Best Drag Racing Era [Archive]

fatassbuick

09-08-2003, 10:20 PM

Ok, I try to keep from opinions on the board, but I'm half drunk and curious...what do you think is the best drag racing era? I thought I was all about the mid 60's until I saw the altereds and funny cars from the early 70s, and seeing the Rat Trap crew wearing the uniforms (and they even had the whole long hair/beard look!) and the AA/FCs with the crazy antics at the Christmas tree, I started thinking about when I was a little kid hanging around under the bleachers at Lions and drag racing was trying to cater to the whole family...anyways, I digress. Any opinions? And why?

Crosley

09-08-2003, 10:29 PM

we would drive from Phoenix to Tucson & watch the Fuel altered cars run in the early 70's.

A friend had a bugeye Sprite we would drive down there

DrJ

09-08-2003, 10:35 PM

I think in a hundred years, historians will refer to it as "the drag race or Drag strip era", as if it was just one era that spanned from the late 40s to whenever "they" finally close the last strip, and ban racing through heavy vehicle confiscation, whic has started already.

It's has always been a constant progression of ever improving parts cars drivers and lower ETs.
Lower ETs. that's why the 1/4 mile is the only relavant distance to race a drag race. 1/8 mile doesn't do it. it might as wel just be 60 feet as be a 1/8 mile.

What was the Q?
Oh, I like the fulers, front engine ones especially...and Altereds.
Funny cars I just don't get, exceptI understand that they get financed better because theres more room to advertise on their bodies...

Radshit

09-08-2003, 10:39 PM

No particular era suits me.......I like them all!

FEDS
Gassers
Altereds
Factory stock wars
Funny cars

Roothawg

09-08-2003, 10:41 PM

1964-1968

Broman

09-09-2003, 12:50 AM

Hey funny you should bring this up...I'm drunk too!!

Now where was I? Ohh the drags....I like the .......ummmm.......Uhhhhhh......I dunno.

The early 70's were pretty rad. Tire technology was coming on strong and the musclecar bodies were just plain sexy. I vote for that - make mullet jokes if you want I still love 'em. It is the last decade where makes were not being powered by the "corporate" engine (trying to avoid the SBC bitch fest). Anyways, Pontiacs were still Poncho powered, Buicks still ran their own stuff and so on. It gets my vote just for that.

The 60's were pretty bad ass too - don't get me wrong - I am just voting for the 70's because it strikes me that there was a lot of good racing then and it is like the bastard son of decades.

brutus t maximus

09-09-2003, 01:01 AM

not sure what time period was the best, a lot of it was before my time,,

but i can sure tell you when it ended for me.

it must have been 1983 spring nationals...

there was a kid that came up each time in his copper colored chevelle, one round after another .. he kept on winning,,
took the money in the end, he did, he and his dad.

what is special or significant about this you might ask?,,, well it was the last time i saw an unsponsored car win on the national level, he had not one sponsor or sticker on that car anywhere, not even an stp sticker from the filling station.

seems to me that had to be then end of what the sport was all about, as all you see anymore is coporate sponsored mega buck cars, in drag racing, and in ever frigging thing that is possible...

hell wont be long and i expect to see budwieser sponsoring a ratrod at "billetproof"

bob

Rocky

09-09-2003, 01:07 AM

My favorite drag-race era? 'Bout 3 weeks ago.

Tman

09-09-2003, 01:20 AM

I am about 34, my dad did it all in the 60s...circle track drags, etc. In 70 he set an NHRA Record, he was there when the World of Outlaws was an inkling in the early 70s. He got the vibe from what we did at MOKAN! He will never spill it to me but the fact he wants to build an FED is love to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FLAT-TOP BOB

09-09-2003, 08:11 AM

i'm with rocky, MOKAN 2003

hatch

09-09-2003, 08:18 AM

Right up to the time when bracket racing started...never could understand the brakelights before the finish line.

**DONOTDELETE**

09-09-2003, 08:36 AM

Long before delay boxes, weather stations, tranny brakes, Powerglides or Lencos in dragsters, double roll bar hoops, traction compound on the starting line.....the list is long. After the mid-60's it became a catalog sport where very few built their own stuff. That's when I lost interest.

I remember the NHRA division event at Minnesota Dragways in 1965. We were running very close to the A/Dragster national record. A lady from NHRA asked me if I wished to make a record attempt run. I replied, "Sure !" She said, "That will be ten dollars, please." I said, "For what ?" She told me I had to join NHRA to set a record. If I had eclipsed the record that day it would not have counted because I wouldn't give her 10 bucks. The next year I was running an open wheel car on the dirt ovals....and making money ! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Mike Landwehr

09-09-2003, 10:21 AM

I'd say the era of the most inovation and non comformity 58-68, the "small guy" had a chance to win a title with his Model A garage and no big money sponsors.By lt 68, the pro's had it all sown up (and still do), with the same names in the standings at every race.Micky Thompson ,lady luck,Ohio George ,not mention Garlits and Prudomme just to name a few. SJ , I had much the same experiance at BIR this year just to get a rule book.

48_HEMI

09-09-2003, 12:11 PM

for me it was from 54-64

54 was the first time that my brother and friends took me to the strip http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

64 winternationals was my last race down the strip

my home strip was San Gabriel at all 4 locations along rivergrade rd then it moved to irwindale we made trips to santa ana in 1955 after we heard the "Bustle Bomb " broke the the 150 mark, san fernando to watch C-9 lose lol, lions to watch Jim Lytles Big Al. and even bakersfield for garlits first west coast trip, you wouldn't believe how many booed when he pulled up to the line and how happy we were to see him get his ass kicked by chrisman then he added a supercharger and the rest is history http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I was more into street racing but tried to go legal racing with my street machine but racing against the likes of Stone Woods & Cook, Jr.Thompson, in A/G and B/G before they started the supercharged class was not fun.

In 63 they brought out the modified production class for us little guys and I was running right and the national record for B/MP so I bolted my front bumper and some front end parts back on my Olds and went to Pomona for the 64 winternationals. first round I was up against a 40 willy's from Kansas that bumped the B/MP record up about 25 mph and I went home with my tail between my legs and never went back. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I think the christmas tree and handicap system allows the little guy to run at the strip and thats good but it just doesn't seem like racing to me.

I would like to try it sometime and see if I'm wrong http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:34 PM

In the beginning things were kinda crude... but imagination ruled the roost!

