HALL OF FAME

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Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki, Champion Off-Shore Racer, Sportsman, Benihana Founder, Is Dead at 69

Rocky Aoki, who founded the theatrical Benihana chain of over 100 steakhouses worldwide, where Japanese chefs with flashing knives double as performers, died Thursday night, July 10, in Manhattan, NY. He was 69.

The cause was pneumonia, said a spokeswoman for the family.  He was also known to suffer from diabetes and hepatitis C, contracted from a blood transfusion. In 1964, when Aoki opened his first Benihana steakhouse, on West 56th Street in Manhattan, he introduced New Yorkers to dining as theater, and chefs as culinary acrobats. Seated around a flat steel grill, customers watched chefs sharpen their knives, toss them in the air, drizzle the grill with oil, sizzle the chicken, shrimp or steak on the grill, and flip the food onto the plates. Children stared goggle-eyed. Benihana’s style of food is called teppan-yaki. (Aoki was a skilled and championship-winning offshore boat racer, but he was nearly killed more than once in the unforgiving sport; Below, Aoki had his own look and style, clearly comfortable with himself).

Aoki also introduced many Americans to Japanese food. “He was the first one who made it accessible for non-Japanese people to enjoy the Japanese experience,” said Drew Nieporent, whose Myriad Restaurant Group runs a number of restaurants including Tribeca Grill and Nobu. “The key thing was he made it fun,” he said.

Before Benihana opened, most Japanese restaurants in New York were styled only for the Japanese population, Nieporent said. Aoki changed the environment. (Some of the information in this posting is from the NY Times' obituary on Aoki, and let's face it, isn't that where we all want our obits to be, too?).

Living in New York with my family at that time, I can remember going to a Chinese restaurant somewhere   in Brooklyn which was known to us kids by the name, "Avenue M," though that almost definitely wasn't the place's real name. But to our family it was the height of Asian cookery, though we didn't call it Asian, we called it Oriental or used some slang term. The thought of going to a Japanese restaurant never entered any of our minds; we certainly didn't know anything about what Japanese people ate, and don't think we'd ever even seen a Japanese restaurant, and this in the world's most cosmopolitan city. If it were Chinese, though, or of course, Italian, there were always Chinatown and Little Italy, right next to each other, on Manhattan Island, and those areas are there to this day, more than 40 years later.

But when we moved to Southern California in 1969, I was exposed for the first time in my life to Japanese people, in my school and working at local businesses. Being brave (at least I thought so) I even visited a few of the Japanese restaurants in Westminster and Garden Grove in Orange County, and liked some of what I ate, and as time went on I learned what Japanese foods I enjoyed and which I didn't. During this period, while the Vietnam War was still on, with Orange County serving as home to the El Toro Marine Corps Air Base and the Marine base called LTA, because it had housed submarine-hunting dirigibles before WW II and the letters stood for Lighter Than Air (with the two largest wood buildings in the Northern Hemisphere serving as the blimps' houses; buildings so large they had their own weather!).

BERNARD CAHIER, PREMIER F1 JOURNALIST, 81

Formula One photojournalist Bernard Cahier, who began photographing Formula 1 in 1952 and was instrumental in founding the International Racing Press Association (IRPA) in 1968, has died in France at the age of 81.

Cahier was perhaps the witness to the "Golden Age" of Grand Prix racing who began his life work in 1952, using a Leica, and later Pentax, to bring us a unique and intimate description of the world of his closest friends: Juán Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, Graham Hill and Jim Clark, Phil Hill and Dan Gurney, Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi, and so many more heroes who raced when motor racing was too often deadly yet always exciting, sexy and flush with international characters and money ... always the big money.

Cahier began his career in Grand Prix racing in 1952 and was a leading figure in F1 until the early 1980s. His photographs, and those of his son Paul-Henri, also an F1 photographer of note, have chronicled the sport’s history. (One of the last of the true "LeMans starts," which had drivers run across the track to their cars, get in and belted, then take to the course; Photo by Cahier).

He was born in Marseilles, France, in 1927 and caught the racing bug early after attending the Marseilles Grand Prix at Miramas in 1932. He was 12 when World War II broke out, and at 17 he joined the resistance in Brittany. After the war he went to UCLA and became involved in the Southern California sports-car scene.

Cahier worked at Roger Barlow’s International Motors, the largest import-car dealership in Los Angeles at the time. One of his fellow salesmen was a young man from nearby Santa Monica named Phil Hill, and the store's chief mechanic was Ritchie Ginther. For non-racers, Hill became the first American Formula One World Driving Champion in 1961 and is still a force on the world's racing scene at age 81. Ginther was the US driver who piloted Honda to their first victory in the F1 in the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. Ginther died at 59 in France in 1989. (Ginther's racing life was chronicled to some degree in the 1966 John Frankenheimer movie Grand Prix, with James Garner playing the Ginther character and Toshiro Mifune appearing as "Izo Yamura," modeled on Soichiro Honda, founder of the eponymous company; Ginther himself appeared in an uncredited role in the movie as "John Hogarth," a driver in the Japanese-funded Yamura (Honda) team. He was also acted a technical advisor for the movie).

(The infamous Mercedes "Silver Arrows" at the 1954 French Grand Prix; Photo by Cahier).

In the days before motor homes, when reporters were on a more equal level with the drivers, Cahier was one of the best-known people in the paddock, a true 'international jet-setting racing celebrity' before there were jets. One motor journalist from that time wrote, "I was at the hairpin in Sebring in 1957 and Bernard was nearby. Stirling Moss slowed and Cahier handed him a bottle of Coke. The next time around, Moss threw out the empty bottle and Bernard retrieved it and put it in a safe spot. Those were the days."

Cahier handled European PR for Goodyear when they entered road racing and his party each year during the Monte Carlo GP weekend was the social highlight of the season. For a time, he was President of the International Racing Press Association. Cahier produced a two-volume book containing many of his classic photographic images of the period, writing his own behind-the-scenes stories and photo captions. In 1952 he moved to Paris and quickly became part of F1’s inner circle. He then became the public relations consultant for Goodyear in F1. He continued to play a role in F1 until 1983, when a change in Goodyear management meant the end of his job. He stepped away from the sport, leaving the work to his son, Paul-Henri, who is one of today's leading Grand Prix photographers.

The voluminous, amazing "Cahier Archive" can be found by clicking here. It is a "must stop" for racing fans who appreciate the Web for all it offers, and for non-fans interested in the history of the sport which Cahier documented in its modern era. All of Cahier's photos and books are available there. (Phil Hill muscles his Ferrari through a corner in the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix, on his way to the World Driving Championship that year, the first by an American; Photo by Cahier).

SCOTT KALITTA, 46, CHAMPION DRAG RACER, DIES IN FUNNY CAR WRECK

In yet another powerful and sickening reminder of the dangers of motor racing in all its many forms, Scott Kalitta, a two-time former National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Top Fuel champion and one of just 14 drivers to have won in both of the NHRA's nitro categories, Top Fuel and Funny Car, died today, Saturday, June 21, as the result of injuries suffered in a horrendous Funny Car qualifying accident at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, during the running of the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals. He was 46. His drag racing career began at the same track in 1982.

The Palmetto, Florida, resident's engine exploded short of the finish line and his car continued at high speed, eventually striking a wall at the end of the track and launching into the air in a huge explosion of flame and debris. NHRA emergency services officials removed Kalitta from the car and transported him to Old Bridge Township Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

In this posting, we'll present the facts as they are currently known, and, as always, our own opinion and experience where it applies.

Kalitta and his DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car were in a qualifying run against Tony Bartone's Canidae Pet Foods Chevrolet Monte Carlo when the accident happened.

Kalitta was far in the lead as his car approached the end of the measured 1/4-mile when it exploded and was engulfed in a great ball of flame. The car's entire fiberglass body blew up and into the air and pieces of it lay scattered on the track behind the race car as the fiery missile of the car's frame and engine, with Kalitta firmly belted inside, continued through the slow-down and shut-off areas then ran through a catch-net and sand trap meant as "last ditch" catchers for out-of-control cars, and finally into a concrete barrier when it seemed to literally vaporize in yet another gigantic explosion of flame. There seemed no question that anyone could have survived such an accident.

The explosion and fire were so sudden and destructive that Kalitta didn't appear to be able to slow the car at all; it was going at least 300 miles per hour when it went through the end of the 1/4-mile timing lights. Kalitta wasn't able, apparently, to hit the brakes, possibly because he was unconscious from the force of the initial explosion. (Kalitta's car exploded in a gigantic ball of flame).

Whether there will ever be a definitive "final word" on what happened on Kalitta's car to cause the wreck can not be known. Certainly the car's parts will be put together by investigators; with liability insurance and claims being what they are, the scene was probably (we hope) cordoned-off as a possible "crime scene".

Bill Stephens of ESPN.com opined in a phone conversation with a studio host that his sources at the track told him they thought the car was going at least 200 miles per hour when it hit that final wall. The car's parachute did deploy and perhaps that, combined with the sand trap, net and other slowing devices did slow the car somewhat. Stephens said Kalitta was "just a great ambassador for for the sport ... he raced for all the right reasons ... just a great guy". The best question the studio guy could come up with was along the lines of, "So, do they think he was already dead when they got to him?" (Kalitta's cousin Doug is one of drag racing's best Top Fuel drivers).

Funny Car and Top Fuel cars in NHRA drag racing run on a hellish devil's brew of nitromethane and other  volatile chemicals. The ferocity of these cars can not be appreciated ... or properly feared ... unless seen ... and felt ... in person. Whether they really produce the 8,000-horsepower it's claimed they do doesn't matter; on the track, for those of us able to get close to them when they compete, they literally suck the air out of your chest, the odor of the fuel mixture burns not only eyes but lungs, too.

People often ask where "Funny Cars" got their name. It's a simple story: When the Detroit car-makers entered NHRA racing in the 1960s with more money than any other sponsors could muster, they were more than welcome, and built special "production" cars for drag racing with many changes from "stock," including "adding lightness" whenever possible, such as drilling holes in the frames to take off weight (the so-called "Swiss cheese cars"), and lengthening the wheelbase. Many people said the cars looked "funny" and the name just stuck. Today's Funny Cars are basically the same underneath their fiberglass body shells as Top Fuel dragsters, the traditional stars of the sport, and often run faster times than the traditional "rail jobs". Only 14 people in NHRA history have won in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, and Scott Kalitta was one of that very small dual-fuel group.

NHRA's fan-pleasing "open pits" strategy allows everyone attending the races to troop through the pit area, watch as the cars are prepped and/or repaired and meet and talk with drivers, crew chiefs and everyone else associated with the sport. For this reason, and because many of the fans are racers themselves, legally or otherwise, these fans feel a special kinship with their favorite drivers.

At the same time, NHRA has been severely criticized over the years for losing its connection to the "true spirit" of the sport. Amateur racers, called the Sportsman Class in NHRA parlance, can compete at many local tracks across the nation, and NHRA claims 80,000 members and more than 35,000 licensed competitors. (John Force, arguably the most popular driver in NHRA history, has started a much-needed safety crusade within the sport since the death of a team member and his own horrific, near-crippling crash, both within the past year).

The group still stresses its roots, but the reality is that the sport's four professional series, Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock (called "door slammers" because the racer cars' doors must be able to be opened and closed, somehow making them closer to "stock") and Pro Stock Motorcycle, are populated by teams with multi-million dollar sponsorship deals and huge annual budgets. A good friend of mine who won some of the first awards in NHRA through racing the then-new 1964 Pontiac GTO, now calls the big NHRA events "the parade of the painted elephants," referring to the brightly painted professional class race cars, which are out of the reach, financial and otherwise, of the average fan.

Click below for more on the death of Scott Kalitta at Englishtown, NJ's Raceway Park ...

BEVERLY RAE KIMES, 68, MOST-HONORED AUTOMOTIVE AUTHOR AND HISTORIAN, DIES

Longtime automotive historian and author Beverly Rae Kimes died Monday, May 12. Kimes was a rarity in the field; as one of the first female authors in a business traditionally dominated by men, Kimes' expertise in classic, racing and collectible cars, and the people who made and drove them, was the exception to the rule.

Her career has helped open doors for other women, such as Denise McCluggage (Autoweek and more), Jean Lindamood (Automobile) and Judy Stropus (who covers motor racing). They and others to come in the future owe a debt to Beverly Rae Kimes which can never truly be paid-in-full. Knowing that in order to succeed in her chosen profession her work had to be better than everyone else's, Kimes went onto become certainly the most-honored auto writer in this country, maybe even the world. Someone had to be first, and in this case, she was the "one".

Kimes' body of work, found for decades in magazines, newspapers, especially in books and now through the Web, confirms that she was one of the best writers in her league, spending much of her professional life at the top of the ladder. Kimes had a visceral understanding of cars and drivers but also of the more "ordinary" people, like the marketers, engineers and assembly line workers who made cars possible and available to the masses. She quite literally "wrote the book" on the rare and expensive European and American classics, and her "Standard Catalogers" and other books and articles are used as trusted reference material for many motor writers who came after Kimes (trust me ... I know ... Visits to the local library or the Detroit Public Library or private periodical collections are still necessary for true research into auto stories, even with the existence of Web).

Beverly Rae Kimes was born in West Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 17, 1939, and grew up in Wheaton, Ill. She earned two journalism degrees, a bachelor’s from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a master’s from Penn State.

A stickler for accuracy and detail, thoroughness and patience, with liberal doses of humor and insight, the exact qualities her job called for, Kimes  was a prolific researcher and writer known for such books as “The Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942” and “Packard: A History of the Motor Car and the Company.” Most recently, Beverly was the executive editor of the Classic Car Club of America, and had been a longtime editor of "Automobile Quarterly;" in fact, Kimes was that prestigious publication's first full-time employee.

She also had a longtime relationship with Mercedes-Benz, and in 1986 was commissioned to author and  produce the large, single volume commemorating the company's first 100 years in business, "The Star and The Laurel: The Centennial History of Daimler, Mercedes and Benz 1886-1986". The magnificent book became an instant automotive and publishing industry collectible. It featured over 850 photographs and details the technical developments and achievements in the history of the automotive industry first made by Daimler, Benz and Mercedes (the company's division which was named for the daughter of one of Daimler-Benz's first board members, Emil Jellinek, who also formed the company's first racing division and was the company's French distributor).

She also frequently contributed articles to "The Star," the magazine of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America, itself one of the most-honored publications, with gorgeous, memorable prose and wonderful, warm photography dripping with Kodachrome color.

Click below for more on Beverly Rae Kimes, her life and profession.

JOHN HERLITZ,65, DESIGNED PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA

John E. Herlitz, an automobile designer who styled a signature American muscle car and left his imprint on many notable Chrysler Corporation models of the late 20th century, died March 24 in Naples, Fla. He was 65. He had also lived in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. (Photo --- Herlitz poses in front of a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, a car he designed, at an auto show in the 1990s).

In 1955, at age 13, he starfted sending design sketches to Chrysler, determined to someday bring to fruition his greatest dream ... to design cars for the largest American car company founded by an engineer. Herlitz made his reputation with the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, which added a signature model for Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge to what had come in that era to be called “pony cars”; sporty and fun, but not true sports cars. Pony cars seated four adults (sports cars seated 2, at most) and were available with a choice of engines ranging from what enthusiasts still call "from mild to wild". "Real" sports cars only came with a V8 ... or better. Ford's Mustang, introduced at the 1964 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows Park (where the New York Tennis Open is played today), and later the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird, all featured the long hoods, "Coke bottle" sides and short rear decks which defined the genre. Most important, all of the cars in this category were available with more modest V6 engines, allowing the driver to look the part, even if they couldn't quite afford it. It was a great boom time for the US car industry, and even paint colors were named to attract attention. Colors available for the Barracuda included "Plum Crazy Purple", "Curious Yellow" and "Lemon Twist".

When a huge V-8 engine was crammed into a coupe like this, its status changed to muscle car, capable of tire-smoking burnouts and blistering straight-line acceleration — but they were also well-known for their mediocre steering and braking; ride quality was also sacrificed in favor of that long, low look.  Driving one of these cars today, holding the wide, thin wood-grained steering wheel, one can recapture moments of youth which might be better left alone. (Photo --- A 1964 Pontiac GTO, the "first" muscle car).

Pontiac's GTO, introduced late in 1963 as a 1964 model, is often credited with being the first true muscle car, but in reality, it was simply the first car which was promoted to the public using that sexy term (marketing touches including Thom McAn's "GTO shoes", advertised as the "first high-performance shoes" and a song called "GTO", performed by a group called "Ronny and the Daytonas," written by John "Buck" Wilkin, with words checked for accuracy by Pontiac's ad agency, were among the GTO's muscle car marketing "firsts").

Click below for more photos and continuation of the story.

CLAUS LUTHE, DESIGNED WORLD'S FIRST WANKEL-POWERED SEDAN FOR NSU IN 1967

Claus Luthe, an influential German car designer whose 1967 NSU Ro80, with its sloping hood and tail-to-headlight crease line, was a precursor to many models of recent decades, died March 17 (2008) in Munich. He was 75. As BMW’s chief designer from 1976 to 1990, Luthe refined the work of his predecessor, Paul Bracq, in developing BMW’s 3, 5 and 7 Series, sleek cars that became status symbols for baby boomers while greatly improving the company’s profits. (Photos --- Above, Claus Luthe in 1967, Below, Luthe's NSU Ro80, world's first rotary-powered sedan).

But Luthe’s better-known breakthrough was the NSU Ro80, which came at a time when many American cars sported tail fins and European models had a boxy, conservative look. NSU was a small German manufacturer of mostly moderately priced sedans. Luthe became its chief designer in 1956.

Luthe was born on Dec. 8, 1932, in Wuppertal, Germany. He started learning automotive design as an apprentice at the Voll bus manufacturing company, where he worked from 1948 to 1954. He then became a designer at the Fiat subsidiary in Germany, but soon after was hired by NSU.

In the 1960s, the company began experimenting with the Wankel engine, developed by its chief engineer, Felix Wankel. Unlike the standard engine with six or eight pistons pumping inside an iron cylinder block, the Wankel had a single piston rotating inside an oval chamber, producing significant power from a small engine. Hoping to break into the luxury market, NSU turned to Luthe to design the Ro80; the Ro stood for rotary engine, 80 was the design number.

NSU’s attempt to break into the luxury market faltered, not because of its body design, but because of the Wankel engine. As General Motors was to learn in the 1970s, when they tried making their own version of the Wankel rotary, this kind of engine resulted in low gas mileage and heavy engine wear, leading to high warranty losses and low profits. In 1969, NSU was taken over by Volkswagen. At Volkswagen, Mr. Luthe’s design for the K70, an adaptation of the Ro80, was taken over by his new employer. It became the more conventional Volkswagen K70, the company’s first front-wheel drive car to have a water-cooled engine.

