Pete
Condos is the man who coined the term Off-Road. He was one
of the major organizers behind National Off-Road Racing
Association (NORRA), International Desert Racing
Association, the Off-Road Drivers and Owners Association and
the Off-Road Equipment Association (OREA).
Born on May 8th, 1925, Condos grew up in the suburbs to the
north of Chicago.
He spent many hours of his young years at a local speed shop
learning the skills needed to customize cars making them
into hot rods. At the garage he helped to hop up Model A’s
and B’s. During this time he took additional classes and
earned his certification as a welder which would further
allow him to modify cars. His time spent at the garage came
to a quick end with the beginning of World War II.
In 1942 he joined the United States Navy. He served in the
Pacific on the U.S.S. Nevada as a seaman. After the war
Condos returned to the Chicago area. He completed his high
school education and resumed his interest in hot rods. On
the GI bill he started attending classes for a degree in
Commercial Arts; however his interests kept drawing him back
to the vehicles. He began building and racing roadsters and
coupes. His first Roadster being a 1934 Ford that he
completed in 1948. He became a charter member of Andy
Granitellis Hurricane Hot Rod Racing Association.” In 1948
Pete moved to Southern California.
He fell easily into the California car culture and joined
“The Throttler Hot Rod Club” a dry lakes racing group. While
Condos raced he has stated that he always found fabricating
the race cars the more enjoyable of the two related
activities. His building skills led him to an early career
as a fabricator. In 1950 Earl “Madman” Muntz hired him to
assist with the fabrication of the Muntz Road Jet car.
Condos worked for Muntz building the high-end custom cars
which were purchased by some of Hollywood’s elite.
With the Muntz company Condos made the move back to the
suburbs of Chicago. There he met Carol Jean Wood and they
married in 1952. The couple has one child, Victoria. With
Muntz closing the doors on the car building business in 1954
the Condos family returned to Southern California.
Once back in California, Condos continued fabricating cars
and working in a metal fabricating shop. In 1961 Condos
purchased his first I.H. Scout a move which would eventually
change the path of his career. He purchased the Scout so
that his hunting trips to Nevada, Montana and Idaho would be
easier. On the trips he realized the need for different
accessories for the Scout. With his welding skills he began
making accessories for the Scout. He worked with Frank Ferro
and the two would discuss accessories that would be useful
for both Jeeps and Scouts. The two men started their own
company, Con-Ferr in 1961.
Con-Ferr made specialty off-road items for Scouts and with
the 1962 arrival of the Toyota Land Cruiser and Land Rover;
they began making accessories for those vehicles as well.
The business grew quickly and by 1963 Con-Ferr had dived
into the business of selling Land Cruisers in addition to
accessories. Around this time Ferro bowed out of the
business. With Con-Ferr already being an established and
incorporated name, Condos kept the business name the same.
Con-Ferr became one of the largest Toyota dealers in
California. Condos operated the Burbank dealership with an
accessory store for four wheel drive vehicles as well as a
factory down the street where the accessories where made and
custom fabrications took place. Both national and foreign
manufactures of four wheel drive vehicles adopted many of
the Condos’ original ideas as standard features.
Condos continued his interest in racing cars and making the
necessary modifications to speed them up. In 1964 he joined
a group of racers at the Riverside race organized by
Southern Californian, Jeep dealer, Brian Chuchua (ORMHOF
1976 Inductee). Condos raced his “Convert Cougar” along the
semi- dry riverbed. His driver, Bill Haddad took Condos’
vehicles to 18 victories in the 21 races he participated in.
In the early 1960’s Ed Pearlman came into Condos’ dealership
and introduced himself. The two men formed a friendship
based around their love of four-wheeling. Pearlman owned a
Land Cruiser that needed some attention. They would take
weekend runs in rural California. There was enough interest
in the runs by other four wheelers that Pearlman and Condos
formed a club called the “Stump Jumpers.”
In 1966, Pearlman, intrigued by the timed runs of
motorcyclists through Baja talked a group of friends into a
small race of their own in their four wheel vehicles. Condos
sponsored one and prepared both of the Land Cruisers in the
race. Claude Dozier and Ed Orr. Pearlman and Dick Cepek
drove theToyota Land Cruisers with Chevy engines. Bruce
Myers donated a Myers Maxx buggy for the press vehicle,
driven by Drino Miller and John Lawlor a journalist.
Pearlman and Condos came to the conclusion that there needed
to be a more organized way of putting on four wheel races
and standardized timing of the events.
Once back in Southern California Condos, Pearlman and
friends got together and discussed the idea. For the first
time “Off-Road” was used to describe what had been
previously been termed “four wheeling.” Condos felt that the
term off-road captured the sport and found the term more all
encompassing than four wheeling. The term would allow for
the inclusion of dirt bikes and buggies. At the meeting
Condos came up with the name, National Off-Road Racing
Association (NORRA) and truly coined the term “Off-Road”.
“Off-Road” is now apart of the American vocabulary.
Only Condos came up with the initial $500 to match
Pearlman’s to start the organization and therefore became a
fifty percent owner of NORRA. As a fifty-fifty owner Condos
actively participated in the planning of the early Baja
1000.
In the beginning Condos and Pearlman worked together running
NORRA. In 1969 they amicably went their separate ways and
Condos sold his share of NORRA. Condos took on the
organization of the Mint 500, sponsored by the Mint Casino
in Las Vegas. The race remained popular for two decades with
one of the biggest cash purses of any race.
While Condos actively ran his business Con-Ferr and worked
as a race promoter, he still continued to fabricate race
vehicles. He helped build cars for famous drivers such as
Steve McQueen and James Gardner as well as his own Class One
unlimited vehicles. He ran the “Brick Privy” named so for
its solid construction in less genteel terms by McQueen.
Condos actively participated in the off-road racing scene
until 1973. SEMA named him the “Off Road Man of the Year”
for the 1979-1980, a career highlight for Condos. In 1998
Condos sold Con-Ferr and retired. He still maintains a small
fabricating shop in which he continues to design and
fabricate accessories and cars on a hobby basis..
Condos is partially responsible for the formation of the
Off-Road Hall of Fame’s existence, in that he passed on the
idea on to its creator Ed Pearlman. Condos stated that one
of his favorite things is that he had the fortune to see the
formation of off-roading from its inception to the sport
which it has grown to today.
Sources:
Telephone Interview with Pete Condos, May 2006.
Notes from Pete Condos, July 2006
Fiolka, Marty. 2005. 1000 Miles to Glory, The History of the
Baja 1000. Pheonix, AZ.: David Bull Publishing.
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