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Legends of the Quarter-Mile |
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Presented by The Drag Racing Heritage Foundation |
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Ed "The Mole" Donovan |
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Ed Donovan “The Man”Ed Donovan was truly a "Man before his time' and as I have stated earlier, I was never fortunate enough to meet Ed, I have spoken with everyone that I possibly can to enable me to best understand him both as the pioneer and innovator he was, and the personal side of the man as well. Everyone I have spoke with give the same account of his generosity and his love of the good things in life, to say nothing of his undying love for drag racing and the men who risk their lives to drive these beast. He was a man who enjoyed a good meal and a good friendship. Lunchtime was always a special treat for anyone who was visiting the shop when the noon hour rolled around. The fast food joints were not on Ed’s list of places to dine. Instead, he frequented places like Joe Patrelli’s a steak house in Inglewood and he also patronized the waterfront restaurants in nearby Redondo Beach. Among those he enjoyed most were “The Seafood Hacienda”, The Cattleman’s and of course Tony’s on the Pier. If you were lucky enough to be among the group to dine with Ed, you may as well leave your wallet at home, as he always picked up the tab and would never allow anyone else to pay a check. His love for good food and his desire to share it with his friends is a big part of the legacy he left behind. One thing that has rang true with everyone that I have spoken with is the fact that Ed had a very “big heart’ and would go above and beyond to help anyone he though would be good for the sport of drag racing. Ed was not looking for notoriety for helping his fellow racers so no one ever knew of many of the good deeds he did to help struggling racers. Among his other interest, he was a music lover, especially Classical music and his favorite musical instrument was the mandolin. This love for music prompted him to send his son, Eddie to music school to become a concert pianist. When he moved into the new shop in Torrance, he had custom- built shelves installed to hold the gigantic speakers for the stereo system he had installed. It was quite common for him to crank them up after hours and he had been known to say “Don’t get too close to those speakers, they can stop your watch” Ed also had a fondness for the big cats with the Cheetah being his favorite. Wayne King related yet another great Donovan story having to do with the big cats. It goes something like this:
“John Weibe came to town at one time and brought Ed an Ocelot, which
looked very similar to a Cheetah. The thought of having this car made Donovan a
happy man, at least for a while. Weibe had the cat on a leash and had it hooked
to his trailer that was inside the shop. The cat was doing fine and Ed wanted to
play with it. Ed would grad the cat and hold his mouth shut so he could pet him.
This did not go over real well with the cat so after a few time of this
happening, the cat would jump on Ed, grab his leg and try to bite him. Wanting
to have no part of being bitten by the Ocolet, he had to figure what he was
going to do with it. It
was about this time that Herm Peterson came into the shop and simply fell in
love with the cat, so seeing a way out, Ed gave the cat to Herm. He was on his
way to Indy, by himself, so he loaded up the cat and off they went. Several mile
into the trip east, Herm and his new companion stopped for gas and a rest.
Everyone who saw this strange looking cat was always interested and would come
up to talk to Herm about his new found pet. Everything was going pretty well,
but Herm still had the problem of the cat attacking his leg. On one of the gas
stops, this really came to ahead when Herm got back in the truck and the cat
went for his leg with a vengeance. The cat was clawing and biting to the point
that herm had had all he could take and pulled his pistol to shoot the thing.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he noticed he had shut the cat’s
foot in the truck door. He got him out of the door and he calmed down but on the
next gas stop Herman gave the cat to the station attendant”
Ed Donovan, although friendly to everyone, had a select group of people
that he was close to and that knew the real Ed Donovan. I have been fortunate
enough to speak with a number of those who were befriended by Ed. Mike Kuhl was
one of those that Ed accepted into confidence and as Mike said to me, “Ed was
the best friend I ever had in drag racing”. When you were a friend of Ed’s,
there was nothing he would not do to help you. He was very up front in all his
dealings and far more knowledgeable that most gave him credit for, simply
because they did not have the opportunity to get to know him.
One thing that was of utmost importance to Ed was “loyalty”. He was
loyal to the people he helped and expected the same in return. One this loyalty
was ever broken; one never got the chance to do it again. While he would never
speak badly about the one’s that he felt had crossed the line, they were never
again a part of the Donovan family.
