The Carpinteria Thunderbowl Part five - the first half of the 1949 season

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl

Part five - the first half  of the 1949 season

Author’s note – This 12-part article highlights the brief 12-year history of one of Southern California’s least-documented auto racing venues – the Carpinteria Thunderbowl.

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl began its third season of operation on Friday evening May 6th, 1949 as it hosted the ‘Ken Baker Circus of Thrills’ auto thrill show. The show starred the ‘Streamline Death-Defying Hell Drivers’ with precision driving by Dave Arnold and Earl McComb, the “ice crash” in which Bob “Jumpin’ Jack” Niles crashed a sedan into  20-ton wall of ice, rollover crashes by “Reckless” Dick Getty, a head-on crash by Getty and McComb, and closed with a fireworks finale.

Carpinteria was the inaugural show for Ken and Dottie Baker’s troupe, based in North Hollywood that used the advertising phrase “Smoke and Flame - we earn the name.” Later Baker tour stops included Lakeland Park Ranch & Stadium (also known as El Monte Speedway) in El Monte, Balboa Stadium in San Diego, San Fernando’s Valley Fiesta and Contra Costa Stadium in Walnut Creek.  

The Saturday May 14^th edition of the Ventura County Star Free Press featured an article that revealed that the Carpinteria Thunderbowl 1949 midget auto racing season would start on Monday evening May 16th.  The article revealed that “the track will be under the management of Bradley and Wanda McLure,” a couple that lived at 155 East Vince Street in Ventura. 

The article stated that Mr. McClure, who had 20 years’ experience as a superintendent at the Saticoy Rock Company in Ventura County, would “handle the track arrangements, while Mrs. McClure will attend to the concession stand.”

On Monday May 16 the Ventura County Star Free Press featured a Carpinteria Thunderbowl advertisement on page eight but on page nine, an article headlined “Rain Threat cancels Carpinteria Races,” noted that the Thunderbowl had scheduled a program “which featured an All-star card of top-notch drivers was lined up” until “Mrs. Bradley McLure cancelled due a threat of rain this morning and deferred until a week from tonight.”  

On May 20 the Ventura County newspaper carried a follow-up article in which Bradley McLure announced the cancellation of the races scheduled for May 23 and May 30 due to unfavorable weather conditions with the 1949 grand opening of the Thunderbowl postponed to June 6.

 The United Racing Association (URA) “Blue Circuit” drivers scheduled to headline the opening Carpinteria racing program included Danny Oakes, Johnny Garrett, Walt Faulkner, Dominic “Pee Wee” Distarce, “King Karl” Young and Rodger Ward. For the 1949 season, two drivers who jumped from the URA to the American Automobile Association (AAA) during the late summer of 1948, Norm Holtkamp and Cal Niday, returned to the URA fold along with their respective car owners, Roscoe Hogan and Arnold Krause.

On June 6^th, Faulkner defeated Ward in the Trophy Dash, with heat races wins to Garrett, Eddie Anderson, Jimmy Bryan and Bob Kelsey. Bryan beat Distarce to the checkered flag in the 15-lap semi-main which featured a crash that involved Bob Shimp and Al Sherman that required a red flag stoppage. Heath won the feature over Billy Cantrell in a comparatively slow time of 8 minutes and 18 seconds for the thirty laps.

The following week, June 13^th, Doug Groves set quick time in time trials at 11.95 seconds, but was edged out in the Trophy Dash by Billy Cantrell. ‘Skee’ Redican, Rodger Ward, Cliff Epp, and Bill Homeier recorded victories in their 6-lap heat races. Ward won the 15-lap semi-main event, then Bob Barker won the feature after both Jimmy Bryan and Cantrell spun themselves out of contention.   

Allen Heath won the June 20 URA “Blue Circuit” feature in the Lyle Greenman owned Offenhauser and Frank “Satan” Brewer won on June 27 in his own Ford V8-60 powered midget. In the meantime, the McLure family was negotiating to get out of their lease.

