Just got these from my wife's grandpa. The quality is horrible as they are digital photos taken through a slide viewer, but way cool nonetheless. He has always chatted about hot rods with me, and once these photos came into the conversation I just knew I HAD to see them!! Well, here they are boys. You want traditional? You got it! Enjoy below! Allison aircraft engine, said it ran 130mph, and that was after it ran like crap the whole day. He said it spit and sputtered all the way down the track! More to come...!
I'm not really a Corvette fan, but this one is sweet!! His '51 Ford (in 1957, at the drags) He, and his GTO He, and his Corvette He said his brother had a 32 roadster hot rod that he said you couldn't keep it going straight no matter how hard you tried! Ended up selling it for (Gulp...) $40!!!
Sadly these are all I have.... I knew you local guys would dig these photos!! I don't believe he has any more either. They were in a box his mom had written "Dales hotrods" on, and buried in his closet! My wife's grandpas name is Dale Pittman, and he's lived in Madera most all his life. (Although he's out of the hot rod scene, maybe some of you remember/know him?) How have you been by the way?! It's been awhile!
Great shots--raced there alot--Richard Brown was the flagger for the Clutchers--believe the Bronze 57 Olds was a J2 raced by EJ Bynum--if not, it is identical and he raced the car well into the 60's. My 57 fuely also raced there ( but not by me--was out of Btown)--I raced a 57 Pontiac but not until 59--Madera was a great strip for quite a few years. There were also some very fast local cars-Lou Toschi, Luther Wheat, Freddie Leon and others I can no longer remember--the black 57 Hardtop looks like a 270 HP car that was from Chowchilla owned by a friend of my wife's uncle--can't recall his name right now--Tom Clark was the announcer for many years and personal friend of my folks.
AWESOME!! I love that some of you guys were there/ remember the cars, and the times! Hot rod history at its finest!!!
I was a member of the Madera Clutchers from 1959 to 1963 when I enlisted in the Air Force. I usually worked the stock car check in and inspection line. A great bunch of guys to work with ---- Tom Clark, Luther Wheat, Richard Brown, Carl Rollins and many more. Brings back lots of good memories. Thanks for the photos.
looked again--the white 34 pickup was either Freddie Leon's from Madera or Richard Bettancourt's from Fish Camp--believe it had either an Olds or a Cad. This is the first place I saw the SWC cars, Reath Automotives' Black Willys coupe, the Bean Bandits Yellow Stude,Willy's Pie Wagon, Shirley Shanan (the Dragon Lady racing a 50 Olds) and many other early cars as well. There were also some very fast cars out of Easton-Petroff,Berry Bros,Texiera and a few others. I also have some photos from Madera but they are in the mid 60's
Got me to thinking--some other old timers may recall some of these cars that raced during the early years at Madera -Bob Whittaker-various super stock type cars-Madera-worked for the Phone Co -Fun Jung-59 Buick-Madera -Gary Sylvester-58 Chevy-Fresno -Shirley Shahan-50 Olds-later raced Mopars as "The Dragon Lady" -Arisio ? Bros-Willys -Shigo Corea-37 Chevy/302 Jimmy-Orosi -Udell Paul-53 Olds-Chowchilla -Jason Coffean? Pontiac-Madera -Ronnie Broadhead-Pontiac-Tulare -Curt ??-58 light blue Fury-Fresno I'm sure I'll think of others but these were FAST cars for the time
Thanks so much guys!! All this has me beaming from ear to ear, I'm so glad I was able to bring these photos to light, and so glad Dale still had them!! He'll be just as happy to know he brought back some fond memories for you fellas. I think I finally have him convinced to go to Eagle Field in October, an event he'll surely enjoy!! (Heck if I didn't know any better, I'd say these were photos of Eagle!!) It's not every day you hear this, but the central valley is a damn cool place to be!!
Really great shots and I thank you for sharing them. How can you tell they are old? In the first set of pictures four guys sitting on the ground and absolutely no butt crack showing!! Thanks again.
Astrozombie--very cool--now it will make me go into the attic to look for old photos from Madera that I have not looked at in 45 yrs---but are later than yours
Made me consider taking my 57 Fuely to Dos Palos in Oct--it was raced at Madera during the time of these photos
The Jalopy Journal
