Car club honors 2 in Memory Lane

Although never official members of the Igniters Car Club, George Elletson and George Earle will always be a part of their history.

Dave Swenson, one of the original co-founders of the Igniters back in 1961, said Elletson and Earle have been recognized as part of the group’s “Memory Lane” with plaques in their honor hanging on the wall.

Elletson and Earle – both deceased – always came to the Igniters’ car shows, Swenson said, as antique car enthusiasts.

“George Elletson had an old ’36 Ford that car club members painted and fixed up,” Swenson said. “He ran it in the parade before he died.”

Earle, known to his friends as “Scrawn,” had a 1946 Chevy pickup and a 1929 Model A.

“George was into stock-car racing,” Swenson said. “He was a driver and mechanic and was into stock-car racing around the Pacific Northwest.”

Upon Earle’s death, a suggestion for friends and family was to donate to the Igniters.

“Part of it will go toward an annual scholarship that we award to somebody going into the automotive field,” Swenson said.

The club presented a $1,000 award for the first time in 2007-08 to send a student to body school. The education incentive program is designed to help a student who wants to work in some manner with cars, whether it’s as a mechanic, painter or body work.