Just a Bum

Retired Librarian/Curator/Historian

I retired in 2013 after 38 years working in the LDS Church Historical Department. My wife and I have been married for over fifty years. Our family includes five children spread out over the U.S. My wife and I divide time between our homes in Utah and the Oregon coast. As I like to say, I'm a beach bum in the summer and a ski bum in the winter. Just a bum. I grew up in Southern California in the 1950s and 1960s. I began going to drag races as a teenager during the years when drag races were started by a guy waving a checkered flag and dragsters were started by a push vehicle (no electric starters). I have fond memories of going to drag races at Pomona, Fontana, Lions, Irwindale, OCIR and Carlsbad. I worked for more than a dozen years at drag strips in the Salt Lake Valley in Utah where I was a tech man. Living in Utah, my sons and I made annual pilgrimages to Speed Week for 15-20 years. We camped out overnight on the salt on every trip. It is a treasured memory.

I received college degrees from University of Utah (B.F.A. in modern painting), University of Missouri-St. Louis (M.Ed.), and Brigham Young University (M.L.S.). I have published widely in historical scholarly journals--and not so scholarly publications (e.g., National Dragster and Cycling Utah). I have received awards from American Association of State and Local History, Oregon-California Trails Association, Utah Humanities Council, and Professional Football Researchers Association. I am all over the map with my interests. Life is rich.

I also maintain other drag racing-related websites that I have created which may be of interest. See below for descriptions of those sites and links to view them.

They include Drag Strip Deaths (with entries for over 500 racers who have died while racing at drag strips), Land Speed Racer Memorial, and Drag Boat and Water Speed Record Racer Memorial, 20th-Century Wheelstanders, 20th-Century Jet/Rocket/Aircraft-Engined Dragsters, and Rear-Engined Dragsters before Garlits.

My Racing-Related Websites

Drag Strip List (This comprehensive encyclopedia of over 1,000 U.S. and Canadian drag strips focuses on historic and bygone tracks with brief histories, links to maps showing their location, reader's memories, etc.)

Drag Strip Deaths (This is the most comprehensive resource about more than 550 drag race drivers who died while racing.)

Drag Boat and Water Speed Record Racer Memorial (The most comprehensive website for information about drag boat and world water speed record attempt fatalities.)

Wheelstanders: Pioneers of the 20th-Century (A chronology of wheelstanders from 1964-2000, with entries giving description, photo of car, video footage, etc.)

Jet, Rocket, and Aircraft-Engine Dragsters: Pioneers of the 20th-Century (Chronology of jet, rocket, and aircraft-engined dragsters from the 1950s to 2000. Entries include description, years of operation, owners/drivers, photos, videos, etc.)

Early Rear-Engine Dragsters: A Sampling of Cars and Drivers before 1971 (This website focuses on the dragsters that had rear engines before Don Garlits revolutionized the rear-engined dragsters in 1971.)

Women Drag Racers: Pioneers of the First Three Decades (This website features brief biographical sketches of many of the women drag race drivers who helped advance the participation and acceptance of women during the first thirty years of drag racing history.)