ORMHOF OG, Vic Wilson, class of 1978 on Episode 169

Class of 1978 inductee Vic Wilson comes with many accolades including the first ever winner of the Mexican 1000 in 1967. Long-time racer, track promoter and Volkswagen guy, Vic brings the memories alive for us. Congratulations to Vic Wilson, a 1978 inductee into ORMHOF, Vic Wilson is why we say; legends live at ORMHOF.org.  Be sure to tune in on your favorite podcast app.

7:06 – in those days, dirt bikes weren’t available

14:21 – I modified the mount for the 50 caliber machine gun to make a roll bar           

19:34 – “you enjoy racing, how would you like to drive my Meyer’s Manx in this first race?” 

29:14 – no pit stops, no gas stations, Bruce organized people to be at certain locations to fuel us.

38:10 – I raced the Toyota Land Cruiser, broke my nose because the thing is so bloody heavy in the front

44:20 – because of my involvement in Saddleback Park, I got to build, design and layout offroad vehicle parks in California

Special thanks to ORMHOF.org for support and sponsorship of this podcast.

Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

Transcript

[00:00:00.170] - 

Welcome To Conversations with Big Rich. This is an interview style podcast. Those interviewed are all involved in the offroad industry. Being involved, like all of my guests are, is a lifestyle, not just a job. I talk to past, present, and future legends, as well as business owners, employees, media, and land use warriors, men and women who have found their way into this exciting and addictive lifestyle we call offroad. We discuss their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active in offroad. We all hope to shed some light on how to find a path into this world that we live and love and call offroad.

[00:00:46.120] - 

This episode of Conversations with Big Rich is brought to you by the Offroad Motorsports Hall of Fame. The mission of the Hall of Fame is to educate and inspire present and future generations of the offroad community by celebrating the achievements of those who came before. We invite you to help fulfill the mission of the Offroad Motorsports Hall of Fame. Join, partner, or donate today. Legends live at ormhof.org.

[00:01:14.470] - Big Rich Klein

On today's episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I get to interview Victor Vic Wilson. Vic is a 1978 Ormhof inductee. He is, along with his teammate, Ted Mangles, the winner of the very first ever Mexican 1,000 in 1967. Vic is also a two time national 4WD Grand Prix Champion and a two time winner of the Mint 400. Then again, Vic won a second Mexican 1,000 in 1970. I'm sure there's a lot more to this story and a lot more wins along the way. Vic, thank you so much for spending the time and talking with us today.

[00:02:00.970] - Vic Wilson

Sure. Thank you.

[00:02:03.360] - Big Rich Klein

Let's start off right away. Where were you born and raised?

[00:02:08.190] - Vic Wilson

I was born in Glendale, California by a midwife of my mother, and spent some of my early first years in Glendale, California.

[00:02:22.000] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And that was in the 30s, correct?

[00:02:26.620] - Vic Wilson

Yes.

[00:02:27.620] - Big Rich Klein

Mid '30s. You've seen a lot of history in the United States?

[00:02:34.310] - Vic Wilson

You have no idea.

[00:02:37.770] - Big Rich Klein

I just turned 65, so I'm behind you by a couple of decades there, but that's a lot of history. I can't wait to get into this. With growing up in Glendale, you didn't stay there. Your dad ended up being, or was a the avocados grower, is that correct?

[00:03:03.600] - Vic Wilson

Yes. I don't know what prompted... I was way too young. I'm four or five years old or whatever, and I don't know what prompted him to leave Glendale. But I'm sure he was... My dad was a very brilliant man. In fact, when you look at the Google list, he's in the Google list. Omar Wilson for building a handbuilt car way back, who knows when. But he was, I guess, unhappy with Glendale. And we moved to Vista, California, where he bought 40 acres and built a avocado orchard.

[00:03:50.650] - Big Rich Klein

Interesting. Man, that was pretty early to get into the agriculture down in Southern California like that. Most of that was all done... Citrus was really big. But getting into the avocados?

[00:04:12.000] - Vic Wilson

I'm not sure about the history. All I know is avocados in the Escondido Vista area were very big at that time. The ranch he did put together did grow both avocados and citrus. So citrus will handle cold weather better. And this 40 acres that he had was a sloping a hillside. So he put citrus down low where frost was more likely and kept the avocados up higher where they would withstand cold weather.

[00:04:53.460] - Big Rich Klein

There you go. Absolutely brilliant. Like you said.

[00:04:57.980] - Vic Wilson

So.

[00:04:59.490] - Big Rich Klein

What were the earliest memories that you have of life out there? I would imagine it was around the ranch. Did you guys live on the ranch?

[00:05:10.610] - Vic Wilson

Yes, we lived on the ranch. And earliest memories I can remember is not only rabbit shooting with my 22 because we had lots of rabbits in those days, but also being able to get a driver's license at 14, and also driving tractors in the orchard, pulling a trailer to pick fruit and so on. So that was probably my first years of navigation with an automobile.

[00:05:46.800] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, that's cool. And 14 years old to get a driver's license. Was that pretty standard then or was that.

[00:05:53.730] - Vic Wilson

Like an AgExcept? No, that was a special license that people who were involved in that type of business needed to have somebody else help them to navigate some fruit and things to market. So I started driving at that age.