One thing that that came up from everyone I have spoken with in doing
this research was Ed’s distrust for anyone named “Joe”. From Joe Stalin to
Tojo he could rattle of a long list of Joe’s that included many in drag racing
as well as other aspects of life that were not to be trusted. “Never Trust a
Man Named Joe” was one of his rules to live by that few if any ever escaped.
Ed
also came to be known for his “sayings” or “Molisim’s” as his friends
would come to call them. To quote Mike Kuhl, “Ed was the King of the one liners” One
could write a book on the “Molisim’s” but just to give an idea here is a
few of the better known ones.
There are lots more of these anecdotes that we won’t share here, but to
those who knew Ed, I am sure they will just never forget them and will always
get a smile whenever one come to mind.
Ed was also known for the nicknames that he hung on most everyone. Again
here are a few just to illustrate.
Another one of Ed’s unique abilities was being able to emulate the
sound of many unusual things. An Offy on a dirt track, an Offy coming off turn
four at Indy, a Top Fuel car while at idle or on the “hit” of the throttle
and even the sound of a small block Chevy was just some of the many thing in his
repartee.
Though a very kind and generous man, he was also a man of his convictions
and was very out spoken when it he thought he was in the right of for the
betterment of drag racing. The UDRA is a prime example of the way he stood up
for what he thought to be right and while it made him unpopular with some, he
was very vocal in the fact that the racers should receive more pay and a guaranteed
per round pay-out. The Early YearsOn July 17, 1928 a man who was to become a legend in the hot rod industry was born in Los Angeles, CA. .This child was named Ed Donovan. His legacy in hot rodding began at an early age, when while attending Louis Pastur Junior High School, he met Ed Startup, they became instant friends and would remain so throughout the rest of Ed’s life Their first attempt at going fast was in a home-built go cart with an old lawnmower engine but as they got older the need for speed would take them to much more powerful machines. They attended Gardena High School in Gardena, CA where Ed was said to be on of the best shop students to ever take the class. After graduating high school Ed went to work for various speed shops around his native L.A., among them was Louie Senter's Speed Shop where Ed continued to nurture his growing thirst for making better speed equipment.
Ed in one of early attempts at the Dry Lakes (Photo Courtesy of Kathy Donovan) CLICK HERE for More Early Years Photos When the call came for Ed to serve his country, he went in the Army where he became an instructor on the internal combustion engine. Though the engines he was instructing the soldiers on were not of the high performance variety, you can bet he was forming ideas that he would put to use on the drag strip after his discharge. Upon Ed's release from the Army, he decided to go north and worked as a fireman on steam engines in Alaska. Upon his returning to Southern California, he took a job at the famed Meyer & Drake where he continued to hone his skills. He also befriended the “Old Master” Ed Winfield from whom he learned many things about camshafts and other components of the Model B Ford engine that he loved so well. Again along with his childhood friend, Ed Startup the three of them would engage in conversations that would last for hours and cover many subjects on making horsepower. In later years he would be known to the drag racing world as the “Mole”, a nickname hung on him based on a character in the comic strip “Dick Tracy”. Intrigued with engines and mechanical things from a very young age it wasn’t long before he was stepping up the engine in his car to street race in places like Venice Blvd. and Sepulveda in his hometown. In the early 40’s when the speed trials were started at El Mirage and Harper Dry Lakes, Ed moved his racing activities there to avoid the police. Ed along with many of his friends such as Bud Hand, Bert and Ivar Howmann and Don Weber were members of the “4 Barrel” Car Club and the Mojave Timing Association. Ed’s Model T Roadster pick-up with a Model B/ Winfield “Redhead” for power was a regular at the dry lakes. Because of a bad case of astigmatism, Ed left the majority of the driving chores to Frank and concentrated on his mechanical abilities to make anything they raced run a little faster. In 1949, he and Frank Startup teamed up with Bud Hand to take Bud’s modified to the Bonneville Salt Flats where they tried a variety of engines including a Riley 4-Port in an attempt at more speed. They were able to get the little four-cylinder engine to push the car to speeds in excess of 108 mph. Ed was known to board a bus in L.A. with the "B" model block under his arm in order to take it to various people for help in making his modifications. It must have been quite a sight to see this big man caring an engine block on a city bus. When the Santa Ana drag strip opened up they moved their racing activities there and soon had the Model B engine in some frame rails to build their first dragster. By 1951 they were able to get the dragster to go as fast as 107 mph in the quarter mile. When they added a Fargo head to the little flathead Ford they then set a new record of 136. As fulfilling as these accomplishments were, they were just a hint of what was to come. One of Ed and Frank’s early drag racing projects was a dragster powered by a blown and injected 270 Offy on Nitro. While it was a crowd pleaser with a unique sound, it was never competitive with the eight-cylinder car of the time. It did run a very respectable 166 mph on it’s maiden run and in 1962, the unique car made its best run 8.36 @ 187 but a problem with cracking the crank flanges soon led to the car being parked. Ed went as far as getting one of Kent Fullers chassis to put the Offy in, but decided that he was in the business of selling “Hemi” part and never put the engine into this chassis. The chassis was later to be sold to the Broussard, Davis, Garrison and Ongias Top Fuel Team and became the very well known and successful “Mangler” car. They also got the body from the Adams & McEwen “Shark” car and after removing the “fin” used it on this car as well.
