Memories of Santa Ana Drags.....a kid in awe

You will have to excuse my exact memory, but at my age{66} its starting to fade....LOL

It was about 1955 and i had made friends with a kid around the corner. He invited me over to his house on a Saturday to watch his Dad prepare an A Roadster for the Drags. Now i was about 13 and had no idea about the Drags or Hot Rods in general. I had seen some locally but never really paid much attention. I pedaled my bike over to his house and was in awe instantly! There sat this roadster in the driveway, his Dad bent over the engine,the car was running and the sound was asum. It was a built Flatty and i was now in love with Hot Rods!! I watched as he tuned the engine, carefully adjusting the carbs,and couldnt take my eyes off the car for the rest of the aftrenoon. Later in the day my friend invited me to go with them Sunday morning to The Drags. I was so excited that night, i couldnt wait for Sunday morning to arrive. The next day we loaded the Roadster on the trailer and off we went,arriving at the old airport strip, now famous. Once the car was unloaded , it was explained to me i had to "help". It was my buddy, me and his Dad,that was the "pit crew". The car was pushed to start by me and my buddy and once running , his dad would bring it up the the line. We would wipe the tires down with wet rags, and then watch as his Dad would make his run. I was in "Hog Heaven" all day. The summer went to quickly that year, each Sunday was anticipated by me all week long. It was my initiation into Hot Rodding that would last me a lifetime. I have trouble remebering their names, but the last name was Campos. During that summer i watched some of the greats run at Santa Ana, The Bean Bandits, a motorcycle called "Double Trouble"{2 engines} and was one of the fastest things out there,and a slew of others i cant recall right now. I was "Hooked" forever and so fortunate to grow up in Orange County .

 

I was in my mama's tummy when I got my first taste of drag racing.
She drove, my dad tuned.
Like you, I can't get enough of it.
Great story.
r

 

When i was High school, i hung around Stan Betz's shop on Chestnut st in Anaheim. At that time he was punching a lot of Louvers for Dean Moon in Aluninum racing wheel discs and other stuff on a foot operated press. It was also the "headquarters" for the local car club the Street Sweepers.

 

"Von Dutch" was good friends with Stan and would drop in the shop from time to time. Heres a pic of Stans shop truck that "Dutch" flamed.

 

Stan Betz is the MAN! What an incredibly gifted, talented, generous, and happy man.

 

The Santa Ana Drags, I remember it well. My neighbor around the corner had a belly tank dragster that he ran at Santa Ana all the time and would let me sit in the car when he was working on it. Ollie Morris ran the car to a world record at one time at 144 MPH. His wife had a 32 3 window that was pretty nice also. My brother ran a stock 39 ford at Santa Ana and his friend ran a 34 high boy there. My friend and I would hitch hike out to the track on Sunday and cut across the field to get in free cause we couldn't afford the 2 bucks to get in.

JMPRO

 

Sadly, for me, I never went to Santa Ana for the drags. I didn't start going to the drags until the late 50's and that was at San Gabriel, just east of where the Irwindale oval track is today.
The only thing I recall about Orange County was all the open space and those huge, wonderful blimps hangers in Tustin that we kids could see from the Santa Ana Freeway. Damn those were cool. I'd love to go inside one of those. I think that they are the largest wood trussed buildings in the world.
Also, there was no 605 Freeway, so we'd have to drive down beach Blvd. to the beach. past the alligator farm and a little place called Knotts Berry Farm. we's stop there for chicken dinners. There was no charge to get in and wander around. We kids would get "rides" in the Henry's Livery miniature "Model T's", lind of like the Autopia at Disneyland.
I have a question for you OC guys. I remember that on the drive home from the beach, Dad would stop somewhere around La Mirada (I think) on Hwy 39 and we'd watch the motorcycles hill climbs. Am I nuts or was there such a place?

Now to find some Santa Ana Drags photos...give me an hour.

 

Great story "cruzr", your story reads like a good book. It made me want to read more; when times were more simple and fun.

 

Yep, them were the days
cut my teeth @ Santa Ana.
Helpin my dad
He owned South Main AutoBody and Santa Ana Speed Shop back in the day.
Hell, even the racin on so Main on Friday nites were Kool.
The hill on 39 was bitchen too.

 

Sorry , that picture is not the Santa Ana drags. That was taken at the blimp base in Santa Ana. Back then the base was used for an ocasional drag race and sometimes set up for airport racing with a road coarse. The santa Ana drags was at what is now John Wayne airport. Not trying to be a no-it-all but want to get the facts correct.

