Hello,

I spoke with Wink this morning and he is going back to the doctor's today to see if his leg is broken and is on antibiotics for the infection..Wink broke his shoulder and hit his head and got knocked out...He is sore and resting at home in bed right now...Dee is doing well...Wink will let us know any updates, but wants everyone to know he has been hurt worse than this and he will be back soon...Please keep the Eller family in your prayers for a speedy recovery..

Heather

10/14/10:  The Annual El Mirage Fall Cleanup is on Saturday Oct 23. (The same weekend as the Oct El Mirage meet) Registration begins at 7:30am, work starts at 8am – 12:30pm. Please encourage your clubs to participate as it makes us look good with the BLM.  See flyer on the SCTA-BNI website.

I know that some of you have heard that Willie has been having a rough time lately with his health. As most people know, Willie had heart surgery in 2004 and following that, he had throat cancer. The road to recovery was tough but he managed it. Since then he has no taste, no saliva and up unto this point, he had been in remission. He went from 205 to 140 pounds. This was a very trying time for him. I guess there is no easy way of saying this...Willie once again has cancer. This time it is in his esophagus, just behind the right side of his voice box. We are now waiting on an auth from his insurance to have another pet scan done to see how extensive it is. The last scan was about 5 months ago. He has lost quite a bit of weight from not being able to eat, due to food seeping into his trachea. I have been feeding him nutritional drinks with protein whey powder, custard, yogurt, puddings and cream of chicken soup. Not much for intake, but he is somehow surviving. They will be putting in a feeding tube to build his weight up a little.
Once they find out how extensive the cancer is they will be looking at three different treatments. The first of which, surgery. They will remove the cancer which means loss of his voice box. They will give him a tracheotomy and then possible chemo and possible radiation. We are still in the pre-stages of treatment, so all of this could or could not take place. We will let everyone know as soon as we know. I promise to keep you up to date.
All I ask is that you all send out your prayers and prayer for his complete recovery.
We are hoping to make the October meet, if all goes well. Willie doesn't want anyone to dwell on his condition, so if we do show up, please refrain from bringing the "C" subject up. He would like to get away from all of the doctors and relax for just a bit. We will let everyone know what is happening as soon as we get the word.

Thanks
Sheri buchta

10-02-2010

So sad to say that we lost a great friend and member of the Gear Grinders today. Ricky Cottrell passed away this morning after losing the battle to mesothelioma. He was building a bike to race at El Mirage and the Salt Flats but the illness kept him from completing his build. God speed Ricky, you will truly be missed.
Willie and Sheri Buchta