[00:06:12.130] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And along with going to school?

[00:06:15.630] - Vic Wilson

Oh, yeah.

[00:06:16.890] - Big Rich Klein

And how were you as a student?

[00:06:21.560] - Vic Wilson

Not very good.

[00:06:24.110] - Big Rich Klein

Your interest or elsewhere?

[00:06:27.510] - Vic Wilson

I was a C student, which obviously is middle of the road. I didn't really like studying very much. And because of the Ranch and all, I just didn't take the opportunity to try to learn that much, I guess. I don't know. But just like I say, I was basically an average student. Okay.

[00:06:54.080] - Big Rich Klein

That's all right. You seem to have other skills. And one of those, I take it you had a motorcycle very early in your age, correct?

[00:07:06.190] - Vic Wilson

Well, I'm not sure about how early. I've been riding motorcycles for, I don't know, I think I can't even remember. So many years. But I didn't have a motorcycle when I was that young. I didn't probably start getting motorcycles until I was in my mid 20s because I owned a service station. And along with Jeeping, I did a tremendous amount of offroad Jeeping. But motorcycling was also one of my interests. But in those days, dirt bikes weren't available. So we would take Yamaha's and not Yamaha's because Yamaha had a dirt bike. But we would take motorcycles and adapt them into a dirt bike model by putting bigger tires on it and changing the exhaust system and so on and so forth. But Triomphe had a motorcycle called a TR6, and we would take a TR 6 and modify it and make a dirt bike out of it.

[00:08:20.090] - Big Rich Klein

Very good. But that wasn't until your 20s.

[00:08:24.320] - Vic Wilson

Yeah, no, you're right. And I loved the hill climb, so we spent a great deal. I had a group of friends who we all rode dirt bikes or modified dirt bikes, and we would all go out hill climbing. So we loved the hill climb.

[00:08:41.220] - Big Rich Klein

Did you ever take that into a professional level at all, enter any hill climb events or anything?

[00:08:48.650] - Vic Wilson

No, not really. No, I didn't. Why I didn't? I don't think I really had that much interest in it. We enjoyed just riding in the mountains. We lived in Southern California then, of course, and I would ride in the local mountains there. It was trail bike ride.

[00:09:09.160] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And then you said you owned a gas station. When did that happen? How old were you?

[00:09:18.500] - Vic Wilson

As soon as I got out of school. I graduated from Orange Coast Junior College, where I was a student body president. And then because of my GP and all, as soon as I got out of college, I pretty much said that was enough junior college, that was enough college or schooling for me. So I had the opportunity to open up my very first service station. I was probably, I don't know, 21 years old, 21.

[00:09:58.680] - Big Rich Klein

And you opened your first gas station, and then you ended up... That was a smaller station, and then you ended up going into a larger station. Is that correct?

[00:10:11.300] - Vic Wilson

Yes. I had the good fortune of being able to offered a large service station in Newport Beach on the Pacific Coast Highway that was not only a service station, but we had an automotive repair shop and also a full hand wash car wash. And it was, unfortunately, 24 hours a day service station. So there was no downtime. In fact, I laughed because the doors had never been locked on the service station. So it was pretty unique. Unfortunately, being a part of a 24 hours service station, one December day, I got a phone call at midnight saying the employee had just been robbed and he quit. And so he was walking out the door. I said, Well, please wait there until I get there. So at midnight, I went down to the service station, which was in Newport Beach, and took over the operation at that point and tried to find another, of course, night time. Hiring people 24 hours a day is a real challenge. And so finding people that would work these weird hours was very difficult.

[00:11:34.160] - Big Rich Klein

Did it make it harder that you'd been robbed?

[00:11:38.330] - Vic Wilson

I'm sorry?

[00:11:38.960] - Big Rich Klein

Did it make it harder to find somebody to work the night shift, seeing as your last employee had been robbed?

[00:11:46.750] - Vic Wilson

I don't remember that being a problem. Okay.

[00:11:49.770] - Big Rich Klein

I just would imagine that wouldn't be something that you would advertise, especially... Or tell. Or tell anybody, yes. So you were there on the Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach with a 24 hours station. That must have been a really nice location.

[00:12:10.860] - Vic Wilson

It's a very good location. In fact, we were the leading in those days, it was called a Flying A, Flying A isn't even around anymore. But it was a flying A service station, which eventually was bought out by Philip 66. But we were the leading service station in that brand for a few years because being on the Coast highway there and the corner of Balboa Boulevard, which went right down into the Newport Beach area, it was a very popular location.

[00:12:45.410] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, that's an awesome spot. And how long did you run the service station? And was it just one or did you end up owning more?

[00:12:58.590] - Vic Wilson

No, I was only there, and I don't remember the exact years. You're testing an almost 90 year old man on his memory. So it's going to be difficult. But I don't remember. I'm going to guess it's probably seven or eight years I was there.

[00:13:18.960] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, all right. And you'd mentioned about the Jeeping. When did you get your first Jeep?

[00:13:29.660] - Vic Wilson

Back in my very first service station, I was involved. In fact, I took an old model A truck and put big tires and wheels on it so I could go out and play around in what we call the Back Bay. It was an inlet area in Newport Beach. They used to call the Back Bay. But I took this old model A I had and went out and played around in the dirt with it. But then it was obviously two wheel drive, and so I was more interested in getting something more aggressive. So in those days, anyway, I went and bought a military Jeep, the ones that were actually in the military, the army, 1940s or whatever.