The Offy InfluenceAfter returning from Alaska, Ed went to work as a machinist for the Meyer-Drake Company, which built the famous Offy engines that ruled Indy and many other forms of round track racing at the time. Ed’s main job was to rough out the cranks for these powerful four-cylinder engines. I have been told that he never lost a crank while doing this operation.
It was at Meyer-Drake that he met and was befriended by Leo Goossen. Leo
was the engineering genius behind the powerful Offy as well as the Novi and it
was from him that Ed learned a lot of the engineering practices that would be so
evident in the products that he would manufacture. It was from Leo that Ed
learned many of the traits that made him the true innovator that he was. After
Ed went in his own business, Leo would visit “Eddie”, as he called Ed and
many of the products that he manufactured in the early years reflected the
influence of Leo Goossen. The gear drive that Ed made were a good example of
this influence. They were designed so that the camshaft timing could be changed
at the track as a tuning aid.
At this point, I would like to relate a story about the gear drives one
that Wayne King has again been kind enough to share with me. This is just
another of the great stories that I have been told about Ed. “Ed and I were racing at Riverside in what had to be late 64’ or early 65’. Ed wanted to get more low-end power so we decided to set the camshaft ahead a couple of degrees. Ed had us pull the fuel pump and front candlestick, but Ed had forgotten how to change the cam timing. Forgot which hole did what! He had left his notes at the shop in Inglewood. Man, was he ever mad.” Wayne King
Donovan
Engineering – The Beginning In 1959 Ed and Frank Startup began doing business as “Donovan & Startup Automotive Specialties and along with the valves that started developing a complete line of stronger and more dependable parts for the 354 & 392 Chrysler Hemi’s. These motors were being used extensively in the Top Fuel ranks so the market for such parts was growing rapidly. The partnership went well but after about three years, Frank decided to pursue other interest and sold his share to Ed. In 1962, Ed went it alone and opened the doors of Donovan Engineering in Inglewood, CA .The building he occupied was the old Veterinary Hospital located on Regent Street and became the meeting place for the famous and not so famous personalities in drag racing. While looking at photos on the early shop, I can’t help but think about the old adage, “If these walls could talk” I can only imagine the stories that were told and the friendships that were made inside these four walls.
Donovan's Regent St. Shop during a visit from the "Greek" (Photo Courtesy of Kathy Donovan) Continuing with the valves that had become widely used in the “nitro wars” of drag racing, Donovan Engineering was also the first company to produce titanium valves. As with their other valves they were of one-piece construction instead of the welded two-piece valves that their competition was producing. In the testing stages of the titanium valves, it was soon found that the valve guides and the valve material were not compatible and the valve stems would gall almost immediately. Ed and Dick soon came up with a melidiuim coating that solved the problem. They would grind the valve stems under-size, apply the coating and then grind the stem to the proper tolerances
Each valve was painstakingly hand polished as seen in this old photo In manufacturing their line of one piece steel valves, they arrived at the conclusion that if they cast the intake valves from, 8620 alloy steel and forged the exhaust valves from 4340 alloy it made for the best combination for a fuel burning motor. For even more strength in the valve train, valve spring retainers and valve keepers with improved angles that enabled them to better grip the valve became part of Donovan’s ever growing inventory of Chrysler racing parts. In 1966 Ed moved his operations to the shop in Torrance, California that still houses Donovan Engineering. It didn’t take long for his product line to grow as he developed the first “Slipper Clutch” to help get the immense horsepower these fire breathing monsters were developing to the ground in a more controlled manner. Ed along with John Garrison and “Stump” Davis put a lot of research and development into the slider units. Ed even went to the extent of having a special room in the Inglewood shop just for clutches and started making his own clutch disc. In addition, he conceived the fix for the problem everyone was having with the aluminum flywheels that were being ran. He made an oversize rosan to press in the flywheel. He then put a flange on the insert so when the flywheel heated up the insert would stay put.
