A Visit with Tom Smith

Written by Tom Smith, edited by Richard Parks,
Photographic consultant Roger Rohrdanz 
03-10-11

I was born in Henryetta, Oklahoma on June 30, 1933.  I was raised in Oklahoma until I was 2 or 3, and then moved to Texas for a year.  I lived in Arkansas from 1937 to 1942, and then my family moved to California in 1942.  We moved around a bit inside California for a while.  My father was Ernie E. Smith, and he was born in Marble Falls, Arkansas in 1901.  He shoveled ore in zinc factories (hence our early moving around) and was a professional heavyweight fighter defeating 4th, 5th and 6th world ranked heavyweights.  He was a welder in shipyards during WW II, and then drove various 18-wheeler trucks.  My father’s parents were from Arkansas and were farmers.  My mother was Lillie M. (Stewart) Smith, born in Checotah, Oklahoma in 1908.  She taught school until 1942, was a Rockwell inspector at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, California during WW II, and then went to medical school in 1946 and became a MD.  My mother’s parents were from Kansas (grandmother) and Oklahoma (grandfather) and were farmers like almost everyone else at that time.  I went from the first grade through the fifth in Cedarville, Arkansas.  My mother was my teacher for grade 1 and maybe grade 2, then became the school principal.  Then we moved to California and I entered the sixth grade in Long Beach, California.  I attended the seventh grade in Corona and then back to Paramount, California.   The eighth through the tenth grades were spent in Paramount, and then we moved to Alhambra for my last two years in high school.  I attended Pasadena City College and Cal State University at Fresno, and then graduate school at the same university.  I don't remember lower grade friends (if any) and the only shop class was print shop for 3 years.  I have had a job since I was 11.  My first job was as a paper boy and I did this from age eleven to fourteen.  I worked in a grocery store from fifteen until I was seventeen.  When I turned eighteen I raced motorcycles full time.  I never made it into the military.

My parents, taken in 1953		Scrambles-1951 -- This is me on my Gold Star BSA at Lincoln Park scrambles (I think) in 1951, needing some help.
Scrambles 1951 -- I am the front person riding my Gold Star BSA.  I wasn't actually leading the race; it's just good cropping.		Bonneville 1952 --  This picture has not been published in this form.  Usually it is seen cropped.  I was riding the Blackie Bernal Triumph 650cc built by Bud Hare a day before my accident.
Catalina 1952 -- I am riding Harley Hummer (125cc) #59.  I rode Catalina in 1951, 52, 54, 55, 56 & 57 and blew up my engine each time.  In 1951 I rode a Gold Star BSA, in 1955 a NSU 125cc and the rest of the time on my Harley Hummer 125cc.		This is the fuel knucklehead I usually rode in drag races from 1951-52.  It was owned by Joe Fernandez and his wife posed with me in the picture.
1956 -- The start of the 125cc race on Catalina 1956.  I am riding my Harley Hummer #3.		Burt Munro, Bud Hare, Jeff (left to right) -- Date unknown.  The motorcycle is Bud's center hub steering Triumph.  I just thought you would like to see it even though it is unrelated to me. The picture is from one of Bud's nephews.
Carrell Speedway -- This is me riding a K-Model Harley on June 6, 1952.		Gas panhead 1958 -- This is my 80 cu in Harley panhead gas dragster.  It was the gas record holder at several drag strips including Lions, San Fernando, San Gabriel and two or three others

 I raced motorcycles in a variety of venues: half mile dirt track, TT, ¼ mile dirt track, scrambles, desert hare and hounds, enduros, dry lakes speed trials and drag races along with some field meets and observed trials. My Pro TT experience was from 1950-52 at Anza Riverside, Box Springs TT Riverside.  My 1/4 mile short track racing was at Culver City and Lincoln Park.  The scrambles and desert racing was from 1948-1952 mostly in the Mojave Desert.  Speed trials were held at Rosamond and El Mirage dry lakes from 1948-52.  The drag races were from 1950-52, and 1957-1959 mostly in Southern California on dragstrips like San Gabriel, Pomona Santa Ana, Lions, Famoso, San Fernando, Saugus, Fontana and Colton plus probably some more.  I was a pro dirt track racer for two years starting at the end of 1950 through mid-1952 at Carrell Speedway and Tulare, California, riding my BSA Gold Star and a K-Model Harley.  I normally rode a knucklehead Harley fueler owned by Joe Fernandez at drags.  Joe lived in Fontana, so we usually raced at Fontana and Colton.  I remember one race against Joe "Frenchy" LeBlanc at Pomona; I blew up shortly after the start and caught on fire so I lost big time.  I used to save data on my racing, and remember that I averaged 50 races per year when I was 17 and 18.  I started desert racing in the Mojave when I was 15.  I totaled about 4,000 miles of actual racing.  In mid 1952 Joe Fernandez decided to increase the displacement of his knucklehead from 80 cubic inches to around 96 cubic inches.  No aftermarket cylinders were available so Joe had to have some custom made by turning billet cylinders in a local machine shop.  Since I didn’t have a drag strip ride, Joe asked his late friend Henry “Blackie” Bernal to let me ride his 650cc Triumph.  I rode Blackie’s Triumph three times.  The first time was at the Pomona drags in July, 1952 where I was top eliminator, racing against the fastest car (named "Supersonic Sam").  The second time was at Rosamond dry lake, where I ran a little over 134mph and was the fastest 650cc bike. This was an annual meet held in both July and September, but I don't remember the sponsor.  The third time was at Bonneville.   I don't remember many of the competitors except for Joe Simpson and Bud Hare.  When I went to Bonneville, I took my desert/half-mile flat track leathers with me.  I didn’t wear them because it was difficult to maneuver while riding the Triumph.  In retrospect, maybe I should have.  Then again, I got my draft notice for the Korean War two weeks after the accident.  Maybe I was lucky after all.  My accident happened six weeks after I turned 19, so I was prime draft material.

