Aaaaahhhhhhhhuuuuuummmmmmm! Peace be with you mahn! (In your best Jamaican accent). Very Cool video with excellent tunes! Sittin' at home in my Hanes with a wounded leg. That made the pain go away for a bit. THANKS!!!
I saw my 1932 Ford Victoria today at the Deseronto movie at 9.15 minutes. Iv'e owned it for 33 years and I'm looking for pictures
I hope not, or my Dad (10th from left side) was peeing on the guy beside him! LOL Ryan, very cool footage and excellant tunes. Thanks, the Jalopy Journal makes everyday better, when we need it most. Jeff, that picture is actually at Cayuga, taken for an article in the "Star Weekly" magazine, that was printed in 1957.
That made my day! I grew up in Ontario so it really hit a soft spot with me. It reminded me of the stories my old man used to tell me about him and his buddies and their cars out racing and getting into fist fights on a Saturday night.
God bless Harvy Finch.....love that picture line up from 1957. We have the big blow up of that picture up in the E.L.T.A. club shop looking down on us.......a great video from " the day".
Excellent movies, I was totally freaked out when Neil sent me a copy last year too. Ryanm the music was a cool touch, never thought of that. Thanks to both Neil for sending the flicks out and Ryan for sprucing the soundf up a wee bit! The Shannonville racetrack has a bitchin' weekend called the Faltout Weekend with arm drop drag racing, hot rods, a flea market, Saturday night drive in movie and a pinstripers bash. You guys should come next year, its just minutes from the old Desernto strip, maybe we could persuade a field trip out of the guys who run the show?
The guy standing 8th from the left in that groupe picture is not bob drew it's andy marsh When I replaced the carpet in the ''vicky'' I found a pit pass from Deseronto dated 31 july 1960 with the name Shirley Richardson Her husband was the one who built it as a hot rod in the late 50's
Hey Ryan, great selection with the tunes.... The track has now gone back to mother earth.... Weeds growing up threw the track with a ditch, approximately 4' deep 1/2 way down the track. The reason the track was closed, the Government wanted the $ sent directly to them and they would pay the Mohawk Indians. Well once again, the government did not pass the funds on to the local Reserve, who then refused to rent out the track. The track closed in 70's.... About 8 minutes into the video a plane is seen.... This plane actually landed during the drag race ! Hell, after all, it was an air strip..... My buddies father, who is 82 years young, was attempting to wave the plane off for obvious ressons, however; the pilot ignored his warnings. Wow, that would have been a drag racing crash to end all crashes ! HAMB'ers north of the 49 (Canuck's) who wish to have a copy, send $15.00 directly to Ryan and I will mail you a DVD once Ryan sends me an email..... For our big brothers and sisters south of the 49th, I will give Ryan some DVD's at the Lonestar Round-Up in April 2011.... 2 hours of grainy footage, however; no KOOL music.....
Mohawk? I raced there. Actually made a TT against Grumpy Jenkins (the white Camaro with the I love my hooker headers decal.) May still have the time ticket somewhere. I had no idea who he was and wouldnt have known cept Vern told me. Vern and I worked tech there the last couple of NHRA years . Our boss as Div I tech Walter Doyle. I was also there when they got it runnng for while a few years laterand sort o ruled it for about a year with my Dart. and even later when they made us run backwards to the old track and ony 1/8 mile. I have pics from there i am sure. Don This was taken at Mohawk too during its last few years when we had to run 1/8. That is my wife with her trophy she won . The car is a 66 Valiant Barracuda with a done 75 198 slant six. Car ran mid 15s. I suppose the Cuda is too new but the track is old . Now we all run up the road at Shannonville which is not that far away. Don
The main reason it closed was the tarmac was getting too rough to race on The tarmac is fine the reason it closed is because the last low life who decided to run the track did not pay the band for its use and that ruined it for all of us. The place is still there and is an avaiation school run under a govt grant. The skinny is the band says long as the govt will give us a grant to run the aviation school there will be no racing. I didnt hear that first hand but knowing what i know as I live about 15 minutes away. it has a ring of truth to it.
Okay; Just one more short story. A hot rod club from Kingston, Ontario named the "Peaceful Pacers" started the drags at Mohawk Dragway. The treasurer of the club during the late 50's was only 15 years old, as no one wanted to be the treasurer so 15 year old 'Wally Spooner' stepped up to the plate. This track would pay some of the drag racing legends of the day, to appear at the track, which would pack the grounds. No grand stands in those days. After a very sucessful weekend, little Wally road his bicycle to the local bank in Kingston, Ontario with his brown paper grocery bag filled ! Can you imagine a teenager depositing over $10,000 cash into the Peaceful Pacers bank account and the response he recieved from the bank in the 50's ! The good ole' days......
That's a great story.......I wonder what ever happen to Wally Spooner?.....maybe one more story "Oh Candy-Man??
