Re: [CR] Tom Sparks from 1950 ?

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In-Reply-To: <002601c9a8d3$71d2b550$0202a8c0@Dell>
References: <c76dc510903191300q4961acauc7c40eb4563dc718@mail.gmail.com>
From: "Phil Brown" <philcycles@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:17:52 -0800
To: Classicrendezvous Rendezvous <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR] Tom Sparks from 1950 ?


On Mar 19, 2009, at 12:44 PM, Robert Clair wrote:
> ... the latest edition, of all media, is the street rodder's journal,
> no. forty three. this:
>
> ... the bicycle champion.
>
> there is one little known fact about another automotive pioneer, hot
> rodder and race car driver tom sparks (above at right - in the pic in
> the bit) was a world class bicycle racer and in 1958 was the calif
> state road racing champion.
>
> "for 20 years i was a very serious bike rider, all through the 1950's
> i trained and raced with all of the world class riders. at one point
> i was riding 400 miles a week."
>
> ... neat little pic of three, looks like bar end shifters were the way
> to go back then.
>
> robert clair
> alexandria, va 22308
> usa
>

I knew Tom quite well in the 80s and 90s. My ex wife grew up in the neighborhood where his shop was-Santa Monica and Vine-and we lived a couple of blocks away from him in North Hollywood. He was a great guy with a fantastic car and bicycle-antique-collection including Pierce Arrows both 2 wheel and 4 wheel. Phil Brown More later in Oakland, Calif.