History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

296Ardun...
Also note that Willy is steering with both hands.
May be new car and he has no history of how the car handles yet.
Anyone know when "one hand Willy" started using his signature driving style.

 

Perfect! If anyone could figure it out, it would be you...thanks!...now it looks familiar.

 

Good point, Denny, there are a few shots of the car without the wing, but I think this was the first time with it...and thus he was probably being careful (well, "careful" for Willy...)...story I heard was that he kept his hand on the door to brace himself, given the size of the roll cage and how much the car could yaw around...

 

Not quite HAMB friendly, but do you know about the funny car Willy ran with a fake arm and hand hanging on the side of it.

 

Blue coupe belongs to Jeff Cryan. He also owns and drives the ex Bizio 33 pickup in Nostalgia AA Gas.

 

That's a good catch on the orientation. It definitely wasn't right as first posted. BTW, it is my recollection that the strip ran approximately from north to south, parallel to the river and that put the bleachers on the west side?

 

It has been a long time -- but my memory is that it sort of ran east to west, parallel to the mountains...there is no trace anymore, just the gravel pit, according to Google Earth...others may remember better than me....(it was a great place to race, paved pits, well managed by Jim Tice, and others....(and in my dim memory, there may have been two San Gabriels, because I remember it closed for a while in the late '50s, opened again nearby? (no, I'm not confusing it with the change from San Gabriel to Irwindale, which was also nearby to the old San Gabriel)

 

Correct, Chuck, the strip was oriented "approximately" north to south, but at an angle with the finish line being to the SW of the starting line.
Because of that, the grandstands, the high tension lines, and the mountains are on the north side of the track, as said.
It could be argued that the grandstands were on the west side of the track (although they were also on the north side, too), depending on which direction you choose......both are correct.
But the high tension lines and the mountains in the photo are on the north side even though the track ran at an angle.
The camera that took this photo is pointed dead north. Mount Wilson is the highest peak right dead-center.
Because the track ran at an angle one's perception is their own and correct but not the only correct answer.
Being a photographer for the past 57 years, I "go" by the direction that the camera is facing.

 

Chuck, here's another angle. This time the camera is facing north and slightly to the east. The valley in the mountain range (above the flagman's right shoulder) is Azusa Canyon which was NE of the tracks location. You can see the track runs at angle so it's neither facing directly NSE or W but a combination.
By the way, if you were to take a flight "as the crow flies' directly through the camera lens, you'd fly right overhead the yet unbuilt Irwindale Raceway several miles to the NE of this location, but Irwindale did no open until 1965.

 

Looking like the Greek is on the left, I wonder who is on the right side of this pic maybe ' Storm'n Norm'n ' ?

Those flag starts were great with both feet in the air!!!!!!!!!

 

San Gabe and Fontana were the most uncivilized and "bare-bones" tracks in Southern California.......which made them BITCHIN'!!!!!!!!!

 

My home track the ' Pond ' was right in there too, get there at noon run for about 3 hours then shoot a little stick and a cool one with friends and be home by 6 ' Priceless '

 

From what I've understood, Willy drove with one hand because he used the other arm to brace himself. That wheel is like a freakin bus steering wheel. Part of the mythos of Willy. The fact he'd fall asleep moments before a run was thought to be evidence of how cool he was when in fact, he had narcolepsy.He blew his Revell deal by refusing to wear a shirt for publicity photos of the Charger, then walking off in a huff. He was a stubborn guy, INSISTED on a big block Chevy in the Revell Charger funny car, smoked ( EVERYBODY did then), and refused to see a doctor when he developed a big lump in his throat. The cancer that killed him.

 

What was the gap in years (if at all) between SG and Irwindale?

 

Dick maybe just a yr or two if that, I remember towing out to Irwindale and licking our chops for one of the 'In & Out Burgers ' as they were good eats

 

Correct.....somewhere between one and two years.
Irwindale opened in late 1965 with their first big event being the "Winternationals". Wally Parks was not happy with them for using that name and he took out a whole page ad in Drag News claiming that there was only ONE Winternationals and IT was at Pomona.
But, there was such a huge desire to race at the new track that many big heavy-weights came to Irwindale anyways.
That would be the race event that would introduce to the world the flip-top funny cars from Ford that would change everything from that day on. All the door-slammer A/FX AWB cars would soon be reduced to match racers or the scrap heaps.
I was there opening day and caught the first pass by a race car. It was the "Bob Ford" sponsored Mustang fastback.