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:36 PM

...and some of us feel that hanging onto the past is something new... this is a digger from 1961... well after the flathead had died off in drag racing... but when asked why... the response was "bcause, it's different"...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:38 PM

But by the early 60's... the SBC was rearing it's head in the smaller classes as a winner... innovation still was a factor...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:39 PM

but a formula for winning was brewing... call it the beginning of the end... the factory built chassis made it simpler...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:42 PM

yet there were still guys like Kent Fuller who did it thier way... they all look the same to the casual observer... but a winning streak on both the race track and at the hearts of those in the know... would set some apart from the others...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:43 PM

...and just when you thought things were getting mundane http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif somebody had to show up with a better mousetrap... how do we make that door slammer go faster? Hide a dragster underneath it! But not with much success...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:44 PM

But they were cool...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:46 PM

But this story does not end with the almighty digger... our roots were from the dry lakes... and a holdover was the modified roadster...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:48 PM

which took the shape of many things... but mostly skinned by Ford FIBERGLASS replicas...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:49 PM

and a Bantam thrown in the mix now and then...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:50 PM

and another... by '64... thigs were hoppin!

beatnik

09-09-2003, 12:51 PM

The mid to late 60's are by far my favorite and my greatest influences.

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:51 PM

but you still had your mavericks that were hell bent on putting on a show and giving themselves a thrill...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:53 PM

Then along came the gassers... evolving from the very early coupes that used to street race... headlights and all the street gear were a must on the early gassers... some of which even drove to the track... yea right!

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 12:55 PM

But from here things just got faster... and faster... and began to look closer and closer alike... here's our hero, John Force, at the wheel of an altered back in the day...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:02 PM

Now while some people thought that conformity be the death of drag racing... I believe that it was the racers themselves that priced the little guy right out of the market... one guy shows up and starts kicking ass... two things happen... one, everyone will show up with the same combination the next week in hopes of winning... and two... a shitload of money will be spent in doing so... but the little guy could hang on for just a bit longer...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:03 PM

Like a group of guys out of Livermore sponsoring an Altered out of their auto parts store...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:06 PM

But then the little guy found a way to get back into drag racing... the big bucks killed class drag racing... so the only way to keep john-q-drag racer with 2.5 kids, a house payment and a 9 to 5 job happy... was to invent BRACKET RACING!!! Uggggg!!! I don't like it any more than you do... but it did save some of the drag strips...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:09 PM

Then you had a resurgence in the early 80's based on the idea that something we had was LOST and we needed it BACK... the birth of Nostalgia Drag Racing!

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:11 PM

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:12 PM

and innovation rarely rears its head...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:13 PM

and you'll certainly NEVER see this again!

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:14 PM

But we can do our little part by hosting events and encouraging guys to drag out their iron... just don't tell the insurance salesman...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:15 PM

and keep it "real"...

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 01:17 PM

The end. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

rickyracer1962

09-09-2003, 01:30 PM

if i could back to any time it would be the 50's. the stories i hear about the santa barbara drags, and santa maria drags are awesome. seems alot of homemade speed equipment went on back then. homemade heads to homemade magnetos. i would of liked to see all that going on.

Bass

09-09-2003, 02:12 PM

Nice photo-essay, Sam. Thanks for taking the time to post those pics.

wingnutz

09-09-2003, 02:52 PM

SamIyam

Thanks for the pictoral history! I went to my first drag race in 1968 "Great Lakes Dragway"..., my neighbor had a FED Ford 427 and set a record that day I beleive 186 mph!

Got to see Garlits run his FED there and later his RED at that track.

Also saw Art Arfons in his "Green Mamba" Jet dragster have chute failure run past the sand traps and harvest some corn in the field across the highway!!

The Dragway was a big event thanks to "Broadway Bob". He always brought in big names and special feature vehicles.

But like you I loved the 60's and early 70's altereds like "Pure Hell" and "Pure Heaven", Willy's Gassers, and roadster classes!

I really miss ..., "SUNDAY" "SUNDAY" "SUNDAY" radio adds that inspired you and your family to go see the "Race of Races!"

Mark

Smokin Joe

09-09-2003, 03:06 PM

Sam nailed it with the innovation that used to go on and that things weren't cookie cutter perfect and totally exclusive to those with the bucks. The last major innovation in top fuel was getting the REDs to run after Garlits blew his foot in half. Since then, from a fan's standpoint, the numbers get faster, but everything looks the same. Only the paint jobs tell the fans who's who. In today's era it's all money. Even Garlits when he tries to come back can only afford to run 4 races in the year without megasponsership. In the 60's you could get the guys in your club together, have your local dealer sponsor you with engines from wrecked cars they were going to crush, and go top fuel racing. And you saw all kinds of innovation on the track from streamliners and multi engines in top fuel to the evolution of the stocker, modified production, Gasser, A/FX, funny car. Things were changing and evolving and always something new and unexpected happening.

As a fan, you went from sitting on your hood next to the track, to needing binoculars to tell who's who. Guardrails, safety walls, and moving the fans back have made things safer at the cost of removing the fans from the experience. Stand next to the fence today at Bakersfield and all you see is the driver's head and rollbar sticking up over the guardrail. You need to climb in the stands and use your binoculars. Wanna see what's happening on the track? Watch the big screen. Or watch it on ESPN2. And the patch is one of the better strips for the fans. The cost has hit the fans bigtime too. You could watch a whole season of races at tracks like Lions and Freemont in the 60's/early 70's for what you pay for 1 National event Sunday today. The heart of drag racing only beats in special times and places like CHRR, Oldies but Goodies Drags, and MoKan today. NHRA and the Nationals tracks are making megabucks, but I wonder if they know what they've lost...

plan9

09-09-2003, 03:38 PM

right on sam!!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Sailor

09-09-2003, 03:42 PM

Great stuff, Sam.

How about a pic of Jungle Pam ? Part of the coolness of the funny car era in my book. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

My favorite era gotta be the midsixties:

Smokin Joe

09-09-2003, 04:02 PM

Oh Boy, Pam Pix comming, I'm sure of it. This thread is about to get 5 stars!

I'll narrow it down to mid 60's as well, Skinner/Jobe/Sorokin! SURF's UP Dude!

**DONOTDELETE**

09-09-2003, 04:06 PM

My favorite shot of Wild Willie "keepin' it real" !

Kilroy

09-09-2003, 04:17 PM

Joe beat me to it but...

THE SURFERS!!!