On July 1, a new promoter, Charlie Cake, signed the Carpinteria track lease with owner Jim Slaybaugh. In an appearance days later at the Ventura Police Boys’ Club, Cake announced his intention to also promote weekly motorcycle races at Carpinteria, which would begin with an exhibition during the scheduled July 4 URA “Blue Circuit” event.

The July 5^th race report in the Ventura County Star-Free Press noted that the 1/5-mile clay oval “appeared in better shape last night than since midget auto racing began two years ago.” The program started off with a bang when Walt Faulkner set a new track record in qualifying with a lap of 14.66 seconds. Faulkner whipped URA point leader Billy Cantrell in the trophy dash, then easily won his heat race. 

Howard Gardner, who flipped during the semi-main race on June 27^th, reversed his fortunes and snagged the semi-main win.  Faulkner, with chance for a “clean sweep” started the feature from seventh place, passed his teammate Len Faas for the lead on lap five, and romped to victory ahead of Faas, Chet Fink, Danny Oakes and Doug Groves.

A preview written before the first Thunderbowl weekly motorcycle race promised “at least 30 top-notch drivers from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties” that included Cal Cline, the operator of a local motorcycle shop, who took part in the July 4 exhibition. The scheduled motorcycle program included a four-lap trophy dash, eight lap heat races, a 15-lap semi and a 30-lap feature race. 

On July 7th brothers Glenn and Bob Mullaney of Santa Barbara “threaded their two-wheeled broncos through the pack to win first and second place” according to the July 8^th Ventura County Star-Free Press report, which noted that many in the average-sized crowd went away disappointed.

 

The article explained that “most of the blame…can be passed off to the track which was little more than a soft lumpy dirt road by the time three heat races were turned, and even worse when it came time for the consolation race and the main event.” Cal Cline, the local hero, flipped in the mushy dirt midway through the feature, but reportedly received "only friction burns on his hands and arms."

  

In the next URA midget program on Monday night July 11, Doug Groves of Van Nuys set quick time at 14.99 seconds then beat Bill Zaring in the Trophy Dash.  The evening’s heat race victories went to Bill LeRoy, Jim Bryan, Hal Minyard and Rodger Ward. The semi-main race win went to Bryan who set a new 15-lap record of 4 minutes and 64/100 seconds ahead of Kenny Morrison.

Just after Bill Cantrell took the checkered flag for the feature win, chaos erupted behind him. Hal Minyard hit the front stretch wall and his midget spun to stop, facing the approaching field. Doug Groves in third place, with nowhere to go, hit the Minyard car and his car flipped. Groves’ car came to rest upside down, with Doug who was unconscious, pinned inside for many minutes until he could be freed.  

Minyard miraculously escaped unhurt, but once Doug was removed from his midget, an ambulance rushed him to the Lying-In Osteopathic Hospital in Oxnard where the 33-year old driver was admitted with broken left leg and severe bruises on his chest.

The following week’s URA program on July 18^th was a benefit for Groves, with Doug brought to the track from the Oxnard hospital by Jay Ryan’s Ventura County ambulance service. Faulkner edged Garrett in the trophy dash, while Ward, Minyard, Cantrell and Bob Shimp scored heat races wins. Shimp led the semi-main until the Lea-Francis engine in his midget failed. which handed the win to Frank Brewer in his own Ford V8-60 powered car.

The 91-cubic inch Lea-Francis engine, purpose built in England for midget auto racing, featured dry-sump oiling, gear-driven double camshafts, four SU carburetors, with  a high compression ratio to run on alcohol.  Record-setting British driver Dudley Froy, Lea-Francis designer Ken Rose and chief engineer Albert Ludgate made trips to the United States in 1948 and 1949 to show and sell examples of the engine.

Besides Shimp, several US midget racers (including Woody Brown in Northern California) used the four-cylinder “LeaF” engine but it never became popular (less than a dozen were built), given that its 120 horsepower could not match the power of the Offenhauser four-cylinder engine and it sometimes put connecting rods through the side of the aluminum block.