     At Bonneville the bike was built by Bud Hare and had lots of ignition trouble.  Bud had brought a box full of magnetos; most of the time a magneto lasted only one run.  Bud was well known as an innovative builder of the famed twin Triumph-engined "Dubble Trubble" dragster, a center hub steering Bonneville bike, a lay-down 500cc Triumph which set the record of over 134mph during the 1952 Bonneville meet and several others.  I qualified for the record two or three times, and never made a successful return run due to mag failure.  Bud brought two motors to Bonneville; he said that the one I used had 65hp.  The other one developed 70hp.  I don’t know if the 70hp motor was ever used.  I made one qualifying run taching 7,200 rpm and backed off the throttle to keep the rpm down.  7,200rpm was indicated 165mph and the timed speed was 147.78, so I had a lot of wheel spin.  I drifted side to side and it generally felt like I was floating.  On a later run it felt like I was getting into a wobble.  Bud Hare, Blackie and I discussed it and one theory was lack of weight.  It turned out that we were right, but we didn’t do anything.  I was making another qualifying run when I got into a big wobble about when I was entering the first timing trap.  This happened very fast and then next thing I knew I was going down on the left side.  I remember pushing the handlebars away from me as I was hitting the ground, and the Triumph apparently straightened up and just got warped front forks and a dented gas tank.  Next, I started bouncing, landing flat on my back three times.  I was trying to “tuck in” and roll, but spectators said they saw the bounces and then I was all arms and legs flailing around.  I came to a stop near the timing stand, where the ambulance was parked.  I got loaded into the ambulance in just a couple of minutes, which was the best possible outcome.  I think I was making another run close to 150mph since I was clocked at 139mph average sliding through the first 1/10 mile timing trap.

     After the accident, the Triumph was repaired and Blackie Bernal rode it.  Since I weighed 124 pounds and Blackie weighed a lot more his added weight apparently stabilized it so he had no speed wobble problems.  He made a one-way run at 148.08mph and a two-way record of a little over 144mph.  I don’t know if he used the 70hp motor.  It’s too bad I backed off the throttle on my 147mph run – I think would have easily beaten Blackie’s best time.  It looks like I’ll never know.  When my accident happened, the ambulance crew (Scotty’s Muffler Shop, which was the Bonneville ambulance for several years, had a nifty picture of a muffler on the doors) was under the impression that the nearest emergency room was in Wells, Nevada.  So we headed there.  In Wells, they said that the closest emergency room was in Elko, Nevada so off we went again.  Joe Fernandez, whose fuel dragster was my regular ride, followed in his car.  Joe said that his speedometer read about 110mph so I had a fast ride.  I was put in the Elko hospital for five days.  At the close of the Bonneville meet, the Scotty’s muffler ambulance crew came by and offered to take me to Corcoran, California where my parents and I lived.  I don’t remember much about the trip, but it was uneventful and worrisome to the ambulance crew (which I think was just the driver/owner at that point).  All in all, I totaled up 755 miles laying flat on my back in the rear of the ambulance.

