Those are some treasured shots of Jack's dragster, I remember when he brought it down to Fremont, for the Nostalgia Nationals in '86. The chute didn't open, and he damaged that beautiful nose section, when it ended up in the catch fence!
Thanks Lueger68, for posting all those photos. I really like the shots of the dragster when it was still using the front mount blower.
I am very happy that your Grampa was not more seriously hurt with the Parachute malfunction. I think that I speak for many of us local Racers and fans, that we were so happy, that he was able to restore the Dragster after the Crash Damage. If there is a Local Car that deserves "Museum Status", this is the one! So many great California Race Cars that carry the History Torch, and are famous, this is the B.C. one that represents us so well.
This past summer we were surprised to come across this race car in the POWERLAND MUSEUM in Brooks , Oregon.
Tombstone, Are you sure that Dick's roadster was at Powerland ? This is what it looks like today, I think it spends a lot of time at the NHRA Museum in Pomona.
Tombstone, That is very interesting, I live about 40 miles from Powerland. I notice the posters with my old friend Len Sutton, along with Art Pollard on display, they were 2 of the very best drivers to come out of Oregon. Great stuff !!!!
Cool pictures. The Dick Kalivoda t roadster will be on display at the soon to be open new museum in oregon. World of Speed.
That's a cool car. I've got a picture of it at an indoor show in Silverdale Washington along with the Orange Crate deuce sedan drag car. Does anyone have any more pictures of club street cars or customs?
Yes the Kalivoda-Hamlin car is part of the collection here at the World of Speed. Ed Norton built the car to the configuration seen here. He ran it a a B/MFR. He sold the car to Dick Kalivoda to fund the dragster that he was building. Kalivoda had Ed build a gas injected Desoto for the debut of Pacific Raceway. OBTW-We also have the Norton Bros and Osgood TF car that replaced the little roadster.
WOW!!!!! I haven`t been on the HAMB for a while, and missed a bunch! I am 56 years old, and made my first passes at the old Mission Raceway in 1974, next year will mark my 40th continuous year of drag racing. I grew up in Delta, and most of my non working hours were spent hanging out at Surrey Speed Center, racing at Mission, or street racing at Latimer Road from 74-78, the last year the old Mission Raceway was in operation. Other speed shops in the area were DGs, (several locations), the Speed Shop on King George Hwy, , Zims Speed in Vancouver and Trojan Speed in Surrey. We also had a couple of used speed shops selling on consignment, C&W under the Pattulo Bridge, and later Goodies on Kingsway. In the early to mid 80s I mostly street raced, places like Viking Way, Deltaport, Annacis Island, Boundary Bay, Mary Hill Bypass,Harvie Road, and Tilbury. Any legit racing meant a 3 hour trek to Bremerton or SIR in Washington. When Ashcroft BC opened in 87, I was up there for vritually every race from 87 until the new Mission opened in 92. Now, a few corrections on a couple of local race cars, The Ron Miller Street Cleaner Falcon was from Richmond, and his daughter has been married to a good buddy for over 25 years, and Ron was occasionally out at the track several years back, watching his son in law race. The Kremyr Bros. 57 T Bird did run a Ford 427 Wedge for a few years,then a high port Boss 302, that came out of the Bob Corn/Bob Thompson D/MP Maverick that came from Michigan , Paul Hovey sold the Boss 302 to Kremyr,and switched to a 300 6 banger for H/MP. For a time, both the Morris & Hovey as well as Howie Stevens Maverick were painted identically white with green and blue stripes, sponsored by Car Care. in 77 Dwain built the new low rider tube chassis, painted the car candy red, with "Old Pro" on the doors, and it was damaged coming home from a car show in the Okenagan in 78 or 79. Dwain does still have the Tbird, but is building a Cobra style tube chassis with an all aluminum SOHC 427 for the street. Jim Isherwood is indeed racing the ex Dave Sowles Hemi 67 Belvedere, and the 63 Max Wedge sedan did go back to Dave Wren, who still owns it, and brings it to Mission on occasion. By the way, this is the same car that Wren was runner up to Al Joneics 428 Cobra Jet Mustang at the 68 Winternationals. The blue altered wheelbase 64 Fairlane wasindeed a real Thunderbolt, and was owned by Larry Schaffer from Bellingham WA, who ran it with a FE 428 and C6, and was also the track photographer who wrote Mission race results for National dragster in the 70s. When Mission closed at the end of 78, Larry offered me the Fairlane, turnkey, with tow bar and hubs for $4500. I declined, now the aluminum front bumper alone is worth that! Tom Willford eventually bought it, and the car was restored to factory condition, and has been owned by Jim Gonia from Washington , and is painted like like when is was new, and called the `Shaker`. As for Kerry Rawlicks 69 Camaro, I was helping Kerry back in the mid 70s, and it was not a COPO car. I was there when he brought it home, it was a yellow SS350 4 speed when he bought it, and he built most of the car in his small 1 car garage in North Delta. Before the Camaro, Kerry raced a white 65 Biscayne 2 door sedan, then a yellow 65 Impala wagon. both with 325HP 396s, the Biscayne ran SS/KA, and the wagon was SS/OA. When he sarted running the camaro, it ran in SS/HA with the wagons 396, he later built a 425HP 427 for SS/EA, which was a COPO combination, but not what the car started life as. All these posts have really brought back some great momories, lets keep it going!