[00:14:20.310] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, 41, 45.

[00:14:21.560] - Vic Wilson

And they had, in order to put a roll bar on it, which in those days was very unsophisticated, that that Jeep had a mount underneath the body where they mounted the 50 caliber machine gun. And so I was able to adapt that mount to make a roll bar out of it. And so that was the extent of my roll bar, which was only a single roll bar, one bar over my head in the passenger seat with a brace that went down to that 50 caliber machine gun mount.

[00:14:58.410] - Big Rich Klein

So basically you had the B pillar loop and then just one down bar?

[00:15:04.080] - Vic Wilson

Yep. No angle bars, nothing up around the windshield. But I built this out of pipe. I welded it together. I was able to weld, so I'm welding this thing together, and I bought already premade bends for the corners and used straight pipe for the other parts of it. So it's a is pretty rudimentary.

[00:15:31.680] - Big Rich Klein

But it's a start. Oh, yeah. And it was safer than not having anything, correct?

[00:15:37.430] - Vic Wilson

Exactly.

[00:15:38.440] - Big Rich Klein

And you seem to be a leader. You were student body president. You got into... You had a Jeep club, or you were part of a Jeep club, correct?

[00:15:53.410] - Vic Wilson

Yes.

[00:15:54.190] - Big Rich Klein

And then running the gas station. So you were one of the A type personalities that we see in racing a lot.

[00:16:04.240] - Vic Wilson

Okay.

[00:16:05.510] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's what it sounds like, at least. And what did you study while you were in college?

[00:16:13.470] - Vic Wilson

This business administration.

[00:16:15.680] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, that makes sense as well. Was it a Jeep club that you were involved in or just a bunch of friends?

[00:16:27.310] - Vic Wilson

No, it was called the Orange County 4 Wheelers. It was a group of Jeeping people out of the Orange County, California area. And I was fortunate enough to be the president of the Jeep club also.

[00:16:45.160] - Big Rich Klein

Like I said, that Type A personality. Perfect. And how did the transition into racing come about? Was that why that's while you were with the gas station, correct?

[00:17:04.760] - Vic Wilson

Yeah. It was because of the Jeep Club. We compete in various events throughout the Southern, more than that, the Southern part of California. But we compete with people like the Hemet Jeep Club, which Rod Hall was very much a part of. In fact, Rod and I, who became very good friends, compete against each other a lot. And so we compete. And in those days, it was sand competition, or they had some obstacle course competition. And so he and I, plus drag racing. We had drag racing, hill climbing, and obstacle course in those days. But most of it was done in the sand dune somewhere, either in Glamis or out on the Pismo Beach area. So we were all involved in that racing at that time.

[00:18:07.070] - Big Rich Klein

Very good. And then you got involved... How did the first 1,000 come about?

[00:18:15.240] - Vic Wilson

Well, that's an interesting comment because Ed Perlman and Don Francisco came to Bruce Meyers and myself and said, We would like to meet you guys in a restaurant in Orange County, California, to talk about maybe putting together... Because already Bruce had set some records in BAA for the fastest time or a time. It wasn't the fastest time in those days. It was just making it in some record time. So Bruce and I went and met with Ed Pearlman, and we talked about how we could put that together, along with e also went out to his home. I don't remember it was out in the valley somewhere, to meet with him, to try to formate a format for the 1,000, which would be classes and organized event and so on and so forth. So that's pretty much how I got involved in it. We actually were involved in the initial formation of the event itself.

[00:19:29.260] - Big Rich Klein

And how did you become friends with Bruce Meyer?

[00:19:34.240] - Vic Wilson

Bruce was a customer of mine at my Newport Beach service station. And he knew that I was very involved in offroad racing as far as my deepest concern. And he was in the process of initially building his first Meyer's Manx or designing the body for it. And so he and I became quite good friends and involved. So he thought, Vick, you enjoy racing, so how would you like to drive my Meyer's Manx in maybe this first race that we were formating at that time? Which I said, My Meyer's Manx? I said, Two Wheel Drive? So I was a little bit apprehensive. But then he and I went out to, again, the back Bay Area we were talking about, which had a lot of open country in those days. And I took his car and we put it through some testing. I said, That thing is amazing as far as ability to navigate very unusual terrain. So I obviously decided, he said, Well, Mangles would be your navigator, and we would love to have you drive the first Manx in 1967. So that's how that all started.

[00:20:58.810] - Big Rich Klein

And that was the first Mexican 1,000 and Pearlman with Pearlman at the helm. Okay?

[00:21:06.560] - Vic Wilson

Yeah.

[00:21:07.880] - Big Rich Klein

When you said that Bruce had records on Peninsula Run records, that was there wasn't a racing organization doing that. It was just... Or was it?

[00:21:21.920] - Vic Wilson

No, it was not. The very first record, I don't know how that all began, meaning who said, Okay, I'm going to go down from California to La Paz fast. I don't know how that all came about, but I know that the motorcycles in those days had actually the fastest time. I got a couple by the name of it, Ekins Brothers.

[00:21:48.130] - Big Rich Klein

They.

