History 1950 Drag Race at MCAF - Santa Ana (Tustin) ... PICS!!!

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Thought I'd share (Road & Track / HOP UP photographer) Bob Canaan's B&W photographs of a circa 1950 Drag Racing event held next to the Lighter Than Air Ship hanger at the Marine Corps Air Facility in Santa Ana (now Tustin), California.

Enjoy! ...

 

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Jim Nelson (of Dragmaster fame) Roadster:

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Earl Evans' Belly Tank:

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The Downey Bros. Wha' Hoppen Special:

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The Dick Price Deuce Roadster:

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Bud Kolb’s low slung Dodge Roadster:

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Here's the same roadster (circa 1949) in "Street Trim":

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NOTE: There's a really good article (by Pat @pgan Ganahl) about Dick Price and his Deuce Roadster entitled "The BERDOO '32" in Issue #54 of The Rodder's Journal (@TRJ).

 

Good stuff thanks for posting.

 

Look how much open space was around the Hangers then........I wish it was that way still. They're surrounded by condos/apartments and "The District" shopping mall, at least I did get to see them up close just before all those went up.

Great pics thanks.

 

Wow. Bullseye!
Thanks Todd!

 

Great photos, thanks!
This car is perfect! I want one!

 

Wow wow WOW! Thanks for the pics!

 

That's wild, thanks for sharing!!

 

I lived and worked next to El Toro Marine Air Station in the early 90's. Often wondered how it looked before development. This helps a ton, thank you!

 

Not to derail my own thread ... but during the research for it, I stumbled upon this City of Tustin publication that documents the history of the MCAF Tustin Hangars (see attached PDF) ... and this YouTube video:

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Cool - Thanks

 

Thank you for the pics, nothing like seeing cool history.

 

Great pics, thanks for posting. FYI, the hangers are still there, but I believe they are slated to come down, or at least one of them is, to be replaced by more commercial development. City of Tustin needs the cash....

 

Outstanding pictures. The two hangars were massive and the drags could have probably ran inside one of them if it was a rainy day. The City of Tustin now uses the hangars for television commercials. Unfortunately, growth like houses and condos have eaten up the area around the base, and this happened to MCAS El Toro also, which was about 6 or 7 miles away. Orange County International Raceway also was killed by the sprawl.. Both Marine Corps air stations were there before the urban invasion and when people moved in the first thing they did was complain about the noise. So of course, the stations had to go. The city did have some road racing there about twenty rears ago. As a side note, I stood guard in one of the hangars upon returning from my field trip to South East Asia and they are scary to be in at night (around midnight) because of the strange noises and creaking wood beams.

 

It appears that automotive artist, David Carl Peters was "inspired" by one of Bob Canaan's photographs:

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If he'd left off the hangar... no one would have cared, or been the wiser. Gary

 

RE the noise complaints, comedian Gallagher has the right idea, make all the deaf people live near airports! LOL-ish, if bad taste counts. Gary

 

Those photos are treasures and I'm glad for the chance to see them. Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks, Todd ...
Huell Howser did an episode of California's Gold on that base and those hangars, way back when. I'll check and see if I can find it ...

 

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