Smokin Joe

09-09-2003, 04:32 PM

Note the hand on the door and 1 hand on the wheel. That's Willy! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Oh, almost forgot!
http://www.junglepam.com/photos.html
http://www.lindavaughn.com/

12packo94s

09-09-2003, 04:43 PM

aside from all the current bracket stuff this is avery good era for drag racing. examples PRO world's fastest street car... if you haven't been to one this is good heads up racing that is class based and a little guy can be very competitive.
on a similiar note ( and i emphasize i am not a mustang guy) but the NMRA again bring lots of new people into very good competitive racing, much of which is heads up

same thing on a little more expensive not but into the nsca, some of the nostalgia pro street classes and what not can bring a older designed car back into being competitive!

if you haven't watched any of these events i would recomend it,,, might just change your mind about the current state of the sport

12packo94s

09-09-2003, 04:46 PM

i must make that clear i'm not calling it the best,,, just saying it's getting better!!!!!!!!

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 04:54 PM

Sailor... no jungle pam... but there is a whole web site on her somewhere...
Sam.

Smokin Joe

09-09-2003, 04:55 PM

BTW, Anyone know how Pat Foster's comming on the repop of the Surfers car? Ought to be getting close by now.
http://www.drag-city.com/surfersupdate.htm

Phil1934

09-09-2003, 05:35 PM

I can only remember back to Big John Mazmanian running an Opel Kadette, but I always loved the diggers with coupe bodies. I forget the class name, but ususally Bantam coupes. Gues that's why I picked a Model Y.

Smokin Joe

09-09-2003, 05:53 PM

Fans of drag racing need to read this page by Terry Cook about the 1965/66 racing. You'll love it!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
http://www.dragracingonline.com/newjersey/iii_6_1.html

SamIyam

09-09-2003, 06:11 PM

That hilarious!

Smokin Joe

09-09-2003, 06:27 PM

Broadway Bob. Told ya you could light 'em!
From DragRacingOnline.com
http://www.dragracingonline.com/backdoor/images/Broadway_jet.jpg

CAS

09-09-2003, 06:38 PM

Sam...thanks for posting all the pics.
I really dig the mixture (body, drivetrain and chassis combos)found in the mid sixties . As far as I am concerned, any T body on the strip is killer.

Radshit

09-09-2003, 06:41 PM

I second............The Surfers Ruled!

fatassbuick

09-09-2003, 07:18 PM

Pretty cool photo-essay, Sam. Now I find it harder to decide after browsing the pics. People that are about my dad's age (b.1942) I would think of as seeing all of the best of drag racing, whereas at 36 years old, I caught the tail end of it. Bracket racing is boring to me, and so are most of the Quick 8 shows and other electronic, computer tuned and bottle fed drags. The vintage race was the best drag race I think I've been to since I was too young to fully appreciate Lions when I was five.

Pigiron

09-09-2003, 07:39 PM

I saw my 1st dragrace at Thunderbolt Dragway, somewhere around Jacksonville Fla. while stationed there in the Navy in 1961. Chris Karamachines (sic) was there and so was Dave Strickler and Dyno Don in a pair of bubbletop chevies. When I got out in 1963 I started dragracing. Stopped driving in the mid 70's and crewed on several A/FC and jet cars. Recently a new track opened in my area and thought I might run my 27 roadster and was turned away because it was too "quick" and need a rollcage. I also was a NHRA tech advisor in the late 60's early 70's. I built this 27 pretty darn safe. My favorite era? When you could still run your street car at the drags! NHRA=No Hot Rods Allowed!

Flipper

09-09-2003, 08:34 PM

The nitrous wars of the late 80's - early 90's. The high 8 second street car (back-halved steel car) became a reality. I had friends who raced the first couple of years of the NMCA....when they were heavy cars and people were fighting to make them hook. It was a ball.....until things got way out of hand.

av8

09-09-2003, 08:47 PM

Great thread, fatassbuick, and good trip back in time, Sam!

I've tried to nail down a specific period or era, but it's all been good up until the late '80s when the domination of the dollar in NHRA made classic heads-up racing inaccessible to the cash-strapped hot rodder.

Vintage or nostalgia drag racing looked for a time like it might put the affordable fun back in the movement but what hope there was at the beginning has all but evaporated. I was involved with a neat little team of pals who were racing a flathead digger in the Flathead/Inliner class at GG/VRA events until GG/VRA decided the class wasn't all that interesting or significant, and so deleted it from their programs and told the competitors they'd have to race in the Hot Rod classes, against current-tech V8s! I'm not going to bore you with all the drama that led up to and followed this incredibly stupid move on the part of GG/VRA; suffice to say it's at the core of why I have little interest in what that organization does anymore.

I want to put a positive spin on my contribution to this thread with some words and images that make me smile and help me recall why I love it so much -- all of it . . . well, almost all of it.

First, here's Wild Hare Racing, or part of it. There were only three of us on hand this day for the team picture. The little flathead digger was a mild build, 3/8 x 1/4, running injected alky. ETs were 10s and 11s. When GG/VRA pulled the plug on the class the car was sold and two other cars that were being planned by team members were scrubbed.

Rocky

09-09-2003, 08:58 PM

For those who didn't look up the site....enjoy

av8

09-09-2003, 09:00 PM

This is my favorite drag racing image -- Jeep Hampshire lighting the hides on the Fuller-built Stellings & Tapia car -- right out of DRAG NEWS!

av8

09-09-2003, 09:16 PM

Innovative out-of-the-box creativity entertained us and, at the least, made us think, even when it didn't work as well as hoped, like "Sneaky" Pete Robinson's vacuum car . . .

AHotRod

09-09-2003, 09:20 PM

Well, since you asked...I'd have to say the early '60's, only because it was still a simple time in history.
Gassers Rule!

Nads

09-09-2003, 09:26 PM

I wasn't there, I've seen the pictures, Santa Pod from the early 60s to the mid 80s. Unschooled Brits going as fast as they can in jalopies of every description, yeah that's racing!

av8

09-09-2003, 09:50 PM

. . . or worked extremely well like the quad-Buick AWD digger Fuller authored for TV Tommy. Not the quickest in its time, but its mission was to bring the fans to their feet and make money, which it did by the carload!

voodoo

09-09-2003, 09:53 PM

Sam where did you get that pic with the go kart. Says Tampa on the fence. It's gotta be Tri-county drag strip. Growing up in Tampa it was all Garlits in the 60's and 70's. Front page news when he won or broke a record. His old speed shop is now a "Silk Tree" store. I still have a plate from the shop. Connie Swingle has a body shop albout 3 miles from my house. Here's another pic of Pam for you guys.

av8

09-09-2003, 10:06 PM

Since we're talkin' floppers and the ladies who hung out with 'em . . .

