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The 14th Annual CRA Reunion was held on January 19, 2008 at the Knott's Berry Farm Hotel, in Buena Park, California. Walt and Dottie James began a revival of nostalgic midget and roadster racing some two decades ago. The late 1980's and early 1990's saw a renewed interest in nostalgic automotive racing of all kinds. Men and women who raced or were involved in the promotion of racing in the Golden Age of car racing were ready to meet again and renew old friendships. Walt was one of the original members and organizers of the CRA in the late 1940's and tried his best to hire my father, Wally Parks, away from the SCTA and run the new track roadster association. The CRA was a thrilling type of roadster racing for its era and many of the early members went on to race sprint and champ cars at Indy and elsewhere. Originally the name meant the California Roadster Association, but evolved into the California Racing Association. Other groups to arise in this form of racing included the URA and the WRA. Returning servicemen from World War II were anxious and excited to re-enter civilian life and many of them wanted to build their own cars and go racing. The government had closed down the auto racing tracks during the war to conserve rubber, gas, oil and other vitally needed war materials. The late 1940's saw our servicemen embrace car racing as never before and Walt James was both an organizer, administrator, racer and head cheerleader for auto racing. Race tracks proliferated all across the country. Many tracks were simply abandoned air force landing fields or dirt race tracks created in a farmer's field. It didn't matter where or when as long as you could draw fans, spectators, racers and cars to an area, put up a sign and fill the stands or sit on the hay bales. Racing was here to stay, or so we all thought.
The 1940's and '50's saw hundreds of stadiums and informal racetracks built or refurbished and a car, driver and crew could race every night of the week, if they had a mind to. The prize money and merchandise was enough to keep driver, owner, car and crew going from one race to the next until a professional class of racers developed. Like the fighters of that era, the goal was to finish in the money and not wreck the car. Lap after lap, heat after heat, race after race the winnings kept the crews, owners and drivers going. Many of the drivers had regular jobs and raced only for the extra money and thrills of racing. A surprisingly large number made a living out of racing. A typical purse might be only $50 or $100, but that was a weeks salary. Driving several heats an event and 5 or 6 events a week could net a driver more money in a month than a working man could earn in a year. Of course, the driver had to share his winnings with the car owner and buy meals and dinners for his crew and there were always accidents and injuries to contend with. Sometimes the promoters would run off with the proceeds of the gate admissions before the end of the race, or they would say they didn't collect enough gate receipts to cover expenses. Many times the drivers would pass a hat around in the stands in order to get enough money to pay for gas to get home. Racers had their home territories, their turf and their favorite tracks that they defended from outside racers. Some racers were so good at their home tracks that they never toured the country. Johnny Moorhouse won so often at Balboa Park in San Diego that it paid to bet on him winning the races there. Danny Oakes, on the other hand, was good at touring racetracks around the country.
The 1960's was the watershed decade in automotive racing. New sponsors, TV and advertising revenue were making many racers very rich and famous, but the numbers of cars and tracks were starting to diminish. The country was changing, the war in Viet Nam was taking a lot of men away from the sport and those who remained were not racing fans. Developers were buying up old race tracks and building homes and the local residents were upset with the noise and traffic congestion around the racing facilities. The trend was to build bigger and plusher race tracks and close down the smaller and less profitable race courses. The 1970's and '80's accelerated the decline in tracks and the costs to build and race were inflating and running less financed teams out of racing. It was so expensive to race that the trend was for some well financed race teams to have more than one car and dominate the prize money and sponsorships. Many companies began to pull out of racing, finding it too expensive to continue and racers were chasing fewer and fewer big sponsors. It was in the 1990's that the old time racers began to fight back against the trend and organize nostalgic reunions and races where the goal was to have fun and relive the glory days of racing, when a amateur and professional were often the same thing. Walt and Dottie James' CRA Reunion was one of the first. Aligned with the members of the WRA and the URA, Walt revitalized the oval track at Willow Springs in Rosamond, California and put on midget and sprint car races for the old cars and their drivers from the past. The goal is to have fun, but every so often the driving gets serious and accidents can happen. The drivers get that instinct that rests deep within them and pushes the old cars past their limitations. Cal Niday, one of the great racers of the 1940's, died in a crash at Willow Springs. Still, for the amount of racing that they do, nostalgic racing is one of the safest and most enjoyable of the automotive sports.
