A Visit To The Dirty Two Club
May 12, ‘07
Story by Richard Parks, photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz

drivers of the day. Rodger Ward learned how to become the patient man and practiced driver under the tutelage of Vic Sr. Edelbrock hired some of the best mechanics and machinists in the business. His race boats and innovative engines set the pace for many years. Then at a very young age of 49, he died of cancer and left a small but solid business to his son, Vic Edelbrock Jr. Perhaps Sr and his wife Katie’s greatest achievement was their son Vic Jr. As great as the legend around Sr is today, his son carried the Edelbrock family business to heights never imagined among families involved in the speed equipment industry. Vic Edelbrock Jr, in his turn was helped by his charming and beautiful wife, Nancy and their daughters Camee, Christi and Carey. The Museum is a tribute to this ‘First among Equals’ in the hot rodding world. The cars, motorcycles and one boat pay tribute to the history of the Edelbrock family, business and the employees that made it all happen. Tours are given once a month by the Edelbrock family and include the Museum and the manufacturing plants. It takes about 3 hours and is one of those special events that you should organize for your car club. The tours are set up for around 100 people, but if your group or car club is smaller than that number, you can sign up for the tour and the Edelbrock staff will set a date for you with other groups. See www.Edelbrock.com for details.

The Dirty Two Club had no problem raising 100 of their members, friends and family for the tour. The Dirty Two Club is a nickname for it’s true name; the El Mirage 200 Mile per Hour Club. It is a prestigious group of people, numbering some 130, who have raced land speed cars or motorcycles at the El Mirage dry lake just north of Phelan, California. The course is situated on a dusty, dried mud lake that has a hard, flat surface. Land speed racers have been racing on this site since the 1940’s. Before that time the land speed racers had raced on the dry lakes at Muroc, Harper, Rosamond and other dry lake sites. Today, most of those areas with the exception of El Mirage are located near or on the huge Edwards Air Force Base, site of the alternate NASA space program in the western United States. The dry lakes themselves are actually watery shallow lakes during the winter months. The rains wash dirt and mud down from the surrounding hills and mountains into depressions in the high desert. Then the winds swirl the shallow pools of water, scouring the surface and leveling out the muddy froth. When the summer sun and heat evaporates the standing lake waters, the result is a broad flat plain that cracks into tile like patterns. The surface is hard, flat and smooth, perfect for testing the performance and speed of your car. That’s exactly what people have been doing on the dry lakes of Southern California for at least eighty years or more. The first record that we have is a one-page flyer made by Earl Mansell in 1927, at Muroc dry lake. Perhaps 30 or so people showed up to pay their entrance fee and race for the prize money that Earl offered. Prior to that there are stories of motorcyclists using the dry lakes to try out their bikes and car companies using the dry lakes for testing and record endurance runs. Hollywood celebrities were known to have challenged each other to duels in the desert. They would leave in the middle of the night and make the long trek to the desert dry lakes to settle an argument as to whose big Packard, Duesenberg, sports car or roadster was the quickest and fastest. 

   Many groups formed after Mansell’s first effort. The Muroc Timing Association was formed by George Wight of Bell Auto Parts and George Riley, of the four-port Riley fame. The Purdy brothers and others were also involved and car clubs formed by young men provided the labor, which consisted mostly of security and clean up crews. Other organizations would arise over the years, including the SCTA, Bell Timing Association (BTA), Western Timing Association (WTA) and Russetta Timing Association (RTA). Often these groups would hold their racing meets on the same lake at the same time, or sometimes they would race at different times during the month. SCTA is the only timing association that is still in operation. The racing season would start in May and end in November, but often that month’s race would be cancelled due to rain, wind or other weather condition. The term land speed racing is used, but a better term would be land speed time trials. At certain times there were side by side racing with two or more cars. But this style of racing soon fell out of favor because the lead cars would churn up a lot of dust, which would obstruct the visibility of the cars behind them. This sport isn’t really about seeing which car and driver can ‘beat’ another car to the finish line. Drag racing was created to fill that need. In fact, drivers don’t really race against each other in land speed racing. They race ‘against the clock.’ The goal is to see how fast your car is. Eventually the organizers set up categories to make the time trials more interesting and fair. The first effort to sort out the racing was based simply on engine size, but over time the division of the categories have created hundreds of possible combinations. It is a Byzantine and often unfathomable welter of classes to the uninitiated and newcomers to the sport of land speed racing. There is a rulebook and a committee of technical inspectors who offer help in sorting out the various classes. Once a member decides on what he wants to do he goes through the rulebook and talks to knowledgeable land speed racers and begins to build his car. 