CURIOUS RASH

09-09-2003, 10:24 PM

av8

09-09-2003, 11:02 PM

. . . let's not forget how great the actual funnies looked, lacking the surgical precision of the current generation of gelatinous floppers, but far more recognizeable and lovable!

av8

09-09-2003, 11:35 PM

And let's not forget some of the interesting graphic treatments lavished on hot rods at the time . . .

av8

09-09-2003, 11:45 PM

. . . that just keep us coming back to some of the wonderful memories of past times. But just when you think drag racing has lost its edge, its excitement . . .

av8

09-09-2003, 11:54 PM

. . . something happens that keeps us coming back for more!

hemi

09-10-2003, 02:26 AM

http://www.bossride.com/strip/stand/FlyingRedBaron1.jpg

I like the purity and innocence of the early days of drag racing, where you drove your car to the salt, ran it, and hit the drags on the way home. Those must have been a blast.

BUT..things really heated up around 64 and ran great until 74...those are the heydays in my opinion.

http://www.bossride.com/strip/gas/pettymori.jpg

http://www.bossride.com/strip/fed/2flatheaddiggers.jpg
http://www.bossride.com/strip/fed/art.jpg

Sailor

09-10-2003, 08:00 AM

( Jungle Pam Actually looks best with glasses.. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif )

To me the racecars paintjobs, the lettering and so forth looks boss until sometime in the early seventies. Then something changes..

Very cool to see so many great photos in one thread.

SamIyam

09-10-2003, 12:40 PM

The 70's were a fun time too...
Sam.

SamIyam

09-10-2003, 12:41 PM

Ahhhhh-yea-uh...

metalshapes

09-10-2003, 12:47 PM

I just keep looking at that beatle in Hemi's post (2nd pic., not the 3rd )

SamIyam

09-10-2003, 12:52 PM

What about this one...

metalshapes

09-10-2003, 01:17 PM

OK, That does it!!! Unless I'm going to find a dirt cheap Anglia or Topolino ( Like THAT is going to happen ),I know what body to use.
Anybody have more pics ?

fatassbuick

09-10-2003, 01:17 PM

What a great bunch of pictures. My dad said he beat that Big Willie guy at Lions in his Yenko "back in the day". He said he also used to go behind a Sears and there was a quarter mile marked off...people used to bring slicks and street race all night. Cops never bothered them because it was in a relatively safe area and caused no problems. I guess this was the days before the frivolous lawsuits took over.

Arehea

10-03-2006, 09:16 PM

My favorite drag-race era? 'Bout 3 weeks ago.

The BEST was 1964 and 1965 in Bellevue and Omaha. I graduated BHS in 64 and got my first car there; a great 59 Impalla with a 348 and Powerglide. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. In fact I just went to Iowa. We gathered at Koosgard's Grocery Store (next to the cop shop) at midnight Saturday. That's when the toll bridge shut down and about 100 cars would cross over to Iowa to race the rest of the night. On the Iowa side you could see anything coming for about twenty miles away; plenty of time to cross back over to Nebraska. Trouble was, everyone had their cutouts open and the Bellevue Police were there waiting. Top dog was Dwain Minke with his 64 Impalla SS, 327 and four speed. There was a guy with a 63 Plymouth 426 Wedge who later got the first 63 Galaxie Fastback in town. John somebody, who now owns a sandwitch shop in Bellevue, had a 350 horse Chevy II. There was a guy with a really nice blue 34 Ford 2dr Sedan. My friend, Gordon Ortelli, had a new 64 Pontiac Catalina with four speed. Another friend, Glen Spelis, had a 50 Ford Crestliner; blue with a white side panel, and it was the fastest Flathead around. Sometimes I drove my dad's 63 Buick LaSabre Convertible with the speedo unhooked. That car got a lot more miles than he ever knew. The Buick backed up to school doors and laid a strip all the way out over the curb and twenty feet into the parking lot. Busted the oil pan but we got it off and welded and back home before sun up.

Earlier on Saturday and on any other night you could find us cruzin Dodge Street in Omaha. Every intersection on Dodge Street looked like the burn out area at the strip. Race, Race, Race and nobody ever got caught. We would make a side trip to North Omaha and find an adult willing to buy us a pint of Cherry Vodka. I can't believe we lived through those years.

Sometimes there would be a race between two cars out on the road to the base back gate and near the river. It looked just like the race in American Grafitti. Two cars racing and thirty or more there to watch. Still never got caught. The Bellevue cops in those days were cool and left us alone so long as we didn't kill someone.

Does anyone recall the name of the car club in Bellevue at that time? Glen, Gordon and I almost made it in before we moved on. I went to the great SE Asia Tour as did Glen. Gordon became a helo pilot in Korea. We all three still see each other from time to time. Glen and Gordon both drive Vettes. I have a 350Z and three old cars. Just can't get older than 20 no matter how hard I try. (I don't try very hard.)

Arehea aka Rhea Cooke

NITROFC

10-03-2006, 09:53 PM

Back in the 70' & early 80's ... with the 32 AA/FC shows at OCR & match racing our AA/FC almost 3 days a week coast to coast ... oh yea don't forget the VHT/Fire Burnouts !!!!

hot rod wille

10-03-2006, 10:42 PM

I think the era from about 1968 till maybe the early 70's---thats when I got into it as a punk kid. I was about 14--15 years old and would beg rides from where I lived {Ventura,Ca} to Lions or Pomona or Irwindale {not the track now--the big ass brewery sits where the old strip was}--or all the way down to OCIR---or up to Santa Maria{ kinda a dirt/concrete track--gravel in the shut-off area!} The OLD GUYS taught me how to mix fuel---set valves for high RPM on the front motor fuel cars---pack chutes--anything just to work on the cars.By the time I was 16, I was getting to hop in the car and warm it up---think about that: a 16 year old kid running up a 2500 horse fuel motor--right between the tires and all that heat/noise blowing in my face--IT WAS BETTER THAN SEX!! By the end of the day, I was beat to shit---the constant vibration/pounding--fuel fumes--tire smoke---beating sun.And I don't think I've ever been happier!!
Oh yea----there's nothing like standing behind 2 top fuel cars launching off the line--most people see it from the stands or maybe the track fence---I was a lucky guy.
Front motor car where and still are the best rush --to me.

