Twilight Cruise Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum Nov. 7, 2012
By
Twilight Cruise
Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum
Nov 7, 2012
Pomona, CA.
Story by Richard Parks,
Photographs by Roger Rohrdanz
Roger and I drove out to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum on November 7, 2012 to see the Twilight cruise and visit this first class auto racing museum. The cruise is limited to any pre-1980 vehicle and is hosted by the Museum staff with help and assistance from the Cal-Rods car club of San Gabriel, John Duran and other volunteers. The Auto Club of Southern California is the major supporter of this fine museum and Pro-Long Oil Company is a secondary sponsor. We always look forward to seeing our friends in hot-rodding at this event and to see those who are new to this car show. The Twilight cruise is held on the first Wednesday of the month from April thru December, except for the month of September when the Los Angeles Fair is going on. Two cruises are held in August to make up for the loss of September. The Twilight cruise usually attracts around 300 cars, trucks, vintage race cars, sometimes motorcycles and on a rare day, a speed boat. One never knows what will show up and this makes the cruise a special and interesting event. Four judges are selected to choose their favorite car, which will be invited to the NHRA Finals in November to be a part of an exhibit of hot rods and custom cars. These best of the best vehicles will then make a victory parade down the track in front of 40,000 roaring fans.
We also wanted to meet the new director of the museum, Larry Fisher, and possibly set up a time to interview him and find out what his vision for the museum was going to be. Roger had met Larry at the California Hot Rod Reunion (CHRR) in October, which was at the famed Famoso Drag strip just north of Bakersfield, California. At that time Larry told the crowd of vintage hot-rodders and drag racers that the Motorsports Museum was totally committed to the two reunions and that all of the proceeds of these events would go to support the mission of the museum. Shortly after the CHRR was held Larry published a notice in the National Dragster, a publication of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) that a third reunion would be organized on the East coast. We met Larry at the museum and introduced ourselves. Larry Fisher has lived in Southern California previously and is a hot-rodder like the rest of us. He has a huge smile, stocky build and a mind of his own. But while he knows what he wants to accomplish, he is also willing to listen and accept suggestions from others. Larry and Rose Dickinson, the previous acting director, were on their way to the race track to resolve some problems before the end of the year Finals that coming weekend, but he said that he would like to do an interview and lay out his ideas for the museum for our readers.
Roger and I wandered around the museum, which is always changing old displays and bringing in new ones to keep the public interested in coming back. The Neon Museum exhibit room was empty and their staff had left for their new facility in Burbank, California. I was sorry to see them go, for they were a very talented group of artists, but they left some of their neon works behind for us to see. The next exhibit will be on the old Lion’s Drag Strip that was located in Long Beach. A panel discussion and opening of the display will take place in early December at the museum. To get more information call the front desk of the museum at 1-909-622-2133. The Motorsports Museum covers 29,000 square feet, with ample glass display cases to show off collectibles, photographs and other racing and historical artifacts. The displays are all captioned with story boards to help visitors who are self-directed through the museum. There are no docent guided tours, but the displays are so well crafted that tours are not needed.
Inside the museum I met long-time friends Sharon and Bob Muravez. Bob is better known as Floyd Lippincott Jr, a racing alias that he chose so that his parents wouldn’t know that he was drag racing. Using an alias was a common practice half a century ago when drag racing and hot-rodding had a more wild and unsavory reputation in the community. I spoke to Wayne Philips, Sheri Watson and “Hot Rod” Sharai at the front desk. They always welcome me back to the museum and answer all my questions with a friendly smile and that helps when I’m trying to write a story on the events there. Bud Rasmus came up to say hello and tell me that his wife Lynne is volunteering at the gate where the cars are entering the parking lot. Bud and Lynne are great supporters of the cruise and museum goers. The facility wouldn’t be as successful without people like Bud and Lynne to help make things go smoother. That’s what makes events like the Twilight cruise so wonderful; besides the cars you have wonderful people and quirky and interesting stories to hear. Talking to the staff was “Fast” Jack Beckman, who was leading the points race in the Funny Car category. Jack is one of those young men who worked hard to prepare himself for a career in racing. He did whatever was asked of him and was a favorite instructor at Frank Hawley’s School of Drag Racing at the Pomona Drag Strip for many years. Beckman would go on to win the championship over the weekend when he beat out another good guy, teammate Ron Capps by a mere two points. Somebody’s got to win and someone’s got to lose, but we always hope that they all come out winners.
The weather can be hot in Pomona, but this autumn day in California was near perfection. We enjoyed beautiful weather, in the high 60’s and nearly everyone was in tee shirts or short-sleeve shirts. One young lady who took advantage of the nice weather was Erin Micklow, a model and actress who poses for Mitzi Valenzuela in San Dimas, California. I spoke to Mitzi and asked her how her vintage and traditional modeling and photography business was doing. She told me that she has come out with another pin-up calendar and that she and her models were in great demand at car shows, cruises and other hot-rodding events. Mitzi, with her dark hair, beautiful eyes and outrageously gorgeous smile could easily be a model herself, prefers to be a standout photographer. She loves denim and tee shirts and carries a camera almost as big as she is nearly everywhere that she goes. Mitzi fell in love with the 1940’s and ’50’s glamorous pin-up style of photography made famous by Betty Page, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake, Betty Grable and Jayne Mansfield. What are cars, drag racing and motorsports without a place for the ladies? Mitzi has found a place for them in the pin-up contests, boudoir portraiture and calendars and young women have flocked to her studios to be photographed. Mitzi has found her work in producing wonderful holiday photographs for the models’ boyfriends.