[00:21:49.590] - Vic Wilson

Actually were doing it because of Honda wanting to promote their motorcycles. So they hired the Ekins boys to take a Honda motorcycle and drive it from California, obviously La Paz. And they said it's A time. And Bruce and his friend decided that they were going to beat that time. That's how it all started.

[00:22:17.610] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, that makes sense. And all the names that you're talking about, it's just amazing. What a golden era for off road.

[00:22:30.250] - Vic Wilson

Just.

[00:22:31.140] - Big Rich Klein

Amazing. Let's talk about that first Mexican 1,000. You're with Ted Mangles and he's navigating. You're in the Meyer's Manx, which is a Volkswagen powered fiberglass buggy on a Volkswagen Chassis. What was that like? You got goggles, a helmet and eating dust?

[00:23:02.360] - Vic Wilson

It wasn't that bad because of my driving background. I drove pretty much 90 % of the entire race. When we finally reached the pavement at the bottom, a certain portion of the race was pavement into the finish line. I finally reached my goal as far as just being so tired that I could hardly keep awake. But anyway, because we've been racing for 20, what, 25 hours? So being off road, bouncing around on a two way road, dirt, and day and night for 24 hours, 25 hours was very tiring. But Mangles was amazing because he had the ability... Not only had he been down there with Bruce setting his or their record in those days, but because he spoke Spanish and he was a very bright man, very, very intelligent. So he was a perfect navigator for me. So the combination worked out very well.

[00:24:20.440] - Big Rich Klein

Excellent. And what I'm reading here is 27 hours and 38 minutes. That's not too bad. I can remember not too long ago, well, probably 10 years ago, there was a contest on Race Desert to try to figure out what was going to be the winning time on the 1,000 for the cars and trucks. What I did is I took all the point to point races and got an average time and then did the math for the miles per hour and then got the exact mileage that that race was going to be, did it by that. It ended up being 24 hours and some odd minutes, if I remember correctly, or maybe it was the average speed. I don't remember what the contest was on Race Desert, but I ended up winning. And it was only off by 36 seconds or something like that, something crazy.

[00:25:31.810] - Vic Wilson

Amazing.

[00:25:33.080] - Big Rich Klein

But the time wasn't that much different. But we'll get into 1970 when you even did it faster. But that first 1,000, I can't imagine what that first race must have been like with the variety of vehicles that showed up. Everything was, I mean, I can imagine there was the two wheel drive car like you guys drove. There was four wheel drive cars and trucks, lots of sedans. Is that correct?

[00:26:11.820] - Vic Wilson

Yeah. If you ever get a chance, I think there's been some movies, or that were not movies, but clips showing the variety of motor vehicles that were on that event, including motorcycles. So it was really a hodgepodge of vehicles in that very first event. So I can't even begin to tell you, the biggest challenge I had during that event was going from racing all day and then going to night and adapting to the night time activity or the night time light. Fortunately, I had put on the manks a landing light on the front middle of the hood, and so I was able to get some light from that light we had put on there. But the biggest challenge I had was I started hallucinating. I would see things alongside the road that weren't there, like people standing and putting out their hand to see me. And of course, I'm in the parts of the Baha in those days that were desolate. I mean, there were nothing out there. So what I was seeing was just a rock piles across the road in front of me that weren't there. So that was part of my challenge.

[00:27:38.540] - Big Rich Klein

Because in a point to point race like that, it's not like you can stop and have a picnic. It's not like you can put your feet up and catch a nap for a couple of minutes. You're in a race.

[00:27:52.250] - Vic Wilson

Yeah. You're just trying to get their fastest and the best. So there was another Meyers Manx minute name was George Hattick. He died in an airplane crash, so personal airplane crash. So he's no longer with us. George and I dueled it a lot because little things went wrong. I ran out of brake fluid. And so Mangels, because he was very bright, said, Okay, we'll just put some drinking water in it. So I had no idea you could use drinking water for brake fluid. But the brake fluid had gone, I don't know where it went or whatever, but that was one of the things that he was able to tell me that we did that kept us running. And the other things in those days, Volkswagen motors were great, but they weren't very dustproof or dirt proof. And so we had problems in our distributor with a rear engine for all the dirt is, keeping the car running. So we would have to pull the cap off once in a while and clean the distributor out.

[00:29:02.090] - Big Rich Klein

So at least you had a chance to... Did you guys carry food with you? Or did you have pit stops organized? Just stopping at gas stations?

[00:29:14.390] - Vic Wilson

No pit stops, no gas stations. We were able to get, I guess, Bruce organized some people who were supposed to be at certain locations that we could get gas. But there are times that we were on that race that there were no gas. There was no gas, and we were running low on gas. So again, mangroves being able to speak Spanish was able to get some locals on there that were able to give us some gas to keep going. But food, you know yeah, I had a bottle of tequila. That was my food.

[00:29:49.140] - Big Rich Klein

Now we know why the hallucinations.

[00:29:52.330] - Vic Wilson

Yeah. No, that was in case we broke down. If we broke down, I'm going to sit by the road and drink tequila. You.

[00:30:00.310] - Big Rich Klein

Know, I think that happens even nowadays.

[00:30:05.830] - Vic Wilson

Yeah.

