Nice words Jeff.
Victor and I are going to make sure the Legends of Mulholland are all remembered properly as he is now the liason to all the CRE and some of the MRA members. The Mulholland Experience was just a stepping stone to a greater more important documentation of what Mulholland racing was and is all about. Victor and I met yesterday and will meet again today to begin a new incredible process.
Get ready for something fantastic to happen.

Thanks for coming over to my house yesterday Victor. It was nice to meet Dave and Cliff and discuss the future of Mulholland.

Dave, Cliff and Victor are part of a very prominent Mulholland group called the CRE. The CRE is notable for it's members all becoming either professional racers or crew or race mechanics/fabricators. The other groups also had some of this but not to the degree that the CRE did. All the groups are special in their own way, however the CRE was an exclusive/inclusive privatized group that were proud of their Mulholland roots. In the early 70's I used to see them parked at the Pits(Grandstands) but I never had to balls to pull in and indroduce myself and I apologize now for my shortsightedness. I was probably feeling somewhat intimidated as I was just beginning my Mulholland racing career and only driving a lowly Fiat 850 Abarth Spyder. If the rest of the CRE is like Dave and Cliff, I really blew it because these guys are great fellows. I am looking forward to meeting the rest of the CRE and making everything right not only by making amends but also by saving everyone's story for all time.

A major part of Mulholland history includes the CRE and needs to be recorded accuratly and completely.
The MRA also needs more representation and Victor will help to ensure that this goal is achieved as well.

One more thing..
If there were a new breed of racers(like maybe the Sunday Gruupe), that participated in some kind of organized day/evening deal, we could call it a revitalization and include them as part of Mulholland history as well. Just a thought...

850's are cool. Part of the shoebox car club. I saw a couple of really tricked out one's in Monterey a few years ago. Still heavily campaigned in Europe.

You can never have too much fun...........

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Don't you wish you had the 850 Abarth Spyder now? I would love to find a good 850 coupe or spyder to add to my collection, Abarth or not!

What did you have in mind?

quote:
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Originally posted by Banning
One more thing..
If there were a new breed of racers(like maybe the Sunday Gruupe), that participated in some kind of organized day/evening deal, we could call it a revitalization and include them as part of Mulholland history as well. Just a thought...
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For instance, if one of you like yourself or Radu or whoever wanted to form something with a representative, a roster, and a regular meeting place(on Mul obviously), then in effect you will have created a version of what came before. Perhaps a little less crazy, hopefully.

Then the stories of what happened last year, this year, etc. will be added to the history of Mulholland auto rallies. After all, history is yesterday already and it ain't over till we are all gone. Therefor a history is incomplete if it isn't current. When we are all gone there will be enough written down from several sources to determine what Mulholland is/was all about.

This is important for those of us who have experienced what Mulholland is. We have felt it's lure, mystery, and beckoning. Some of us have felt it's grace and some of us have felt it's unforgiveness. But it is the road and it's winding curves that brings us back again and bewitches us. We are one with our machine.

Banning in 1958(Mulholland in backround)------------------Banning in 1978(Mulholland in backround).
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Offerings to the god of speed
 

Beckoning? Mystery? Bewitches?

I still wake up late at night thinking about the Hill. Once it gets into the blood its like a disease. It is infectious and it gets worse (in a good way). It doesn't ever really go away. Maybe diminished a little but doesn't go away completely. I know a lot of people who feel the same way who went up to Mulholland years before I.

The history is everything else that cannot be described in one sentence alone. The moments and memories are unique for each individual it has touched and the time they took place. . Chris nailed it. "It ain't over yet til were all gone". The history is worth preserving and perpetuating. Legends never die!


I do not race Mul anymore but anytime I am near I cruise through even if it's a bit out of my way- even if it's a lot out of my way. It's magical because for me time stops when I am on Mulholland Drive.

Never met you Jeff, I was equally introverted at that young tender age
but I did get to know all the usual suspects on the Muholland Drive Racers. And What a eclectic Gruppe. Its good that you Victor ,Dave have met.There is so much history that you're able to collect and do an in depth book. My feeling is the message that publisher would jump on is how racers from Muholland transisitioned into Championship Road Racees. Dave B,Victor ,Tommy Hughes,Pat Pearson, John Norris, Adolpho Caruso,and so many more talented guys. Those Guys have the Right Stuff.
And their stories deserve to be told.Now thats One hell of a book !
Henry Valdez,
Thousand Oaks,Ca

Thanks very much Henry, it has been great to meet Victor, Cliff, Dave and get reaquainted with Dave B. When our plans start to become reality, we will announce it on this thread. All stories and accounts that we can uncover are important and will be recorded fully in our next project(Mulholland International Raceway) which will highlight the CRE and the MRA. (Thanks again Victor). Then the history will be complete. I have been waiting years for this to happen. My Dad used to tell me, "things don't just happen, you have to make them happen". I took his advice, thanks Dad.

