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

Got to love the old school aircraft engine powered stuff from back in the day...
Back when these engines could be had for a few hundred bucks...

 

The Arfons brothers had a pretty good time with these monsters

 

When more than 12 cylinders wasn't enough - The Arfons boys stepped up the insanity a few notches

 

Please. Allison and Rolls and The big Ranger engines were all 12 cylinders. i don't know why so many want to think they were 16s. i have never seen a 16 cylinder aircraft engine. Lot of 28 cylinder engines. No 16s. Seen Cad V16s. Marmons. No Allisons. Krauts had several 12s also.

 

original flopper

 

Staged shot at Lions, eyes are not good enough to recognize any of these dragsters. Lions opened in October 1955, first managed by Mickey Thompson...some of us were lucky enough to spectate and race there...amazing place, nothing left now.


Not sure who this is....Lions (track was at 223rd and Alameda, easier to get to once the 405 Freeway opened..., it was often called "Long Beach" though it was actually in Wilmington)


Things did not always end well at Lions...these are the remains of the Adams and Warye Woody car at Lions after the motor blew in the lights...driver Rick Stewart was burned but recovered to drive (and later serve as NHRA starter).... tragically there were too many fatalities there, one year, according to one source, Lions had more fatalities than all the other drag strips in the US combined, C.J Hart had to leave, and NHRA withdrew their sanction (maybe '66, anyone have a better memory than I do on this?.... but still too many drivers died here...)


Gene Ciambella in the MGM Willys, Lions


Hawkins & Webster "15 oz" fuel coupe...Les and Lyle rarely ran Lions as San Gabriel and later Irwindale were much closer...



The Syndicate fueler on the Lions roller starter system (I did not like it!!)...these guys later want to a twin fuel Chrysler with a wing but it was too heavy to be competitive (has been restored now)


Big at Lions...later lost part of his foot here

 

That grill does not look like an MG...is this an ERA? If I recall correctly the two looks very much alike.

 

It is a customized MG. The hood and grille have been swapped out with the grille possibly being from an SS (Jaguar) or an Alvis and the hood and side are obviously custom made. The ERA (English Racing Automobiles) was based on the Riley which does not have the radius in the upper corners and Riley grilles are much narrower (mostly). Bentleys are flatter with less of a peak.

Roo

 

That seems to be a MG TC that are from about 1948 to 1950. Mine is a TD that went from 1951 to 1953 I think after that it was TF,

Pat

 

Dave Beebe? Fuel altereds were a staple at Lions


Qualifiers always put on a show at Lions


Ivo before paint and nose at Lions..Ivo turned 80 a few days ago...


Speaking of Ivo....(though this might have been Prudhomme as Ivo's studio did not want him driving while under contract)


and, speaking of Prudhomme....


Parade before eliminations at Pomona ... whatever Tony Nancy ran, it went fast and won...Fuller chassis, Steve Swaja body design


No ID at Lions....I didn't drive here much, but night racing in a slingshot with zoomie headers was always interesting...small window you could see through between the blower and the header flames...you looked for the lights but with a slingshot the oil filmed your goggles so the lights were pretty dim by the time you were close enough to see them...then you reached for the chute ring (if you could find it), because the shut-down area was pretty short, and if you ran off the end, they wouldn't let you run again, even if you didn't damage the car...


Another no ID at Lions, though that looks like Charlie Wilsons' "Vicious Vette" waiting to run. Notice that at this point Lions is under AHRA sanction...NHRA withdrew its sanction after too many bad accidents at Lions....


Staging lanes at Lions


Sidewinder at Lions, Paul Nicolini and Chuck Jones owned and built the Sidewinder series (though all sideways-mounted dragsters became "sidewinders), Jack Chrisman drove....won consistently on gas.


Same car, same time, different shot...at one point Lions put in the A-frame in the background so that you could pull your engine, though few of us did...if it broke (for us, often!) you just towed home.


Shrank Brothers came south to run Lions, strong running Desoto...they broke motors so often that they would go to the junkyard, find a Desoto block from a wreck, put on their heads, cam, and induction and go racing...

This might be Garren & Madden, not sure

 

Thanks for the response. I knew that grill looked familiar but was only guessing at an ERA.

 

Another Chuck Finders-built gasser, I remember when it first showed up


Willie was a Lions regular, the Marcellus & Borsch shop was not that far away....


This was a mystery fuel altered on Jim Sorenson's fuel altered for a long time...someone finally identified it, but I have forgotten who it was.....there was little money to be won in fuel altered racing, even at Lions where they started paying round money....one of the reasons why the class ultimately died.


Lonnie Butts in "Twitch-a-Wee," gas Fiat competition coupe...Lonnie ran this car for years, won frequently..


Ray Higley, engine and chassis by Lefty Mudersbach, who is next to the Caddie in his firesuit. The T touring behind it was built by Norm Grabowski, Kaye Trapp later bought it.


Not sure who this is.....when you ran Lions, you learned some things very quickly...the first was that you NEVER argued with Mickey, his word and the word of his staff was law, and he never hesitated to throw anyone out who didn't understand this....Mickey was very safety conscious, he had his first fatality in '55, and the driver's father later blamed Mickey for his son's death....so the safety inspectors were careful to check safety equipment (I was sent off once to get new shoulder harnesses when they saw that mine were worn)....you also showed up on time when your class was called, or you didn't race....and you made sure that you got off the gas and onto the chute because Willow Street was at the end of the track, and some guys crossed it after chute failure.


Pretty early GBP, before the custom scoop.


Dye and Hampton, after the blowers...


But most people have forgotten that before Dye & Hampton installed the two blown chevies, they ran this twin carbureted Olds in the Fiat....

 

Freight Train.

 

Geez some incredible shots in this series. A history lesson tossed in as well.

 

Never knew this.