History Vintage Drag Racers with their Cars!

Well I've been doing this drag racing stuff over six decades. I mostly have done it locally - I'm just a punk hoodlum bracket racer you've probably never heard of. That said, I still field a "fleet" of oldish drag cars. Here are a few pics of my altereds and gassers. If you'd like to see videos of them I'll post some from a recent nostalgia drag race.

 

VINTAGE DRAG RACERS WITH THEIR CARS
Hello,

In December of 1959, my brother and I drove out to the relatively barren countryside in Riverside County, 2 hours away from our centrally located house in Long Beach. The Riverside Raceway drag race was going to be the biggest, best competitive event on the West Coast other than the Bakersfield Smokers Annual March Meet. The best from the East/Midwest came out West to race against big time racers from the West Coast.

It was a teenager’s dream location. Cold in the early AM, to warm in the mid-day sun and cold in the afternoon setting sun. The wide open spaces does that to an area’s weather pattern. Warm to hot and sunny at lunch turned into jacket weather as soon as the sun moved westward.

Art Chrisman was pretty famous from his earlier exploits in automobile racing. The Hustler 2 was the latest creation to be one of the fastest race cars in the nation. It was beautifully finished in a bronze scallop paint over a pearl white body. The body was one of the earliest full body streamlined cars for the dragstrip competition.


Jnaki

We were impressed as soon as we saw the supercharged Hemi motor come to life in the pits area. On the move to the staging area, it was a rolling silent missile moving toward its destination. Art Chrisman is/was a craftsman and the Hustler 2 racecar showed everyone a fast dragster can be a show quality build. It was impressive, as was the builder.

A little history for all...

Art Chrisman

 

Rae Gabelich collection

Hello,

Gary Gabelich was from Bixby Knolls and grew up with some pretty outstanding hot rod/drag race guys. They all went to LB Poly high school a few years ahead of our class. As most things go, during high school, the attention to cruising and drag racing centers on the Bixby Knolls hot spots, Grissinger’s Drive-In and Ken’s Burgers on the next big street over, as well as the “Cherry Avenue’ drags.

So, as the high school years roll by, there becomes an intermixed group of outgoing seniors and incoming sophomores. (in Long Beach back then, the freshman year was the top class at the local junior high school campus, despite the fact that grade 9 records were on the official high school records of all students. We were just not on the big high school campus locations.)

My brother and his friends knew the guys from those earlier high school years. When it was time to move on, they all took their time to get their futures in line. Then the next group of high school kids started their own history in Bixby Knolls. Our class came several years after those older guys and it was by chance that we met at Lion’s Dragstrip and later on, became friends.

Jnaki

It is always fun to have known people before they found their niche in life. For Gary Gabelich, we thought his was in drag racing adventures. But, as we all know, he became quite famous for being the fastest guy in motor racing. We hung around for a summer and he introduced me to several of his friends and locations of build shops and old cars. That was an eye opener.



This is Gary Gabelich as a 17 year old teenager to the memorial days in hot rod/drag racing + land speed records. Thanks, Gary…





Rapp, Rossi, Maldanado FED

LEGEND GARY GABELICH

 

WDIFL
Hello,

Nostalgia plays a big part of everyone’s history. The good old days rings true for most of us. In drag racing, a re-creation of an icon in drag racing certainly brings back those memories from a long time ago. My brother and I had been reading the local Drag News paper since it came out. On the Westside of Long Beach,near Lion’s Dragstrip, they were sold at most of the speed shops and if they were sold out, we drove to Reath Automotive to get our weekly fix.

The only place for us to see racers from another area was through Drag News. These days, a collector’s set of Drag News from 1955 to 1971 can still be had through the WDIFL website. It is the most comprehensive coverage of any part of drag racing history. The above photo was part of the WDIFL coverage of the showing of the re-creation of the wild “Tennessee Bo-Weevil.”

WHAT is a Bo-Weevil?

“The boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) is not much to look at – just a grayish, little beetle with an impressively long snout.”

This Tennessee Bo Weevil was a highly developed, modified roadster with a long snout and a powerful motor, built by Raymond Godman and friends.

Jnaki

“The name, “Tennessee Bo Weevil” stuck out in our young teenage minds from the time it was posted in one of the Drag News Papers, back in early 1959. We knew nothing of Tennessee, except for Davy Crockett and that Nashville was the capital. Tennessee was so far removed from So Cal at the time that it could have been located on the Moon.”

“But, the name Tennessee Bo Weevil was an odd name that just stuck in our ever, impressionable heads. That name kept popping up in the drag racing results and later, we finally heard the actual sound on the Hot Rods and Dragsters in Hi-Fi/Stereo that was recorded at the Detroit Nationals in 1959.”


Thanks for the memories, a great race car, and a fabulous drag racing career.