6t5frlane

10-04-2006, 06:32 AM

64-71...........year 1965 !!!!

axle

10-04-2006, 09:13 AM

1959,1960,1961,1962,early 1963....when Pontiacs Ruled The Strips.

Super Duty Program......389 Tri Power....421 Dual Quad...alluminum Bumpers,fenders,hoods,third Members,swiss Cheese Frames,radio Delete Plates,heater Delete,insulations/undercoating Delete.

Jess Tyree
Mickey Thompson
Jim Wangers
Arnie The Farmer Beswick
The Gay Bros.
Pete Mc Carthy
Ace Wilson's Royal Bobcat Dealership

rikaguilera

10-04-2006, 09:42 AM

I would have to say the "Best" times for drag racing would be the late 60's - to early 70's. I know that when speaking of an era, you normally would talk in decades, but the years in mention meant the most to me. My father and my uncle were running a 55 Chevy gasser in the late 60's that was a national record holder (a car that I am trying to duplicate currently), and that lived in my garage. They were also running a fuel rail, and building a 48' Anglia gasser that never was completed. From the time I was born, I was around these cars, and the strip every weekend. I met Gene Snow, Warren Beetle, and Don Garlits before I was 7, and learned to love the smell of racing fuel over that of cakes and candies. This was also a time of development in the sport, and a time that I think saw the greatest explosion of popularity. I love the speed and technology of today, but would take a tire smoking, gaurdrail jumping, blown fuel altered making a messy pass, over a perfect John Force pass anyday.
Just my opinion of course..

Troublemaker427

10-04-2006, 09:43 AM

1961-1967 I feel is the best. Lightweight Galaxies, Thunderbolts, AWB Plymouths & Dodges, SOHC Mustangs, Z-11 Impalas, Aluminum front end Max Wedges all built by the factories and most available at your local dealership! Heros like Phil Bonner, Dave Strickler, Ronnie Sox, Dyno Don, Malcom Durham, Hubert Platt, Butch Leal, Dick Brannan and Bud Fauble. It was a great era for sure. The largest single day drag race ever took place on August 7, 1965. The Super Stock Nationals at York US 30. It is called the Woodstock of drag racing. Awesome stuff in my book!!!

Avg.Joe

10-04-2006, 09:54 AM

No particular era suits me.......I like them all!

FEDS
Gassers
Altereds
Factory stock wars
Funny cars

Put into order perfectly!

mrpontiac

10-04-2006, 10:16 AM

1959,1960,1961,1962,early 1963....when Pontiacs Ruled The Strips. Super Duty Program......389 Tri Power....421 Dual Quad...alluminum Bumpers,fenders,hoods,third Members,swiss Cheese Frames,radio Delete Plates,heater Delete,insulations/undercoating Delete.
Jess Tyree Mickey Thompson Jim Wangers Arnie The Farmer Beswick The Gay Bros. Pete Mc Carthy Ace Wilson's Royal Bobcat Dealership

That about sums it up for me.

glenn33

10-04-2006, 10:26 AM

As much as I like all aspects of drag racing, my favorite is the 60's. That's what I was involved in and grew up with. I started racing at our little 1/8th mile AHRA track in Avilla, IN in about 1965, and raced weekends until 1970. Still follow drag racing, but nothing beats the old stuff.

glenn33
www.crartonline.com (http://www.crartonline.com)

Groucho

10-07-2006, 06:19 PM

Mid 60's (A/FX, Gassers, Super Stocks, EARLY Funny Cars) to EARLY 70's, Fuel Altereds, Funny Cars, and the last of the front engine Dragsters. It got pretty "generic" towards the mid-late 70's but there was still hope. That hope went to shit, but there was hope

Zettle Bros.

10-07-2006, 06:48 PM

teddyp

10-07-2006, 07:18 PM

being a jersery guy from the late 50,s early 60,s thats the era i will always feel was the best 1/16 a mile old brigde with that shape left turn island dragway when the swamp rat broke 200 miles a hour i pited next to don that day when raceway park in englishtown open not a jap- junk in the all place

oldspert

10-07-2006, 08:20 PM

I like the 63-68 time frame. Down here the big strip was Green Valley Raceway. I was a college student at NTSU. Saw most of the big name dragsters and funnies there many times. Saw my first 200 mph run in a dragster. Saw some favorites go into the gravel some. Saw Paula Murphy race her mustang funny car. Back when they used powdered rosin for traction. Saw Gene Snow the "Snowman" race many times in his dart funny car. Went to a short strip in Mineral Wells on Saturday night to see Big John Mazmaniun go off the end and into the Brazos river because he couldn't stop in time. Good times.

Royalshifter

10-07-2006, 09:16 PM

Right now because I am seeing all the cackle maniacs at Famoso.

Stone

12-20-2006, 01:51 AM

philv8

12-21-2006, 10:36 AM

Bus as you probably guessed... the racers that killed it in the 60's... also did a number on it by the 1990's... sure, we still get to enjoy it... and sure events such as the Hot Rod Reunion bring it back to us in little snipets... but it just isn't the same...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1198&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1106977460

have you other pics or info for this v8 bike? in particular for the transmission to the rear wheel?:)

Richard D

12-21-2006, 11:03 AM

Anybody remember E.J. Potter - "The Michigan Madman"?
http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2006/05/08/ej-potter-michigan-madman/

http://thekneeslider.com/images/ejpotter1.jpg
And a gratuitous Pam shot...

http://www.junglepam.com/photos/candidpam.jpg

Rootie Kazoootie

12-21-2006, 11:04 AM

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1198&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1106977460

have you other pics or info for this v8 bike? in particular for the transmission to the rear wheel?:)

If thats E.J. Potter (the Mich. madman) it didn't have a trans. Direct drive with a jack stand of sorts. He would fire it up with the rear wheel off the ground and crew guy would push it off the stand :eek:

Google his name and you should find pics and stories, I believe there was a Bio. written about him at one time(?)

philv8

12-21-2006, 11:13 AM

Thank you for your replies,i check for Ej potter;)

Richard D

12-21-2006, 11:13 AM

If thats E.J. Potter (the Mich. madman)
Google his name and you should find pics and stories, I believe there was a Bio. written about him at one time(?)
I bought the book and video years ago, it was pretty interesting. It is still available, but the video is only available on VHS.
http://www.teshio.com/michiganmadman_EJPotter.htm

Fat Hack

12-21-2006, 12:23 PM

I'm sure I'll be outta the "popular consensus" here, but to me...the 'best' era for drag racing had to be the mid 80s.