   It takes a lot of enthusiasm, talent, friends and help to build a land speed car and go racing with it. It may take a lot of money too, but sometimes land speed racers can accomplish great things with very little cash. It is a sport that decries commercialism and sponsorship. It is one of the most affordable forms of racing there is, although it can consume your time and your life. The men and women in this sport are dedicated to speed and a way of life that cannot be adequately explained unless you have experienced the thrill of this sport. It is hot and dusty, when it isn’t cold and blustery on the lakes. The action is slow paced and most of the runs down the track will not produce record runs. After a few hours the course is degraded and the speeds slow down. Then the officials consult on whether to move the course over to a new location and if they agree then this will cause a time consuming delay. The course is 1.3 miles long and it may be difficult to see the start from the finish line, or the finish of the run from the starting line. The final results are often not known until the end of the meet. There are few facilities and they are primitive in comparison to a modern city shopping mall. The racers carry in their food and water and are blessed with portapotties, but little else. When they have finished racing they must pack up everything and leave the desert spotless as they leave. What then is the thrill that overcomes these hard working men and women? Possibly it is the very hardships themselves, followed by the record run that sets them apart from the rest of mortal mankind. The achievement of speed that few others have ever reached. They become a fraternity and sorority of men and women that transcends family. They are a nation unto themselves with a language, set of values and beliefs that are heroic in nature. It is an addictive feeling of accomplishment, acceptance and status that once achieved, stays with them forever. The few that rise to the top of this group are looked upon as the special people. They would deny this if you asked them, because they believe in the egalitarianism of the hot rodding community.

   They kid each other and let people know that regardless of records set or broken, they are still just comrades in arms and friends. But they are still fierce competitors and they know it deep down inside. They will struggle mightily to break each other’s records, then lend an engine or parts to a competitor to help them in their hour of need. They will help each other when cars break down. They will watch out for their fellow land speed racers. Each person in the community is special to all of them. Then they will attack each other in their meetings with surprising ferocity. They are mortal and human, with flaws and complexities, failures and successes. Land speed racers will often fall from grace and be risen up again. The rules are complex and committees are formed to interpret them and reinterpret them and sides develop as to whether a rule was adhered to or not. Racers will pore over every detail of the rulebook looking for an advantage that will add speed or help them break a record. They consider cheating to be wrong, yet they often argue about what is cheating the rules and what is bending the rules in order to favor their quest for more speed. Heated debates rage in their board and club representative meetings. Points are awarded or taken away for infractions decided upon by the rules committee and the vote of the clubs. The model of the ‘one man, one veto’ comes from the Great Depression decade of the 1930’s. It was a desperate time and men and women struggled for want of jobs, food and money. But they did not consider themselves poor or secondary to the better off in society. A man’s reputation was based on what he did and what he achieved and not on how wealthy his family was. Skill, talent, drive and hard work counted for something in those days. A land speed racer might fall from grace, but there is always a chance to be rehabilitated and rise back up and be accepted as an equal again.

