Vic Edelbrock
Encyclopedia
Otis Victor Edelbrock, Sr. (August 16, 1913 - November 11, 1962)
Otis Victor Edelbrock, Sr. (August 16, 1913 - November 11, 1962)
Otis Victor Edelbrock, Sr. (August 16, 1913 - November 11, 1962) was an American automotive aftermarket performance parts engineer
, racer
and is considered one of the founders of the American hot rod
movement. Victor, known as "Vic", established Edelbrock Corporation
in Beverly Hills
in 1938 and is the father to Otis Victor Edelbrock, Jr.
, who is now president
and CEO of the Edelbrock corporation.
, a small farming community near Wichita
. After the family grocery store burned down in 1927, Vic left school at the age of 14 to help support the family by ferrying Model T Fords from Wichita to the many outlying farms in the area. The frequent stops to replace parts that shook loose on the region's dirt roads made Vic an expert in impromptu repair work.Edelbrock Corporation annual report 1999, Edelbrock Corporation, 1999. Soon after, he found work in a local repair shop, working as an auto mechanic
.History at Edelbrock's official website Vic also picked up extra cash running moonshine for local bootleggers
In 1931, the Great Depression
hit Kansas, and Edelbrock decided to follow his two older brothers and emigrate to California
. Initially, he lived with his brother Carl and took a job as an auto mechanic. In order to earn some extra money to open his own repair shop, Vic took an evening job in downtown Los Angeles
parking cars at a large apartment complex. It was a chance encounter at this parking complex where Vic bumped into a 19-year-old Irish girl named Katherine (Katie) Collins, who was working as a day maid. Despite the fact that Katie was engaged, Vic managed to convince her to give him a chance and not marry her fiancé. Vic and Katie married in June of 1933, just eight weeks after meeting.
in Beverly Hills. The business experienced growth in 1934 and relocated to the corner of Venice Boulevard and Hoover in Los Angeles
. Bobby Meeks
was hired as an assistant at the age of 15 and would continue to work for Edelbrock his entire life.
Between 1934 and the start of World War II
, the small repair garage relocated three more times. Vic, Jr. was born in 1936. Two years later in 1938, he purchased a project car, a 1932 Ford
Roadster
hot rod
. For this car, Victor designed and manufactured the first product to feature the Edelbrock name, the Slingshot manifold, which essentially launched the new business
known as Edelbrock. Edelbrock took the car to the Bonneville Salt Flats, and went 121.42 MPH weeks before America joined World War II. Biography at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
During the war, Vic's machinist
skills were put to work welding
in the Long Beach
shipyard
s and hand fabricating
aircraft
parts. First Vic worked at the Todd Shipyards
, then later Edelbrock went to work for Len Saulter, machining parts from newly developed exotic metals. This work was categorized as critical to the war effort and would keep Vic from being drafted
for the remainder of the warMadigan, Tom. Edelbrock: Made in USA, Tehabi Books, 2005..
was as a car owner. Offenhauser
motors had a great power advantage over all of the other engines. Rodger Ward
used Edelbrock's V8-60 "shaker" midget car on August 10, 1950 to break the Offenhauser-equipped winning streak at the legendary Gilmore Stadium
using his secret blend of nitromethane
. Edelbrock and Ward followed up the win by travelling to Orange Show Stadium in San Bernardino
and winning the following night. This feat was never duplicated in the history of midget racing.McFarland, Jim. "The Great Manifold Bolt-On!", Edelbrock Corporation, 1982. ISBN 0-9608740-0-3 The wins propelled Ward's career and Edelbrock Corporation. Nitro is now banned from almost all forms of dirt track racing
(due to the required high maintenance costs). However, nitromethane is now the industry standard as fuel in all top fuel
dragsters and funny car
s in drag racing
.
Otis Victor Edelbrock, Sr. (August 16, 1913 - November 11, 1962)
Otis Victor Edelbrock, Sr. (August 16, 1913 - November 11, 1962) was an American automotive aftermarket performance parts engineer
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, racer
Racing
A sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time...
and is considered one of the founders of the American hot rod
Hot rod
Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...
movement. Victor, known as "Vic", established Edelbrock Corporation
Edelbrock
Edelbrock, LLC is a specialty performance automotive and motorcycle aftermarket parts manufacturer based in Torrance, California. The company has five locations, including four in Torrance: its headquarters, a distribution center and museum, the Russell division , and the exhaust plant...
in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
in 1938 and is the father to Otis Victor Edelbrock, Jr.
