Louisa Drag Strip- Louisa, Virginia

@ 69 hurst, I will try to see if I can youtube them. If not I will try to burn a copy. I can do that I will send you a disc.
VA HAMB

 

The thing that sticks out in my mind is that the shutdown area was almost impossibly short. Pucker factor was pretty high.

 

Wow, Great picture of the starting line VA_HAMB. I am also interested in the Pettit Brothers 1964 Hemi Savoy that was supposed to have raced here in 1964-65 and who the driver was. The Pettit brothers owned the Dodge-Plymouth dealership here in Louisa since the 1940's. Mr Bill Pettit had quite a car collection and started some automotive museum around Natural Bridge. Sadly he passed away in 2012. I don't know what has happened to his car collection. VA_HAMB would it be possible for you to make me a copy of the DVD's you have as well. I will gladly pay for shipping and the costs of copying.

 

These photos by Alan Garletts from Harrisonburg, VA at the time.

 

is that Malcolm durham's chevelle..?

 

No Idea. Sorry

 

LOVE THE OLD PICS....Must have been cool to have been a teenager back then. At least for the hot rod, racing , budget building rides from the times. I know life was still difficult and had hardships. Just love the whole 50's and 60's vibes.

 

Phenomenal photograph. The Chevelle is real interesting, as is the white 63 Impala on the left side of the image, in the background. More, please.

 

Here is another famous racer that frequented Louisa Drag Strip. Pee Wee Wallace was a great racer and all around good guy. He was based out of Richmond, Va and all of his race cars were called Virginian. The story goes that he was racing a 61 Ford 390 at Louisa and was beaten by a 61 Mopar 413 long ram from the local Chrysler dealer. This was on Sunday and by Monday Pee Wee was the new owner of this beautiful 62 Plymouth 413 Max Wedge. Pee Wee continued to race up into the 1980's and won a lot of major events. He ran some of the first A/FX Mopars with the 426 Hemi. Pee Wee passed away in 2011 and is still missed by his many fans and the racing community.

 

high roller.....note the trailer is sportin wides and chrome wheels...

 

......Ha,ha. Great point, Brandon.

 

Mousie Brown was at Eastside Speedway last sat. He had his 66 Chevy Biscayne. He ran out of Rosenthal Chevy in Arlington, Va. He raced a 62 Biscayne 2-dr. post 409 and a 62 Conv. 409.

He had binders full of old results from local tracks in Va. and Md. Lots of neat photo's. One of the photo's were two 55 chevy gassers running at Manassas. One had a tilt fiberglass front end maybe one of the first in the area. The driver was Danny Turner from Alex. Va. Does the name ring a bell with anyone? I remember the car running at Aquasco.....JT

 

Danny Turner ran a number of different cars, including dragsters.....He was at a couple of the ODS Reunions.....A great competitor and person......

 

Cool 63 Plymouth.

 

Thanks for posting the videos on youtube. Awesome stuff!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDRi7kArOeY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGhv5tIwkUg

 

VA HAMB, Thanks so much for posting the videos. I can't begin to tell you what fond memories they bring back from real drag racing at its finest.

 

Actually I think I have another one of the same day as one of these by another person. I will try to get that one up soon as I find it. It's better quality too.


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VA HAMB after watching the video on the second link a few times I saw the local boy Pee Wee Wallace in his 62 Plymouth put it on Hubert Platt's Georgia Shaker 63 Chevrolet 427 Z11 and it looks like the same outcome for the Little Georgia Shaker a 64 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt 427. Hubert Platt was a well known and big name racer in the the south. He is still alive and living in Georgia. He also had a brother named Huston Platt that was a famous drag racer. He received one of the only 57 Z11 Chevys produced directly from G.M. That was just before G.M. pulled out of racing in 1963. I believe the picture I posted earlier of Pee Wee Wallace and his car was from the same race of April 26 1964. I saw a race schedule from this race somewhere. I will see if I can dig it up and post it.

 

Must have been cool to see Ronnie Sox in his 64 Comet race against our local hero Pee Wee Wallace.

 

Jack Peed's custom 50 Chevy at 1:32 or so of the first video, didn't know it was green!

 

Cooler '63 Pontiac Catalina!

 

Hubert Platt and Dick Brannan are both attending the 2014 FE Race & Reunion on April 25 & 26 at Beaver Springs Dragway. Click on the link in my signature for more details.

 

In the 8mm footage the early Corvette was from Dayton, VA. Fellow by the name of Wayne Hussey. The Vette was 409 powered.

 

Red69Hoss, Thanks for posting the race schedule for the famous Ronnie Sox vs Pee Wee Wallace race, probably the most advertised race at this drag strip. Sidevalve8ba, Thanks for the update on the early Corvette drive train. The Corvette was a cool looking and greating running car. I had no idea it was running a 409. I saw a 348 in a 61 Corvette once. It looked like a major undertaking to get a W motor in a early Corvette. The one I saw still had the factory exhaust manifolds (no headers) and I believe it was the 250 hp version. I hadn't visited this forum for a few months but I am glad to see it being continued with new information. I still plan on going back to the old race track for some metal detecting in the Spring.

 

Great looking flyer!!

 

I saw a recent obituary of a Wayne Hussey of Bridgewater, Va. Does anyone know if this is the same Wayne Hussey that drove the Corvette in VA HAMB's videos of the old Louisa drag strip. The obit says he was into cars and was a round track racer at East Side Speedway back in the day.

 

Yes, this is the same person.