Where to find historic non-Reno Unlimited race info?

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Where to find historic non-Reno Unlimited race info?

John -- I sure hope that was after I printed out (on real paper - imagine that) dozens and dozens of Slack posts from over the years. I also have most of what you posted over the years on Scotty's site. You were often in very good form over there and I think Brad chimed in more too. Remember when I got you talking about what it was like early in your careers in the San Fernando Valley (" the gulch" )and dealing with the towering talents and towering egos of the time -- seemed like everybody hated everybody's guts and feuds were always popping out. A young guy working for one the parties never knew who was safe to talk to or about. Out of all that came Miss Candace, Jeannie, Stiletto, the Red Baron, 3700 rpm Merlins 4000 horsepower Wrights and on and on. How about the stories regarding a certain probably illegal overnight tow of a crippled Bearcat 100 miles through the desert back roads, over the mountains, through L A to VNY? Where are you going to get history like that?

I have a Slack stack an inch high as part of my Rare Bear files. I always loved your posts.

Neal

Thank goodness! There is some great stuff in those posts. You commented a long time ago that you had been saving my posts before I had erased them.

[ZacYates]

Re: Where to find historic non-Reno Unlimited race info?

What a fantastic story, thank you guys!

[wingman]

Re: Where to find historic non-Reno Unlimited race info?

"Meanwhile, back in California City at the Lake Shore Inn where the U.S. Thrift team and several others were staying we had just settled down to Breakfast. "

So there's a lakeshore in California City?

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Where to find historic non-Reno Unlimited race info?

"Meanwhile, back in California City at the Lake Shore Inn where the U.S. Thrift team and several others were staying we had just settled down to Breakfast. "

So there's a lakeshore in California City?

The Lake Shore Inn, kind of in the same state as Unlimited Air Racing it still exists, but is nowhere near what it used to be.

I found pictures of the hotel as my bona fide example that once upon a time it was a beautiful high end hotel....the place was nice by contemporary standards when opened. I think the real estate folks that were pitching folks that California City was a great place to invest in your future built the golf course, the faux lake with real water next to a great hotel to have their investment opportunities explained to the..... well the people who came to stay got the impression it was a great community.

If you follow the link below it will take you to an abandoned hotel website where you can see the buildings. The single story unit in the one picture is what Mac McClain buzzed right over the roof of. There is a long shot if you flip through the images where the four stories on the right side of the picture are visible. Had you been standing about where that picture was taken from the golf course would have been at your back. Mac came screaming in pulling some lower than the top floor of the hotel. Word around the ramp (carefully spread the FAA heard the rumors.) was that some guests that were in the upper story could look down as Mac went by. As for me my group was eating breakfast in the large room with the picture windows visible in another shot from the same site.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lake-shore-inn

Cal City story

http://eofp.net/calcity.html

[wingman]

Re: Where to find historic non-Reno Unlimited race info?

I was reacting more to the idea of a lake in a place like that. I think I've been in that hotel, 5 years later. I worked for John Tegler during the last two Mojave races. One night John wanted me to come to some sort of meeting up in California City. I have no memory of the meeting -- I think Lyle was there, and maybe Crocker and the Hintons but I have no idea what it was all about. The trip back to Mojave was fun, though. I had a great little mildly built up BMW 2002 at the time. A beast around town or in the mountains but not much top end. The road down to Mojave must be 20 miles or more -- mostly just a gentle downhill grade but miles of it. I'd never seen more than maybe 102 or 3 mph in that car, but that night in the pitch blackness going downhill for what seemed like hours I topped out at 117 mph. That was the fastest I'd ever been in one of my own cars, and I thought it was pretty neat.

I have a lot of great memories of those late Mojave races. One night when I was staying on the field they were shooting a sequence for a movie so we had a 727 blasting up and down the runway with flames (movie prop stuff) pouring from an engine. I remember Tegler dragging a couple of us along the next morning to go over and crash the movie crew's catering. The food was great (and free) so that made up somewhat for the disrupted sleep. The racing was fun at Mojave, and there was always other non race interesting stuff going on. Things were different back then.

Neal