Vic Edelbrock, Jr.
Vic Edelbrock, Jr. is the son and only child of famed mechanic and Edelbrock founder, Vic Edelbrock. He has been the president of Edelbrock since 1962...
, who is now president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
and CEO of the Edelbrock corporation.
Early years
Vic Sr. was born in 1913 in Eudora, KansasEudora, Kansas
Eudora is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Lawrence, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located along the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,136.- History :...
, a small farming community near Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
. After the family grocery store burned down in 1927, Vic left school at the age of 14 to help support the family by ferrying Model T Fords from Wichita to the many outlying farms in the area. The frequent stops to replace parts that shook loose on the region's dirt roads made Vic an expert in impromptu repair work.Edelbrock Corporation annual report 1999, Edelbrock Corporation, 1999. Soon after, he found work in a local repair shop, working as an auto mechanic
Auto mechanic
An auto mechanic is a mechanic with a variety of car makes or either in a specific area or in a specific make of car. In repairing cars, their main role is to diagnose the problem accurately and quickly...
.History at Edelbrock's official website Vic also picked up extra cash running moonshine for local bootleggers
In 1931, the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
hit Kansas, and Edelbrock decided to follow his two older brothers and emigrate to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Initially, he lived with his brother Carl and took a job as an auto mechanic. In order to earn some extra money to open his own repair shop, Vic took an evening job in downtown Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
parking cars at a large apartment complex. It was a chance encounter at this parking complex where Vic bumped into a 19-year-old Irish girl named Katherine (Katie) Collins, who was working as a day maid. Despite the fact that Katie was engaged, Vic managed to convince her to give him a chance and not marry her fiancé. Vic and Katie married in June of 1933, just eight weeks after meeting.
Mechanic
He opened a repair garage on Wilshire BoulevardWilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire , an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. Henry Wilshire initiated what was to become Wilshire...
in Beverly Hills. The business experienced growth in 1934 and relocated to the corner of Venice Boulevard and Hoover in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Bobby Meeks
Bobby Meeks
Bobby Meeks was an American hot rod engine builder and chief mechanic to famed hot rod driver and auto parts designer Vic Edelbrock. Meeks was pioneer in the early days of hot-rodding and was considered the first Ford flathead guru.Meeks was born in St. Louis, Missouri...
was hired as an assistant at the age of 15 and would continue to work for Edelbrock his entire life.
Between 1934 and the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the small repair garage relocated three more times. Vic, Jr. was born in 1936. Two years later in 1938, he purchased a project car, a 1932 Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
Roadster
Roadster
A roadster is a two-seat open car with emphasis on sporty handling and without a fixed roof or side weather protection. Strictly speaking a roadster with wind-up windows is a convertible but as true roadsters are no longer made the distinction is now irrelevant...
hot rod
Hot rod
Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...
. For this car, Victor designed and manufactured the first product to feature the Edelbrock name, the Slingshot manifold, which essentially launched the new business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
known as Edelbrock. Edelbrock took the car to the Bonneville Salt Flats, and went 121.42 MPH weeks before America joined World War II. Biography at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame is a Hall of Fame and museum for midget cars. The Hall of Fame is located at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and can be accessed during weekly Sunday races during the summer.-A-C:...
During the war, Vic's machinist
Machinist
A machinist is a person who uses machine tools to make or modify parts, primarily metal parts, a process known as machining. This is accomplished by using machine tools to cut away excess material much as a woodcarver cuts away excess wood to produce his work. In addition to metal, the parts may...
skills were put to work welding
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
in the Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
s and hand fabricating
Fabrication (metal)
Fabrication as an industrial term refers to building metal structures by cutting, bending, and assembling. The cutting part of fabrication is via sawing, shearing, or chiseling ; torching with handheld torches ; and via CNC cutters...
aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
parts. First Vic worked at the Todd Shipyards
Todd Pacific Shipyards
Vigor Shipyards was founded in 1916 as the William H. Todd Corporation through the merger of Robins Dry Dock & Repair Company of Erie Basin, Brooklyn, New York, the Tietjen & Long Dry Dock Company of Hoboken, New Jersey, and the Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company...