It was to be a Japanese company, Toyo Kogyo, also known as Mazda (a westernization of the Japanese  name "Matsuda") which would have success with the Wankel rotary. Mazda overcame many of the problems which were once thought to be simply inherent to the Wankel design. The company's engineers were able to properly cool the engine and produce engine seals which did not break down, a problem which often resulted in destruction of the engine rotors, especially in their early 1970s models. Also, they were able to increase the engine's mileage per gallon of gas and lower emissions, but not to any great extent, but enough for a "passed" certificate from the then-new (in 1974) US Environmental Protection Agency. In 1991, Mazda became the first (and still only) Japanese car company to win the prestigious "24 Hours of LeMans". And they also remain the only car-maker to win that event using a rotary engine.

In 1990, after 14 years at BMW, Mr. Luthe’s career came to an unfortunate end. He was convicted of murder after stabbing his often-troubled 33-year-old son, Ulrich, to death during a violent argument. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison, but did not serve his full term.

Mr. Luthe is survived by his wife, Gertrude; three, well, uh, two sons, Christopher and Robert; and one daughter, Barbara.

Click below for more photos of Luthe's work.

PLANE CRASH CLAIMS UK RACING GREATS

A plane crash in the UK this past week killed the five people on-board the business flight, and three of those were figures in world motorsports. Two of them, David Leslie and Richard Lloyd, were well-known. Also killed were the craft's pilot and co-pilot and Christopher Allarton, 25, a race team data engineer. With reports culled from several sources, we're able to report this sad story. Although not well-known to most American racing fans, Leslie, Lloyd and Allarton were on their way to test a Jaguar racing car in France when their plane crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday afternoon, March 30th. The pilot and co-pilot, Mike Chapman and Mike Roberts, were also killed. The house the plane hit was unoccupied as the owners were on vacation; they arrived home just hours after the crash occurred, unaware of the event until they saw their ruined house. (Photos --- Above, Crash site in the UK; Below, Bentley "Speed 8" at the 2003 "24 Hours of LeMans").

Former Grand Prix racing champion Damon Hill knew Leslie and Lloyd for many years through their involvement with motor racing, and described them as "lovely guys".

The twin-engined Cessna Citation I crashed on Sunday at Farnborough, about 25 km (15 miles) southeast of London, and burst into flames. Nobody on the ground was injured as the couple who lived in the house were on holiday.

Mr Leslie was best known for his wins in the British Touring Car Championship at the height of its popularity in the 1990s, and more recently he was working as a racing commentator on Eurosport. The 54-year-old, from Banbury, Oxon, leaves behind a wife, Jane, and two sons.

Mr Lloyd ran the Bentley Le Mans 24-hour team earlier this decade and helped Audi win saloon car and touring car championships in the 1990s.He was also once a former driving partner of Sir Stirling Moss.

The 63-year-old was principal of Apex Motorsport, based in Buckinghamshire, and also once worked for Decca records in the 1960s, managing Cliff Richard and the Shadows. He lived with his wife Philippa, 56, and three daughters close to Silverstone race track in Northamptonshire. (Photo --- From upper left and clockwise, Richard Lloyd, Mike Chapman, Mike Roberts, David Leslie).

HAL RINEY, CREATOR, AND VOICE, OF SATURN'S FIRST ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN, DIES AT 75

You know Hal Riney's voice and much of his professional work. A career in advertising is very different from a career in marketing; one person accomplished at both is a rare bird, indeed. Such a rare genius was Hal Riney, who died on Monday, March 24th, at age 75. Hal Riney probably had a hand (or a song, or a brain, or a voice) in helping you make one buying decision or other. Whether it was your decision to bank at Crocker Citizens Bank in 1970s California, or making you think about a new car company called Saturn, Riney pushed and prodded us all, though he and his work was never considered "pushy," to inform us and to consider spending our hard-earned dollars on his clients' products. His loss is a great one, and he and his many, many talents will be missed by all consumers and the companies which need them.

Here, from Advertising Age and re-printed in their sister publication, Automotive News, Ad Age's Alice Z. Cuneo tells us much about Hal Riney:

Hal Riney, the legendary adman whose work influenced presidential campaigns and whose vision helped shape auto marketing and many other aspects of the business, died Monday of cancer. He was 75. (Photos --- Above, Riney; Below, Then-GM CEO Roger Smith at the original Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee).

During his career of almost 50 years, Riney developed advertising around the notion that understatement sold better than overstatement, and any conclusions about a product were better left to the audience. He also pushed against advertising that was intrusive or insulting, and he wasn't ashamed of ads that made people laugh or cry.

His first major campaigns helped legitimize wines from the E.&J. Gallo Winery with elegant spots featuring high production values. He also revolutionized the car-selling business by personifying General Motors' Saturn brand. (Photos --- Henry Weinhard beer was a many-years client of Riney's; Gallo Wines was another client).

Part of pop culture

Riney even contributed to pop culture: One of his early clients, a local bank called Crocker Bank, wanted to attract a younger clientele. Riney developed a wedding spot and commissioned a song that later became the Carpenters' hit "We've Only Just Begun." Other classics on his reel included work for Henry Weinhard beer.

Once called "the Paul Bunyan of advertising," Riney also worked for Republican political candidates and in the 1980s was part of the so-called Tuesday Team, a group of admen working on Ronald Reagan's campaign. His "Bear in the Woods" spot, which subtly compared the Russian communists to a bear in the woods that some declined to see, and his "Morning in America" campaign for Reagan are political classics.

Riney, moreover, was a recognized voice-over talent. His sonorous, gravelly yet homespun tones were featured in hundreds of commercials, not just those produced by his own shop.

Hal Riney was born in Washington state and began working in advertising in 1956 as a marketing   trainee at BBDO, San Francisco. Ten years later, he was promoted to exec VP-creative director. He switched in 1972 to San Francisco shop Botsford Ketchum but four years later took a job opening Ogilvy & Mather's San Francisco office. He set up shop as Hal Riney & Partners in 1985 and the following year bought the remaining 40% of the agency from Ogilvy to become an independent.

FIRST "HALL OF SHAME" ENTRY: ROLAND ARNALL, 68, BOUGHT US AMBASSADORSHIP FOR $325 MILLION, FOUNDED AMERIQUEST, ONE OF THE WORST OF THE SUB-PRIME LENDING CROOKS

In taking the lead from who must have been one of his idols, Ken Lay, the CEO of Enron who dropped dead before he could serve one day of his multi-year sentence for so many felonies there's not room to list them all here, one of the sleaziest of the sub-prime mortgage robber-barons, billionaire Roland E. Arnall has died at age  68. His widespread philanthropy and extraordinary political friendships stood in contrast to repeated investigations into alleged lending abuses at his giant subprime company, Ameriquest Mortgage Co. The longtime Holmby Hills resident died at home. Holmby Hills is one of the most expensive areas in Los Angeles, where the legendary Hugh Hefner has his "Playboy Mansion". (Photo - Arnall, possibly day-dreaming about what he could have accomplished had he been an honest man. Nice, though, that the "Men's Club for Hair" implants were apparently taking hold).

In 2005, Arnall paid a $325 million "settlement" to escape indictments and settle cases against him, without admitting any guilt, of course, by 49 states and the District of Columbia. After the bribe, uh, fine was paid, his old buddy, President George W. Bush, appointed him US Ambassador to the Netherlands. Yes, this is the kind of man representing the interests of the United States overseas.

Arnall, a Holocaust survivor who co-founded the Simon Wiesenthal Center, had resigned as President Bush's ambassador to the Netherlands on March 7, returning to Los Angeles to be with a seriously ill son, the family said. The senior Arnall was diagnosed Wednesday with esophageal cancer that had metastasized and died early Monday at UCLA Medical Center, a spokesman for the family said.

Intensely private about his business and charitable affairs, Arnall was personally a gregarious character known for befriending service workers he encountered, along with some of the most powerful politicians in California and the nation. ("Some of my best friends are chauffeurs and cooks!" was probably the kind of crap this guy would espouse --- Many of us know the type).

The Arnalls became major backers of President Bush and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, both Republicans. Since 2004, the couple had given more than $12 million to GOP causes and candidates, becoming the heaviest donors to the 2004 election cycle, including the Republican National Convention and Bush's inaugural celebration, campaign finance records showed. You got that? TWELVE MILLION to the Republicans since 2004? And that's not even counting the $325 mil!

Arnall's story somewhat parallels that of two other ambassadors from our country, Walter Annenberg and his wife Leonore. Annenberg's father bought-out a sad, crumbling newspaper called "The Daily Racing Form" several decades ago, turned it into a huge success and left it to his son, who would go on to establish TV GUIDE, which for many years was the most popular publication of any kind in the world, until the advent of on-screen programming guides, of which TV GUIDE is still a small part.

The Annenberg's were two of the biggest Republican causes and candidate donors; their enormous Rancho Mirage, California estate has its own nine-hole golf course. Their legendary New Year's parties in the Southern California desert were attended by US Presidents, and even Queen Elizabeth once visited their home. The estate, located at the corner of Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope Drives (no kidding) often not only hosted those two entertainers, but every other major Republican politician and other entertainers associated with Republicanism. Gerald R. Ford's retirement home was located about 1 1/2-miles from the Annenbergs, and was a simple desert home on a nice golf course. He and his wife were good friends with the Annenbergs, but the Fords lived simply and comfortably in their home, located barely 1/2-mile from the Eisenhower Medical Center and Betty Ford Center.

BOYD CODDINGTON, 63, HOT ROD ARTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE

When I read this afternoon that Boyd Coddington had died at the age of 63, it came as no great  shock or surprise. Coddington had gained and lost large amounts of weight during his lifetime, and they say that's tough on anyone's heart, but what struck me most about him was his tenacity, patience, ideals of perfection, and his determination to recover from adversity ... and that's not to mention his gorgeous cars, truly worthy of what someone once called "applied art with a practical purpose". Coddington saw great success, watched as it mostly disappeared, then built himself, his name and his business back up again. What he went through, the tremendous ups and downs, personally and in business, were enough to do-in ten people. I'm just happy that towards its end, his life had become, again, a pretty good success.

While custom car and motorcycle creators have today, thanks to cable TV, become big media stars, like Chip Foose and that family from Orange County Choppers, Coddington was the first.

A decade-and-a-half-or-so ago, we held the "Coolest Car in LA" contest at KTLA MORNING NEWS, which was, at the time, the by-far #1 morning TV show in Los Angeles (and KTLA being one of the first "Superstations", it was also seen nationally). We producer- and on-air types sat down to plan the event, including who we might want to be judges of the contest's finals. The contest ran for about five weeks; there were some 700 entries and all sent a tech sheet about their vehicles along with photos, and the photos were real photos, as this was well before the ubiquity of the Web, and certainly way before digital cameras were priced so to be available to the general public.

As for these judges, one name we all instantly agreed upon the first time it was mentioned: Boyd Coddington. (Photo - "Boydster 2").

Coddington, like other great Southern California "customizers" and "custom car builders" before and after him, had roots in Orange County, CA and Disneyland and/or Knott's Berry Farm. These were, and are, places were machinists and fabricators like Coddington could cut their teeth building specialized, never-before-seen vehicles from the ground up. Along with the vehicles, which could range from covered wagons to faux nuclear submarines, these amazingly talented men and women also built, again from the ground up, the engines and the motors which motivated their works. Even some of the people who painted these contraptions became famous, best-known, probably, is Von Dutch, who I believe worked at both of Orange County's palaces of fantasy, from the "Happiest Place on Earth" at 1212 Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim, to its slightly-seedy but just-as-overly-patriotic neighbor a mile or two down the road, on Buena Park's Beach Boulevard, where Mr. Walter Knott had invented boysenberries; his wife, Cordelia, wrote a recipe for fried chicken that still draws hundreds of diners every night.

Such was the atmosphere where Coddington made his bones, the great American places of fantasy, all of it built on dreams, where he developed the skills which would make his name known to tens of millions of Car Nuts around the world.

His initial commercial success was thanks to his own talent. Much of his failure can be traced to some people in the business and PR side of things who pushed Coddington, too fast and too much, into arenas that perhaps weren't best for him, and almost surely were beyond his business acumen. Coddington was quiet, some would say shy. There didn't seem to be an aggressive bone in his body. He began as a machinist, and ended as a world-renowned artist, sculptor and innovator. Many people made a lot of money off Coddington, but, when he was down, most of them apparently forgot his phone number. One more time, he had to re-build something from the ground up: Himself, and as usual, when left to his own devices, the Coddington project was a success. (Photo - Boyd's AlumaCoupe, introduced for the first time anywhere on the TV show where I reported, KTLA MORNING NEWS in Los Angeles, before its 1992 New York Auto Show public intro).

Here's one obituary on Coddington, the good and bad, and which is, we think appropriately, from his  "hometown" newspaper, the "Orange County Register":

"Boyd Coddington, whose curvaceous custom cars and high-octane cable TV series "American Hot Rod" made him a legend of the Orange County and national car culture, died Wednesday at age 63.

Coddington, a La Habra resident who called Orange County home for 41 years, died at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier. Cause of death was not released.

Coddington's career had its ups -- "American Hot Rod" aired on the Discovery Channel from 2004 to 2007 -- and downs -- bankruptcies and a guilty misdemeanor plea for filing fraudulent car title information.

Born in Rupert, Idaho, in 1944, Coddington was a farm boy who devoured auto magazines and dreamed of creating his own custom cars. In 1967, he moved to Anaheim to work as a machinist for Disneyland, keeping his dream alive by spending his spare time custom building hot rods in his garage. The Disney job taught him a lesson he would use in his designs, said Brad Fanshaw, Coddington's business partner from 1989 to 1996.

"At Disney, he learned that if you do it, do it right. Make it perfect," Fanshaw said. (Photo - Boyd's "Smoothster").

Coddington's first big hit was a streamlined makeover of a 1933 Coupe that won the Al Slonaker Award, one of the most prestigious prizes in hot rodding. He won the "America's Most Beautiful Roadster" award in 1982 at the Oakland (CA) Roadster Show.

His 1989 "Cadzilla," considered a design masterpiece, was custom built for rock star Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Michael Anthony of the band Van Halen and actor Tim Allen also commissioned cars by Coddington. His hot rods were re-created as toys for Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.

"He used to say, 'I don't like to see any bumps,' " Fanshaw said. "He'd take a '32 or '33 body and give it a clean look, shave off the hinges, the handles, reshape the body. It was a sexier look than anything out there."

The New York Times called Coddington "indisputably the best-known and arguably the most influential professional builder in the field."

He was inducted into the Hot Rod Hall of Fame in 1997, along with his chief designer Chip Foose, who also became a television celebrity. (Photo - Boyd's "Che-Zoom" was not only a full-size car, but also a Mattel HOT WHEELS choice and a plastic model kit made by Testor's --- remember the great glue which came with those models?).

Coddington's design success led to business booms and busts. In the early '80s, he pioneered carving  wheels out of aluminum blocks, selling them to fans who loved his style but couldn't afford a customized car. The wheels became so popular that Coddington took the company, Boyds Wheels Inc., public in 1995.

In 1998, Boyds Wheels filed for bankruptcy and Coddington filed for personal bankruptcy protection in 2001 to stave off creditors from his business debts. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of submitting counterfeit vehicle titles to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, trying to avoid smog restrictions and taxes by claiming his new hot rods were vintage cars. In a 2005 interview with the Register, Coddington said he thought what he was doing was not a problem until he was busted.

"If a guy's got enough money to pay $100,000 for a car, he can pay the tax on it," Coddington said. "But if the loophole is there, he'll go through it. Everybody will do that, that's human nature."

Coddington opened his shop in La Habra in 2001, where he became a local civic booster, supporting local children's charities and his personal foundation, which raised money through annual custom car shows that drew thousands to La Habra.

"It's a huge loss for La Habra. He put La Habra on the map," said Jim Gomez, a La Habra city council member.

Coddington is survived by his wife, Jo; three sons, Boyd Jr., Chris and Greg; and grandchildren." -30- (end of Register story)

Boyd and his wife started the Coddington Foundation, and if Boyd is remembered for his cars, he'd also like it if people would remember him for his Foundation; the following is from his website:

"Boyd and Jo Coddington have always been involved with numerous charity organizations. (Photo - "Boydster 1").

But in 2005, they decided to start their own when a young man named Max Cohen came into their lives. Max was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, a terminal illness, in February 2003. He has a passion for designing cars and motorcycles and his favorite shows are American Hot Rod and American Chopper. It was his dream to design and build his own hot rod. Upon learning of his wish, Boyd and Jo Coddington immediately contacted him and brought him to California to pursue it. They, along with the Coddington Foundation assisted in making this young man's dream come true by bringing him into design the hot rod and have Max work side by side with the craftsmen in the garage.

Also, Boyd Coddington's Garage has been working with the Elwyn Foundation for years, hiring mentally challenged adults to work in the shop. All are not only employees, but, become part of the Coddington family. Boyd and Jo have always held a special place in their hearts for children and the mentally challenged. (Photo - Boyd's "SportStar").

The Coddington Foundation is a Public Benefit non-profit corporation formed exclusively for charitable and  educational purposes. Specifically, our organization will provide a unique opportunity for terminally ill children to experience their dreams through building a hot rod which will be auctioned for charity. Provide work opportunities, job experience, and financial sponsorship for mentally challenged adults 18-60 in order to assist them in entering the workplace. And raise funds for other non-profit organizations such as La Habra's children's programs and the Elwyn Foundation through various charity events, such as the annual Coddington Foundation Car Show and Fundraiser.

The Coddington Foundation is committed to positively impact the lives of those less fortunate in our community and throughout the country. It is our belief that together we can accomplish this mission."

JOHNNY GRANT, MAYOR OF HOLLYWOOD, 84

Johnny Grant drove a black Infiniti Q45. That alone made me like him even more.

He was found sitting in the rocking chair in his 14th floor penthouse suite in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. He had gone upstairs, to his personal aerie with a large outdoor balcony affording wonderful views of Hollywood Boulevard, following luncheon with a lady friend in the Roosevelt's restaurant. It is directly across the street from what we used to call "Grauman's Chinese Theatre", so Grant was able to personally witness, over the past few years, the true "rebirth" of Hollywood, a rebirth which occured as a a direct result of his own efforts and never-ending enthusiasm for and understanding of the magic of Hollywood.

Sometimes we're lucky enough to get to know real, true legends. He was a great, great guy, a "hail fellow well met", as they used to say. I got to know him socially, a bit, when I worked at KTLA/TV5 in Los Angeles for almost all of the '90s. Friendly, helpful, fun and always in constant motion ... A legend in this town and he knew it but never traded on it, never used it for his own gain or his own ego. He'd been one of the best in this town since before WWII, knew everyone, accomplished great things and helped the down and out but you'd never hear him talking about it.

