My first motorcycle was a 1963 Yamaha 80cc 80YG 2 Cycle 7.7 hp that I got from a grade school friend of mine for free after her dad backed over it with his car.

My dad and I straightened the frame, hand cut and bobbed the rear fender, took the emblems off, painted it orange, and went racing.

I will never forget that Tuesday night.  We went to Trojan Speedway in South Gate, CA — a sticky little clay oval next to the LA river, behind the rock quarry, east of downtown LA.

My Dad stopped off at Kmart to get a cool looking orange metal flake Grant helmet that cost a mere $14.35.

I remember thinking, “Is that all my head’s worth?”, but my dad checked the specs, and it turned out that it was Snell approved and everything.

Then it was off to the races!  I was so excited to be there that lining up for the first heat race, I actually dropped the clutch early and jumped the start! I ended up going from my row two starting spot clear past row one and the starter! That was hard to explain to my sixth grade school teacher Mrs. Jackie Jacobson and a bunch of my class mates from Vista Del Lavalle grade school in Claremont CA. . .

That first race was an eye opener — the other bikes were faster and highly modified, so my dad and I went out and bought Floyd Clymer’s book “How to Tune a Two Stroke Engine”.

I learned early on that researching what others have done is your quickest way to the top.

We went to work on the engine — a rotary valve design that was easy to hop up. We installed a new rotary valve, over-bored cylinder, which we seven ported, installed a single-ring piston with a super short cut-skirt, machined radial high-compression head, and a topped it off with a total loss ignition system.

We finished the engine modifications off with a tuned exhaust made by Dick Haycock from Chino CA. Dick custom fabricated it by beautifully rolling and forming the expansion chamber and artfully oxy acetylene welding it together. He then finished off with a 7” long x 1/2” diameter stinger tip – that thing screamed!

My first motorcycle was a Mini Bike – a Taco 44 kit that my neighbor and his dad decided was too much of a hassle to build. I traded my electric guitar for it.

My dad and I worked together to collect all the parts needed to build it.

Centrifigal chain drive clutches were popular then but a bit unreliable and noisy, so we engineered a belt drive system with a double pulley jackshaft, and chain drive to the rear sproket.

It was connected to a variable speed clutch, which was installed on a polished and chromed out, performance tuned Briggs & Stratton 5HP engine complete with a Tecumseh down draft carburator and straight pipe exhaust!

We turned the flywheel all the way down to the magnets, milled the head and made our own copper head gasket, as the OEM one was a thick layered sandwich design.

My dad organized a trip to Tijuana Mexico to have our 1969 Dodge Dart reupolstered. I invited two of my grade school buddies, Steve Maxwell and Eddie Fagg from Vista de Valle Elementry School in Claremont CA. Each of us brought our mini bike seats to have them reskined with custom material, button-tucked and finished off with some nice edge piping. The last thing we did before painting the frame gloss black was to redesigned the friction rear brake and custom foot pegs, which we had heliarc welded at Foothill Welding in Claremont, California.

When we picked up the parts from the shop, I was intrigued by the heliarc welds the guy had laid down, so I asked him a couple of questions, and he showed me how to make a few myself!

My friends thought it was all so cool – the bike – the welding. Before long, they had started calling me “Joe Welder”, and I guess it stuck !

I had a lot of fun on that old bike – it was the first time I really learned about engine modifications.

One night my Dad came home and saw me doing a trophy run down the alley behind the workshop. He said there was a long white flame streaming from the exhaust and it smelled like it was burning up.

When I explained how I had added some nitro to the high-octane AvGas, he knew I was ready to move up to a real motorcyle.

Our very own Joe Welder can boast one very unique claim to fame.  He grew up down the street from Eddie Lawson!  They raced motorcycles together in AMA district 37 when they were little!  (Okay, perhaps not so little…)

And now, they still remain connected, although in a different way: they help to keep each other in business.

