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Thunder in
the Pipes Vol. 3
THE MOVE TO
SEATTLE AND STEVE COONROD'S DREAM
North
by Northwest
By Jim Rockstad
After a lot of thought (about
15 minutes worth), I called Doner back and agreed to take the
position at SIR as General Manager of IRP's Northwest Division.
I arrived at SIR in early September in 1976 after 3 months at
Fremont Raceway. I knew that the NHRA Fallnationals was just
a few weeks away and that there had to be a ton of details to
organize. There were 3 or 4 full time employees at SIR which
had been working through the details and so I needed to come
up to speed on what had and will take place.
Understand I had no idea on what
the business side of this company was like and so I really only
knew a part of the story. I had the passion, the desire and the
willingness to give it all I had, day and night to make it all
happen. It's just that I had very little business know-how but
I knew that I could offset that by effort and drive. (or at least,
that is what I thought going in!) I was more than a little brash
starting out and I would get humbled many, many times as the
days and weeks rolled on.
This was the second year for
the NHRA Fallnationals which had big-time trouble getting established
in the Seattle market. First of all, the market had been saturated
by 64 funny cars since the early 70's and secondly September
was not the best location for the event. I certainly understood
that out big event was 64 funny cars as I had been there since
1973 as it was part of my responsibility as Manager of the drag
races at PIR. I would attend all of the major races in Seattle
during the season so I really knew the facility well.
The one thing I didn't know well
at all is the seasonal business and how that affects the cash
flow, employees and all aspects of the business. You needed to
do really well prior to the winter setting in or things were
really tough. I mean really tough! In 1976, the 64 funny car
event had been rained on in early August and that was the worst
"welcome mat" that I could have had. Over the years,
I learned how to protect the business from those sorts of trauma
taking place as we would get hit with bad weather a lot. let's
see, if you could just forecast what the weather was going to
do in a certain weekend in August of the next year when you have
to schedule everything during the prior winter, no hope of that!!
The NHRA Fallnationals never
really was much of big successful event. There were a lot of
race cars; the big names of the sport and all but, as fore mentioned,
the event just never got established in the September location
on the SIR schedule. In the 6 years that it was in Seattle ('75
through '80) 4 of the years had moisture on them (in one way
or another). The event was shortened several times during it's
tenure so it just never got much of an audience. The event needed
a better location on the schedule but, also, there needed to
be an additional event to start a "western swing" to
ease the travel burden for the racers. SIR was a long ways from
just about anywhere and the NHRA tour usually spends the summer
back in the east. A restructuring of the scheduling would need
to take place before an NHRA National event would make sense
for SIR. (that was my thinking).
Another giant headache I got
introduced to when I arrived in Seattle was noise issues. A huge
lawsuit ($3.5 million, as I recall) against SIR by 17 families
that lived near the track had sued over noise, "taking of
property" and "devaluation of their property".
It was nervous time for me as this lawsuit wound its' way through
the courts. This was all a brand new exercise for me as I hadn't
been exposed to noise issues on this level. I had tested mufflers
on sportsman cars at PIR and had attended several noise hearings
but nothing on this level. This was hardball, folks!
The court battle went on for
years and had wound its' way down to 3 families with a settlement
of $5,000 was awarded to one family located south of SIR. When
SIR was originally built in 1959 by the Fioritos there was stiff
opposition from the local community. There were continuing neighborhood
phone calls about noise all during the 25+ years that I was there.
The public hearings took place over the years which ended up
adjusting the curfew hours and activity days but I always looked
at the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) as boiler plate to keep SIR
going over the years. Just live inside the CUP and they can't
get you! Violate the CUP and that could open the door to close
the place down. (and maybe destroy my potential future).
The adjustments definitely hurt
the business end of the track but I simply adjusted the type,
size and location of different events to work it all out. Those
were very tough years going through both Portland and Seattle
noise problems at the same time. It went on for years and years
and years without letting up. I'd see my picture in a newspaper
article with my head bent down knowing that racing IS noise,
it's like ham and eggs. It seems like the louder the cars are
the bigger the crowds are. Take that away and you have destroyed
what they want. No wonder I was in such wonderment over this
whole issue. It was a catch 22 quiet or eliminate some of the
cars and impact the business so bad that you can't support a
realistic profitability. What a predicament!! This was always
one part of the Nor
thwest race business that really got my stress
level up. Honestly, how do you deal with this anyway?
