KEEPER OF THE FLAME: Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster
From Ernie & Elaine Nagamatsu

April 18, 2015, Induction Ceremony for Dry Lakes Hall of Fame – The Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster is inducted into Hall of Fame at Mendenhall’s Museum of Gasoline Pumps, Buellton, California.  It has been a magical journey for the legendary Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster, as it languished in a backyard in Apple Valley for over 42 years and the Spurgin and Giovanine families had thought the Dry Lakes racer was lost and gone forever.  The diminutive and indefatigable Lakester was restored like a curatorial museum project under the guidance and craftsmanship of William Erickson and Will Kalbermatter with noted Dry-Lakes historian Terry Baldwin on vigilant watch.

The S-G Roadster had continued to race after the epic record-breaking 1948 year to race in Drag Racing and the Bonneville Salt Flats, but the chassis and body remained the same.  The restoration of the S-G focused on the record shattering 1948 SCTA Dry Lakes racing season with the power plant being a Chevy 4 engine that had all of the tricks of Chevy 4 from the Wizards of the great Albata Club of Southern California. That rare accomplishment was not to be matched again was the fact that in 1948 and at every one of the six consecutive SCTA meets at El Mirage Dry Lakes, the small Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster broke the existing world record in it’s class without a miss, as everyone anxiously held their breaths watching land speed history being made in 1948. 

By breaking the record at each meet, the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster amassed an incredible 1,800 points leaving the other contenders in the dust for the High Points Championship; second place was Doug Hartfelt with 1,480 points.  One key element of the record was the fact that it was a period in racing that there was a great number of breakdowns of every kind you can imagine with no chance to make any major repairs in the desert at the Dry Lakes.  The other challenge was that in 1948, any car exceeding the previous existing record in it’s own class would be entitled to make a special run for the record.  For the attempt for an official record, a car would have to make two runs in both directions within a total elapsed time of 15 minutes (heaven forbid a strong wind in one direction).

The records were based on the average time in miles-per-hour of the two runs through a quarter-mile photo-electric timed course. It must be realized that the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster with its tiny Chevy 4, was in the minority – faced Flat Heads and early V8 engines.  One has to also realize that 1948 was the high water mark for land speed racing in the Dry Lakes attracting the most number of entrant cars and sometimes up to 400 entrants racing at a meet.  It was one of the most exciting times in Land Speed Racing as up 15,000 race fans would trek early in the morning to the desert areas near El Mirage and be greeted before sunrise with big bonfires to keep the fans warm; lucky for those with their leather WWII flight jackets.  It was soon after that year Drag Racing and Bonneville Racing took away the giant crowds of the Dry Lakes.

One can easily imagine at the last and sixth SCTA Meet at El Mirage in 1948 with everyone holding their breath for a magical dream for Bob Giovanine and Chuck Spurgin to come true; and the little black car with a shiny hand crafted aluminum nose with big dreams flashed by the clocks that final time, as their dreams did come true.  One of the most popular songs of 1948 was “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover” and the timing was perfect.  As the sun set behind the small mountains surrounding El Mirage at the last SCTA Meet of 1948, it would be easy to envision the celebratory burning of tires in the cut down 50 gallon drum making smoke signals that indicated that it was a new record and one for the books in Land Speed Racing.

The many members of the Spurgin and Giovanine families gathered together on April 18, 2015 at Mendenhall’s Gas Pump Museum in Buellton for the Induction Ceremonies of the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster.  Curt Giovanine, Karin Spurgin, and Teri Giovanine went to the podium to accept the Award for the Spurgin/Giovanine Roadster and for us, as it was officially inducted into the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame, as tears flowed.  To Chuck Spurgin and Bob Giovanine, we salute you today, wherever you are, as it was a magnificent milestone in Land Speed Racing that was established so long ago.   Yes indeed, it was the small sleek black roadster with a shiny aluminum nose that thought it could – and it did.