Wally Parks Museum Names Former Fairfax High Student As Chairman

by Edmund Jenks | January 17, 2011 at 08:23 am

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Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum Names Former Fairfax High School Student As Chairman

Just before Christmas, on December 20 2010, So-Cal Speed Shop Founder and Hot Rod Icon Alex Xydias was named Chairman of the Board of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum presented by Automobile Club of Southern California located at the LA County Fair Grounds, Pomona.

Born in Los Angeles on March 22, 1922, Alex Xydias developed a love of customizing cars early in life. Alex' first hot rod was a '29 roadster he drove to Fairfax High School.

By the time WWII came along, Alex had built two more hot rods, one a '34 coupe and the other, a beautifully customized '34 cabriolet which he found in the lower basement garage at the Ambassador Hotel (now the location of a Taj Mahal of a school complex) in Los Angeles.

He is most remembered for starting the first dedicated speed and custom parts shop for remaking cars to look good and go fast which he established the minute he was out of the military, in Burbank, California after the world war ended. In 1946, Xydias opened the So-Cal Speed Shop in Burbank, CA and established the So-Cal Speed Shop Racing Team. The Team received countless accolades but perhaps none greater than for The So-Cal Special Streamliner, one of the first hot rods to go over 200 mph and featured on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine in January, 1949.

“It’s a great honor to be elected as Chairman,” said Xydias. “My longtime dear friend Wally Parks had tremendous vision and passion for the sport. As Chairman, together with the other board members, I’ll strive to continue Wally’s legacy to develop a museum that is vital to the motorsports community.”

Alex Xydias and board members Thomas K. McKernan, Dave McClelland, Peter Clifford, Gary Darcy, Wayne McMurtry and Steve Gibbs will oversee all Museum activities including the planning and growth of Museum exhibits, fundraising and the popular NHRA Hot Rod Reunions. They will guide, support and advocate for the mission and vision of NHRA Motorsports Museum.

We all look forward to what new exhibits Alex and the board he heads will bring to the museum in 2011. Make sure to drop by the next time the NHRA runs at Pomona for the 51st annual Kragen O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals Thursday - Sunday, February 24-27, 2011 at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, California.

... notes from The EDJE