Think about it....musclecars were cheap and plentifull...ANYONE could afford to buy, build and run a big block Chevelle, Mustang, Charger, etc. Speed parts were still very reasonable, and the drag strips were filled with these cars every weekend...and most of them were DRIVEN there and home! Heck, I was one of the guys doing it then!

(In the 60s and 70s, musclecars were new cars...but by the early-mid 80s, they were common used car fodder that could be purchased for a song! My how times have changed!)

You also had exciting Pro Stock wars with legends like Frank Iaconio, Lee Shepherd, Bob Glidden and Warren Johnson battling it out week after week to see who would dominate the ranks.

Then there were the funny cars! It was the last hurrah for the charismatic funny cars with names like "The Chi-Town Hustler" and "The Blue Max"...before they became shapeless blobs covered in nothing but corporate colors!

Garlits and Hill were pushing new boundaries in Top Fuel and Shirley was on a reign of terror there for a while!

It was a damned good time to be involved in drag racing. It was fun, exciting and very afforadable. There'll never be another time like that again!

Chili Phil

12-21-2006, 12:47 PM

64 Funny Cars! Fox Hunt! Fire Burn Outs! Hydrazine! Picric Acid! Modified Fuel Coupes and Sedans and Roadsters! A drag strip in every town and hamlet! Crazy teams like the Poachers, LA Hooker, Praying Mantis! Bigger than life personalities like, the Golden Greek, Henry Harrison, Gene Beaver, Gary "the Plume" Gabelich, Gary Cagle, Mickey Thompson, CJ "Pappy" Hart, The Surfers, Jungle Jim Liberman, Wild Willie Borsch, Jim Reath, Mike "the World's Fastest Hippie" Mitchell, Keith Black, Ed Pink, Mooneyham, Fred Larson and last, but not least, Porky the Pirate. Larry Sutton screaming "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday" and, "Be Therrrrrrrre". Late fifties to early seventies. When giants walked among us.

poncho62

12-21-2006, 01:20 PM

The first 20 years........

Groucho

12-21-2006, 01:30 PM

I like early 60's to early 70's. In the 60's was lots of innovation, speed parts, cool wheels, multi engine cars, FACTORY backed stuff, AWB cars, Gassers, etc. THEN came Funny Cars, and they went everywhere from flip top Comets, Camaros, Chargers, to E-Type Jaguars (anyone remember the stretch nose XK-E Jag Funny Car called "Snoopy"?). And these Funny Cars RESEMBLED their street versions. Mid 70's brougtht cookie cutter Funny Cars. Three basic bodies covered most the field. Then it all died with the rear engine dragster and COMMERCIALISM! Instead of "Color Me Gone" or "Grumpy's Toy", it was Mattel, Coors, or some shit like that. Other angle-WHAT THE FUCK does a modern Funny Car look like to you? To me, an army tank. You know, a blob with a rotating gun turret on top. It don't look like a fucking car

Groucho

12-21-2006, 01:32 PM

DAM, except for Pam's neckline, she looks topless! Bless herAnybody remember E.J. Potter - "The Michigan Madman"?

http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2006/05/08/ej-potter-michigan-madman/

http://thekneeslider.com/images/ejpotter1.jpg
And a gratuitous Pam shot...

http://www.junglepam.com/photos/candidpam.jpg

Sander

12-21-2006, 01:53 PM

October, 1955 to December 2, 1972. Lions Era.

Rootie Kazoootie

12-21-2006, 02:11 PM

Up to the later 60s when it seemed to change from a paticipant driven "sport" to a sponser driven business.

Rex Schimmer

12-21-2006, 02:26 PM

My vote is for the 60s. When you went to Bakersfield there would be 100 top fuel cars trying to qualify for the 64 spots on Saturday and the 32 spots on Sunday. I lived in Long Beach and I would be on the beach and around 3:00 you could hear the first fuelers making passes at the Beach, time to go! You could go to the Beach, Orange County, Irwindale all the same weekend and see Top Fuel, Junior Fuel, Fuel Altereds, A Gas Supercharged. It was fantastic. When REDs and slipper clutches started the I stopped going.

The Surfers were the BEST!!

Rex

FuelRoadster

12-21-2006, 03:00 PM

Gary Cagle.
If you look close,you can see the Binks spray gun & small tank in front of the Hilborn injector.He filled the tank with raw Nitro & pressurized it.If he felt the need for more Fuel during a run,he pulled a lever/cable setup that sprayed straight Nitro into the scoop.
This was late 60,early 61 at our house in Pico Rivera.He's wearing his Grant Piston Rings Bonneville 200 MPH Club shirt that he earned in 57.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/TroyCagle1/GaryCagle1.jpg

stan292

12-21-2006, 03:26 PM

Best? The '60s.

rdefabri

08-13-2007, 02:57 PM

Attended my first race at E'Town, 1970. My old man was racing in the '50s through the '60s, culminating with an Anglia gasser, non-supercharged. I missed, the '60s but just reading the stories and seeing the innovation makes it clearly the best era, hands down. Much of the momentum and innovation carried through the '70s into the '80s, but by the mid-80's all was lost for the "bucks down" racers. I remember Kenny Bernstein's stupid looking Buick, never looked like a real car. I realize that Funnies were long past resemblance, but if you squinted maybe. Now they all look like shit, and even NASCAR has followed suit with garbage.

Front engined dragsters, gassers, AF/X and early flip top Funnies with no wing shit, Altereds, etc. That's real racing, and the '60s/70s epitomizes that.

Bruce Lancaster

08-13-2007, 03:24 PM

50's into the early '60's...racers were built from real cars and car parts, gassers, altereds, competition coupes and roadsters...many street driven cars still in action, wild variety of engines, wild experimentation with induction systems and such, heads-up racing between different class cars by simply moving the slower one down the strip one length per class difference...
Drivers had to react to unpredictable signal from flag man (who was usually a whole circus act on his own) rather than study the actions of the Christmas tree...
Stockers were actually stock, within the limits of policing technology, and there were viable places for driveable modified cars.
Now...electronics, special built production tube frames, fake body shells to assign said tube frame to a particular identity, loss of variety of viable engines....

I Drag

08-13-2007, 03:35 PM

'65-'75

Flipper

08-13-2007, 03:44 PM

I vote for late 80's when Top Sportsman was really first developing. Little guy racers were experimenting with massive amounts of nitrous and running with the "big boys".

Outlaw pro stocks running quick 8 programs at little tracks.

Nitrous cars entering "best wheelie" contests.

