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  1. #21
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    Feb 2015
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    CIRF, It sounds like a lot of people but this county extends nearly 75 mile east almost to the Nevada state line and over 1/2 of our population is up there. That area is where all but 12 of the county cases of the virus and the only death from it have occurred. My immediate area has about 1,200 folks and that's about as crowded as I care for.

    As a transplanted Midwesterner I liked seasonal changes and the joke in southern CA was in summer the hills were brown and in the winter green. Light snow dusting up here a couple of times per winter is as close to shoveling the stuff as I want to get again.

  2. #22
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    Jul 2007
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    I see what you're saying, over4T.

    Illinois has a population of approximately 12,600,000. Approximately 70%, of the population lives in the chitcago metro area and Metro East St. Louis. 70% of the population is crammed into just 7.5% of the land mass of Illinois. Without crunching the numbers I'd be willing to bet the ratio for Cali is even more profound.

    I've heard rumblings over the years that the rural areas of Cali would love not to be burdened by the urban hellhole's. There is a movement afoot here in Illinois to make chitcago the 51st state. Our legislative, taxation and cultural problems are probably similar.

    We stay in Illinois for one reason. That reason is my livelihood depends on it and I can't make a living doing what I do in many other places. We've done well enough to be comfortable and we're able to travel to just about all the races we have time for and are interested in. That's important to us. Those trips include a half dozen trips to the left coast specifically to see racing out there and we consider ourselves quite blessed to be able to do those things. We also were lucky enough to have attended the Western World Championships at Manzy before they tore that place down. That's a subject for another time and thread!

    In spite of the fact that our winters have become markedly more mild over the years our goal is still to move to warmer climes when my working days are over. As I said earlier, we hope there is something left to move to. As I've said many times California is a spectacularly beautiful place outside of the urban hellhole's and there was a day when we would have considered relocating out there but those days are over.

  3. #23
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    Jun 2007
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    San Fernando was a very regular haunt for me on Sundays. We would go to Lions on Saturday then "the pond" on Sundays. Muffled cars from 9:00am till noon, the from noon till 3:00pm the hot cars ran. Amazing what kind of show could be run in 3 hours. Brownies concessions sure was good to.

    The area I lived in was in the San Fernando Valley, first in Van Nuys and then Granada Hills. We would weigh the options of going places (other than racing) depending on the hours of traffic it would take getting there.

    There are just a few things I miss about Cali.
    The food I liked.
    A. The Bear Pit BBQ in Granada Hills
    B. Casa Da Pizza-Granada Hills
    C. In N Out Burger
    D. Tommies Chili Burgers.
    E. Jockos Steak House-Nipomo

    Racetracks
    A. Pomona Raceway and the Winternationals (went every year, all days from 1965 until 2013)
    B. Bakersfield Speedway
    C. Santa Maria Speedway

    4T ever go to the short lived Whiteman Stadium?



    LMM

  4. #24
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    Feb 2015
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    SoCal food; remember and liked the Bear Pit BBQ and Jocko's up in Nipomo and a couple of other very good ones were nearly any BBQ joint in the Santa Maria area and the Heidelberg on Van Nuys Blvd. for some of the best German food and pastry in the country. Close second to the Heidelberg was Alpine Village just across the freeway from Ascot with a good restaurant, a killer German bakery, even had a theater that showed movies from der fatherland with English sub-titles. Can't forget the great beer garden with the oompa bands during Octoberfest either. 'Bout 3 steins of the pilsener and I even got the ex up to polka one time.

    Went to the Winternationals several years and never once paid to get in. Five or six of us always went and one was a cop in Santa Paula, population then about 6,000 and now 5 times that. The cop always just showed his badge at the gate and they let our whole carload in year after year. S.P. was, and is still, a citrus growing/packaging economy and the local cop cars were orange and white and everyone called them the Citrus Patrol, which they hated. ARP also has a plant there making their fasteners.