The next problem he addressed was the weakness of the stock Chrysler
rocker arms used on the early Hemi engines that were now the main stay of the
fuel classes. His answer was his own forged rocker arms that were much more
dependable under the extreme pressure the racers were subjecting them too. Next
he add his aluminum valve covers for the 392 Chrysler that would become the
cover that everyone would want for their Hemi. Not only because of there great
looks but they helped put and end to the problem of gasket blowout that created
numerous header fires and the large breathers allowed the engine to breath
better also. The tall breathers is another Donovan product that shows the Offy
influence with them being almost identical to the Offy units
Blower drives were yet another of the almost “bullet-proof” products that
Ed and his team of skilled craftsmen produced. They made many configurations of
the drives and produced all the parts except for the gears
As Ed worked with a number of partners in drag racing, he used these
dragsters, as test beds for the R & D need to develop even more parts to
improve both performance and safety. The driveline was the next area he
attacked, developing his own line of spider shafts, axles and engine couplers to
transfer the enormous power to the rear wheels. Clutch explosions had became a
major safety problem and in an attempt to capture the shrapnel caused by one of
these explosions, he designed and built his one-piece bell housing or “clutch
can”. Ed was the first to design a coupler to replace the very dangerous
u-joint setup that was being used. His idea came from the way the mandrel on a
valve- grinding machine was powered so with the “Greek” being the first to
use it, the name “Greek Coupler” was born. Numerous people have copied the
design but the initial idea is still in use today.
A split manifold for the 354 and 392 Chrysler hemi was also added to the
product line and they worked with Stuart Hilborn to develop it to an injection
system that was used in junior fuel racing. I have only touched on few of the
many parts that Ed designed and developed over the years. Though some were
“one-off’ parts that were used on his cars or the cars of his racing
partners only and others have been used by most people who ever raced a fuel
dragster. As time went on the aluminum blocks, specifically the 417 was Donovan
Engineering’s showcase items but products like the injector that was known as
the “Big Mole” or “Flowerpot” injector were still coming from always
innovative mind of Ed Donovan.
I can’t help but wonder what products and ideas he would have brought
to the sport had we not lost him way too soon.
The
“417”
While working
at Meyer-Drake, Ed saw the need for a purpose built engine for drag racing such
as the Offy was a purpose built engine for the Roundy- round boys. Having been a
select few engines been built from the ground up for racing purposes only,
Donovan’s all aluminum 417 was the first for the drag racer. The concept was a
simple one and that was to build an engine strong enough to withstand the
violent detonation of nitromethane but in the meantime be light enough as to not
weigh the cars down and also be easy to maintain.
For most drag racers and engine that used all proprietarily parts would be
cost prohibitive and with most racers having an abundance of parts for the early
392 engines with the exception of blocks. The junkyard 392 was becoming scarce
with so many being destroyed by the power of the nitro so Ed decided to base his
new motor on this proven design. The 392’s were in Ed’s opinion the perfect
engine for drag racing. It was a true hemispherical head engine that was
designed from the ground up to be just that. The later model 426 engines were
nothing more than a wedge style engine, with heads that converted it to a hemi.
The 92’s weak point for fuel racing was its bottom end that could not endure
the detonation of nitro for very long. This had opened the door for the stronger
426 design to get into the fray. The 417’s design was to keep all the
advantages of the 92’ and to solve it’s shortcomings as a fuel engine
Donovan along with his design team decided on making the new engine block
a 2-piece design that consist of a cylinder-less engine block and a main bearing
support girdle. This proved to be one of the block’s short-comings since it
made the changing of the main bearings a very arduous task when servicing the
car between rounds at the track. They incorporated chrome-moly liners that
employed the wet-sleeve design where the outer part of the sleeve is a part of
the water jacket and is in direct contact with the engine
The design of the cylinder liners is just one example of the attention to
detail that Ed and his team at Donovan Engineering put into the development of
this block. Ed and his guys were drag racers that knew what their fellow drag racer needed
and the 417 showed that. Another major feature is the fact that the cylinder
liners are inter-changeable through out so one didn’t have to worry about
getting the wrong sleeve in the wrong hole .It also made it possible to replace
a damaged cylinder instead of having to run the car with a bad “hole that
increased the chances for failure.