  

The Ventura County Star-Free Press newspaper report called the July 18^th midget feature race “one of the most spectacular races ever at the Thunderbowl” as Cantrell, in the Casale Offenhauser, finished in seven minutes and 45.02 seconds, ahead of Bob Barker, who hounded Cantrell for all thirty laps, with Johnny Garrett the third place finisher.

The author is looking for any private vintage photographs of the Carpinteria Thunderbowl that readers may have. Please reach out to kevracerhistory@aol.com .  We can’t pay for use, we’re just looking to share images for those who never saw the track.     

1950 Indianapolis '500' pole winner 

On display in Duman’s Turn 4 Restorations shop during the IRMA Bench Racing Weekend tour was the record-setting Kurtis 2000 which captured the pole position for the 1950 Indianapolis 500-mile race driven by rookie Walt Faulkner.

In early 1948, racing promoter Joshua “JC” Agajanian bought this car, chassis #318, the second of eleven Kurtis-Kraft 2000 Championship cars built, to race at the Indianapolis 500-mile race.  

Agajanian’s plan quickly went awry, when the American Automobile Association (AAA) the governing body of championship car racing, ruled that JC could not enter a car at Indianapolis because he was the president of an “outlaw” racing organization (in other words, a non-AAA affiliate), the Western Racing Association (WRA), which sanctioned “big car” races in California.   

Because of the AAA edict, the car, powered by a 270-cubic inch four-cylinder Offenhauser engine, was officially entered by Agajanian’s two mechanics, Clay Smith and Danny Jones. Johnny Mantz qualified eighth for the 33-car 1948 Indianapolis starting field and finished in the 13^th position.

At the August  AAA race at Milwaukee the second of three AAA races on the dirt State Fairgrounds mile,  Mantz qualified for the pole position, led early, then passed Emil Andres on the final lap and won the 100-mile race. Later in the year in the season finale at DuQuoin Illinois, Mantz was involved in the Ted Horn fatal crash and the Kurtis was sent to Los Angeles craftsman Eddie Kuzma for off-season repairs that included a modification of the front axle and suspension.

Mantz drove the #98 Agajanian entry again for the 1949 AAA season with lukewarm results, and Mantz was entered as the driver of the ‘Grant Piston Ring Special,’ for the Indianapolis ‘500’ but in early April Johnny Mantz announced his retirement from track racing and instead competed in the Mexican Road Race with the Lincoln factory team.

Days later, Agajanian named midget racing star Walt Faulkner as the driver of his cream and red #98.  Faulkner a native Texan, started racing midgets in 1940 in Southern California, scored 28 pre-war midget feature wins and the United Midget Association championship in 1941 and 40 wins with the prestigious United Racing Association (URA) through 1949. 

Walt who stood only 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed less than 130 pounds was nicknamed “The Little Dynamo” and like most drivers, Walt was superstitious; he always climbed into a race car from the left side and carried an old penny in one of his shoes.

Walt passed his “rookie test” at the Speedway on May 11, 1950 and on “Pole Day” May 13, 1950, Faulkner’s inaugural Speedway qualifying run started just as the gun fired that signaled the end of the first day of qualifying.

1950 Walt Faulkner qualifying photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library 

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection

Note the wire wheels 

Many members of the crowd of 50,000 fans were filing towards the exits as the unknown California began his run , but when the track public address announcer called out Walt’s first lap speed – 132.743 miles per hour (MPH) many in the crowd reversed their tracks. 

The second lap was even faster- 134.811 MPH and the third lap was the fastest official lap ever turned at the old 2-1/2-mile brick oval - 136.013 MPH!  Walt eased off for his fourth and final lap to record a new record ten-mile average of 134.343 MPH.

Faulkner became the first rookie to set the fastest qualifying time since Georges Boillot in 1914 and he smashed the one- and four-lap speed records which had stood since 1946, set by the late Ralph Hepburn in the NOVI.  