Born May 9, 1923, in Goldsboro, N.C., Grant was a cub reporter for radio station WGBR when he hitchhiked to Washington to cover President Roosevelt's third inauguration. The diminutive reporter sat in a tree to write down what he saw for his report.

He joined the U.S. Army in 1943, then came to Hollywood after his discharge, where he landed a small role playing a reporter in "The Babe Ruth Story" (1948), which starred William Bendix. He was lured to Hollywood, he once recalled, after seeing Mickey Rooney in the 1938 film "Boys Town." "If that little guy can do it, so can I," he remembered telling himself.

Grant also had a part in Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (1954) with Bing Crosby, and played himself in 1966's "The Oscar." He did Lucky Strike cigarette commercials on radio's "The Jack Benny Show" and radio celebrity interviews at the Ham & Egger restaurant on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. He also did radio interviews in the lobby of Ciro's on Sunset Boulevard, now the Comedy Store, which was the personification of glamour and glitz in the 1940s and '50s. His guests included Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Grable, Mel Torme and Joe DiMaggio. (Photo - Johnny Grant, singer Corinne Calvert and Tommy Dorsey in Hollywood).

Grant was one of television's earliest game show hosts, hosting "Stop the Clock" on the Dumont Network  beginning in 1946. He began as a color commentator on West Coast college football games in 1949 and hosted "7 to 8," an NBC morning program from 1953-54.

Together with Crosby, Hope and Sinatra, Grant co-hosted the first national telethon ever produced, a fund-raiser to help send America's Olympic athletes to Helsinki, Finland, in 1952.

Grant was one of the West Coast's most sought-after masters of ceremony and emceed more than 5,000 civic and charity events. Through his humanitarian efforts, he helped produce hundreds of events, raising millions of dollars for the USO, Boy Scouts of America, the Arthritis Foundation, police and fire services, veterans organizations and others.

He was one of the original entertainers to make trips overseas to entertain U.S. troops in the field, making 15 trips to Korea and 14 to Vietnam.

He is the lone recipient of the Bob Hope Combat Entertainer Award from the International Korean War Veterans Assn. for his entertainment tours to the front lines. The award was presented personally by Hope.

He died in his bedroom which was in, and this is so appropriate, in the 14th floor penthouse of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the same hotel where for decades after his death, Houdini's widow held a séance in an attempt to contact her husband, who had promised her he would speak to her from the great beyond.

The first Academy Awards were held in the Hollywood Roosevelt ... When Lucy and Ricky drove from NYC to Hollywood with Fred and Ethel so Ricky could make some movie and TV appearances in Hollywood, they stayed at the Hollywood Roosevelt (of course the show was filmed in Hollywood since its inception; but, similar to when the story line of radio's "Amos and Andy Show" had their stars driving cross-country, small towns across the nation made plans to greet their favorite stars when they "drove" through their towns) ... Because to Johnny Grant, it was all about the magic. And he not only had a part in creating it, he was for many years the only one, the single person in Los Angeles, who believed in the glitz and glitter of Hollywood and swore that one day it would be back. As the neighborhood deteriorated through the '70s, '80s and '90s, Johnny Grant came up with the concept of the 'Hollywood Museum', and without a building, without a collection of anything, without a staff, Johnny Grant started putting it all together. (Photo - Johnny Grant shows the LAPD some damage to Gregory Peck's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame).

Now, in the 21st century, Johnny Grant was able to see some of his dream coming true, with the Kodak Theater, the permanent home of the Academy Awards, smack in the middle of Hollywood. Other business and housing developments in 'his' part of town have revitalized Hollywood, made it not only a hang-out for runaways, panhandlers and tourists from around the world, but a place where business can be done, a part of Los Angeles which the locals no longer had to be embarrassed about when they drove their relatives from Long Island around town, giving them the grand tour.

Johnny Grant was the single-handed creator and promoter behind not only the "Hollywood Walk of Fame", but also the "Hollywood Santa Claus Lane Parade", which Los Angeles' only semi-official Christmas parade was called when I was a kid. Johnny Grant got all the big stars to ride in the old cars and on the cheesily tacky floats from local towns and, years ago, from the big movie studios, promoting their next blockbuster.

But outside Hollywood, most people didn't know Johnny Grant, though they'd seen his photos thousands of times in their local newspapers, kneeling right to whoever it was who was getting their star in the Walk of Fame that day. Johnny's own star will remain forever in a place of real show biz honor, right in front of "Grauman's Chinese Theater" (now called "Mann's Chinese"), that amazing movie palace with the stars' own hand- and foot-prints in the outdoor front patio. Johnny's got his slab of cement there, too, and he was so excited when he wrote his name in the concrete with a stick that he misspelled his own first name, and now forever it will read, "Johny Grant". On Johnny's star hours after his death was a beautiful spray of flowers and a small sign stating, simply, "Johnny Grant, Hollywood".

No one really can say for certain who "created" the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but it probably was Grant. If not, he took the concept and made it even better. Getting one's star was no mystery; a celebrity's fan club had to write a recommendation and cover the cost of the star (which I heard was around $14,000 a few years ago) and if Johnny and a few others thought that your getting a star was good for Hollywood and would get some press, he made it happen. And of course, more often than not, the latest 'star' was in newspapers around the world the next day, especially if it had been a slow news day. (Photo - Generations of Hollywood, Johnny Grant, LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Paris Hilton and Magic Johnson at Buss' star ceremony).

Who was Johnny? One of the first and best DJs in Los Angeles on KMPC, then one of the city's powerhouse music stations. Bob Hope met and liked Johnny, and he served as the emcee of the show on almost all of Hope's USO Tours in WWII, Korea, Vietnam and into Iraq (he'd just returned home from an overseas USO trip a few weeks before his death). So all of us who watched Hope's USO Shows on NBC TV only caught a glimpse now and then of Johnny, but we never heard him or saw him, he was always in the background, the host, the emcee, the Master of Ceremonies. All the men and women who saw those shows, though, they saw Johnny and remembered him years later when a lot of them decided to make LA their home when they came back from whatever hell they'd been involved with for the past few years. (Photo - Muhammad Ali (l) receives his star from Johnny Grant on the Hollywood Walk of Fame).

But over the past few years, they destroyed Johnny's Christmas parade. The big studios were gone so  there was no way to pressure the big stars to be in the thing. Eventually, there were almost no nationally-known celebrities in the parade, and then, when Tribune Corporation bought KTLA/TV5, the station where Johnny had "a job for life" (more on that later), the station stopped broadcasting the parade live. The parade had been carried on many of Tribune's TV stations across the country, but in the end, even KTLA declined, citing the need for ratings, and the teenagers KTLA wanted to be watching (the station was part of the "W" for awhile and finally the "CW") would not stay home to watch a hokey parade.

But Johnny's last parade almost didn't happen. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which ran the parade, decided to cancel it because it was losing money. For a while, it appeared there would be no parade in 2007. But the parade was saved at the last moment, when the L.A. City Council voted to sponsor the event. At least Johnny got to do his glad-handing of the 'stars', as they were, of the 2007 parade, the final one for him.

The annual holiday event began over 75 years ago (in 1928), and was originally called "The Santa Claus Lane Parade." In fact, it inspired singer Gene Autry, the singing cowboy superstar, to write the song "Here Comes Santa Claus" ("...right down Santa Claus Lane"). (Photo -Johnny Grant poses across the street from "Mann's Chinese Theater" on Hollywood Boulevard).

Autry and Grant became fast friends in those early years. It more than likely had a lot to do with the fact that both of them liked to imbibe more than the average person, but this was Hollywood in the 1930s, and anything goes ... The story goes that one late night, Grant and Autry were driving down either Sunset or Hollywood Boulevard, and Autry was driving, and, as usual, they were both drunk. Autry apparently missed a curb and hit a streetlight, knocking it down. The two got out of their car, now disabled, to study the damage. The police arrived, and saw that Autry was involved, and wanted to let the two go, but because city property was involved, the police had to make a report. The cops also noted that both were very drunk.

Before the police could ask a question, Johnny Grant shouted out, "I was driving! It was all my fault!"

Autry leaned over to his friend and said, "Kid, you got a job for life".

And he did. Autry owned radio station KMPC when Grant worked there, and KTLA/TV5, which was where Grant headed special events and kept an office to the end. Autry's "Golden West Broadcasters" was a huge operation, and he even owned the Anaheim Angels baseball team (since they had been the Double-A "Hollywood Stars"). Autry and Grant both had incredible lives at amazing times in Hollywood, times which of course will never be repeated. (Photo - Johnny Grant enthuses in the Hollywood Christmas Parade).

I liked Johnny Grant and spoke with him whenever I had the chance. This was a guy who could only teach you; someone you could sit and listen to for hours, if the opportunity presented itself. An always-enthusiastic marketing and promotional genius, someone who was there when they 'invented' Hollywood-style PR. His favorite name for everyone was, "Tige!", a short version of 'tiger', and if he called you that, you knew you were 'in'. And everyone was a friend of Johnny Grant.

He had lunch in his penthouse suite, went to his bedroom for a nap, and just a little while later was found, peaceful and happy and fulfilled.

I always felt somewhat close to Grant because I, too, had worked at both KMPC and KTLA. But the only times I ever saw Gene Autry was in the '70s, when he would be sitting in his Owner's Box at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, drinking steadily with his best friend, Richard Nixon.

Johnny Grant never married; he had no children, no very close realtives, apparently. But he had millions of fans and friends. Word was he enjoyed his share of chorus girls back in "the day", and remember ... those Bob Hope tours always brought along the best of the then-current hottest gals, from Lana Turner to Marilyn Monroe and everyone in-between. Many years after all that, Grant told me how Bob Hope used to stash his girlfriends, and he always had several, in apartments all over Hollywood. Grant told me Hope's wife, Dolores, always knew all about all the girls, and never minded, because, Grant told me, "She said that 'none of them were ever called Mrs. Bob Hope'".

Johnny Grant, dies at 84, in, and as, the absolute center of Hollywood.

HAZEL FAYE AGAJANIAN, 93, WIFE OF LEGENDARY RACING IMPRESARIO J.C. AGAJANIAN

Hazel Faye Agajanian, 93, passed away on Friday, December 7, 2007, surrounded by family, at her longtime Beverly Hills, California home. She had suffered from stomach cancer. Mrs. Agajanian was the wife of J.C. Agajanian for 52 years, until his death in 1984. Mr. Agajanian was a legendary motor racing sponsor, car owner and race track promoter, and owned two cars which won the Indianapolis 500 (Troy Ruttman driving in 1952, Parnelli Jones in 1963). Mr. Agajanian, his wife and family entered more cars in the Indy 500 than any other "privateer" team. (Photo - Mrs. Agajanian at the Indianapolis Athletic Club, circa 1975; all photos provided by the family).

          Born Hazel Faye Stepanian on February 10, 1914, in Los Angeles to Haig and Fannie Stepanian, she was a graduate of Roosevelt High School, attended the University of Southern California and graduated with honors from Cal State Los Angeles. She was an active member of the Armenian International Women's Association, the Beverly Hills Women's Club and was secretary of the bible study group at the United Armenian Church in Hollywood. In the midst of all the excitement, including annual trips to Speedway, Indiana (where the Indy race track is located) which lasted a minimum of a month, she and her husband also raised four children; their three sons are all deeply involved in various aspects of the motor racing industry.

Hazel Faye Stepanian was 18 when she married Joshua James Agajanian, aged 19, at The Congregational Church in Los Angeles on August 13, 1932, with close to 600 people in attendance. Joshua James would later come to be known as "J.C." Agajanian, and early in the marriage he began building, with his wife's complete support, the career which would lead to his being known worldwide as "a legendary race car impresario".

They met for the first time at church when Tim Agajanian introduced Hazel Faye to Joshua James as “his girlfriend”. Joshua immediately slid under the table and sat beside her. She knew he was from an important San Pedro, CA family, but didn’t see or hear from J.C. for a year after that first meeting. (Photo Below --- Mrs. Agajanian with her husband, J.C., in his trademark white cowboy hat; the "Shrike" race car carries number '98', which all Agajanian-owned cars have carried since 1948).

During that year, J.C. was told by his father, James T. Agajanian, and mother  Hamas Kardashian Agajanian, that "it was time he got married to a good Armenian girl". J.C. told his father that he knew just the girl. All signs were pointing towards the eventual marriage of Hazel and J.C.

At their traditional, "old-country wedding", the bride stayed indoors and would not come out until the groom’s family "paid" handsomely for her. Then the groom’s family took the bride, safe and sound, to the church for the wedding.

The groom’s family was also responsible for preparing and serving all of the food, along with large bottles of Seagram’s Seven and various soda pops. They were also responsible for buying the wedding dress, which was $25, not a small sum at the time, in the midst of the Great Depression.

The newlyweds spent their honeymoon driving north from the Los Angeles area through Yosemite National Park and San Francisco, with J.C.’s best friends, Bob Kardashian and his wife, following behind in their car. After the (appropriately) "motorized" honeymoon, J.C. and Faye lived with her in-laws at 1021 Weymouth Ave in San Pedro, CA.

On September 13, 2007, not long before she passed, Hazel Faye was asked, “When did you know that you were in love with J.C.”? She replied, “From the moment I met him!"

J.C. Agajanian, the race car owner, event promoter, owner/operator of Gardena's Ascot Park Raceway (known then as the "busiest racetrack in the US") and Municipal Service Company (contracted to remove the residential rubbish in Gardena, CA, for nearly 50 years), was responsible for launching the careers of many people who became notable motoring figures, and more than a few became household names, ranging from the stuntman and motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, to Parnelli Jones, who won the 1963 Indy 500 driving an Agajanian-owned race car. J.C., a two-time Indy 500 winner, entered race cars in the Indianapolis 500 from 1948 until 1984, the year he died.

J.C. Agajanian, Jr., told this website that he and his brothers and their families had gone for dinner nearby their mother's Beverly Hills home the night she died, returning home mid-evening. They spent the rest of that evening in their mom's bedroom, talking, laughing and enjoying each others' company, Mrs. Agajanian resting comfortably, in her own bed, surrounded by her closest family. (Photo Below --- Mr. and Mrs. Agajanian in their "normal habitat"; together on a race track, posing for publicity photos, next to an Agajanian family-owned race car).

After a short while, they noticed that their mother's breathing was becoming more and more shallow, until, finally, her pulse stopped.

"The pain management plan her doctors provided her worked wonderfully," said J.C. Agajanian, Jr., "and she simply slipped into a deeper and deeper sleep and then it was over. No one could imagine a better way to pass. At 93, she had never been seriously ill, and even while being sick for that short time before her death, she refused to stay overnight at the hospital, and Cedars-Sinai Hospital and her doctors provided everything necessary for her to remain home and receive her treatment there, and sleep in her own bed."

"She was," J.C. Jr., concluded, "the glue which held our entire family together".

Hazel Faye is survived by her sister, Lorraine (Dolly) Agajanian, the youngest of four sisters and one brother. She leaves behind her four children, Cary J.C. Agajanian, J.C. Agajanian Jr., Christopher James Agajanian and Joan Agajanian Quinn, her eleven grandchildren and her two great-grandchildren. She was laid to rest at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Wednesday, December 12, 2007, at 3:00pm, in a private family ceremony. 

In lieu of flowers, the Agajanian family asks everyone to make a donation towards a local blood drive, and to please consider the benefits of making a blood donation.

BOB POND, 83, COLLECTOR OF WWII-ERA CARS AND PLANES; FOUNDER, PALM SPRINGS AIR MUSEUM

Robert Pond, mechanical engineer, inventor, civic philanthropist, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, museum founder and car, truck, motorcycle and WWII-era US military aircraft collector, died December 14, 2007, at age 83 in Desert Regional Medical Center in his adopted hometown, Palm Springs, California. He had suffered a brain hemorrhage. (Photo --- Recent photo of collector, philanthropist, and museum founder Bob Pond).

Pond was founder, chairman and most-recently chairman emeritus of the world-renowned Palm Springs Air Museum. The museum houses one of the great collections of still-flying WWII-era US military aircraft, of which Pond owned between 25 and 30, and a vehicle collection numbering near 120 cars, trucks and motorcycles from that same era, most, if not all, of them still-running, which were also owned by Pond.

Known to all as "Bob",  he opened the museum on Veteran's Day, 1996, to "educate, promote and remember all the people during World War II that made great sacrifices, particularly airmen", according to a museum official. And because Bob Pond was a "Car Nut" as well as an "Aviation Nut", this particular written memorial will reflect his lifelong affection for all his many different vehicles, which had spent their "mechanical lives" doing their jobs, either on the ground or in the air ... and sometimes both! Pond was also a very important philanthropic figure in the area where we have lived for almost a decade, the Coachella Valley, which is home to Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio and several more of the best-known desert resort cities in the world. We also hope readers understand that we have attempted, with sometimes too-long captions, to put the few posted photos of some of the museum's vehicles into an accurate historical perspective. Readers will also occasionally find printed asides which may provoke an irreverent laugh or two. As people with laughter, we've been told that Bob Pond would not object.

(Photo Below --- One of the 51Tucker cars ever made; 47 are believed to survive. This 1948 model, owned by Bob Pond, is shown on-display in the Palm Springs Air Museum. Preston Tucker, called, alternatively, a genius on the one hand, and a possible swindler on the other, designed a very advanced car, with a "Cyclops" single headlight that turned with the steering wheel, along with traditional fender-mounted twin headlamps. All Tuckers got their horsepower from a modified helicopter engine, mounted under the vehicle's trunk).

Bob Pond was chairman of the museum's board of directors since its 1996 opening, and named chairman emeritus in 2005. A non-profit educational institution which accepts tax deductible gifts, the Palm Springs Air Museum's "mission statement" says, in part, "(this museum exists) to exhibit, educate and eternalize the role of World War II combat aircraft and the role the pilots and American citizens had in achieving this great victory".

In addition to all the 'ready-to-fly' aircraft and the large number of important 'ready-to-roll' earth-bound vehicles, and related artifacts, artwork and library sources, are all utilized to perpetuate American history. (Photo Below --- One of the "Crown Jewels" of the Palm Springs Air Museum, a North American P51 "Mustang"; from bases scattered all over England, large Allied aircraft on bombing missions which took them deep into Europe, had for years served as the proverbial "sitting ducks" for Germany's Luftwaffe Messershmitt attack fighters, but "Mustang", a powerful long-range fighter, enabled Allied pilots to fly missions from England to Germany, where they dropped their bombs, and back to the UK, with fighter protection).

Pond started building model planes at the age of 10, and when his father let him take a plane ride during a trip to Chicago, that 10-year old kid became hooked on aviation. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1948 and soon bought his first airplane --- a Cessna 180.