Bob Mullin a former Chrysler engineer started the drawing and engineering
of the cast aluminum block but when the project stalled, Ed ask Dick Crawford to
take over the project. Dick was working at standardizing parts for
interchangeability to better utilize the inventory at Donovan, so he was
somewhat familiar with the 417 project. Once the full-size drawings were made
Arnold Birner, the company pattern maker began the tedious task of producing the
wooden patterns from which the blocks would be sand-cast.
The first 417 casting # 001 (Photo Courtesy of Kathy Donovan)
In the
beginning of production, Donovan had only manual machines to machine the blocks
so the job of fixturing and machining the castings was very time consuming. As
time went on they stepped up to some NC tape controlled machines and finally to
the CNC machines that are used today.
Ed inspects the first 417 being machined (Photo Courtesy of Kathy Donovan) CLICK HERE for More Photos of the 417
With the 417 being so closely tied to the old iron 392 block and using
all the existing 392 speed parts it was no wonder that it caused quite a stir
when it was introduced. Dick Crawford related the story of the first time they
took the block to the SEMA show. They had built a rotating display stand for it
with the wording “The Donovan Revolution” on the skirt around the display.
Very neat play on words, in my opinion and the block caused quite a stir at the
show. Keith Black was among the many to closely check out the new design and
apparently went right to work on his aluminum block design.
The first outing of the new motor was a big success when John Wiebe won
the NHRA Supernationals, turning low e.t. of the meet at 6.53. This was casting
# 1 of the many that would be made. After this win, the #1 block was removed for
Ed to dissect with casting # 2 going into Weibe’s car. At about this same
time, Mike Kuhl was given casting # 3 to run. The “timing” of when the 417
went into production was very unfortunate. The late model 426, had been
introduced and while it was not yet perfected, it was showing a lot of promise.
With the factory giving support to people like Ed Pink and Keith Black, the late
model was getting a strong foothold in the sport. A great number of the teams
running the 392’s steeped up to the 417 as did some of the Chevy powered
teams, but I have not been able to find anyone that switched from the 426 to
Ed’s new block. With all the advantages of the Donovan over the iron Chrysler,
it still utilized the same heads which still limited it’s potential and it
would be a couple more years before the Donovan heads were available. The
Donovan heads were a major improvement over the existing heads but the late
model block and heads had pretty much taken over fuel racing and farther
research and development was never completed. That is not to say that the 417
did not do well in the 70’s. Weibe won three AHRA titles and teams such as
Keeling & Clayton, Dwight Salisbury, Kuhl & Olson, Cyr & Schofield
and Marvin Graham all did well with the combination. Garlits even ran the engine
for a while and won some races, but after settling a dispute with Keith Black he
went back to him for engines, which of course did not help the cause for Ed.
The prime candidates for the all-time Donovan hero, would have to be the
Brissette & Drake team with Kelly Brown doing the driving, when they one the
1978 NHRA Championship. Brissette & Drake with Bob Noice started out the
1979 season on a high note for Donovan when they won the Winternationals but
from what I have been able to find this was the final hurrah for the 417 in the
NHRA Top Fuel ranks. Bob Simmons did qualify his Donovan powered fueler for a
few events in the mid-eighties he was never able to go far in eliminations. More Cast Aluminum Blocks
As the demand for the 417 declined Ed also developed a cast aluminum
Donovan small block and big block that utilized the popular Chevrolet parts that
were readily available. The small block became a standard in sprint car racing
and the big block is used extensively in boat racing and also in pro comp drag
racing.
The "Mole" with the first casting of the Small Block Donovan (Photo Courtesy of Kathy Donovan)
Ed first love was the Model B Ford 4 cylinder engine and he along with
Dick Crawford set out to build a cast aluminum block based on this design. With
Dick doing all the drawings they made the changes need to correct the weak
points in the factory design. They change it to a five main bearing
configuration and additionally made the main bearing caps utilize four bolts
each. Crower made the cranks for the little powerhouse and by changing it to use
5 cam bearings too, they had to use a camshaft from a 1928 model engine.
