Land speed racers have themighty Mississippi River to thank for theirracetrack in Maxton, North Carolina.When it broke its banks causing majorflooding in the Midwest, it also stoppedJohn Beckett and Tom Sarda from cross-ing over on their way to Bonneville in1993. Factor in that Speedweek also rainedout and it was clear that the boys weren’t

going to get any high-speed exercise thatyear. A great speed funk fell upon the pairand from this despair, the thought of find-ing a place to race in the east was germi-nated.

“John Beckett and I tried to go racingwith my Camaro” recalled ECTA co-founder Tom Sarda who is currentlybuilding a 250MPH streamliner, “Betweenthe Mississippi flooding and a rain-out atthe salt, we started talking about trying toget something started in the east that was-n’t dependent on natural disasters.”

Given the length required to create auseful land speed venue, airport propertyseemed to hold the most potential so callswere made to aviation authorities inquir-ing about abandoned airstrips. The pairfirst found a spot in Moultree, Georgia andheld a couple successful events in 1994before city officials, without credibleexplanation, revoked permission to use theproperty. Talk about red clay feet andchicken feathers.

But wait, there’s more! A second sitein Edenton was set-up, but 24 hours beforethe scheduled May 1995 event, the townmanager told Sarda “you are not going tohold your event at MY airport.” No expla-nation, conversation over.

The third time was a charm and theLaurinburg-Maxton Airport in NorthCarolina and the townspeople welcomedthe racers who expended an inordinateamount of physical labor to make the sur-face “race ready.” Here is real southernhospitality in action. The first event wasMay 1996 with less than two-dozenentrants and today each event attractsnearly 70 entries.

The airport’s three runways wereoriginally built as an Army glider trainingfacility in 1942 and seasonal changes over60 years took its toll. The two active run-ways also see use by the U.S. Army GoldenKnights Parachute Team with the occa-sional military and intelligence communitytraining exercise.

“There were trees growing upthrough the concrete,” explained Sarda ofhis first look at the Maxton facility, “and450 tons of sand, dirt and debris needed tobe moved just to uncover the runway. We

spent 16 weekends with a minimum of 12men working every daylight hour until wedropped to make a racecourse out of thatmess.”

The one-mile concrete race course,with nearly the same again for a shut-downarea, is 210 feet above sea level and candeliver speeds in excess of 250MPH.Located about 100 miles southeast of

Charlotte, the track pro-vides a challengingopportunity to amateurspeed racers to safelydrive at more than fourtimes the national speedlimit.

Years ago, whenaverage speeds were wellbelow 200MPH, findinga racing venue was mucheasier. Ormond Beach,today known as Daytona,was the venue of choicefor land speed racers in

the sport’s formative days. Record settingstarted in 1902 with Ransom E. Olds andwas continued throughout the 1930’s byother big names of the era such Stanley,Rickenbacker, Lockhart, Campbell andSeagrave.

After WWII, the car culture phenom-enon dubbed “hot rodding” exploded inCalifornia and the magic of the Utahdesert lured speedsters to the vast salineexpanse that was, to many, a wondrousgeological dynamometer where speedsseemed limited only by ingenuity,mechanical ability and of course, funds.

This exodus of straight line racersdidn’t dampen the Eastern race spirit, cir-cle track racing flourished and drag racingcame along in the late 1950’s, but the thirstfor unlimited speed was never fullyquenched and provided the spark thatignited Beckett and Sarda’s plan for theEast Coast Timing Association some 60years later.

If you volunteered to help in ECTA’searly days you usually ended up being incharge of that particular duty. Joe Timney,now ECTA co-owner with Keith Turk,found out by reading the group’s newslet-

ter that he had been appointed ChiefTimer.

“All I did was to volunteer to fix theproblem they were having with the timinglights one afternoon,” chuckled Timneywho had read an ad in 1997 about Maxtonwhich sent him driving south one week-end.

Joe Timney began his motorsportscareer in the ‘70s as a chassis builder andcomponent fabricator, crewed on the“Super Press” top fuel dragster, and by1979, he founded Delaware Chassis Works(DCW) where hot rodders and racers seekrepairs, parts, custom tin, fabrication, rollcage and chassis work.