He had joined the Navy in 1942, and during WWII, Pond become a Navy pilot, eventually flying PBM Martin Mariner twin-engine flying boats, and the Navy version of the B-24 Liberator, which was a four-engine craft called PB4Y Privateer, and the Navy's version of the B-26, the JM1 Marauder. Pond enjoyed regaling some of the museum visitors (over 100,000 annually), especially former US aviators, that in his last flying assignment his plane was painted a bright, bright yellow. Then Pond tells the punchline, which is true but still very funny and catches many veterans by surprise: "My plane's mission was towing targets for the ground troops who were learning to shoot planes down."

Pond was born in Edina, Minnesota. His father, Harold, owned a small, start-up business called Advance Machine Company, in Spring Park, MN. The company specialized in large-scale installations of terrazzo tiles, such as in shopping centers, hospitals, and all manner of large, sometimes very large, office and government buildings. When Pond returned from the War, he went to work for the family company as its #8 employee (the day before Pond joined the company, Advance Machine Company had 7 employees). Pond soon designed a machine for installing terrazzo tiles faster, safer and easier. Advance Machine customers next began asking for a better way to clean these large installations. Bob Pond got to work on those requests, and created new and improved versions of these highly-specialized machines.

Bob Pond sold the company in the early 1990s for close to (a rumored) $500-million. And the small, family-owned company Pond joined as its 8th employee, at the time of its sale, boasted more than 800 workers at its Minnesota factory alone. Today, Advance has over 3,000 employees, factories ranging from its US plant to facilities in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Singapore and China. Clearly, when Bob Pond sold this closely-held family company some 15 years ago, it was in good health and ready to grow more, the right time for the new owners to expand its manufacturing facilities.

(Photo Below --- Drive leading to the Palm Springs Aviation Museum; visitors are often taken aback by the size of the facility, more than 67,000 square feet total).

The museum facility consists of two large buildings,which are actually two aircraft hangars; there's also a large gift shop and a theater inside. The facility is just a few feet from the runway of Palm Springs International Airport. It has over 67,000 square feet of floor space, and since its opening, it has become one of the region's most prominent tourist attractions, and one of the Coachella Valley's busiest locations for special events, charity functions and big-band concerts. Over 3,000 people can be accommodated for almost any type of private or civic event.

We've had the distinct pleasure of not only seeing the museum's B-17, but we've also been allowed to crawl around inside it, and have seen it in action, too, flying in and out of Palm Springs International Airport, sometimes making 'touch and go' passes.

Something which for me is unforgettable is seeing, hearing, feeling and even smelling this huge Boeing bomber as this monster-sized plane quickly is brought to life. One by one, each of the four massive engines burble, smoke, spit, roar and right at the point where you're certain something 'big' is about to happen, and it's not necessarily a good thing, all four of the engines are now running with a smooth regularity, the entire operation taking less than 2 minutes. (Photo Below --- Boeing's B-17 "Flying Fortress", one of the museum's restored, flight-ready warplanes, and forerunner of a soon-to-come new generation of large and powerful American-designed and -built four-engine bombers; the first B-17s were delivered in 1935, but when WWII began with Germany's September 1, 1939 invasion of Poland, Lockheed and Douglas both joined Boeing in B-17 production, all these companies improving the plane over time, and ultimately over 12,000 B-17 bombers were delivered before the War's end. Only a handful remain in one piece, much less restored and pampered in its "middle age", like this one, with the ability to fly).

Before opening the local museum, Pond had established the Planes of Fame East Air Museum at Flying Cloud Field in Eden Prairie, Minn. It closed in 1997 as the collection was moved to Palm Springs.

The museum facility consists of two large buildings,which are actually two aircraft hangars; there's also a large gift shop and a theater inside. The facility is just a few feet from the runway of Palm Springs International Airport. It has over 67,000 square feet of floor space, and since its opening, it has become one of the region's most prominent tourist attractions, and one of the Coachella Valley's busiest locations for special events, charity functions and big-band concerts. Over 3,000 people can be accommodated for almost any type of private or civic event. He bought more aircraft over the years, including 14 World War II Warbird fighter jets that are on display at the air museum.

(Photo Below --- WWI flying "ace" and one of America's first "media superstars", Eddie Rickenbacker was a self-taught engineering genius who started a Detroit-based company which made about 11,000 cars betweeen 1922 and 1927. The company went under in 2938, and all its machinery and tooling were bouht by Audi and shipped to Germany, shortly before Hitler's rise to power. These cars had the industry's first four-wheel braking system and other technologically-advanced items, and was rather pricey for its time).

On any given day at the museum, a visitor will find approximately 30 aircraft on display, about two dozen of them Pond's own. There are also 30 - 40 cars on display, all +frenafrom Pond's private collection of near 120 vehicles. Every plane, car, truck and motorcycle on display is either in running condition or can be put there with only a little time and effort. During the year, there are many special occasions held which involve flights by many of the museum's aircraft, and planes are also flying in and out of the museum on fairly regular schedule, either from other museums or even other private owners. The museum's website can be found at: http://www.air-museum.org/.

Pond and his wife of 32 years, Jo Rose, moved to Palm Springs in 1989. Together, they supported many institutions in their new Southern California hometown, including the College of the Desert and Desert Regional Medical Center.

One of the biggest highlights of the museum, both literally and figuratively, are original murals personally commissioned by Bob Pond, depicting various aspects of the "lives" of military aircraft, designed, painted and completed by Stan Stokes, known worldwide for his photo-realistic aviation artwork. His two permanent murals at the Palm Springs Air Museum include: "Dauntless at Midway", 12 ft. by 34 ft., and, "Corsair on Approach", 19 ft. by 55 ft. (Photo Below --- Stan Stokes in front of his work, "History of the Flying White House", commissioned by and a part of the permanent collection at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, CA).

Stokes' work is also displayed at the Presidential Libraries of George H.W. Bush (two paintings on permanent display) and Gerald R. Ford (painting of the 'carrier of the future', "USS Gerald R. Ford"). In 1975, Stokes won first place in the Benedictine Art Awards, and in 1984 won first place in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's "Golden Age of Flight" art competition. In May, 2000 Stan was honored with the "R.G. Smith Award for Excellence in Naval Aviation Art" by the Pensacola Naval Air Museum. Stan's most-recent book is the just published Flying Aces. More of Stokes' impressive, incredibly-detailed works can be seen at his website, www.stanstokes.net, from which he can also be contacted.

Robert Pond, mechanical engineer, inventor, civic philanthropist, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, museum founder and car, truck, motorcycle and WWII-era US military aircraft collector, died December 14, 2007, at age 83 in Desert Regional Medical Center in his adopted hometown, Palm Springs, California. He had suffered a brain hemorrhage. (Photo --- Recent photo of collector, philanthropist, and museum founder Bob Pond).

Pond was founder, chairman and most-recently chairman emeritus of the world-renowned Palm Springs Air Museum. The museum houses one of the great collections of still-flying WWII-era US military aircraft, of which Pond owned between 25 and 30, and a vehicle collection numbering near 120 cars, trucks and motorcycles from that same era, most, if not all, of them still-running, which were also owned by Pond.

Known to all as "Bob",  he opened the museum on Veteran's Day, 1996, to "educate, promote and remember all the people during World War II that made great sacrifices, particularly airmen", according to a museum official. And because Bob Pond was a "Car Nut" as well as an "Aviation Nut", this particular written memorial will reflect his lifelong affection for all his many different vehicles, which had spent their "mechanical lives" doing their jobs, either on the ground or in the air ... and sometimes both! Pond was also a very important philanthropic figure in the area where we have lived for almost a decade, the Coachella Valley, which is home to Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio and several more of the best-known desert resort cities in the world. We also hope readers understand that we have attempted, with sometimes too-long captions, to put the few posted photos of some of the museum's vehicles into an accurate historical perspective. Readers will also occasionally find printed asides which may provoke an irreverent laugh or two. As people with laughter, we've been told that Bob Pond would not object.

(Photo Below --- One of the 51Tucker cars ever made; 47 are believed to survive. This 1948 model, owned by Bob Pond, is shown on-display in the Palm Springs Air Museum. Preston Tucker, called, alternatively, a genius on the one hand, and a possible swindler on the other, designed a very advanced car, with a "Cyclops" single headlight that turned with the steering wheel, along with traditional fender-mounted twin headlamps. All Tuckers got their horsepower from a modified helicopter engine, mounted under the vehicle's trunk).

Bob Pond was chairman of the museum's board of directors since its 1996 opening, and named chairman emeritus in 2005. A non-profit educational institution which accepts tax deductible gifts, the Palm Springs Air Museum's "mission statement" says, in part, "(this museum exists) to exhibit, educate and eternalize the role of World War II combat aircraft and the role the pilots and American citizens had in achieving this great victory".

In addition to all the 'ready-to-fly' aircraft and the large number of important 'ready-to-roll' earth-bound vehicles, and related artifacts, artwork and library sources, are all utilized to perpetuate American history. (Photo Below --- One of the "Crown Jewels" of the Palm Springs Air Museum, a North American P51 "Mustang"; from bases scattered all over England, large Allied aircraft on bombing missions which took them deep into Europe, had for years served as the proverbial "sitting ducks" for Germany's Luftwaffe Messershmitt attack fighters, but "Mustang", a powerful long-range fighter, enabled Allied pilots to fly missions from England to Germany, where they dropped their bombs, and back to the UK, with fighter protection).

Pond started building model planes at the age of 10, and when his father let him take a plane ride during a trip to Chicago, that 10-year old kid became hooked on aviation. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1948 and soon bought his first airplane --- a Cessna 180.

He had joined the Navy in 1942, and during WWII, Pond become a Navy pilot, eventually flying PBM Martin Mariner twin-engine flying boats, and the Navy version of the B-24 Liberator, which was a four-engine craft called PB4Y Privateer, and the Navy's version of the B-26, the JM1 Marauder. Pond enjoyed regaling some of the museum visitors (over 100,000 annually), especially former US aviators, that in his last flying assignment his plane was painted a bright, bright yellow. Then Pond tells the punchline, which is true but still very funny and catches many veterans by surprise: "My plane's mission was towing targets for the ground troops who were learning to shoot planes down."

Pond was born in Edina, Minnesota. His father, Harold, owned a small, start-up business called Advance Machine Company, in Spring Park, MN. The company specialized in large-scale installations of terrazzo tiles, such as in shopping centers, hospitals, and all manner of large, sometimes very large, office and government buildings. When Pond returned from the War, he went to work for the family company as its #8 employee (the day before Pond joined the company, Advance Machine Company had 7 employees). Pond soon designed a machine for installing terrazzo tiles faster, safer and easier. Advance Machine customers next began asking for a better way to clean these large installations. Bob Pond got to work on those requests, and created new and improved versions of these highly-specialized machines.

Bob Pond sold the company in the early 1990s for close to (a rumored) $500-million. And the small, family-owned company Pond joined as its 8th employee, at the time of its sale, boasted more than 800 workers at its Minnesota factory alone. Today, Advance has over 3,000 employees, factories ranging from its US plant to facilities in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Singapore and China. Clearly, when Bob Pond sold this closely-held family company some 15 years ago, it was in good health and ready to grow more, the right time for the new owners to expand its manufacturing facilities.

(Photo Below --- Drive leading to the Palm Springs Aviation Museum; visitors are often taken aback by the size of the facility, more than 67,000 square feet total).

The museum facility consists of two large buildings,which are actually two aircraft hangars; there's also a large gift shop and a theater inside. The facility is just a few feet from the runway of Palm Springs International Airport. It has over 67,000 square feet of floor space, and since its opening, it has become one of the region's most prominent tourist attractions, and one of the Coachella Valley's busiest locations for special events, charity functions and big-band concerts. Over 3,000 people can be accommodated for almost any type of private or civic event.

We've had the distinct pleasure of not only seeing the museum's B-17, but we've also been allowed to crawl around inside it, and have seen it in action, too, flying in and out of Palm Springs International Airport, sometimes making 'touch and go' passes.

Something which for me is unforgettable is seeing, hearing, feeling and even smelling this huge Boeing bomber as this monster-sized plane quickly is brought to life. One by one, each of the four massive engines burble, smoke, spit, roar and right at the point where you're certain something 'big' is about to happen, and it's not necessarily a good thing, all four of the engines are now running with a smooth regularity, the entire operation taking less than 2 minutes. (Photo Below --- Boeing's B-17 "Flying Fortress", one of the museum's restored, flight-ready warplanes, and forerunner of a soon-to-come new generation of large and powerful American-designed and -built four-engine bombers; the first B-17s were delivered in 1935, but when WWII began with Germany's September 1, 1939 invasion of Poland, Lockheed and Douglas both joined Boeing in B-17 production, all these companies improving the plane over time, and ultimately over 12,000 B-17 bombers were delivered before the War's end. Only a handful remain in one piece, much less restored and pampered in its "middle age", like this one, with the ability to fly).

Before opening the local museum, Pond had established the Planes of Fame East Air Museum at Flying Cloud Field in Eden Prairie, Minn. It closed in 1997 as the collection was moved to Palm Springs.

The museum facility consists of two large buildings,which are actually two aircraft hangars; there's also a large gift shop and a theater inside. The facility is just a few feet from the runway of Palm Springs International Airport. It has over 67,000 square feet of floor space, and since its opening, it has become one of the region's most prominent tourist attractions, and one of the Coachella Valley's busiest locations for special events, charity functions and big-band concerts. Over 3,000 people can be accommodated for almost any type of private or civic event. He bought more aircraft over the years, including 14 World War II Warbird fighter jets that are on display at the air museum.

(Photo Below --- WWI flying "ace" and one of America's first "media superstars", Eddie Rickenbacker was a self-taught engineering genius who started a Detroit-based company which made about 11,000 cars betweeen 1922 and 1927. The company went under in 2938, and all its machinery and tooling were bouht by Audi and shipped to Germany, shortly before Hitler's rise to power. These cars had the industry's first four-wheel braking system and other technologically-advanced items, and was rather pricey for its time).

On any given day at the museum, a visitor will find approximately 30 aircraft on display, about two dozen of them Pond's own. There are also 30 - 40 cars on display, all +frenafrom Pond's private collection of near 120 vehicles. Every plane, car, truck and motorcycle on display is either in running condition or can be put there with only a little time and effort. During the year, there are many special occasions held which involve flights by many of the museum's aircraft, and planes are also flying in and out of the museum on fairly regular schedule, either from other museums or even other private owners. The museum's website can be found at: http://www.air-museum.org/.

Pond and his wife of 32 years, Jo Rose, moved to Palm Springs in 1989. Together, they supported many institutions in their new Southern California hometown, including the College of the Desert and Desert Regional Medical Center.

One of the biggest highlights of the museum, both literally and figuratively, are original murals personally commissioned by Bob Pond, depicting various aspects of the "lives" of military aircraft, designed, painted and completed by Stan Stokes, known worldwide for his photo-realistic aviation artwork. His two permanent murals at the Palm Springs Air Museum include: "Dauntless at Midway", 12 ft. by 34 ft., and, "Corsair on Approach", 19 ft. by 55 ft. (Photo Below --- Stan Stokes in front of his work, "History of the Flying White House", commissioned by and a part of the permanent collection at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, CA).

Stokes' work is also displayed at the Presidential Libraries of George H.W. Bush (two paintings on permanent display) and Gerald R. Ford (painting of the 'carrier of the future', "USS Gerald R. Ford"). In 1975, Stokes won first place in the Benedictine Art Awards, and in 1984 won first place in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's "Golden Age of Flight" art competition. In May, 2000 Stan was honored with the "R.G. Smith Award for Excellence in Naval Aviation Art" by the Pensacola Naval Air Museum. Stan's most-recent book is the just published Flying Aces. More of Stokes' impressive, incredibly-detailed works can be seen at his website, www.stanstokes.net, from which he can also be contacted.

KEN HENDRICKS, SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRE, PRIMARY SPONSOR OF "AJ FOYT RACING", DIES AT 63

In 2005, he was #207 in the Forbe's Magazine list of the "400 Richest Americans". His bio in Forbe's read in part: "Age: 63. Married, 7 children. Born: Beloit, Wisconsin. High School dropout. Net Worth: $1.5 billion and above. Source of Wealth: Distribution, building supplies, real estate. Self-made." In 2006, he was "Inc.com" Entrepreneur of the Year. In spite of Ken Hendricks' great wealth, the most telling thing anyone who knew Hendricks could say about him was that most people never heard of him. Indeed, if there were an "Anti-Donald Trump" in some sort of alternative universe, Hendricks would easily fill the bill (if only such a thing were possible). His business, family and hobbies were his be-alls and end-alls. And one of those "hobbies" was being the primary sponsor for a racing team begun by another hard-as-nails (except to his family and friends), self-made American, named AJ Foyt. (Photo --- Ken Hendricks).

As prima donna Formula 1 racers cheated and spied on each other and one team in that series was fined $100 million for rules infractions, and as even the galloping NASCAR bulldozer saw its growth slowed to a crawl and their TV audience and race attendance both drop, 2007 was still one of the greatest years in American auto racing for longtime friends and partners AJ Foyt and Ken Hendricks; Foyt was celebrating his 50th year in auto racing, and Hendricks' own company was marking its 25th year in business. AJ Foyt is probably the single best-known motor racing figure in the over 100-year history of the sport, no matter the nation or the type of racing. However, those involved in racing in any of the myriad "behind the scenes" venues of that vast, worldwide industry, those men and women who have the same amount of courage in betting, oft times, millions of their own dollars to allow the racers to enjoy the glory, it's these "other" people, the "money men and women" who actually make the racing possible. They are the quiet backers, the "silent partners", the unknown marketing garduates and self-made billionaires, who give the racers those arenas where they exercise their unique demons.

But a death, today, within the "racing family" of Foyt struck hard and close to home --- Ken Hendricks has been, for many years, the primary support for all of "AJ Foyt Racing" through his "ABC Supply Company", the nation's largest supplier of roofing materials (to name but one achievement of the company). His death coming while there are still a few days left in the Foyt Celebratory year and his own company's 25th birthday placed a dark cap on what was nevertheless a bountiful, thrilling, fun and successful year for both Hendricks and Foyt ... In other words, just one more of the kind of years these two gentlemen had enjoyed, together, for decades.

One fact which also speaks to Ken Hendricks and the number of people he touched is this: In 'googling' his name about 8 hours after his death was first reported, there were already more than 189 stories on that topic on the Web.

Here's what the AJ Foyt website had to say about the loss of Ken Hendricks:

"It is with great sadness that we at A.J. Foyt Racing have learned of the death of Ken Hendricks, the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of ABC Supply Co., Inc. He had sustained a massive head injury after falling at a construction site at his home Thursday evening and died during emergency surgery at Rockford Memorial Hospital early Friday morning. He was 66. Funeral arrangements are pending.

