50 years ago in Santa Barbara

BY WILLIAM EDGAR AND MICHAEL 1. LYNCH

HISTORIANSENJOY SMALL EPIPHANIES a Porsche 550 in the fall of 1955. De- when they uncover some artifact that al- fechereux contacted me [Lynch] to write lows them a previously unreachable grasp his book's foreword describing the South- of history. If the newly uncovered factoid ern California road-racing scene where involves someone famous and contradicts Dean competed. I had a basic knowledge the conventional wisdom, so much the bet- of Dean's short though impressive racing ter. A series of events earlier this year al- record but began researching it more thor- lowed two racing journalists one of those oughly to fill in the details. rare moments. Born in Indiana, James Dean lived in Los It began with Philippe Defechereux's Angeles from the time he was 4 until he was desire to have a foreword written for his 9. When his mother died, he rode the train book, James Dean, From Passion for Speed back to Indiana with her remains and lived to Immortality, to be published by Dalton in the hamlet of Fairmount with an aunt and Watson later this year. It covers the movie uncle until he graduated high school in 1949. star's racing career and fatal accident in A few days later, Dean was on a bus to re- join his father in California. James attended the hot setup for the under-1500-cc produc- Santa Monica City College and transferred tion class. Speedsters were in short supply, to UCLA to study drama. In the spring of and Dean's celebrity almost certainly moved 1951, he went to New York where success on him to the head of the waiting list. Broadway brought him back to L.A. early in James's private personality was much 1954 to make his first movie, . different from the on-screen Dean. He was With some of his Eden money, James very methodical in his approach to reach- bought a used MG TD, the most popular ing goals. In high school he'd done well in sports car of its day. By early 1955, about debate. He'd also won the Indiana section to make his second film, Rebel Wthout a of a National Thespian Society contest, Cause, Dean decided he wanted to go rac- and went on to finish sixth nationally. He ing. He purchased a Porsche Super Speed- approached racing in the same calculating

Ilr; n an airport course at'

Dean said, "Gee, I '