It is sad to note that Ed never lived to see this project completed but
Dick Crawford and Kathy completed the prototyping and produced the first
production run of these little marvels. Dick adapted one to his 32’ Ford
street rod and everyone who rides with him is very surprised with the
performance of such a small engine.
The Donovan Four B has been relatively successful for them and a second
production run has recently been completed and ready for shipment.
The Racer Ed was a true drag racer in every sense of the word. He loved to make horsepower and he loved for his cars to go fast. He raced his own car from the early 60’s until about 1965. He employed many drivers including Bobby Tapia, Frank Britt, Tommy Ivo, Chris Karaminises, Tom McEwen and Wayne King. He then teamed with many different partners over the years to form some very completive and winning teams
The "Mole", Bob Crietz and
Steve Carbone with the trophy queen at Fremont 1967-68 (Photo Courtesy of Dick
Towers) One of Ed’s early cars was one he picked up from Isky. A racer from back east had run out of money and Isky bought the car from him so he could get back home. Ed and Leonard Van Luven, who was Isky’s shop foreman talked Isky into letting them run the car. Tommy Ivo was the first to drive the very heavy car, which was nicknamed “The Iron Maiden” but ‘The Greek also put in some time behind the wheel as well. Another story goes that on one occasion while “The Greek” was driving, he did a giant wheel stand and when it came down, the car was damaged. This infuriated Ed, who told Chris, “Greek, you could wheel stand a school bus”. The “Iron Maiden” car can be seen in the Jackson Bros. Video “Front Engine Fuelers”.
Ed along with his partner Daws Waffer to build a Kent Fuller chassis car with one of Fullers trick front end on it and had Bob Sorrel to add a shorty body to the 120” car. George Cerney then laid down the German Silver paint scheme. Ed, of course used the 392 for power. The way the car sat so low and with the Hilborn “Bugcatcher” atop the blower it was very hard for the driver to see where he was going. However, always the innovator, Ed built a wedge to raise the front of the injector up to help with this problem. Tom ‘The Mongoose” McEwen started out as the driver and was never defeated in match race competition. When Tom left to drive Lou Baney’s “Yeakle Plymouth Special” he helped Wayne King to get the ride in the Donovan car. Wayne was driving the Doss, Clayton and King A/FD ride and as he explained it to me he was receiving 25% of his winnings in the Doss car and with Donovan paying 100.00 a week plus 25% of the winnings it was really a no brainer as to what to do.
Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen in
Ed's car at Pomona 1963. Daws Waffer and Henry "The Horse" seen
running awayin the background
Wayne King after taking over the
driving from McEwen. Lions 1965. Car had been lengthened to 140" A Kent
Fuller chassis with a Bob Sorrell body. Needless to say, Ed was not happy about the “Mongoose” going over to Baney’s camp and any time they ran him Ed would put an additional bounty for Wayne to beat him. In the last match race between Wayne and McEwen who was driving the Yeakle Plymouth purple car, Wayne beat him two out of three. There were also other cars, whom Ed would put an extra 100.00 bounty on when they ran. One of them being Joe Shubeck. Joe had started building bell housings, which was one of Ed’s items that are more profitable, so whenever they met it was always “Gentleman Joe Had to Go”. They met up in the October 1965 UDRA Grand Nationals at Lions, which featured more 150 Top Fuel cars, which Wayne won over Shubeck. This was a big win for Ed and Wayne and as is obvious from the smiles on their faces in the accompanying photo, it was a definite high point in there time together as car owner and driver.
Drag News clipping (Courtesy of Wayne King) CLICK HERE for More Racing Photos During this time, Don Culp, who had been working for Keith Black on the Greer-Black-Prudhomme car was hired by Ed to do the tuning on the car and he lettered “Factory Trained Mechanic” on the cowl of the car. As you can imagine, there were some, who got a good laugh out of this and others who didn’t see the humor, but that was Ed Donovan. The car driven by Wayne King was the last car that Ed would own and race on his own. The time required to oversee his growing business did not leave him the time needed to race on a regular basis so the car was parked in the shop and it was eventually sold. Ed later ran cars in partnership with several other people as a test bed for his products. One of the best known was the Creitz & Donovan top fuel car. Bob Creitz was and still is a master engine builder so Ed made many one-off parts that were ran on this car alone. I spoke at length with Bob Creitz while researching this article. He related to me the fact that he and Ed had a special friendship. Having met Ed in 1962-63 while visiting a friend who worked at Donovan’s, they hit it off almost immediately so when Bob moved from Kansas to California he live in a apartment that was in the Donovan shop. This apartment was another spot that housed many legendary drag racers over the years. Bob employed many different drivers during their partnership one of which Ed really didn’t care for. He became the reason behind one of the “Moles” famous witticisms or ‘molesims’ as they would come to be known. His name was Victor Brown which inspired Ed’s “If it’s Brown, Flush it” saying. Among others that drove the car were Richard Tharp and Steve Carbone. The ‘Creitz & Donovan car, with Tharp behind the wheel had the dubious distinction of being in the other lane for the finials at Lion’s when Don Garlits had his famous two-speed explosion that cut the car in half and removed part of Don’s foot in the process. It was also recognized as the first Top Fuel car to do a burnout with Carbone doing the driving at that time.
