Flea Markets..
A beautiful fall weekend
greeted us these past two
days, an excellent
opportunity to check out the
once cancelled Five Mile
Point flea market on
Saturday morning and of
course our yearly trip to
Lebanon Valley on Sunday.
No long johns needed this
year, just a well greased jaw
was necessary. At Five Mile I
was fortunate enough to
greet several friends
including Jim Zacharias,
flagger Sammy Rogers, Alan
and Richard Tatich, Carl
Nagel, Jerry Whitmarsh,
Robin Oltz and had the
distinct honor of meeting
long time car owner Gene
Heath. To be honest, the
jawing session was better
than the flea market as the
vendor section was a little
lean, still one can always find
a few items of need and a
measly $20 netted some nice
carb. linkages and bell
cranks, can never have
enough of that stuff right??
As always I enjoyed my
conversation with the
Tatich's, Alan and Richard
are like encyclopedia's of
information of the local
racing history. If you have a
question about nearly
anything that happened
racing wise in this area,
chances are one of them has
an answer. It was good to see
Jerry Whitmarsh again who
was hanging with Gene
Heath, Jerry ran in our club
in our formative years and is
the epitome of a 'low buck'
fun loving racer. He's finally
given up racing but was
active up until last year,
changing his number each
year as he added another
digit. Gene was real
interesting as well, he lived
much of the early modified
history in the area and was
instrumental in getting
Shangri-La re-opened in
1962. He was also the
original builder of the S/360.
When I interviewed Don
Diffendorf a few years back,
don talked very highly of
Gene, it's apparent why. He's
a sharp as a tack, we
discussed the Manny
Teardrop 49 and whether or
not it ever had the crossfire
crank, Gene didn't believe so
and related that the cam had
come up missing. We were
talking the same language
and it was great fun, Gene
remembered an Ardun
running at Shangri-La in
1956, "was skipping like mad
and still smoked them, sure
like to build something like
that." Hmmm.. Robin Oltz
related he'd still like to find a
car and we had a nice chat,
the best part of the day was
seeing these fellows, and
logging away more
interesting history. Racing
people are really some of the
best you'll ever meet, just
good, down to earth and
friendly. The racing
community in this part of the
state remains strong in both
interest and numbers.
Maybe we'll do better at
Lebanon Valley, at least as
far as parts go. This a huge
show and covers all of the
parking area at the valley.
And while there was enough
stuff around to keep it
interesting, the older speed
equipment seems to have
dried up. I look pretty close
and can say that I didn't see
a single flathead racing part
at the show, which is a rarity.
Still, plenty to look at and
nice equipment to be had, on
the cheap too. Club members
and friends were all around
as we met Tom Witter, Bill
Newell, John Mason, Jim
Banks, Ray Demolin, Bud
Hinman and Richard
Appleby. John Clark was on
hand as well and although
we didn't run into him we
saw his work as he's
purchased the Don Yeingst
#44 Barracuda from John
Mason and has plans to
restore it this winter. Those
familiar with John's work will
anticipate this restoration as
I'm sure he'll do it right. The
car looks good now to be true
and we overheard more than
one say it was the 'coolest car
at the show.' It was. There
was also another 'vintage'
modified for sale, chevy
coupe on a early tube frame,
turnkey with a 351 windsor
for $5K, not bad in this day
and age. Jim Banks had a
decent '39 Tudor for sale for
$600 and there were a few
other interesting items for
sale as well. A nice fuel cell
will replace plans for a beer
keg, a rube goldberg
bellcrank carb linkage was a
'have to have', a scintilla mag
cap and an old childs sled
from John Mason will make a
cool looking hood.. I think.
All in all a good day off and I
didn't even have to buy gloves
this time.
With that the 2007 season is
now officially over and the
long, cold winter will soon be
upon us. Which means it's
project time. Best of luck
with yours, we'll be gettin' at
ours.
A beautiful fall weekend
greeted us these past two
days, an excellent
opportunity to check out the
once cancelled Five Mile
Point flea market on
Saturday morning and of
course our yearly trip to
Lebanon Valley on Sunday.
No long johns needed this
year, just a well greased jaw
was necessary. At Five Mile I
was fortunate enough to
greet several friends
including Jim Zacharias,
flagger Sammy Rogers, Alan
and Richard Tatich, Carl
Nagel, Jerry Whitmarsh,
Robin Oltz and had the
distinct honor of meeting
long time car owner Gene
Heath. To be honest, the
jawing session was better
than the flea market as the
vendor section was a little
lean, still one can always find
a few items of need and a
measly $20 netted some nice
carb. linkages and bell
cranks, can never have
enough of that stuff right??
As always I enjoyed my
conversation with the
Tatich's, Alan and Richard
are like encyclopedia's of
information of the local
racing history. If you have a
question about nearly
anything that happened
racing wise in this area,
chances are one of them has
an answer. It was good to see
Jerry Whitmarsh again who
was hanging with Gene
Heath, Jerry ran in our club
in our formative years and is
the epitome of a 'low buck'
fun loving racer. He's finally
given up racing but was
active up until last year,
changing his number each
year as he added another
digit. Gene was real
interesting as well, he lived
much of the early modified
history in the area and was
instrumental in getting
Shangri-La re-opened in
1962. He was also the
original builder of the S/360.
When I interviewed Don
Diffendorf a few years back,
don talked very highly of
Gene, it's apparent why. He's
a sharp as a tack, we
discussed the Manny
Teardrop 49 and whether or
not it ever had the crossfire
crank, Gene didn't believe so
and related that the cam had
come up missing. We were
talking the same language
and it was great fun, Gene
remembered an Ardun
running at Shangri-La in
1956, "was skipping like mad
and still smoked them, sure
like to build something like
that." Hmmm.. Robin Oltz
related he'd still like to find a
car and we had a nice chat,
the best part of the day was
seeing these fellows, and
logging away more
interesting history. Racing
people are really some of the
best you'll ever meet, just
good, down to earth and
friendly. The racing
community in this part of the
state remains strong in both
interest and numbers.
Maybe we'll do better at
Lebanon Valley, at least as
far as parts go. This a huge
show and covers all of the
parking area at the valley.
And while there was enough
stuff around to keep it
interesting, the older speed
equipment seems to have
dried up. I look pretty close
and can say that I didn't see
a single flathead racing part
at the show, which is a rarity.
Still, plenty to look at and
nice equipment to be had, on
the cheap too. Club members
and friends were all around
as we met Tom Witter, Bill
Newell, John Mason, Jim
Banks, Ray Demolin, Bud
Hinman and Richard
Appleby. John Clark was on
hand as well and although
we didn't run into him we
saw his work as he's
purchased the Don Yeingst
#44 Barracuda from John
Mason and has plans to
restore it this winter. Those
familiar with John's work will
anticipate this restoration as
I'm sure he'll do it right. The
car looks good now to be true
and we overheard more than
one say it was the 'coolest car
at the show.' It was. There
was also another 'vintage'
modified for sale, chevy
coupe on a early tube frame,
turnkey with a 351 windsor
for $5K, not bad in this day
and age. Jim Banks had a
decent '39 Tudor for sale for
$600 and there were a few
other interesting items for
sale as well. A nice fuel cell
will replace plans for a beer
keg, a rube goldberg
bellcrank carb linkage was a
'have to have', a scintilla mag
cap and an old childs sled
from John Mason will make a
cool looking hood.. I think.
All in all a good day off and I
didn't even have to buy gloves
this time.
With that the 2007 season is
now officially over and the
long, cold winter will soon be
upon us. Which means it's
project time. Best of luck
with yours, we'll be gettin' at
ours.
