Gear Grinder’s Club History 1964

GENERALLY Average Cost of new house $13,050.00 Average Income per year $6,000.00 Gas per Gallon 30 cents Average Cost of a new car $3,500.00 Average Monthly Rent $115.00 Ticket to the movies $1.25 1964 was the official start of the Vietnam War The first and the first GTO rolled of the assembly lines. The Anchor Bar in Buffalo NY introduced ’Buffalo Wings’ to the world. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan all released their 1st albums. As a mark of how times have change the Grammy for Best Vocal Performance, Male went to – any guesses? Louie Armstrong for Hello Dolly! Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston then went on to change his name to Muhammad Ali that year. A.J. Foyt won the Indy 500 that year which was the last race to be won by a front engine roadster. Other winners: John Surtees the F1 championship, King Richard Petty – NASCAR with the new 426 Hemi in a Plymouth, In 1964 Ford lost to Ferrari at LeMans – by hour 12 all of the GT40’s were out of the race. While Carroll Shelby‘s Daytona Cobra with and finished 1st in class and 4th overall behind 3 GT Ferraris. And that year we lost: Douglas McArthur Ian Fleming Sam Cooke Glenn ‘Fireball’ Roberts

SCTA The regular meetings of the club reps was held at a meeting room in Republic Federal Saving in Pico Rivera

The SCTA awards banquet was held at The Tikis in So. San Gabriel.

During the off-season the SCTA ran ½ mile drags with an event every month from Dec thru April with a similar point system and championship. The Gear Grinders finished 5th in the 1964-5 drag season. In 1964 the first 50 numbers were assigned by the SCTA based on points. Nolan White ran No. 1 and then Gear Grinders Tom Bryant, Jim Lindsley and 2 others were in the top 50. After those fifty, each club was assigned a range of number based on the size of the club. And the club would assign the number in their range to the members.

Bonneville 16th Annual SpeedWeek

Dates: August 23rd- 29th

BNI Board Jim Lindsley – Director of Competition Burke LeSage – Business Manager

Gear Grinders working at Bonneville in 1954 Deanna LeSage – Registration Phyl Lindsley – Qualifying Recording Tom Bryant – Course Steward Supervisor

Entries - 153 Total pre-entries

128 Cars – Notable Nolan White – running in the A, C and E Sports Racing classes Norm Thatcher – builder and driver of two 1964 Plymouth Sports Furies to go after the stock bodied 200 mph record. He also brought two 426 Hemis with Roots-type superchargers and Hillborne injectors. In 1962 he took home 12 class trophies from Bonneville – the most awarded to a single individual. Pisano Bros – 460 cubes of in a Stude Ak Miller – Mustang with both a 327 and a 289 Ernie Immerso - - The Thunderbird IV streamliner Bob McGrath - The Hammond-McGrath-Whipp Red Head Bill Burke – driving the Eelco Wee Eel and Wee Wee Eel Gale Banks – in a Chevy-powered Stude, and Warren Bullis – Also in a Chevy-powered Stude

25 M/C – Notable: Marty Dickerson – 1000cc Vincent Don Vesco – 500cc Matchless, 250cc Yamaha Herbert James ‘Burt” Munroe – 883cc Indian

Notable event/records

Rulebooks in the 60s did not list records. My copy of a 1971 rulebook shows the only record set in 1964 that survived was set by the Pisano Bros with Chrysler powered Stude in the B/supercharged coupe and sedan class at 201.744mph.

In 1964, the Chuck Bennett memorial trophy was awarded to the fastest car driven to the meet. Another was awarded by Mickey Thompson to the mechanic of the fastest car of the meet.

There was a Merchant Day every day. Mobil Gas one day with free gas for all entries, STP day with free STP, and so on, oil. T-shirts, etc., each day for the entrants

GEAR GRINDERS Club meeting usually started after 8:00 and as late as 9:45 and finishing after 11:00 – if our club meetings went that long all the old farts would be asleep.

Period: 1/64 ~ 8/64 Minutes indicate elections held every 6 months

President: Tom Bryant Vice President: Gene Thurman Secretary: Jim Travis Number of members: 12 active, 1 inactive (in the Air Force)

It’s funny that 5 of the 12 were honorary members and did not have to pay dues. Dues were $7.50 and 50¢ more for the SCTA. Minutes: 1/8/64, 3/4/64, 5/1/64, 6/3/64,

Period: 8/64 ~ 12/64 Minutes indicate elections held every 6 months

President: Larry Lindsley Vice President: Charles Stover Secretary: Jim Travis Treasury: Had a whopping $5.40 Sergeant of Arms: none listed

Club Representative: Gary Lindsley Club Representative: Charles Stover Club Representative: Larry Lindsley Number of members: 14 active,1 inactive (in the Air Force)

Minutes: 8/5/64, 9/9/64, 11/4/64, for 12/2/64 – No minutes taken just helped set up Thompson show. Members: Tom Bryant Gary Cagle Herb Ferguson Michael Haslam Burke Le Sage Gary Lindsley Jim Lindsley Larry Lindsley Tom Mc Gurk Jack Perrin John Riley Charles Slover Gene Thurman Jim Travis

New members to the club in 1964 Jim Rice Paul Krogstad

Other Gear Grinder party was held at Jim Lindsley’s house in Cudahy. Your $3.00 per couple ticket got you beer & burgers – Just a party, the awards the club gives out each year did not start until 1990.