James drove a lonely race to 3rd position, 7 winning the production class. The attitude ' of those pit denizens who'd made fin of this . "second-rate Brando" did a complete 180. i On Saturday, April 30, Dean appeared at I Minter Field in Bakersfield. He was placed ] in a race alongside other drivers with limit- : ed experience. As in his second race at Palm Springs, there were also faster modified cars in the event. Once again, Dean won the production class, finishing 3rd to Joe Play- L .eviws page: Jmnes Dean bmulJbt hk Porsche an's MG Special and Jean Pierre Kunstle's to Smla Barbcw's abport course, fated Devin-Panhard, both modified cars. tokhblastmce.Thispage:Pittedbehindm On Sunday, Dean was again in the under- ontiqueBemwllieratBak~,Dean.wIih 1500-cc main event due to his class win on ubiquitous dgmite, che& his -. Still Saturday. This time the field of modifieds frmnes tram John Edgds movie cranercl tmdr Janes was even larger. After a race-long duel, Dean fhroqh Smiu Wspaddok. Edger also caught was barely nosed out by Springer Jones in DemlAdobrgI(lfP1~kb~~11~~Bah.another Porsche Super for production class I 148 tor D r rtrc r wmn.madandtrak.mm honors. They were 8th and 9th overall. taken early in the day, before the races be- As I continued my research, documenting gan, most probably shortly after Dean ar- these races was fairly easy. When it came rived. I called Bill Rowe, the photographer to Dean's next competition, at Santa Bar- who gave the pictures to my Archive. Rowe bara over Memorial Day weekend, things told me he shot them before Dean drove to got more complicated. The Santa Barbara the pits to tinker with his Speedster. Lynch program had Dean entered in Race 2 for F and I saw this as another bit of evidence Production cars, the correct class for Dean's against the Saturday production race theo- Speedster. Various sources said Dean had ry. Michael Lynch now continues: raced at Santa Barbara in a preliminary and It was looking more and more like Dean had not finished. It was generally assumed had raced on Sunday, but in which race? that Dean entered the F Production event Edgar's footage again reached into the on Saturday, the 28th of May, based on the past. Using a windup 16mm Bell & Howell program information. Nonetheless, con- 200-T movie camera, his father had shot firmjng this was not possible, because the footage that included his friend, Dr. Wil- usual publications did not cover the race. liam Eschrich, who had recently started Even Road & Track5 reportage showed racing. Eschrich is seen in the film driv- only the first three finishers in each race ing his Offenhauser Special on the track and didn't list retirements. with Dean and later holding a checkered Motorsport researcher Michael Ling got flag, so Eschrich obviously won some- me the race coverage from the Santa Bar- thing. A quick check of the Road & Tmck bara News-Press. It had five articles over report showed that Eschrich had won a four days by four different writers. Dean 10-lap under-1500-cc Sunday race for less wasn't mentioned until a Monday summa- experienced drivers. Since Dean was in ry of the weekend, and it said he had not the same, unspliced 50-foot film roll from finished his race on Saturday. I was suspi- John Edgar's movie camera, this had to cious of why he hadn't been mentioned in be the event the actor entered. Dean was the Saturday and Sunday coverage, both of gridded deep in the field, but worked his which covered the Saturday race in which way up to 4th by the fifth lap. Pushing hard he was originally entered in the program. to make up time, Dean flogged the engine At this point I called my sometimes co- until a piston failed. Exactly why Dean author, William Edgar, also doing research was in that Sunday race is still unknown, on Dean. Edgar, whose father John was one though it probably had something to do of the most famous road-racing entrants of with not practicing on Saturday. It seems the , had recently licensed some of to fit his rebel character. his film footage to a milestone feature docu- To confirm our findings, I made a call to mentary being produced for Warner Broth- Art Evans, who has written several books ers through a company called Screen Icons. on 1950s' road racing in Southern Califor- The -narrated James Dean: nia. That produced the California Sports Car Forever Young will be released by Warner Club's race charts for the weekend. Confirm- Brothers later this year and covers Dean's ing our theory, Dean does not appear in the career in television and film, ending with his Saturday race, but does appear as a retire- final foray into racing. Here, I turn the story ment in the Sunday event won by Eschrich. over to Edgar: Following Santa Barbara, Dean wanted Michael Lynch told me he was fairly something faster than his little Porsche. certain Dean had run the F Production race When he lost interest in the idea of an on Saturday at Santa Barbara. I demurred, Offy-powered Lotus, he returned to Von and made a startling announcement. Mi- Neumann's showroom to trade his Speed- chael Sheridan, the Screen Icons producer ster for a Porsche 550 Spyder, a purpose- who had worked on the Dean documentary built racer that had shown it was capable off and on for 10 years, had archive mate- of winning its class in the great classics rial showing Dean was at Warner Brothers such as the Mille Miglia in Italy and the Le Dean num nw no. SSF speeamr aong studio in Burbank on that Saturday morn- Mans 24 Hours in France. knta Embarn's IMI~shdgM dudng Sunday's ing, not at Santa Barbara, then a three-hour The summer 1955 filrmng of Giant com- consohtion rate, May 29,1955. John Edgds drive to the north. Because it was shot at pleted, Dean left Von Neumann's dealership I 16nun footage fmn that day is now palof that precise Santa Barbara race, I further with a German mechanic, Rolf Wiitherich, . - the Wmhihers Jmm Dean documentary studied my father's footage. Digital still riding shotgun in the sleek silver bullet. It entered al tNs year's tames mm FedVd. camera in hand, I ran the film again and e- was September 30th and they were bound for Conrda~Ionme winmn Dr. WiAicrn Edukh mailed Lynch single frames of Dean on the Dean's next race after Santa Barbara, this one ~WHhthech~eredflagJ~esDem track at Santa Barbara with both modified in Salinas. It was not to be. On Highway 46, wanted for hid.Dean might have scored and production cars, so whatever the event near a wide spot in the road c$led Cholame cmotl#r dors victory had he not buda was, it was not Saturday's F Production in central California, a car turned in hnt of piston In thk, his final outing. race. I then went into my Edgar Motorsport the Porsche. Dean died almost instantly. WWiit- Archive files and pulled two 8 x 10 photos herich survived, only to be killed in another of Dean in his Speedster at the track, at automobile accident in Germany in 198 1. Santa Barbara, with no helmet on and no As in a movie, James Dean would re- race numbers on the car. It was obviously main forever young. H