Just then Erin exited the museum after changing into her 1940’s short skirt and the eyes of hundreds of hot-rodders focused on her alone. “I hope her dress isn’t too risqué,” said Mitzi. “Not in the least as far as the male hot-rodders are concerned, “I answered. We talked for a few seconds, with that red-red lipstick of the vintage years undeniably making my job more difficult, and then the photographer and the model had to leave. They had to take advantage of the daylight and the hundreds of cars to stand next to or sit in and be photographed. You might think that hot rods are eye candy for guys only, but you would be wrong; a model lives for the chance to be photographed in every style and variety of hot cars. Mitzi has a gold mine here; beautiful cars, gorgeous girls and a great camera. If you want to see more of Erin you can go to www.modelmayhem.com/ErinMicklow, or www.imdb.me/ErinMicklow.com. To see more of Mitzi Valenzuela’s photographic work go to www.mitziandco.com.
I met Roger Gorringe, who is originally from Cambridgeshire, England, but spends a lot of time here in the states, covering drag racing for www.nitroexposure.com. I’ve seen Roger at a lot of events here on the West Coast, but this was the first time I have had a chance to talk to him. He has been a photographer and writer on the sport of drag racing for forty-one years. He covers Santa Pod Raceway, Shakespeare County Raceway and York Raceway for the website. I learned that Santa Pod was named after the original dragstrip, Santa Ana. Shakespeare County Raceway was originally Avon Raceway. York Raceway is up in the northern part of England. The Brits prefer the term Raceway, while Americans like Dragstrip or sometimes Dragway; but it’s all quarter mile straight-line racing. With Roger on this trip across the pond was Andy Willsheer and he has been covering drag racing as a photojournalist for forty years. Andy writes and takes photographs for New Zealand Hot Rod magazine and other publications and his home base is just outside of London, England. The magazine has been published since 1967 and covers drag racing and hot-rodding in Australia and New Zealand. The website is at www.nz-hotrod.com/. With Roger and Andy was Bobbie Colgrove, who has covered motorsports racing since the 1960’s in the United States and helped to break the barriers that kept women from covering sports. She is a real pioneer in journalism and also a volunteer at the Motorsports Museum.
John Duran drove by in his electric cart and stopped to give me a ride. John helps to run the cruise and many other car shows and events. He always knows what is going on and is a big help in leading me to a good story. John mentioned how the museum has cancelled the 50-50 raffle, but added other activities to take its place. Change isn’t always welcomed among hot rodders who would prefer to keep things as they have always been. John introduced me to some of the participants at the cruise and pointed out things about the cars. Vic Cunnyngham waved hello as we drove by. Vic is a Cal-Rods member and one of the creators of the Wally’s Roadster, in memory of Wally Parks, which is often exhibited at the museum. Duran showed me the pizza stand and the picnic tables that he set up to give the cruise a nice place for people to eat and have a beer. It was situated under the trees and was a very pleasant addition to the cruise. We stopped at the entrance gate where I met Lynne Rasmus and together we walked back to see Bud Rasmus, near the Pro-Long tent. Pro-Long Oil products grew rapidly during the 1990’s and then suffered a financial set-back. Dan Griffin bought the rights to the name brand and reorganized the company. Pro-Long is a brand under the Golden West Lubricants Company and is a sponsor of the TwiLight cruise and many other car shows and events.
Bud and Lynne Rasmus introduced me to a charming lady, nonagenarian Marion Boudreaux, who was as animated and excited to see all the hot rods and roadsters as were the teenagers present. One never loses the love for the automobile, no matter how many years we have on the meter. Marion uses a walker to help her get around, but loves to come to the cruise to support her son Ron Boudreaux, who is a regular at the Twilight cruise. Ron’s ride for the day was a ’72 Chevy Sedan. Lynne later sent me this email; “I thought you would like to see the picture Bud took tonight. And I wanted to tell you that Marion, the cute little old lady you talked to might well be the ‘oldest’ cruiser at the Museum tonight. I had an opportunity to talk to her son after you left and he told me she is 95 years old. I would never have guessed it. She lives by herself, still drives, but her son told me that the 3rd and 4th gears are gone in her transmission, and she only goes about 35 mph. She does just fine with 1st and 2nd gear. We have known the son for several years, from other cruises, but didn't know his name or associate him with her until tonight. What a delight she was.” This is what is so wonderful about cruises, one just never knows who they will meet or what kind of an experience they will have, but it is always great no matter what.
We missed seeing one of the regulars, Dave McClelland, but Steve Gibbs came in his orange ’50 Ford and with him was Art Chrisman. You don’t get any more drag racing heritage that Gibbs and Chrisman. Gibbs worked for my father as the track operator and race director for many years. Many a racer had to face Gibbs at the starting lines or in the pits, along with Buster Couch. They could be tough, but they were always fair and in the end the drag racers admired these men. Art comes from a racing family that ran at the dry lakes and later became part of the original drag racing pioneers, starting with the Santa Ana Drags in 1950. Art and his son Mike are still building great hot rods and race cars at their shop on Alton Avenue in Santa Ana. James Drew drove in from Las Vegas where he is now living. I covered races with Drew as my photographer. I didn’t remember him being as tall as he was and wonder why photogs are always tall. It’s probably an advantage when trying to get that good shot over all those photographers standing in front of you. Another photographer that was present was Dave Parker, who takes photos for Bergstrom’s Photography. It was time to go, but before we left I had to go over and say hello to Cindy Gibbs, the daughter of Steve and Gloria Gibbs. That’s a nice thing about cruises; it gives us a chance to make new friends and to say hello to old friends. See you in December at the next Twilight cruise.
Car Images Album 1:
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