NUTS AND BOLTS
Steve Coonrod had a dream. Not
the kind of dream that many people would have but certainly a
dream, none the less. As son of Jack "the Bear" Coonrod
of Vancouver, Washington, he had dreamed that a '33 Willys coupe
with a Donovan motor in it could break 200 miles per hour in
the quarter mile. That would take a stout supercharger, of course,
and alcohol for fuel but in his dream he felt that 200 miles
per hour was doable.
His father has drag raced all
of his life and Steve has been very close to the sport. Jack
built Steve an all-fiberglass '33 Willys with an all-tube Fittings
frame. The two of them, Steve behind the wheel and Jack doing
the tuning, have raced all throughout the Northwest at nostalgia
events in the AA/GS ranks. Th e fastest
that gorgeous yellow Willys ever ran was 185 miles per hour.
So, dreams being what they are
and dads wanting to fulfill their sons' dreams, a plan hasbeen
made in an attempt to accomplish that goal. One of the first
steps is to get life-long friend Jim Albrich involved. For over
50 years Jim and Jack have been friends and most importantly,
they were partners competing at local drag strips with great
success. When the two of them were working together in a partnership
they were just about unbeatable along with setting of the NHRA
National record for A/SR in 1961. The record they set then was
135.55 mph and an 11:07 elapsed time. There also was the early
version of the Northwind top fuel dragster that ran 189 mph.
Life being like it is they both
went there own ways with Albrich setting the world on fire with
his Northwind fuel dragsters and Coonrod touring on the east
coast back in the 60's with his Willys coupe in the rough and
tumble gasser wars. Although they have remained close friends
all these years this time around it is "dream fulfilling
time" for son Steve. The goal has been set and all the focus
is to get the '33 Willys through the quarter mile at over 200
miles per hour with a Donovan motor. A huge challenge for sure.
But don't bet against these two.
Ed Donovan answered a problem
that existed for the early hot rodders that were breaking the
old cast iron 392 blocks at an alarming rate. In 1971, Donovan
came out with the sport of drag racings' first aluminum block
and with a lot more strength than the original factory units.
The early hot rodders, like Albrich, were purchasing stock blocks
in numbers like 5 to 10 at
a time and destroying them with the big loads of nitro and 200
mile per hour runs. The aluminum Donovan block put an end to
the destruction allowing the cars to run faster and a lot longer.
It was an astounding feat back then assisting the sport to go
faster over the years.
The Albrich and Coonrod plan
is to use a 490 cubic inch Donovan motor including the aluminum
heads that were available some time after the original block
was manufactured back in 1971. A 14:71 blower and a MSD magneto
will be part of the modernizing that will take place. Flow tested
heads along with a lot o f dyno testing at
Walt Austins' shop will help squeeze out all the horsepower that
will be needed to take on the dream.
In the mid-60's Jack headed east
with a '33 Willys gasser to take on the big guns in the gasser
ranks. He spent almost 2 years running at race tracks 2 to 3
times a week match racing against "Ohio" George Montgomery;
Hill Brothers; Stone, Woods and Cooke, Junior Thompson along
with a host of others. Jack's dream at the time was to make a
living doing what he loved to do and that was drag racing. In
the 60's no one else took the major step to make it in the sport
in such a high risk way from the Northwest. You certainly have
to have desire and passion to pull that all off.
It's certainly understandable
why dad wants son to see his dreams come true.that desire and
passion is showing up again
Read
More from Jim Rockstad!
Seattle's
64 Funny Cars Featured on Rocky's Road
In this month's installment
of "Rocky's Road" found on Drag Racing Online, 64 Funny
car's overwellming success is the subject. The Rocky's Road column
is written by Jim Rockstad and can be found each month on Drag
Racing Online at www.dragracingonline.com |
Thunder in the
Pipes Vol. 2
Portland's
Golden Years
By Jim Rockstad
Photos by Tim O'Reilly
The President of SIR, Bill Doner,
had negotiated a contract with the city of Portland to manage
the drag races at PIR beginning in 1973. I would become the Manager
of the events at PIR, getting underway in February of that year.
Additionally, the track for motocross racing had not done well
in Portland so we took over that responsibility also.
