January 23 is important because

[Glen]

Long time land speed racer Tom Bryant, member of the Gear Grinders club in Feb. & March, 1966 (that's 40 years ago) took top eliminator honors  at the Riverside 1/2 mile drags put on by SCTA. All of us that ran the 1/2 mile loved it. No Dust.LOL.

Tom is still very active and has been president of the SCTA, a great supporter of the sport. Tom and 4 other family members are in the Bonneville 200 Club.  some in the Muroc and El Mirage dirty 2 club.Look up Tom's web site for a full history. Tom is a role model of a true land speed racer.

As I have been collecting information for the club history of the Gear Grinders I find myself getting lost while reading the old results and programs. Sure makes one appreciate what these old timers have done to make our sport what it is today.

[NArias3]

Wow. I found this shot in my pile. This is the SCTA race @ OCIR in 1982. I think it was December 'cause of the crappy weather. The starter is Higbee, in red jacket. I was blown away having Bob start me since he was an icon to me even back then. He wouldn't send me down the course again for another ten years.

This happened to be only my second drag race and we ended up going to the semi finals, where it rained. No worries, we picked up $50 bucks for our efforts. I thought we were gonna strike it rich in drag racing after that...wrong!

Nick 3rd.

[Glen]

Nick
Must be the cold weather as I have spent the day going thru old stuff and found a program from Paradise Mesa in San Diego in 1956. I won the gas dragster Trophy with my flat head dragster that week end. Still have it on the shelf. Why don't you send me a picture of your lakester so I can add to the gear grinder file.
Glen

[promachine]

That is a great picture Nick, really brings back memorys. I will have to
go threw all of my old pictures tonight when I get home, I have a bunch.
It probley was Chad Langdon, he was one of the first guys in Pro Gas.
His son still runs Super Gas now.

[JackD]

Even kids get old, but the most important thing is the generations tend to stick together in racing better than most.
 We are in out 4th around here.
And if I can trust you with a secret, they keep getting better.
I started drag racing during the flags days, but when the lights came on the scene
I finally started to beat Vesco on a regular basis.
 He finally told me after a long time that he was color blind and couldn't see the tree.
 He was watching me leave instead of the starter that was gone.
 Well that wasn't good enough because I was gone too.. LOL

[NArias3]

Thanks John. The date was more like early '82, as I was 19 years old in the pic.

It's ironic we were even at this race. We shelled our '48 Olds ring & pinion a few weeks before while testing (nothing like smoke & oil coming from between your legs) and were on a treasure hunt for a replacement. I spoke to Fritz Voight at M/T's about a replacement mag center section and he referred me to this guy for the gears; Tom's Muffler in Long Beach. Off to Muffler Tom's. Digging through his piles he sez, "you're out of luck, but if you fix it in time you should run this race". He was pointing to the SCTA poster on the wall.

Well, we patched 'er up and made the race. I thought it was cool having the dry lakes guys & gals running a drag race. I became a regular Saturdat nite bracket bomber at OCIR until they shut it down in late 1983. Of all my meets there the SCTA race was the most memorable.

Dan, I think you might've even tech my digger, at the scales - rememeber?

Nick 3rd.

[promachine]

Nick, I hear what your saying. I drove the Mc Carrol bros jr. fuel car
about 15 years ago and it was probley the most fun and scary thing I
have ever been in. With your "boys" riding on top of an 8 3/4, you
really learn to trust your diff. builder.

[JackD]

The welded strap in line with the ring gear was worse than nothing. It not only didn't work but it gave you a false sense of security.
The best I saw during that time was a second rear cover welded over the first one.

[promachine]

Dennis kept telling me not to look down at the shifter or any thing else,
but to just look where I was going. He told me that if I got oil on my
goggles to close one eye and pull off the goggles, then I would be able to
 open the other eye after the first one got packed with oil and be able to
see long enough to get every thing shut down safly. All I could think
about was shattering the ring and pinion and looking down to see the
housing dimpling from the inside out and praying it would`nt come threw.
As I was repeatedly looking down to make sure everything was going
well I crossed the center line twice and did`nt even notice, but I knew
the "boys" were ok.

[JackD]

The advantage of the short wheel base he was going to also mention is the quick response if you decided to go another way.
The first one I drove was at Carlsbad. You pushed to start backwards down the track and then turned around at the start with the crew pushing. When backing up you really had to hold the wheel because the caster would pull. I was a little too relaxed and the butterfly ripped out of my hand and the front wheels flopped flat on the ground with no steering stops.
They picked it up and the owner yelled over the SBC to hold on tighter.
 I did.

[John Burk]

I always liked the securety of being nestled down between the rear tires . One I wouldn't have driven was Ted Gotelli's top fueler with the drivers legs under the live axel rear . A spinning axel just above the drivers thighs . Can't even imagine how Denny Milani got in and out .
John

[JackD]

Cagle crashed into a corn field and came out of the bottom of the car and the belts were empty.

[Kato Engineering]

JACK,

I even remember and recognise some of the faces in Nickys photo....




........lets see the one with the pocket bike...!!!!




I still have some of my timeslips from that day.

[JackD]

Joe Hunt had a brand new Indy Car there with a SBC.
It was all white raw unpainted glass.
He put the Pocket Kid in it and we both took some pictures.