In dirt-track racing (how Eddie got started in his career), you need something called a “hot shoe”.  No, they’re not hot.  And no, they’re not really shoes.  They are actually the antithesis of their name – they keep your shoes from getting hot.

On a dirt racetrack, as the rider leans the bike into the turns, he has to stick out his left foot to keep balance and direct the bike through the corner.  And, as you can imagine, direct contact with hard-packed dirt going over a hundred miles an hour might hurt your foot just a little bit.

That’s where the hot shoes come in.  Hot shoes are metal casings that are formed around the bottom of your riding boot.  They are perfectly shaped so that they don’t fall off or let dirt in when you use them to turn that corner at speed.

Iron Cobbler Hot Shoes is a company out of Salinas, Ca that custom makes hot shoes for riders in AMA district 36.  They use the best tungsten carbide hardfacing available to make them and let me tell you, this material is not for the faint of heart.  It’s the same stuff used for mining equipment.  If it can dig into rocks, it can certainly protect your feet from a little wear and tear.

So where do Joe Welder and Arc-Zone.com come into this?  Well, in order to create great hot shoes, you need the proper welding equipment by your side.  And what better place to find it at than Arc-Zone.com?  If you’re interested in welding hot shoes, check out our TIG section, especially the Tungsten Grinders…

I got a call the other day from a prospect who was researching the benefits of using a tungsten grinder verses a wheel grinder. He came across our site, read our tech articles and then called.

He said “We’re a couple of farmers that have been trying to do TIG welding for a couple years and have never gotten good at it.”

A friend told them about Arc-Zone.com and the Sharpie Tungsten Grinder.

He told me they had a little fabshop and a small dirt track in southern Indiana.

“What’s the name of the track?” I asked.

“You probably never heard of it– TriState Speedway,” he said.

(more…)

Longtime Joe Welder friend Randy Haberman dropped in for a visit last month, and sent us this email:

It was great to have the opportunity to visit Arc-Zone in August!

My flight from O’Hare to LAX was unusually uneventful and, after picking up my rental car, I was heading south on the 405! (Editor’s note: the picture at the left is Randy’s ’32 Ford, not his rental car!)

I had to stop in Oceanside at Diego’s for a couple of traditional tacos before making my way to Carlsbad. I have been living in Chicago now for ten years and it sure was good to see all of the mountains, palm trees and chrome 20” wheels in So Cal again!

Visiting Arc-Zone was awesome! You and your staff have really grown the business. I couldn’t believe all of the neat stuff that Arc-Zone has put together for fabricators everywhere. I had a great time talking with you about the state-of-the-industry and all of the bitchin, creative stuff going on in so many fabricating fields; bicycles, motorcycles, hotrods, airplanes, boats! I would encourage anyone involved in fabricating to stop by and visit Arc-Zone while in the So Cal area.

After my Arc-Zone visit I headed north to check-in with my family and friends in Burbank. The Burbank area has long been a center of innovation in many fields. The city is now known more for its movie studios than anything else but there is still a huge amount of creative machining and fabricating capabilities left over from the Lockheed Aircraft and the “Skunkworks” days. Just thinking about some of the technology that has come out of the Burbank area, like the SR-71 and stealth technology, is inspiring to me.

My first Burbank stop was at Bob Shrode’s house. He is the un-official leader of the Burbank car club known as the “Road Peasants”. He had just finished putting a new street motor in his ’34 Ford coupe. This motor is de-tuned to only about 550HP! This is a badass coupe that has run in the low nines. I talked him into taking me for a ride and we were soon making a speed run down Vanowen! There is nothing better than peering through the chopped windshield of a hot coupe on a sunny So Cal day!