The following year, John Beckettasked Timney to drive his non-suspendedlakester to get an idea of what was neededfor a full-tilt racing suspension conversion.Timney set a 165MPH record on his firstpass in the car. So much for licensing runs.

That led to Timney’s Bonneville bap-tism later in 1998 when owner and driver

Willie Glass from Richmond, Virginia,asked him to be crew chief on the “WastedWillie” roadster. Timney now holds eightrecords and earned life membership in theprestigious 200MPH Club at Bonneville.

“By September of 2004, John wantedto go racing full-time,” recounted Timneywho remains ECTA chief timer, “Beforehe could that John needed to discharge hisECTA responsibilities and approached me

with the idea of buying him out. I gotKeith Turk involved and we signed thepaperwork at the October 2004 meet tenminutes before the drivers meeting.”

Turk had already been running thedriver meetings and rookie orientation fora year. Tonya Turk and Donna Pala gotthrown into the sales and registration trail-er without any training but we lucky tohave help from Beckett’s girlfriend, SusanMiller (aka “flipper”), who had been per-forming both tasks for years starting withlittle more than a card table.

“John wanted to be a spectator,”recalled Susan Miller they never made itthrough a dinner at home without beinginterrupted, “It was his turn to go downtrack in his own car and not just drive by“handouts” from other racers who wouldoffer him the occasional seat time. He wasstill a full-time teacher and also wanted tospend more time with his family and thatcouldn’t happen when the phone neverstopped ringing – it was fun, but it wastiresome.”

The next sentence is strictly suck-upcommentary hoped for by Timney and hasnothing to do with this writer’s report.“What we did was the easy part,” said Joe,“Tonya and Donna are the true stars of theorganization; Keith and I are simply thepretty faces.”

Amusement aside, the track demandsconstant attention, so Turk and Timneyspent $10,000 last year and expect to payout double that for the 2007 season oncapital improvements. The airstrip isleased from year to year, so lots of thework is done on faith, insurance and sup-port from airport commission who appre-ciate the economic boost the local commu-nity gets when the racers come to town.

“We didn’t have much money to startwith,” revealed Timney, “but offering life-time memberships helped, so did a bevy ofvolunteers that laid 25, 50-pound bags ofconcrete along 1.9 mile track mixing onflat-bed trailer, patching the surface as themakeshift assembly line it rolled down the

course in six hours.” Do these people wantto race, or what?

“It takes a lot of work to stage a safeand enjoyable racing event,” Timneyadded. I lose seven days out of my businessto put on a show, if you haven’t done it,you have no idea what’s involved behindthe scenes.”

The big surprise is the ECTA racerdemographics. Where the SCTA is awash

14 ❙ April.2007

East Coast Timing Association

Joe Timney

ECTA founders Tom Sarda and the late John Beckett

Maxton Airport, North Carolina

Photos courtesy of Scott Guthrie and Tom Sarda

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www.good-guys.com ❙ 15

it’s time for three-day meets.”Within 18-months Timney

and Turk hope to find people whowill serve on a Board of Directorsthat will eventually become finan-cially responsible for the entirestructure. The ECTA claims 400members, but less than a 25% par-ticipate at each meet.

“It has been working out justwonderfully,” confessed Timney,“far better than I ever expected. Itruly love this sport and I wanted tomake sure it stayed viable. Keithand I hope to eventually turn over

with Social Security recipients, the Maxtonmilers have lots of young motorcyclists inthe ranks, and the mix is nearly 50/50 bikeand cars. The 2006 season had 208 com-petitors, 103 cars 105 motorcycles.

Unlike their western counterpartswho have been building purpose–built carsfor decades, the evolving ECTA tends tohave more production vehicles that arealso licensed street-legal vehicles. Thefastest car is Wayne Jesel’s Dodge Intrepidat 230MPH driven by Jimmy Barton.

Suzuki Hayabusas dominate themotorcycle entries. The track record is260MPH+ held by a street-driven bike rid-den by Lee Shierts. Bear in mind that for ameasly $10,000 you can own a 190MPHbike off the showroom floor. To find thesame speeds in a street-driven car you’dneed to fork over $75,000 for a C6Corvette.

