This ad let readers know that...
This ad let readers know that the proprietor of Blair’s Auto Parts not only drove the fastest V-8 Modified at the Dry Lakes in 1948 to a record 140.62 mph, he knew what it took to get there. “I got better prices from suppliers when they thought I was an auto parts store rather than a speed shop,” Don specifies. Don knew the power of a national racing-related publication when he placed this ad in the first issue of HRM.
“I’ve tried to run my business like Don ran his. He taught me a lot about business, scruples, common sense, and all. He’d let you have the run of the place after work, you could use the equipment. I built a blower drive there on an old lathe that was used to straighten driveshafts. He’d help you buy parts and give you his opinion. He liked hiring people and teaching them.
“They called him Double Dollar Don—as in taking advantage of people. Anyone who worked for Don will dispute that. A guy would bring in a manifold and sell it to Blair and Don would give him $50 for it. Don would mark it up to a $100 and set it out on the counter. The guy couldn’t understand why he couldn’t buy it back for $50. That’s where the double-dollar came from.”
Don Wilson (who was quite ill and died shortly after my interview), along with his other ventures, was part owner of the Long Beach Swap Meet, as well as a partner in Special Projects Motorsports in Orange, California, after leaving Blair’s.
“Blair’s was an institution,” Wilson stated. “I lived in Pasadena and was a parts driver/counter-person at Blair’s. I knew the prices and how to sell parts and did a little work in the back. I’d go to the Sprint Car races with Blair at Ascot Park in Gardena to sell fuel and I got to be in the infield. Blair had the only Offy-powered Sprint Car there. When Danny Roberts took over the motor building, the car ran better and more reliably.
“If you made a mistake Don would take you to the back of the shop and quietly explain to you what you did wrong but stressed to not do it again. He was a gentleman.
“When Don was out buying parts, every pocket of Don’s had money in it of different denominations. Depending on what the price of the item, Don would reach into a certain pocket and say, “I only have so much on me”. Don was called the hook. He’d get your money by hook or by crook,” Wilson chuckled. “But Don gave good value for the money. He was as straight arrow as they come.
“When Super Shops went into business people wouldn’t even touch Blair’s, but he had the last laugh. When they went out of business, he bought a lot of their inventory. He was real good at buying cheap and selling later.”
Don was an original member...
Don was an original member of the California Roadster Association (CRA) but when the track roadsters were clobbered into oblivion, the Sprint Cars slid into their place. Don’s Sprint Car sitting in front of the speed shop was one of a number of Sprinters he campaigned that were out in front of the pack big-time, eventually winning the Sprint Car CRA (the R became Racing) Championship in 1975 with Jimmy Oskie at the wheel. As late as June 2010, David “Dynamite” Cardey drove a Sprint Car for Blair and won a 30-lap race at the Victorville Auto Raceway.
Those were just a few of the fond remembrances from the guys who worked at Blair’s. Don Blair lives in Covina and still supports his much-loved Sprint Car racing.
Blair’s is alive and well thanks to owner Phil Lukens during these difficult times. While others claim to be the oldest speed shop—nope, do the math.
And before you think Blair’s Speed Shop is some sort of museum stuck in time—it’s not. Yes it is scaled down from the past, but you can still get a driveshaft-twistin’ motor built plus there’s lots of speed equipment on the shelves for sale. Stop in and shop. Experience the place for yourself. You might regain a tiny part of your youth.
Pete Eastwood: “General Motors sent Don a brand-new 396ci Chevy for the AFX Chevy II in the crate; no one else except the factory had ever seen one, not even the dealers. Mike Hoag fabricated a blower manifold out of aluminum plate, milled it all out, and welded it together because you couldn’t buy one. Steve Bovan matched-raced that car all over the United States, including Hawaii.”
