San Fernando Drags Pictures, Show & Tell

Since San Fernando was the first drag strip I ever attended and was the home track for our '56, I would like to start this thread to share pics. My brothers were to young to have been able to go there and are always asking me questions about it. Since we all know "pictures are worth a thousand words", here we go.., please share, thanks. Ric.

 

Thanks for the pics any more?

 

More, please!

 

the very 1st drag race i ever saw was laying in the bushes at the fence[next to wash]only couple feet from strip... tony nancy roadster went ins from my face ...started to rain ...only car i got to see run my 1st time...still it set the hook real deep!!!...years later bought goodyear drag slicks at a shop on york blvd&56ave Eaglerock cal...one of the 1st sets was a goodyear experimental set used by tony nancy 3runs&traded to the shop&sold&used on myA...i always had the biggest slicks on the street that was important back in the day to me

 

love the old pics

 

What a great picture. Those guys had it made.

 

I remember one time sitting in the stands with my dad( I was 3 or 4)eating a hot dog as two fuelers were getting ready to run. I was looking up at my dad who was saying something to me as I was taking a bite and suddenly the fuelers took off. It startled me and I choked on the bite of hot dog. My dad picked me up and started patting my back to help me out (and it did), the only problem was I dropped my hot dog on him during the whole thing and we both got covered in mustard. We had a good laugh over it, but I never let a fueler sneak up on me again.

 

Here are some more, come on share the love.

 

Just a bump, wondering if anyone has come up with anything else.
Thanks, Ric.

 

nice pics

 

Great pictures, I really like them. Thanks for posting.

 

Remember this one?



This car - ran a Chevy I believe - is a virtual twin to my 335" Rocket Powered 50 coupe

Main difference was my coupe was 56 Ford metallic green with a couple of primer spots and amber plexi windows.



My engine in a 2nd coupe that ran as a sleeper on the street with an occasional turn at the strip.

 

I started going to San Fernando before I could drive...always great races there. Later raced my B/Altered, C/FD, and tried to back up the 1320 B/FD record (blew up instead)

Harry Hibler ran the place, and really took care of the racers. If he knew you were bucks-down, he slipped you a few to make another run. The only problem with San Fernando was that competition cars could only run between noon and 3:00 PM because of noise complaints (note the houses in the back in the Ivo picture). The shut-off was another challenge...if you could not get stopped you had to navigate under a bridge that carried Foothill Blvd...not everyone made it. Finally the noise complaints got too frequent and the track closed -- 1970, I think. There was never an official "last drag race," it just closed. Today some of it still there, apparently it is the site of a flea market, and the old concession stand remains, along with the foundations of the timing tower.

 

Cool stories and pics, keep em coming.

 

I found this picture in my travels.

 

I remember riding our Shwinn Stingrays to the fence off Maclay st. near the shutoff. Watching Tommy Ivo,Don Prudomme,and the gassers. Bob Bailey was the neighborhood hero,in our area. I remember there were tons of pictures in the consecession stand's walls. Whatever happened to them?? The fuel rails would rattle the whole Valley on Sunday afternoons. I miss that sound, as well as the 'sonic booms' of the jets (f-86's) at Van Nuys airport....

 

the heally was driven by Norm Cowdry hes a friend of my dad and that car is insane

 

Here are some more, sorry if any of these are already posted, hard to keep track

 

Oh hell yes!

 

Bump, there's has got to be some more out there!

 

The new issue of Hot Rod Deluxe has a great article on the Pond.A bunch of pages and pics.Being an east coast guy where was the track located.Must have been close to LA as all the mags used it alot.Maps and google are too impersonal.I like to hear from guys that were there.
It was great that it was an outlaw strip and funny how the Petersen mags would edit any signs ID'ing the track.
It was amazing that they could get the show run in 3 hours(most of time).

 

Check out the new May 2010 issue of "Hot Rod Deluxe" mag. There is a excellent article and photos of the Pond.

 

In the "Hot Rod Deluxe" article, it says that the song "Drag City" by Jan & Dean was about the Pond. There is a photo of the album cover and the caption says that the dragster in the background is Tony Nancys

 

Great pictures and stories ....thanks.

 

Do they really have a swap meet 4 days a week there?Is that every week or once a month?Car parts or flea market stuff?

 

Outrageous.

 

Love your avatar

 

From Dave Wallace...

"Dennis Wilson (drummer for the Beach Boys) used to bring not one but two Shelby Cobras to San Fernando Raceway in California in 1963-64. One was a A/Sport 427-cubic-inch roadster that he power-shifted on the strip, the other was a matching yellow 289 Cobra.
At the time, I was a kid working the pit gate for 50 cents an hour. My dad was the track’s reporter, photographer, record-keeper and trophy man. I remember Dennis politely asking our small crew that his name not be announced over the P.A. system, nor mentioned in race reports. And he was referred to only as “Mister X,” an identity that would occasionally appear on the list of class winners that my father typed each week for local and racing newspapers.
Though regular racers and spectators knew the mystery man’s secret, they left him alone. I only witnessed one request for an autograph — from my father, late one Sunday, on behalf of my younger sister. Dennis asked for her name, personalized the signature on one of the day’s timing slips, collected his cheap trophy and hit the road with his pair of yellow Cobras."

 

Just found this post -- the very begining shows The Half Breed corvette comming off the line ( what year ??? car was built in 65) I have that car sitting in my garage awaiting restoration. It is in second paint as raced a little later in the 60s. I have photos of the car with blower and injection . When the fresno drag strip was closed in 1974 the car was put away in the corner of a shop untill 07 when it was discovered by a friend. If you look close you can make out the owners last name on the rear fender -- last name Piombino-- first name was Al " babe " anyone have any more history on the car they want to share.
Thanks Kevin