Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves - Page 5

bill dedman · 07-01-2007, 03:20 AM

Thanks, Bruce.
I was under the impresion that your Buick venture was an Easten version of Johnny Bartlett's Oregon-based '54 Buick Stocker effort, but that was just a typical assumption of mine. I was particularly interested because Bobby Roper's Buick was the only '53 I'd ever heard of anyone seriously attempting to go fast with, in Stock.

I can't vouch for the internals, but his stock appearing '53 "Roadmaster" ended up running low 16's at 83 mph with DynaFlow.... which kept the swapped-in 312-powered '54 Fords at bay.... LOL!

Thanks for the Buick saga. Did you retire it after that day, or work with it?

You never said whether it was a Special (straight-eight), or the 322 cubic-inch V8 Super or Roadmaster, which was new for '53.

Curious minds, et., etc., etc...

Bill, in Conway, AR

Bruce Fulper · 07-01-2007, 03:27 AM

Sure I did. Re-read !
Ha!

Floyd Staggs · 07-01-2007, 10:01 AM

Hey Bruce,
Let me take you back to my time of glory, 1963.
Place, San Gabriel Raceway.
Last race for the track.
I had a '63 Vette that I raced in Super Sport/A. I won class that night and set a track record, 12.90 @ 107, that still stands today. I also beat the national record which was 13.02. The win qualified me for Street Elininator, I wasn't running slicks, I had Casler Cheater Slicks. I lost to a Mopar wedge 4 speed and he got the $25.00 purse.
Back then it was a big deal. I've won more since getting to the second round at the Summit series.
I also had the pleasure of racing Gas Rhonda in the very first Cobra that Ford put on the track. I never could beat that guy. That was in mid '63. I sold my corvette and bought a Mopar. Then I found I couldn't win in it either.
I quit racing in '65 to raise a family and stated again in '95, I think that's when I met you, at Norton AFB.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Floyd Staggs
V787
www.staggsracing.com

bill dedman · 07-01-2007, 10:56 AM

Okay; I missed that the first time through... sorry.

That's quite a saga!!!! I cannot imagine the degree to which that poor Chevelle driver was chagrined to have been beaten in the final by that Buick!

Did you ever race it again?

Bruce Fulper · 07-01-2007, 11:36 AM

No. I sold it a couple of weeks later for $175 dollars. And after I got back from the Army I stumbled across an ad in the Kent newspaper for a '53 Buick . Yep, turned out to be mine and I bought it back. I guess you could say it was the original "BowTie Bomber" !

Hey Floyd - that musta been some fun racing in Ca. in '63. Back when Grossi had a REAL Pontiac!

Chuck Norton · 07-01-2007, 11:40 AM

Scotch,

I, too, was present at S.G. Raceway for the last event forty-four years ago this week. Can't drive by that piece of real estate today without thinking about the good times we had there. Of course, the similar memories are attached to the locations that were Lion's, Irwindale (I swore to never drink another can of Miller Beer), OCIR, and the old Fontana track on Foothill Blvd.

Certainly a corner of drag racing history for the Los Angeles area.

Best,

c

Bruce Fulper · 07-01-2007, 11:51 AM

I wondered if Chuck knew Floyd cause you both raced at the same tracks. Had Chevies... liked girls.....I think. hahaha...
Man it's already 85 inside my shop this Sunday morning. Dynoing another Poncho today.

Bill: I almost for got to mention. Although I didn't race the '53 again a few years later I tried to repeat the same thing with a '58 2 door hard top Buick. It was the "sport model" I can't remember the model at the moment but it was real nice. Had the 364. Black and white. I went to the final in it. But the story, it's another crazy story.....I got to get back in the shop, but I'll tell that one later. I have all of those ET slips too.

bill dedman · 07-01-2007, 12:35 PM

Hey. Bruce, you MAY have another Buick story, but you cannot....CANNOT top the original..... That was amazing...

I thought you must have been running it all the way in "Drive" from the timeslips.... Roper's car was a Super 2-door HT. I don't think he ever ran it until it had received dual exhausts and a 4-bbl, but that car ran in the seventeens with only those two mods...

Of course, he was a "tuner".... even back then.

Thanks again for the entertainment; that was so cool, that you actually beat a 4-speed Chevy V8..... Bowtie Bomber, I guess!!!

Floyd Staggs · 07-01-2007, 07:42 PM

Chuck, was that in July? I can't remember that close.
Yes, it was a ball back then. I only ran Lions one time. That light pole by the right lane scared the ***** out of me. I raced at old Fontana, San Fernando. Pomona and San Gabrial 3 times a week. Then during the week there were the street races that started at Henry's in Pomona. Do you remember Henry's Drive-in? We'd start out there then drive out to 16th and Haven and race till the cops ran us off. Occasionally we would go down to Chino.
Back then it was semi safe and a lot of fun. It was mostly for braggin rights.