JMPRO

 

Yep --- The Blimp Hangers in Tustin was called LTA (lighter than air)

 

Thanks, I didn't know that...good to know.

 

Pappy Hart

 

My earliest recollection was in '51 when my dad would take me to watch the races.

Hey Mazooma I forgot about the alligator farm! My mom and her sisters would pick berries and sell pies at Knotts berry stand.

 

Man, could C J drop a fast flag or what????
And he sure kept everybody in line.
He ruled that track.
Between him and Creighton Hunter (Hunter Oil Co.) in Santa Ana they ran a hell of and operation for the day.

 

Yep, LTA Santa Ana. I was stationed there in the summer of '67 after my
tour in SE Asia was over, part of HMMT-301. Great place and just a few
miles to OCIR. There was another airstrip from WW2 nearby called Mile
Square and of course it was triangle shaped, used to let our new pilots
practice autorotations there. I am sure it was all converted to housing at
some point. Thanks for jogging my memory and the hangers were the largest truss supported buildings in the world when i was there, maybe
still are. Is there only one left standing? There were three at one time.

 

hers Stan mixing some paint for my coupe when i first got it

 

I don't remember there being 3 buildings only 2. They are still there but their future is being debated.
Mile square is still there and is a regional park now. The old airfield was used for many years for r/c flying and many of the local Land Sailing guys used it on Sunday.
JMPRO

 

Yep, your memory is correct. Every weekend people would go out and use the hill climb. I have some 8mm film of bikers using the hill climb. If I knew how to convert them to CD I could share them. Also beyond the hill climb area bikers would hold Hare and Hound races on the many trails. If I recall correctly that area was part of the Diamond Bar Ranch. Hwy 39 ran all the way to Huntington Beach and was also known as Beach Blvd. Brings back many good memories, thank you.

 

Your sure right about that-- Stan is the man
When I was a snot nosed kid and opened up my first body shop no one would give me an account.
Stan dropped by my shop 1 day and asked where I was buy my materials, and I asked if he'd carry me for 30 days.
From that day on he was my supplier (23 years) until I sold out and moved to AZ.
I still use 1 of his famous greetings to this day " R U OK? "

 

more memories....

We used to hang out at the "Bean Hut" in Anaheim, cherry cokes and tostados were the order of the day. There was a 'pecking order to where you got to park.

 

Mazooma,
I remember those Lil t's too. The chicken dinners are still a favorite of mine.

The hills your talking about were on the corner of Beach and Rosecrans.

I grew up in that area. Me and my buddies would ride our bicycles down there all of the time and watch them ride up the hill. We called it "Sand Hill". Before the oil company fenced it all in, we would spend hours exploring those hills. There were tar pits at the top of Rosecrans just east of Beach too.
.

 

Later on in life i went to work for Movie World Cars of Stars,Ed Roth was doing some work there from time to time.

 

Pappy Hart was quite a guy...



he did his "broadcasting" from a car

 

Where are U findin these pics?
Kool stuff.

 

The Bean Hut, man I forgot all about that joint . It was part of the cruise ritual. The In and Out in Santa Ana, then to Merls in Corona Del Mar on to the Hillside in Fullerton and then the Bean Hut in Anaheim, oh yea Oscars in Santa Ana. If you haden't hooked up with some chicks buy the time you got to Oscars then you struck out. I had a band and we played at Harmony Park Ballroom sometimes and would go to the Bean Hut after the gig to hook up with some of the groupies from the dance.
JMPRO

 

How about the VOUS (Redevouse) In Balboa, always were chick there.
And if were @ Oscars in S A and wanted a little street racin fun, Browning ave in Tustin wasn't too far away. It was the road that ran parrallel to LTA, had a 1/4 mile marked off.

 

Used to ride my bike out Paulerino to the track. This time slip is from my Dad
racing Granpas new Dodge. I think the speed was incorrect but that's how is was
back then.
As far as Stanley goes. I can relate to R U OK. My shop is very close to his.
We hung out at Merle's in Newport and then to Oscars for the street racing. Also
raced on Browning back then. Later lived on Browning after the Corn fields were
gone.

 

Cruzr, let us know if we're getting off topic...
BUT, what the heck was the name of the coffee shop on PCH in Corona Del Mar that was famous for it's pecan pies...
We used to go there after getting a chocolate covered banana on Balboa Island.

 

old Knotts Berry Farm historical stuff

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...s+berry+farm+50%27s&gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off&sa=G