That spiffy Edelbrock intake...
That spiffy Edelbrock intake was called a "sling shot", for obvious reasons, with Stromberg 97s atop. Dick bought it from Karl Orr, whose speed shop was in Santa Monica, CA.
Returning home he and Lois got married in 1948, which was also the last year Dick went to El Mirage. The roadster had to go when Dick quit racing and it was traded in for a green '36 Ford coupe.
Dick drove a truck for his dad for awhile, then a delivery truck for a liquor distributing company for a number of years, then purchased and drove a GMC 10-wheel dump truck in the construction industry for a number of years; he even started a pool cleaning service.
Far removed from racing, supporting his family, Dick and his two sons got hooked on slot cars. Just like the lakes, going faster than the next guy was back in Dick's blood. He began building slot cars and found that the tires available didn't stick in the tight turns.
That's Bob with his two-port...
That's Bob with his two-port Riley overhead valve conversion in front of Santa Monica Trade School in 1946. "I took auto mechanics and welding," Bob says. We're certain Bob probably could have taught the instructors a thing or two.
Lois' brother, Al, worked for a rubber company and the two came up with their version of an Indy tire. They formed Riggen Slot Cars and while they sold the company in the early '70s, their cars, bodies, and chassis are still in demand on eBay today. (A Riggen VW Bug Slot Car had a "buy it now" price of $100.)
"Magoo"
Dick and Lois began building rods together again and named their business Magoo's Street Rods in 1968. Lois still stitched the interiors (less the oil cloth part), until she couldn't keep up with the demand while still doing the books.
Dick's street rod building accomplishments have been nationally acclaimed and covered in countless feature articles in this and other publications, but few were aware of his hot rodding endeavors. They sold the business in 1990 and retired to Arizona.
Dick's current car is a '67 Chevy Impala with all the whips, whistles, and balloons. "I call it my rental car," Dick laughs.
Bob's A-V8 in front of his...
Bob's A-V8 in front of his house in Santa Monica in 1946: The number on the car let everyone know this was not the A-bone to choose off in a street race. "The cops really didn't bother us much in those days unless they caught us street racing, and usually they'd just chew us out and send us home."
Bob Wenz
Bob lived across from Phil Hill, the only American-born driver to become World Champion driving for Ferrari in 1961. Well-that was down the road a bit because they were still going to high school at the time.
"I hung out with Phil [Hill]; we went to Santa Monica High School. We both had Model T Fords, worked on them, and he went to the dry lakes a few times. He had an MG that he ended up racing at Carroll Speedway (oval track), of all things.
"My first hot rod was a '29 Model A roadster. It had a Miller-Schofield Flathead. I built the engine in high school. The instructor supplied the cam for it. When I got out of the Navy in 1946, I went to trade school in Santa Monica. I took auto shop and welding.
"The rear-engine roadster that I built had a driveshaft about 10 inches long, ran it with no transmission-just the clutch-and bolted the engine directly to the rearend. I ran a Cadillac core radiator because Flatheads were hard to cool.
World War II ended in June...
World War II ended in June 1945. One of the first things hop-ups longed for, after returning home, was dusting off the hot rod and pushing it to the start line of El Mirage dry lake. The first meet was held April 1946 and Bob was there. The smile on his face is obvious because he blew past 100 mph big-time to 106.72. "To break 100 mph in those day was a big deal," Bob laughs.
"The first time I ran the car was in 1946 and broke 100 mph. That was a real engineering feat," Bob laughs. "It was hard to do, really.
"Guys in the Low Flyers helped me an awful lot. Everyone used to help each other, and if you needed something everyone would pitch in. Stu would mix special fuel for us to use at the dry lakes ... it was his secret weapon. He would never tell us what was in it though," Bob laughs. "Jack Engle would do all the cams for the guys. It was the best club I've ever been in. I worked for Engle for a short time ... I was more of a gofer," he adds.
"I took the engine out of the rear-engine roadster and put it in a buddy's circle track roadster, and ran with guys like Jack McGrath and Troy Ruttmann at Gardena, Culver City, and Huntington Beach in the early California Roadster Association in 1948.
"I had no other transportation other than the rear-engine roadster, so I sold it for a '27 Ford pickup with a Flathead V-8 to drive on the street. The last time I ran at El Mirage was in 1949 or 1950," Bob says.
Bob began working in a machine shop, and then a sheetmetal shop. With construction booming in California after the war, Bob acquired his own 10-wheel dump truck in 1953. He worked the truck mostly in the L.A. area.