Vintage shots from days gone by!

I'll say it again D.N.D......you Socal guys really were in the thick of it.
If I had a time machine, I'd be camping in your back yard.

 

Saw EJ run that bike and his latter one . Yes it was a great show .

 

Hi Denny

Yep in the 60's out here in so-cal we had it all - drags - sprint cars & flat track bikes at Ascot - dry lakes and boat racing at the Long Beach Marine stadium - short track stockers plus great street racing and a bit of skirt chasing too

Just took it for granted and did not know how good we had it, plus some of us would build & run our own car that was icing on the cake

 

EJ was the ORIGINAL Michigan Madman.

 

Capitol Chevrolet in Nashville Tn. ,home of the Cumberland Valley Corvette Club . There was also a Capitol Chevrolet in Montgomery Al but you already knew that.

 

Saw EJ here at Connecticut Dragway about 1975'...Would run a G60 street tire, could get four runs..At that time it was a stack mechanical fuel injected 327, don't remember if he ran alcohol or gas...He would stage at the line in the un-used last two feet of asphalt to the grass. He would pull a piece of pipe out of a storage area and stick it in the stand for leverage to prop it on the stand; then throw the pipe to the side of the track...My help that day was to retrieve the pipe for him and to tell him how to get out of the track when he was leaving... I believe he made at least three passes, maybe four, strait as an arrow...Around 10.5 @ 150...

 

And don't forget Bob's Big Boy drive-ins.

 

Oh yaa Denny hanging at Bobs in Van Nuys every nite in 59 - 60 in my 57' Bel Air 301 streeter till I started to build my gasser, as that sure cut back on the Bobs time but still a couple of nites a week

Those were such great days we had and just ' Priceless ' memories

 

We used to get a few guys together on a Friday nite fill up the Bel Air with White Pump gas, hook up the 2 four barrels on direct linkage and hit the 4 Bobs first up San Fernando - Van Nuys - Talouca lake and then Glendale then over the hill to Sunset and to Hollywood blvd

One pass down the Blvd and my left leg was junk since I had a Jim Ridge ' Valley street Clutch ' in it with very stiff springs and that clutch petal was hard to push, then on the way home hit Van Nuys for a Burger - 1/2 Chefs salad with extra blue cheese for the fries and wash it down with a Vanilla Coke

Then blast through San Fernando and on to home in G. H. for a great time, boy we were styling big time not knowing how good we had it !!!!!

 

Good story here about the legendary E.J.Potter:

http://thekneeslider.com/e-j-potter-the-michigan-madman-r-i-p/

 

Interestingly, we did a similar Big Boy circuit but started at Bob's Pasadena, then Glendale, over to Talouca Lake, then back. We did this cruise, in a black 57 Chevy Bel Air with factory Fuelie and 4-speed. We used the Pasadena location to set-up our races for the evening. Ah, the 1/2 Chef with extra blue cheese and fries for dipping. Remember the spaghetti and chili plate?

 

Yep sure do , good Chili makes everything better as it is one of the best comfort foods

 

Bob's Big Boy .... no relish, add tomato and onion, fries well done and a Cherry Coke ... Pasadena Bob's was like a second home.

 

We have discussed this here and on other Chevy boards, there were no "factory 4-speed" full size '57 Chevy's or '58's for that matter. There were dealer and other aftermarket installations.

 

Here`s a couple of pictures I took of E.J. in about 1970. He was really a showman.
He told me that he changed the throttle cable after every run. He had one stick once and wouldn`t take a chance of that happening again.

 

Here it is! View attachment 2980731

Don't forget the 50's too----Culver City Dog track, remember all those T's--A's--B's--& later models,--36's, 37's & 38's, every Sunday on the B/W tv's, they put on a great show, all for a case of "Sta-Lube' for the winner!

 

No hiding in the trunk here!!!!!

 

Mickey Rooney

 

"Northeastern Speedway, located way up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont - near St. Johnsbury - in Lower Waterford."

 

Cloverdale, British Columbia, 1966