[00:30:06.480] - Big Rich Klein

That's awesome. And the hallucinations, I understand that having myself, I've not raced, but I've helped race teams. And even though I always say, Okay, I'm going to get plenty of sleep the night before, we got this Peninsula run going, I'm helping pick it along the way, running communications for a team. You always think you're going to get time to rest, and you don't. I'll catch a half an hour here in nap, and I'll catch an hour here in nap. And it never seems to happen. And I can remember one time, my wife and I, by the time we got into La Paz, we thought that we were on a really twisty road on the edge of a cliff. And three days later, when we left La Paz, it was all flat, straight highway. Well, yeah.

[00:31:07.440] - Vic Wilson

The one thing you said that doesn't jive with me is you said you'd try to get lots of sleep the night before a race like that. I never got rest before a race like that. I was awake thinking all night long about what we were going to do, how we're going to do it, and so on and so forth. But rest the day before is impossible.

[00:31:34.590] - Big Rich Klein

For me. Agreed. So then the 1,000 happens, you win that, and you guys go on to win. You had a pretty successful first couple of years there. I know that you went back in '68, but you broke down.

[00:32:00.940] - Vic Wilson

Yeah, I tried to put together a fancy looking Meyer's toad with some custom wheels that I brought from a company called Johnny Speed and Chrome down in Southern California. And I was leading the event up until about the three quarter mark, and the rear wheel came undone. The center pulled out of the wheel itself. It was really a dumb thing for me to do to try to put custom wheels on a vehicle we're going to go racing. I should have stayed with a stock Volkswagen wheel or something of just solid steel rather than this chrome looking thing. But I was more into looking good. So that was a dumb thing to do. Anyway, the wheel came off. We had what we call a mini spare, which was about a quarter the size of a standard wheel. And we threw that mini spare on there. But it was on the rear end. And unfortunately, in order to try to catch up with the leaders again, the difference of ratio between the little spare and the full size tire tore the transmission apart. And so we barely limped into La Paz on that Midi spare and wheel.

[00:33:32.780] - Vic Wilson

So that was the problem we had that second year. And then the third year, we had the Drift Miller car, the single seater, which again, we were doing well. I was probably a better driver than Drift Miller was. And Drift Miller was a much better mechanic than I was. So we decided that I would drive the first half to El Arco, and he would take over from there and finish up the race with it. I got him the car in first place at El Arco and he took off for the night time version, which was fine with me. Unfortunately, he had put on his car a lot of... If you ever see a Dreener Miller car, it had a tremendous amount of lighting power unlike the first years, but he had put a lot of lights on it and he outdrove the batteries. And so he's down in Bajasal, California, somewhere with a dead car with no electricity. So I think he also spoke fluid Spanish. In fact, I guess maybe that's where he got the word Drino. But anyway, so he was able to wander off and finding somebody with a tractor who came back and got him started.

[00:34:55.700] - Vic Wilson

So he was able to at least finish the race. So that was the third year we raced.

[00:35:01.530] - Big Rich Klein

Just too much lights, too much electrical draw.

[00:35:05.240] - Vic Wilson

Too much electrical draw.

[00:35:07.810] - Big Rich Klein

And then you came back in 1970 with Drino again, correct?

[00:35:14.140] - Vic Wilson

Yeah, yes.

[00:35:16.140] - Big Rich Klein

And then at that time, you guys had the electrical issues worked out? Was that a single seat buggy as well?

[00:35:22.370] - Vic Wilson

Yes, same car. He had done a little bit modification to that car. I think, and I don't know because he and the gentleman by name of Sam Havens were together in business at that time. He linked in that car, I think. I'm not sure how he did it or what he did to do it, but he also put in a five speed transmission and built the motor up a little bit stronger. So then we came back the fourth year and reset the record.

[00:35:59.200] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, because then you did it in 16 hours and seven minutes. That's knocking almost 12 hours, 11 and a half hours off of the 67 run. That's pretty incredible.

[00:36:11.030] - Vic Wilson

Well, it tells you how much faster that car was. We would like our car was. That car would do easily 100 miles an hour, and the Manks would be lucky, maybe doing 80 miles an hour. So that is the big difference in speed.

[00:36:31.540] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. Yeah, I guess so. And again, you drove the early part and then Drino drove the evening?

[00:36:38.760] - Vic Wilson

Yes.

[00:36:39.350] - Big Rich Klein

So no more hallucinations?

[00:36:44.340] - Vic Wilson

No. I did lose a tire on that fourth run, a rear tire. I didn't lose it, but I did. It came apart. Fortunately, in those days, Good Year made what we call the inner liner that you could put in a tire, and it was an inflatable section that would actually suspend the car. And so that left rear... In fact, I was racing along and something hit my helmet and I thought, What the hell hit my helmet? Then it's the piece of the tire came off and hit me in the back of the head. The tire actually was supported with that, what we call an inner liner. And I don't know if Goodyear still makes them or not, I don't know. But I don't know why we would continue to make them because now I don't know. It just fortunately, we had that and I was able to take the car into La Paz or into El Arco, and they had obviously another tire there for her.

[00:37:58.010] - Big Rich Klein

Excellent. Then in the meantime, you had the opportunity to win two National 4WD Grand Prix. Was that in your Jeep?