    Whiteman Stadium, yes several times. Probably the only oval in the U.S. where you didn't need brakes going into turn 1 up that big hill but made up for it coming down the ski run of 2 down to 3. Interesting story of how the Stadium came to be is that Marv and Gary Whiteman were racing 1955ish Studebakers at Saugus with Chevy small blocks and the rules said Ford to Ford, Chevy to Chevy, etc. They tried to convince the officials that Canadian built Studies came from the factory with Chevies but had no luck. Whiteman family had the land, airport and, I believe, a couple other businesses there so built the track. Saugus tried also tried to get Carl Stoorgard, a car owner/builder around the same time with his Ramblers but they actually had 390/410 Rambler engines and had a lot of wins, primarily with Jimmy Insolo behind the wheel.

    I'd forgotten about the mufflered cars running in the morning at San Fernando until you mentioned it. First time there, just to watch, was after a night at Saugus sitting under the then existing roof on the front stretch all evening listening to the non muffled LMS. As I'm sure you remember you were usually practically deaf until Monday or Tuesday from the noise. Anyhow, we got to the drag strip and thought it was the quietist drags we'd ever attended.

  5. #25
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    Feb 2015
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    CIRF, Re. Population woes. I think our population 's main numbers would be pretty much like Illinois, only spread between two majors compared to your one. SoCal, which has pretty much become a megalopolis over the last 3 or 4 decades extending from the lower 1/2 of Ventura County down through L.A., Orange and all the way to the Mexican border below San Diego.

    The other major is the Bay Area; San Francisco to San Jose to their neighboring areas with the denser populations.
    As you may guess, the vast majority of the techno, manufacturing, Amazons and their like are in these areas and have a vast political influence on where the federal and state funds go. The other areas, such as mine, grew from gold mining , forestry, etc. and are decidedly more blue collar businesses. The far northern counties are even more rural and have a lot of cattle ranches and their ilk. These are not the types of business you can shelter in place and work from your computer. Many of them are poorly represented in the state offices and get regulated by people who wouldn't know a saddle from a tractor from a chainsaw.

    The north doesn't like a large portion of our water going to the desert area of the south.. The south thinks they're entitled to it. Both ends of the state think, probably correctly, that they are getting screwed on something..

    With that said, yes, there has been a movement to secede NorCal from SoCal for many years and call the north the state of Jefferson. Much of the population of those areas are fiercely independent small family run operations of several generations and are much troubled by having their way of life altered. Will Jefferson ever actually happen? I doubt it as the lack of large corporations and national companies means the big revenue to fund another government just isn't there and never will be. The average Joe Blow in any state can't even comprehend the numbers their state throws out as a budget; $150,000,000 for this, $360,000,000 for that. Coming up with funds to start another state aren't, and probably never will be, there and I highly doubt we will ever see a new one anywhere in this country.

  6. #26
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    Jun 2007
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    Wow the Heidleberg, went there a few times. Had an account at the Alpine, sold em Venison saddles and wild boar, u ain't kidding about the Alpine fest, those steins would get to you.

    U mentioned the Whiteman Bros. Those topless Studebakers were as u said main in Canada. What got the in trouble is the Canadian Studes had 406cu.in. Big Blocks, slightly stroked 396 engines.

    Were u there the night a neighbor came to the track with a shotgun crying over the noise?

    In the 60's and early 70's Bobs Big Boy on Van Nuys Blvd, the drive in section looked liked the Super Stock pits at Lions, some super bad a$$ rides.

    4t, do you remember Hoy Toy's Chinese on VN Blvd?

    There was also a place next to the grocery store I worked, called the Hofbrau, great food.


    LMM

  7. #27
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    Feb 2015
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    Underknown item about the 396 Chevy is that they were actually 402 c.i. I don't know why they called them 396es; maybe because the manufacturers were beginning their underreporting the engines power about then. Calling the big Hemis, 427 Fords, etc. 425 horses when, in reality, they were all around 600 or maybe they already had the 396 badges made up.

    Remember hearing about the shotgun incident but wasn't there when it happened.