For the 500-mile race, chief mechanic Clay Smith switched the Offenhauser engine over to run on gasoline which improved the car’s fuel mileage but cut power and the car’s top speed. 

1950 IMS official Walt Faulkner photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library 

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection

 note the Halibrand wheels 

Another change on race day was the use of the “new” Halibrand solid magnesium wheels after the car qualified on wire wheels. Walt ran among the top five positions through most of the race and was scored in seventh place when rain came and ended the race at 345 miles (138 laps). The Rookie-of-the-Year award was not awarded at Indianapolis until 1952, but clearly Walt would have won the Rookie award had it been awarded in 1950.  

On August 27^th, Walt won his first AAA championship race on the dirt one-mile oval at Milwaukee as he battled Tony Bettenhausen and Paul Russo for the win. Bettenhausen led the first 75 circuits until he made a pit stop, which handed the lead to Faulkner who led until he too pitted on the 113^th lap.  

Russo picked up the lead until lap 131 when Walt passed Paul for the lead and never looked back. The #98 ‘Grant Piston Ring Special’ set a new record for the 200-mile distance at Milwaukee , six minutes ahead of the previous record set in 1948 by Myron Fohr.

Walt Faulkner finished a close second in the tight three-way battle for 1950 AAA National Championship, only 73 markers behind champion Henry Banks and just four points ahead of Indianapolis winner Johnnie Parsons. 

In ten 1950 AAA champ car appearances, Faulkner scored one win, four top five finishes and four top ten finishes, with his 12^th place at the second Springfield Illinois race his worst 1950 finish. Walt failed to qualify at the first Springfield race and the #98 was withdrawn after it broke a connecting rod the Offenhauser engine in practice at Langhorne Pennsylvania.

For the 1951 season JC Agajanian purchased a new chassis built by Eddie Kuzma for Faulkner and assigned the #98 Kurtis 2000, entered as the “Agajanian Featherweight Special” to third year driver Troy Ruttman.  

1951 Troy Ruttman qualifying photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library 

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection 

The “Featherweight” term did not refer to the car itself, as many believe, but rather it was for a new product that JC Agajanian signed as sponsor;  it was a plastic liquid that was sprayed on as an automotive undercoating – according to news reports, this materials only added five pounds to a typical car compared to fifty pounds for other contemporary undercoating products.

Ruttman in the #98 ‘Featherweight Special’ qualified sixth, while Faulkner again set new one- and four-lap track speed records in the new Kuzma, but he started 15^th, as his record runs came on the third day of time trials as the new Kuzma built car had arrived new late from the West Coast on May 10^th. The ‘Featherweight Special’ but was out of the 1951 ‘500’ on lap 78 with a burnt bearing in the Offenhauser engine.

Agajanian sold the Kurtis 2000 chassis to Tom Sarafoff who owned a chain of diners in the Terre Haute, and Sarafoff entered the car for Cliff Griffith who qualified and finished the 1952 ‘500’ in ninth place. 

The car did not qualify at Indianapolis in 1953 as Sarafoff entered the Kurtis for rookie Bob Sweikert, but Bob quit the team before the Speedway opened and drove for Al Dean during the 1953 AAA season.   Dayton Ohio’s J. Carlyle “Duke” Dinsmore then tried the car but was too slow to make the field.

In 1954, Cliff Griffith one the comeback from serious burns suffered in a 1953 Indianapolis practice crash, tried the Kurtis 2000 but quit on May 12 as he explained “one hand doesn’t fully work and there’s no use kidding myself I don’t feel comfortable above 124 MPH.” After George Tichneor failed to make the 1954 33-car starting field, Sarafoff sold off all his racing cars and equipment.

Rick Duman’s fine restoration of the Agajanian 1950 ‘Grant Piston Ring Special’ as driven by Walk Faulkner is a fitting tribute to the drivers, car owners and mechanics of that bygone era.

All Color photos by the author