   The Dirty Two club is one of six 200 mile an hour associations. To belong to these organizations a person must have driven his motorcycle or car over 200 miles an hour on a timed and sanctioned course AND break an existing record. You can go 400 miles an hour in that classification that you are entered in, but if the record is 401 miles per hour then you won’t qualify for the 200 miles an hour group. The six groups are; Australian, Maxton, Bonneville, Muroc, Texas and El Mirage. Within each group there are special chapters for the 300 miles per hour racers and 400 miles per hour drivers. There are so few men who have gone 500, 600 and 700 miles per hour that no officially known group exists for them. Only one man has gone over 700 miles per hour on land and that person is Sir Andy Green. A RAF wing commander from Great Britain, driving Sir Richard Noble’s Thrust SSC car, Green set the current unlimited land speed record at Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada in October of 1997. Those men who have officially gone over 600 miles per hour on land include Craig Breedlove, Sir Richard Noble and Gary Gabelich. A handful more eclipsed 500 miles per hour. A dozen or two have reached 400 miles per hour. The number of men and women who have gone 200 and 300 miles an hour and set a record in their class are fewer than 700 individuals. “It has been said that more people have climbed to the top of Mount Everest than have driven a land speed car at a record clip over 200 miles per hour,” said Dan Warner. Warner said that quote came from Roy Creel. Even when you add in all the professional drag racers, stock car and oval track drivers, the number of men and women who have reached this speed on land in a sanctioned racing event is rather small. They are a group that exemplifies heroic deeds in a world that often pays tribute to non-heroic figures. Jim Miller told me that “many people consider the El Mirage Dirty Two club to be the hardest to get into and the real club.”

   The president of the Dirty Two Club is John Noonan and he is a young man who has reached the top through sheer drive and determination. He is a confident, brash and likable person, but with feet of clay as well. The SCTA suspended Noonan for a major infraction of the rules and he was banned from the SCTA meets for all of 2006. He went racing to Texas, North Carolina and other land speed venues and came back to a warm acceptance by his fellow racers in 2007 and is now the president of the club. He is one of the fastest motorcycle racers of all time. He might just be the fastest as this story is being written for the record is rewritten monthly somewhere in the world. Anyone who can straddle a motorcycle and go over 260 miles per hour is both special and a little crazy. He leads a group that is special. The first members of this group and their guests that toured the Edelbrock Museum that we saw included Warren Bullis, Jim Lattin, David Parks, Jim Miller, Keith Allen, Bob Webb, Neil Thompson, Kenny Hoover, Russ Ayres, George Callaway and Roy Creel. Bullis is the long-time treasurer and secretary of the SCTA and a dedicated land speed official. Webb is a member of the Gear Grinders Car club, Vice President of the SCTA and the Chief Timer for the organization. Jim Lattin is the president of the SCTA and has a museum of cars and motorcycles that is one of the best in the world. Parks is the son of NHRA founder Wally Parks. Callaway is the honorary Mayor of the El Mirage dry lake and a tireless worker in its preservation and use as a racing venue. Jim Miller is also a first class oral historian who compiles taped interview with veteran racecar drivers in motorsports racing. Dorothy Nickens was on hand to represent the Edelbrock Company in the sportswear department. She is the ‘official voice’ of the company, having worked as the main receptionist for 34 years. She assists with the tours given by Vic Edelbrock Jr and says about the club members, “they’re so enthusiastic about cars that it is a joy to be a part of this.” 

   Jim Miller pointed out more of the Dirty Two Club members and their guests. They included Mike Stewart, Sam Buck, Steve Toller, John Raines, Earl Wooden, Gary Garcia, Neil Thompson, Jim Lattin and Mike Spacek. Stewart worked hard to notify everyone in the club and organize the outing under the leadership of John Noonan. Sam Buck found the caterer, BBQbyDan and the food was outstanding. Earl Wooden and his Crossley are responsible for putting many people into the Bonneville Two Hundred Mile per Hour club. Jim Lattin, current President of the SCTA, has been that group’s leader four times. He has a thirteen point agenda to improve dry lakes and Bonneville land speed racing. “I want to make it more racer-friendly, remove obstacles and bushes from the course, and reduce the registration fees,” he told me. He explained how the board members have come up with a plan to speed up the racing at Bonneville by having two long courses, two short courses and a mini course for slower cars and motorcycles. Miller introduced me to Jim Knapp, Larry Burford, Dan Eubanks, Mike Carson, Kent Richies, Bruce Kelly, Brandon Harding and Bill Lattin. Bill Lattin is the son of the SCTA President, Jim Lattin. Bill has set records in his ‘Red Head’ streamliner powered by an Arden Flathead engine. He has also set records in a 1923 roadster. This year his son, also named Bill, will become the 3^rd generation Lattin family member to go after a record in land speed racing.   

