Film of the Week: Santa Ana Races in Summer 1950

When you hear someone say cars racing at Santa Ana in the summer of 1950, you might of the strip at the Orange County Airport (now called John Wayne) where C.J. ‘Pappy’ Hart ran some of the earliest organized hot rod drag races that year, in the infancy of the NHRA. But, that very same summer, in fact one earlier later, ‘European’ road races were held at Santa Ana Naval Air Station blimp base which had been recently closed, only 4 miles away.  The late 40s and early 50s were a cross-over time when modified hot rods, ex-Indy racers, custom ‘specials’, and new import (aka foreign) ‘sport’ cars all melded together for SCCA road races. Watch the film below and you’ll see Offy-powered single seaters, Allards and Edwards running Ford flathead V8s, Cunninghams and many more. Hot rodders like Jack McAfee and Roy Richter (Bell Auto Parts and later Bell helmets) were participants that day, and probably ran at the Santa Ana drags that Summer as well… Good stuff!