 Chevrolet with the head lights removed and a 260 cu in V-8 replacing the 6 cylinder engine. Studebakers go faster than tall '40 Chevies so the next race car was a '53 Studie. After a couple of years on the salt, the 260 cu in Chevrolet was put in Neil Thompson's Comp Coupe where it held the record for several years. During the racing time, I spent most of my money and time building cars and not much attention was paid to how the racing meets were run. In 1971 I was elected as secretary/treasurer, I still don’t know why. At lease I could type and had to take dumb bell English in Junior College. The secretary/treasurer job was also split up and is now done by two people.
During the following years I was secretary and or treasurer of SCTA, I probably can't tell you how many times I've been elected. It was time go give something back to the Association for all the good times running on the salt and on the dry lakes. The jobs have been fun and easier with the advent of the computer. The minutes and results used to be typed with an old IBM Selectric typewriter and printed on an old spirit (alcohol) printing machine that SCTA owned that made purple copies that could hardly be read. You could get a little high just running off the results. The first computer I bought made the minutes much easier, changing things was just a stroke on the keyboard instead of cutting out the offending word from the master and then taping in a new word. Even the dot matrix computer printers made it easy to read things after being typed. Another job that has been a lot of fun that I have been doing for SCTA for more than 25 years is registration at Bonneville and the Dry Lakes. I get to see all the vehicles and watch them run down the salt and talk to the drivers and crew, it's great.
Today I'm secretary of the SCTA and have been for several years and also still help with the registration at the Dry Lakes and Bonneville. I've been a life member of SCTA since 1974 when I received the Sportsmanship Award. As president of the Lakers Car Club, I get all the fun of getting the guys to show up for duty so we don't get fined.
-
When I teched in My Stude for the first time in 1998 I was as nervous as a Whore in Church not knowing if I had interpreted all the rules correctly or if everything was finished. We arrived on the Salt and spent two and a half days installing all of the safety equipment, firing the motor for the first time, realizing the hydraulic throwout bearing was the wrong length, borrowing a spare T-10 transmission from Bruce Geisler and sawing off the snout of the front bearing retainer to use as a spacer and involving anyone who entered My pit space to unknowingly work in, on, or under the car.
Needless to say, I was not on drugs or alcohol but I sure needed some... a hell of a lot to be truthful.
When We rolled up to the "on deck" spot I realized that I needed to sign some stuff and that led Me to meet Warren who looked like a Judge (not that I would know...) and He could see that He was dealing with a basket case... to say the least.
He looked up and said "breathe, everything will be fine...", and then He smiled and motioned Me to turn around as My crew rolled My car under the tarp.
Result: passed inspection by a very thorough and strict Jim Miller with No glitch's and looked over at Warren who gave Me a thumbs up and was still smiling. I smiled back like it was no big thing but Warren and I knew the truth............... May He rest in peace.
Bob Drury
-
It make a difference to see a picture & recognize the face. RIP.
Sid.