Darn those women drivers!

Using all his natural and acquired skills, Seth Hammond, founder and president of Specialty Crane & Rigging, in Santa Barbara, took up the highly focused sport of land speed time trials in 1964. Over the years, he has been clocked at an astounding 278 miles per hour.

His wife, Tanis, took up the sport in 1986, taking lessons from Seth. Lo and behold: this year Tanis set two land speed records, one at 280 mph and the other at 298 mph! For her astounding, accomplishments she was recently honored as an international woman in racing. The ceremony took place in Paris. "That was a fun trip," Seth says. The people in charge paid to fly the car as well as Tanis to France for the show. "Can you picture a race car on a 747?"

Seth and Tanis, who grew up and became high school sweethearts in Santa Barbara, share another hobby: both are helicopter pilots. Seth had been flying his own helicopter since 1985. Tanis has been flying one since 1990, but is still classified as a student pilot because she has not taken her final checkride for her license. "She's involved in other things, and the helicopter deal is not a super priority with her," says Seth.

Seth Hammond left his high school sweetheart and his native Santa Barbara shortly after high school graduation to serve in Vietnam for two years, 1967 and 68, with the storied 101st Airborne. Classified as a helicopter door gunner, he was stationed at a place called Camp Eagle, just below the demilitarized zone (DMZ). He and his fellow crew were shot down three times. On each occasion, "I never had so much as a scratch. IsnÕt that amazing?, "he adds. Upon his return to civilian life, Seth took advantage of the GI Bill to attend the University of Northrup at Los Angeles where he enrolled in civil engineering classes and subsequently earned a license to work on airplanes. He was employed in the aircraft business for four years before returning to his native Santa Barbara in 1972 to open his own metal fabrication company. After 12 years of welding and fabricating various types of metals, he began his career in the crane and rigging business with the company he owns today, Specialty Crane & Rigging.

It was not exactly a career switch, but more of an enhancement to an existing business. "I bought a crane in 1984 to assist me in the fabrication business. At the time, my company had a contract with another company working with the US Navy. The contract had to do with an experimental wet submarineÑa submarine where you put divers with dive tanks in it. It's lighter than a typical submarine," he explained.

"Our contract entailed moving the sub from place to place, so the crane purchase seemed to make sense."

Midway through the contract, the company employing Seth's firm ran into hard times and lost the contract. Tough luck? Not for a fellow who already survived being shot down three times in Vietnam and emerging each time intact and without a scratch. By this time, word got around that SethÕs company knew its way around the lifting business. "We decided to put more focus and effort on the crane side of what we did, and thatÕs how we entered the business," he says.

Today, 16 years later, Specialty Crane & Rigging owns both hydraulic and conventional cranes: twelve in all Ñfive Groves, three Link Belts, two Liebherrs, and two Americans, as well as a National Boom Truck and a Bucyrus Erie conventional dirt machine. "We use that for clam shell work, and also for the shoreline reconstruction contracts we have," Seth explains. The largest crane the company owns is the 200 ton Liebherr, purchased two years ago.

Seth's company has performed a variety of projects locally in Santa Barbara, such as work at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as refineries up and down the coast.

Other projects are as varied as Seth's own career. "We have a continuing contract at Vandenburg Air Force Base where we stack missiles." These are the real thing folks, missiles that are actually later fired! Specialty Crane & Rigging was also involved in a recent lift which tested the firm's technical expertise. It involved a bridge in Santa Barbara County. "We were required to lower a 60,000 lb. excavator down a distance of 130 ft. Everything had to be exact because the bridge has just enough capacity to support both crane and excavator." SethÕs company analyzed the problem, then successfully did the job, using an 80 ton Grove hydraulic crane. A long time client (12 years so far) is the Diabalo Nuclear Power Plant, at San Luis Obispo.

And then there's the occasional typical job with an arthritic elephant."Michael Jackson (yes, the Michael Jackson) owns a ranch in Santa Barbara County, about an hour's drive from where we are," Seth says. "The elephant has arthritis, causing him Ñonce in a whileÑto stumble and fall down. Every once in a while, we would get a call from someone at the ranch to come out with a crane to pick up the elephant," Seth says.

A recent out-of-the ordinary job took the company to Hearst Castle where they did some ground testing for the possible future location of radio antennas.

Specialty Crane & Rigging employs 30 people. In addition to Seth, the companyÕs principals include Brett Parish, crane superintendent, a 14 year veteran with the firm. Seth wife's Tanis serves on the companyÕs board of directors.

The Hammonds have been married for 33 years and have three grown children. The oldest is Channing, 27.