(America’s Most Beautiful Roadster) Award at the Grand National Roadster Show. I asked him if he would sell the car back to me and we came to an agreement that after he died, his widow would sell me the car,” said Vic. “It cost me a fortune to get the roadster back and restore the car to its original condition,” he concluded. Edelbrock has a contagious love for hot rodding and it shows in his enthusiasm. He related personal stories of his family’s history in hot rodding and motorsports. His father was an original member of the Road Runners Car club and opened a service station in the 1930’s in the Hollywood area. Vic Sr also made heads and other engine parts and worked on racecars. Vic Jr told the throng about the time that racing great Eddie Haddad obtained a quantity of nitromethane fuel. They tested the fuel and found that if they blended a mixture containing 20% nitromethane that they could achieve a 40% increase in horsepower. They also discovered that they needed to nickel plate the carburetor and other engine parts or the nitromethane would corrode and eat away the metal. But the results were electrifying and they put the fuel in their V8-60 engines and blew right past the more powerful Offy’s.

   There were two race circuits in the 1940’s, the blue circuit was for Offy’s and the red circuit was for everyone else. Gilmore Stadium in Hollywood was specially built by the Earl Gilmore family and was one of the finest oval tracks in the country. It was the Edelbrock’s home base for racing. They also used the nitromethane to achieve huge speeds with Alex Xydias’ Belly Tank streamliner at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Vic Sr was also a mechanical master and was one of the first to put a small block Chevy engine in a race boat with great success. Vic Jr worked at the service station and speed shop while growing up. “I gave my parents so much trouble that my parents didn’t want any more children,” joked Edelbrock. Xydias, Vic Sr and Bobby Meeks took young Vic with them when they went to the Bonneville Salt Flats to set land speed records. “They didn’t feed me very much,” said Jr, “I’d be bigger if you gave me food and water,” he told the older men. Vic Jr was a source of pride for his father and mother. He played football and graduated from USC (University of Southern California) in the mid 1950’s. Vic Jr is still a die-hard Trojan fan and supporter. He served as a pilot in the Air Force and took over his father’s business in the early 1960’s. Vic Sr died at a very young age of 49 in 1962 and the car and boat racing world lost a true hero. Vic Jr married Nancy Edelbrock and they have three lovely daughters and many grandchildren. Vic Sr had been a prudent and careful man with finances and left Vic Jr with the assets to grow. Vic Jr is a marketing genius and his company now has half a million square feet of manufacturing space and a foundry in Hemet. The Edelbrock Corporation has 720 employees and 130 million dollars in sales annually. “My dad taught me well,” said Vic Jr, “parts have to be able to do the job they were designed to do.” They are associated with NASCAR, NHRA, land speed and oval track racing as official sponsors. 

   Vic Jr ended the introduction and took the guests on a tour of his modern plant. Several Edelbrock employees offered more insight into their company. Anna Glass has been with the company for seven years in the Sales department. “Most of our sales go through outside sales dealers and representatives,” she told me. Larry Monahan has been with the company for three years and is the shop plant manager and oversees 75 employees. His group runs the Russell Automotive Division and makes shocks, fittings, hoses and Harley/Davidson motorcycle parts as well. Candice Levinson has been with the company for four years and works in advertising. They told me that they have a foundry that casts their own parts. Vic Jr is very patriotic and buys and sells from and to the American market. They told me that the Asian parts and cast ingots are just not quite comparable in quality to American parts and castings. Peter Hatch is well known for his calibration skills. Scott Herrmann is the chief manufacturing engineer. He told me that the tours began about six years ago and the company has one tour a month at present. They have had car, school and trade groups tour the plant. Herrmann and the others recalled seeing the Mustang, Chrysler, AMC and Cobra clubs, along with the Fabulous Fords, SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), elementary and high schools and the L.A. Trade Tech.

