Long Time Member of BNI & SCTA Ed Safarik passed away this morning. He was the editor of SCTA News and Record keeper at Bonneville. God Speed Ed.
Wow, bummer. May he rest in peace. We knew Ed also as the photographer for many of the SCTA's website photos and from his visits to Maxton and on and on. Our thoughts to the entire racig world. We've lost another one of 'em. . . :-(
Ed will be missed, he had a big heart for our sport and with his great picture he kept us update what is going on....R.I.P. Ed
Sorry to hear. Ed was recently moved to assisted living and we were planning a visit next week.
Joanie & I send prayers to his four daughters and family
What a drag. One of the good ones. R.I.P. :cry:
So very sorry to hear this. Ed was a truly nice guy and a Gentleman; as a father, he was a role model for me.
R.I.P.
Willi
Kraut Bros.
I am so sorry to hear of Eds passing. When I took the job of the timing tags it was a nightmare to say the least. Ed came up with a way to help me especially at Bonneville to streamline the information. We worked together on it and he continually amazed me on making anything he touched with his skills better. May he rest in Peace.....JD
I guess I spoke a little prematurely. I was under the impression that Ed had already moved to assisted living. I now hear that they were waiting for him to get a little stronger but, that didn't happen.
A loss indeed,
DW
2011 Gas-UP | Historian of the Year
Ed Safarik was born in 1935 in Los Angeles, California to parents Ed and Mary Safarik. His father was an Army Reserve Captain whose duty commands took the family many places. Ed recalls their time in Pismo where the house was only a half block from "the best beach on the Pacific coast" where he spent every day before the family moved on.
At age 14 he got a part-time job that paid .75 cents an hour at Al's Shell Service on the corner of La Cienaga and Venice where he tested inner tubes and repair leaks . . ., you gotta start someplace. Ed bought his first car, a 1939 Ford coupe for $75. and began crawling underneath cars. Next came a '34 Ford roadster with a Carson top that he channeled the body, added a 3 1/2 dropped axle, and '39 backing plates all around with 5:50x16 front tires and 6:50x16 rear tires giving the car a nice rake. In went a Ford flathead six that he bored out and installed an Isky cam with a Knudsen head together with a Knudsen 3 carburetor intake with 97's.
In his senior year dad was stationed in Okinawa and Ed was one of 11 who graduated from Kubasaki High School in 1954 --a stone's throw from the beach filled with beautiful fish and reef formations that he frequented to avoid the unexploded ordinance and Habu snakes that inhabited the interior. He watched Chuck Yeager in simulated dog fights piloting an F86, and weathered a moderate typhoon.
Back in the USA he started as a mechanics apprentice working for Johnny Akutagawa. He bought a 1940 Ford coupe for $100. and installed the 6-cylinder Ford. The car was fast. Next he bought a new 1956 Chevy 150 business coupe with the Power Pack engine for $1,600. And immediately installed 36-inch mufflers, removed the air cleaner and went looking for guys to street race. He also won a trophy at Lyon's Drag Strip that he still has to this day.
A member of the Screwdrivers Club with the Russetta Timing Association invited him to El Mirage for timing trials. He was hooked. Joined the club and participated in nearly every meet from 1956 to 1958 with his Chevy running in the mid 120's. He set record for A Sports Car at 108 mph driving a friend's 1952 Triumph TR2.
He has a degree in Electronic Technology with a minor in Math before getting drafted in the Army in 1959 where he fooled around with missiles until his discharge in 1961. Back to civilian life, he worked for a Beechcraft aircraft dealer at Van Nuys Airport installing avionics until he enrolled at New Mexico State University and graduated in 1968 and led to a dream job in radar development writing Fortran scientific programming.
Ed married Sandy Randolph in 1970 together they had four children: Trudy, Angelina, Amy and Mary. Sandy brought son Terry to the family when they married filling the Safarik household to seven.
He went to work for Lockheed in 1980 working temporarily on the U-2 and the SR-71 until the lab was built to handle data analysis for the F-117. This was really a "hush-hush" program. People would ask him if he was working on stealth stuff and he replied, "No, Northrup was doing that sort of work on the B-2," and he never cracked a smile.
Ed's co-worker in the Laboratory was gal named Pam who married land speed racer Mike Manghelli and then met Bob Jucewic and Dave Bloomberg. Back he went to El Mirage for a speed meet in 1998 and then joined the Sidewinders in 1999. A '29 street roadster, # 300, was purchased from Tom Gerardi and Ed ran all meets until 2004 when he sold the roadster back to Tom. Mike and Paula Meierle partnered with him in those years and while Ed never set any records, Mike Meierle did and currently holds records in F/BMMP at Maxton and Bonneville. Both Mike and Ed drove at El Mirage, Muroc, Bonneville and Maxton.
Ed served as the editor of the SCTA Racing News from 2003 to 2010; he also devoted a great deal of his time posting results on the SCTA/BNI web site and taken thousands of photos of racing action at Bonneville and El Mirage since 2000.
Rest in peace -- and take photos of the racing now that you won't have any crazy spectators in your way when all of the heroes leave the line.
Nancy and Slim
Sorry to hear of Ed's passing. Ed bought Bill Henderson's roadster from me in 1999. It needed a motor, as Bill's motor had expired, so he bought a 283 Chevy and ran it for a couple of years, modifying it and having fun until it expired, then he built a 355 Chevy motor for the roadster.
Ed was such a nice guy. When I bought the car back, he made me promise that I would let his Brother in Law, Mike Meierle drive the car during the next El Mirage season. That was a fun season Ed, Thanks.
I ran across a picture Ed gave me of him standing behind the roadster when running the 283 motor in it, along side his Ford push truck at El Mirage.
Godspeed Ed, you were a workhorse for both the SCTA and the Sidewinders car club (Club Secretary for many years). Everyone will miss you and your talents.
Tom G.
Indeed a sad day for me...Ed gave me salt fever with that roadster, taught me how to build a SBC and many other lessons in life by example. I will sorely miss him and his company.
Mike M.
It seems like the LA area was a sort of magical place at that time for speedy cars and lots of nice people in the sport.