[00:38:10.520] - Vic Wilson

Well, I drove for a lot of vehicles. Toyota came to me and wanted me to drive one of their new Toyota Land cruisers. And so I I I I r ealized in that. And then I also r ealized. I had a Jeep, but I put a four cylinder Chevy motor in it with side draft Weber carburetors. It was very quick. And so I raced that one year. I raced the Toyota Land cruiser one year, which I broke my nose in because the thing is so bloody heavy in the front end. I came over a jump and I landed the bumper into the ground and broke my nose. But yeah, those are the vehicles that pretty much were I was involved at that time. And then, of course, the mint race, we did that race and did very well there too.

[00:39:05.520] - Big Rich Klein

And what did you race at the mint?

[00:39:09.350] - Vic Wilson

The.

[00:39:09.830] - Big Rich Klein

Drino car. The Drino car, okay. And after 1970, did you continue racing? I imagine you continue racing. I hadn't found any research on any wins after that or what you were racing, but did you continue racing?

[00:39:32.470] - Vic Wilson

No, I didn't.

[00:39:33.740] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:39:34.710] - Vic Wilson

Those years, I had also become very involved in a large 700 acre motorcycle dirt bike playground. And that business was seven days a week. We put on 150 events a year there. So that required me to be around work a lot of the time. So that really restricted my availability to go spend pre run days and race days and whatever else is involved in racing. And so I spent pretty much those years running my business, which was called Saddleback Park.

[00:40:17.980] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And I wasn't familiar with Saddleback. Where was that located at?

[00:40:27.180] - Vic Wilson

It was in Orange County. Orange County County. And it was a place up by, well, I'll name a couple of things. It was Irvine Park and Irvine Lake. It was in Irvine, California or above Irvine, California. And it was a place that Irvine Company had a lot of problems with people cutting fences and riding. Irvine Company was huge. Hundreds of thousands of acres in the Orange County area, which was obviously worth a ton of money in those days. But they were trying to find a way to treat the offroad motor cyclists so they would be able to go somewhere dedicated and do their thing. So between Bruce Meyers and myself and a gentleman by name of Joe Parkhurst, we contacted the Irvine company and they decided that having a 700 acre parcel that was dedicated strictly and it was restricted by natural landscapes or natural surroundings such as a road and a lake and a park. So it was pretty well nestled into this little area. So I was designated the operator, and we opened up our first gate and started getting people in it. Very, very it became obviously very popular because putting on 150 events a year is not easy.

[00:42:06.540] - Big Rich Klein

No, not at all. That's not a part time job.

[00:42:14.250] - Vic Wilson

No. well, we didn't actually... I wasn't the sponsor or the person that put them on. We had promot s that would come in and run various events.

[00:42:27.300] - Big Rich Klein

But still, you had to have the park ready for them. I can see that. Okay.

[00:42:32.950] - Vic Wilson

We had to have a lot of equipment there in order to prep various tracks to get ready for the next day's race. In fact, a lot of those races were Saturday. And so Saturday afternoon late, we had to get out there and prepare the course for the next day.

[00:42:52.690] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And then it was open for people to come out and ride. And the rest of the rest of the week, or was it just open on weekends?

[00:43:03.080] - Vic Wilson

No, it was open seven days a week.

[00:43:05.070] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:43:06.100] - Vic Wilson

And because of the operation itself, we had a full on medic on staff. We had a medical center on property. I had my office there at the time, and we had a parts department there also. In fact, we went into renting motorcycles there for a number of years, which was pretty precarious because we had people who came in. And if you've ever seen a novice on a dirt bike and how sometimes they have a problem with where the throttle is or how far they can twist it. Yes. It presented a little bit of a problem for us, but it all turned out well. We did very well while we were there. I finally sold the park in 1970. I opened it up in '67, so I was there 13 years, but I finally ended up selling it in 1970.

[00:44:08.800] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. Then you also organized or designed other off road parks, is that correct?

[00:44:20.890] - Vic Wilson

Yeah. Because of my involvement in Saddleback Park, the state of California had what they call the green sticker program, which was obviously set up for motorcycle dirt bike guys to go offroading and still ride on the street somewhat. But anyway, they came to me because of my background at Saddleback Park and said, we're trying to coordinate locations all over California. Actually, what happened was actually the United States, but to build and design and lay out offroad vehicle parks. So they offered me a job as a consultant. And so I went to work for the state of California for 18 years.

[00:45:12.620] - Big Rich Klein

Very nice. And so you worked on like Hungry Valley, Carnegie, Hollister Hills, Prairie City. Those are some great parks.

[00:45:25.510] - Vic Wilson

Yes. The biggest one was up in Hungry Valley, which was at the top of the cone pass. That was 17,000 acres. And I was able to go in there and not only lay out a Motocross course, but also lay out the entire trail structure of that entire park, which was massive. In fact, if you ever go to Hungry Valley, there's one trail there called Vicks Backpack, I think it's called or something. But it went down from the top of a mountain down into a very steep gorge into a sand wash at the bottom.

[00:46:02.510] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. Very good. I have been at Hungary Valley. I tried to put on a race there one time, and we had it all organized and stuff, and there was a private property owner that still had a piece of property inside the park, and we had to... Really? Yeah, and they had to have the access nd I guess it was property that was donated, but they had turned it over to the state, but they kept ownership of it for so many years, something like that. And the weekend that I wanted to do the race, at the last minute, the guy says, Oh, no, that's not going to work. I'm having a family reunion. I'm going to have people coming in and out of the property. So a race, we couldn't make that work.

