Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Movie of the Week #2: The Big Go West and Car Show (1961) Continue reading the Original Blog Post
That’s great! Tried watching it at work during break, but ran out of time before the end. Sure looked to me like the A/Modified Sports fowled against the B/Gas Model A coupe.
Bob Beazer, was a friend. Met him at the 62 Nats, we were both Canadian. We often ran into each other and then I moved to my present home 12 years ago and found Bob only lived several miles away. We had a good friendship until his passing last year. RIP Bob
@Jive-Bomber Nice historic film that brought back an interesting point for two brothers from Long Beach. We were on this row of cars parked along the dragstrip in Pomona. Yes, it was the first time outside at a drag strip since the summer of 1960. Hello, Back in February of 1961, it was a different kind of day. We knew of the Winternationals being held in Pomona. The top So Cal drag racers were going to be there and my brother was contemplating going there to watch. What??? He was in his final year of burn/injury recovery from the Willys explosion. We had only gone out in the Impala down to Huntington Beach just to see the ocean, the waves and have a nice lunch in the prior week. It was the second time out in public for him. Other than doctor’s office visits. While we talked about the speed equipment just listed and some of it sold, we still had the complete 671 SBC motor, LaSalle transmission and those custom wide steel wheels. But, we never discussed going out in public, back to the drag strip or strips to watch. We did talk about a second coming of a 671 powered Altered Roadster or another street roadster pick up to serve us in a two fold way. Fast and practical for buying/hauling parts around. But, the importance of the “big” Winternationals was a draw. So, we packed up a huge cooler full of drinks, snacks and of course our mom’s fabulous lunches. Teriyaki chicken, steak and assorted marinated vegetables. It was her way to supplement both of us for his first public venture. She knew it was important to be outside and getting back into public for him. A strong dislike for all things drag racing for her, but supportive of my brother's mixed feelings about drag racing and the future. Jnaki So, at the Pomona location, the stands were packed, he directed me to drive down the parking lot to find a nice location in the front row, with views of the dragstrip. We could watch from our front row location or sit inside the Impala with privacy for our liking… It was not like sitting in the top row at Lion’s Dragstrip tower side bleachers, to view the race cars down below. It was a long line of empty space, until the other cars started filling up the spots along the edge of the dragstrip. But, during the time of empty space, we could still identify the race cars coming down the track. Note: One of our inspirations for a Model A Gas Coupe/Sedan Class build was the no longer Red, Joe Pisano Model A Coupe. We saw it in as a fast red color Model A Gas Coupe in 1959 at the Riverside Drags and like the way it was built/ran. 1959 Joe Pisano Model A Coupe A/G class Riverside Raceway 1961 Winternationals VS. Grist Brothers/Reath Automotive Willys Coupe Drag News Feb 1961 The other one we had no problem following was the ever popular Pittman-Edwards 1941 Willys Coupe. We had filmed this coupe from the beginning of its career and the changes made as technology changed. It was still fast and still winning the B/Gas - C/Gas class races. As the old memories were discussed inside of the Impala watching the races, we decided that something was telling us to move on and my brother was shifting his “build another one” ideas to the art drawing board and we left it at that. It was one of the last times he rode in the 58 Impala and we made a special side trip to the Cherry Avenue Drags location in Bixby Knolls as a way to say goodbye. Surfing and desert motorcycles were now crowding out the space in our backyard Willys Coupe garage spaces. YRMV
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