This year's reunion began around 11am and lasted to 4pm in the Rosamond Banquet Room of the Knott's Berry Farm Hotel. The honoree of the event was Bob Hogle, who raced, crewed, owned cars and volunteered as an official at a number of racing organizations. He raced jalopies as well as track roadsters. The other racers nicknamed him "Lover Boy" Hogle for his handsome looks and dimpled chin. He was a ferocious driver and a charmer with the ladies. He was respected by the men and loved by the fans. Bob Hogle was the archtypal '40's racer, the kind that we kids loved to root for. The banquet room was full of men and women from the early years, but time has taken a toll on them and many were missing, lost to another world beyond our realm. Gone was Don Freeland who ran at Indy. Missing was Dick McClung, who raced as Dick Webb and was one of the kindest, most helpful man I have every known. Wally Parks left us, the man that James and the CRA so desperately wanted to lead them in 1946. Old friend and super wonderful Rosie Roussel passed on. Glenn Howard, from So-Cal Performance passed away. Many more were ill or confined to their beds. Conspicuously missing was Bob and Penny Anderson, Don Blair, Joaquin Arnett, Jim Travis, Fred Blanchard, Don Weaver, Bud and Joan Meyer, Roger Ward, Howard Gardner, Stewart Van Dyne, Buck Smith, Danny Oakes, Ed Iskenderian, Ralph Foster and John Athan. But many were there, albeit with less hair and a limp. And there were a lot of second and third generation racers who came and will keep the reunion alive into the future. I talked to Louie Senter, the grand old man of Ansen Automotive. I promised Betty Senter that I would call him Louis, but he has been called Louie for so long that habits are hard to break. Senter came with Bob Leggio, who is involved in automotive insurance for show and race cars.
Jim Murphy and Rod Larmer were there too. These are the guys that you hardly ever hear about, but have a great impact on the sport. Jim raced cars and motorcycles. Larmer worked for the Conze Brothers for many years and has a personal museum dedicated to keeping the Conze name alive. Hila and Bob Sweet came to the reunion with their good friend, Parnelli Jones, the Indy 500 winner. Hila raced against men and women and was rarely beaten. Kind and gentle off the track, this lady was a tigress on the race course and has a record of winning 58 consecutive races against the ladies. She is the founder of the California Racers Reunion that is normally held around April in Southern California. Ed Justice Sr talked to me briefly and said that his son was busy with his live radio show and couldn't make it. Ed Justice Jr is the current president of the Justice Brothers Car Care Products and a major sponsor of auto racers. Others in the audience were Jim Asher, Nick Arias of Arias Pistons, Jim "the Fonz" Crickon, Chet Knox, the former owner of Autobooks in Burbank and Richard Marcella, host of the "Racing Show." Jim Chini, Ray Vodden, Al and Mary Ocampo, Greg Cunningham, Jim Kavanaugh, Ken Hillberg and Cecil Sutton were in attendance. Bob Falcon brought his "Shoehorn" safety device to show the crowd. It is now used in racing and fire departments to extract people from crashes withouthurting their spines. Vicki James worked the souvenir booth. Steve Howard represented So-Cal Performance selling many fine racing books. Jim Crickon brought an extensive collection of racing memorabilia to show off. Tim Kennedy, the longtime Publicist for the CRA and a great writer and reporter of circle track racing was present. Skip and Wilhelmina Hedrich brought pictures of their land speed streamliner to show. The food was Knott's Berry Farm's famous chicken and prime rib dinners. The day ended all too quickly and as we said goodbye to our friends we vowed to return for next year's 15th Annual CRA Reunion.
Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].
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