April 3, 2010

 Mary Parks passed away today, Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 4:50 pm at her home in Corona Del Mar.  Her family assembled and was there when she passed on peacefully.  She was 93.  Mom was born on January 6, 1917 in Pocatello, Idaho.  Her parents were Newton Osborne Mant and Myrtle Howells Mant.  She grew up in South San Gabriel, California during the Great Depression.  It wasn't a very pleasant time for most and her stories show just how desperate people were.  Yet they were better off than some, for they had a home and her mother raised chickens and sold eggs, a ready source of cash and barter.  Homeless men would come by the house, hungry and dejected, but Myrtle would tell them to go and cut some wood and she would prepare a meal for them.  Mom learned, for she always had a can of soda or a sandwich for anyone who looked like they could use a bite of food.  She taught us to be generous as well.  We had a name for Mom; Mimi.  Her oldest grandchild couldn't pronounce Mom or Mary and so called her Mimi.  She liked that and so it became her nickname.  Mom was the second oldest child in the household.  Her eldest sibling, Fanny, died of diphtheria when Mom was about 3 and so Mimi became the elder statesman in the family.  Her sister Helen came next, followed by Bob, then Virginia and finally the surprise baby, Carol.  If ever there was a family blessed with personality and character traits, it was this family, but they got along and they loved each other. 
     Mimi was working as a waitress at a restaurant when a man walked in to order a hamburger.  She told the story to us and to her grandchildren many times.  A premonition came to her that told her, "This is the man that I am going to marry."  She married that man, Wallace Gordon (Wally) Parks in 1935 and they lived in the South Gate/Huntington Park area of Los Angeles.  For Mom this was what she always wanted, a loving family, with children and grandchildren.  Her first child was Richard and he came along just a few weeks after her birthday in 1944, during World War II.  At that moment, most Americans weren't sure that we would win that war or that our soldiers, sailors and airmen would ever make it back home alive.  Dad had left to go into the military and was fighting in the South Pacific Theater of Operations at that time.  He sent pictorial postcards with cartoons that he drew and a few words of love.  After the war Dad built a garage house in Downey, California and Mom finally had her home and her family.  She also attended the Downey Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints and this was one of the happiest times of her life.  Mimi was there in the beginning when Dad was elected as the president of the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), then became editor of Hot Rod magazine and finally founded the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).  She was proud of what her husband had accomplished and told everyone about him.  Dad would take us out to the dry lakes to see the cars race; it was an all-day trip over dirt roads to get there.  He also took us to see the boat races and sometimes to see his brother Kenny Parks run his Jalopy on the oval tracks.
     We moved to a new tract home in Pico-Rivera in 1950 and soon thereafter in 1952 her second son was born, David, in March of that year.  She named him David after a beloved uncle of hers and also because the name David means "Beloved," in Hebrew.  Our parents separated and Mom made the decision, aided and abetted by her sister Helen, to move down to Corona Del Mar, a lovely beach town, in 1956.  She loved the beach and the bay and often had vacationed there with her friends, sisters or children in the summer.  At that time it was a very isolated little town and far from the Los Angeles County area where we grew up.  She bought a pretty little yellow house and in 54 years never changed the color; the brightest yellow I've ever seen.  Mom attended church in Laguna Beach and made life-long friends there.  She also loved to play bridge with her friends well into the night.  She lived on a hill, just a half block from a supermarket and told all her friends, "That will be good exercise for me to walk to the store and back with the groceries," she said.  She never did walk up that hill, but she drove down to the beach to watch the ocean constantly. 
     In 1967 she welcomed into the family her first daughter-in-law, Epi, who would be a constant help in her life.  Epi and Richard gave her three sons; Scott, David and Michael Parks.  Scott would marry Stacy Rauch and give Mom a great-grandson, Brock Parks.  David would marry Michelle Corbin and give Mom two great-granddaughters; Allison and Jennifer Parks.  Michael would marry Tara Hafen and give Mom a great-grandson; Trevor Parks.  Mom's youngest son would marry Barbara Coddington and they would have two wonderful daughters; Mari and Tamara Parks.  Mari wed Matt Bell, another six and a half footer, for it seems the Parks' are tall people.  Mom's health began to wane and a caregiver was called in to help her.  This lady's name was Delia Asuncion and she became as close to her as if Delia was her own daughter.  Mary Parks lived to be 93 and saw Fanny, Helen, Bob and Virginia pass on before her.  Bob's widow, Olga Mant, and Mom's sister Carol Mant Eves are still with us.  Her life wasn't always easy and there were many trials and tribulations, but her friends and family remember the times when she whistled and sang and called people on the phone to wish them a happy birthday.  In fact, so entrenched was this "Western Union Birthday-gram," that we all looked forward to our birthdays so that we could "get the call."  The phone was her life; she could use it to chastise or to praise and when she lost her voice, the link to the outside world and her many friends began to close to her as well.  At her passing she was surrounded by loved ones and I think the hardships and misfortunes in her life drifted away and she found peace at last in another world with those who have gone before her.  Rest in peace, Mom, we love you very much.

Richard and Epi Parks
 
Funeral services for Mary Mant Parks will be held on April 17, 2010
at 11 a.m., at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, 2150
Bonita Canyon Drive, Newport Beach, California. The building is located
between the 73 freeway and MacArthur Boulevard. For more information
contact David Parks at 714-309-2001 or Richard Parks at 714-963-3557.
Mary was born January 6, 1917 and married Wally Parks in 1935. She
lived through the Great Depression, World War II and the recovery that
followed. Dad was a founding member of the Southern California Timing
Association (SCTA), becoming the president of the group in 1946. He
became the first professional editor of Hot Rod magazine and later
founded the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). They had two sons,
Richard and David, five grandchildren, Scott, David, Michael, Mari and
Tamara, four great-grandchildren, Allison, Jenny, Brock and Trevor, two
daughter-in-laws, Epi and Barbara, three grand-daughter-in-laws,
Michelle, Tara and Stacy, and one grand-son-in-law, Matt. Mary Parks
knew many of the old racers who were instrumental in creating both
American land speed racing and drag racing. She passed away on April 3,
2010 at the age of 93.
Sincerely, David and Richard Parks

I have had a few inquiries on how the website has been doing statisticly. So here are the hits for the last six months. I am impressed on how this site has grown since it was first started.

In January '09 we had 296 hits. February '09, 891 hits. March '09, 781 hits. April '09, 1136 hits. May '09, 1151 hits. And in June '09 we had an impressive amount of 2190 hits total. Wow, have we grown. 

  I know it could be even better if we have some of the members using the site more. Come on fellow Gear Grinders its time to add a few words or pictures or sponsors of your own. I would really like to get some birthdays or special dates to put in our calendar. Lets see what you got.

Thanks Willie and Sheri