if you are free you should head to Georgetown on the 22nd of this month for the Rat Patrol and Piston Packin' Momas Spring Opener Georgetown is a historical neighborhood at the north end of Boeing Field in Seattle here are a few snapshots from a few years ago 2017?
Puyallup is the best, especially with the drags on Friday night. Oh and @J.Ukrop if you want the best local BBQ you need to go to Caveman Kitchen in Kent. It's been a Northwest institution for over 50 years. https://www.cavemankitchen.com
There's a lot of cool car history here if you know where to look for it. And sometimes you just stumble on it. Last week I went to an estate sale a few blocks from my house--was stunned to learn the fellow had raced at Aurora Speedway in the '40s/'50s. I bought these two model Track Roadsters he'd formed and soldered together from old cans.
I see my pickup in the bunch... Just a FYI. The spring opener is in White Center at the F.O.E. this year. Still on the 22nd. Bummed I'll miss it by being at the Monroe swap.
Born and raised in Puyallup (south Hill)..a great town to grow up in. I was born in Puyallup, lived in the South Hill area until I graduated from High School. Downtown has changed a bit, but South Hill is almost not recognizable due to the growth in the area. We have a lot of car enthusiasts in this area.
Yep, a nice sleepy farming community up until about '70 or so. LEOs didn't hassle you when you cruised town, the drags were just up the hill. The core city is still pretty much the same (but just try to find parking) but the surrounded areas exploded. Not many farms left...
Thanks Matt, Although I am a bit disheartened, The Georgetown venue really made it for me, Looking on line at pictures of White Center Eagles parking lot looks like Rat City of the old days.
Back in the 60's the only thing out on Southhill was the Puyallup dragstrip where Dunn (OOPs Thun) Field aka Pierce county airport is now if I have my maps right and it was the road you took to go out to the west side of Mt Rainier park. Dad's girlfriend had a cabin that I think was between Elbe and Ashford that we went up to a lot in the mid 60's. My sister lived out in the Medowbrook hood for years and the landmarks changed every time I went over there.
Frisko Freeze ! Northend Tacoma .. just blocks away from my place.. summer night cruise and stop for burger/fries and shakes... The Swiss Tavern ( RIP) downtown Tacoma were the first Hot Rod A Rama's were held... now those were fun.. Dinner is on me if you get by again... @J.Ukrop dm anytime
Badass!!!!! I was floored when I moved out here in 2001 about the hot rod custom car scene! It really is amazing.
@J.Ukrop - Good stuff! The "Pacific Northwest Nationals" (in Puyallup) has always been one of my favorite GOODGUY'S events! - @HEMI32
That was Thun field, later known as Pierce County Airport, although they may have gone back to the original name. And you're forgetting two now-long-gone South Hill local landmarks, the Elvins department store and my personal fav, Hector the Wreckers auto wrecking. Hectors' was 20+ acres of mostly '50s era stuff and was my go-to for most parts. This was a real old-school place, started as a mixed pasture and second-growth timber parcel with bull-dozed 'roads', the cars were drug in and dropped helter-skelter so it was always a treasure hunt, with bees and blackberrys as garnish. The Puyallup freeway took him out. Elvins was supposed to be a seed for a new mall, but they built way too early and went belly-up about 10 years before it exploded. It was a satellite store to the one at Hi Ho in downtown (also long gone). If you went a bit further out, there was a Motorcycle flat track in Graham, but that closed in the 70s too. Was all two-lane road back then, now it's all four lane plus almost all the way to Graham.
Moving to Lynden in about three weeks so will have to check the car scene out in Bellingham and B.C. and Seattle and Tacoma and....On the 16th I take off in my A for a five day trip up, not in a hurry, and hopefully meet my other car up there in time to unload her from the transport. Can't wait to settle into my new garage! Mike
Thun Field was an interesting case. When Puyallup raceways opened its only neighbor was the airfield. A developer came in and built houses all around them, then they started bitching about the noise. Puyallup was never a big operation, so rather than be in court for years they just closed up. The same group (with backing from a deep-pocketed developer) then went after the airport. The airport owner had money so he had no need to cash in, and rather than fight, he made a sweetheart deal with the county with the stipulation that it remain an airport. As it was the only airport of any size on that side of the Narrows, the county quickly agreed and told the complainers to go pound sand and made it stick... LOL
My brain was thinking Thun, my banged up old fingers said Dunn. fixed it a bit. Most often after breakfast at Inies Cafe on the East Valley highway between Renton and Kent on Sunday mornings of Dad and kid weekends we would hit a few of the Pontiac dealers in Auburn and Puyallup in 61 and 62. Dad went on Sundays to scope out the cars so the salesmen wouldn't be there. About 1986/87 I had a friend with a house at the Spanaway air park and they took us up and did the loop around Mt St Helens and then back to Thun Field for the fly in lunch.
If you’re a fan of the slightly (?) offbeat Mr.Ukrop, get yourself down to Westport Washington the third weekend in July there’s a little show put on by the ESRA each year. Believe me it’s great fun, your roadster would fit right in.
The Jalopy Journal
