posted 05-30-2005 09:42 PM            

The Lompoc T Club
The Original Rat Rod Racers
By Curt Cragg

By 1936 times were tough, even on the Central Coast of California. A stock market crash on the East Coast in 1929 and a dustbowl in the Midwest had set off a slow rolling shockwave of economic downturn that would eventually be felt all the way out west. This tidal wave of depression pushed a boatload of broke and tired migrants to the west coast in search of jobs and the promise of a better life.

As the depression set in, the locals in Lompoc, California were resigned to the conditions of the times. A group of young men faced with a limited amount of work and very little money were looking for a diversion as a distraction to this depression. They found it by creating a local dustbowl of their own.

This dustbowl began with the formation of a Model-T racing club. Model T’s were not just cheap by the 1930’s, they were free for the taking. Often abandoned where they died along roadways and riverbeds, one could just tow one home or strip it down in place for the parts. These simple mass produced contraptions , were also easy to work on for the mechanically inclined.

There were plenty of mechanically inclined young men in an agricultural town. They grew up working on tractors and farm machinery. Many were garage owners or service station mechanics. They all shared one common love, building junk cars and making them go as fast as they could. In order to collectively pursue their passion they decided to form a club.

The first meeting of the prospective Model T membership took place in the basement of the Elite Bakery in the fall of 1936. As stated in their racing programs for the first track races in 1938, “The Lompoc Model T Club was organized in September 1936 as a recreation and hobby. There were only eight charter members. Today there are over thirty.” “Today” was October of 1938.

The first sanctioned race was held on November 29, 1936. It was a road race that started in the center of town and traveled a 35 mile course. A publicity release described the features of the upcoming course, “practically every kind of road condition to be encountered. Very little of the stretch is paved and there are several gates to be opened. A hard pull is ahead of the gasoline chariots on the Stewart Grade and it is the opinion of several that most of the cars will meet their Waterloo there.”

Meeting ones “Waterloo” was typically the outcome for most of the early race cars. They were built out of junk parts salvaged from long abandoned Model-T cars, which were practically free for the taking. In order to compete the cars had to be built upon a stock Model T chassis including the wood spoke rims and balloon tires. The motors also had to be basically stock, with some internal modifications as invented by these ingenious early engineers.

posted 05-31-2005 09:10 AM            

The early T-racers are some of the most beautiful ugly cars you will ever see. Manned by a driver and a mechanic, these dust churning rattle traps rolled around the dirt roads of Lompoc sputtering and spewing smoke. The winner was usually the only car that actually finished the race. In actuality several cars finished the first race in 1936. Armand Cazenave and Walt Mafrina won this race and would be perpetual winners of future races. Two more road races were held in the spring and fall of 1937.

To survive a road race it was necessary to have your mechanic along for the ride. Of course, many of the drivers were able mechanics as well, but in a road race you didn’t break down in pit row. The mechanic, besides being prepared to fix the car, also had to open and close the cattle gates separating the ranches along the course. Tires were always a problem too and a quicker change could be facilitated by a team of two. This meant that the membership of the club was at least double the number of cars to be raced. Often these teams were made up of brothers.

As the racing action continued so did the local interest. More cars were built and more members joined the club. Due to the interest and general concerns about safety, dust and noise, it became evident that racing would have to move from the road to the track. The races were also attracting spectators and for them it was difficult to watch a race spread out along a sometime remote 35 mile course. When cars broke down out on the road course it was a long walk home too.

Is anybody reading this?

posted 05-31-2005 11:27 AM            

Great story and pics! Thanks for sharing.

posted 06-01-2005 03:26 PM            

The creative outcome was that the club members reached an agreement with a local farmer to use his field between crops. Once the crop was harvested, the club members would plow out an oval race track. The stipulation from the farmer was that they would re-plow the field once the racing was over.

The first T-Club oval track was cut at Beckwith Ranch, a few miles east of Lompoc on the Lompoc-Buellton Highway (now Highway 246). It was a picturesque setting with the green hillsides in the background and the track surrounding two “lakes”, which were actually vernal ponds used for irrigation.

If It had been a wet year the ponds contained some water. This was important because the only way to keep the track from becoming a dustbowl was to water it down before the races. Located in a narrow valley that drew ocean air into the inland Santa Ynez Valley, conditions could be windy, especially in June. Add to that the churning wheels of a dozen race cars and the mix was a whirling dervish of dust. Wearing only goggles in cars with no front windows or tops, the drivers were facing limited visibility and tough driving conditions, especially if they weren’t in front.

posted 06-01-2005 08:38 PM            

Great job! Where are you finding all these old racing photos?? Keep up the good work!!

posted 06-01-2005 09:12 PM            

Many of the photos came from the Lompoc Historical Society where they were donated by the wife of one of the long term racers. She kept a very nice scrap book of the races and race programs.

I also met with one of the mechanics last Sunday and he was kind enough to give me some of his pictures, which I was very grateful to get for my personal collection.

posted 06-02-2005 09:19 AM            

The dust ended up being a factor in one of the first track races resulting in a wreck. There were no seat belts or roll bars on these rustic race cars, so a roll over meant instant ejection. At least you hoped to be ejected, rather than stay in the car and be crushed.

Here’s the news account of the accident. “A slippery corner and a bank of dirt played a disastrous role in the events of the afternoon when Schuyler’s Gilmore special slid on a wet corner into a dirt bank, throwing a screen of dust which apparently blinded an oncoming car in which were Eldon Gilkeson and Maurice Cline. The Gilkeson car also threw dirt in the eyes of the next drivers, John and James Graton. In the whirl of dust, the Gilekson and Graton cars collided, with the Gilkerson car turning over and the occupants being thrown out of the car.”

Fortunately, all involved in the accident survived with only minor injuries. The 50 lap race, which started with nine cars, continued. In the end only three cars would finish. This was typical of these early races as either mechanical problems or even minor crashes would disable these delicate cars.

Following three road races in 1936 and ‘37, the first track race was run in June of 1938 and the second in September. This biannual format had been established for the road races and worked well for the track races too. The club would continue with two annual races into the 1950’s, although the cars would change and the tracks would occasionally be relocated.

Stay tuned. T-Club racers take a pause for a World War and then make their way to Buellton as a new generation of hot rodding jalopies take the track.