Yeah Mark, but going to see Bud meant a long drive to the Big City! Does anybody know who ran the DGs speed shops? A buddy used to work at the King George store in the late 70s, and somebody from DGs bought Steve Peels 66 Valiant 2 door post drag car in the late 70`s, and I have never seen that car since. Peel was one of the owners of Surrey Speed center, along with Mel Russell, who had a Super Stock 69 340 Dart. I just remembered another Surrey based speed shop, Canadian Speed was on King George Hwy, next to the Rickshaw restaruarant, and was owned by James Clark, who had a black 67-8 Camaro with a supercharged BB Chev, and later had a TADragster. Also in Burnaby, John Evans had "Street and Strip Engineering". I knew several guys who worked for DIX distributing , from the Kingsway and Fraser location, to the warehouse off Boundary near 1rst Ave, and later in Coquitlam, on, I believe, Schoolhouse Road. Anybody know if DIX is totally gone? I thought that they had a warehouse in Alberta a few years back. What about Keystone?
It was 1968-69 (I was 12-13 yrs old) and our family was living in Victoria. My Dad would take me to the stock Car races at Western Speedway on Saturday nights and sometimes to Cobble Hill on Sundays to watch the drag races. I remember the 57 Ford "GUNFIGHTER" and the Thames panel "MOTHER TRUCKER" very well. On our last visit to Cobble Hill I approached the guys working on the Thames and asked them if they would mind if I came over to their shop one day to look at the truck. They said that would be fine but that they lived in Vancouver. I asked if I could get their address and I would like to come over next time our family goes to Vancouver. They gave me the address and told me to drop by anytime. A few months later Dad agreed to take me to see "MOTHER TRUCKER" on one of our visits to Vancouver. My two sisters weren't impressed having to wait in the car but my Dad told me to take as long as I wanted. The guys were very accommodating and treated this young kid well and answered all my questions. That visit was a highlight for me but I never saw the truck or the guys again.
man, I remember Steve Peels Valiant well. 340 with an STX-21, reversed flat-tops, LD-340 with a 2" spacer and a 750, 727 with a 9" converter and 4.89's. Ran mid elevens, quick little car. thanks for the update on Kerry Rawlicks Camaro. Dix had another warehouse in Calgary. I had no idea the motor in the Kremer Bros car was an old Bob Corn motor, GREAT stuff, thanks for posting Rory. I worked for Dix when it was at the Kingsway & Fraser location.
If anyone has a photo of Steve Peels Valiant, I'd LOVE to see it. White with a 5" snorkel, super tricks IIRC, and Surrey Speed Center on the 1/4 panel.
Rory, thanks for posting up your memories..... damn you have a good memory! It is so enjoyable to read everyone's stories, and see the pics of this time in BC's motorsports history. Thanks again!
Rory, I would almost quarantee that Dave Wren redlighted in the final to Joniec, I think he has every final at a national his whole career-if you were to check I believe he did the same thing at the Winters in about '63 or '64 the memory is fading and I no longer have any reference material to check. Being as how your a diehard blue oval guy, tell us about Mussomo(sp?)
Mark & Rory...a big hello from me in Australia. I've been watching this thread avidly since it opened. Sure would like to see more of the old pictures. Speaking of speed shops, what about North Vancouver Speed on Marine Drive?
George, I have a picture of Steve Peels Valiant in my photo album, but I am useless at scanning and posting pictures. Since we both live in Surrey, maybe we could get together sometime to share some photos.
You could be right about Wren, Don, I know he had been in several finals without a win at the National events. I always enjoy talking with Dave, he has some great stories from the olden days, and is still racing. As for Jack Mezzomos Mustang, it was actually the Fogg Motors road race car that John Hall raced at Westwood before Jack got it. Mezzomo raced in in Modified, and the car was called "Cobrastang", Sometime later, likely when he was building his "Jack Flash" Pro Stock Pinto, he sold the car to Gord Zonailo , who ran it as the "Quarter Horse",in D/MP. later he sold it, and built a lime green Boss 302 powered Maverick.I don`t recall the name of the guy that bought the Mustang, the last time I ever saw the car was in 1978, the last year the old track ran. I`m not sure how long Mezzomo ran the Pinto, or how many owners it had afterwards, but Bud Bennet from Kerrisdale Speed had it for a while, then Bob Atchison bought it, Bob teamed up with Dan Maddaloni, and they ran the car in E/Gas for a while, with Maddalonis high port headed Boss 302 and Nash 5 speed. Prior to the Pinto,Maddaloni and Atchison each raced SB Fords in Modified , Atchison ran a 64 Comet Station Wagon called the Fido Wagon, Maddaloni had a 64 Falcon called Sweet Revenge. I bought Maddalonis Falcon, and raced it at the old track in 1978, drove it on the street after Mission closed, then raced in at Bremerton in 1980, then sold it to Ron MacKenzie. It then went thru several owners on Vancouver Island, and is still racing, Otto Schulte has ran the car is Super Street for a number of years. I believe the Fido Wagon got scrapped, and as for the ex Mezzomo Pinto, Kerry Walden from Chilliwack had it for a long time, then sold it to a guy in Sechelt who painted it in KalTire colors. It was for sale on Craigslist earlier this year.
No, the white Falcon was owned by a guy who I believed was named Tony Galletti (sp) Dan Maddaloni bought that car many years ago, and still has it, although it had a complete new chassis build many years ago. I believe that Mezzomo did do some work for Galletti, it was a 351C with a stick. Still esentially is.
that was called "The Speed Shop" and was run by Dave James. he had a baby blue(ex BC Hydro) 68 chevy station wagon with a big block in it. the store was about 3 blocks east of Capilano rd. on Marine dr.
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