Apr - Mid-state

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MID STATE CRUIZERS NEWSLETTER
April 2013
President’s Message by
Duane Powell
Visit our website at:
Hello Cruizers,
It was good to see so many members at our March
meeting. Wow, April is here already, which is the start
of our 2013 Show and Shine season. April’s gathering
will be at Cowgirl Restaurant parking area, starting at
5:00 PM with music, visiting, drawing provided by
Cruizers, and a lot of just plain fun. Food is available
at Burger King, Domino’s, and others in the area.
Cowgirl’s owner said he might have a lite menu in the
future, so let’s have a good showing in April. To begin
cruizing this year, (hear this, Don?)you’ll need to
check your fuel, tires, battery, and shine. Plan on coming over for this event which will happen every second
Saturday of the month. See you there.
Our Atascadero Lake Show is on its way with volunteers placing our fliers in merchant’s windows, asking
for sponsorship of trophies and gifts to be given away
by our drawings. Now is the time to get a handful of
entry forms for yourself and friends to enter with.
Members and volunteers make this show so great!
There’s a new cruize beginning on April 6th at the old
Reneau dealership in Paso from 5-8:00 PM. It will
continue on the 3rd Saturday of the month.
MIDSTATECRUIZERS.ORG
April Birthdays
2nd
6th
8th
11th
15th
Dan Pritchard
Karen Evers
Larry Wilson
Bill Dodd
Barbara Krugman
18th Robert Umphenour
20th Leo Tavernetti
Sunshine Girls
Call Nancy Steele with information
regarding our members health or
special occasions.
Next Meeting....
is April 18th at the Cowgirl Restaurant, dinner 6:00 p.m. meeting 7:00
p.m., and the bodacious brown bag
drawing afterwards. Keep the brown
bags coming, and try to bring a prospective new member as well. Share
the fun with your friends!
Duane
BULLETIN NOTE Submit bulletin offerings to
[email protected] for inclusion.
2013 Officers
President
Vice-President
Treasurer & Membership
Secretary
Car Show Chairman
Web Technician
Bulletin staff
Merchandise
Cruise Events
Sunshine Girls
Duane Powell
Dave Evers
Gayle Tavernetti
Lynda Montoya
Duane Powell
Anna Plotkin
Dave Evers, Duane & Carlene Powell
Mary Hawkins & Robin Dodd
Art Krugman
Nancy Steele
Bert Nicholson
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466-3853 cell 712-2699
466-2175 cell 458-0083
466-3853 cell 712-2699
466-2175
466-9179
461-3563
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A Member Spotlight: Fred Plotkin
contributed by Don Plotkin
Fred started his love of racing at the age of 8 or 9 years. He grew up on a really steep hill near Hollywood, where his father supplied a workshop and some basic hand tools. Fred was always making
something, whether it be a coaster, a soap box derby car, or a stage coach. All creations had to be
tested down the steep hill. As he got older, he got into his 1st hot rod, a 1950 Pontiac. He swapped
the straight-8 with an Olds V-8, and drag raced it at Lions Drag Strip in San Fernando . After driving a friend’s TR-3, he got the sports car bug. He bought a ’56 MGA and began racing on Mulholland Drive. After going to a road race in Santa Barbara, he joined the California Sports Car Club.
The MGA was his daily driver when he worked for IBM, and he raced it on weekends. Prep for racing was removing the top, installing a roll bar, and taping the headlights. Fred was successful, finishing in the top eight. He then made plans to build his own car, a light, rigid body of aluminum on
a monocoque frame. Parts came from a ’59 NSU Prinz, with his only power tool being an electric
drill. The result was named a “Kangaroo” and it weighed just under 800 pounds when done. He
tested the car first at Willow Springs Raceway, then Del Mar, and he finished 7th out of 14 cars,
even after having a throttle cable break. Not being able to afford an Abarth twin-cam engine, he
worked on the Fiat engines and then drove like a bat out of ____ ! He also made his own manifold
out of aluminum stock for the Weber carbs, and showed his taillights to everyone who laughed at his
homebuilts. The Kangaroo’s first win was at Tucson in 1966, then at Stardust in Las Vegas, and then
at Riverside Raceway. He qualified for the SCCA runoffs in Riverside that year, finishing fourth. In
1969 the Kangaroo was sold, and Fred terrorized the West Coast in Fiat 850 Spyders, a newer Kangaroo, and various Fiats, Abarths and Alfa Romeos.
In 1976 he retired from racing, although in 1992 he found the original Kangaroo, bought it back and
began restoring it with brother Don. Completion in 1996 led to vintage racing in 1997, and a successful H-Modified racing career once again.
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Upcoming Cruise Events
April 5th - Arroyo Grande Cruize nite, Carls Jr. 6 PM
April 6th - Bent Axles Cruize nite, Giovanni’s, Santa Maria 5 PM
April 6th - Golden State Classics Cruize: King Classics to Reneau dealership, 5-8PM
April 13th - Mid State Cruizers first Show & Shine, Cowgirl parking lot, 5-8PM
April 13th - Creston Village Car Show, Paso Robles
April 18th - Mid State Cruizers monthly meeting, Cowgirl Restaurant, 6 PM social, 7 PM meeting
April 19 - 21 Famosa drag strip nostalgia racing
April 20th - Heritage Ranch Oak Hills Market car show
April 20th - Cambria Chili Cookoff car show
April 26-28 Western Street Rod Nationals, Bakersfield, 235-8708
March All Saturdays :
Cider Creek Bakery, 7:30 AM until ?, across from Wal Mart in Paso
Pismo Donut Derelicts, 8 AM, Oak Park Blvd, Pismo
Morro Bay 9 AM til 1 PM at the stacks
Notes for Cruizers:
The car show will be here before we know it, and we all might want to look at our red club shirts to
figure out if we need new ones. If so, Mary Hawkins is taking orders from members for club polo
shirts, hoping to keep costs down by ordering as many as possible. Let either Duane Powell or Dave
Evers know what you’d like, and we’ll get ‘er done! Or else let Mary know at the next meeting.
Also, since our newsletters are going onto the website, we’re temporarily suspending most phone
numbers for privacy sake of club officers and staff.
Memory Lane
Just a few things. What President Duane does lately in his free time (in his man-cave) is work on the 55 red/
white chevy that we saw poking out of a garage here in town a few years ago which he bought. He has put on
new tires, glass, upholstery, corrected the speedometer (club member Gene Smith helped with his GPS), audio,
insulation under the carpet for noise reduction, and seat belts. His 41 Ford got the top chopped off, body work
& primer by Ken Spencer, frenched headlights, tail and plate, changed suspension, and is looking to paint it
blue/ white. At this point its pedal-power as the new engine--(bought out of state and is a crate motor)--sits on
the floor right now. The 69 red/black Impala ( Carlene entered it in the MB car show a few years ago) which a
PGE truck hit it while Duane was driving now has body work done by Ken and will be painted. A new black
convertible top will go on soon. In between he is working on putting back together is his train room ( painted
by our Harry Hennion) above his man-cave. Carlene likes the 2 car lifts, etc, but is really glad he has a bathroom, TV, refrigerator, micro, and intercom in his man-cave outside. And thats a little about Duane’s own mancave.
by Carlene Powell
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