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

Hello,

Until then, here is something to tide you over… Well, since the place is now called the Moreno Valley Mall and any trace of its history is well…history. We all remember it had its days. The old Tony Nancy FED photo posted is in a different year, much later after the improvements had been done.

Here are several films I took from the cold/hot/cold day in December 1959 at Riverside Raceway.












The event was the biggest showcase of top drag racers anywhere and the friendly rivalry of the East versus West was evident.

Jnaki

My brother and his friends had a plan and luckily, it also involved me in the teenage picture. It was a 2 hour drive to the raceway out in the middle of nowhere. (then) It turned out to be one of the best days of my early teenage adventures. To top it off, they had great hot dogs and drinks, but they were not as good as the great hot dogs/chili dogs and other food at the small Lion’s Dragstrip Pits booth.

Top racers from all over the USA, the biggest names in drag racing never seen before on the Westcoast and a ton of fast racers/record holders from the Western area of the USA to challenge the invading horde from the East was the premise. What an event.

From the HAMB archive:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...rnational-raceway-1957.1279348/#post-14678889

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...rnational-raceway-1957.1279348/#post-14680746

One of the only places anywhere to have certified half mile drag races. It was King of the half mile drag racing as part of its lure. Besides it being in the wide open spaces with no one to complain about the noise echoing throughout the valley... Enjoy…

 

@jnaki as always, thank you!

 

@jnaki isn't Scotty's Muffler still in the same building?

 

Hey K,

So far as I know from the actual website. The original shop was taken over by the city and since then, moved to the new location. There is a new owner since the 1990 era. @Dean Lowe or @Stan Back would probably know more specifics of the roadster and the shop.

There are quite a few hot rods and race cars with the Scotty's logo on the sides. But, we were impressed with the actual White Ardun Roadster sitting in the pits when we first got to the race car area.

Thanks,

Jnaki

 

@jnaki I wasn't sure.

 

Scotty's Muffler is in its third location -- and has been for quite a while -- corner of Base Line and E St. in San Bernardino.

First location was at Court St. and G St. and moved by redevelopment to 2nd St. and G St. and then again to the present location. Scotty's long gone but the store's in great hands with Tom Self.

 

One of these days, before I die, I'm going to ask a question that @jnaki either doesn't know the answer to or hasn't got the documentation to show.
Great job @jnaki.

 

Thank you.

 

Here are two photos from Scotty's biggest fan -- the Ardun Roadster and the Court & G Speed/Muffler Shop . . .

 

@Stan Back Thank you! Those are great!

 

Hey S6,

Thank you for your nice comments. I don't know everything, although my wife thinks I do... HA! But, as far as knowledge, in high school, it was all fun, fun, fun. In college, it was time to get a little serious, so I learned to do research for various papers and projects as required by certain classes. Then I met my wife and things just blossomed. We learned the best way to arm your self is to be knowledgeable. She showed me the correct way to research various topics and how to write papers with footnotes.

Yes, we all were supposed to learn that in the Junior level English Class and refine it in the Senior Year of high school. But, who had time to do that mundane stuff? It was all surfing, road trips, hot rods, drag racing and other teenage fun things that occupied our time/energy.

So, you can thank my wife for the refinements and those that pointed out the fact the I need to capitalize, make good paragraphs and make some sense of the information on the stories. Facts are facts if researched from various sources.

Jnaki

It is a shame that some folks have collected a ton of images and mis-information, while posting on the various websites. So, one still has to read and re-read from various sources to get the right information. It did help that we were in the hot bed of So Cal hot rods customs and access to the nearby Lion's Dragstrip for drag racing. Also, not to count out the local high school cruising scene.

My brother and I talking to our friend, Mr. Childers, the Lion's Dragstrip, white Pontiac Ambulance Driver in 1959. Taking a break from filming and racing…

One other thing was longevity. My wife and I have been together since 1966. We both grew up in So Cal and are still here. My own family was here in So Cal back in the 30s. Then we started our own timeline in 1946. Familiarity with an area has its rewards and gives us tons of memories along the way.

Long road trips all over California in the early years gave us time to talk and get to know each other, well. We exchanged ideas, thoughts and still continues to this old age pandemic era, too.

So, familiarity with the huge So Cal area, our long distance travels, tons of hour spent researching in college library bookshelf rows and the great people we met along the way all helped to make life interesting and memorable. We learned to adapt, learned the basics and we are still getting along in the low key So Cal lifestyle. YRMV

 

Not bad for an AMC powered Willys.

 

AMC had a lot of engines that were ignored by many people. In addition, they ignored some very nice cars that could have made great rods and customs.... excluding the pacer of course.

 

Well . . . Those ain't zoomies. And they're not weed-burners. Maybe them are "skull scorchers"!?

 

No, but the driver will be deaf at the end of the run.

 

The scary part is, that's the sort of shit I did back in the day...

 

Red Goble...

 

great pic, with a thumbs up, cheers

 

He may have to use both hands at the other end if those bicycle tires come off the rims.