Gordon Tom’s family history runs deep
“I worked in our Nguyen Market on Second and C streets. I started working when I was nine years old. The first job you get is to sweep the floors. Then later on, I followed a lot of my cousins and a lot of my younger cousins followed me; that’s how our family was. So, then when you go to a freshman in high school you moved up a block to Third and C. That was our Marysville Furniture store. Then around junior of senior in high school – we had another store on Fourth Street – you’d go to the Save More store. We had one in Gridley, Yuba City and in Marysville. After that I joined the Army in 1958 and I became a tanker. My tour of duty was in Germany.” Gordon Tom, a founder of the Chinese American Museum of Northern California, stands in the doorway of the building on March 9.
farm and started it in Chinatown, but it grew so large I had to move it to another farm over in Yuba City. After awhile, I got out of the chinchilla business . ... Around 1966 or so I opened Golden T Automotive. We manufactured dune buggies and we raced. We designed a dune buggy called the GT Rhino. Desert racing was mostly down in Southern California, so we traveled and transported everything there. In 1972 I was picked up by a team in Mission Hills.”
Q: So, what happened after that?
A: “Well I retired from my racing in 1976. After I retired, I got into remotecontrol off-road cars. I also started up the Golden T Hobby Sports Shop. Some of these things I shuttled down to L.A., because that’s where it was happening. It would have probably been easier and cheaper, but I’m stubborn and this is my home. I’ve
been here my whole life. Besides the two years I lived in Torrance for my racing and my time in the Army, I’ve been here my whole life.”
Q: What’s the latest thing you’re working on?
A: “Three years ago I started the GT Challenge Race. It’s my latest thing. The race involves five teams of five putting together the cars they use. They race them on the track I have set up in Chinatown and scores are calculated at the end. Whoever wins gets all the cars, that’s how we did it in the ’50s. There are no second or third place winners. It was called a pink slip race.”
(Tom plans to continue experimenting and adjusting the race over time. He hopes it keeps growing and gaining momentum. He said the Soapbox Derby started in 1934 in Dayton, Ohio, so maybe his race can grow to a similar large scale.) Business hours: Monday-friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Main number .................... Steve Miller ......................
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