I am a member of the nominating and voting contingent that determines the annual inductees to the Motorsports Hall of Fame. I have long campaigned for land speed racers to be recognized and this year one of the stunning pioneers of high performance got the votes to get in — Ed Winfield. Don Vesco was got the nod a few years back and I am doggedly trying to get Al Teague and Bob Higbee some recognition.

Here’s the official press release:

DETROIT, MI – Racing legends Donnie Allison, Sid Collins, Roger McCluskey, Ed McCulloch, Augie Pabst, Bruce Penhall and Ed Winfield will be enshrined into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America when the organization stages its annual induction celebration on August 23 and 24, 2011 in Detroit.

“This class is an extraordinary group of pacesetters,” says Ron Watson, president of the Motorsports Hall of Fame, “not only on the track, but in the engineering department and the broadcast booth, as well.”

Donnie Allison, a member of the famed “Alabama Gang,” compiled nearly 400 short track victories before joining the NASCAR Cup circuit in 1968. He won 10 Cup races and captured 17 pole positions. In 1970, he scored three wins and had 10 top five finishes. Allison, who earned the Rookie of the Year title in the 1970 Indy 500, will join his brother Bobby in the Hall of Fame.
Sid Collins was the original broadcast voice of the Indianapolis 500 and launched the IMS radio network in 1952 shepherding its growth from 26 to 1,200 radio stations. Listening to his dramatic, often poetic, race descriptions became an established tradition for families at holiday picnics and homesick members of the armed forces at remote locations around the globe.

Roger McCluskey won Sprint Car championships in 1963 and 1966, National Stock Car championships in 1969 and 1970, the Indy Car title in 1973 and competed in all but one Indy 500 between 1961 and 1979 when he retired from driving to become USAC’s vice president and director of competition.

For 30 years, Ed “The Ace” McCulloch split his time between drag racing’s two most powerful divisions, notching 18 Funny Car victories and four Top Fuel wins. He was named Driver of the Year in 1973 and 1988, was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2000 and continued in the sport as a tuner and crew chief between 2001 and 2010.

Augie Pabst was one of the brightest and most versatile stars of road racing in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. He won USAC and SCCA road racing titles in 1959 and 1960 behind the wheel of the Meister Brauser Scarab. During his career he won 13 major races including the Road America 500 three times and the GT category at Sebring in 1963.

Bruce Penhall was considered to be America’s greatest speedway motorcycle rider. After establishing himself in the U.S., he won several important European motorcycle racing titles and led the U.S. comeback in World Championship speedway racing in the early ‘80s, winning the World title in 1981 and 1982. In doing so, he was the first American to win that crown in 44 years.

Ed Winfield was regarded as one of the all-time great mechanical minds motorsports has ever known. He was an expert in engine design and carburation and played a major role in the development of the famed Novi engine with his brother, Bud. He is generally recognized as the “Father of the Racing Cam Business,” making his first performance camshaft in 1914 at age 13 and is credited with creative cylinder head designs and other engine advancements.

The new inductees will unveil their permanent Hall of Fame sculptures at the “Heroes of Horsepower” Reception to be held at the Detroit Science Center on Tuesday, August 23, 2011. The black-tie Twenty Third Annual Induction Ceremony will take place at the historic Fillmore Detroit Theater on Wednesday, August 24, 2011. Tickets for the both events can be purchased by calling 313-577-8400, ext. 482 or by visiting the Hall of Fame website www.mshf.com.

The Motorsports Museum & Hall of Fame is operated by the nonprofit Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame of America Foundation Inc. Currently housed in the Detroit Science Center in the Motor City’s Museum District, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America features the compelling stories of 188 Heroes of Horsepower along with the display of a wide variety of racing and high performance vehicles. The constantly changing collection features racers from the world of Indy cars, stock cars, Can Am, TransAm, sprint cars, powerboats, truck racing, drag racing, motorcycles, air racing and even snowmobiles.

The officials from the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) and the Bonneville Nationals, Inc. (BNI) who together — for more than 60 years –have produced the world famous Bonneville time trials each August  selected “LandSpeed” Louise Ann Noeth’s photo of the Speed Demon Streamliner for the the 2010 Speedweek Press Pass. All members of the media who intend to cover the thrilling week-long event will be required to register with the SCTA media office to obtain the coveted credential.

