From: Norm Johnson
Date: 01-26-2016
A wonderful friend of mine, and a lot of history, has left this land he loved so much for a special place, on what I figure is a “Big Ranch in the Sky.” Darwin Lamb, the last of the iconic family that included Senator Floyd Lamb, and Sheriff Ralph Lamb, passed away the other day at his ranch in Cedar City, Utah. I first met Darwin (83) in 1967 when I was working for the Mint Hotel as its public relations director. At that time he was a member of the Clark County Commission, and I was working on an idea I had for an off-road race. I knew he was a cowboy and that he probably would be the “Go-to-Guy” to help me, should I need permits for the race, etc. Oh, the name of the race? “The Del Webb Mint 400 Off-Road Rally.”
After sending off two guys and a news photographer to race from Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe (our sister hotel the Sahara Tahoe) in 1967, and getting all kinds of national publicity for the stunt, I talked to Darwin in the coffee shop of the hotel one day. He loved the idea of making it a real race with a bunch of jeeps and dune buggies competing. Everyone that knows anything about off-road racing knows the rest of that story—it’s one of the biggest and most important races of its kind in the world to this day. The big thing was he would help push it through, and he wanted to race in it!
After Bill Bennett, General Manager of the Mint Hotel, approved of the idea, I sat up a meeting with Darwin. The date of the race was set for April, 1968. Darwin suggested we go talk to the owner of the local American Motors dealership, Herb Biddulph, where they sold the good old World War II Jeep. Darwin called and sat up a meeting. After about 30 minutes Lamb had convinced the owner to LOAN him a new jeep so he could race in the Mint 400, and to provide some AMC cars as official vehicles for the race. Darwin had a roll-bar built on the Jeep and some other alterations to prepare it for the race. I had a red jeep loaned to me which I used to get around town and to help publicize the race. Of course, Herb had no idea what an off-road race could do to a Jeep, or what Darwin was doing to it. The race was a huge success, and Darwin, who crashed a couple of times, had to return the jeep to the dealership. Needless to say it was pretty much destroyed. But, Darwin was so proud of the fact that he went further than Indy 500 champion Parnelli Jones, who destroyed his Bronco. I think it was eventually sold as junk.
Over the years we would get together for various events, or just to sit down and enjoy telling stories over a glass of booze at his ranch like restaurant out on the edge of town. Clark Bingham, who at the time was married to one of the Lamb daughters, and I, had formed an off-road racing team. We had a Class one unlimited race buggy built to compete in, not only the Mint 400, but the famous Baja races. The Lambs had an annual tradition of rounding up wild Mustang Horses on a range outside of Alamo, where the Lamb ranch was located, and where the Lamb family was raised. It was a working ranch too. Clark convinced Darwin to go to his brothers and ask if we could bring one of our dune buggies to the round-up. “We could outrun the horses and bring them across the valley quicker and deliver the herd to the wranglers on their horses, and they would finish up the job with fresh horses,” was how Bingham sold the idea. Permission was granted. But Ralph Lamb remained skeptical of course. We eventually proved to the Sheriff that it was a good idea. That was the plan. It worked for a while, but we did end up getting a couple flat tires, then we crashed in a hidden gully, and by the time nightfall approached Clark and I were beat. It was more work than racing in the Mint 400. Every night Ralph would have a truck deliver a catered dinner for the group. We sat around a campfire and I listened to some of the wildest stories I had ever heard. We did this for a couple of years. For a kid from the City to participate in something like a round-up, and to hear those stories, was a very special treat. And now those stories are gone forever.
The last time I talked to Darwin was just after his brother, Ralph, was buried. We said we would get together for a dinner soon. I was planning on going to Utah next month. Now I only have some wonderful memories of a great guy, who lived the life of a cowboy and did it good! He is survived by his beautiful wife, Mavourneen, and children Tommy, Ocey, Marion, and a number of grand-kids. Farewell old friend. Have a great ride. April 20, 1932 – January 24, 2016
THIS AND THAT QUICKLY:
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