History Hot Rod truck thread!

Lion’s Dragstrip December 1955

Hello,

So Cal drag racing was in its infancy during the 1955 era. The Santa Ana Dragstrip next to the airport in Orange County was the only game in town. The trip to barren Orange County was a quite a distance from Los Angeles area and also from the San Bernardino/Riverside area.

So, over time, different dragstrips popped up in various communities. the So Cal landscape was ripe for dragstrips. Open land, small communities, industrial tracts nearby, accepting city councils, major highways for close access, etc. all played a part in where those new dragstrips started.

Researching a story information facts about early drag racing, I came across this photo and by line story. It is a 1955 photo of a Model A truck as pure as can be, using a modern technique that was popular for pickup trucks and El Camino during the early 60s. The Model A had dropped the pick up bed tailgate to allow the flow of air over the top and not be held in place by the closed tailgate. The concept for open tailgates allowed any trapped air to flow right over and out of the open area.

Jnaki

As an owner of a 65 El Camino for 12 years and 125k miles, we knew the open bed concept did well on long distance road trips that we took almost monthly. But around town, the drop down tailgate just seem to stick our too much for daily driving. It was like an accident waiting to happen. Did the flow of air go out of the open tailgate on those long drives? Definitely yes. We watched in our mirrors, the flying debris and other things like fog or rain flow over the cab and go right out of the opening.

So, not that hot rod trucks is a common thing in class racing back then, the dropped tailgate does work. But, does it work for drag racing in such a short time on the track? Similar to streamlining bodies on 8 second FED race cars. Does it help within the 8 seconds? 12 seconds?

Ask these two record setting, trophy winning 59 El Camino racers.

BAKER AUTOMOTIVE

1959 El Camino Cad Powered Baker Automotive



1959 black El Camino 335 HP Stock Class winner (thanks, BG)

 

After a 3 year slumber I fixed some issues with my little 31 and got it back in the wind. It sure is fun.

 

See it a bit better. Crazy shot, the optical illusion when you first look at it it looks like that stone work on the pillar is attached to your car.

 

FLASH TRAFFIC: Memeber @Boones took a BUNCH of photos at HotRod a rama
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/hotrod-a-rama-the-resurrection-pictures.1237254/

And posted some on the HAMB But he also has a BUNCH on Foki
https://public.fotki.com/boones/car_shows/2021-car-shows/hotrod-a-rama/

He has given me permission to post some of his photos in different threads

For your viewing pleasure BTW most enlarge VERY BIG

 

off the net

 

Some old pics from A-Bombers Uddevalla.