When journalists finish a piece of work there is a sense of relief, to be done and to have accomplished something that will be of value to others. how many others is always a mystery. When the work is published there is a small bit of pride seeing the work placed into the public forum. When readers respond — with praise or criticism, it is bonus, a chance to take a measurement of value, worth and direction.

The big leap is entering the work into competition. Peer review can be as merciless and stinging as it is uplifting and rewarding. The point is, the journalist takes the chance, puts themselves out for critical inventory of where they stand in their craft. Oh sure, some competitions have silly judges who allow personal emotions to factor into their decisions thereby rendering the awards pointless.

Through the years, I have only entered those competitions where my writing, photography, design work and publicity efforts would be given fair, serious review. Where I place provides me with a litmus test of the work, of whether or not I might be slacking off and resting on some laurels. If so, I can kick my own butt to knuckle down and do better. It looks like 2009 was one of those years. I collected five awards, four for writing and one for photography, but not one merited a first place.  This isn’t ego crying out here. I understand that there were many submitted works that failed to place at all. In some categories the judges gave no award, ouch!

The idea is if I take up the readers time it damn well ought to be well worth it. If my peers don’t think so then I need to examine the reason why. Of course, no judge in a competition can tell how a particular work resonates with each reader, and I so often hear words of encouragement form readers that I understand that my work, especially chronicling the events and people in land speed racing, is appreciated and has value to many.  In the end, I want my work to be real, raw, current and above all — accurate. When I take on historical work, the accuracy is the driving force, the point of the entire exercise.

I thought it might be interesting to make all of you judges and see how comments compare to the professional reviews. Below are the links to each of the articles and the photo. Give a read and a look and then give my a piece of your mind. I’d dearly appreciate your feedback on these winners.

American Auto Racing Writers Broadcasters Association

2009 Third Place – Web Log Entry – “Jesse James Isn’t a Dead Man, Just a Brazen Liar”  – website

http://www.landspeedproductions.biz/jesse-james-false-claims-of-world-recor.html

2009 Third Place – Magazine Column Writing – “The First of His Kind” – Goodguys Gazette

http://www.landspeedproductions.biz/wp-content/uploads/FFT_July09.pdf

2009 Second Place – Photography – “Inspiration’s Record Run”, www.landspeedproductions.biz

http://www.landspeedproductions.biz/worlds-fastest-kettle-gets-its-steam-on.html

19th Annual International Automotive Media Competition

Magazine column writing/series – Third Place – Fuel For Thought | June, July, November

http://www.landspeedproductions.biz/wp-content/uploads/FFT_June09.pdf

http://www.landspeedproductions.biz/wp-content/uploads/FFT_July09.pdf

http://www.landspeedproductions.biz/wp-content/uploads/FFT_Nov09SteamCar.pdf

Internet Blog – Investigative -  Second place – “Jesse James Isn’t a Dead Man, Just a Brazen Liar” -www.landspeedproductions.biz

http://www.landspeedproductions.biz/jesse-james-false-claims-of-world-recor.html

Back in California I had the happy duty to volunteer as a judge and speaker for a variety of camera clubs, county fair photo competitions and school events.  Moving to the St. Louis area, it was starting from scratch in terms of local “tribal knowledge” and I’ve come to adore my GPS  like Lewis and Clark must have loved their compass.

It takes awhile to immerse ones self in the local culture. A few months ago I read a news item on an exhibition by the St. Louis Camera Club and gave them a ring to see if I might be of service to the group. Not just another quaint bunch of hobbyist photographers, I was bowled over to discover this was the second oldest camera club in the United States,  only four years short 100 active years! Only the New York Camera Club is older. The group has more than 500 members and meets not once a month, but once a week attracting a full room every seven days. That means plenty of volunteer coordination and personal time by the five program chairs (color, nature, photo travel, photojournalism,prints)  to dream up topics and seek out speakers. Besides the executive board and directors, there are 18 fully staffed committees and a well-designed website: www.stlcameraclub.com.

It was to this august body of visual enthusiasts that I trotted out my presentation on land speed racing talking about what goes on at Bonneville, but focused on the 1997 Supersonic Showdown in the Black Rock Desert between the British and Americans. As usual, most of the audience didn’t have a clue about the sport so it was a delight to give ‘em peek at the world’s fastest fun and games.

In the second half of the evening, I judged several competitions — very difficult because the club has some damned talented shooters in the ranks.  Afterwards, about a dozen folks invited me out for desert and/or drinks at a nearby watering hole. A real friendly and gracious bunch. I have been already invited back to give another talk in January on Bonneville and class racing. When the unsolicited letter of thanks came I thought it would be interesting to share the experience with all of you.

