[red67]

I don't know what you really need as a profile or what you would like to know but I'll try and give you some background.

I grew up in Nelson during the 1960s on 7 acres outside Nelson at Longbeach for those who know the area. Longbeach is a short ride from Kokanee glacier where Trudeau died. Been there. My father was born in Nelson and my mother was born in Kaslo. I graduated from high school in Nelson in 1969. I worked through high school and early university days in the service station business and then with the BC Forest Service during my later university days in both the mechanical shop and as a fire suppression crew foreman. My wife's mother still lives in Nelson so I have travelled the area and continue to do so.

Nelson was a booming place in the 1960s. Jobs were fairly easy to get. The CPR had a mechanical shop where you could get a graveyard job and go to school during the day. Kootenay Forest Products was also a big employer. A number of my friends worked there on graveyard and went to school during the day. This allowed you to buy a new or fairly new car while going to school. Particularly high performance cars. All this pretty much ended with the recession in the early 1980s.

I have been involved with high performance cars all my life. I'm now a Super Comp and Competition Eliminator racer with a friend of mine. We have a Super Comp dragster and a C/D Competition Eliminator car built by Frameworks in Arizona. My friend runs a general auto repair and high performance shop in the the Vancouver area where I now live. The neatest car in the shop right now is a 1970 Hemicuda stick. This car is one of eight export cars sold and is really nice.

During the 1960s and into the 1970s there were quite a few car dealers in Nelson including Reuben Beurge Motors. Reuben Beurge is were I bought my Chevrolet parts. There was also a Pontiac Buick dealer there but I can't remember what the name is. I'll have to look it up in some old phone books I have. Both of these dealers sold high performance cars. Mel Buerge was the Ford dealer and they also sold high performance cars and parts but Fords were just not really big. Reuben Buerge is long gone but Mel Buerge's sucessor is still there although in a different location. The Chrysler dealer, City Auto Service, is still there in the same locations. My father worked on contract for City Auto and had his business located a few doors away.

A good high school friend in high school worked at the Reuben Beurge used car lot. We had some neat times together. Rememer that many high performance cars of those days were just used cars and you could try them out. If you liked them you could buy one if you had a job. GM or the local finance company would finance you.

Columbia Brewing Company, the maker of Kokanee, was originally in Nelson. I've been in the plant. I believe they used local water. I have had a few Kokanees over the years. It was a popular beer locally. Columbia subsequently moved to Creston. Creston also had a number of car dealers including Chevrolet and AMC. The Chevrolet dealer sold high performance cars. The AMC dealer also sold high performance cars. A friend bought his 1970 396 Chevelle new in Creston. Speaking of Chevelles, I a have another friend who ordered and received a 1970 LS6 Chevelle stick convertible. Unfortunatey it was stolen and written off in the early 1970s.

During the 1960s and early 1970s we raced at Wasa Lake outside Cranbrook, the old Deer Park strip outside Spokane and Spokane Raceway Park. Wasa Lake and Deer Park are long gone but Spokane Raceway Park lives on. Now a sanctioned NHRA strip but in those days I believe it was independent or AHRA. I went to the opening day of this stip and have a number of neat photos. Don Garlits was at opening day. Times were different then. He towed his car to the track on an open trailer behind a Dodge pickup and push started the car.

I could go on for quite awhile but enough for now as I have to go. I don't know how often I'll post as I'm pretty busy but I'll try to check periodically.