I assembled a schedule, a lot
different than Al Beachell had it. We started in February, every
year, and then ran events into October. There needed to be some
improvements accomplished at PIR right away as we had scheduled
major quarter mile night events for the summer. More grandstands,
additional pit area, night lighting, restrooms and lots of other
items needed to be built so these events co uld
take place.
With some help from a few local
motocrossers, I had made contact with the local Army Reserve
unit to get some dozer work to lay out a new motocross track
.
The Rose Festival Association assisted by financing some night
lights at that track also. The previous motocross track was only
run on Sundays and we moved the events to Thursday nights with
the addition of the new lighting.
We were off and running early
in 1973 with a schedule that included 4 major drag races.
An 8-car Season Opener for nitro funny cars would take place
in the evening in April; the Oregon Open would be an 8-car top
fuel and funny car show in May; The Rose Festival Drag Races
would be a match race of nitro cars along with sportsman categories
in the month of June and then the grand daddy of them all, 32
funny cars in late July.
The key to the whole program
was that these events were back-to-back with Seattle allowing
really quality cars to get more than one race in the Northwest.
The cars that came to Portland in the 70's were outstanding:
Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Kuhl and Olson, Blue Max, Ed
McCulloch, Don Prudhomme, the Hawaiian, Jerry Ruth, Jungle Jim
and just about every big name there was in the sport. A surprise
to everyone was the Coca Cola Cavalcade of Funny Cars, an east
coast group of 8 cars that was able to make a western swing because
of the addition of PIR. Portland was instantly put on the map
for drag racing with some of the best racing the Northwest had
ever seen. The park-like atmosphere at PIR was well received
by the race teams with a facility and city they really enjoyed
coming to. It was a great match up for drag racing and the stars
of the sport.
From 1973 through 1976 it was
one special place for major drag racing as the night lighting
and big shows were just a huge hit to Portland area race fans.
Additionally, the night lighting and Thursday night events had
become hugely successful for motocross. PIR had plenty of successful
racing events even including the all high school drag races that
had become a monster event annually on the PIR schedule. (race
tracks across the USA used the very same formula from PIR for
establishing high school drag racing at their respective tracks).
It was one success after another at PIR.
In summer of 1976, I went to
Fremont Raceway in California which was another of our race tracks.
(Orange County and Irwindale were the remaining tracks in the
Southern Division of IRP). I moved to the San Jose area and jumped
right into that race track. The facility included a dirt oval
track and a drag strip located next to an airstrip and a drive
in theatre. I spent 3 months there and was pretty much fed up
with the constant wind blowing there in the bay area along with
the facility that needed so much work. I called Doner and wanted
to head back to the Northwest even if it meant getting out of
the race track business. I kept thinking to myself, "I know
how to do this why don't I just put a deal together for my own
race track business?" Of course, it would always get pushed
to the back of my mind as I never had any resources to put it
together..maybe something will take place in the future.
A few weeks later Doner called
me and said. "Would you like to move to Seattle and be General
Manager of the Northwest Division of IRP?" W ow!!but
was I smart enough to manage that entire operation with 4 race
tracks? It would get me back to the Northwest and to a race track
where drag racing was the most important motor sport on the schedule.
I knew that the ongoing drag racing noise issue in Portland would
limit my future there...what a huge opportunity for a "gear
head" kid from North Portland!! Seattle was in my game plan!
NUTS AND BOLTS
With the recent announcement
about the return of Twig Zeigler and the Pizza Haven Plymouth
Satellite funny car a little story is in order. Zeigler was a
top-notch mechanic at Coletti
Chrysler-Plymouth in Hillsboro, Oregon when I first got to know
him. He had purchased Jack Coonrod's '33 Willys in the late 60's
and he wanted to be part of the AA/GS program that we were planning
for the Northwest race tracks. He ran a first-class gasser operation,
always ran well and was a lot of fun to be with during those
gasser shows in the early 70's.
Later on, in the mid-70's, Zeigler
had relocated to the Seattle area and was running his Pizza Haven
funny car at 32 funny cars at PIR.although, I'm not exactly sure
but I think it was in 1975. With PIR having such a great racing
surface and Zeigler being a savvy tuner he was setting and then
resetting the track e.t. record, that evening, prior to the final.
It was a Chicago-style format at 32 funny cars with the two quickest,
after two qualifying rounds, meeting in the final. With his great
early performances in the qualifying rounds Zeigler had advanced
to the final and was ready to compete against Gordie Bonin in
the Gordon Jenner-tuned Vega funny car from Canada for the overall
Championship.
