Rulon McGregor

A newspaper clipping about the fatal crash the killed Rulon, from the "Daily Courier, Friday, May 27, 1949".

Rulon Oral McGregor (10.13.1927 - 05.22.1949) of Monterey Park, California was a member of the SCTA Road Runners Car Club.

In 1948 Rulon's name, actually misspelled Rulan, appears in results from the September 12 Rusetta meet at El Mirage. Driving for the Stockholders car club in a "B" roadster he was clocked at 118.57 mph. November 7, 1948, Rulon ran again at anothe Rusetta meet, turning 114.35 in the "C" roadster (250 - 300 cid) class.

Rulon worked with Bill Burke at steel company. In 1948 Bill and Rulon was part of a team led by Lou Baney building a giveaway 1932 Ford roadster for the 1948 Hot Rod Exposition. The following year, the show was extended in to a 9 days event. To better the previous years accumplisment and with a whole 6 days more to fill it was decided to build not one but two 1932 Ford roadsters. One of the teams were led by Bill Burke, and Bill used Rulon in his crew along with Harvey Haller. The other team, led by Lou Baney consisted of Frank Breene, Lou Baney and Newell Durling. The roadsters were once again dis-assembled, repaired, painted and re-assembled as traditional 1932 Ford roadsters. The roadster Bill and Rulon worked on was painted Burple, a blue purple cross paint color developed by Bill. The Burple roadster was won by a Long Beach lady, Mrs. F.C Bailey.

In 1949 Rulon's name appears on the entry list for the May 7-8, 1949 SCTA speed trials at El Mirage. Rulon ran car number 121, listed as a T lakester, and his best time on Saturday was 134.32 mph. May 22, 1949, two weeks later, Rulon entered a Bell Timing Association sanctioned event at El Mirage. After finishing a run, McGregor was returning to the starting area. He crashed into the side of a 1940 Ford coupe patrol car driven by Gents member Robert Fadave. Fadave had made three runs already, but was not on the race course. He had picked up Jackson Pendleton and John Cuthbert and was driving around. Fadave fails to see Rulon as he is speeding towards the starting line, he decides to take a fatal short cut, angling right across the race course. Rulon's accelerating roadster T-bones the coupe squarely in the driver side, the roadster bounced off into the air and rolled over. Both cars were traveling between 60 and 90 MPH at the time of the collision. The coupe flipped over, rolled and slide a few feet before it came to rest. Nearly all panels on the coupe were smashed up in the accident. Rulon and Jackson were killed instantly and Robert died while being transported in an ambulance to San Bernardino County Hospital. John had serious injuries, but survived the crash. Right after the accident a few spectators pulled out their cameras and took some pictures. Bell Timing Association officials and others tried to wrest the cameras away and destroy the films. Hot Rod Magazine intentionally downplayed deadly lakes racing accidents since it was felt that unfavorable publicity could result in a stoppage of racing. One of the spectators witnessing the accident was Lynn Yakel. Lynn was driving onto the lakes with Frank Leonard and Connie Weidell in a 1936 Ford coupe. Lynn remembers seeing the coupe cutting across the course, they all noticed it, and he remembers that someone said "What's that asshole doing?" Yakel recalls people who were trying to take pictures had their cameras smashed. He also remembers that after a few hours they resumed racing at the lake.

Rulon McGregor's Cars

Rulon McGregor's Lakester
Rulon McGregor's 1939 Mercury