Boulevard Sentinel VOLUME VIII ISSUE 8 News and Views for Northeast Los Angeles December 2004 TROMPERLAND by Richard Miazga and Max Norris Ron Carr 1929 Runabout Hello again everyone! We have a real treat for you. We have Max Norris, a long time resident of Eagle Rock (since 1942) writing our Tromperland column this month. Max is a proud member of the Trompers, and got the hot rod bug when he was 11 years old. He has seen, heard of, and got involved with a lot of the early hotrodders from this area, and comes with great credentials himself, getting heavily into sports car racing, which included competing at Sebring in Florida, and LeMans in France. Since the Trompers of Eagle Rock Hot Rod Club was revived in January 2003, one of the really amazing things we've encountered is just how much Eagle Rock, and the surrounding cities had to do with the development of the sport. It's safe to say that Eagle Rock, Pasadena, Glendale, and Burbank can take claim as the actual "cradle" of the sport of hotrodding. Many of the earliest known hot rod clubs in the entire United States were established right in this area. Here in Eagle Rock, a club called the "Motators' started in 1939. In Glendale, there still is a club called the "Sidewinders" that was founded in 1938. Tons of hot rod clubs began immediately after World War II, (the Trompers for one), and it's widely believed that the sport began in 1945. But, we have evidence that shows the boys were "going at it" long before that, at least here in Eagle Rock. Here's what Max has to say. "In 1948 /49 I was in school here in Eagle Rock, and had several jobs after school. One was cleaning up mechanic stalls at Klem Ford, located across the street from the current Columbo's restaurant on the corner of Hermosa. One of the stalls was Don Zabel's, a founding member of the Trompers. At that time, Don and his partner Bruce Robinson had a sprint car they were racing at Gilmore Stadium, a local racetrack. For me, a future car nut, working alongside these guys was a dream come true. "You know, you could build a complete Indy car within the city limits of Glendale. Hot rods were all over the place. Barney Navarro (equipment manufacturer) was on San Fernando road. Ed Winfield, another equipment pioneer was right across the tracks. Curtis Kraft (one of the biggest Indy car builders) was located on Colorado Blvd. Paxton one of the early blower manufacturers, was near the old Bob's twin drive in on Colorado. Kong ignitions and Weiand (why-and) were on San Fernando road, they made intake manifolds, blowers, and cylinder heads, and were one of the earliest to offer their products nationwide. Offenhauser, a real pioneer in intake manifold and cylinder head development was located in Alhambra. "SoCal, the very first "speed shop" where you could purchase all the things it took to make your hot rod go fast was based in Burbank. Soon after in Pasadena, Blair\u2019s Speed shop began. These two were the very first "shops" in the entire United States. No matter what part of the United States you lived in, you bought your "hot rod parts' from SoCal or Blairs out in sunny California. To test all this equipment our local hero's raced on the dry lakes. Muroc (which is Edwards Air Force base) was the scene of high speed land racing until 1941. Then the boys moved to a dry lake (still in use today) called El Mirage near Lancaster. "When dragracing began, (1949), San Gabriel had a small airport the boys could wind them up at, legally! "Or, illegally there was the Rose Bowl, Santa Anita's parking lot, Huntington Drive, and Riverside Drive near Griffith park. As time went on, and hotrodding became more popular other manufacturers made the local area their "base' of operations. Schiefer Clutches, J& E pistons, Deist Safety chutes, Jahns Pistons, Cyclone headers, C&T cranks, to name just a few, were all located within 10 miles of Eagle Rock." Eagle Rock and it's hotrodders were right in the thick of things doing their part to make the sport of hotrodding as great as it was then, and continues to be today. We can't close this month without wishing all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope you have enjoyed our monthly get-together, and we'll make a early New Years resolution by saying we'll make our Tromperland column even better next year, so stay tuned. Next month, we'll tell you about all the hotrod and car clubs that existed right here in Eagle Rock. You'll be surprised at the variety Eagle Rock had... Till then everyone, from the Trompers of Eagle Rock, "Let The Fun Begin" and we'll see you in 2005!