Tommy Kerr '67 on August 15, 2020 at 10:44 AM said:

I meant to say, the part of Ken Miles was played Christian Bale, superbly I might add!..........the racing scenes were extremely well done......TK

Paul Saevig, ‘67 on August 14, 2020 at 10:07 PM said:

Someone mentioned Rita Reed's dad’s double AA fuel altered dragster “Pure Heaven” racde the competitor “Pure Hell”. Then to the Winter Nationals in Pomona.

Vern Fotheringham on August 14, 2020 at 9:26 PM said:

Paul,

Regarding the fastest SHHS car .. class of '66 I vote for Jim Sundey's Pontiac GTO. He added Bassett Headers (shop on S. Harbor), and various engine mods, and them led the trend away from drag racing to road racing with real Amercian Magnesium wheels and Goodyear racing tires all around.

Regarding the Carbon Canyon "lap time" and shifting without the clutch, no problem. That road is where I learned how to drive... never sped through Sleepy Hollow or near houses, which were few and far between in those days.

Riverside International Raceway... Rich Munroe, Jim Sundey and I all fell in love with sports car road racing as soon as we had our drivers licenses. We went to all the USRRC and CanAm and later TransAm and Formula 5000 races there during our college years, and then I started driving at about age 22 at RIR and Willow Springs and Laguna Seca and Sears Point. I learned over the next four years that I was "good enough to know I was not good enough!" So I pivoted to building racing cars, running racing teams and pioneering Japanese performance parts, aluminum wheels and racing cars into the US. I left motorsports for wireless telecom in 1983, and then resumed the racing business when my oldest son decided he wanted to go racing. It was a good trade, as he also passed through and safely out of the "bad gene" induced racer mentality, and is now a senior executive in the automotive industry.

The other comments about Ford versus Ferrari were perfect, and I was delighted to see Ken Miles memory be rescued from history to provide him his well deserved position in the pantheon of great racing drivers.

Thanks for the memories.

BTW, does Jim Sundey follow the Spoon? We need to find him.

All the best to all,

Vern

PAUL SAEVIG, ‘67 on August 14, 2020 at 8:19 PM said:

1. I WAS TOLD THE FAVORITE DRAG STRIPS IN 1950S AND 1960S FULLERTON WERE WILLIAMSON WAY BETWEEN EUCLID AND RICHMAN -- THE 91 FREEWAY -- THE NEARBY HIGHWAY 39 OR EBACHBIUEVAD -- BASANCHURY ROAD -- AND WEST ORANGETHORPE -- OTHERS SAY ORANGE GROVE ROADS.,

2. I ALWAYS HEAD ABOUT THE FAMOUS RACING FAMILIES INCLUDING MAZMANIAN AND SIROONIAN, AND GALLIO,

3. VERN FOTHERINGHAM, ’66 AND JOHN SCHULZE, ’67 ALSO WROTE GREAT REPLIES ABOUT RIVERSIDE, I’LL LOOK FOR HESE COMMENTS

4. WAS THERE ANY WAY TO SAY WHO HAD THE FASTEST CAR AT SUNNY HKS HIGH SCHOOL N HE 960S? WAS THERE ANY CONSENSUS ON THAT? WAYNE WAKEMAN, ’67 MAYBE?

5. A BPHS ’62 GUY TOLD ME ONCE HIS BROTRER COULD DRIE THROUGH CARON VANYON IN 11 MINUTES FLAT WITHOIUT USING THE CLUTCH. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT?

6. DO YO REMEMEBR LEGENDARY FULERTON DRAG RACES? I COULD OYU COULDNTAYINOUBLC,

7. BILL DICKINSON ‘65WAS A RACE FAN AND USED TO GO TO FORMULA 1 RACES IN EURIPE, (HE IS A MUSICIAN)

8. SUNNY HILLS DENTIST DR, TORMEY WAS AN OLD HOT RODER AND USED TO WORK AT THE FAMIUS BRBANK SEED SHOP,

9, I WILL ADD SOME CHERRY VIDEOS NOW!

Paul for Tommy Kerr, ‘67 on August 14, 2020 at 8:04 PM said:

I asked Tommy if he went to the Riverside Raceway, I don;t think he'll mind if I telt you how he replied:

Yes I would go with my family. My Mom’s brother, my uncle Bill Stoops, was a mechanic for several race drivers, one being Dan Gurney. We would go to Paramount Ranch, Santa Barbara, and a couple of other race tracks very often. I used to see all the famous drivers of the fifties sixties and early seventies. If you get a chance to see Ford vs Ferrari, you will love it. It is so well done and is the story of when Ford built the Ford GT40 that swept Ferrari five years in a row at LeMans, infuriating Enzo Ferrari. One year Dan Gurney and a partner that was a famous stock car driver at the time, can’t think of his name, but were 35 miles ahead of the second place driver, when they won the race at La Mans that year. Ford dominated!! Ferrari was going bankrupt at the time so Ford tried to buy Ferrari or at least help him out of his bankruptcy, and he called Ford a bunch of really nasty names and Ford’s wife too and Lee Iacoca too, so Ford hired Carol Shelby and said I don’t care what it takes or how much it takes, JUST build a car that can kick his ASS!! And they did with the help of Ken Miles as the driver and developer. I used to see Ken Miles all the time back then. He always won the races he drove in. Matt Damon plays Carol Shelby and the part of Phil Hill was played by Christian Bale. The acting was superb and the driving footage was outstanding. It makes you want to stand up and cheer when watching it. Great movie