Thunder
in the Pipes Vol. 1
As time rolls on I will be writing
some stories on my lifelong involvement in the sport of drag
racing which began right here in Oregon. I was just a young boy
loving the car scene and the more I got involved the more I loved
the sport. We have been called "gear heads" over the
years and, quite frankly, that applies pretty well in my case.
First of all, I need to give the readers some background on me.
I went to Kenton Grade School, just a mile or so from Portland
International Raceway.
I lived in North Portland and
went on to Jefferson High School. I had a "drag racing computer
chip" in me as it was cars, cars and more cars all through
high school. If I wasn't planning on going to a drag racing event
I was drawing a hot rod or reading that famous Hot Rod Magazine.
(I should have be en
paying attention to learning). I attended drag races at Madras,
Scappoose, Aurora, McMinnville, Shelton and many other sites
around the Northwest. I couldn't get enough of two cars racing
down the old quarter mile. It certainly was addictive.
Oddly enough
, I attended the
opening drag races at Pacific Raceway in July of 1960. Little
did I know then I'd be President and General Manager at SIR some
day in the not-too-distant future.
Over the 15 year period after
high school, I owned and raced several cars, worked at PIR assisting
with tech; became the Manager of Drag Racing at PIR and then
in 1976 became the General Manager of SIR. Finally, I bought
out Bill Doner in 1979, later retiring at the age of 58 after
over 25 years in Seattle as President and General Manager of
my own corporation. (International Raceways, Inc.) At one time,
we had 4 race tracks in the Northwest including Puyallup and
Renegade Raceway in Yakima.
I have been involved in the sport,
one way or another, for over 50 years. It's an interesting sport,
for sure, and as a business is very trying and quite frustrating
here in this Northwest weather. Just the time you think you know
what you are doing, it rains and all your hard work means nothing.
The business end of the sport can be very humbling at times.
And now the stories start:
When I returned from a stint
in the Army during the Vietnam era, I wanted to install a blown
Chrysler in my Anglia and go racing in AA/GS here in the Northwest.
I purchased a 450 cubic inch 392-type Chrysler from my life-long
friend Jack Coonrod. He had retired from a very successful tour
with his '33 Willys in the East and he sold me the motor. It
was 1970 and I was ready to get after it.
There was 4 of us with these
early blown cars; Steve McGee, Twig Zeigler and Mel Bryson. The
3 of them had the early Willys cars and I had the only Anglia.
I was to book these cars at drag strips around the Northwest
for appearance money. The track could take a two or four car
show, depending on their needs. We booked shows at 6 or 7 tracks
which included the New family-owned Firebird Raceway near Boise,
Idaho. The program was very successful. In those days, it was
lots of work maintaining a job and home along with the maintenance
required to keep the racer going. I was perfectly happy with
a race every two or three weeks just to keep up with all the
work.
One track that approached using
our services for "open shows" was Balboa Drag Strip
in Eugene, Oregon. Rod Ormsby had 8-car funny car shows there
every Friday night and some of us gassers would race down there
against the funny cars. By today's standards the tracks back
then were incredibly slippery and, often very bumpy. The use
of traction compound was simply a splash on the starting line
and that was it. (no concrete at all). My Anglia had an extreme
advantage while running the funny cars at Balboa as they would
often times blaze the tires off and I would hustle down to the
finish line for the win. Two weeks before May of 1971 I had won
that funny car event and so Ormsby wanted me back there again.
In round one, the left lane was
mine and so I left the starting line like I usually did back
then only to have a heim joint break on the ladder bars. I then
rolled my car through the right lane and into the spectator parking
lot. The speed was only 125 miles per hour or so but it felt
like many times that fast. The car rolled and rolled until it
came to a stop upside down. I will never forget the thrashing
noise that took place reminding me of a dryer at a laundromat
with a bunch of change falling out of a pair of jeansit was very
loud with stuff flying everywhere.
Understand I had piled tons of
money in this car, showing it at the Portland Roadster show the
year prior. It was a slick little racer and had all the dough
I could come up with for several years while building the car.
All of a sudden, it was junk!
