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RON’S CORNER
Circle Trackin' - Part One
One thing about being my age, it
gives me the opportunity to comment on the days of racing that most people
reading the “Corner” were not able to visit. Some way or another I have been
involved with racing most of my life. Before organized drag racing existed (ok,
so there was a little street racing), most racing was centered on circle
tracks. There were Midgets, Sprints, Big Cars (stretched sprints that were
sometimes used in Indy racing), Track Roadsters and Jalopies. They were all
exciting and fun and at a very young age, I had the privilege of being
associated with all of them. Just out of school I met who was to become a very
good friend and mentor in my young days of racing. His name was Bill (“Zeke”)
Adair. Don’t know where the nickname came from but Bill was an excellent
mechanic and a hard core racer no matter what kind of racing it was.
You old timers may remember the Top
Fuel Dragster team of Weekly, Fox and Holding. Well, for a short time they
joined with Zeke and became Fox, Holding and Adair and did real well together.
While I was associated with Bill we
worked out of his garage in Venice,
CA. I was his only volunteer
“full time” assistant and pit crew. I lived with my family in Venice
so I had little overhead and Bill paid my way into the races as a crewmember
and also paid my travel expenses (very little, as we slept in the truck, or
car, or whatever we were using at the time). One of the very popular Southland
racetracks at the time was in our own backyard, the Culver City Stadium at
Washington and Lincoln Blvds (since deceased). We ran a lot at Culver and at
different times during my years with Zeke we ran several different types of
racecars, Jalopies, a Sprint Car and a Track Roadster. To say I had a favorite
car is difficult as I just loved each one as much as the others. The roadster
was probably my favorite as it was a sponsored car and ran real well.
A fellow named Ferris Webster was a
Film Editor for MGM Studios in Culver City and also owned a very popular bar
and grill called the “Retake Room” right across from the entrance and exit to
the studio (not a bad location, eh?). Ferris was a real nice guy with a lot of
dough and he sponsored the car. It was a ’23 Ford “T” body with a ’39 Ford
flathead V8 with all Edelbrock Racing equipment. It was nicely painted in red
and white with the “Retake Room” painted on the sides and it was fast. A couple
of famous drivers (for the time) drove it but I can’t recall who they were. We
raced with such well-known drivers as Rosie Rouselle (who is still around and
had his roadster in the NHRA
Museum
recently) and Troy Ruttman who went on to Indy fame.
There is so much to
talk about of my circle trackin’ days that I’ve decided to make this a
two-parter and continue it next time with some good stuff and a couple of very
interesting afterthoughts. Please join me then.
Thanks
for visiting and…
See you at the races!
Ronnie Hier
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