The
Legacy Lives On
After the
untimely passing of Ed, Kathy Donovan took over the reins of the business and
has done a superb job of continuing with Ed’s dream. The business has grown
and flourished under her leadership and with the continued support of the
employees, some of whom have been with the company since it’s inception. With
the addition of modern state of the art CNC machine tools they continue to
produce many of the same parts that Ed pioneered in the early 60’s. The big
block and small block Donovan aluminum engines are in demand by drag racers,
boat racers, sprint car teams and other forms of motorsports. The big block is
also used in military applications by some of the landing craft that have been
used buy our troops in the last two Gulf Wars. The employees at Donovan
Engineering take great pride in the fact that their work is helping to support
our troops around the world.
The Donovan Four, based on the Ford 60 in the Donovan Engineering Shop 2003 (Photo by Wayne King) CLICK HERE for More Photos of the Donovan Shop Today
While the 417 is no longer a big part of their production it is still
being used in the Nostalgia drag racing that has become very popular in the last
decade and is still winning races in the GoodGuys/VRA Top Fuel circuit. While
the forged blocks are becoming more popular and with the ruling body considering
allowing the late model design blocks into the class we may see even less of
this legendary motor. It is, however a sure bet there will always be a soft spot
in the hearts of the veteran racers and engine builders for this engine and the
man who risk all to produce it.
"Gone
but not forgotten" Bob Crietz and Wayne King pose with a
Editors
Note; In doing my
research on Ed Donovan it has me realize just how much I wish I had been
fortunate enough to meet and spend some time with him. He was, from all accounts a
fine man and most certainly a friend to drag racing and the racers themselves.
The accounts I have been told, of all the people he helped and all the
innovative things that he did are truly amazing. There have been a great number
of people who have helped me with this article and with photo’s I want to
thank them all for taking the time to speak with me and relate some of the great
Ed Donovan stories. First of all, Kathy Donovan, who furnished me with info and
photos on her late husband while heading up the company that he loved so dearly.
Next to Frank Startup, Ed’s childhood friend and business partner for the info
that only he could relate. Also, to Wayne King, who worked in the Donovan shop
and drove one of Ed’s cars .He has went the extra mile to help me and I
not only want to thank him for that but also for being able to now call him
“friend”. He is writing a book entitled, “The Boys of Bakersfield-Drag
Racers”, when it is completed, it will definitely be one you will want to add
to you collection. Dick Crawford for all the great info and photos he shared
with me on the 417 and the other products made by Donovan. Bob Creitz, for
taking the time from his busy schedule to speak with me on numerous occasions.
To Steve Carbone for all he was able to add to make me better understand the man
called “The Mole”. Also to Mike Kuhl for his insights. Mike
"Gumbo" D’Addario (one of the recipients of a "Mole"
nickname) who
not only gave me some great info but put me in touch with a lot of the others
that have contributed, such as Tuck Jones and others. I want to recognize Dick
Towers for the excellent photos from the Jim Kelly collection that he was kind
enough to allow me to use to better illustrate the story. Additionally, I
gathered bits of Donovan history from my interviews with Ed Iskenderian, whose
story is forthcoming too. Last but certainly not least, I want express my
gratitude to Tim Harpold, who sent me numerous magazine article written over the
years as well as a lot of research and facts that he had gathered on Ed over the
years. To all of you and anyone that I may have missed “Thank You” This story, as are all of the ones I do, is a work in progress and I am always looking for more info, photos and stories so I can update and make the article more complete and accurate. If you can add anything, see something that needs changing or have any Ed Donovan stories or history that you will share, just drop me a note at 1320history@charter.net
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