History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

I used a Pontiac unit on my Packard. You can see ow much it needed to be stretched.

 

More from George Klass, with captions:


Carl Grimes from Phoenix, Buick-powered A/A. Carl hauled the Fiat around in this converted bus, and it was also one of the first flip-top drag cars. Painted a bright orange, Carl put lots of miles on his hauler, running national as well as local meets...one of his stiffest competition cars was Bill Hopper's blown Chrysler Fiat A/A, from Tempe, and when they raced, especially in the southwest, the pits emptied...I was lucky enough to watch them pair off at Henderson NV in mid-'59...Carl got out in front but Hopper took him in the lights...looks like he got some big-time sponsorship, rare for those times.



Same car, before and after...and no ID...I posted a picture of the latter version earlier, and still no ID...all I can figure is that it was a Central California car because both pictures are taken at Santa Maria, I also have one at San Luis Obispo...I have looked through Drag News in the late '50s but can find nothing...a twin with blown Chryslers...someone has to know!...and the guys over at Two to Go would also like to know...(by the way, it was called the "Grave Gambler.") UPDATE: We now have an ID, thanks to FAM4WILLYS (Tom), who found a picture of this car in a great book on the history of Santa Barbara (CA) hot rodding....this car was built and driven by Fred Dannenfelzer, who is very well known in the land speed racing community. Fred has built and driver a bunch of lakes cars to well over 300mph. He was a member of the "Grave Gamblers" car club, which I mistook for the name of the car. See his post some pages later on this thread for a cite to the book, which is filled with old hot rodding history....


Also no ID, looks like San Luis Obispo, one of the most interesting roll bars I have seen...anyone??


Gotta love the name, guess it is probably a 6, given the class



This from the new "Gasser Madness" collection.

 

I love the captions, 296ardun. Thank you for putting those photos up on the H.A.M.B. Hell, I steal plenty of the photos that other people put up on this site anyway.

 

66 Nationals. Caption said that there were 60 + C/MP cars for class!

 

Sam Emerson vs Sour Grapes at Indy.

 

Mr. Cagle, thanks for posting this! In my opinion this topic is deserving of its own thread, history like this is priceless.

 

These are the same guys that ran the famous "Blown Hearse"

 

Leland Kolb's Lincoln.

 

It was a 348 with a 4/71 blower early on.

 

Which Bill Coleman might that be?

 

Back in the early 50's in Portland,Oregon there was an unusual happening. The promoter of the local Speedway (a paved 5/8 mile oval) invited some of the local hotrodders to stage some "Drag Races" in the front straight stretch during intermission. The purpose of the event was to promote The Sunday Drags at the Scappoose Airport, nearby. My old friend Wayne Miller was there competing and got these shots. Wayne is in the second pic (34 coupe beating the Cad powered roadster). I am so lucky to have access these photo collections !

 

Love ''tow-bar'' cars.

 

More please

 

Marty, shots like those are what I come here for. Love the history!