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

pulling up to the line, then leaving

 

The Greeks Phaeton at the Byron Meltdown Drags yesterday.

 

Hey Dennis,
Nice history on one of the greats in drag racing...Here is the latest photo of the Chizzler from the West Coast. The 1963 version was prominently displayed next to the famous, Cook and Bedwell FED. (June 24, 2017)

It was at the opening of the Lions Dragstrip Museum located at the Price Transfer Automobilia Museum Complex. It was parked next to the Hill-Acala red roadster and the huge TV screen playing my old Lions films all day... It was a fun event.



Junji

Chris Karamesines is one bad @$$ drag racer...lots of history there. Here he is in 1959 at Riverside Raceway going against the big name West Coast racers. (early Chizzler )



check your email...

 

Thanks Junji - just think I should mention the Stuckey / Ron Johnson ChiZler raced 1963 - 64.

 

Dennis,
1963-64 it is... Today, it looks as good as new.
Junji

 

And GMP is close to releasing a 1:18 scale die cast model of the Stuckey Chizzler.

 

Hey Dean,
That model will be pretty cool. Since, in person, the real FED is pretty outstanding. The Stuckey /Chizzler campaigned by Ron Johnson, is one of the first 6 listed to appear at the Barona Nitro Revival put on by Steve Gibbs in September. The list is huge...

Jnaki
I was also lucky enough to get the "Magicar" (Bill Pitts) captured on my sound video of the cackle event at the Lions Museum event last month. They are at the top of this preliminary list for Barona.

The film is supposed to show flames coming out, but normally at night, it is not a problem. Since the cackle was around 6:30 pm and on the West Coast summer, it is still bright and sunny. For some, it was hard to see.

To a lot of people, flames are a must. For me, the sound and smell was plenty for the senses to kick in and enjoy. I made a few color copies to see which one gave the best showing of the cackle flames.

 

It is new, Ron had the car recreated . . .

 

. . . and the Cook and Bedwell car -- is it a repop or partially original or what?

The color looks off to me. And I was there when it set the record at Colton. Just look at the Hot Rod cover. I'm the guy with a crew cut and wearing Levi's and a white T-shirt.

 

It's a re pop.

 

Named after the John Wayne movie at the time

 

Did Frank Papesh also race, build, or sponsor circle track cars? I may know him from the 80's at Santa Fe, Willow Springs.

 

I never knew this part of the whole story concerning the Don Garlits clutch explosion. I was never aware until now that some poor woman was hurt by flying parts. That is real sad to hear and thankfully a smart person was able to help her. I wonder if this person sued Garlits or the track for her misfortune. I know it is an unintentional accident but still this person lost an arm. I have always been a major Don Garlits fan but he should have been sued by this woman. Does anyone know what happened in this regard after the accident. Cheers. George

 

She sued. She didn't win.

 

If it had happened today, I would not be surprised if she had won...

 

You got that right George.

 

I believe the starter went into the stands to help. drawing a blank on the name right now.

 

Larry Sutton, starter at the beach, applied pressure to an artery to stem the bleeding, but I recall that was a young man. I even recall a reunion photo taken a few years ago with Larry and the victim. Anyone? I hate getting old, everything gets scrambled.

 

Couldn't find a photo, but the young man's name is Tim Ditt. The wife and I were there that day.

 

I think that may be this on, which I took at Lions December of '63 ('66 date on photo indicates a later re-print).

The repop is quite different in proportion.

Rod's '56 wagon was the pushcar here.

 

I've been looking back on this thread and others......a big ONE FINGER salute to PHOTOBUCKET for ruining so many pictures! Deciding I should PAY THEM 300 dollars to link to MY IMAGES ON MY PAGE.
How greedy is that???
FU PHOTOBUCKET!

 

Cordova, Illinois World Series

 

[QUOTE=" I know it is an unintentional accident but still this person lost an arm. I have always been a major Don Garlits fan but he should have been sued by this woman. Does anyone know what happened in this regard after the accident. Cheers. George[/QUOTE]

There is a reason that race crews and spectators at drag races are required to sign a liability waiver when they enter. Drag racing is dangerous, even for spectators, that fact is spelled out in the waiver. By signing the waiver, people are agreeing that they understand the danger and accept the risk.

 

Thanks for putting this shot up. This is apparently the Chizler that was cloned several years back. It seems different from the Chizler I posted on #55904.

 

larry told me the story at pri last year. sounds like it got crazy that day. he said the person injured in the stands would have for sure died due to blood loss if he didn't help out.

 

There is a reason that race crews and spectators at drag races are required to sign a liability waiver when they enter. Drag racing is dangerous, even for spectators, that fact is spelled out in the waiver. By signing the waiver, people are agreeing that they understand the danger and accept the risk.[/QUOTE]

From my experience in drag racing, those "Release of Liability Waivers" are basically worthless, including the ones embedded on the race driver's tech card, signed or not. If you wanted to sue someone because of an incident at a drag strip, either the track owners or the promoters, any lawyer can get around any of those so-called "release of liability" waivers.

 

From my experience in drag racing, those "Release of Liability Waivers" are basically worthless, including the ones embedded on the race driver's tech card, signed or not. If you wanted to sue someone because of an incident at a drag strip, either the track owners or the promoters, any lawyer can get around any of those so-called "release of liability" waivers.[/QUOTE]

You are right, these days a liability waiver is probably not much good in court.

When this incident occurred forty odd years ago, courts placed far more responsibility on individuals to look out for their own personal safety. Back then, if an individual decided to willingly engage in an activity with an inherent potential of danger (like spectating at a drag race), and signed a paper saying they understood and accepted that potential danger, they would be far less likely to win any law suits over any injury that resulted from engaging in the activity.

 

Looks like Jack Carter, owner of Carter Drag Chutes working on the car...

 

The shot I posted is the same car that is in your posted shot The Ron Johnson re-pop posted was reworked shortly after it was completed but still just a little off.