This activity led to drag strips...and even though many were created those type of events carry over to this very day... Hence the descriptive title Hoodlums is still a very fitting title given to these Hotrodders...and I think theres a wee bit of that in all of us here... Looks like a hopped up banger in that A-Bone...ah the good ole days...
building a drag strip does not discourage street racing. we raced within a mile of Fremont Drag strip in the 70's and 80's. if anything it encourages it.
The phrase “souped up” always reminds me of my dad. That’s always been his way of describing anything hot rodded in any way. When I told him I bought that F3 a number of years ago, he asked me “are you gonna soup it up?” Pat
Damn where's the rest of the article !!? You get me all engrossed in the story and then you leave out the rest of it! I'm wanting to know how the story ends !! Lol!!
Hello, Lions Dragstrip near our old house in Long Beach was created just for this purpose by the local So Cal area Lions Clubs. On the website: We Did It For Love: WDIFL Don Ewald does a great job of presenting the History of Lions as it relates to the types of old articles that used to pop up in the local LA area newspapers almost weekly. Hot rodders and drag racers all in the same breath as bad teenagers, was the usual headline or stories. HERE IS THE LINK TO WDIFL: http://wediditforlove.com/techtalk15.html As most stories end, the surrounding homes complained about the "awful noise." Then the value of the land was worth more to the LA/Long Beach/Wilmington Harbor Departments for storage and income. Jnaki It is a story that hits close to home as we grew up in Long Beach. It also gives us a reminder of what it was like when the Lions Dragstrip was still functioning every weekend from 1955 to 1972. We get reminded of those times, every time we drive by on the 405 freeway North or South. "Lions Drag Strip, built in 1955 in an abandoned railyard, was intended to bring these speed-happy drivers off the streets. It was named after its sponsor, the Lions service club. Help also was supplied by local cops, some of whom probably had writer’s cramp from issuing so many speeding citations. There were an estimated 50 car clubs in the area."
"...two boys who attempted to evade arrest and were given speeding citations after allegedly racing 70 m.p.h. when pursued by police." The good old days!
Is "Junior College" another term for "High School" in Pasadena at the time? The kids were 15 to 18, that's too young for 2yr colleges and the article sites one of the youths was a "Junior College Junior". This is a new term for me.
Oh how times have changed. How many of us would let our 15 yr old daughters ride in a hopped-up Jalopy with a 16 yr old hoodlum nowadays?? He wouldn’t get out of the driveway at my house. On second thought. How many 15-18 yr olds could we find nowadays who could build one of those. Let alone even be interested?? That article had a group of 20 in one neighborhood.
?? early day fun that helped change the world, why make it seem so complicated by comparing to today's world
I found this clip and it may be only missing what is on this one...mind you there is no period making me think there may be more...
Hey B, As far as the 15 year old teens were concerned, they had to be girl friends from high school or the groupies of the older Junior College hot rod guys. Most guys after high school did not want to associate with young “high school” girls… 18/19 vs 15 is not a good sign as a youth. Later on in the 20s a 3 year difference was socially acceptable. But, it was not acceptable during juvenile status. (18 goes to city/county jail vs 15 goes to juvenile hall.) In So Cal, Junior College was a two year college. It was not a 4 year freshman to senior class college or university. In the So Cal Junior Colleges, the newbies direct from June HS graduation were called Freshmen in September. Then the next year, Sophomores. After the normal 30 credits per year, (60 total) the "Sophomores" were allowed to transfer to any 4 year college in the USA. (It was almost a 100% guarantee transfer rate.) Since they were at least 18 as freshmen and 19-20 as sophomores, the next year in a 4 year college was "Junior" status. Unless the guy in the article was going to one of the other 3-4, Pasadena 4 year colleges, (but did not want to get in trouble,) he told the police the ever popular story. One that he was from a different school or a “Junior College” PCC…back then, Pasadena City College, instead of the Art Center, Occidental, Cal Tech, etc. The neat thing for Junior College was that most teenagers lived at home. The cost of Junior College is minimal compared to the 4 year colleges. The credits for classes are about the same for the first two year anywhere in the USA. This give two advantages: The first one: If you don't know what you want to do for the next 4 years after HS, junior college gives you college credits and helps you decide what is next. The second is that saving for the next two upper division classes can be done in the first two years, because of the fact that you will be living at home to lower the expenses. Jnaki The high school hot rods and cruisers were acceptable at the local junior colleges and some guys/girls went into the more advanced automotive classes and shops. The facilities were so much more advanced than the "cool" high school automotive shops. (sorry, Anthony...) The high school cruising scene just kept going for the next two years, then just about everyone left to go to different parts of California or elsewhere. Today, the latest thing in Long Beach, (after many years of transfers) is that any high school graduate of the 5 local schools is automatically accepted into the Junior College. Any graduate of the local Junior College (LBCC) after two years or 60 credits is automatically accepted into the local 4 year University. (CSULB) That is a guarantee. Now, it costs less for a quality higher education for everyone. Yes!
Junji, While I was in high school. I asked this girl for a date. {Sandy} She called me a couple days before. She told me that the only way she could go out with me, was if her dad drove us. He said, I'm not letting you ride with that Hot Rodder! lol Ron....
You Hoodlum! My old man gave me the family truckster for my first car, a worn out old country squire. He said I couldn't get into trouble with a station wagon Glad there weren't any news paper reporters hangin out at Mt Tabor is all I got to say.
My first car and built my own engine and transmission an racing kids in town an riding around Sent from my LG-LS777 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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