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. The 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 of 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 could 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?" Wow!!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 been 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.