History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

Yes it was! The lighting was searchlights, if I remember right, mounted on poles....pretty dim at the end, that is one of the reasons for Art Malone's accident there...the guy who ran before him locked up his car (rear end or something), leaving his car stuck on the track....he got out of the car and tried to call the timing tower from the booth where they handed out the timing slips, but too late...Malone launched because the starter couldn't see the stuck car on the track...Malone saw it just in time to start swerving, but still hit it...was hurt pretty badly and his car was destroyed (I remember seeing the body pieces in Lefty Mudersbach's shop trash can)......shutoff was almost dark and really hard to see the turnoff to the return road...

 

Bruce Norman's "Bald Iggle," from Fort Worth, Texas, blown Olds on gas, driven by Ernie Horn, also from Ft Worth..


No ID on this Chevy gasser


Jack Moss, near lane, from Amarillo, TX, Dodge powered, the other car, owned by a Mr. Dodson from Ft Worth....and thanks again to wbrw32, a real historian of Texas drag racing, appreciate his information!


No ID on this Buick powered dragster..possibly Steinegger and Eishenbaugh? They ran a Buick in their earlier days. (looking at the picture again, that looks like Larry Steinegger next to the car).


Again, no ID, track is Fontana, looking towards Foothill Blvd, thanks Mazooma...




Looks like the same Chevy car as above, with oil breather hoses added...

San Gabriel, really early '60s...I remember this car, painted blue, blower noise was unique, they loaned me some gas when our push car ran out...but never got their names. (thanks again, Mazooma, for confirming San Gabriel identity...embarrassed that I raced there but was not sure of the track!!??)

 

That IS San Gabe

 

I'd venture a guess at '61-'62

 

Those eucalyptus trees in the background line Foothill Blvd, aka, Route 66.....the staging lanes are behind the fence.
Camera is facing south.

 

Thanks! I used to race there then, should have recognized it...Irwindale had the tank behind the concession stand...

 

It was a bit harder to see at the Beach, cause of the fog starting to roll in at about 9 or 10 pm

Sometimes you could feel the mist in the air and see it too

 

Yes, one of the few things I remembered from high school science was that the cool ocean air comes inland as the land cools...so when the gas flare on the refinery next to Lions (remember the sulfur smell) blew flat, it meant that the cool moist air had arrived, and that it might cool the engine enough to allow us to run leaner. So we asked Jack Engle to grind us a top-end cam (forgot the specs), set the motor much leaner than we had ever done before, and the first time we ran it we broke the 1320 record for B/FD at 198, waiting until the flare blew over before we ran. Unfortunately we blew the engine the next day at San Fernando but at least we got half of the record...we were really proud that we invented the "night motor" until we found out that Frank Cannon and the "Charger" crew had beaten us to it....

 

My mom was Clay Lacy's personal secretary, until she retired about 2 years ago. For my youngest brother Jason's 30th birthday, Clay took Jason and several of his friends for an hour cruise in his DC3 over Southern California, it was on a Saturday night 5 years ago this month, they buzzed downtown Pasadena, Santa Monica Beach Pier, and the Observatory/Hollywood sign. Sucks I didn't get to go.

 

Are those front wheels from a VW?

 

The double or triple row chain on the blower drive could have made a 'different' sound on the blue dragster. Chain looks a little loose, but a chain, if I remember right, shouldn't have been run as tight as a belt.

 

The bolt pattern certainly looks like it, but can't remember the rims looked like these with the ventilators around the rim. He couldn't be usuing a VW front axle, could he? Torision bars and everything?

 

1966-1967 Beetle wheels had the big lug pattern, with the slots.

 

But these wheels have the oval slots of a 356 Porsche, same bolt pattern. It MAY have the Porsche aluminum brake drums too?

 

Your right 356 wheels also have oval slots. If I was running alum drums I wouldn't hide them with paint though.

 

Anglia's also had oval sots and a wide bolt pattern.

 

Irwindale, no ID on either car


Jim Porsche, SoCal...


No ID...note the rubber buildup on the body (broberson2 thinks this is Bob Downey in the Howard Cam Special, I tend to agree with him).


Fontana, no ID, probably pre-65, as after Frank Cannon went 199 at Long Beach with zoomie headers, almost every top fuel car went to them, as did the fuel altereds and, later, the funny cars. The only clue I can find on this car is the long radius rods...Ivo built them longer than did Fuller, so maybe this is an Ivo chassis?


Again, No ID



This might be Butters & Girard stopping at Bakersfield


Sorry, another no ID at Lions .. probably also pre-'65.

 

Would you look at that!

 

Wayne Gapp.

 

Picture doesn't do this paint job justice. Nothing compared to the beauty of Candy Persimmon.

 

Yes, I understand that is the color that the new owner in Britain is painting it?

 

Real spindle mounts !