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

Twin flattie...

 

That's a LOT of holes in the front axle.

 

Two for Thursday...whoops-edition!

 

When men were men...

 

R.I.P Scott

 

I'd hate to see that thing pull a wheelie....
"Rug burns".....

 

Beautiful sheet metal work !

 

This is one of the great threads here.

 

Bay View

 

Scenes like this were not that unusual when the dragster design changed over from front engines to the rear engine design. Either the push bar on the push truck (or vehicle) did not stick out far enough forward of the front bumper or the push bar on the dragster was not long enough in the back of the dragster. As long as the dragster was being pushed in a straight line, all was okay, but as soon as the dragster started to make a turn, the front bumper on the push vehicle came into contact with one of the drag slicks on the dragster, and rode up and over the rear of the dragster, resulting in photos like this one.

 

I still love bell bottoms and long black hair!
Heart be still........
Looks like the fella in the foreground is fix'in to flash the big L sign on his forehead!!
6sally6

 

The car had a windscreen. Romeo Palamedes at Bakersfield, either Archie Liederbrand or Pete Ogden driving --- there is a debate on who it is...Rudy Perez was standing next to Al Caldwell, who took the photo, and told me that ti was Archie driving.

 

Soo...what you are saying...is that...it's ok to break any rule the "driver" see's fit to break !?
Right ?
Yeah, I don't think so !

Didn't a top Pro Stock driver get hit with a fine and loss of points (last year) for...raising his visor too early...EVEN though the car HAS...a full windshield & side windows ?

Mike

 

I got my ass chewed out for taking my helmet off before I got onto the return road. I now leave my helmet on tell I get my time slip.

 

I’m not saying the Smoker’s ran Bakersfield footloose and fancy free but wasn’t the track an independent at that time? With no affiliation to an association their rules and officials may not have been as rigid.

 

WTF are you ranting about?? The car has a windscreen, as I noted, so the goggles are on the driver's helmet. If the windscreen blows off, he pulls them down. This was 1959, no rules broken.
No need to rant and rave, just enjoy the photos!

 

You are right, the Smoker's ran the track, no rules broken. The starter would not have let him run if he was breaking the rules, as it was pretty obvious that his goggles were up on his helmet.

 

The Smokers ran a 64-Car Top Fuel program -- anyone else ever do that?

(Damn -- you just had to be there.)

 

Cody Parr, from Parr Automotive in Oklahoma City, strong runner. Sanctioning bodies later banned wire front wheels on altereds.


Bob Alsenez in Kenny Lindley's Potvin-blown Chrysler fueler vs the Cortopassi and Butler Glass Slipper, injected Chevy. Alsenez won this meet at the '56 NHRA nationals, only to lose to Melvin Heath's fueler for the A/D final.


Rizzio and Gray fuel coupe at Pomona. It ran a Chrysler. The coupe was in Ben Rizzio's garage when he died a few years ago, wonder where it is now? Photo found on George Klass's site.


Six-motor drag racing...Ambassador's Car Club from Orinda, CA, Bob Sbarbaro driving, vs Tommy Ivo's 4-Buick car.


The Scoville brothers from Sherman Oaks, CA, ran this Chrysler powered roadster. The engine later got a blower, and once a ride in Tommy Ivo's gas dragster, which set the A/GD record at Riverside with a 159mph run


Jerry Baltes gasser at Paradise Mesa. He went on to a career in top fuel.


Jerry Norek from Long Beach, CA, at the NHRA Nationals. Those unusual induction tubes indicate that Jerry is running Joe Mailliard's blown Chrysler with two updraft carbs from an Army tank engine. Joe Mailliard and Joe Reath were partners in a speed shop until a parting of the ways led to Joe Mailliard opening his own shop. Photo by Connell Miller, who has taken some great drag racing photos over the years.


Before the top chop and the blown Chrysler, Gene Mooneyham ran this '34 coupe with a flathead. It once had a sedan body, but after Gene rolled it at Santa Ana, he replaced the body with a coupe.


Ansen and Pink, with Tom Dyer driving. This was the former Fuller, Zeuschel, and Prudhomme car, that Lou Senter and Ed Pink took over after it passed through several owners.


Bobby Langley gets pushed off at the Smoker's Bakersfield meet. Notice the Sidewinder in the background. Bobby, from Everman, Texas, was one of the most legendary drag racers to come out of Texas, one of many.


Steinegger and Eshenbaugh, Phoenix-based top fuel car.


The former Scotty's Muffler roadster at Alton, IL...I think that this was when Bob Baugh owned it. The car and the Ardun both survive, but with different owners.


Fred T. Brown, of El Centro, CA, at the '58 NHRA Nationals, Glenn Ward photo.


Butch Thurman wrestles the Thurman brothers fuel roadster --- heavy and obsolete in competition with the tube frame fiberglass bodied competitors, but really fun to watch.

 

Not that I remember...two elimination ladders of 32 cars each...and over 100 top fuel dragsters showed up. You could watch fuel dragsters run all day long, interrupted only by a clean-up. And then there were gas dragsters, fuel altereds, modified roadsters, etc. A lot of teams had only one engine, so top eliminator cars in each ladder had to run 5 rounds, and a lot dropped out with broken parts. It was the drag racing show of a lifetime. I was kind of glad we blew up early, as we had no chance to qualify, so we put the car on the trailer and just watched all day. At night we went to Ernie Hashim's to watch wounded engines get first aid.

 

I remember in the late 50's riding in the bed of a push truck; that racing was by and for the racers,
not a TV $$$ audience. To me there was a lot of comradery where folks were commonly helping eachother (borrowing tires, fuel etc.) and taking time to BS and lie. Most dragracers I was lucky to observe were also lakes racers and maybe this added to the associations. Anyway Colton, Riverside, Santa Ana (fuel strips) were good but the Smokers races were the best.

 

This from the 1960 rule book

 

Right, "...all vehicles not having windshields."