Extra posts:

“From the Dave McClellan collection...One of the many versions of Raymond Godwin's Tennessee Bo Weevil. Raymond served in the Korean war, shot in the back by a sniper, never slowed him from building a lot of first-rate drag racing cars...modified roadsters, dragsters, etc...”

Tennessee Bo Weevil at the 1959 Detroit Nationals


Kimery Photo


Memphis Rodders


Tennessee Bo Weevil Film w/ Sound

 

From Pat Ganahl’s page

“…we gave Don Hampton extra points for showmanship when he drove his wife’s full-fendered T from his shop in Downey to Black’s, removed his unique 2-lobe 6-71 and dual quads from it, bolted it all on the dyno motor, made 490hp at 6000 rpm (limited to 12.5 pounds boost), then put it back on the T and drove home. The whole test was a great success, but Hampton was the capper.”


Hello,

We were enthralled with the weekly sighting of Don Hampton driving Kenny Lindley’s streamlined dragster at Lion’s Dragstrip. It was one of the quickest FED cars competing at the time. We wondered how Don Hampton could be so versatile as to being able to adapt to driving one of the other race cars that we also saw… Eldon Dye’s Competition Coupe. Talk about versatility and skills galore! But, the story by Pat Ganahl was a great one for the books.

Kenny Lindley’s White FED Don Hampton driving…



One of my most daring film shots… “Here’s coming at you!”



1959
Summer 1959 silent film with September 1959 actual sound from Don Hampton driving Kenny Lindley’s FED race car…


Jnaki

This old film is a composite of Don Hampton driving Eldon Dye’s Competition Coupe in two different stages of builds during 1959-60.


The amazing item of interest is that he is still involved in drag racing at a different level with his cackle cars at the “Nitro Revival” events and running his supercharger business, one of the longest running drag racing shops around… What a history!
In the heydays and now, a similar FED for the Steve Gibbs’ “Nitro Revival” events all over So Cal.

Don Hampton at the Lion’s Dragstrip Museum, next to his glass enclosed historic artifacts.

 

Curious about this wild nailhead rail. Anybody recognize it?

 

Aside from some of the crudidity of the car the chassis actually looks pretty state-of-the-art.
Dig the A/D class designation.

 

That is an impressive batch of cars. You have an excellent eye for cool. But just once, find religion.... go fuel!

 

Intaking the exhaust and exhausting the intake? How's this work? Put the cam in backwards? Push start it and it backs over you?
Intaking the exhaust and exhausting the intake? Gotta turn the cam upside down? Inside out? How's this work?

 

I raced gas dragsters in the 70s 80's took 18 years off and then built this altered with my son, this is our 10th year running it .

 

Been reading forum posts on reverse flow engines. Wild stuff. Never seen one in person.
Anyone on the HAMB running one? Pix?

 

First picture is at Rhinebeck swap meet around 2010 after brother Mike and myself restored the car and my friends (original owner and builder) came to see the car. Dave Daly (L) and Willie "The Welder" Feyh (R). Second picture is of Dave who did most of the driving at Dover Dragstrip. Third picture is of Willie at Westhampton drag strip the first day out in 1962. I was the "pit kid" with these guys always hanging around getting them coffee and lunch. I am so lucky to have been around these guys and sadly they are all gone now. I could not bear to see the car sold for a few bucks just to have it repainted and all the history of these people disappear. I am in the process of donating the car to a museum here on the east coast. When it happens I'll post it on HAMB.

I found this one while looking through the pictures, it is me driving at the 9th Dover Dragstrip Nostalgia drags and those pretty legs are Brother Mike who without his help this car would have never been finished.

Pat

 

Thanks for saving this unique piece of drag racing history.

 

Thanks Sky Six.
FUEL???
I can barely afford the oil changes LOL.

 

Hello,

Several years ago, Chris Karamensines set a record for old folks… ha! He became the fastest old guy to go over 300 mph in the quarter mile. Today, at 92+ years old, he has been involved in drag racing for what seems like eternity. Now, his association with his team is consulting and providing some guidance.

Marty Strode sent me an old film file and wanted to know if I could do something with it. I was happy to have such a time capsule in my own files. But, it was saved in a film format that most old films are saved. It was there, I could see it on my own computer film show program, but I could not post such a valuable highlight to an illustrious career from the way back time machine. 1963 is 60 years ago. Last year was our high school graduation year and that certainly was a long time ago. HA!
This is from 1963 when he was touring the Westcoast with the Chizzler.

Like most old and even new film formats, digital or not, it just cannot be copied and posted on any website. Sent via email in small batches, yes, but several saved films may not always go to its intended destinations due to the cable or email company restrictions. I had to convert it to a You Tube video with labels, rules, and a thumbnail of the film.



So, here is the finished project as given to me by Marty Strode. Thanks @Marty Strode
a film provided by Marty Strode.

Note:


The image is the first time and last time, that I saw this version of “The Chizzler” in person, 1959 in So Cal.