Words: Anna “SCTA Sweetie” Marco
Photos: Mike Basso and Mark Brazea
Sally Speed is named after the Don Rich lyrics for a Waylon Jennings song, “Sally Was A Good Ole Girl,” and she’s known as the fastest ‘32 coupe to run Bonneville with a 6 cyl. GMC dump truck motor. Allen McAlister and Doug Robinson are proud of that. They and partner Don Berg built her out of their shop, BMR Racing, where she’s stabled alongside other high performance fillies. Sally likes to set records in the 200 MPH Club because of her mystical charm. She wears the fuel filter from the Burk-Francisco belly tanker (first one to run Bonneville). Her fastest speed is 214 and has yet to be beat.
Good Ole Girl
In 1970, the 5-window coupe was found in a Pasadena, CA backyard. Kids played “hot rod” in it as it sat on the ground. The former owner, Don Herman, sold the body and frame to Allen for $300, and Allen jokingly blames Larry Berford for starting it all. “He’s my hero. He’s still racing salt flats in a roadster at age 85. He let me sweep his shop mess at age 16. That’s when I got interested in Bonneville and started collecting parts.” Sally was conceived in 1985, built in 1986, and right off the trailer on her maiden run in 1989, she broke a 141 mph record doing 151. The car’s speed line paint scheme is based on period correct criteria. Allen quips, “We passed out 11×14 photos to friends asking for paint designs in return for free t-shirts.” The winner was one of Doug’s kids who based the idea on the fact that Doug’s car was yellow & Don’s was red. So we painted it yellow and red.”
Record Runs
The little yellow and red coupe holds a total of 28 records apropos to the song, “No matter what the request /She gave it her best /Sally was a good ole girl.” It’s been the #1 SCTA car 3x and is in the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame. The dash plaques fill an entire wall in the trailer; sixteen awards are from El Mirage in Comp Coupe & Altered and the car runs the XX/0, X/0, XX/F classes, gas, fuel (blown & unblown). Additional accolades come from Muroc and Bonneville with certificates and timing tags to prove it. All Sally’s trophies are displayed at Berg Hardware in Pasadena, CA (partner Don Berg’s shop). As a side note, Don was former partner in an El Mirage car before the Sally coupe and he never got to keep any of those trophies because the other guy got them. No regrets; Sally’s numerous trophies irritate that guy now. Sally was retired in 2005 but the boys changed their mind especially Doug who said, “put an Ardun in it because there’s a whole lot of people we haven’t pissed off yet so we got to run the car.”
Partners in Time
So how did three speed demons meet to create an award winning hot rod? Doug Robinson was involved in off-road racing and met Allen McAlister there. Allen, a retired trucker, still owns his black, street legal, 1932 5-window coupe with a blown Chrysler in it; the one he’s had since 1966. If you ever want to get him on the phone you have to wait until the Funny Car Finals on Ch. 144 are over.
Doug Robinson is a bonafide “racer’s racer.” He worked for Blair’s Speed Shop as a teen and has been racing since the 1950’s. For the past fifty years, he has owned Bursch Exhaust/Horsepower Engineering. In Top Fuel drag racing, Doug was the 7th person to ever go 200 mph in 1966 (@ Fontana Raceway) and one of the first to put a 671 supercharger on a Chevy V8. He still owns the KRLA/Horsepower Engineering top fueler that’s one of the few cars that beat the Greer/Black/Prudomme team. Today, that vehicle is exhibited at his shop complete with its original paint.
Don Berg was a like-minded soul who has partnered and owned racecars since forever. He supplied hardware and safety equipment but didn’t turn a wrench. The BMR Race Team has stuck together since 1986 with $12,000 invested, split 3 ways, and won a record on their first race. One memorable story involves finding a valuable Proto screwdriver holding together the pack of a $5 Crossform chute found at the Long Beach swap meet, “We used that chute for 7 years & we still have it. It worked fine until we started going faster. We nickeled and dime’d every used part on the car over the years and it’s been good to us. Sally is our Cinderella of the dry lakes. Took 4 yrs to build the coupe and 10 years for our roadster. If you’re not breaking parts, you’re not on the edge. Gray Baskerville loved our car so much he put us in Hot Rod Magazine every chance he got. Former Circle Track Tech Editor, Wil Hansel drove the car at Muroc. Wil did 200 mph in it and broke a record. (See HRM 50th Anniversary issue.)”
Success out of the Box
This coupe was so fast and looked so good upon her debut on the lakebeds that haters got jealous. Not well liked in the beginning, Sally stepped up the game of what soon was to transpire on the dry and salt lakebeds and flipped the sport on its head. Lets face it, she had class, was innovative and pretty. What’s next for her? Allen says, “Our goal was 200 mph and we did it after 17 years. She will never be sold; she‘s just too good. One day we will just put her in the family room and watch TV with her. We aren’t going to build another one like her. Doug has his roadster with the Keith Black motor he’s going to push to 300 mph at Bonneville. The fuel engine was gifted by Sally’s first driver, Jerry Darien, and has gone 291 thus far. Overall, our only disappointment is Sally didn’t make the “Top 75 Most Influential 1932 Fords of All Time.” We hope we live long enough to see it in the Top 100.” What? Balderdash! I give her #1 right now. Zoom!
TECH SHEET
Owner: Allen McAlister & Doug Robinson, BMR Racing
Car Club: Milers, SCTA
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Year: 1932 5 w. coupe
Make: Ford
Body Custom Fabrication: race car/ no fiberglass all steel—everything built except body
Color: Yellow
Paint Type: enamel
Painter: Paul Winson
Custom Graphics: red scallops. Striping & lettering by Dennis Jones (Whittier, CA)
Engine: 49-53 ford flathead—Ardun overhead conversion by Don Ferguson; fuel filter from Burk-Francisco belly tanker
Transmission: 5 speed Jericho
Exhaust: headers by Doug Robinson (Horsepower Engineering, Pasadena CA)
Intake & Carb: fuel injection by Don Ferguson
Ignition: Mallory magneto
Rear End: Cook quick change
Suspension Info: coil over f/r—front is custom by BMR Racing
Brakes: Airhart discs
Wheels/Size: steel: 18” Rear by Mike Cook/F: 15” aluminum spindle mounts
Tires/Size: R-800×18 firestone/F: M&H front runners
Seats: fiberglass custom bucket in Nomex covers-Harness by DJ Safety
Dashboard: Racepack
Steering Column: Ross steering box, custom shaft
Interior Extras: DJ Safety Equipment (Glendale CA)
Garage-Built Stuff: BMR Racing
Windows: lexan-smoke color
Taillights: none
Club Affiliation: Milers CC- EST 1938-SCTA AFFILIATED