[00:47:02.390] - Vic Wilson

Was that going to be a Motocross event or cross.

[00:47:05.910] - Big Rich Klein

Country event? No, it was a four wheel drive event.

[00:47:08.780] - Vic Wilson

Oh.

[00:47:10.330] - Big Rich Klein

I used to run a series called Dirt Riott, and then I had Vora as well after Ed Robinson. So I put on races, and that was one of the ones that I tried to put on there. So it didn't work out. But that happens.

[00:47:32.640] - Vic Wilson

Oh, yeah, I know well.

[00:47:35.680] - Big Rich Klein

And then besides the consulting work, you worked as a promot as well. You organized events, other events around. I read here that you were involved with the bug ins?

[00:47:52.580] - Vic Wilson

I originated the bug in.

[00:47:54.460] - Big Rich Klein

Wow. I'm an originally a Volkswagen guy.

[00:48:00.480] - Vic Wilson

Oh, well, a good friend of mine who you may know, Rich Kimble. Rich Kimble has been around the Volkswagen industry forever, and he worked for me at the time at Saddleback Park. I said, Hey, Rich, what do you think of putting on an Orange County International Raceway? It was established in those days, which is no longer there. It's all freeway and businesses now. But Orange County International Raceway had a beautiful drag race course and had availability for other events at that location. So I said, How about you and I getting together? Because he had the Volkswagen. He was with a club at the time. I don't know what club it was, but I said we could put together a thing. And I went to an artist friend of mine who designed not only the Saddleback Park logo, but I went to the friend, I said, I need a logo that looks like a Volkswagen or this cartoon character. So he's the one that drew the very first Volkswagen logo. It wasn't really a logo, it was a bug. It was a big tires on it. He designed the logo and we went to work on it.

[00:49:19.810] - Vic Wilson

And my wife at that time, or not wife at that time, my friend, she had a magazine called the Dune Buggies magazine. Well, Dune Buggies was obviously part of Volkswagen and hot VWs were part of it too. So I got them to do the advertising and we did the event and it was a tremendous... It was a big event, a big deal. We put on a lot of events. I put on for 25 years that event, or 25 events, excuse me. We finally became so popular, we started doing two a year. But yeah, it was a big event. We did not only drag racing with Volkswagen, we had a show area where we did car shows. We had a queen contest. We had ladies who... And the most fun event of all the events that I put on at that time was I had what we called... I said, you know Volkswagen Motors, and I've been around Volkswagen a lot. I said, You can take the motor out of a Volkswagen pretty quick and change everything. So I said, How about us getting Volkswagen of America down here? He gave us a couple of judges and let's have a engine pulling contest.

[00:50:49.610] - Vic Wilson

And you're only able to use hand jacks and jackstands. Of course, we had jackstands because I didn't want anything to fall. And the only thing we did was disconnect the battery so there wouldn't be no fire or shorts or whatever. But the mechanics had to use hand tools, no electric, nothing battery powered. So what they did was they had all 67 Volkswagen lined up in a row. There was, I think, half a dozen of them. And the mechanics were two people, two people only, were able to, or were supposed to go to, over to the car, jack it up, put the jackstands under it, remove the motor, pull the motor back six feet, shove the motor back forward and put it back in the car, and then hook up the battery, and then drive the car 10 feet. So that was the competition. You have no idea how fast the guys did the event. I mean, you can just take a guess what you would think would be the time for pulling the motor, putting it back in, driving the car, and doing all that. What do you think is a quick time?

[00:52:10.940] - Big Rich Klein

I would say that 10 minutes with two guys that were really rushing, 10 to 15 minutes that they should be able to do that.

[00:52:23.060] - Vic Wilson

Not even close.

[00:52:24.650] - Big Rich Klein

Really?

[00:52:25.950] - Vic Wilson

Three minutes.

[00:52:26.800] - Big Rich Klein

Three minutes. Wow. That is incredibly fast. I was hoping in 1975, '76 to go down to the bug in, and we didn't. The buddy of mine who we were building a car, and we didn't have... It was done. It was running. It was fast. It was set up for doing Jim Cannon races. But also it was really fast drag racing. And we used to street drag it up in the San Francisco Bay area up on El Camino Real, and we go cruising and stuff like that. And then he wanted to get it down there to the bug in, and he did not get it painted. And the car, all the glass, fiberglass came in different colors and stuff. And so the thing was probably 15 different colors. We popped all the glass out of it and had plexiglass windshields in it, windows so that everything was super lightweight. We had to put 200 pounds of plate weight from a weight lifting set in the front end to keep the front end on the ground in first and second gear.

[00:53:49.720] - Vic Wilson

And we.

[00:53:50.390] - Big Rich Klein

Were like, We're going to go down there. We're going to do great. And he decided that since it wasn't painted, that he wasn't going to go. Too bad. Yeah, I was really disappointed because it actually, I think we would have given Gene Burglars run for his money. I really do. But who knows?

[00:54:10.400] - Vic Wilson

Going back to the engine pulling, they had that motor out and ready to go back in in less than a minute.