"I am still in shock," said A.J. Foyt upon hearing of the tragedy. "Ken was a terrific businessman and a hard worker but much more than that he was a great guy who meant a lot to a lot of people. He was a man whose handshake was as good as a 50-page contract. They just don't make them like that anymore. We had a lot of fun when we were together. (Photo --- AJ Foyt takes the mic as close friend and sponsor Ken Hendricks listens during a pre-race press conference for the 2005 Indy 500).

"I am so sorry for his wife Diane and all their kids--I've met them all because they were all involved in the business in one way or another. For this to happen at Christmastime just makes it so much worse because his family was so, so close--and so big, because he thought of his company and the people who worked for him or with him as part of his family. I still can't believe he's gone."

Hendricks was a visionary entrepreneur who started out as a contract roofer and became the head of the country's largest, privately-owned roofing supply business, approaching $3 billion annually in sales. The persona of ABC Supply, he was involved in a variety of businesses that sparked his entrepreneurial spirit as well as a backer of many education-based and charitable programs in his local and global community.

Spectacular though he was in business, and more so because he didn't complete high school, Hendricks will be remembered for the incredible relationships he forged throughout his life. As he followed his own dream of success, he created opportunities for others to follow theirs as well. Indeed, the theme of his company's year-long celebration of its 25th anniversary this year was "Live the Dream".

He is survived by his wife Diane and seven children (five of whom are employed in the family business), and 14 grandchildren.

ABC Supply is the sponsor of A.J. Foyt's No. 14 Indy car which will again be piloted by Darren Manning in 2008. ABC Supply has sponsored Foyt's race team since April, 2005."

Foyt knew Hendricks would appreciate the promotion of the Indy car team in that final paragraph ... They were clearly both men who understood that if you didn't promote yourself, no one else would. (Photo --- Ken Hendricks enjoys a laugh as he helps break ground for "Beloit Riverfront", a major civic project which he helped promote, guide, build and complete in his hometown of Beloit, WI).

This following story, borrowed from the "Milwaukee Mile's" own Website, tells part of the story of the close relationship between Hendricks and Foyt and the importance of this year to them both:

"MILWAUKEE, WIS. (September 18, 2007) – In a heralded 50th Anniversary Season-long celebration of auto racing legend A.J. Foyt’s involvement in Indy car racing in 2007, The Milwaukee Mile returned to its traditional date on the IndyCar Series schedule to a place it held on 49 prior occasions, the Sunday following the Indianapolis 500.

Today, A.J. Foyt Enterprises and ABC Supply Co., Inc. have announced with Mile officials the renewal of the ABC Supply / A.J. Foyt 225 IndyCar Series race entitlement at America’s Legendary Oval, scheduled for Sunday afternoon, June 1, 2008. Practice and qualifying activities will take place on Saturday, May 31. (Photo --- Dario Franchitti wins the "ABC Supply/AJ Foyt 225" on the Milwaukee Mile).

Since the inaugural IndyCar Series race was held at The Mile in 2004, Foyt has granted the track permission to use his name in the race entitlement. Foyt has driven in more races at The Milwaukee Mile than at any other track in his storied career."

HIROTAKA ONO, DEVELOPED NEW "SWIFT", SON-IN-LAW OF SUZUKI CHAIRMAN, DIES AT 52

Hirotaka Ono, a senior operating officer at the Suzuki Motor Corporation (Japan), and who was considered a possible successor to his father-in-law, Osamu Suzuki, as chairman, has died at the age of 52. His death followed a battle with pancreatic cancer, a Suzuki spokesman said.

Ono helped develop the redesigned Swift compact car, which had propelled the company’s growth since its introduction in 2004. He had overseen the carmaker’s North American and European operations since 2006 and was a candidate to succeed Osamu Suzuki, who is 77 and has headed the company since 1978.

Osamu Suzuki, who married into the company’s founding family, said on Dec. 5 that he would keep his role for 10 more years. The company has “plenty of people” on the board who can succeed him, he said. Mr. Ono joined Suzuki in 2001 after having worked at Japan's trade ministry since 1979.

Now, allow us just one observation: How much of a coincidence is it that a man actually named "Suzuki" married into the family of the Suzuki Motor Corporation's founder? What if his name had been, say, "Kawasaki"?

ED CONRAD, LONGTIME SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SPORTSMAN DRAG RACER, DIES AT IRWINDALE DRAGSTRIP

September 6, 2007 (Los Angeles, CA) --- Edward Conrad, 62, of Gardena, CA, a well-known, respected and long-time sportsman drag racer in Southern California who was a fixture at local tracks, died tonight at Irwindale Speedway, which is located about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Conrad was a machinist. (Photo --- Ed Conrad in his 1983 Mustang).

One of Conrad's friends, Al Murawski, of Long Beach, CA, and also a regular at the tracks of the area, and known nationally, too, said that Conrad apparently suffered a heart attack while "staging", or preparing to start, his 1983 Ford Mustang on the starting line for the closely-timed competition of a bracket race on the 1/8th mile track which has been created in the parking lot at the Irwindale facility. "All we know for sure is that he was dead before he got to the hospital," Murawski told a reporter. Conrad also owned a 1969 Mustang; his friend Murawski races a 1972 model.

Mike Morgan, a photographer, was at the Irwindale track and and was an eyewitness to the incident. He told SteveParker.com, "I was standing in front of Ed's Mustang waiting to get a burnout shot (photo). When it seemed to be taking a little too long for him to pull in, I looked to see what he was doing. I could see he was in some distress. I went to see if he was ok, and just as I reached the door, the car took off. As I leaped out of the way, I tried to hit the cut-off switch, but couldn't reach it. He went down the track wide open in first gear, against the K-rail (where I had been standing) until near the end of the track where it nosed in to the K-rail and stayed there, with tires blazing and engine screaming. The safety crew pulled Ed from the car, removed his helmet, and began CPR. Doctors at Arcadia Methodist Hospital also attempted to revive him. He was a hell of a nice guy who died doing the only thing he really cared about. I guess it wouldn't be a bad way to go out."

Conrad's sister, Rebecca Robinson, told SteveParker.com that he left behind two sisters, Rebecca Robinson and Marianne Reich, and he had three children, Steven Conrad, Kimberly Conrad, Edward Conrad Jr., and five grandchildren, along with many other close family members.

"Big Willie" Robinson, co-founder and co-president of the International Brotherhood of Street Racers, told SteveParker.com that he had known Conrad for "30, maybe even 40 years. Ed was one of the original street racers, and one of the original members of the Brotherhood. And not only was he a devoted street racer, but he was also very devoted to saving Brotherhood Raceway. He came to all the events from our earliest days, and he was very close to both my wife, Tomiko, and myself. Ed was also an excellent machinist, and he could work on anything and everything where he worked at Big George's 'Hot Rods and Harleys' ".

Conrad was part of the huge sportsman racing classes of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), tens of thousands of amateur racers who participate at hundreds of race tracks around the nation for the fun and excitement of the competition, not for any potential "big money" paydays or some sort of magazine or TV exposure.

While the NHRA, which was recently sold for near $130 million to HD Partners, promotes their professional drivers as All-American and wealthy celebrities (such as 14-time Funny Car class champion John Force, whose family has participated in a popular cable reality show), the sportsman classes are considered by many to be "the heart and soul" of the sport of drag racing, according to one racing industry analyst.

"Racers like Conrad are the true shade-tree mechanics, the real hot rodders, the kind of people who started the sport of drag racing in the desert and then the airport runways of Southern California after World War Two. They'll trailer their beloved race car for two days and 500 miles to some small-town race track to participate in a few events which might last less than a minute all told over a weekend," according to veteran auto and racing industry journalist and analyst Steve Parker. "And they'll usually wind up 'eating' all their expenses, too. The fun comes not just in prepping and racing their cars, but in spending that time with friends and relatives."

"He was one of the guys, one of the people you'd expect to see at the local track," said one bracket racer who competed against Conrad many times over the years at places such as Lions Drag Strip, Orange County International Raceway and Brotherhood Raceway in the LA Harbor area. "I like to think he made me a better driver by our competing against each other".

Irwindale Speedway is best-known to many racing fans nationally as home to a 1/2 mile oval track which draws some of the top names in the oval racing sports, including NASCAR star Tony Stewart. The track management established the 1/8-mile dragstrip, which is sanctioned by the NHRA, in answer to the huge demand for such tracks by sportsman drag racers of all ages, and in an attempt to help get some of the area's huge numbers of illegal street racers off the public roads and on a safe and professionally-run track.

To see the WHITTIER DAILY NEWS newspaper coverage of this story, please click anywhere on this line.

To read Irwindale Speedway's statement regarding Ed Conrad's death, click anywhere on this line.

"INGLEWOOD" LARRY McENTEE PASSES, ORIGINAL STREET RACER WAS 61

Larry McEntee, a native and 61-year resident of Los Angeles, passed away on Tuesday, September 18, 2007, in Inglewood, CA. The cause was cancer. McEntee was a US Marine serving on active duty from 1963-1967, when he was deployed twice to Vietnam. Of his many interests, his greatest passions included restoring his classic and racing cars ("Larry was always a Chevy man," remembers fellow street racer Big Willie Robinson), surfing, bowling and coaching baseball. He distinguished himself as the Varsity Baseball coach at Inglewood High School from 1995-2001.

Larry was "One of the original street racers," in Los Angeles, according to Big Willie Robinson, president of the International Brotherhood of Street Racers, "and he was one of the original White street racers, too, which was very important, because Larry could be in the White community or the Black community and always be 'in the know'," recalled Big Willie, "and he was always very community-minded, which you can see through his coaching baseball at Inglewood High".

Big Willie also remembers that he and McEntee "were longtime friends and neighbors in Inglewood. He was one of those rare people, a Los Angeles native, and he never left, except when his country called". Big Willie told SteveParker.com that McEntee was among the very first US Marines to land in Vietnam. "So we had a lot in common," said Big Willie, "because I was in Vietnam very early, too. He was really a great man with a lot of skill and talent. He had a shop in Inglewood where he built and restored cars and race cars, he put together big block and small block engines, he was a machinist, a fabricator ... When it came to cars, he could really do it all." Big Willie also said that McEntee was a "big supporter" of Brotherhood Raceway and could always be counted on to be one of the top participants at that facility.

Larry is survived by his loving wife, Peggy, and his children Christopher, Daniel, Katherine, James, Karen and Kelly.

A gathering of family and friends and the viewing will be held at McCormick Inglewood Chapel on Friday, September 21st, from 4pm to 8pm (rosary at 7pm). The funeral Mass will be held at the Church of the Visitation in Westchester, CA, Saturday, September 22nd, at 11am, with a reception to follow.

Flowers, cards and gifts may be sent to the McEntee Family, 712 South Grevillea Avenue, Inglewood, CA 90301.

BUD EKINS DIES AT 77; LEGENDARY SO CAL OFF-ROAD AND DIRT TRACK MOTORCYCLE RACER PERFORMED STEVE MCQUEEN'S FAMOUS JUMP IN "THE GREAT ESCAPE"

(From the LOS ANGELES TIMES)

Bud Ekins, a pioneering champion off-road motorcyclist and a veteran stuntman who doubled for Steve McQueen on the famous motorcycle jump in "The Great Escape," has died. He was 77.

Ekins died Saturday, October 6th, of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, publicist Paul Bloch said.

A 1999 inductee of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, Ekins was one of the first Americans to compete in the World Championship Motocross Grand Prix circuit in Europe during the 1950s. And by the mid-'50s, he was the top scrambles and desert rider in Southern California and had been district champion seven times. (Photo --- Ekins stunt-doubled for Steve McQueen in the 1963 film "The Great Escape" to perform this now-infamous jump over a wood-and-barbed-wire fence on a Triumph motorcycle; using that bike was no mistake, because Ekins owned a Triumph shop in So Cal's San Fernando Valley, the unofficial hang-out for all of Hollywood when it came to motorcycles).

His friendship with fellow motorcyclist McQueen, whom he helped teach off-road racing, launched Ekins' career as a movie stuntman.

Over the years, he amassed numerous stunt credits including the TV series "ChiPs" and films such as "Diamonds Are Forever," "Earthquake," "The Towering Inferno," "Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers."

But Ekins' most famous stunt work was on his first job: doubling for McQueen in the climactic motorcycle jump over a high, barbed-wire fence in the 1963 World War II prisoner-of-war movie "The Great Escape."

"Steve could have done it himself," said Bob Hoy, a stuntman friend of Ekins. "He did the lead-up to it and rode the bike wherever he was running in that escape, but Bud did the jump. It was a tough jump. You only can do that kind of thing once; you either make it or you don't make it."

Susan Ekins, the stuntman's daughter and an executive film producer, said her father was "very proud" of the spectacular jump, which was shot on location in Germany.

She said her father and McQueen dug out a ramp in the dirt and practiced jumping the motorcycle over a rope to see if it would be able to clear the fence.

"Steve was a very capable rider, but my dad did the jump because they wouldn't let a star do a jump of that nature because they couldn't afford to have him hurt," she said.

In the 1968 crime drama "Bullitt," Ekins also did stunt work for McQueen when his detective character drives his green Mustang in a high-speed chase with the bad guys in a black Charger over the hills of San Francisco. (Photo -- Bud Ekins in a family photo; the front of his leathers reads: "Bud Ekins Triumph - Tarzana", in reference to his motorcycle shop in So Cal's San Fernando Valley. Note the "#1" plate; The city of Tarzana borrowed its name from the title of a book written by a local resident, "Tarzan of the Apes", by Edgar Rice Burroughs).

But that wasn't all Ekins did on the hit film.

"One of the great things Bud did in the picture, he laid a motorcycle down on the blacktop during [the chase]. It was a hell of a shot," Hoy recalled. "Anything mechanical -- cars, motorcycles -- Bud was a perfectionist doing stunts. He could blueprint an accident and make it look real."

But, Hoy added, "Bud was an all-around stunt man. He could do fistfights and hold his own, he could say a couple of lines as a heavy and do a fall and what have you.

"All in all, he was a good friend and a wonderful man."

Ekins was born into a working-class family in Hollywood on May 11, 1930. As a teenager, according to a biography on the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum website, he spent nearly two years in reform school after he and some friends were caught joy-riding in a stolen car.

Hooked on motorcycles after riding his cousin's 1934 Harley-Davidson, Ekins bought a used 1940 Triumph and began spending his spare time riding all over the Hollywood Hills.

After entering the Big Bear Endurance Run in 1949, he bought a 1950 Matchless and, according to the biography, immediately began winning races.

In 1955, Ekins won the Catalina Grand Prix, one of America's most prestigious off-road motorcycle races. During the same decade, he won the Big Bear Endurance Run three times.

His most prestigious accomplishments on the international level came in the 1960s when he won four gold medals and one silver medal during seven years of competing in the International Six Day Trial (now called the International Six Day Enduro). (In 1964, Ekins, his brother, David, and McQueen were part of the U.S. team.)

Ekins, who owned two motorcycle shops in the San Fernando Valley over the years, also was a founder of the Baja 1000, and in the early '60s he made record runs down the Baja California peninsula.

He later became one of the country's leading collectors of vintage and rare motorcycles; at one time his collection included more than 150 motorcycles.

Recalling her father's motorcycle shop, Susan Ekins said, "It was a hangout. My dad taught Warren Beatty how to ride; he taught everybody how to ride motorcycles."

Producer Jerry Weintraub, who knew Ekins for 30 years and described him as "a man's man," agreed.

"He taught most of the movie stars in this town how to ride motorcycles," Weintraub said. "If somebody wanted to buy a great motorcycle . . . they'd go to Bud Ekins. He was an icon."

In addition to his daughter Susan and his brother, Ekins is survived by another daughter, Donna Ekins Kapner; his sister, Vivian Gorrindo; and two granddaughters.

Services will be private. A celebration of Ekins' life at the Petersen Automotive Museum is pending.

Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations in Ekins' memory be made to Project Sunshine, c/o Joseph Carbone, 12608 Alameda Drive, Strongsville, Ohio 44149.

SHAV GLICK, DEAN OF WEST COAST MOTORSPORTS WRITERS, DIES AT 87

I first met Shav Glick in the mid-1970s, when I first started covering motorsports in Southern California. He was a very nice man, always friendly (even to "the new guy"), with a warm greeting for one and all ... He seemed to epitomize the original meaning of the term "gentleman", and there aren't a lot of people in auto racing who fit that particular description. Over the years I would see Shav at, probably, nearly hundreds of various events, from the old Riverside Raceway and Ontario Motor Speedway to the new tracks, like California Speedway. At the Pomona dragstrip, the press room is named for him, and the parking spot closest to the tower, where reporters do their work, was reserved for Shav. I remember commenting to a friend once, at one of the first press conferences I attended, how Shav seemed very humble and quiet for a man with such an important job. "That's what makes him so great," the friend responded, who was older than me and more experienced. "He doesn't talk a lot ... he listens". I've never forgotten that bit of information, courtesy of Shav Glick's respectful and fully-involved attitude. After more than 30 years, I've never forgotten that "tip" and still remind myself of it every time I conduct an interview or attend a press conference. I listen! Shav taught me an important lesson through his own example. I won't even go into his qualities and skills as a journalist --- It's not my position or ability to judge the work of a legend in our field. Interestingly, though Shav officially "retired" from the motorsports beat at the LA Times a year or so ago (with the extremely capable and enthusiastic James Peltz now covering motor racing for the paper), his final piece of prose for the paper appeared just a few weeks before his own death --- That being the obituary he wrote on the passing of another So Cal racing personality whose career Glick had followed and documented for over 50 years --- Wally Parks, founder of the NHRA. (Photo --- Shav Glick is given the honor of proclaiming the infamous command, "Gentlemen, start your engines!" at the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup "Auto Club 500" event at California Speedway).

(From THE LOS ANGELES TIMES)

Shav Glick, whose insightful coverage of motor sports for The Los Angeles Times made him nearly as famous as the racing stars he chronicled, died Saturday, October 20th, at his Pasadena home of complications from melanoma, said his companion, Doris Syme. He was 87. (Photo - Glick is honored to give the command, "Gentlemen, start your engines!" at a February, 2006 NASCAR race at California Speedway).

"He was the authority. You wanted to be noticed by Shav Glick. He certainly had my respect," legendary race car driver Mario Andretti said Saturday. "I'll always remember him very, very fondly."

Fred Nation, an executive vice president of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, called Glick "that rare reporter who combined style, savvy, courtesy and courage to produce the best consistent motor sports reporting of his generation."

Glick came to sportswriting early in life but to the motor racing facet of it relatively late.

He wrote his first bylined story, for the Pasadena Post, when he was 14. By the time he was assigned the racing beat at The Times, he was 48, had already spent 34 years covering other sports -- less three years for Army service during World War II -- and was gaining renown as a golf writer.

"In 1969, I was suddenly thrust into racing," he recalled a few years ago. "I had no background in racing as such."

