Relative to the rest of the world, sports car racing in America just wasn't all that glamorous in the mid 1950's. The Corvette was still early in production and Americans hadn't yet mastered the set up and tuning of the imported sports cars. On top o... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Great stuff. Road racing and hopping up the cars, no matter their country of origin, is about as hot rod as it gets in my mind. Not every hot rodding innovation came from land speed racing. take this example... started life as a 1939 Ford in 1953. Now known as the "Monsterati". Hand made body, modified Ford chassis, back in the day ran a Merc flathead. I friend of mine raced it this year at the Monterey Historics. Said it was a handful but a blast to drive. can a resurgence of road racing hot rods be just around the corner? Stay tuned
Cool video. A little history on the Arcata Airport. It was originally built by the military in WWII for training. It's location was picked because it has one of the best records for foggy days and the military needed to train its pilots in foggy takeoffs and landings. Lots of experiments were conducted including one of my favorites. Both sides of the runway were lined with gas pipe with holes down the whole length. It was torched off in an attempt to clear the fog with the heat from the flames. It didn't work too good. My Grandpa was a B17 pilot and he trained here before moving out. The airstrip was eventually surplussed by the military and to this day is our local commercial airport. And fog is still an issue.
Arcata airport 1956! Humboldt county is a little remote now, I think in the 50's it was over a 12hr drive north of San Francisco. Ah, the Humboldt summer fog I'll bet those guys were freezing their asses off, the oceans basically across the street
I've always wanted to build a road racing model A coupe. Torsion suspension, Buick 215, as light as possible.... I'd love to get it to handle with straight axles and skinny tires. I know it will never beat a can-am car, haha, but I'm sure that it can be made to be fun. That monsterati is a perfect example. I saw it several years ago at the Historics. So... anyone else? we can start invading autocross events and track days haha
It is down to about 4.5 hours now. We do get some warm weather, but right on the coast it isn't everyday. And yep, the end of the runway is a bluff about 150 feet above the ocean.
Man if Chins Could Kill, that dude at 5:45 gives Bruce Cambell a run for his money!!!! On another note, can I say I give my left nut for that 356 that takes the lead at around 4:36 in. Love them little cars.
Yeah I lived in Arcata for about 5 years while going to school. My in laws still live there. Motherinlaw was the prodject manager for the airport remodel/expansion they just finished. Love Arcata, sun burns off the fog about 4 and the fog attacks again at 415 I made Arcata to the Golden Gate in 3.5 one time at night honest I was only doing 55!!!!!!!!!!
SO cool, polo shirts and light weight helmets...and that passing on the outside, to much. Thanks Ryan. Slim
Yeah, that was some kind of hot! Does anybody know what that music actually is? Who played it? What it was called?
More of the same including a shot of the Glasspar chassis. Cool stuff! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFJbLrSvKfo&NR=1 Kurt O.
Really cool how simple club racing was, or at least appears to be. I remember seeing an article showing that with a few friends you could remove the body of the Ford and install the Glasspar in a weekend - in one in the hot rod magazines of the day. Made me think I could do it as well, clearly some did with success. Thanks, Allen
Gotta love Humbolt and Arcata! My wife lived out there and we visit often. Neat to see some of the history of the airport we fly into. My friend in Arcata used to work there. A lot of dirt flying and flag waving! Looks like fun
My Dad raced sportscars from 1956-1960. Mostly at Harewood Acres and Green Acres in southern Ontario and Grayling Michigan. He never raced a road course, only airstrips, and never had a car with a rollbar. Some of the guys would bolt a towel bar to the floor of the passenger compartment in case they went shiney-side down they could grab the bar and hold on for dear life. I've posted this photo a million times, but it's the only relevant one I have on this computer...
Arcata, it is fun place. I vist family there all the time. Racing Arcata style now: http://www.kineticgrandchampionship.com/ http://www.losbagels.com/
Awesome find! I'd heard rumors that there used to auto racing at the airport. My dad worked at the flight service station at Arcata Airport while I was growing, spent a lot of time there. He loved the video almost as much as I did... We've still got the Samoa Drag Strip (which I believe is the oldest operating NHRA track) & auto cross out at the Samoa Airport, and the Hoopa Hill Climb a little ways inland. http://www.samoadragstrip.com/ http://www.rscc.net/
What cool history about our backyard! I have a parts run frequently along the backside of it (in fact Crusty Nut texted me about this post as I happend to be driving along side it), and I've often wondered of any racing history there. Samoa Dragstrip, naturally was born from racing up the airstrip on the peninsula, but never heard of it happening at the Arcata airport in what's now McKinleyville. What's especially odd about the fog is how it'll roll in so much quicker on the north end of Central Ave. and it could still be sunny 6 long blocks away where my work is. But that's life on the bluff for ya. Great post, Ryan!
That's some neat stuff. BTW, the original Samoa strip wasn't where it is now. My Dad and other old-timers tell me that what's now the old airstrip is the original dragstrip.
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