Vintage Santa Maria Drag Photos

There has been talk of resurrecting the Santa Maria Drag Strip for over a year now, but sufficient funds and a new location are still very much up in the air. In the mean time, h... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

 

Sweet vintage video, love that bantam dodied altered. And ya goota dig the big ol Chrysler 300 ripping it up. Never had the pleasure of any dragstrip action in Santa Maria, but saw some bad ass sprint car racing at the round track there in the 80's. Thanx for the historic cruz. ~sololobo~

 

Sweet post!! Makes me wish I was there to see the action take place. These are some cool pics regardless of size.

 

Very cool stuff!!

 

Tasty stuff!! Thanks for posting.

I especially dig the drag coupes...

 

Jive-Bomber Jay -

Great post! ... cool pics! ... cool video!

The (original) "Santa Maria Dragstrip" was formed in 1951 by Jerry Gaskill and his fellow DRAGONS club members ... Jerry (@JERS36) has been know to lurk here on the H.A.M.B. ... perhaps he'll chime-in on this thread.

In 2008, I started a thread on Jerry's bitchin '36 Coupe (The Gaskill '36 Coupe ... PICS from 1977) ... and in that thread, @Silhouettes 57 posted this cool color photo:

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... and I posted this Santa Maria Times interview with Jerry explaining the history of the Santa Maria Dragstrip:

"Six Decades of Speed"

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Nice pic of Tony Nancys 22 JR. on there (picture 8)

 

cool-Thanks

 

Story is that the track will be built within the city limits of Santa Maria (verses dealing with Santa Barbara County govt) as Santa Maria local city government is being very cooperative concerning this project. The promotors of this project are looking for owner/investors - if interested, call 805 922 6191.

 

dude if this happened I would quit bitching about wanting to move...

 

Never made it to Santa Maria, too many tracks closer to home, but these pictures show the quality of the competition, several Potvin-blown cars, video was very good...not sure when the track opened or closed, but read somewhere that it is still pretty much there, just overgrown with weeds...would be really cool if it reopened, but cannot bring back the days shown in the photos/videos...thanks for posting.

 

"... and I posted this Santa Maria Times interview with Jerry explaining the history of the Santa Maria Dragstrip:"
Great work Todd!

 

as a santa maria resident, I really enjoyed this

 

How the hell did I miss this damn thread this morning? So awesome!!! This potiv blown Chevy is making me weep and a how about that over induced flathead in the digger?

 

This Model A in this pic instantly reminded me of the HRWNN.

 

This has got to be one of the coolest threads on the H.A.M.B., well to me only maybe!LOL
Cool history here.

 

What is the car at 1:30??

 

nice shots, while only #2 and #6 are from Santa Maria, other West Coast tracks are shown as well....hope the committee is able to establish another track in the Santa Maria area...

 

I was definately born in the wrong era! What engine is @4:51? Allison maybe?

 

Love the sounds in that clip. Some good sounding motors.

 

This came from Andy Southard's book "Hot Rods of the 1950s" and was taken near Salinas. Must-have book, as are all of his books.

 

Yep ... from page 32 ... taken @ Salinas Dragstrip in August or September 1955.

Agreed (I have all of 'em too) !!!

 

x2, hope the new track happens!!! Great pics!

 

I hope it happens and that people support it.

 

God, this thing is so cool it hurts!!!

 

The photo of the (Gaines) 32 coupe racing the Willys Pu is from the first Famoso March Meet (1959), Jackson Brothers have a video of that meet and this race. I chased the coupe for about 30 years and bought it about 4 years ago, from Dennis Art (Dirty Denny) who had owned it for 42 years. Finding out the history of these cars is never ending.

 

This was taken at the Pride of The Pacific Drag Strip, San Luis Obispo, circa 1959-61...

 

Let's hope for the best that a drag strip can be established in Santa Maria, Ca. It was tried in the Paso area a few years back by Chick Cannon it just didn't fly. I'll sent Jerry Gaskil a email and tell him about this thread with his name in lights.
I was only a twenty miles from Lions Drag strip when it was running and to be that close again with Santa Maria, wow! Santa Maria loves the West Coast Kustoms event and this helps with an open mind for a drag strip and they have the room.

CRUISER

 

Thank you so much for the Santa Maria Drag Strip pic's. Im in the El Camino at number 3:10 on the video. I would love nothing more than to come back to Santa Maria and race one of my cars. Hope to have this Avatar Studebaker at Bakersfield in October. Lots of work left to get it ready, had to start with an all new chassis. Ernie Nicholson's old car from So. Central L.A. Held the top venue at Lion's, Orange County and Irwindale at the same time in the mid 60's, 169MPH AA/GS. Gasserted Ted McClure

 

I was working for The Parts House in SLO/SM in the 70's. We ran every thing from street car to my Harley. Good times. Jerry was the Monroe shock rep, if I remember.