No one knows more about the influ-ence of the Suzuki two-wheelers than acci-dent reconstruction expert and motorcycleracer Scott Guthrie who helped the fledg-ing organization gain momentum byunderwriting operating costs in a very dis-tinctive way and having the time of histwo-wheeled life.

“I wanted to see the organization besuccessful,” stated Guthrie emphatically, “Isaw that folks that wanted to go land speedracing and I thought, ‘WOW! I like that,I‘ll help them. I brought 10 bikes, set near-ly 250 records and paid all the associatedfees to help fatten the coffers. Most were‘soft records,’ easy to break, the idea wasthat a new person could look at the recordand think: ‘I can do that!’ Then come to anevent, set a record and keep racing.”

He added that even experienced rac-ers aren’t always good at reading betweenthe lines, which is why he made it a pointto establish a bunch of different classesinto the record book. And get this – some-thing only a biker could pull off: at theOctober 2000 Maxton meet Guthrie set 22records over 200MPH in a 24-hour periodriding a single bike.

After that, the officials called him‘stamp’ as in rubber stamp. Guthrie alsoserves on the ECTA board, the SCTAmotorcycle advisory committee and wasnewly elected to the 200MPH Club boardstarting his term in 2007 — the first time amotorcyclist and east coast racer has sat onthe board. What role model this guy is.

“I’m just about done in terms in rac-ing,” said ECTA member #9 Guthrie whoset his first record in 1973, “I’m concen-trating more helping younger riders, folkswho never raced before. I don’t think theracers who show-up get enough runs. Weaverage about three runs per entry, per dayand I’d like see at least double that. Maybe

John accomplished. His answer was asimmediate as it was brimming with joyfulpercolation:

“The first thing that pops into mymind is Chris Decker, from Pennsylvania,the amount of fun and his friends hadwhen they came to race. They personifythe enjoyment of land speed racing.

We were all in tune. It was all posi-tive. We all looked forward to the nexttime. We would correspond in the offmonths. We all bought our families andbecame a huge, extended family.

It was hard work, but — oh man —

the ECTA to the racers as a self-run oper-ation that will continue to provide a testingfacility to prepare for running atBonneville. That was our founding fathersvision and we want to keep that visionalive.”

Sadly, ECTA co-founder JohnBeckett succumbed to injuries sustained ina 2005 crash at Bonneville, but his stew-ardship ensured a thriving ECTA andevery racer who makes a trip down theMaxton mile owes a flip of the visor to himand Sarda.

I asked Sarda what memory resonateswith him when he reflects on what he and

Scott GuthrieContinued on page 199

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Modifying frames is a process I hope toshow with a tutorial in a future article.

These last two builds were completedover the course of acouple weeks andfinished without alot of major modifi-cations. They areproof that you don’thave to go all out ona build to turn outan excellent finishedproduct. They werealso both heavilyinspired by 1:1 cars

I fell in love with. The ’34 Ford truck wasinspired by a pickup built by the Tardel’sfor Tony Miller. It has a dropped axle,ribbed bumpers, some custom exhaust

stacks, and is covered in gloss black.The roadster was built much like that

of Jim and Jason Smith’s ‘32, seen at theLonestar Nationals a couple years ago. Ichopped the windshield and modified a ’29Model A roadster top to fit the body. Someblack ’40 Ford wheels, bias-ply blackwalls,and ’40 Ford caps really give it an attitude.I finished it with a blacked out grill insertand some dark blue paint.

If you would like to see more of mybuilds and current projects, check out mywebsite at www.thefidgiter.com. My e-mailaddress is available on the web site as well ifyou have any requests for tutorials or ideasfor a project. I will do my best to reply to asmany as possible and you may even seesome of those ideas here on theTable Top.

inal Beatnik Bandit, and the wheels camefrom a ’63 Ford Thunderbolt kit. There isa lot of scratch building in this one but itwould be very easyto build a car likethis with readilyavailable kit parts.

Here is one forthe patina inclinedcrowd. The ’30Model A kit is cur-rently out of produc-tion but “that auc-tion site” on the webwill usually turn up ahandful. The engine is a 425 Nailhead outof a ’66 Riviera kit. It runs steel wheels withsome whitewalls from the parts box and theframe has been Z’d front and rear.