Land speed racing has a long and storied heritage, much like the American wild west, but all the ponies are under hood these days. Mostly unknown outside automotive and motor sports circles, my presentations offer an intimate perspective into “go fast” Americana  where the “can do” spirit finds ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  Men and women, young and old,  the highly skilled next to the mighty lucky, put on a boisterously brilliant mechanical circus set on sparkling white salt laboratory where dreams come true on a certified time slip. With each run, the question is answered, time and time again:  How fast will it go?

If you have a school, club or business gathering that might get a kick out of learning a bit about the worlds’ fastest cars, trucks and motorcycles, get in touch with me through his website and we can discuss how to bring the stirring spirit of high-speed adventures to your group. I always have such an incredibly good time doing these shows. From a giant, packed room at Roush Racing, the overflowing main lecture hall at Ferris State University, colleges, high schools and primary schools to the keynote luncheon speaker for the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC), numerous SAE chapters across the country as well as museums around the world, bringing the sport of land speed to the public is rewarding as it is enjoyable.

I spent the morning and half the afternoon listening to America’s brain trust talk about how they were making tomorrow better by working out today’s problems in federal laboratories all across the country. This was the annual meeting of the Federal Laboratory Consortium whose organizers had asked me to give the keynote luncheon presentation on land speed racing. As a mere high school graduate who only got college education by sneaking into classes at the Illinois Institute of Technology, impressed doesn’t begin to explain my thoughts about hanging out some of the best brains on the planet, but let’s just say I slept easier that night knowing knowing these people were on our side.

What bothered me was how nearly every one of these brainiacs cried about how hard it was to get, and hold the attention of, young people — part of an outreach program every lab has to encourage students to take up study paths in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The idea is to keep the educational pipeline filled with future candidates for the labs. Places like NASA, NIH, DOD, CDC and US Air Force Academy.

I sat in one audience after another listening to their elegant tales of woes and thought to myself, “I’ve never met a kid, boy or girl, that wasn’t fascinated by a land speed racing machine, they ought to use the fastest cars, trucks and motorcycles on earth as the teaching metaphor so the kids won’t get bored and tune out.”

At a cocktail party that evening I mentioned my thoughts to a number of giant brains who introduced me to Caroline Hardman from the National Network of Digital Schools, part of Lincoln Interactive, an “e” learning company in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The result? It was an educational speed record where we went from concept to contract in a few weeks. As I write this we are a few weeks from completing an 18-lesson study course for middle schools students that will not only provide a comprehensive accredited educational curriculum, but expose kids to a broad spectrum of  technical and scientific career paths. This Cutting Edge Science educational course, Engineering the Future is meant to be a “captivating” primer to the whole engineering field, to expose students to the many segments available to them, not to try to teach them to be any one segment of the profession.

The number of graduates in these fields in recent years is scary short of what this country needs. In fact, there is direct relationship between the end of the US Space program and the dramatic fall-off of engineering degrees in the country. The”bleed-over” effect has slammed Great Britain as well. That’s why Richard Noble’s 1,000MPH Bloodhound project is touting education over the record-setting goal. Well, that and because road racer pal Paul Drayson also happens to swing a lot of political torque as the UK Minister of Science and asked the boys to help bolster the educational needs of the nation.

Helping me do this the same fine thing here in the States are some very kind and generous people from motorsports, with particular emphasis on land speed racing. They are the “Subject Matter Experts” and while I could have written most of the content myself, it occurred to me the bigger vision was to have as many people in the sport take part so that in the end the very people who give the sport its vitality and its verve would vicariously teach the children.  

On behalf of young students I am very grateful to all that the people listed below agreed to join with me to inspire young minds to take up science, technology, engineering and math courses.  If we can inspire children when they are young, and full so many tomorrows, to take up a STEM study path, the whole world will be better for it. And by using land speed racing as the teaching metaphor, we ought to have a bunch of fun doing it.

I publicly thank the Engineering the Future Subject Matter Experts for their contributions!

LEGEND: Color-coded names denote a special racing achievement distinction for the individual.

200MPH Club Life Member – Class Record Holder

300MPH Chapter – Class Record Holder, also a member of the 200MPH Club.

WLSR – World Land Speed Record (WLSR) in excess of 400MPH, also a life member of the both the 200MPH Club and the 300MPH Chapter.