Anybody else see Rob Vandergraft drive that fiberglass 57 chevy? I saw it run at a little 1/8 mile track in Byhalia, MS! at a match race.

leon renaud

08-13-2007, 03:54 PM

In the beginning things were kinda crude... but imagination ruled the roost!SamIam ;
do you know who's rail this is I'd like more info on it.I have seen it on other sites but can't seem to find out anything about it .There was a similiar one around here that was Anglia powered.

JohnnyFast

08-13-2007, 05:00 PM

1964-1968

I agree !!! :)

Duration

08-13-2007, 05:13 PM

i raced local tracks in the 1970's and 1980s. brackets. i still watch the pros run on sunday tv. so long as cars are still going down the quarter side by side to see who gets there first then any era is good. cars are faster now and faster all the time. records fall. its always exciting to me.

toledobill

08-13-2007, 05:24 PM

I didn't know how old I'd gotten until reading this post. I'm stuck in the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, when it was a PARTICIPANT sport, not a spectator sport. Yeah, I know, the cars got wilder and more fun as the sport got commercialized, but the fun of racing cars you could creatively come up with modifications that others couldn't figure out slowly drifted away and we're left with megabuck cars and races won by putting on brakes before the traps. I watch some of the drags on TV nowadays, but I can't connect with the fun we used to have at the local airport. Okay, it's official, I'm a codger.

Von Franco

08-13-2007, 05:47 PM

1959 to 1969

hemi

08-13-2007, 06:20 PM

I didn't realize this was an old thread, and I was gonna say 64-74... and then I finally got to my old post, and that's exactly what I already said...Hmmm. That's my story and I'm stickin' with it. :D

Cragars forever.

Mazooma1

08-13-2007, 06:57 PM

64 DODGE 440

08-13-2007, 07:20 PM

I,m with JohnnyFast and Roothawg...1964-1968...
I spent every saturday and sometimes sundays at Lions, Fontana,and Irwindale.
That was THE period for the A/FX cars, altereds, gassers and those beautiful dragsters with the full bodies and chute packs.
The rosin burnouts with the A/FX cars, the East vs. West battles at Lions, the large amount of exhibition cars/wheelstanders and the occasional jet. I saw four jet dragsters race at one time at Fontana. Dick Landy's legendary '65 Coronet, LA Dart doing wheelstands in the parking lot(!) at Lions (no shit), E.J. Potter's bike with the Chevy in it, Don Nicholsons completely revolutionary Logghe chassied Comet. I was there at Irwindale on its maiden event where the body blew off in the traps. That car, along with Gas Ronda's were supurb.
Kohler Bros., Skippers Critter, Johnny Lopers Anglias. Those mighty Willys...all of them. The Surfers with the tumbleweeds tied to the top of their station wagons push car. Big Al, the fliptop '34 sedan with the Allison in it, and on and on...oh, and those great flame suits before they started looking like coveralls.

Man I have to agree with all of that, but I'd push it back to '62 'cause thats when I made my first runs down the quarter at San Gabriel. Had some wonderful times at Irwindale, AA/FA shows and will never forget some of the passes seen there.
The early funnys when they evolved from the A/FX cars put on some great shows too and OCIR and Fontana had some wonderful times too.
Lion's was a great place to race and I still have some time slips tucked away from there that bring great memories to life.
It all just sort of turned into a circus when the fuelers went rear engined and the funnys went total plastic and lost their identities, and when the AA/G cars started running late model bodies the end was near. A Mustang bodied gasser may have been faster and quickes, but it could never match the fun of watching a couple of short wheelbase Anglias running fast and sideways with the wheels in the air off the line.

DirtyThirty

08-13-2007, 07:41 PM

60's....mid to late. definately.
It was all happening at once.

Rootie Kazoootie

08-13-2007, 07:58 PM

Re: Best Drag Racing Era.... This era:

Cruiser

08-13-2007, 08:07 PM

fatassbuick,

:D I think all the era's were great, I'd pick the '60 maybe as best. I grow up in San Pedro, Ca and next door in Wilmington was the Lions drag strip were it all happen for me. Lions and Pomona most likely the two greatest drag strips in the USA. Lions is gone now as a drag strip, you can still see the vacant land were it was and some old stands.

Cruiser:cool:

mtkawboy

08-14-2007, 02:13 PM

67 Nascar drags in Deland Fla during nascar speed weeks in feb was my greatest race. Every factory race car and altered weelbase car on the face of the earth was there. I set the P/S record with a 283/185 hp 59 chevy biscayne ain a heavy fog. The car would hook on snot. got down to 35 degrees and a drunk died past out in the stands from hypothermia, not that that was a high spot

Mazooma1

08-14-2007, 03:47 PM

To simplify:
If you are under 40 years old, you missed out. All the photos, films and stories in the world will never make up for actually being there.

terrarodder

08-14-2007, 09:20 PM

Bruce Lancster said it best those were the good old days. I raced from 55-63, flat towed to the track and home again, no trailers then either.

hemi man

06-03-2010, 12:03 PM

I have to say the era for me was 1962-1969.back when you had
super-stock,gasser wars with the old coupes and sedans.heads-up
racing,not bracket crap and delay boxes and throttle stops.:)

Al K

06-03-2010, 12:23 PM

If we think in terms of an "era" being a specific time frame,say a decade,I'd go with 1960 to 1970(has this been said before?-my apologies if it has), Incredible leaps in imagination and technology;all the required classes(FED's, A/FX,S/S,F/C,Altereds,Gassers;et al)and some incredible personalities. It wasn't as structured or "corporate";you had to work at it,but could make a living at it.

I'd be inclined to include a time frame up to about 1975,because of the Pro Stock movement and the fact that the F/C's still resembled actual cars. IMO,NHRA's games with Pro Stock screwed that(we now have Funny Cars with carbs on gas),and the Altered and Gasser crowds(hell,virtually all Sportsman racers) got the slippery end of the stick. I rarely watch No Hot Rods Allowed on the tube,and can't remember any legit doorslammer coverage. Sad.

gnichols

06-03-2010, 12:24 PM

The 60s and early 70s. Super Stocks, Gassers, altered wheel bases, Funny cars, fuel altereds, Nitro FED. ET-cetera! Gary

CONNMAN

06-03-2010, 12:27 PM

I started in '57 ,,,raced off n on thru the '60's ,,and quit when NHRA did away with the Gasser classes in the early '70's ,,so,,,to me those were the best years ,,those were the best years for "Run Whatchu Brung" Street Racin' too ,,

Francisco Plumbero

06-03-2010, 12:33 PM

The best era ever was 61 to 66 the birth of modern top fuel, before everything got so commercial. Next was 69 to about 74 when the top fuel cars got long and lean and the birth of the Funny Car. The best racing is the racing you are doing, were you are and how your'e living it, you cant be more excited than to just do it.

