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History Fremont Drag Strip / Boat Drags: Circa 1961 PICS!!!

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by HEMI32, Aug 15, 2014.

  1. pastlane
    Joined: Oct 4, 2007
    Posts: 1,063

    pastlane
    Member

    Very cool! Thanks for sharing.
     
  2. Damn. Blown, injected, hemis.....burning slicks down the strip.......wild altereds spitting and sputtering, and an Allison aircraft engine in a boat!!!! I was born too late, me thinks.
     
  3. thanks youse guys.....really cool Fremont stuff.....and the boat drags - were they on the Sac river?
     
  4. Great pics! Thanks
     
  5. Nope ... Fremont is about 70 miles southwest from the "mouth" of the Sacramento River (i.e., where it empties into Suisun Bay).

    The Fremont Drag Strip & Marine Stadium was located near the southeast edge of the San Francisco Bay ... and built on swampy farmland (i.e., wetlands with several sloughs and a creek just a few hundred yards away). The Fremont Marine Stadium was actually a 4' deep man-made pond ... filled with brackish water pumped from nearby Coyote Creek and/or the Bay.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2014
    stillrunners likes this.
  6. Wow! My friend/neighbor Charlie Cass told me that they used to race drag boats there. He helped cut the circle track in back in the 70's (I think it was the 70's)... he said they kept digging up plastic. Seems they lined the track with plastic! I have asked many people over the years, and only a few had ever heard about drag boat races at Fremont. ust have been short lived.
    Sam
     
    HEMI32 likes this.
  7. Oh... and that short flathead dragster... I think it might be Darry Capps' dragster... my buddy Tim's CRAGAR four banger was in it in the early 60's...
    Sam
     
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  8. deadbeat
    Joined: May 3, 2006
    Posts: 655

    deadbeat
    Member

    wowie,thank you for posting.I bet that "Purple People Eater" sounded awesome at full noise on the water
     
  9. awesome pics!
     
  10. TomWar
    Joined: Jun 11, 2006
    Posts: 727

    TomWar
    Member

    about that time, my friend had a 34 coupe /Chrysler, made a run and we were stopped on the return strip. I was just putting balls in the exhaust when a flatbottom came thru and lost his steering, it slid up on the grass and stopped about 30 feet from me!!
     
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  11. 296ardun
    Joined: Feb 11, 2009
    Posts: 4,673

    296ardun
    Member

    What an incredible collection of pictures, thanks for posting them. I know where the dragstrip was, but where was the lake where they raced drag boats?

    I can't idenfity most of the cars, the Fiat competition coupe was Sumner, Bert, and Mews (though other partners came and went)...anyone know whose fuel dragster went for a spin on the top end?

    THANKS FOR POSTING!
     
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  12. 49ratfink
    Joined: Feb 8, 2004
    Posts: 18,828

    49ratfink
    Member
    from California

    very cool. I don't think I have ever seen the boat races in Fremont.
     
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  13. fourtogo
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 94

    fourtogo
    Member
    from long beach

    Think I just saw this boat at long beach Sprint Boat Nationals . Or a boat just like with those Zoome Pipes
     
  14. old gezzer
    Joined: Oct 25, 2012
    Posts: 23

    old gezzer
    Member

    Brings back good memories. I ran in the first boat drags they had there. I had a Glen L boat that I built that had a 331 hemi. The Allison powered boat was owned by Smitty Weeks from Fresno and was a Belmont hull. It did sound great at the drags and even better at Clear Lake when he could stay on it for a long time!! The story I heard about the closing of the lake was that it leaked because of gophers or some other rodent's activities.
     
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  15. TomWar
    Joined: Jun 11, 2006
    Posts: 727

    TomWar
    Member

    The Drag Boat pond ran right alongside the car drag strip, with the car pits and return road between them. I think it was only about 4 feet deep.
     
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  16. Bluedot
    Joined: Oct 26, 2011
    Posts: 331

    Bluedot
    Member

    Wow, what a surprise. I raced some at Fremont in '68-'69. never heard about any boat drags. Musta shut down mid 60s?
     
  17. Outstanding set of pictures. Thanks for posting.
     
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  18. flyin-t
    Joined: Dec 29, 2004
    Posts: 1,421

    flyin-t
    Member

    The deck on that #35 is absolutely beautiful! Can't tell the make, maybe a Belmont, Miller or a Sanger but that little bubble predates the famous Sanger bubble deck by about 10 years, assuming that these pics were shot around 1960. I see that blonde leaning on a '59 El Camino and there's a '60 galaxie across the water in another shot.
    Thanks for sharing.
    [​IMG]
     
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  19. @flyin-t - As the title of this thread indicates, these photographs were taken sometime in 1961.
     
  20. cory27t
    Joined: Apr 5, 2011
    Posts: 406

    cory27t
    Member
    from US

    This is so rad! Thanks for sharing


    Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
     
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  21. BAD ROD
    Joined: Dec 16, 2004
    Posts: 1,532

    BAD ROD
    Member

    Very cool! My dad raced Fremont in 1961. Will have to show him these pics.


    Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
     
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  22. These Drag Boat guys are some of the bravest folk in motorsports... when things go wrong under power, they usually go VERY wrong. Hats off to those brave souls
     
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  23. RamJet1
    Joined: Apr 9, 2012
    Posts: 343

    RamJet1
    Member

    Having only started to go to Fremont/Baylands in the late '70's / early '80's, I would never have imagined that there had been a lake and boat racing there. Awesome shots and history! Was there on the last day it was open, used to have a chunk of rubber from the track.
    They had the best waffle fries there.
     
  24. TomWar
    Joined: Jun 11, 2006
    Posts: 727

    TomWar
    Member

    In the mid 60's I used to help tune Vern Amaral's boat "Flower Power" Blownfuel Chrysler in a Hondo Flatbottom. He flipped several times and broke his arm often. Dr told him "One more time and we cut your arm off".
     
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