The Cal-look Lounge

Wow! That's ANOTHER GREAT history lesson from you John. Thanks again for sharing. I've always wondered about him. It's wonderful to reunite with old friends. I remember seeing him in some old photos.

Cool stuff, thanks John.  How tall is "the mass", he seems to tower over everyone else.   :o

Looking forward to meeting him at a VW event in the future.
 :)

maybe you should take the VW event to him !
Perhaps a surprise DKP cruise to his house ?
A blast from the past could possibly do wonders for his health ?

Great idea Richard. 

John, did Doug ever drive the cars, or was there always a driver?  Was Doug the mechanic?  Or, was Doug the owner only?

Sorry if these are dumb questions   ;D

I love a good history lesson....thanks

John, what were the "years of existence" for the orange Underdog 1 and the white Underdog 2? 

I became a partner in the Underdog with Doug and Ron the last season it raced. My memory is a little fuzzy, but we dismantled the car to build a VW powered Fiat to be sponsored by Ken Lowry. We had the car and started working on it but unfortunately, Ken insisted we use a Hewland 5 speed with straight cut gears and a dog-leg shift  from 1st to 2nd which Ron insisted would not work. I'm not clear of the details, but the whole deal fell through and we all went our separate ways. The Fiat was never finished and I think Ron struck a deal with Greg for Tar Babe, which Greg had finished about the time we took apart the "Dog" . Greg was trying some new ideas with the motor (spread port heads) and was becoming frustrated with the results although I don't think he gave it a fair chance. This might be why he lost interest in Tar Babe.

I laugh when I remember Doug at the starting line in his bare feet. We were quite the crew, especially when you add Stan Davis who tagged along and added a bit of.........well.......how can I say this?.................Let's just say he was an interesting person and he taught me a lot of things I wouldn't want my grandson to know. LOL


Marc Buehler

Interesting Marc. A dog leg shift for drag racing doesnt seem ideal.

 ;)

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is the fiat behind the dog is the one  you're talking ??

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As usual, Fabs you are amazing with your ability to connect this stuff and also produce the pictures!   :o

Yes, that it be.


My memory is a bit hazy about those days (perhaps I indulged in too many drugs in the sixties?)
so I usually refrain from sharing my stories in fear I might not have all the facts exactly right.
Often, the professor (John) is able to penetrate my memory blocks and little snippets leak out.

Doug Gordon;
I had never met Doug until I became involved with the Underdog so I didn't know him well.
What John describes as his dress code is correct..........except when he went to work where he wore a suit....an amazing contrast.
With his size, The Mass came across as very intimidating but he is one of the nicest guys. As the 'new guy', I wasn't about to tell
Ron or Doug how to do things. I just coughed up a few dollars, did what I was told, and really enjoyed myself.
I wouldn't trade my times with Doug and Ron for anything.

Underdog;
For a short while, we had a sponsorship with Ken Lowry. One night at Lions Drag Strip, the DDS oil pump seized, with disastrous results. As people came by and asked us what happened, we couldn't tell them what a piece of junk the pump was (sorry if I step on anyones toes). After that we ran the always reliable Gene Berg pump with the DDS cover so it looked like we were running that pump. So just because a car is sponsored by a manufacturer, doesn't necessarily mean it is running their parts.

Marc

Often, the professor (John) is able to penetrate my memory blocks and little snippets leak out.

Should I use a longer and larger drill bit to get more data out of Marc's memory??  Will someone PLEASE supply some drop cloths for the mess that will come of this action???    ;) ;)

So here’s my take on Doug Gordon.  Both Marc and John are correct.  Doug was one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.  For me, I was about 17 when I first met him, (around 1970), and just got into VW’s.  I spent just about every Wednesday nite down at OCIR watching any VW’s that showed up to race.  As it was pretty common for the Underdog to be there on a Wednesday, I got to know Doug and he was nice enough to let a young kid like me hang around with the pit crew and ride along in the tow car.  It was a great learning experience for me to see racing that close up.  Doug, along with Marc and John were my mentors on VW’s and VW performance back then.  They were pretty much my information source on cars, and products by explaining what worked and what didn’t.  Nice of all three to help out a kid still in high school. 

One of my favorite stories about Doug watching him explain to police one nite that it wasn’t street racing going on, but actually a car rally.  Part of Doug’s story was that he was not a finish line marker, but actually a rally “check point” All while about 50 cars were scattering in every direction!  They bought his story too!

This might sound crazy, but back around that time, between the car rally’s and racing, (both track and street), and all of the different cars and people in the VW seen, I always felt it would make a great movie.  Being a little younger than most involved at that time, I think I had the chance to sit back view events more as a spectator and less as a participant, than the others involved.   It was fun to watch back then, and still a great memory now.

…Ed.

I worked with Doug for over 20 years. We were good friends. Here is what we did at work when Doug lost his eye.

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Trivia..... Douglas Oliver Gordon..... aka "D-O-G" Betcha didn't know that one.

Actually, I did. His mom was Ann Oliver Gordon and his grandma was Josephine Oliver.

As mentioned on another post, but here's the photos.

Sorry to be late here.  I shared many a good time with Doug years ago.  I can still smell the spilled bottle of gear oil
and stale McDonalds left-overs while out chasing parts in his white bus to this day.  He was a great friend; one who
would do anything for you at the drop of a hat.  I lost my ring and pinion one night at OCIR.  Ron Fleming and Doug
were there with the Underdog, too.  Since I'd driven my car to the track, I had no way of easily getting it home.  So
the Underdog got trailered back to F&A then Doug turned around and came back for me... something I never forgot.
Wish I had the original of the 'Dog and it's crew.  L-R Ron Fleming, me, Doug, Gene Berg, Dennis DeMarco and Roy
Jimenez; the white pants and orange t-shirts were the hot ticket!  The other pic is with Christie Lazenby at the first DKP
reunion.  RIP Doug.

Thank you to everyone on Sunday. Doug would have been over the moon - oh wait, he is! I have a great pic here of Gregg and Ron.

Very touching.  I bet Doug would be very happy to know his DKP friends from long ago were there for him at the end.