And yet Glick and motor racing went together like biscuits and gravy. So taken with it was he that he made sure he covered the entire spectrum.

He was as likely to be at a sprint car race in Ventura as at the Indianapolis 500. He covered short tracks and super speedways, road racing and drag racing and midget cars. He was fascinated by unlimited hydroplane racing and, once in the dead of winter, went to La Crosse, Wis., to get a story about stock cars racing on ice.

In the 37 years he covered racing -- he was 85 when he retired in 2006 -- he won more awards than some good drivers win races. He even had one named for him, the Shav Glick Award, given annually by sponsor Eagle One for distinguished achievement in motor racing by a Californian. The winners, chosen by a panel of sportswriters and public relations directors, represent various areas of racing but have one thing in common: Glick wrote often about each of them. (Photo - Glick at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1971).

In 1994, he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Novi, Mich., becoming the first writer for a general circulation daily newspaper to earn that honor. "What astonishes me," Glick said, "is the list of people in my category -- Roger Penske, Tony Hulman, J.C. Agajanian."

Penske owns teams in both open-wheel and stock car racing and has been one of the most influential men in racing for more than 30 years; Hulman owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; and Agajanian, a car owner and promoter, was a West Coast racing legend. As befitting a racing writer, Glick was in fast company.

"He was a true friend of mine, a friend of the sporting world and someone with high integrity," Penske said Saturday. "I have a lot to thank him for, and so does the entire motor racing industry."

Glick liked to say that his favorite race was the one he was covering and that his favorite character was the one he was interviewing.

When it came to stories he had written, though, there was one he liked best, an award-winning piece about bootlegger-driver Junior Johnson. (Photo - Glick, rear row, center, stands at the right hand of his Pasadena, CA, high school friend and classmate, Jackie Robinson).

When he started on the racing beat, Glick continued covering golf as well, and when scheduling conflicts eventually made that impossible, he was asked to choose one or the other.

"To the astonishment of my golfing friends, I took racing," he later said. "The reason was obvious to me: Racing people are the most interesting I've ever worked with."

Glick worked -- and played -- with many interesting people. Growing up in Pasadena, he and his buddies often asked a younger player to join them in sandlot football games. Glenn Davis said sure, ran rings around everyone and later became the Heisman Trophy-winning "Mr. Outside" at Army.

At what was then Pasadena Junior College, Glick and Jackie Robinson were friends and classmates, with Glick often writing about Robinson's athletic feats for the Pasadena Star-News long before Robinson became the first African American to play major league baseball. Glick watched Ted Williams play high school baseball in San Diego, and he interviewed a 14-year-old Tiger Woods, who was showing promise as a golfer.

He was born Shavenau Glick on Sept. 16, 1920, and later accounted for the absence of a middle name by saying his mother "thought Shavenau was long enough." Except for the time he spent in the military in the South Pacific and at UC Berkeley earning a bachelor's degree, Glick lived in his native Pasadena. (Photo - Glick endures good-natured ribbing from LA TIMES sports editor Bill Dwyre at a retirement party for Glick in 2006, held at California Speedway).

After World War II, he went to work for the Star-News and stayed until 1954, when future Times publisher Otis Chandler hired him as sports editor of the Los Angeles Mirror, a sister paper of The Times. When the Mirror was merged into The Times in 1962, Glick made the transition as well.

In addition to Syme, his companion, Glick is survived by a son, Michael, of Santa Barbara; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Glick's wife of 41 years, Florence, died in 1991; and his stepson, Jeffrey Hale, died in 1997.

A celebration of Glick's life is being planned. Donations in his name may be made to Vitas Hospice Charitable Fund, 598 S. Grand Ave., Covina, CA 91724; or to the Pasadena City College Foundation for the Shav Glick Journalism Scholarship, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91106.

BOB HOLBERT, EARLY US PORSCHE DEALER, SUCCESSFUL RACER, PASSES AT AGE 84

ATLANTA, GA, Nov. 14, 2007  - Robert McCormick Holbert, one of the first Porsche dealers in the country and a prominent Porsche race driver in the 1950’s and 1960’s, died in his native Warrington, Penn., on Monday, Nov. 12. (Photo - Bob Holbert in one of his many, often winning Porsches, built for Holbert at the Porsche factory).

Born in Warrington in 1923, Bob opened a general purpose automotive garage in the late ‘40’s, moving to the more famous Holbert’s Garage building across the street in 1951 when he started a repair and parts business specializing in foreign and sports cars.  In 1954, Holbert’s Garage became one of the first authorized Porsche dealers in the country, and continues today as one of the most well-known and oldest Porsche dealerships in America.

    Holbert’s love and knowledge of cars included a distinguished racing career with awards ranging from The New York Times “Best Sports Car Driver” three separate years to top finishes in the 12 Hours of Sebring. He drove to a record six class victories at Sebring including second overall in 1960.  His racing career started in 1953 in an MG, then moved to Porsches in 1957 after seeing driver Jack McAfee pass seven drivers – all cars with bigger engine displacements – in a Porsche 550 Spyder at Cumberland Raceway.  His subsequent racing activities in Porsche RS-550 and RSK led to four SCCA National Championships, and a podium finish at Le Mans with Masten Gregory.  Holbert also sold Roger Penske his first race car (1958).

   “Through his dealership and racing successes, Bob Holbert helped establish the Porsche brand in America,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, president and chief executive officer of Porsche Cars North America. “He was a true American Porsche pioneer.” (Photo --- Bob Holbert (in front) and Roger Penske duke it out on the "corkscrew" at Laguna Seca Raceway near California's central coast).

Holbert later became a Shelby Cobra team factory driver, winning the first  United States Road Racing Championship title in 1963.  He and frequent co-driver Dave McDonald won the GT Class at Sebring in 1964. McDonald’s death in a racing accident at Indianapolis several months later was a major factor in Bob Holbert’s decision to retire from racing later that year.

Son Al Holbert, who also helped run the dealership and was the President of Porsche Motorsport North America, had a brilliant racing career of his own, winning twice at Sebring (1976 and 81), the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times,  and multiple IMSA titles before his remarkable career was cut short by a 1988 plane crash. His other son, Larry, has been the president and general manager of the family-owned dealership for the past 25 years.

The Warrington, PA, dealership that Holbert started in a garage in 1951 now has 93 employees.

-30-

'OTIS CHANDLER COLLECTION' ON SALE

I first interviewed Otis Chandler about 25 years ago, he the movie star good-looking, surfing scion of the family which essentially controlled politics in southern California and owned the LOS ANGELES TIMES newspaper for almost 100 years. Today, THE TIMES is owned by Tribune Corporation (out of Chicago), and the company also owns KTLA/TV5 in Los Angeles, the first licensed commercial broadcast TV station west of the Mississippi River. I've been lucky to have worked at both THE TIMES and KTLA in my career. But I was not yet at THE TIMES when we (photog Dave Gooley and myself) spent a few hours with Chandler at a rental storage facility in East LA. His collection of cars were there, in storage rooms with walls knocked out to allow the single collection of about 50-or-so cars, to have a happy  --- and secret --- home. Now, less than a year after Chandler's too-early death (February, 2006, at 78), his family has announced the sale of Chandler's wonderful automobile collection. (Photo above: Oits Chandler and family and friends drive his 1915 Simplex at the 2004 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance).

There is a history of families selling "dad's cars" upon their deaths, unless dad clearly stipulated something else to happen to them. It appears Otis Chandler did not make such plans. Chandler's collection is housed today in his "Vintage Museum" in Oxnard, CA, about 100 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The museum contains most of his cars and motorcycles and a large collection of trophies from his days as a big-game hunter (later in life he traded the gun for the camera). Many of Chandler's motorcycles are in the "Otis Chandler Pavilion" located on the third floor of the Petersen Automotive Museum on Los Angeles.

Now, we find that full-page advertisement in the Classic Car Club of America's monthly August, 2006, "Bulletin",  that British  auction outfit Gooding & Company announces the "The Otis Chandler Collection Auction" on Saturday, October 21, 2006, at the Vintage Museum.

Pictured in the ad are a 1934 Bohman and Schwartz Packard Twelve Towncar and a 1931 Special Phaeton LeBaron one-off Duesenberg, both from Oat's collection (his friends called him 'Oats', and he advised me to do the same). (Photo: Otis Chandler and his then-new $440,000 Porsche Carrera at the Art Center Car Classic in Pasadena, CA, 2004).

Chandler's funeral at a huge church in Pasadena was interrupted at the end of the service by a huge man, some 6'6" and 300 pounds, wearing what looked like gang colors, and he addressed the congregants. The man was Big Willie Robinson, founder and president of the International Brotherhood of Street Racers, of which Chandler was a charter member. Robinson has gone through life promoting legal on-track drag racing as an alternative activity for young people who otherwise would be plying their dangerous hobby on the city's streets. Chandler had worked to help Big Willie get a track in the Sana Pedro port section of LA Harbor. During the time track was open, over several years, police said that deaths in Los Angeles from street racing incidents and plain old speeding were down dramatically. (Photo: Big Willie Robinson at the track on Terminal Island, San Pedro, CA).

Willie just wanted to thank Oats and ask the gathered crowd to not forget what Chandler had done of the youth of Los Angeles by his support for the Brotherhood. This very wealthy Pasadena WASP, straight-as-an-arrow, hanging out at Brotherhood with Willie, a huge-sized, intimidating-appearing black man, was quite a scene. And I'd been honored to have witnessed it many times. (Photo: Chandler's 1914 Cyclone motorcycle).

Security at the funeral was ready (thought not looking forward to) pouncing on Willie and dragging him out of the place, but Chandler family members signaled their security and the police in attendance to allow Big Willie to speak.

It was the last time anyone ever talked about cars in Otis Chandler's presence.

And now, it appears the Chandler family can not wait even one year to get rid off Oat's collection --- Gentlemen, start your wallets! Is nothing sacred? Not even for a year? Evidently, nope.

Comments, please? (Photo: Big Willie gives racing advice).

OZ'S LEGENDARY RACER PETER BROCK KILLED; DEATH MAY BRING ABOUT 'CHANGES' TO OZ RALLYING

Australia has suffered another death which has the nation upset and Car Nuts especially reeling. Oz racing legend Peter Brock has been killed driving a Brock Daytona Coupe in a famous Oz rally event. It wasn't just Steve Irwin, that "Crikey!" Aussie version of a Florida two-lane redneck gator 'rassl'r whose death recently rocked the Land Of Oz. Peter Brock, probably Australia’s most popular race driver, was killed Sept. 8 during a rally in Western Australia. "THE BORDER MAIL" newspaper detailed the crash (see below) with a photo of the crashed car, and the story says Brock's death may bring about needed changes in these kinds of rallies. Brock, 61, was competing in the Targa West rally when his car hit a tree. He died at the scene. Co-driver Mick Hone was taken to the hospital with broken ribs and minor injuries. Brock was driving a Brock Coupe, a road-going evolution of the 1964 Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe race car. Brock Coupes are built by Hi-Tech for Superformance International under license from Carroll Shelby. The original car and the replica were both designed by the well-known American engineer who happens to share Peter Brock’s name.

(Photo above: Australian racing legend Peter Brock). The longstanding racing face of General Motor’s Holden brand, Brock was a nine-time winner of Australia’s biggest race, the Bathurst 1000, and was the national touring car champion in 1974, 1978 and 1980. He retired from full-time racing in 1997 but returned to Bathurst in 2003 to win a 24-hour race for Holden. Brock had been a board member of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation since 1998. Brock is survived by children Robert and Alexandra, as well as his partner of 28 years, Beverly (and her son, James), with whom he recently split.

Australia is often compared to "America in the '50s" by visitors, and just as race car drivers were just beginning to be highly-respected in those years in the USA, folks in Oz have always had a huge respect and love for their racers. Holden, GM's Ozzie division, still manufactures high-powered V8 rear-drive cars and trucks, as if it really were America and 1955 all over again (the recently-departed Pontiac GTO was merely a re-worked Holden, Corvette powertrain and all ... except for the driver's space being moved to "the wrong side"). (Photo: Peter Brock on a TV screen).

The name Brock shared with his USA counterpart remains, to this day, an often-confusing test of the trivia powers of auto journalists.

"THE BORDER MAIL" newspaper had this to say:

THE winner of the rally that cost the life of Peter Brock says the Australian motor sport legend’s death may prompt a change in the way such road races are run. Veteran racer Ross Dunkerton won the three-day Targa West rally near Perth that claimed Brock’s life on Friday.

The motor racing legend lost control of his car and slammed into a gum tree on a section of bush road he had not had a chance to inspect beforehand. Several motor sport figures have called for an end to tarmac rallies run on closed-off roads, saying they are too dangerous.

Mr Dunkerton says fatigue and lack of preparation might have played a part in the fatal accident because Brock had only flown into Perth on the eve of the race and did not have time to do a preliminary drive of the route.

“That particular road I’d been on more than 10 times,” Dunkerton said. “Peter really didn’t do enough reconnaissance, he was too tired. I think probably one thing that will come out of this is that competitors will not be allowed to compete unless they have done reconnaissance.”

Dunkerton said the stretch of road where Brock died was “quite tricky” and he had taken note of the potential dangers. Confederation of Australian Motor Sport president Colin Osborne said CAMS was reviewing the rally incident. But Mr Osborne would not speculate on the outcome.

“I clearly have a healthy respect for Ross’s opinions and his achievements,” Mr Osborne said. “But it would be inappropriate for me to speculate about the outcome of a review at this point.”

A Western Australian police spokesman said an autopsy was carried out yesterday on Brock’s body,  which was expected to be released so his family could take him back to Victoria. Brock’s publicist, Tim Pemberton, said the racing star could be honoured with a public memorial service, possibly at Sandown Raceway, the scene of many of his most famous victories. "Sandown is a possibility, we will know tomorrow, there are all sorts of options,” Mr Pemberton said. He said Brock’s family had yet to make a decision on the Victorian Government’s offer of a state funeral. (Photo: Peter Brock's Daytona Coupe is inspected post-crash).

Police yesterday retrieved a “black box” from the wreckage of Brock’s Daytona Coupe to find out why it slammed into a tree. The box will be sent to Victoria where its data will be audited for the WA police probe.

"FATHER OF THE AMERICAN PRIUS" DIES; TOP TOYOTA EXEC KILLED WHILE PERFORMING AEROBATICS IN SMALL RUSSIAN PLANE

The man known as the "American Father of the Prius", Toyota's top American executive for gas/electric hybrids, alternative-fuel vehicles and  emissions technologies in North America, was killed when his aerobatic plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, November 25th. David Hermance, 59, was an important part of Toyota's worldwide team for developing hybrid and alternative-fueled vehicles of all sorts, and a crucial member of the company's engineers and executives used to lobby and explain the new technologies to state and local governments (and the media), especially in California. Hermance was based at Toyota's Technical Center in Gardena, CA, close to the company's national headquarters. AUTOMOTIVE NEWS staff writer Marc Rechtin lives close to the scene of the crash, in Los Angeles' San Pedro harbor area, and claims in his published story (below) that he actually heard the small aerobatic plane Hermance was piloting apparently struggling to gain altitude just before the crash. Hermance was often at Toyota media events through the years and we spent time talking with him several times and remember him as incredibly sharp and smart and totally dedicated to a company he truly felt was helping to change the world for the better --- But never arrogant enough to claim he was a major part of that positive change, which, of course, he was. Toyota may have a deep "bench" of 'up-and-comers' to take over Hermance's position, but he'll never really be 'replaced'. (Photo above: David Hermance, 59).

(The Los Angeles TIMES covered the accident on the cover of their "California" section on Monday, 11-27. In that story, THE TIMES reported that an Interavia C-3 plane wth the same registry number was damaged when it ran out of fuel at a Watsonville, CA, airport in July, 2003. There was no immediate verification of that report or if Hermance was involved in that incident. The following is from AUTOMOTIVE NEWS and their staff writer, Marc Rechtin):

David Hermance, Toyota's executive engineer for advanced technology vehicles, died Saturday, Nov. 25, when the airplane he was piloting crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

Hermance, 59, was Toyota's top American executive for alternative-fuel vehicles and emissions technologies in North America.

He was also an avid pilot who enjoyed aerobatics competition.

According to eyewitness and police reports, Hermance's plane was performing a series of loops in airspace over the ocean near San Pedro, Calif., reserved for aerobatic stunts. Witnesses said the engine revved hard during a descent but the plane did not pull up and hit the water.

Toyota confirmed a Los Angeles County Fire Department report that it was Hermance's body that was recovered. The fire department spokesman said Hermance died on impact.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the airplane was an Interavia E-3 that took off from the Long Beach Airport with just the pilot on board. This reporter (Automotive News' Marc Rechtin), who heard the crash from his house at about 1:20 p.m., heard the plane's engine revving louder and harsher than typically associated with the descent arc of a loop. A witness told KNBC-TV that he thought he saw a parachute trailing behind the plane, but it was tangled and not deployed. (Photo: Interavia Russian-made aerobatic plane similar to the one Hermance was piloting. Some said it appeared Hermance had attempted to deploy a parachute which tangled in the plane's rear bodywork). The plane crashed about 400 yards offshore in about 60 feet of water. A civilian boat arrived on the scene within two minutes, and a lifeguard stationed at Western Avenue beach paddled out to the crash site as well. At least four Coast Guard and Los Angeles Fire Department vessels arrived on scene within 15 minutes. Skies were clear, with the occasional light wind gust at sea level. Hermance was a frequent competitor in International Aerobatics Club competitions. The Interavia E-3 is specially designed to perform elaborate stunts at high speeds. Hermance often flew off the San Pedro coast to practice aerobatics maneuvers, which included loops, spirals and stalls. The National Transportation Safety Board was expected to investigate the crash. Hermance joined Toyota in 1991 after a 26-year career at General Motors. At GM, he held jobs in the  automaker's vehicle emissions and durability testing departments. Based at the Toyota Technical Center in Gardena, Calif., Hermance's first job for Toyota was evaluating car engines for North America. In 1992, he was put in charge of engine and drivetrain calibrations for North America. Later in his Toyota career, Hermance became the automaker's point man for ongoing alternative fuel discussions with Congress, the media and the California Air Resources Board. According to his biography on Toyota's media Web site, Hermance is survived by his wife, Mary, and two grown children. (Photo: David Hermance makes a presentation on the "American" Prius). Our own comment: We can only hope that whatever Hermance was working on for the future will not be forgotten or ignored. Knowing Toyota as we do, and communicating with employees at their national headquarters on 11-27 and hearing their personal grief, Hermance's legacy and work will live on.