I used that same photo to make this crappy photoshop for another HAMBer. Not the first time it's been on the HAMB. Kinda funny. [/QUOTE]
found some Desoronto stuff. One of my time cards when it was still NHRA and Ernie Chapman was running it. Both sides of the time card because there was advertising on the back. The next is when the Greer bros (Kingston) got it running again but when it was still 1/4 mile on the same spot as before. That is yours truly in the Dart after selling the 426 Hemi to Jim Rini and putting a quickie 440 in the car built from shop spare parts. Made a lot of Money with this set up. That is Brian Globe i think in front of the car. Brian ran a 64 GTO with a 327 Chev engine. A very very hot number for back then it was. The last picture is the car built from the old Belleville Road Angels dragster parts. Front end and rear end. At this photo Stu Denyes owned the car and i owned the motor and trans. It was a 64 Valiant 170 slant six pushbutton set up with a corvair turbo charger. This car was at Desoronto after the track restarted every weekend. It is probably the most winning car i have ever known. Stu could drive very well and often put much fancier more expensve cars on the trailer. i have a photo of it running at Desoronto after it was painted blue but i cant seem to find it right now. One of the ONDR guys still has the body from this car. Don
Great to see a little Canadian content on the hamb!If you watch at 6:02 on the film you can just make out a polar bear running across the track.Thanks Ryan.
Mission accomplished! Sitting here, after another 11 hour day of hell at work. Freshly showered, beer in hand... That footage and music together was just the ticket. Thank you.
Now that was chill. Seriously! Iam in the zone....and without eedway. Great music and great footage. I'm archiving that one.
My 2 passions in life, surfing and traditional 50's and 60's wagons and trucks! Love the old 50's and 60's surf culture circa Mickey Dora at Malibu. Stoked to see a surf reference on my favourite website.
"One of the ONDR guys still has the body from this car." In fact if he would part with it I believe would recreate this old race car as it is in the foto. Don I have to go play my fiddle in Picton today. i will leave early and take a foto of the old Mohawk strip from the bridge.
Good stuff ! I enjoy looking at old footage in hopes of finding my Willys lurking around so I can I.D her !
Mohawk Dragstrip (Deseronto) today. It was raining but the runway or old track can be just seen just below the far treeline. Normally on a clear day it is much better. At the end you can see a corner and some small building which wasnt there before. It is not big . About the size of a garden shed. Sign at the road say Airport Road and at the bottom of the sign is an airplane sign pointing that way. The old runways survive really well. We are at Picton last weekend for the first ever and i was surpised to see the surface was intact. (Picton is about 25 minutes away and was an army base till 1968) I think searching Airport Road, Deseronto, Ontario, Canada on google might bring up a decent picture in better weather.
Wally Spooner is doing great and is in his mid 60's.... Wally retired from Bell as a Telephone Technician, tearing around in his full fendered, chopped, 3 winda' deuce.....
Okay Just One More Story: A very good frind of mine, Mike Wilson, obviously older (Ha Ha) worked at the track when he was in his early teens, setting up the baracades along the trackside to prevent the fans walking onto the track, as the cars would pass their location.. Remember this was before the day of grand stands and fencing.... Early one morning at the track, "Little Mikey", jumped on a trailer loaded with rims welded to upright posts used as baracades with rope between each upright. The fellow driving the car, drove along the side of the track at a reasonable speed for Mike to drop off each upright. At the end of the 1320, all uprights were dropped off as a sheet of plywood only remained on top of the trailer, Not Fasened, with Little Mike sitting on the plywood. Well the driver of the car believed Little Mikey jumped off of the trailer and noticed the fella's at the staging lanes, were waving at him. The driver figured he was being encourage to make a pass, so he unloaded the Rocket 88, with Mike sitting on the trailer, unknown to he driver ! Mike with his feet dangling off of the back of the trailer, figured; holly shit this is getting a little fast. So he swung around, laying on his stomach, wrapping his hands around the front of the trailer, holding on for his life..... As the driver finished the 1/4 mile pass, slowing to make a turn, Mike jumped off of the trailer and waited for the driver reach his location. Well I guess the drivers jaw almost hit the floor when he saw Little Mike standing at the top end of the track, as Mike asked the driver : " Would You Mind If I Sat In Your Car Back Down The Track, It Got A Little Windy Back There ? "..... Well the driver was very nervous as Mike's Dad, Murray Wilson, 82 years young now and still building hot rods, couldn't wait to talk to the driver. By the way, one of the people waving, Mike's Dad trying to indicate Mike was sitting on the trailer..... Mike now has a '40 Ford Standard with an Olds for motivation, which race at Mohawk in the 50's.....
Thanks Fast Elvis, you just made my monitor get all blurry, and also cheered me up, from one of the lowest days of my life.
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