History Six Fabulous Forgotten Rail Jobs from the Golden Age of Drag Racing

Diggers, dragsters, slingshots, rail jobs---by any name, these homebuilt race cars were the stars of early drag racing. Here are a half-dozen colorful examples.


Six fabulous forgotten rail jobs from the golden age of drag racing | Mac's Motor City Garage.com

 

Old school, and kinda crazy!

 

I love the creativity.

Forgot to mention: Some of the cars are pretty well-known while others are mysteries. If anyone can supply more info on the cars, crews, and photographers, we'd love to hear from you.

 

I wonder who was the first to have a rear engine dragster?

 

#5 looks like the Springfield MA Strokers "Sputnick" and Roger Walling on the fender of his push truck. Maybe at Sanford Maine.

 

I love these early rail (for obvious reasons.) When my friend Mike Sietsma built his he was insistent that it be of that early style build right down to the engine pictured below. I think he succeeded. He is currently planning a 50s flathead build and is using a pic of one of Don Garlits first flathead rails as a guide. Speaking of Big Daddy. Never understood how he got the credit for the rear engine dragster. Certainly wasn't even close to the first to do it successfully. There is really no justification for that. Reintroduced perhaps but not inventor or first. it in modern form Ok but not inventor or first.

 

Another Good One, Bill !!! Thanks for educating the Youngsters and Reminding the Oldsters....... Jeff

 

Thanks for the great info. The photo was in a batch from Texas, so it just goes to show.

 

Garlits slowed the steering down which solved the rear engine problem. By the time my 1st RED was built (1972) it went straight down the dragstrip, no problem and I could see better...no oil in my face!

 

"Copied from wiki...
1971 — Swamp Rat XIV (or Swamp Rat 1-R), first successful rear-engined dragster, built by Don Garlits;[17] Ed Donovan introduces the 417 Donovan hemi, an aluminum copy of the Chrysler[18]"

Successful is the important word here. This car predates Garlit's car.

 

One of several back in the day. I like that one!
don

 

Ollie Morris' Smokin' White Owl, 1954. Flathead powered:

 

I read recently that this car still exists somewhere. True?

 

I Googled "Ollie Morris Smokin' White Owl" to get the picture, and found an article about the current restoration of the original car. It's owned by Ollie's grandson.

 

Cool - Thanks

 

It's evident that rear-engine dragsters were around since the earliest days of the sport. In this period, engine placement wasn't nearly as critical to performance as it would become later. Garlits gets the credit for being the first to sort out the configuration and make it work in the modern Top Fuel era.

 

Here is a link to Ollie Morris' Smokin' White Owl.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/smokin-white-owl-is-getting-skin.342695/

 

Couldn't find pics, but how about the Peters & Frank Freight Train ? And then there was a dragster that ran Colton and later Fontana in its early days in the 4 cyl class. Had 2 Triumph twins chain drive . Can't remember what they called it, but after they did away with the X/R class my buddy and I had to run against it in our roadster. And not a rail, but who can ever forget the unique sound of the Speed Sport roadster ?

 

Another I'll never forget was the Valcyrie jet dragster melting the glass out of a junk car with its after burner. That was at the Colton strip in the late 50's. There wasn't enough shut down room at Colton, so they never made a full 1/4 mile pass there.

 

All great suggestions. The beauty of these stories: endless sequels!

 

I think maybe just consider what Mr. Garlits did with regards to changing the standard in Top Fuel - not just the first l rear engine car.

 

Bill, I've gotta thank you for starting this thread. It inspired me to take a trip down memory lane by googling the Colton drag strip. Both good and bad memories. Good on the days we took home a trophy, and bad when we took home a box of broken parts.
My buddy and I also ran Fontana in its early days, But Colton was where I cut my drag racing teeth, and will always be my best memories.

 

Very cool memories, thanks for sharing! When did Fontana go away?

 

The PVTA / Choppers car was one of the early ones that ran high gear only. A little slow off the line but would come blowin' by at top end to catch ya. That info was from Chuck Griffith along with the cam info, it was a 'lakes' grind and they put it in the rail engine just to see what it would do. Did well, from all reports

 

I'm not really sure when Fontana closed the gate for the last time. I joined the Navy in 59, and much of my time was spent overseas. My buddy continued to run our roadster, but my time was limited to weekends when I could get home.

 

Coleman Bros. Car ran good for its time period. Also, another good job Bill!


Dustin

 

I remember that car too, but can't remember who ran it, but it was competitive with the regular banger rails...I loved Colton, informal, well managed, but really short, if the chute came out late you went up a gravel hill into a cemetery at the end...here is an early version of Peters and Frank, John Peters standing at the right:

 

LOL 296Ardun. They were competitive if they didn't break a chain. I remember that we called them the Chain Gang. But still can't recall the actual name of the car.

 

Here is copy from the local Daily Bulletin announcing that the "new" Fontana is open:

http://www.dailybulletin.com/sports...ragway-latest-in-historic-fontana-drag-strips

That was the first drag racing venue and competition in Fontana. The more famous of the two was Fontana Drag City, located just east of the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and East Avenue. It’s the first quarter-mile that had lights and conducted night racing on a narrow asphalt strip that ran southwest to northeast, uphill to boot, from 1955 until 1972. It was also known as Mickey Thompson International Dragway...

There is lots wrong with this statement, though. Fontana was NOT the first drag strip with lights, that was Saugus in 1955 when they mounted a single search light behind the starting line. It was not really "narrow," no more so than other tracks of the time, and if it was "uphill," that would be a surprise to the 1320 Drag News certification, as a drag strip had to be pretty flat to be certified a 1320 record-eligible track. And I don't think it was opened in 1955, I think 1960 was closer to the opening date (though there was a much earlier Fontana strip before Pomona opened in 1952, run by Bud Coons, who was the Pomona "father.") So did it close in 1972. Given all the mistakes in the article, I wonder, but that seems about right. I think that the opening of Ontario Motor Speedway with its drag strip may have contributed to Fontana's demise. It was a great place to race, though the lights were not the best and sometimes dust from the adjacent grape fields would blow on the track, making it slippery.

 

While covering events at California Speedway, I liked to drive past the old Fontana drag strip site. Shame it's gone -- the LA area needs a drag strip.