Rick Sis

06-03-2010, 12:49 PM

This thread kinda has a mothball smell, but what the heck.....I would say '64 to about '73. At that point, drag racing was so big that it sort of outgrew itself. Big money infiltrated all the way down through Jr. Stock and drag racing for the sportsman was quickly dying.

CONNMAN

06-03-2010, 01:17 PM

I kinda agree with the '64 thing ,,i was a little lucky the Des Moines ,Iowa drag strip opened in the late '50's ,,but,,,'64 was the year of drag strip construction, MOKAN comes to mind ,,,I was in the Air Force then and stationed in Anchorage Alaska and POLAR Dragway and Anchorage Dragway opened in '64 ,,the summer after the big Earth Quake ,,,ya ,,we had two strips up there then ,,with over 300,000 Military stationed up there ,,we had a lota hot rods & drag cars ,,lots of drag strips all over the country were opened or started consruction then ,,
Sad tho ,,,most of em are all gone now ,,

Don Kauer

06-03-2010, 02:27 PM

Nice pics and dialog Sam...:)........I have to combine 2 eras 60's and 70's........:cool::cool:.................The Equalizer..........

holeshot

06-03-2010, 02:36 PM

FATASS...bro. that's easy, it's the years you personaly ran. can you dig it?...POP.

STILL OLD

06-03-2010, 07:58 PM

1959 to 1969

I must agree,when big business steped in it ruined drag racing! give Me the Swamp Rat over the Bud King any day

Ron Mayes

06-03-2010, 08:23 PM

The Surfer's era

55chevr

06-03-2010, 08:32 PM

If I had to pick I would say 62-64 ... there were dragstrips everywhere ... Dover, Roosevelt Field, Islip, Westhampton ... you could run a couple different nights a week plus Sundays ... there were street races that were almost as organized as the dragstrips ... first Crossbay Blvd then later Sunrise Highway ... A decent SBC in a 55 Chevy was the coolest ride around ... Wetson's Burgers in Valley Stream was the jumping off place ...

Ron Mayes

06-03-2010, 08:40 PM

A time when a few friends could run a T/F car

texas rattler

06-03-2010, 08:51 PM

i would say from the early 50's until 72-74 .when they stopped running classes and went to lame braket racing , using the brakes so you dont "break out" is just wrong.

mctim64

06-03-2010, 10:32 PM

1959 to 1969
Yeah, that's the stuff I like. And some early '70s too. :D

65deluxe

06-03-2010, 10:53 PM

Thats a tough one, each decade has its redeeming qualities.
Before my time but I'd go with 1961 through 1969. Junior Stocks, Match Racing, Factory Experimental, Gassers, Altereds. Sox & Martin, Grumpy Jenkins, Big Daddy, Willie Borsch, Mickey Thompson. Lions, Half Moon Bay, York etc, etc, etc. A mind numbing variety we'll never see again. Damn I was born to late.

philly the greek

06-04-2010, 01:09 AM

To simplify:
If you are under 40 years old, you missed out. All the photos, films and stories in the world will never make up for actually being there.

I would have to agree with Mazooma, and I'd like to add the time before rear engined dragsters. As my good friend Kenny Youngblood told me at the Bakersfield HRR " you know we were lucky to have lived during the best time in drag racing " amen.

firingorder1

06-04-2010, 01:36 AM

The day the slipper clutch arrived drag racing headed down hill. Bracket racing made the slope a little steeper. It went over the edge when the NHRA dropped Fuel Altereds and Gas dragsters.

P.S The Weekly Rivero, Fox and Holding high back car ruled!!

Mr. Jean

06-04-2010, 11:06 AM

I would have to agree with Mazooma, and I'd like to add the time before rear engined dragsters. As my good friend Kenny Youngblood told me at the Bakersfield HRR " you know we were lucky to have lived during the best time in drag racing " amen.

Being one of those older guys, I must agree.:D

For me it was So. Cal. at all the great now gone strips. Lions, Irwindale, Orange County, Ontario, along with The Patch, Fremont, Fontana and Pomona and a few more. I raced them all back in the 67-78 years and loved the racing and people/friends made.

Those days are gone now and great memories remain. The younger ones are out making their mark and gathering their own memories, but they'll be different than mine. Not better or worse, just different.

Here's a link to some of my old toys from back then.:cool:

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/JEANS32/

holeshot

06-04-2010, 11:30 AM

HUMM...I wonder what BIG DADDY would say...POP.

JeffreyJames

06-04-2010, 11:33 AM

Now I can't speak first hand but I really like the cars in the Mid to Late 50's. 3dnsouth has some pretty amazing pics of a roadster that I love...

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f232/dnsouth/ZOT/2150.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f232/dnsouth/ZOT/2070.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f232/dnsouth/ZOT/2080.jpg

I really like all years of Drag Racing up into the 70's but for some reason the backyard ingenuity of the earliest days really get me going. More Accessible? Plain Old Cool.

motorhead711

06-04-2010, 11:35 AM

The early/mid 70's, when Funny Cars and Fuel Altereds ruled the earth!!!!

Arehea

08-28-2010, 11:07 PM

KING CHASSIS

08-28-2010, 11:35 PM

When dragsters left like this.

Candy-Man

08-29-2010, 07:53 AM

SAMIYAM & KING CHASSIS : I couldn't agree with you more....

Nostalgia drag racing in my little opinion is also headed for another slight down fall. We will all contiue to attend as it gives us a glimse of the good ole' days, which differs to a certain degree what era that was.

Where is Nostalgia Drag Racing now; we have cars with huge $ invested, such a particular fellow who shows up with a chrome molly funny car cage under his gasser with more electronics and independant suspension tricks than ever existed in the complete field of gassers back in the day. The best part, he believes he should run with the vintage guys... Get off of the porch and go play with the big guys then, its a new car with an old body....

Just because its an old body style, does not mean the car should even be running. I don't care if the wings and / or spoilers have been removed as turns out being nothing more than a new, high tech, naked 130" wheel base altered... What the heck is that doing at a nostalgia race ?

As I once saw on a vintage drag car : Iron heads are for drag racing.....

Excellent post and great pic's....