    You're right about the Bob's "car shows" and we were there a couple of times. I'm sure you remember the stories about the Burger Boy statues being swiped from a few Bob's locations. In Ventura our equivalent was the Original Mel's Drive In (weren't they all the original?) at Five Points and a Foster Freeze on Main across from the high school.

    Best story from the F.F. was one Saturday night a local guy with an alcohol rail dropped in on his way home from a night at Orange County's drag strip and after a few beverages, not Foster's very good malts, was convinced to unload in the alley and push it off and make a run down Main Street. Ended up costing him his license for 1 year, a stiff fine and impound fees to get his rig back.

    Never knew of Hoy Toy's but we had some good Chinese food in Ventura as well as up north, where there was a large Asian population during the Gold Rush times but not now. Think we tried the Hof Brau once and was quite good if I remember.

  8. #28
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    Jun 2007
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    I have strayed off course of this original post, cancellations.
    I think I and probably anybody else that has gone to the races since the early 60's has seen it all.


    Races canned by, rain, snow, wind, fires, civil unrest, and sand storms. State, county, city, and towns have s-canned the races. Lightning, thunderstorms, bugs and many other items. One year at was then called Firebird Raceway in Chandler AZ, the starting line came a part and they called Sunday eliminations. Got to the gate the place was empty and we got the news.


    LMM

  9. #29
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    Jul 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by over4T View Post
    Underknown item about the 396 Chevy is that they were actually 402 c.i. I don't know why they called them 396es; maybe because the manufacturers were beginning their underreporting the engines power about then. Calling the big Hemis, 427 Fords, etc. 425 horses when, in reality, they were all around 600 or maybe they already had the 396 badges made up.

    Remember hearing about the shotgun incident but wasn't there when it happened.

    You're right about the Bob's "car shows" and we were there a couple of times. I'm sure you remember the stories about the Burger Boy statues being swiped from a few Bob's locations. In Ventura our equivalent was the Original Mel's Drive In (weren't they all the original?) at Five Points and a Foster Freeze on Main across from the high school.

    Best story from the F.F. was one Saturday night a local guy with an alcohol rail dropped in on his way home from a night at Orange County's drag strip and after a few beverages, not Foster's very good malts, was convinced to unload in the alley and push it off and make a run down Main Street. Ended up costing him his license for 1 year, a stiff fine and impound fees to get his rig back.

    Never knew of Hoy Toy's but we had some good Chinese food in Ventura as well as up north, where there was a large Asian population during the Gold Rush times but not now. Think we tried the Hof Brau once and was quite good if I remember.
    Over, the Chevrolet 402 was badged as a 396 during very late 1969 production thru 1972. The increase in cylinder displacement was due to Chevrolet boring the 396 big block engine block .030" over what the earlier engines had been bored. This is where the 6 additional C.I. came from. I've never been able to officially ascertain why Chevrolet made the late '69 thru '72 engines a bit larger. Conventional wisdom from some very learned people I've talked to is that the federal emission regulations differed for engines of 400 C.I.'s and larger as opposed to engines of less than 400 C.I.'s. The 402 was offered from late '69 through '72. All 396's produced prior to late '69 were, in fact 396 C.I. I'm working on memory now so I could be mistaken but I believe the 402 was a lower horsepower, hydraulic lifter, 2 bolt main engine that could also be ordered in the pickup trucks of those years.

    Despite all this taking place a bit before my time I became quite interested in that era of American muscle car production during my young adult period. It was very interesting to the point of puzzling how the manufacturers played games with horsepower and torque ratings and as we see with Chevrolet, even the displacement numbers were toyed with.

    Another fact that I would have bet against being true is the cast iron cylinder head used on the 396/402/427/454 big block Chevy engines weighs in at a few lbs. heavier than a cylinder head of a Gen II 426 Street hemi of that era. As I said, I would have bet a C-note against that being the case!

    Sorry to get off topic, guys. This stuff intrigues me. My wife says it's "news I can't use"! LOL!

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