By the way, my name is Chris. Jeff is another great guy from Mul that is a major contributor to this thread. We are getting together this weekend to talk about our plans with Victor.

Great poem Jeff and truer words cannot have been said by both Jeff and Chris in recent posts. I was not, nor will be a part of Mul history (except as a lurker in this thread), but I am a huge fan of racing lore and history. This is a deep part of your lives, but also a part of SoCal racing lore. It needs to be documented and preserved, if not for your enjoyment/families, but for others that have come after your time on the hill.

I am really pumped to hear that Chris is spearheading a project to document this period in SoCal history. Thank you in advance for doing this and I am looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

You are a part of it now. Even as a reader you can not escape the vacuum. Fasten your seatbelt and welcome to Mulholland Drive.

Dug up some ancient (and not so ancient) archival Mul backround racing press stuff. Not so much as for the shameless plug as historical perspective.When Peter Kuhn was racing Formula Super Vee Tom Davey,his team owner,would tell the press corps about Peter's former job as an arborist.He did a little pruning briefly before his racing days and from then on it was "former tree surgeon Peter Kuhn in his Ralt RT-5.." anyway you get the idea.In racing you need a gimmick to distance yourself from the competiton promotionally.The "running from the cops to running from the competition" became my figurative vehicle that every beat reporter looking for a story ate up..much in the same vein as the moonshiners eluding the law that got the party started for a little thing called NASCAR..

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Couple of CRE plank owners grace the track program..John Norris leading a pack into the old turn seven and Tommy Hughes avoiding a DNF in the corkscrew


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Mark,
Great articles with some humor added.

Did you ever fess up to your mom about sneaking the wagon up to Mul?

How many of our Moms station wagons actually made it up to plow Mulholland? Seems quite a few.

Many. They were the perfect stealth vehicle. My tow car for the Mustang A/Sedan was Mom's oxidized metallic blue Plymouth Fury III station wagon Land Yacht. I never got pulled over on Mulholland in it, as opposed to countless times in the Boss 302.

Vic and I have recounted the "Chariot races" that were done on the hill in the family station wagons. That craziness is worth a chapter in itself.

I had this theory that all that side glass kept station wagons from getting past 90 degrees sideways. Kind'a like a big sail, ya know. My mom's wagon? I could tear the sway bar links out, almost at will. Never had to chase hub caps.

I do remember that I didn't use seat belts to drive the wagon's. That sounds nuts today, but then we drank water out of garden hoses back then, too. It wasn't until it became law that I used seat belts. Ya had to hold onto the drip rail with the left hand and steer with the right. But let me tell you that wagon was very fast ..... down hill..... Flat on it into the 3-point sweeper then BIG pitch into Carl's

If anyones curiosity has been peeked by "Chariot Races" just remember that '74 GM wagons had a "Clam Shell" tail gate and one "could" roll up the rear window into the roof and leave the tailgate up. This allowed one (or three) to stand up and hold onto the roof rack and...............well, since I was driving I can only imagine. Now Pat, Deucer & Cortez all drove the Chariot. So, I'll let them tell you what that was like.................Boys......? RSVP?

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There, right there, is a very fast down-hill racer - believe it or not

That looks like the station wagon Clark Griswold bought!

The family truckster! My Mom had one too. Drove the hubcaps off it.

Tribute to the Chariots
 

A TRIBUTE TO THE CHARIOT RACERS (Photo-chopped)

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I drove my Moms Coupe DeYacht for a bit. Man did that thing plow. It did have the 501 which would get you out of trouble by manual shifting it -flooring it then the tail would come around. Jeez was that tug heavy. And that tire squeal! I can still smell the smoke. She traded it in on a Ford Country Squire Wagon ("Langheck") with a 460 that was white with woodgrain. Everything was delayed, the steering, the weight transfer. I had to turn the wheel before I even entered a turn.

Downhill racers Victor? All you had to do was put it in neutral and gravity would do the rest. Just steer.



Who the hell thought of putting shelf paper on the outside of a car anyway?