I remember one Saturday at San Gabriel when a c-gas chevy rolled right in front of me. Nobody could see for the dirt and my dad thought it was me. He almost made me quit right then.
Floyd StaggV787
www.staggsracing.com

Chuck Norton · 07-01-2007, 08:59 PM

I'm reasonably positive that the end of the track came somewhere around the Fourth of July, 1963. For sure, I know that it was gone by the end of July because that marked the beginning of one of my several ill-fated marriages and when I got back into town to go back to work in September, 1963, the track was gone.

About that time I was spending a lot of my energy helping Ron Mandella run his max-wedge stationwagon in A/SA but I remember running my 406 Galaxie there at least once that summer. (That was not a good idea. In fact, the whole idea of the 406 wasn't particularly a good idea). After SG closed we ran mostly at the tracks you mention although I never went to San Fernando. Fontana got a lot of attention after they went to AHRA in early 1964.

The street racing venues I remember were based out of Henry's drive-in on Huntington Drive in Arcadia, Harvey's Broiler in Downey, and Bob's Big Boy in Colorado in Pasadena. At one point we ran a modified Corvette from the end of the on-ramp onto the Long Beach Freeway (southbound) from Firestone. When the cars weren't so fast there was always Old River School Road as well. I even remember laying in the gravel in the parking lot of the topless joint just south of the intersection of Rivergrade Road and Arrow Highway to put the driveshaft back in after we'd left SG Drag Strip at the end of the night. We arrived at the bar and there was someone who wasn't satisfied with the outcome of the track eliminations so the score was evened up on Rivergrade road after hours.

By the way, that wagon has surfaced again after being out of sight for the last forty years.

We should have assigned someone the job of taking pictures.

c

07-01-2007, 03:20 AM	#41
bill dedman VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Conway, AR Posts: 1,739 Likes: 0 Liked 6 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves Thanks, Bruce. I was under the impresion that your Buick venture was an Easten version of Johnny Bartlett's Oregon-based '54 Buick Stocker effort, but that was just a typical assumption of mine. I was particularly interested because Bobby Roper's Buick was the only '53 I'd ever heard of anyone seriously attempting to go fast with, in Stock. I can't vouch for the internals, but his stock appearing '53 "Roadmaster" ended up running low 16's at 83 mph with DynaFlow.... which kept the swapped-in 312-powered '54 Fords at bay.... LOL! Thanks for the Buick saga. Did you retire it after that day, or work with it? You never said whether it was a Special (straight-eight), or the 322 cubic-inch V8 Super or Roadmaster, which was new for '53. Curious minds, et., etc., etc... Bill, in Conway, AR __________________ Bill

07-01-2007, 03:27 AM	#42
Bruce Fulper Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: So. Cal. Posts: 651 Likes: 4 Liked 54 Times in 33 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves Sure I did. Re-read ! Ha! Last edited by Bruce Fulper; 07-01-2007 at 03:32 AM.

07-01-2007, 10:01 AM	#43
Floyd Staggs VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Cucamonga, CA Posts: 1,521 Likes: 138 Liked 223 Times in 98 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves Hey Bruce, Let me take you back to my time of glory, 1963. Place, San Gabriel Raceway. Last race for the track. I had a '63 Vette that I raced in Super Sport/A. I won class that night and set a track record, 12.90 @ 107, that still stands today. I also beat the national record which was 13.02. The win qualified me for Street Elininator, I wasn't running slicks, I had Casler Cheater Slicks. I lost to a Mopar wedge 4 speed and he got the $25.00 purse. Back then it was a big deal. I've won more since getting to the second round at the Summit series. I also had the pleasure of racing Gas Rhonda in the very first Cobra that Ford put on the track. I never could beat that guy. That was in mid '63. I sold my corvette and bought a Mopar. Then I found I couldn't win in it either. I quit racing in '65 to raise a family and stated again in '95, I think that's when I met you, at Norton AFB. And the rest, as they say, is history. Floyd Staggs V787 www.staggsracing.com

07-01-2007, 10:56 AM	#44
bill dedman VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Conway, AR Posts: 1,739 Likes: 0 Liked 6 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves Okay; I missed that the first time through... sorry. That's quite a saga!!!! I cannot imagine the degree to which that poor Chevelle driver was chagrined to have been beaten in the final by that Buick! Did you ever race it again? __________________ Bill

07-01-2007, 11:36 AM	#45
Bruce Fulper Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: So. Cal. Posts: 651 Likes: 4 Liked 54 Times in 33 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves No. I sold it a couple of weeks later for $175 dollars. And after I got back from the Army I stumbled across an ad in the Kent newspaper for a '53 Buick . Yep, turned out to be mine and I bought it back. I guess you could say it was the original "BowTie Bomber" ! Hey Floyd - that musta been some fun racing in Ca. in '63. Back when Grossi had a REAL Pontiac! Last edited by Bruce Fulper; 07-01-2007 at 02:30 PM.

