History The 1958 NHRA Nationals

[HEMI32]

Monday’s “NHRA NATIONALS Oklahoma City, OK – 1957” (Norm Jones) video and Wednesday's way cool (Milton Arnold) pictures of the same event really inspired me to put my flatbed scanner to work tonight …

Although my father (Bruce Olson) didn’t attend the ’57 event, the magazine coverage did motivate him to prep his (now mine) chopped & channeled, Hemi powered ’32 5-window for the ’58 event:



Back then, the car ran a 1953 331ci Chrysler Hemi with 4 Stromberg 97's:



In late August 1958, he & his buddy (Mike Thompson) towed the car from his home in Beach, North Dakota (border town near Glendive, Montana) to Oklahoma City to participate in the "4^th Annual National Championship Drag Races":

[HEMI32]

At the ’58 Nats, the car ran in the “B ALTERED COUPE” class. It wasn’t the coupe’s best performance … they could only muster a 13.40 ET with a top speed of 107 MPH:



The car no longer runs the 331ci Hemi [in 1975, it was replaced with a .060 overbore 1958 Chrysler Imperial 392ci Hemi A-1 block (~ 405ci)] … HOWEVER, a couple ‘artifacts’ from its 1958 visit to OKC
still remain affixed to the car today:

[Kiwi Kev]

Goosebumps.....You are very lucky to have that family heirloom!

[HEMI32]

Here’s all twenty pages of the ’58 Event Program:

[L110Mike]

great stuff! going to have to print that out. thanks for sharing!

[HEMI32]

I’ll try to locate some more of my father’s photos from the 1958 Nationals … but in the meantime, I’m really hoping someone out there can fill in some of the details of the '58 event ... with stories, images and/or video …

[HEMI32]

Found this one other pic:



I believe this Kustom was owned by HAMBer Bullet Nose's friend ... they drove it from Redondo Beach, CA to Oklahoma City, OK ... and back!

I'll keep looking for pics...

[Jeff Norwell]

Great thread hemi32.......love it!

[Dirty2]

Very cool ! Thanks for sharing .

[Harms Way]

Great thread,.... appreciate the post

[hotrod mike]

Those pictures are great. That's a great looking ride. And to have the program too, priceless. Thanks for posting this stuff. Mike

[publicenemy1925]

Soooo cooooooooooool, for a homer like me!

[Don Moyer]

THis is a great thread, thanks for taking the time to scan this stuff....you are one lucky guy! Now, lets see if anybody has the same for 1959 and so on.......

Don

[Hotrod F-1]

Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[Prop Strike]

Very cool that you still got the car. Can't get much better than a 32 with a hemi!

[Chaz]

Awesome!

[Malcolm]

Holy shit that is cool! You are a lucky man, Hemi32!

Thanks for sharing the history.

Malcolm

[Muttley]

Great post.................that Kool-Aid billboard in the third pic rules.

[Bullet Nose]

Originally Posted by Hemi32

Found this one other pic. I beleive this Kustom was owned by HAMBer Bullet Nose's friend ... they drove it from Redondo Beach, CA to Oklahoma City, OK ... and back!

Yes we did and we tagged along with the Drifters Car Club from Redondo Beach, CA who took 2 cars to the drags. I also have the same program as you scanned.

Here's a picture that was taken on Route 66 in Texas on our way back to Redondo.



That's my friend Norman Woodruff, who owned the car, standing by the door and a member of the Drifters Car Club pointing to the flat we had.

That's a really cool photo of the Merc we called "The Moose" and there's a story about how that name came about. I also have some other memories of our trip to OKC.

Woody worked for Ed Donovan after he quit high school and built a DeSoto powered dragster in my garage. He experimented with a manifold he built for the engine that had two blowers mounted side by side but it just had too much boost. He later became my brother-in-law (now ex) and is now married to Kathy Donovan.

[31whitey]

THANK YOU

great stuff man

my brain is all tingly....it loves absorbing late 50,s drag history