I finally got out of the car
and my Terry Simonson-built frame and roll cage had held up perfectly,
as I only had a small scratch on one hand. I was sore from head
to toe but the worst part was I no longer had a race car and
this huge investment of mine was not very pretty. As I loaded
the heap of metal and fiberglass up that evening I could only
think about selling everything I had and bagging the AA/GS ranks.
My goal of booking a show of these cars had certainly been met
over the year-plus that we raced. I had run as quick as 8:62
and 164 miles per hour which was plenty quick and fast back in
those days. To rebuild simply wasn't what I was financially able
to do. It was time to move on.
I continued going to races throughout
the Northwest and then in 1972 I worked for Al Beachell at PIR.
The drag strip there had been built for only two years and Beachell
needed help with the events. I jumped at the chance as I loved
the people in the sport and I wanted to, in some way, keep being
involved and just maybe working at the local race track was a
way to do that.
1972 was a tough year for Al
Beachell. It was either the weather or too many small events
that finally put him out of business at PIR. Often times, you
can try as hard as you want but the weather can sweep you away
as a track operator. Beachell finally gave up PIR at the end
of 1972. It was very upsetting to me to see this nice guy go
broke there but "it was, what it was". What was I going
to do to stay in the sport and continue trying to make a living
there? I had gathered up lots of experience during1972 at PIR
maybe I could convince whoever is taking over the contract there
to hire me as I am local and understand the racing business.
(or so I thoughtI was only 29 years old at this time!)
In 1973 it was PIR here I come
ready or not..
The Editor's
Desk:
Capracing.com
Expands Emphasis
As you have noticed capracing.com
has slowly gone from primarily a race team site to one with stories
about historical racers and other subject matter related to drag
racing. Besides news about Capitol Racing which will always be
the number one priority, this site now specializes in Northwest
nitro and alcohol racing stories both past and present.
There's a reason for the madness. First, stale team sites that
don't keep the stories fresh fail to generate big hits. And second,
I have accidentally uncovered a nitch as sto
ries and pictorials
such as Northwest Nitro, Larry's Speed Shop, the Ernie Hall tribute,
and the Don Garlits story have generated a lot of positive feedback.
In 2007, our website generated over 450,000 hits for the year.
On Monday of last week, we received over 250 unique visits in
one day. That's a big plus for our sponsors regardless of why
people come to our site as they see the logos of the companies
that support us.
As a result of our expanded subject
matter, we are going include a new feature of stories written
by Jim Rockstad. This is a big honor as not only do we now have
a writer who's stories have appeared on such leading national
sites as Drag Racing Online and Competition Plus, but also someone
who has a historical drag racing background. If Jim's name sounds
familiar, it should as he was the promoter for both Seattle International
Raceway and Portland International Raceway during the hey day
of Northwest fuel racing.
Having Jim agree to do this is a big milestone for this website
as he loves drag racing as much as anyone that has ever traveled
down the quartermile. And his commitment to keep Portland and
Seattle going for years after neighborhood complaints, politics,
and lawsuits prove that. I'm also pleased that I have a new friend
in the sport.
I hope that Jim's knowledge and unique prospective of what it
was like to work with some of the biggest names in the sport
and describe what northwest drag racing was like back in the
early years will be of interest to you and of course keep you
coming back for more!
Thanks to all of you who come to this site and keep the hits
coming!
-Rich Bailey
The
Global Warming Minute
Celeberty
Blames Future Cannibalism on Global Warming
It's amazing what eight
degrees can do according to Ted Turner, who was on the Charlie
Rose Show on Tuesday night. Turner claims that an eight degree
rise in temperature over forty years will cause a Soilent Green
- like state and kill all the plants and turn everyone into cannibals!
Of course, Mr. Turner won't be around in 40 years to eat crow
or should we say a person's leg? A gullible Mr Rose could do
no better as he failed to ask Turner about recent scientific
finding s why the oceans have not warmed up at all since taking
measurements five years ago. Or where he came up with eight degrees
when the UN predicts less than one degree in a fifty year period.
Early
Easter Blamed on Global Warming
The arrival of Easter
this year is the earliest since 1917. Some experts believe the
cause is global warming as Easter is usually associated with
warm spring weather in April. As a consequence, authorities and
experts fear that if something isn't done soon, Easter could
arrive just two weeks after Christmas sometime in the next fifty
years. More research is being done to see if the dates can be
reversed but so far that's uncertain at this time. |
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