   I spoke to Dirty Two Club member Rick Head who got into the club with a D/BG Grand Touring car, the ‘Sun Downer Corvette.’ He is a member of the LSR (Land Speed Racers) Car club and they have around 80 members. Dan Warner is the Record Certification Officer in charge of the impound area where record setting cars must be inspected to see that they kept within the rule book requirements. He has been a member of the SCTA since 1963 and set his record in 1992. “My record is 200.000mph, because you don’t have to go any faster to get into the 2 club,” he said. Dan, always loquacious, friendly and helpful added, “we get to wear the red hat.” The red hat is symbolic of these speedy men and women and is the only hat “where the head grows to fit the size of the hat,” said Warner. He told me that the Bonneville 200 mile per hour club has about 600 or so members, while the El Mirage Dirty Two Club has about 120 members. “Some say that the SCTA is the world record arbiter, but many of the board members don’t want to be in the international speed record business,” Warner added. He said that the membership doesn’t want to make it a livelihood and is content with sanctioning national U.S.

records and letting the FIA in Paris be the record keeper for worldwide events. “SCTA is a voluntary organization but we will have to have 120 people volunteer to staff and supervise the running of Speed Week at Bonneville in August,” he told me. We discussed the costs and complexities of land speed racing and Rick Head said, “Thank God for engineers, if it wasn’t for engineers hot rodders wouldn’t have anything to improve upon.”

   The food was hot, plentiful and delicious and served by a friendly husband and wife team, Dan and Barbara Hatch from Agua Dulce. The salad, cole slaw, chili, barbecued chicken, tri-tip and spare ribs met with approval from the blue jean and T-shirt crowd. Nothing fancy, just good wholesome food to go with down home hospitality and great companionship. Tommy Hodges introduced his wife Paula, daughters Tammy and Paula and son James. Tommy has never missed a land speed meet in 12 years. Also enjoying the food was Don Ferguson III, Robbie Cohn and Ronald Cohn, Don Clem, Dave Mendenhall, Steve Jirsa, Gerry Musil, Chris and Tammy Field, David Tollefson, Michelle Derwin, Philip Wilson and Rick Yacoucci. Ferguson is a bear of a man with a gentle soul and part of the large Ferguson clan of land speed racers who support the sport with all their heart. They helped a good friend of mine, Jim Travis, get into the Two club in their streamliner. Michelle is currently going through her licensing in the 1350 APSG motorcycle class. Yacoucci has only been racing since the mid-1990’s and already has 3 motorcycle land speed championships and 3 car land speed championships to his credit. One year he had the 1^st and 2^nd high points in the year on two different bikes. He is a member of the Super Fours Car club out of the San Fernando Valley. He has already built a new car to run in 2008. He has the fastest 4-cylinder car at 360 miles per hour. “I’ll race until it’s no longer any fun,” he told me and by the look in his face, that date is far off into the future. He will race a Flathead engine next year built by Jimmy Stevens. “Land speed racing is affordable,” said Yacoucci. “I have friends who all help out with parts and labor and that makes it easier. I probably only spent about $10,000 for parts last year,” he added.

   As the party and tour broke up, John Bjorkman from the Gear Grinders Car club stopped by to say hello. With him was Jane Barrett a lifelong Sidewinder Car club member and volunteer. They introduced Arlo Langley and his grandson, Forrest Crane. Arlo is not only a land speed racer but is a Top Fuel drag racers as well. He comes from the Santa Barbara area and is working with Jay Roach to develop a dragster that he can take on the NHRA professional tour. He is currently testing and tuning the car at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California. George Voss, a member of the Gear Grinders Car club and a longtime volunteer was loading up the car as we left. It isn’t often that we have the opportunity to meet and visit with men and women who have blazed a trail through the record books. The day was perfect, the Edelbrock Company was a gracious host, the food was tantalizing and the racers were the salt of the earth. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].

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