[00:54:17.220] - Big Rich Klein

That's incredible. That's incredible. I thought I did pretty good one night. I was on my way to San Francisco and just passed one of the exits going into San Francisco. I sucked a valve or blew a hole in the top of the piston. I got hold of my dad and I said, Hey, on the way down, stop at Bug Formance. Grab a new piston and cylinder set up. It's sitting there waiting for you. Grab my tow bar, come up, tow me home. It was like 4 o'clock in the afternoon, 430. By 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock that night, I was back out cruising on the El Camino with my friends. And I thought that was pretty fast.

[00:55:08.360] - Vic Wilson

That has been pressing.

[00:55:10.820] - Big Rich Klein

But the garage was set up for it, and I got it to where I was pretty good. I had a tire that I would just unbolt and pull the engine out, let it drop onto the tire. Then I jacked the car up and pull the engine all the way out onto a creeper, and then we'd throw it on the on the engine stand. But yeah.

[00:55:34.140] - Vic Wilson

It was. Do you remember the name Ron Fleming?

[00:55:37.840] - Big Rich Klein

Ron Fleming. The name is familiar, yes.

[00:55:42.280] - Vic Wilson

Okay, well, he was a big name along with I don't remember all the big named Volkswagen guys, but he was part of that whole group of top Volkswagen competition guys. He and Rich Kimble came up here two weeks ago to my old house in Gardnerville, and we had lunch together. That was a real treat to back and see those days.

[00:56:10.420] - Big Rich Klein

That's awesome. That is really great. I get through Gardnerville every once in a while. In fact, I'll probably be coming through there tomorrow on my way to Moundhouse. Interesting. At some point, I would like to stop and visit.

[00:56:25.330] - Vic Wilson

Sure.

[00:56:26.210] - Big Rich Klein

We'll make that happen. Going into Ormsby Warmhoff, you got voted in in 1978. I'm not sure if that was the first year or not with Ed Perlman in charge of doing the inductions. Was that the first year? Do you remember?

[00:56:48.080] - Vic Wilson

I don't remember. Again, you're talking to a man that's obviously...

[00:56:53.780] - Big Rich Klein

I understand. Like I said, I'm 65 and I can't remember everything. So yeah, Yeah.

[00:57:00.570] - Vic Wilson

You'll see that it gets worse when you get almost 90.

[00:57:05.520] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I call it beers and years.

[00:57:10.070] - Vic Wilson

Yeah, unfortunately, what happens when I get this old, everybody that I paddled around with, offroaded with, are all gone. Right. I mean, Drino is gone. Bruce Meyer is gone. So it's tough knowing a lot of good friends you had are gone.

[00:57:35.550] - Big Rich Klein

Have you been to any of the Ormhoff inductions in the last couple of years, in the last, say, 10 or 15 years?

[00:57:44.940] - Vic Wilson

Yeah, I went to one, I don't know how many years ago it was, but it was probably six, seven years ago in Las Vegas. And I decided that the event is pretty much... Well, there's a huge transition between off road racing when I was starting it and getting involved in it to what it's like today. And it's hard to put the two together. It'd be like taking somebody who raced in the very first Indy 500 events and putting them together with people who raced in the Indy 500 today. And the cars are the same way.

[00:58:31.600] - Big Rich Klein

True.

[00:58:32.820] - Vic Wilson

Very true. I get invitations all the time to go, but I don't I don't have a... First of all, I don't like Las Vegas. And driving there is a good 7, 8 hour drive for me. You could stop somewhere, I guess, and stay overnight and finish the race, finish the ride later. But I don't do that. I don't travel much anymore.

[00:59:09.980] - Big Rich Klein

Fair enough. And 1978 was the first year of inductions. I just found that out. Just looking through my notes real quick.

[00:59:20.650] - Vic Wilson

Okay.

[00:59:22.060] - Big Rich Klein

Congratulations on that and being one of the originators of not only winning the first Mexican 1,000, but also being in that first induction class into the hall of fame. Well deserved. Thank you.

[00:59:39.590] - Big Rich Klein

I'd like to say thank you so much for what you've done for the sport, not only for the off road racing in those first four years of racing and winning what you did for four years of racing like that, where you're four years in the Mexican 1,000 doing the mint and the Grand Prix and pulling off that many wins is pretty phenomenal and quite a track record.

[01:00:14.470] - Vic Wilson

Thank you.

[01:00:15.760] - Big Rich Klein

With that, I'd like to say thank you so much for spending the time with us. I've really appreciated it. I do hope to give you a call maybe sometime this summer, and come by and shake your hand and say hello.

[01:00:30.990] - Vic Wilson

Sounds good.

[01:00:32.420] - Big Rich Klein

All right, Vik, thank you so much for spending the time and you have a great rest of the day.

[01:00:37.750] - Vic Wilson

Thank you very much.

[01:00:38.710] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. Bye bye. Well, that's another episode of Conversations with Big Rich. I'd like to thank you all for listening. If you could do us a favor and leave us a review on any podcast service that you happen to be listening on, or send us an email or text message or Facebook message, and let me know any ideas that you have, or if there's anybody that you have that you would think would be a great guest, please forward the contact information to me so that we can try to get them on. And always remember, live life to the fullest. Enjoying life is a must. Follow your dreams and live life with all the Gusto you can. Thank you.