BENNY PARSONS DIES AT 65; LOSS OF USE OF LUNG FROM CANCER TREATMENT CONTRIBUTING FACTOR

Benny Parsons, the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion, dies at  age 65 in a North Carolina hospital where he had been in the Intensive Care Unit for about two weeks. Parsons had lost the use of his left lung due to chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which had apparently wiped out the cancer cells, but Parsons was unable to recover from the lung damage. As often happens, the treatment can be worse than the disease. But that treatment did allow Parsons to return to his NBC gig before the end of the 2006 NASCAR season, and his analysis of the last few races proved invaluable to NBC viewers. The death of the NBC-TV in-booth analyst for their NASCAR coverage leaves a gaping hole in the network's NASCAR announcing team.

The former self-proclaimed Detroit taxi driver-turned-NASCAR racer never forgot his humble rural North Carolina roots, and it came through in every aspect of his life.

Even though he gained fame as the 1973 Winston Cup champion and winner of the 1975 Daytona 500, Parsons understood that as a broadcast analyst, it was his job to aim the spotlight away from himself.

"I heard someone say this one time and I thought it was fabulous," Parsons said. "Everyone can't be stars. Someone has to sit on the sidewalk and clap as they go by.

"We announcers on TV that talk about sports are simply the people sitting on the sidewalk clapping as the parade goes by. We are no longer the stars. The guys on the racetracks and in football and basketball games -- those are the stars."

Parsons was selected one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers in 1998, 10 years after his retirement. He won 21 races in 526 starts, including the 1975 Daytona 500.

He finished no lower than fifth in the points from 1972 to 1980 while earning more than $4 million. He also won ARCA titles in 1968-69.

He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994, and the National Motorsports Press Association's Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame in 1995.

On December 15, 2006, THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER newspaper reported:

NASCAR television analyst Benny Parsons has lost the use of his left lung as a result of his battle with cancer earlier this year.

Parsons’ right lung is healthy, however, and doctors believe his body will eventually adjust to having just one healthy lung. Until then, the former Cup champion is using oxygen to assist his breathing.

"I had some scans done on Tuesday and there was good news and bad news," Parsons said. "There is still no sign of cancer, but the radiation we used to treat it has burned the lung up."

Parsons had chemotherapy and radiation on a tumor in that lung that forced him to miss several races for TNT and NBC this season. He also was not able to attend the postseason awards activities earlier this month.

Parsons said doctors tell him he may not regain any use of the damaged lung.

"They say it won't ever be 100 percent or 50 percent," he said. "But if we could get 20 percent back, it would be something. We're going to treat it like that until the doctor says we're done." (End of OBSERVER coverage).

It's going to be difficult for NBC to replace Parsons as their in-booth race analyst, though the network has several current NASCAR announcers and others who have yet to be on-the-air as "possibles" for the job.

Whether NBC sticks with the "serious" type of coverage which Parsons provided as opposed to an announcer more in the style of FOX's popular and populist "good ol' boy" Darrel Waltrip remains to be seen. While Parsons' announcing style was a bit of an acquired taste, ultimately he provided more and better information than Waltrip.

Benny Parsons grew on you, and NASCAR fans were better and more informed about their sport because of "BP".

"MR. MOPAR", 'DANDY' DICK LANDY, 69, DIES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Dick Landy, the man synonymous with Dodge's wildly-successful factory drag racing program in the 1960s and '70s, has died from kidney failure. He was 69 years old. Landy made a name for himself and his factory sponsor by combining the legendary Hemi with an altered wheelbase to create the first "funny car". At the recent SEMA SHOW in Las Vegas, there was a fantastic rebuild of one of Landy's race cars at the entrance to the show, and we video'd an entire segment on the car and the man for 'CAR NUT TV'. We hope to get that up on this BLOG soon. I interviewed Landy about 20 years ago at his chassis dyno-equipped shop in the San Fernando Valley. He was smart, funny, experienced and enjoyed sharing his past exploits with a "kid" like me. I learned a lot from Landy and will cherish the short amount of time we spent together. He really was one of the Dodge "Good Guys", though Chrysler/Dodge/MOPAR might not always have been so happy with him!

The combination of horsepower and traction led to the banning of his "funny looking" vehicles by the   NHRA. He was "forced" to the exhibition circuit, where he made more money and fans then he ever would have on the circuit alone. Landy introduced nitromethane, mechanical fuel injection, and supercharging to the equation and established the foundation for the highest tiers of modern drag racing. Landy later returned to the world of officially-sanctioned racing to participate in the formative days of the Super Stock and Pro Stock classes, and remained involved with Chrysler for the remainder of his long career.

In 1967, Chrysler as a factory "officially" pulled out from racing, following the lead of the other Detroit giants, and had Landy give "performance seminars" at their dealerships nationwide. Landy essentially taught Dodge dealers how the "Father of the Pontiac GTO", Jim Wangers, had several years earlier created a "factory back-door" at Royal Pontiac in Royal Oak, MI, selling performance parts out of the dealership's parts departments without official factory involvement. Landy's efforts in this cause became what we know today as MOPAR, the Chrysler/Dodge dealer's performance parts sales and service operation, which has brought so many famous cars and people to the fore in so many different forms of racing. As Wangers was "Father of the GTO", Landy was "Mr. MOPAR".

Proprietor of Dick Landy Industries in Northridge, CA, Landy kicked the 1/4 mile onto its ear with what was the predecessor to the Funny Car, rocked early Pro Stock, built a flathead that was good for 300mph at Bonneville and constructed the 440 for what is undoubtedly the most famous ambulance of all time: the Yates/Needham/McClure/Chaos TransCon Medevac.

Dick Landy, dead of kidney failure at age 69.

To find out more about Landy, in his own words, simply click anywhere on this line.

Here's the message from Landy's website, and interestingly the site says he passed away some 5 days before it reached the public:

Jan. 11, 2007 at 9:35 pm Cigar Chompin’ “Dandy” Dick Landy passed away.

NO details are being given out at this time

Out of respect to the family,
please DO NOT email or call Dick Landy Industries.

Dick Landy Industries is open and will continue
to do business as usual.

All pending Internet orders for Die-Cast models or Hero Cards have been refunded.

The family is requesting instead of sending flowers that you make a charitable donation to either of the following associations in Dick Landy’s name.

DRAW ( Drag Racing Association of Women )
Payable to:	DRAW
Send to:	4 Hance Drive Charleston, IL 61920
Phone:	1-217-345-6537
Or
NHRA Museum
Payable to:	NHRA Museum
Send to:	1101 West McKinley Ave. Building 3A, Pomona CA 91768
Phone:	1-909-622-2133

"DAPPER" DANNY OAKES, 95, WAS LEADING WEST COAST RACER

Danny Oakes, 95, died January 17, 2007, after living the past 20 years in Huntington Beach, CA. Oakes was well-known throughout the auto racing community nationally as one of the top drivers from the 1930s on, specializing in the dangeorus, powerful and thrilling "midget" race cars.

To read Los Angeles Times' motorsports writer James Peltz's lengthy and wonderful obituary of Danny Oakes, just click anywhere on this line.

(Photo courtesy Indianapolis Motor Speedway).

AUTO JOURNO INVOLVED IN FATAL CRASH IN FORD PRESS FLEET VEHICLE

A 37-year old man who is a freelancer reporter for AUTOBLOG.com was the driver of a 2007 Mustang GT500 convertible, according to Newport Beach, CA police, which went off of Pacific Coast Highway and hit a 48-year old female pedestrian, resulting in her death. The police report no drugs or alcohol are involved at this point in their investigation. The man listed in the newspaper story as the driver, Frank Filipponio, most recently posted on AUTOBLOG the morning of Thursday, May 5th, and the posting was a story about some Ford plans for a new hot rod.

AUTOBLOG, when contacted, told us that Filipponio was a freelancer for AUTOBLOG and the crash occurred Wednesday night. Some have asked us why Filipponio's byline appeared in AUTOBLOG Thursday morning, after the accident. The editor-in-chief of AUTOBLOG told us that "the posts written by Frank that appeared on the site Thursday morning were written earlier in the day on Wednesday , May 3rd. They were edited and scheduled to go live the following morning. Frank did not write those posts Thursday morning". We appreciate John Neff's help in getting us AUTOBLOG's comments so quickly and professionally. This is not an easy time for anyone connected to this terrible incident. The story originally appeared in the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER newspaper, the major daily newspaper in that area.

The original story can be seen by clicking here: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1679182.php

We have written in the past of the potential problems of car companies loaning test vehicles to journalists who may or may not be qualified to operate those vehicles. Certainly in my early years as an auto journo, I drove cars I had no business being in. I remember being loaned a brand-new 1974 Plymouth Barracuda during a visit to New York City and driving that car to Washington, DC and back on roadways I had been on as a kid, but had never driven on. The car was way overpowered for my skills at the time and I was happy to get out of it without there having been a wreck of some kind. In truth, the only things which kept me out of trouble were my own common sense and my fear of all the horsepower that 454cid V8 was producing under my right foot.

In all my years "on the job", so to speak, I have had one or two fender-benders, put a dent in a Hyundai sedan more than a decade ago by parking too closely to a cement post and someone opening the passenger door into it, and one real wreck which, fortunately, didn't produce any casualities: In '76 or so I was driving a VW Scirocco test vehicle, owned by Volkswagen of America, and was on a rain-soaked street in southern California. Traffic stopped in front of me on a city street, and when I stepped on the brake (this was before ABS!) the pedal went down to the floorboard and the car ... sped up! It was my first experience with "hydroplaning". And it was scary! Both our Scirocco and the car I hit (I think it was another smaller car, can't really remember) were severely hurt but, thankfully, we all walked away from it. VW's insurance took care of everything, but I can't help but think how close I came to hurting someone by following too closely ... in the rain, too! My own inexperience and stupidity, again! Since that time some 30 years ago, I can count perhaps four or five times that ABS did indeed save me from having an accident in a test vehicle. Since those years, however, I have gotten over my penchant for tailgating!

Whether or not something like my early test car experiences recounted above had anything to do with this terrible story out of Newport Beach, CA, is certainly not known at this point, but as the facts do come out, we will get them to you.

JOURNALIST KILLED IN GM "RIDE AND DRIVE" EVENT

Throughout this BLOG I have made it known that one of the main reasons I am doing it is to get down on "paper" (of a sort) many of my experiences from being involved in the auto journo trade, worldwide, for some 35 years. It is, to me, the most exciting and fascinating industry in the world (and I have known a lot of people heavily involved in the porno trade, and I can say from experience that auto journos have more fun --- especially as we age!) ... And someday this might all be put down in book form, either on paper or on the Web. The sub-topic of this posting, "Manufacturer Ride and Drives", and its unfortunate news note, the death of an auto writer, will certainly be part of any longer project on which I may embark. (Photo above - Opel GT, new and old).

These introductory "Ride and Drive" events see journalists brought to a central location (sometimes a race track, sometimes public roads, often a combo of the two) to try-out a new vehicle. They get there by first or business class and stay at high-end hotels, whenever possible. But this is accepted practice within any industry where there is a lot of executive travel involved; After all, these folks are leaving hearth and home for quite a long period, all told, during the year. When I was an editor of some major magazines, I could have attended up to 3 or 4 "long leads" every month ("long leads" are events held for magazines with a publishing lead-time of over three months; "short leads" are held anywhere from two months to a few days before a new vehicle goes on-sale, and TV, radio and newspaper journos usually attend those). It could be for a new car, truck or motorcycle --- I've been to events for all three many times over.  Clearly, these events involve huge sums of money from the car-makers', too, just to get everyone (and the test vehicles) involved to the same place at the same time.

In future postings, I will tell you some stories of these events gone good and bad, all the way from a  Renault Fuego (see photo) intro at Riverside International Raceway (and neither the car nor the track exist any longer) where the PR folks inextricably served alcohol BEFORE the drives around the track, and that combined with a simply horrible automobile made for changes at all future event luncheon schedules, to the Suzuka track in Japan where a few very lucky ones of us got to drive Porsche 911s (in the rain!) around that track, coming in every lap for "race-style" pit stops where Bridgestone engineers changed all four tires to allow us to test both the cars and the rubber (that was a fun one, definitely!), to Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills, where a new Buick I was driving for photographer Dave Gooley lost its steering wheel ... In about 1984 or so ... And the steering wheel literally came off in my hands! Not a good trip, for me or the Buick people, who flew-in engineers from Detroit that very night to diagnose the problem (turned out it was a hand-built "pilot" car and a few bolts had been left off ... We hoped by accident).

Now our sad news story: A French journalist was killed on January 29th when he apparently lost control of the turbocharged Opel GT he was driving on a twisty mountain road near San Diego and flew off a 100-foot high cliff; his companion in the car was injured, but there have been no reports on that person's condition or even who he/she may be. Why this doesn't happen more often is a tribute only to the self-control shown by the vast majority of the journos who take part in these events; certainly a manufacturer letting loose a group of writers and photographers in high-performance sports cars (260 horsepower, under 3,000-pound car weight in this case) on curving mountain roads is dangerous on the face of it. Especially in a foreign country; all the scribes and shooters on this particular trip were from Europe, and many if not most had probably not driven these specific roadways before (and living somewhat near the area where it happened, these are roads I know very well --- And to the inexperienced, they are dangerous, and it is easy to go "over the line"). And be certain, there are many journos who are "black balled" from these events, due to the driving prowess they displayed at earlier long or short leads ... And the PR folks do share notes on these kinds of things. Crash a car; don't expect an invite next time. Heck, sometimes turn in a test car to the PR folks with less than half a tank of gas, and get dinged for that, too (depending on the car maker).

Click on this line to read the story of the journo who lost his life test-driving a new Opel GT.

Ironically, I got an email just this evening from a GM PR person, inviting me and a few other auto  journos in the general San Diego area (we're in the Palm Springs area), to come to this very Opel event tomorrow, which is still on-going, as members of the "Opel GT Collector's Club" (Photo - Classic Opel GT, a mini-Euro version of the Corvette) will be there to show-off their cars. But I had to think: Were they inviting us because they had a sudden spot or two open up in their journo list? Hey --- You know I'm cynical, but maybe this was too much evil thought for even me ...

There is much which goes into staging these events; in fact, the car-makers use the services of many third-party"vendor" companies in planning these trips, from determining what kind of driving experience would best show-off the "trophy" car (the one being intro'd; often there are competitors vehicles to drive as well, depending on how much confidence the manufacturer has in their car to do well), to setting-up the course, making hotel and airline reservations, planning the ever-present executive's presentations (and catering to their peccadillos) ... It is really a long and impressive list which goes into planning these things well. And often, the companies greet the journos in "waves" who stay for 2 to 3 days; after that time, another wave comes in. It's not unusual for a company to host over 100 journos in events lasting (for the company staging the event) up to as long as 3 weeks. Not only, as stated, is the injury-free success of these events a tribute to the journos' experience, driving skills and self-control, but also to many of the PR and marketing people staging the event.

  As a famed Japanese Buddhist philosopher stated over 700 years ago, "It is a wonder when things go well. It is a matter of course when things go badly". (Hey! I didn't say he was a HAPPY philosopher!). When things do go well at these events, which involves so much planning by so many people in so many different locations --- just getting the test vehicles to the "Ride and Drive" location, having the best service people there to keep them in tip-top (or better) condition ... Making sure the vehicles are spic-and-span clean every time they go out the staging area lot for yet another trip on the driving route --- It is absolutely a wonder, a lot of luck combined with a lot of very specialized expertise, which makes these events successful. (Photo - Japanese Buddhist Monk Nichiren Daishonin, who made the remark about things going well being a "wonder").

But things can indeed go terribly wrong, and certainly the one good thing which may come out of this horrendous accident will be that all the world's car companies will even more carefully plan and stage these events, which are so important to the car makers' and the public.

ROBERT PETERSEN DIES AT 80; YOUNG DRAG RACER PASSES ON SAME DAY ON OTHER SIDE OF COUNTRY

Robert E. Petersen passes at 80; drag racer on other side of nation dies at 33 on same day. Mr. Petersen created HOT ROD and MOTOR TREND and many other magazines, and is the main benefactor behind the PETERSEN AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM in Los Angeles, considered the nation's best. I worked for Petersen as an editor at "PETERSEN'S 4WHEEL OFF-ROAD" and almost everyone in automotive journalism worked at one time or another for "Pete". Below find the official corporate obituary, interspersed with some of my own thoughts and, I hope, entertaining memories about the man, his magazines and the museum he founded. Also find more on Eric Medlen, who died the same day, after crashing one of the John Force Funny Car drag racers during testing in Florida; Mr. Petersen would have wanted to share this space with him.

Robert E. Petersen, an entrepreneur who single-handedly created the largest special-interest publishing company in America, was instrumental in the creation and modern evolution of the hot-rodding culture, and who, with his wife Margie, realized his dream of establishing an educational museum to pay tribute to the automobile, died on Friday, March 23, at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. after a short but valiant battle with neuroendocrine cancer. He was 80.

“Mr. Petersen helped create and feed the American obsession with the automobile, delivering gasoline-powered dreams to the mailboxes of millions,” said Dick Messer, Director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. “He understood the thrill that an average person could get from seeing and reading about horsepower as an art form.”

A native of Los Angeles whose Danish-immigrant father repaired trucks for the Los Angeles Department of Water Power in the era when huge power lines were being brought from then-new Hoover Dam across the desert to southern California, Petersen found himself a high school dropout in Barstow, California. Mr. Petersen’s mother passed away when he was 10. As a young man and only child, he picked up his father’s skills, learning to weld, de-coke engines, and hone his fascination with cars. In reality, there wasn’t much else to do in Barstow, and to this day it’s best-known as one of the biggest railroad switching yards in the world. It sits in the middle of empty, barren desert, a way-station halfway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, a huge Marine Corps depot sitting outside the town and providing employment.

In the mid-1940s, he moved to Los Angeles, working at MGM  studios as a messenger boy planting studio "tips" on their stars with gossip writers. Following service in the Army Air Corps toward the end of Word War II, Mr. Petersen, now an independent publicist immersed in the burgeoning customized auto culture of California, was instrumental in creating the first hot-rod show at the Los Angeles Armory. To help establish the event, in January 1948 he launched Hot Rod Magazine, and hawked the magazine at local speedways for 25 cents a copy. Motor Trend, a more upscale publication for production car enthusiasts, and dozens of other titles aimed at specialty automotive segments soon followed. (Photo - Robert and Margie Petersen at the MOTOR TREND 50th anniversary party).

At one time, Petersen worked for automotive and electronics creative and promotional genius Earl “Madman” Muntz (inventor of the wide-screen projection TV and, with airplane magnate Bill Lear, the 8-track tape cassette). Muntz also made his own car called the “Muntz Jet”. While Muntz’ visage appeared on TV and billboards all over So Cal in the ‘50s, advertising his used car lot, showing him dressed as a crazed Napoleon character with the caption, “I want to give the cars away but my wife won’t let me! She’s says I’m crazy!” … Muntz was a tremendous teacher for anyone who could move fast enough to keep up with him and learn something. Clearly, Petersen did that and more.