Bangin’ the Gears - continued from page 16 Table Top - continued from page 179

Goodguys Southeastern Nationals PPG Pick - continued from page 153

Fuel For Thought - continued from page 15

the good times we had. We ain’t nothingspecial, none of us, we are all about goingfaster and we got together to do just that,learning how to go fast and learning fromeach other. Strangers would stop by andthey would turn into spectators and thenbefore you know it, they became racers andwere part of our growing family.”

Only current members may race atECTA sponsored events. Membership is$50 per calendar year, or ante up $50. for alife Membership. The 2007 event schedulelists five events beginning in April and fin-ishing in October with two specialmeets – one for cars and theother for bikes.

Registration is per vehicle and perevent and costs $100 if you pre-register.Registration at the track is $120. Don’t askfor discounts, or refunds, there are none.ECTA requires that all racers and vehiclescomply with all safety rules. All proce-dures for compliance are covered in thecurrent rule book and updated during theyear on the ECTA website: www.ecta-lsr.com.

For further details contact presidentTimney at (302) 378 3013 orjtimney@ecta-lsr.com; or reach out to RaceDirector Keith Turk (334) 763-6566 –days,(334) 347-6566 nights/weekends, orkturk@ecta-lsr.com

SPECIAL NOTE: I am working on a specialLSR book that will feature the top 30 saltracers of all time. I want to make sure I’vegot the right ones, so if you have an opin-ion on this, then please send your list to meat: landspeed@adelphia.net

Note: Photojournalist Louise Ann Noeth isthe authoress of the award-winning book,“Bonneville: The Fastest Place on Earth,” acomplete historical review of the first 50years of land speed racing now in its 6thprinting. For more details and toorder, go to:www.landspeedproductions.biz.

Southeastern Nationals PPG Dream Car PickTech Info

Owner: Dennis Shrewsbury, Princeton, WVYear: 1967Make: ChevroletModel: Nova II

EngineManufacturer: Aluminum Chevrolet built byAnthony Hawks Racing Engines

Displacement: 572ci 900hp Induction: 1190cfm DemonIgnition: MSD 6ALHeads: BrodixHeaders: 2” custom made by ownerExhaust: 3” stainless Magnaflow

DrivetrainTransmission: 4L80EShifter: LokarDifferential: 9-inch Ford

ChassisFrame: TCIFront Suspension: Tubular Stainless Rear Suspension: Four-linkSteering: Mustang IIBrakes: Wilwood

WheelsFront: 17x8.5 IntroRear: 18x11 Intro

TiresFront: Nitto 225/40/ZR17Rear: Nitto 275/40/ZR18

BodyManufacturer: ChevroletBody Style: Nova IIModifications: Extended rockers

Body – cont’dPaint: PPG Vibrance So-GlowOrange, Sapphire Blue

InteriorDash: Hand-laid fiberglassSteering Wheel: Billet Specialties Gauges: AutoMeterSeats: Custom bucketsUpholstery: Tan leather, CustomRod Doors

I finally came to a paved road andturned north. A sign said Low Moor. Iknew exactly where I was. Through LowMoor I drove like a model citizen, thencaught Route 30, east into Clinton. “I madeit,” I thought as I pulled into the quartercar wash, “I’m sure I’m safe now.” I putmoney in the slot and hosed the road dustoff. I was still shaking, scared almost todeath. I went home and vowed never to doanything stupid like that again.

The next weekend, I was off toDavenport again. I didn’t get grounded,Dad didn’t find out and the fear was gone,old ways resurface. I never saw “BonnevilleBob” again, or the car. I wonder what hap-pened to him that night? Perhaps I’ll neverknow.

As Roger says, “At least that’s the wayI remember it.”

Bill Wivell, Sahuarita (Tucson), AZ.

Thanx Bill…another great story of“Midwestern nights.”

Note: Roger’s 2nd book, Fast Cars, 4-speeds & Fist-fights is now available, as wellas his first, Bangin’ Gears & Bustin’ Heads,— about those crazy car days in the 1960’s.To read excerpts or to order, go towww.RAJetter.com

Subscribe Today!...

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