After a quick visit to the Auto Book store and a burger at Tin Horn Flats on Magnolia Blvd. I stopped by to see Jim Miles. Jim is a craftsman by any definition. He is one of those guys that can solve any problem with a 12” lathe and a Bridgeport mill. Jim is also a former “Crafter”. He worked at Weldcraft as a tool and die maker for many years before retiring. Jim was responsible for the design, tooling and effective production of many of the Weldcraft products that are still being sold today. Jim is also an old hot rodder. He was putting Hemi’s in cars way before crate engines. Today he is working on his ’38 Ford coupe and his ’33 Plymouth sedan, both of which have Hemi’s in them. Jim is also widely known for campaigning the Magic Muffler blown fuel altered in the 60’s and 70’s. He is just completing a clone of this car which has a Fiat coupe body and a Donovan Hemi engine acquired from Don Garlits! Can’t wait to hear that one fire up!

That’s it for now. I can’t wait for my next visit to So Cal and Arc-Zone!

Randy

Check out Bob Shrode’s bitchin’ ride.

I was back in the shop last week looking around the storage area where I have archived some products that we have collected over the last 25 years. There’s some really interesting stuff back there, from the first TEC brand TIG torches to the first Weldcraft Micro-TIG torch, and the first Crafter Series prototypes and more.

I was looking for a specific Plasma gas distributor for a recent post, when I found something that brought back some great memories and made me laugh — the prototypes for the Weldcraft Plasma Cutting torch! Did you know Weldcraft had a Plasma cutting torch? Well they did and it was a real market innovation — (that’s my favorite word).
It was some 15 years ago… I was Director of Manufacturing at the time, and we decided it was time to leverage the outstanding worldwide brand name that we had built at Weldcraft. We had an excellent group of skilled guys and we identified the Plasma Arc Cutting market as an area that was greatly under served (as it is now).

So Randy Haberman our lead Mechanical Engineer took the concepts and created a blockbuster product line — a universal Plasma Arc Cutting torch that would fit all the popular Plasma Arc Cutting machines and used basically one set of parts! Think about it –one torch — one set of parts regardless of machine type. It was a real innovation.

Weldcraft’s PC-30 Plasma torch was the first to use a sculptured ergonomic handle with a built-in trigger switch located on the bottom of the body — and get this — it was completely rebuildable.

We created a dedicated facility across the street from Weldcraft with a dedicated engineering staff, machinery and sales force, we began to expand into all types of high quality aftermarket Plasma Arc Cutting parts and that’s when the trouble began.

What happened to the Weldcraft PC-30 product line? As the Product Manager I was told to relocate it to our sister company Bernard and rename it PlazCraft.

It seems companies like Hypertherm and Thermal Dynamics didn’t appreciate the competition, and because our division President was trying to buy one or both of those companies we were told to shut it down!

I said I had to laugh because now you see all the new Hypertherm torches with a similar comfortable handle style, and Thermal Dynamics is spending heavily to promote their “One Torch” one torch that fits a variety of Plasma Arc Cutting machines… Been there. Done that! Even Abicor Binzel is in the game with their Abicut Plasma Arc Cutting torch.

That’s been my experience in this industry a lot of copy cat’s — few innovators…

My competition origins are an important part of Arc-Zone.com’s history because the business of racing, amateur and professional, is a demanding and exacting one. Success in racing is forged from hard work and dedication. Racing does not tolerate the imprecise nor does it reward those who place style ahead of function. Innovation, thorough preparation and attention to detail are the foundations of a successful racing team.

The work ethic of racing is woven into everything we do at Arc-Zone.com. It’s not enough for a part to look good; it must also work well, and serve a useful function. We apply a “racing quality standard” to every product and service we sell. Whether it’s MIG, TIG, Plasma Arc Welding or cutting, Oxy fuel, parts or related welding and metal fabricating accessories — you can be sure you’re getting the best product available at a fair price.

I got into racing thanks to my Dad, Jim Watson Sr. who was raised in the rich farm lands of the central valley in California my Dad was introduced to Midget racing by my great Uncle Ben Humke. Known across the country as “Farmer Ben.” As a car owner In the 1950′s and early sixties he was a multi time URA champion, and winner in USAC, AAA and BCRA and other sanctioned events.

Farmer Ben was a modest cotton/dairy farmer with a keen sense of numbers. He had a policy “if the race car didn’t pay for itself we don’t race.”

