Ed Daniels: Engines, Skill, and Speed
Ed Daniels' early education in San Bernardino, California, included woodshop and welding and mechanics and other skills that are a traditional part of the U.S. schools curriculum. Ed found that thread of crafts to his liking and worked to sharpen his already strong aptitude with the power of a natural interest. A low-key and good-natured man, Ed today simply and modestly notes that he was a mechanic at age 16, and his confidence around the tools and engines he works with is something of a marvel for those perhaps less gifted. Ed was able to build street rods and racing motors from early on in his career, and he says his present-day expertise is the result of long hours spent working on engines and crafting solutions to the need for greater and greater speeds.Mr. Daniels clearly was a natural in the world of engines and drag racing where he worked and raced in the mid-1950's until about 1960, and he was involved in NHRA bracket drag racing in the early 1970's which involved dialing in a speed for a car and winning based on the best speed and time within the bracket. It is no surprise that his ability blossomed with his part in the development of a roadster body and engine that pushed the limits of recorded speed at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Working with Art Goldstrom during those years, Ed built the chassis and put together a car with a Ford rear end and a Jericho five-speed air-shift transmission that qualified for a record run in 2005 with a pass on the three-mile course at 218 plus mph; however, the car failed to perform at that speed on the five-mile record attempt. Fundamentally that same car was teamed in 2010 with a Jesel Dodge NASCAR motor (800+ hp) to produce a record-breaking Salt Flats roadster. With Jimmy Shine driving the car in 2010, the car set the Class B Street Roadster record at 223.623 mph and the Class C Street Roadster record at 225.758 mph. Mr. Daniels is now building another roadster for his own run at a record at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Ed's shop and garage area at the Goldstrom facility usually has no fewer than three cars in progress, and it is a quiet meeting place for those with similar interests when Ed takes a break from his detailed and thoroughly knowledgeable work. Mr. Daniels has worked under Art Goldstrom's Nostalgia Street Rods umbrella from 1996 to the present with an interlude or two, and their collaboration has given the world of hot rods many a capable and eye-catching car.
G.A. Villa, March 16, 2011