CRH – Class Record Holder

ODB – Owner/driver/builder

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Eric Ahlstrom, Fossett LSR

Ron Ayers, Aerodynamicist, ThrustSSC, JCB Dieselmax, Bloodhound

Dave Brant, Race Car/Motorcycle Builder, Brant Engineering, BWS Streamliner, CRH 180MPH Class K/FS, 1998 SCTA Points Champion

Tom Burkland, ODB, 411 streamliner – WLSR  415MPH

Paul Carosa, VP Engineering, AC Propulsion, White Lightning Streamliner WLSR 245MPH

Dave Dahlgren, data acquisition Zen master, Engine Management Systems, CRH???

Bonner Denton, ODB,#3000 AA/BGMS, CRH 298MPH, Galileo Professor of Chemistry and Geosciences, University of Arizona

Ken Duttweiler, master engine builder, Duttweiler Performance,

Nord Embroden, WLSR holder, land yacht designer & builder, NORD Design

Pete Farnsworth, Builder, Reaction Dynamics, Blue Flame Rocket – WLSR 622MPH

Don Ferguson II, ODB, Ferguson Racing, CRH 302 MPH Class XXF/BFS

Don Ferguson III, ODB, Ferguson Racing, SCTA President

George Fields, ODB, Trackmaster Fabrication, Trackmaster Competition Coupe, CRH,  3??MPH

Rick Gold, owner, ERC Racing Fuels, www.ercracingfuels.com

Travis Heap, Crew Chief, Phoenix Diesel Race Truck, CRH 272MPH Class U/DT

Curtis Halvorson, driver, Mormon Missile, engine builder, CRH 305MPH, WLSR 341.165MPH

Seth Hammond, ODB, #77 Lakester, CRH

Ed Hillstrom, team member, Buckeye Bullet Electric/Hydrogen streamliner, BNI Record Holder

Tom Klein, Mechanical Engineering Masters Degree, master engine builder, Klein Engine Technologies

Jerry Kugel, ODB, Kugel Komponents – World Land Speed Record Holder, CRH 

Joe Law, ODB, Grumpy Old Men Lakester, CRH, C/BFL 349MPH

Les Leggitt, master engine builder, CRH

Mike Lefevers, master engine builder , Mitech Racing Engines, CRH

Dr. Tim Leverton, JCB Dieselmax, CRH, WLSR 350MPH

Roy Lewis, ODB, Chassis Engineering, CRH 306.8MPH

Craig McCarthy, Chief Engineer, Aerodine Engineering & Aerodine Composites

Dan Metz, ODB & University Professor, Motorsports Consultant

Terry Moreau, ODB, Moreau & McBride streamliner, CRH 224MPH, ESC Systems, www.oneliterlandspeed.com

Mike and Terry Nish, OBD, Nish Motorsports, #998  streamliner, CRH, Top Speed: 386MPH

Richard Noble, ODB, Thrust II & ThrustSSC – WLSR / 633MPH

James Rice, ODB, CRH, Owner, Chronologic Timing, Official Supplier of Timing Equipment to SCTA, BUB, BNI, FIA, FIM, USAC, ACCUS and AMA, sanctioned events — http://www.chronologictiming.com/

Pat Rummerfield, Driver, White Lightening Electric Streamliner, WLSR 245MPH

Harry Schoell, Inventor of the Cyclone-Schoell Cycle Engine

Nick and Ken Smith, Drive Train Experts, Hot Rod Works, www.hotrodworks.com

Bob Stroud, Principal, Stroud Safety, parachute & safety equipment    www.stroudsafety.com

Rex Svoboda, 411 streamliner crew, CRH

Al Teague, ODB, Spirit of 76 streamliner – WLSR 409MPH

David R. Thom, Collision and Injury Dynamics, Inc

Dan Warner, driver, SCTA Speed Records Official, CRH 230MPH

Sam Wheeler, ODB, EZ Hook Motorcycle streamliner, fastest speed to date 355.303 MPH

Oscar B. Will, Automotive Tech Instructor, ASE Master Technician, GM Certified Service Manager

Chuk Williams, ODB, Land Speed Steam Car

Dan Wright, ODB, USFRA Chief Tech Inspector, #677 Streamliner, CRH

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If you want to know more about the course, check out The National Network of Digital Schools that offers an impressive range of interactive coursework, developed by experienced educators and professionals, and supported by a network of certified Teacher Facilitators. This is dynamic curricula — for lifelong learners.

website at:  http://www.nndsonline.org/