     I stayed in bed in my home for about 18 months.  I forget just how long it was.  My mother Lillie Smith, who was a MD, arranged for day care for me.  I was covered with bandages except from my knuckles down, my ankles and feet, my neck up and my crotch.  After my mother got home from work, she changed my bandages.  We changed half each day and it took four hours.  The problem was that back then, Vaseline and gauze bandages were used and they tended to stick to areas that had no skin.  This was 20-35% of me.  After a few months my mother arranged for a skin graft.  The guy who did the graft, whose name I don't remember, was head of the California Medical Association.  My father, Ernie, didn’t think I was in good enough shape for the operation, and he was right.  Instead of improving, my raw areas ulcerated and got a lot worse.  My weight went to about 85 pounds and my blood pressure dropped to 85 over almost nothing.  My mother put me on intravenous feeding.  This had to be done in the back of my right hand and took 3 hours and 45 minutes each feeding.  Since my right arm was the only thing I could move, life was miserable for a few weeks.  I could use only my right arm for the first 16 months.  If the skin graft had been delayed 6 months or so, I probably would have recovered a lot sooner.  By the way, I lost gauze bandages a couple of times.  The bandages would sink into the raw flesh and I had to use tweezers to fish out the strands one at a time.  I think there is still one lost in my left thigh.

     Strangely, once I started getting better I recovered very rapidly.  I went from flat on my back to walking in about a month.  Note that the primary reason for my long recovery was the technology used to treat burn victims back then.  Luckily I had abrasive burns instead of fire.  Near the end of my recovery, my mother (who liked to do research) bought some experimental artificial skin she had found in medical literature.  It was a plastic resembling thick Saran Wrap perforated with tiny holes for ventilation.  We put a layer of this directly over the missing skin and then put gauze.  As soon as we tried this, I started getting noticeably better and the bandage change dropped to about an hour a day.  If the artificial skin had been available to start with, my recovery would have been much faster, but that is the way things go.  Luckily for me my mother was a very smart doctor or I would have probably died.  In her career as a general practitioner she delivered about 5,000 babies.  Her infant death rate was about 1/3 the rate of the other local doctors.  She also discovered that massive doses of Penicillin would cure the most common venereal diseases.  This was before it was an approved treatment, and some doctors in town said she didn’t know what she was doing.  She also invented an IUD that Abbot Labs wanted the rights to manufacture.  She had 255 semester units of college before starting medical school, graduating with a triple major and two minors.  A bachelor’s degree usually requires 134 semester units.  I just wish I was as smart and had as much common sense. 

     After recovery, I started back to college.  I had 2 ½ years at Pasadena City College as a pre-med major prior to my accident, and changed to math when I returned (to Fresno State).  As a result of the change, I essentially started college all over.  I was a graduate student with two classes to go for a Masters degree when I got fed up and bailed out.  I got a job at Edwards AFB as a mathematician, which really meant computer programmer, in 1959 and stayed with computers until I retired in 2001.  I worked my way from mathematician/programmer to an Engineering computer facility manager, then semi-retired and switched to telecommunications.  In 1957 I decided to get back into drag racing, so I built up a Harley panhead gas drag bike, which I raced in Southern California.  Its highlight was the elapsed gas record of 10.65 seconds at Lions drag strip in (I think) 1958.  By 1959 I had a wife, three kids and a job at JPL where I worked 60-70 hours/week.  I decided that also going racing was too much for me to handle, so I quit drag racing and kept doing the rest.  That’s it.  I won’t bore you with my computer story.  It turned out better than my Bonneville escapade.  The Bonneville pictures were published before in other books (one was in John Stein’s book).  Cycle magazine provided the Bonneville picture to me.  The picture of Blackie’s bike in drag race configuration was given to me by Blackie.

This is me - slightly better than my passport or drivers license picture, but there is no hope for me.  I was cuter when I was two.		A picture of wife in 1968 (to make up for the picture of me).
Wife Gloria and granddaughter in 1993 - the granddaughter will be 22 next week, I can't comment on wife's current age but she was 59 in the picture.

    I married in 1956, and my wife and I have three sons.  One son is a Doctor of Pharmacy, another son is an Anesthesiologist, and the last son works in Public Relations.  My wife and I have two grandchildren; our grandson is graduating high school this year, and our granddaughter is graduating from UC Santa Barbara in 2011.  I worked at Edwards AFB from 1959 through 1963 as a Mathematician/computer programmer doing aircraft flight test.  I worked for Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena from 1964 through 1976 as a computer systems programmer and manager.  I then went to work for Garrett AiResearch (now Honeywell) from 1976 through 1991 as a Dept manager.  From 1991 to 2001 I was a telecommunications consultant at various places (San Diego, San Antonio TX, Korea, Japan, and Irvine CA).   In 1993 I worked four months at the Army Burn Center in San Antonio, Texas.  Once I met the elderly guy who ran the burn center, but I usually worked in a remote lab doing computer networking and never saw any patients in the burn center.  The lab did experiment on me a bit, since the Major running it was doing a survey on burn victims.  I was one of the few abrasive burn/road rash types since the Burn Center usually saw fire or chemical burn victims.  I have been retired since the end of 2001. 

Gone Racin’ is at [email protected]