He had many famous hot shoes that drove for him– Billy Garrett (pictured above), Marty Mazman, were the most noteable champions. They primarily raced Midgets in the central valley at tracks like Visalia Speedway, Hanford Speedway, Lemoore Jetbowl, Contra Costa Fairgrounds, Clovis Speedway, Tulare Speedway, Watsonville Speedway, and many more.

Midget racing was big then, and each car was hand built and car owners used a variety of power plants, from the high-end “Offy” or Offenhauser engine and the Ford V8 60 to Ferguson tractor and marine engines. The Solar Midget (now Solar Turbines) even used a Drake which was a highly modified Harley-Davidson VTwin.

A true innovator, Farmer Ben solved the overheating problem common with Ford V8 60 racing engines. Ben engineered a remote water-cooling system that was run by a custom fabricated water pump, he reworked the engine block with a series of baffles and diverters in the cooling passages.

He did all the work in his barn in Tulare Ca. I loved that place, a big barn with a little Midget race car and all the tools it takes to build one inside! I still have my Uncle Ben’s 1929 Atlas lathe (photo coming soon) and the chucks and tools that he used to make his own pistons and other engine parts.

I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I did while they happened and now looking back. I know there are many people that have similar interests and hopefully these stories will put a smile on your face.

Please feel free to comment (Click on the “Leave A Comment” link at the bottom of this post)

My first “real” motorcycle was a Yamaha 80, I got from a girlfriend – her Dad backed over it with his wagon.

My Dad and I straightened the frame, hand cut then “bobbed” the rear fender, took the emblems off, painted it orange and went racing.

I will never forget that Tuesday night — a school night. We went to Trojan Speedway in South Gate CA, a sticky little clay oval next to the LA river, behind the rock quarry, east of downtown LA.

My Dad stopped at Kmart to get a helmet. For $14.95. I remember thinking, “is that all my head’s worth?” Dad checked the specs and said “It’s Snell approved.” It was a cool looking orange metal flake Grant helmet.

Off to the races! “I got so excited I let the clutch out early and jumped the start.”

That race was an eye opener — the other bikes were fast and highly modified so we bought Floyd Clymer’s book “How To Tune A Two Stroke Engine.” I learned early on to research what others have done, it’s your quickest way to the top.

We first went to work on the engine, a rotary valve design which was easy to hop up, new valve, over-bored 7 port barrel, single-ring cut-skirt piston, machined radial head and total loss ignition system. Finished it off with a tuned exhaust custom fabricated and artfully oxy acetylene welded by Dick Haycock. A beautifully rolled and formed expansion chamber complete with a 7” X 1/2” stinger tip – that thing screamed!

My first motorcycle was a Mini Bike, a Taco 44 kit that my neighbor and his dad couldn’t figure out/or didn’t want to hassle with building. I traded my electric guitar for it.

My Dad and I collected all the needed parts, centrifugal chain drive clutches were popular but, unreliable, so we engineered a bitchen belt drive system with a double pulley jack shaft connected to a variable speed clutch installed on a polished and chromed Briggs & Stratton 5HP engine complete with a Tecumseh down draft carburetor and a straight pipe exhaust! We designed a friction rear brake and custom foot pegs, which we had HeliArc welded at Foothill Welding in Claremont California. We dropped the parts off to be welded along with the drawings, and when we picked them up a few days later, I was turned on by the cool looking Heliarc welds the dude laid down—I asked a couple of questions and he showed me how it worked. My friends thought it was so cool– and before long they started calling me “Joe Welder.” I had a lot of fun on that bike and that’s were I learned about engine modifications. We turned the flywheel all the way down to the magnets, milled the head and made our own copper gasket as the OE one was a thick layered sandwich design. One night my Dad came home and I was doing a trophy run down the alley behind the workshop– he said there was a long white flame streaming from the exhaust and it smelled like it was burning up. When I told him I added some nitro to high-octane av gas, he knew I was ready to move up to a motorcycle.