Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: More Color Drag Racing Footage! Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Me too. This is just pure hotrod gold, thanks Jay! So many great moments, Arfons' Green Monster just can't get hooked up, the Ole' sidewinder, Harry and his shaved Chevy, and Mama taking the 442 down the track . . . this is pure gold. (Guess nobody has the time to watch, it is surprising the lack of response )
Hey Guys, I took the time to watch as much as I could and related to that early portion quite well. There are a lot of similar racers in my Lions movies, too. As we all know, these days, the attention span is short and long movies, hot rod events, crowds all bother most people. So, the length of this You Tube movie might bother people, or just reading about it. That is a neat find for old movies, but it is quite long and tedious. Yes, I went up to the 70s and stopped. The images were not to my liking. If the images were only the 50s and 60s, more people would have taken the time to see the old films. It is amazing that over 50 years ago, people would be at the same place, Lions Dragstrip in Long Beach and took many similar movies from the same spot. Or, in some of the shots of the same racers at Lions, I was directly across the Dragstrip taking my 16mm movies from the spectator’s side of the strip. All Afrons movies were in the pits and spectators side for me. His were elsewhere. We probably stood side by side. It was an event. It is too bad that the one guy that kept popping up in front of the Lions tower side does not show his movies. His camera equipment was a top notch, pro set up with a long lens and if I am correct, a boom mike below. That set up was only used by the pros. We general consumers had to be satisfied with the point and shoot cameras, whether they were 8mm or 16mm. There were 3 local So Cal dragstrips that I can identify, 296ardun or Dean Lowe could probably ID more. Speaking of Dean Lowe, there was a young guy with a cool Brownie Camera looking inside of the Afrons Allison powered race car…was that you, Dean? Spiffy outfit for sure. Nice buzz top, too. Some of the racers I can identify from the Lions Dragstrip section were: Afron's Allison powered race car (I was on the spectator’s side filming Afrons), Chrisman-Mailliard Sidewinder, Kenny Lindley/Don Hampton white Potvin blown FED, Doug Cook, Gary Gabelich Crossley Altered, etc. Look at the wide array of competition, 52 Chevy/Olds sedan, lowered 50 Chevy sedan, Doug Cook C/Gas and behind Cook, Charlie Ettien’s 671 Hemi Ford Truck in this screen shot. That is individuality ! An early H&H Garage MEL dragster, Jack Chrisman in Ed Losinski’s silver FED, Dragmaster Jr. Flathead, early 1960 Tommy Ivo 671 single Buick, Glen Stokey red FED, Ivo vs Losinski, 13:51 it looks like our 671 40 primered Willy Coupe in B/Gas, Bobby Tapia vs Afrons, Creighton Hunter, Hill, Acala red roadster, Lindley vs Stokey, Baker Automotive Cad powered El Camino, Jr. Thompson street roadster, Ivo 671 vs Sidewinder, etc. There was even our black 58 Impala racing vs our nemesis, a brown 58 Impala in A/Stock. Jnaki Great historic film otherwise, it was fun to be able to ID some of the racers during the same time at Lions. It just happened to be during our time there, 1958-60.
Harry's 8MM Drag Racing Videos Hello, Can anyone identify this portion of Harry's video? I cannot clearly read the name of the altered Fiat, even though it has two names. It looks like a "C" as the first letter. It ran at San Fernando and at Lions Dragstrip between 1959-60. The Altered Fiat looks like a version of the 1960 Albertson Olds blue Fiat Coupe that Leonard Harris and then after him, Tom McEwen drove to many victories in So Cal. ANY INFORMATION IS GREATLY APPRECIATED... Thanks, Jnaki
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