The Camaro
Pete Eastwood worked at Don Blair’s in the early ’70s but he knew first-hand about Don’s Camaro because he was allowed to accompany Bovan to the drags as a youngster: “It was one of the very first fiberglass flip-top Funny Cars on the West Coast. The whole car was built right there at Blair’s Speed Shop. Mike Hoag built the chassis. They bought a brand-new Chevy truck and lengthened the chassis, made a ramp truck out of it, and put a sleeper on it. I remember them bringing the new truck into the speed shop with the cab and chassis and they lengthened the driveshaft, built the ramp bed right at Blair’s. Don had a touring Funny Car operation right there out of the speed shop.”
“One of Blair’s customers...
“One of Blair’s customers made that dyno,” Tim Timmerman recalls, one of Blair Speed Shop’s first employees. “We used it a few times on the race engines.”
“We made everything in house,”...
“We made everything in house,” Robby Robison says. “The radius rod kits, the weight transfer bars—everything. Others used Ford Econoline axles for their straight-axle kits. Don, because of his Sprint Car racing, used chromoly axles for our kits back in the late ’60s.”
“We made everything in house,”...
“We made everything in house,” Robby Robison says. “The radius rod kits, the weight transfer bars—everything. Others used Ford Econoline axles for their straight-axle kits. Don, because of his Sprint Car racing, used chromoly axles for our kits back in the late ’60s.”
Phil Lukens behind the counter...
Phil Lukens behind the counter is a hands-on owner; in fact Lukens is Blair’s Speed Shop, having owned the business longer than Don. “Some of the parts on the shelves behind Lukens have been there since before I started at Blair’s in 1964,” Robby Robison says.
The Camaro Pete Eastwood worked...
The Camaro Pete Eastwood worked at Don Blair’s in the early ’70s but he knew first-hand about Don’s Camaro because he was allowed to accompany Bovan to the drags as a youngster: “It was one of the very first fiberglass flip-top Funny Cars on the West Coast. The whole car was built right there at Blair’s Speed Shop. Mike Hoag built the chassis. They bought a brand-new Chevy truck and lengthened the chassis, made a ramp truck out of it, and put a sleeper on it. I remember them bringing the new truck into the speed shop with the cab and chassis and they lengthened the driveshaft, built the ramp bed right at Blair’s. Don had a touring Funny Car operation right there out of the speed shop.”
The Chevy II Pete Eastwood:...
The Chevy II Pete Eastwood: “General Motors sent Don a brand-new 396ci Chevy for the AFX Chevy II in the crate; no one else except the factory had ever seen one, not even the dealers. Mike Hoag fabricated a blower manifold out of aluminum plate, milled it all out, and welded it together because you couldn’t buy one. Steve Bovan matched-raced that car all over the United States, including Hawaii.”
Before you think Blair’s is...
Before you think Blair’s is some sort of museum stuck in time—it’s not. Sure, things are quieter than back in the day, but you can still get a driveshaft-twistin’ motor built by Lukens, plus lots of speed equipment and tons of rare old stuff on the shelves for sale. Lukens is a walking speed equipment encyclopedia if you need the straight scoop.
“I had three muffler hoists,...
“I had three muffler hoists, two underneath the roof and one outside,” Don says. Little has changed since that day, not even the muffler rack in the photo. Duffy Livingstone sold the muffler racks and inventory to Don after he closed down GP Muffler in Monrovia in the early ’70s. This photo was neither taken back then nor was it staged; it was taken during the course of writing this story.
“The tube bender was built...
“The tube bender was built in the ’50s and used a Model T rearend and transmission. Somebody found the big gear and matched it up to a small gear and put it on a reduction off an electric motor,” Robby Robison says. “Okie Adams built that tube bender,” Lukens adds. It still works but it won’t build legal tubing. It has to be 0.134-inch wall seamless tubing. It could only bend 0.125-inch welded-seam tubing, which is not legal for today’s cages. We built a lot of rollcages with that bender. It was here when I came here in 1968.” (The late-Carl “Okie” Adams was not only noted for building his dropped axles at Blair’s he made banjos for the likes of Roy Clark.)