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The San Francisco chapter, known as the “Racherfrachers” was formed in 1964. Below is an article from MotorSports Magazine of February 15, 1964 announcing the establishment of this new chapter. Dave James, former member of the Racherfrachers, has been regaling me with lots of fun stories of the Racherfrachers. These will be added to the ” Stories” section as time allows. For now, suffice it to say that the Racherfrachers was an extremely active chapter, drawing over 100 cars to its rallies in many cases. Dave tells me that when he relocated to Southern California and joined the Glendale chapter, he was surprised that what was considered a “large” rally in the Southland, would have been just an average rally up north. John Taylor has provided some photos of Racherfracher rally dash plaques, which are displayed in the “Regalia” section.
The article below not only recounts the beginning of the Racherfrachers chapter, it also give some insights into the very healthy state of the FCCA in 1964.
Most of the members of RS including Johnson were going to San Jose State collage in the 60’s.
I set up a Timing and Scoring Team for the Northern California SCCA with members of the FCCA and several of the RS were on that team. We did all the stop watch timing at Laguna Seca and saved the SCCA’s B t’s while they were trying to get the Electric timing to work right.
I have received photos of RS dash plaques from Jim Van Dam, Dennis Hall, and David James. Did you know these gents?
Bill Wilkman
I was an active member of the Racherfrachers SCC from the mid-60s to the early 1970s, and had a role in the RS club becoming part of the FCCA. I think that I have a box of leftover newsletters and documents in storage. I’ll try to locate the box.
I was also a member of the Racherfrachers SCC, but for a short time from ’67 to mid ’69 (SCC stuff much ended for me when I joined the USMC in June, ’69).
I was only a senior in High School when I joined and was labelled “The Kid” by some, a deserving title since I knew practically nothing and looked even younger than my age (16). Despite that, I was treated kindly by everyone in the club and I learned a lot by the association. I remember Noel (corvette) and others, especially Chuck Newport and Gary Connor both of whom had early 60’s Alfas.
I have a couple of pictures and some dash plaques somewhere. I will try to find them and get some pdfs made.
Very interesting history, Rick. Many of the folks who have contacted me reported similar experiences to yours, regarding the openness of the club to younger enthusiasts.
I was a member of the Racherfrachers and good friends with Noel and Rick (I was a little older than Rick, but still one of the younger members). Noel and I were rallyemasters during the time I sold my 850 Mini and got my new ’67 Barracuda and spent some good times setting up two different courses in case there was heavy fog on rallye night. Some fun times going over the top of Mt. Hamilton in Noel’s 396 Corvette.
Sorry for the delayed response, Dennis. I usually receive notices of postings. But, for some reason no notices have come through for the past several months.I wondered why things were so quiet in FCCA-Land! Cool to hear about your experiences with Racherfrachers. Do you know David James? He’s on my mailing list. It must have been quite a culture shock to go from an 850 Mini to a Barracuda! If you run across any photos or memorabilia, please let me know. I’m always interested in scans of photos and photos of artifacts.
Just stumbled onto this website and was transported back to the good old days!! I recognized all of your names even. I wish I had kept some of the flyers for rallies, one site wanted $600 for one! For a bit of the history, the name came from a beer tv add. A cartoon character was putting and always missed. Each time he said something like “dirty racherfracher” in place of swearing. When Chuck Newport, me, Denny Mclaren, Johnny Johnson were discussing the name for the to-be-formed club, Denny suggested Racherfrachers. It got instant approval.
The only stuff I have left is a bunch of rally plaques and some slides that may or may not be still good. Anyone wanting to reminiss, fell free to contact me.
Nice to hear from you, Gary. I received several illustrations from Johnny Johnson’s wife following his passing. David James donated to the archives a large number of dash plaques and other memorabilia. I would be interested in anything you have that is related to the Racherfrachers. I would be happy to pay postage. Let me know if you’re interested in donating these items to the archives and I’ll provide a mailing address.
Please add my email to Racherfrachers email. Sorry when Johnny Johnson passed. I was interested in RS ralleys and Autocrosses by Dave Talley when we both worked at the SJMN. And I met Chuck Newport when I ran quite a few RS terrific rallyes. Loved RS Halloween rallyes up into the Los Gatos hills. My first car was an early VW and then a 65′ VW. Met John Reed, Dave James, Dick Southern, their wives and several other members when I joined the great FCCA, NCRT. We had many rally flyers made by Johnny Johnson’s Teapot Studio. He drew fantastic flyers. I still have few of his original flyers. I would love to have any copies of NCRT or any other rallye clubs from FCCA. Gary, is there a website for RS that I could visit? Hope this FCCA site is staying active for us proud, old members. Happy New Year 2022.
I’m another RS member who had a great time Friday nights and weekends on the many backroads in and around Santa Clara County. Yes, our flyers drawn by Johnny Johnson were known all over the rally community. I wish I had kept them.
Thanks for your interesting comment. I have many RS dash plaques on a huge display board. This was given to me by David James. After Johnny passed, his wife gave me copies of his amazing artwork. These are preserved in the FCCA archive.
Thanks for commenting on the FCCA web site. As noted elsewhere, I have copies of Johnny’s artwork in the FCCA archives.