07-01-2007, 11:40 AM	#46
Chuck Norton Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Covina, CA Posts: 472 Likes: 99 Liked 76 Times in 17 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves Scotch, I, too, was present at S.G. Raceway for the last event forty-four years ago this week. Can't drive by that piece of real estate today without thinking about the good times we had there. Of course, the similar memories are attached to the locations that were Lion's, Irwindale (I swore to never drink another can of Miller Beer), OCIR, and the old Fontana track on Foothill Blvd. Certainly a corner of drag racing history for the Los Angeles area. Best, c

07-01-2007, 11:51 AM	#47
Bruce Fulper Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: So. Cal. Posts: 651 Likes: 4 Liked 54 Times in 33 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves I wondered if Chuck knew Floyd cause you both raced at the same tracks. Had Chevies... liked girls.....I think. hahaha... Man it's already 85 inside my shop this Sunday morning. Dynoing another Poncho today. Bill: I almost for got to mention. Although I didn't race the '53 again a few years later I tried to repeat the same thing with a '58 2 door hard top Buick. It was the "sport model" I can't remember the model at the moment but it was real nice. Had the 364. Black and white. I went to the final in it. But the story, it's another crazy story.....I got to get back in the shop, but I'll tell that one later. I have all of those ET slips too. Last edited by Bruce Fulper; 07-01-2007 at 11:55 AM.

07-01-2007, 12:35 PM	#48
bill dedman VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Conway, AR Posts: 1,739 Likes: 0 Liked 6 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves Hey. Bruce, you MAY have another Buick story, but you cannot....CANNOT top the original..... That was amazing... I thought you must have been running it all the way in "Drive" from the timeslips.... Roper's car was a Super 2-door HT. I don't think he ever ran it until it had received dual exhausts and a 4-bbl, but that car ran in the seventeens with only those two mods... Of course, he was a "tuner".... even back then. Thanks again for the entertainment; that was so cool, that you actually beat a 4-speed Chevy V8..... Bowtie Bomber, I guess!!! __________________ Bill

07-01-2007, 07:42 PM	#49
Floyd Staggs VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Cucamonga, CA Posts: 1,521 Likes: 138 Liked 223 Times in 98 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves Chuck, was that in July? I can't remember that close. Yes, it was a ball back then. I only ran Lions one time. That light pole by the right lane scared the ***** out of me. I raced at old Fontana, San Fernando. Pomona and San Gabrial 3 times a week. Then during the week there were the street races that started at Henry's in Pomona. Do you remember Henry's Drive-in? We'd start out there then drive out to 16th and Haven and race till the cops ran us off. Occasionally we would go down to Chino. Back then it was semi safe and a lot of fun. It was mostly for braggin rights. I remember one Saturday at San Gabriel when a c-gas chevy rolled right in front of me. Nobody could see for the dirt and my dad thought it was me. He almost made me quit right then. Floyd StaggV787 www.staggsracing.com

07-01-2007, 08:59 PM	#50
Chuck Norton Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Covina, CA Posts: 472 Likes: 99 Liked 76 Times in 17 Posts	Re: Len Imborgno - Jim Skelly - Performance Preserves I'm reasonably positive that the end of the track came somewhere around the Fourth of July, 1963. For sure, I know that it was gone by the end of July because that marked the beginning of one of my several ill-fated marriages and when I got back into town to go back to work in September, 1963, the track was gone. About that time I was spending a lot of my energy helping Ron Mandella run his max-wedge stationwagon in A/SA but I remember running my 406 Galaxie there at least once that summer. (That was not a good idea. In fact, the whole idea of the 406 wasn't particularly a good idea). After SG closed we ran mostly at the tracks you mention although I never went to San Fernando. Fontana got a lot of attention after they went to AHRA in early 1964. The street racing venues I remember were based out of Henry's drive-in on Huntington Drive in Arcadia, Harvey's Broiler in Downey, and Bob's Big Boy in Colorado in Pasadena. At one point we ran a modified Corvette from the end of the on-ramp onto the Long Beach Freeway (southbound) from Firestone. When the cars weren't so fast there was always Old River School Road as well. I even remember laying in the gravel in the parking lot of the topless joint just south of the intersection of Rivergrade Road and Arrow Highway to put the driveshaft back in after we'd left SG Drag Strip at the end of the night. We arrived at the bar and there was someone who wasn't satisfied with the outcome of the track eliminations so the score was evened up on Rivergrade road after hours. By the way, that wagon has surfaced again after being out of sight for the last forty years. We should have assigned someone the job of taking pictures. c