, then later Edelbrock went to work for Len Saulter, machining parts from newly developed exotic metals. This work was categorized as critical to the war effort and would keep Vic from being drafted
Conscription in the United States
Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
for the remainder of the warMadigan, Tom. Edelbrock: Made in USA, Tehabi Books, 2005..
Racing Fame
A major source of Edelbrock's fame in automotive racingRacing
A sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time...
was as a car owner. Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser was an American racing engine manufacturer that operated from 1933 to 1983.The Offenhauser engine, familiarly known as the "Offy", was developed by Fred Offenhauser and his employer Harry Arminius Miller, after maintaining and repairing a 1913 Peugeot Grand Prix car of the type which...
motors had a great power advantage over all of the other engines. Rodger Ward
Rodger Ward
Rodger M. Ward was an American racecar driver who won the 1959 and 1962 Indianapolis 500. He also was the 1959 and 1962 USAC Championship Car champion.-Early history:...
used Edelbrock's V8-60 "shaker" midget car on August 10, 1950 to break the Offenhauser-equipped winning streak at the legendary Gilmore Stadium
Gilmore Stadium
Gilmore Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Los Angeles, California. It was opened in May 1934 and demolished in 1952, when the land was used to build CBS Television City. The stadium held 18,000. It was located next to Gilmore Field...
using his secret blend of nitromethane
Nitromethane
Nitromethane is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest organic nitro compound. It is a slightly viscous, highly polar liquid commonly used as a solvent in a variety of industrial applications such as in extractions, as a reaction medium, and as a cleaning solvent...
. Edelbrock and Ward followed up the win by travelling to Orange Show Stadium in San Bernardino
San Bernardino
San Bernardino, California is a large city in the Inland Empire Metropolitan Area of Southern California.San Bernardino may also refer to:-Landforms:*San Bernardino , a torrent that flows through the Italian province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola...
and winning the following night. This feat was never duplicated in the history of midget racing.McFarland, Jim. "The Great Manifold Bolt-On!", Edelbrock Corporation, 1982. ISBN 0-9608740-0-3 The wins propelled Ward's career and Edelbrock Corporation. Nitro is now banned from almost all forms of dirt track racing
Dirt track racing
Dirt track racing is a type of auto racing performed on oval tracks. It began in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 30s. Two different types of racecars predominated—open wheel racers in the Northeast and West and stock cars in the South...
(due to the required high maintenance costs). However, nitromethane is now the industry standard as fuel in all top fuel
Top Fuel
Top Fuel racing is a class of drag racing in which the cars are run on a mix of approximately 90% nitromethane and 10% methanol rather than gasoline or simply methanol. The cars are purpose-built for drag racing, with an exaggerated layout that in some ways resembles open-wheel circuit racing...
dragsters and funny car
Funny Car
Funny Car is a drag racing car class. In the United States, other "professional" classes are Top Fuel, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Funny cars have forward-mounted engines and carbon fiber automotive bodies over the chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers'...
s in drag racing
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....
.
Manufacturing
Vic achieved an industry first in 1958 by getting one horsepower per cubic inch from a 283 Chevy small-block with the new Cross Ram manifold.http://www.sema.org/main/semaorghome.aspx?id=52520 SEMADeath
In 1962, cancer claimed the life of Vic at the age of 49. His son, Vic Jr., just 26 at the time, assumed the position of president of the company and held it until 2010.Career awards
- He was named to the SEMASEMASpecialty Equipment Market Association of the automobile aftermarket was formed in 1963 by Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand, Jr., Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock, Jr...
hall of fame 1977.
- He was inducted in the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1994.
- He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of FameNational Midget Auto Racing Hall of FameThe National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame is a Hall of Fame and museum for midget cars. The Hall of Fame is located at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and can be accessed during weekly Sunday races during the summer.-A-C:...
in 2005.