With the founding of HOT ROD, Petersen essentially created and never stopped helped building  the popularity of what’s known today as the “automotive aftermarket” industry, a $30 billion worldwide marketplace consisting of small, local mom-and-pop operations to huge multi-national public-owned corporations making everything from wheels and tires to the luggage racks on the roofs of cars and trucks --- and virtually everything else in-between those two points.

Petersen was part of the small group which founded SEMA, originally called the Speed Equipment and Market Association,  today called the Specialty Equipment Market Association. The group, headquartered in Diamond Bar, CA, represents more than 7,000 member companies and the annual “SEMA Show” in Las Vegas is the largest and best-attended members-only trade show in the world, automotive or not. (Photo - From right, cowboy star Roy Rogers, NHRA founder Wally Parks, Petersen and someone who looks like Jack Benny, of all people. Taken at the salt flats; "hot rods" visible in the distance).

Petersen also was one of those who founded the National Hot Rod Association, the premier sanctioning body for professional and sportsmen drag racing in America. Along with Wally Parks, who at age 90 remains head of the NHRA, Petersen and a few others created the concept of small local tracks hosting huge nationally-known events. He had an innate sense of what the “next big thing” was going to be when it came to cars.(Photo - Petersen and gathered covers of his HOT ROD magazine).

And when it came to women, he had good taste and better luck. Petersen was 37 when on a trip to New York City with his erstwhile partner, F. R. Waingrow, and riding the subway one day noted an advertising placard for a beauty contest to crown “Miss Subway”. Among the contestants pictured was one particularly lovely woman. Petersen told Waingrow to “find that girl” and he did so, and “Miss Rheingold Beer” became Mrs. Margie Petersen. The two would work closely together for the next more-than-50-years, creating a publishing empire, making inroads and close friends with “old” Hollywood which exist to this day, and establishing themselves as highly-respected philanthropists among their Beverly Hills friends.

Mr. and Mrs. Petersen lost their two sons when the private jet the boys were on crashed, coming home from a ski trip. Suddenly, their world upside down, Margie had an epiphany and together they created “Inspiration Magazine”, which would become one of Petersen’s very few publishing failures. In reality, the magazine, with its dedication to inspiring and helping those going through life-changing events, was well ahead of its time. The “born-again” Christian movement had not yet begun in the US, and the magazine was shut down.

There were naturally  many good-natured and always funny comments at the Petersen headquarters, which sat on top of the Sunset Strip at the corner of Sunset and LaCienega Boulevards, about both “Inspiration” and “Guns and Ammo” being on the same floor in the building. Someone had pasted, on the elevator button for that second floor, a small “post it” note reading, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition”. Such are things (and the gags) in the world of publishing.

There are literally countless stories to come out of that building, known as “Pete’s Castle” to those of us who worked there, from the “girls” who worked that hot corner of Hollywood and would never miss a chance to invite some writer or editor for a “lunch hour special”, to the stuffed polar bear which stood its full seven feet tall in the lobby of the executive floor, which Mr. Petersen had shot in Alaska. The good-humored Petersen never took it seriously when he heard the rumors that the bear had a hole in the back of his head from being shot from above … from a helicopter! Jokes are jokes, even when the boss is the target of the fun …

Across the street from that headquarters building was the Hollywood Hyatt Hotel, a favorite of touring rock  bands and, for some reason, the occasionally suicide off the top floor onto Sunset Boulevard about 15 floors or so below. The rumor says that while most Petersen employees in the building would naturally recoil from the scene of the “jumper” across the street, the staff at “Guns and Ammo” would order a buffet lunch set-up on a long table near the large picture-windows facing the Hyatt, the better to see the entire event unfold. (Photo - The landmark Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles).

Mr. Petersen spent decades as Chairman of the Board of Petersen Publishing Company, which was at one time America’s leading publisher of special-interest consumer magazines and books before its sale to private investors in August 1996. Among its other diverse successful titles are Teen, Sport, Rod & Custom, and Guns & Ammo, Petersen’s Photographic, Skin Diver and scores more. He also headed a wide variety of other businesses including ammunition manufacturing, real estate development and aviation services that each reflected another passion he shared. Petersen Aviation, headquartered at Van Nuys (CA), airport, just north of Hollywood, was built into one of the nation’s largest private jet rental and leasing services.

Mr. Petersen also owned what’s considered by many to be the world’s best collection of classic and historic firearms, and his Petersen’s Gallery in Beverly Hills held one of the greatest collections of America western art. His several-hundred-acre large ranch in the Apple Valley north of Los Angeles was used as a test bed for his editors driving and evaluating the newest off-road vehicles for his “PETERSEN’S 4WHEEL OFF-ROAD MAGAZINE”.

The small ranch home on that property featured, outside, a working Civil War-era cannon (which was used once as visiting editors as a joke, and was later found that same day to have killed a cow on a neighbor’s property. Petersen paid the neighbor $400 for his cow. “Good shootin’!” he told his staffers). The house also had original western art on its walls, including extremely rare and valuable Remington paintings which, when a small switch was slid in and out of place on the frame, would become a pornographic piece of artwork before the viewer’s eyes.

He had no problem using his name on a magazine title, on an art gallery, on a jet-leasing service or on a museum. That’s because his name stood for quality and knowledgeable editors, writers and photographers turning out the best possible material. He also stood up for his employees. When Toyota threatened to cancel advertising in MOTOR TREND magazine because the then-new Toyota Supra was at least 500 pounds more than it should have been, and the magazine said so, Petersen supposedly told the magazine’s then-publisher, “I got enough millions”. And Toyota never did cancel that advertising,

Firmly established as an American success story, Mr. Petersen had one lasting vision: an educational museum to pay tribute to the automobile. On June 11, 1994, the lifelong dream of Robert E. Petersen was fulfilled with the opening of a 300,000-square-foot automotive museum named in his honor, made possible by his $30 million endowment. (Photo - That's me on the left presenting Petersen Automotive Museum Director Dick Messer with a commemorative plaque on his visit to a Palm Springs car show with a car from the Museum).

The building itself was an integral piece of historic Los Angeles. Built in the early 1960s as a Seibu Department Store at the famous corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, in the center of what was termed in the 1960’s Los Angeles’ “Miracle Mile”, the building was across the street and just two blocks from the Los Angeles Art Museum and the LaBrea Tar Pits.

Seibu was (and is) part of a large Japanese conglomerate which owns everything from railroad lines to baseball teams to high-end department stores, and this LA outlet was one of the very few ever outside Japan. The store featured a large, glass-enclosed “tea house” on its roof, which is still used to day for sit-down dinners, special parties and receptions at the Museum. Its view of Los Angeles’ Hollywood and Beverly Hills all the way to the ocean is one of the best in all of Los Angeles, daytime or night. The “tearoom” can hold  about 200 people.

Directly across from the Petersen stands what was the May Company Department Store, with its well-known gold-flecked façade, the store where Jack Benny met his wife, Mary Livingston (who worked there as a sales girl, or so the Jack Benny radio show said). Today that May Company building belongs to the County of Los Angeles and is used as a home for various dance companies, storage of large objects and other uses.

A “Johnnie’s” drive-in, one of the first and best-known in the West LA/Beverly Hills area, still stands across  another corner from the Museum, but is closed to the public and used mostly for TV, film and commercial shoots. (Photo - Our CAR NUT tour group is allowed into the basement of the Petersen Museum every year, where cars not yet ready for the public are kept. This very wild Rolls-Royce was to go undergo restoration and the next year it won awards at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance).

The building was later an Ohrbach's Department Store, a place well-regarded for its higher-end merchandise and consumers. With its own large parking lot, an enclosed rear entrance away from the crowds and the occasional rain and highly-personalized service, the store did well for several years but eventually reverted to its east coast roots and left the city.

With its several levels of parking, huge loading docks which can handle trucks hauling large vehicles, two levels of high-roofed basements and other special amenities, the building was perfect to serve as the home for the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Originally, and for several years, the Petersen Automotive Museum was a kind of “joint venture” between Mr. Petersen and the County of Los Angeles, which owned its own large collection of cars, trucks and motorcycles, which it kept stored in basements of various county buildings near the LA Coliseum. Finally the vehicles, and Mr. Petersen’s own large collection, had a home.

After several years of operation, it became apparent that the Museum would be best-off to be separated from the county and controlled by a board and tax-exempt educational foundation to be created by Mr. Petersen. Thanks to more of Mr. Petersen’s donations of tens-of-millions of dollars literally “buying out” the county, the Museum is now under the control of leadership exerted by the members of the new Board of Directors of the Petersen Foundation.

Today the Museum contains the “Otis Chandler Motorcycle Pavilion”, created by the late past publisher of the Los Angeles TIMES, and the “Bruce Meyer Hot Rod Pavilion”, founded by Bruce Meyer, whose family owns, along with large swatches of real estate in the area around the Museum, the well-known and highly-regarded “Geary’s of Beverly Hills” gift shops on world-famous Rodeo Drive. Meyer is very active in the Museum and is also responsible for the “Concours d’Elegance” at Pebble Beach allowing hot rods and other custom cars to be shown and judged at that event, thought to be the top classic automotive show in the world.

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, whose first floor uses Disney-like dioramas and full-size reproductions to demonstrate the effect the car has had on the city for more than 100 years, and vice versa,  stands as the nation’s premiere automotive museum, serving thousands of visitors each year. Its mission remains to educate and excite generations of auto enthusiasts with the fascinating stories, vehicles and people that have influenced the American love affair with the automobile – a mission that has been a resounding success thanks to the generosity of its main benefactor. (Photo - Dick Messer, "The Pete" Director, on right, discusses some of the cars in the collection's fabled basement to our CAR NUT tour group).

Why is this Museum in LA and not Detroit? Basically, the bottom-line is that many people in Detroit resented Petersen for his ability to get huge amounts of cash from their companies over the years to advertise in his many magazines, and then take that money to California, without having to live (and suffer through winters) in Detroit. At the same time, the former Big Three have never been able to “get it together” enough to build their own museum, apart from the fantastic “Greenfield Village” built mainly by Ford, which is more of a slice-of-life Americana display than an actual museum devoted to the car.

Various representatives of Mr. Petersen approached all the major former Big Three executives in Detroit, and none of them wanted to help with the project, jealous and resentful that he was building this Museum so far away from what they considered the “heart” of the American auto industry. Today, Detroit still lacks a single large all-under-one-roof auto museum, and the Petersen, generally regarded as one of the best in the world after being around less than 20 years, remains in (and will remain in) Los Angeles. Also, every major car company in the world has design and R&D studios within 100 miles of downtown Los Angeles, something Detroit can not boast.

In the summer of 1997 (as near as I can remember), a fellow I was working with got a phone call from John F. Kennedy, Jr. Yeah, the real one. Playing under dad's desk at the White House, saluting at his funeral. Turns out all of JFK Jr's buddies in NYC and environs were onto a hot new thing ... musclecars from the '60s! Not to be outdone by his hip friends, JFK Jr. decided he needed the baddest Pontiac GTO on the planet. After giving a speech to the Detroit Advertising Club about his experiences with his new magazine, GEORGE, he asked some of his hosts whom to contact to find out about buying an original Pontiac GTO. So he called Jim Wangers, the fellow who was John DeLorean's right-hand man at Pontiac's ad agency and the marketing genius behind the first GTO (also founder of Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc., now owned by advertising and marketing giant Omnicom).

I was in the midst of helping Wangers write his autobiography ("Glory Days") and we discussed what to do with this very unique JFK request. Surely Wangers wanted to make the most of it personally, as was his wont, and after much discussion we decided to let JFK Jr. consider buying a nice red convertible 1965 GTO owned by a close friend of Wangers.

Wangers had his friend take the car from the San Diego area, where it was housed, to the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles, the best, classiest place in town, where we were to meet JFK, Jr., have lunch, show him the car and discuss a possible sale. Kennedy was in Los Angeles to make an appearance on the "Murphy Brown" TV show so the schedule worked out well. After lunch (we paid!) and meeting his soon-to-be-wife (stunningly, almost frighteningly gorgeous, and with little or no make-up at that), Kennedy drove the car for some time with Wangers' friend riding shotgun and told us he'd seriously consider making the purchase. He also let us know he could use a ride to the airport, and of course we agreed.

I won't even go into the general weirdness of sitting across the lunch table from a guy who, in person, was simply the spitting image of his father ... and with memories of JFK Jr's life spinning in and out of my head, a life we have all shared through the media, it made one feel at once very close to this guy and at the same time totally removed, as if the whole experience were taking place within a movie. I half-expected someone to yell "Cut!" and all of us to get up from the table and go back to our "regular" lives. Surreal, to say the least, and not a little nerve-wracking. You know, "America's Royalty" and all that.

At that point, it occurred to me that Kennedy might want to meet another publisher --- Bob Petersen, and maybe see his new automotive museum. I cell-phoned museum director Dick Messer (and having him answer the phone was a miracle in itself) and he said the Petersen's were in town and he would contact them immediately. Messer and I put the whole "event" together in about 15 minutes, all by phone.

A short time later we drove into the Petersen Museum's parking lot, and waiting in the lobby were Bob and Margie Petersen, Dick Messer, a photographer they had quickly rounded-up, I believe noted classic and custom car collector Bruce Meyer was there, as well as a flock of Margie's Beverly Hills girlfriends, who were, to say the least, thrilled and giggling like school girls. Who knew anyone could get them out of the hairdresser or lunch with Nancy and Betsy that fast?! Well, I guess JFK Jr...

Photos were taken, Petersen gave Kennedy a quick tour of his museum and they discussed publishing for at least a few minutes. It was nice for Wangers and the Petersens too; they'd all known each other since they both started in the business, and even since Pete and Margie were first married, but had not seen each other very frequently in the recent past, so it was a nice chance for them to catch-up. And coming to the museum "bearing" JFK Jr. certainly gave Wangers that extra "cachet" he was always looking for!

Event over; we head to the parking lot, and both Kennedy and the Petersen's seemed very happy with  what had transpired. In the parking lot of the Petersen Museum someone took this photo of me with JFK, Jr (how come when there's a celeb around, no one ever takes a good photo?) ... But it's a memory which will of course stay with me forever ... The right place at the right time for all concerned!

Incidentally, Kennedy never bought the car. And Wangers always maintained it was because he was scared of all that horsepower!

In addition to his noted auto collection, Mr. Petersen also developed a keen interest in sport shooting. He served as Shooting Sports Commissioner for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, where he was responsible for building that venue from an old dairy farm within six months. (Photo - Mr. Petersen at a car show with his very rare Ghia Cadillac. There are two of these cars at the Petersen Museum, which were owned in the past by Lucille Ball and Frank Sinatra).

Mr. Petersen served as president and chairman of the board of the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Hollywood, and  was a member of the National Board of Directors for the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of America. He was active in support of numerous children’s charities and also served as a member for the Los Angeles City Library Commission.Both he and his wife have been major contributors to the Music Center of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Additionally, he was a founding member of the Thalians social society, which raises money for the Mental Health Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His ongoing contributions to the community earned him numerous special citations from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Los Angeles City Council.

Mr. Petersen was to be honored with both the ‘Automotive Icon’ and ‘Visionary’ awards at the Petersen museum’s annual gala on May 10. The ceremony will now be held as a tribute to Mr. Petersen and his contributions to the institution and community.

“What made him so special was that he gave every ounce of his energy and abilities to his dreams. He was a quiet man who truly became an American icon,” the Petersen museum’s Messer said. “He made his living doing things he loved and he found success at every turn. The way he lived his life, always looking for ways to give back in return for the success he enjoyed, made you proud to count him as a friend. The museum is now his legacy.”

This humble billionaire rode around town not in a chauffeured limousine, but in a full-size van outfitted like a luxury office. This true “man of the people” was also extremely pragmatic. For instance, the story goes that Pete (as he was known to one and all) bought a new Lamborghini and was upset because it would not go up his Beverly Hills driveway without bottoming out where the street met the driveway. A common problem, right? So, while most people would call the City of Beverly Hills and insist they send out a crew to fix the problem, Pete did something much more inventive and common-sense. Rather than go through all that hassle, he simply had one of his employees (probably one of the editors or publishers of HOT ROD or MOTOR TREND or the like) attach a roller skate truck to the undercarriage of the Lambo where it was hitting the concrete --- And problem solved! (He eventually did have the driveway repaved).

He is survived by his wife, Margie. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to the Petersen Automotive Museum or the charity of the person’s choice in his honor. Funeral mass will be held Thursday, March 29, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, CA.

ERIC MEDLEN DIES AT 33; SUCCUMBS TO INJURIES FROM DRAG RACING CRASH

From the LA TIMES (By Jim Peltz, TIMES' motorsports writer) - Professional drag racer Eric Medlen, who drove 300-mph funny cars, died Friday of head injuries he suffered in a crash during practice this week in Gainesville, Fla., his team said. He was 33.

Medlen, who drove for the team owned by the sport's legendary funny-car driver John Force of Yorba Linda, never regained consciousness after his 8,000-horsepower car crashed into a guard wall Monday at Gainesville Raceway.

Medlen underwent brain surgery Tuesday at the Shands facility at the University of Florida and was being kept in a drug-induced coma to promote healing, but to no avail.

"That is when Eric's family elected to honor Eric's wishes and remove him from the artificial life-support systems," said Dr. Joseph Layon, chief of critical-care medicine at the university.

Medlen's father and crew chief, John Medlen, thanked the medical staff "for giving Eric the very best care he could have received," and he thanked "the thousands of people who offered their prayers and support."

A native of Oakdale, Calif., near Modesto, the younger Medlen won six races sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Assn. between 2004 and 2006. He also finished in the top five in drivers' points all three years.

"Words cannot describe how everyone at NHRA is feeling," said association President Tom Compton, who called Medlen "one of our brightest young stars."

A high school champion in calf-roping rodeo events, Medlen had considered a future in professional rodeo. But in 1996 his father, John, offered him a mechanic's job on Force's team, and he spent the next several years as a key member of Force's crew.

Then in 2004, Force surprised many by choosing Medlen to drive one of his funny cars, with his father as crew chief.

Force, a 14-time hot-rod association funny-car champion, said Friday that "Eric Medlen was the son I never had. He was the leader of my next generation of drivers. This loss is a huge blow not only to the Medlen family, but to drag racing and John Force Racing."

Medlen's excited demeanor reminded many of the effervescent Force (photo, bottom). Friendly, approachable and often self-effacing, Medlen also was a fan favorite like his boss.

"I'm just a small-town Western country boy roper," he once told The Times. Force, he said, was "a guy that deals from his heart and thrives off of emotion, and throughout the years that's something that I've always wanted to do."

In addition to his father, Medlen is survived by his mother, Mary "Mimi" Medlen, and stepmother, Martha Medlen. Services were pending.