While doing research for Drag Strip List, my online encyclopedia of historic U.S. drag strips, I started thinking about different aspects of drag racing history. For example, when was the first night drag race, first use of lights for starting, etc.? For that matter, where was the first organized drag race? Hopefully this will prompt others to chime in on other different drag racing firsts. Who raced the first rear engine dragster, first dual-engined dragster, first jet dragster, etc.? I'll start it off with my nomination for the first night drag race: the Carolina Road Runners held a drag race under the lights at Fairchild Airport in Burlington, North Carolina, on April 24, 1954. Does anyone know of an earlier night-time race? I'm not sure if this was the first, but an early use of lights in lieu of a flagman dates to a race held on May 26, 1957, at the Douglas-Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nevada. The Nevada Timing Association used a manually-operated red/green traffic signal to start the racers. They had a flagman starter there also, but that was only for the benefit and entertainment of the spectators. Does anyone know of an earlier drag race starting system that replaced the flag start? Where was the first organized, legal drag race? At first I thought it was at the Goleta Airport in California in 1948. But then I interviewed Don Jensen, an early California drag racing pioneer. He had interviewed Jack Hagemann, a Northern California drag racing old timer, before he passed away. Jack told about drag races that were conducted by an Oakland car club on a closed-off paved road in Alameda from 1931 to 1933. What other drag racing firsts are there?
This is interesting. I loved reading the NHRA bit about four-wide-mania. I was shocked to learn that they ran four jet dragsters side-by-side at Fontana one time. I went there many times in the early '60s and don't see how they could have done it safely. The article also mentioned four-wide racing at Rockford and Budds Creek. But what was the first drag strip (not dry lakes) where four-wide racing first happened? Rockford opened in 1964 and Budds Creek in 1966. Jim Beardslee raced his 1950 Ford at Santa Ana Drag Strip in California in 1955. He sent me a photo of a four-wide race that took place at Santa Ana on the day he was there in 1955. Santa Ana is my pick for the first strip that held a four-wide race.
May I suggest you get in contact with the Gore Family in Waynesboro Virginia... Al Gore ( not the global warming Al Gore) started building the Gore Family racing facility in Manassass Va back in 1951. That track and Dragstrip was known as Old Dominion Speedway. Mr. Gore is very much active in racing to this day. He and his family operate their race track and dragstrip Eastside in Waynesboro..
Four wide jets at Fontana. With a flag man to boot! We called him the crispy critter after that. And four wide dragsters.
The first sanctioned track in West Virginia was Kanawha Valley Drag Strip located in Winfield, WV. I opened in the Spring of 1958 and operated until the mid 1970's with racing held on Sunday afternoons. They used flagmen until the mid 1960's before getting a Chrondek "tree". The site of the original track is now owned by a timber company and is a storage lot for logs. The original pavement can still be seen in areas under the stacked logs. The location is scheduled to receive a WV Highways Historical Marker in 2018 as a project of the WV Drag Racer Hall of Fame, which is located in Winfield, within 2 miles of the original track site. Jim WV Drag Racer Hall of Fame Board of Directors.
Did Chris Karamesines (sp?) break the 200 mph barrier for the first time in 1961 at the old Alton Drag Strip in Alton, Il.? It is a mobile home park now.
Dirt drag strips. Several in Georgia. You can contact the Ga auto racing hall of fame historian Mike Bell and he can fill you in. The first drag races in Ga were held at the Lake wood race track. They ran from the 4 th turn to turn one. This track had a lot of room it was a mile circle.. A book Lost drag strips has some info on firsts. Good luck Bobby..
Island Dragway in Great Meadows, N. J. claims the first official NHRA 200 MPH run on August 2, 1964 by Don Garlits. ( emphasis on the word 'official')
Keeping The Candles Lit With Chris "The Golden Greek" Karamesines http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-1003-chris-karamesines/ Hello, The whole west coast was stunned when the 204 run was announced. But, here is a great story on Chris Karamesines at age 81 from the Hot Rod Network. Interesting reading...the mystery continues. Jnaki http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-1003-chris-karamesines/ from WDIFL on Frank Cannon: The magic 200 mark had not been broken on the West Coast---those who did exceed 200 in the east were somewhat questionable---and Frank wanted to be the first in California. Frank Cannon hazes the tires in Hustler V AA/FD at Lions in 1964... new "zoomies" = 200 MPH for real.
There was a period starting in the 1950s when any speed recorded with clocks other than the Chrondek brand were "questionable". There were unconfirmed allegations of NHRA/Chrondek "deals". This made it virtually impossible for other clock makers - some of who could demonstrate their product's accuracy - to sell clocks to drag strips who then would never be able to set records. I don't remember when or how often NHRA changed their policy. I think there was a time when two sets of clocks were needed for some records. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
In doing research for my upcoming book "The Greatest Drag Race" one of the questions I hope to answer is where was the first organized drag race in America. It is well known that C.J. Hart started organizing drag races in 1950 at the Orange Co. California airport. But a lesser known fact is the drag races that were held in 1949 at the Goleta Airport, about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. A group of hot rodders in that area formed the Santa Barbara Acceleration Association and rented the airport for drag races using 3/10 of a mile as the length of the races. They fenced off a portion of the airport and charged the racers a small fee but no charge for the spectators. When Hart started organizing his races he decided to use a 1/4 mile instead of 3/10 because round tracks were mostly in 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 3/4 mile and 1 mile. From the information I have uncovered Hart is credited with 1/4 mile drag races.
I remembered when it was posted as first 200 mph run, although I was a year off. I guess historians will sort it out. Now for my next recollection... Sent from my SM-J320V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Great thread. Ok so what happened to Don Maynard? Fatally wounded? What happened? Could find nothing on line about his death.
In WDIFL website, it mentions Don Maynard. Hello, I found some valuable information for you on the We Did It For Love website. That place is all things drag racing in the golden era. (actually, in any era.) Don Ewald has done an excellent job of gathering first hand information on most everyone in drag racing. http://cacklefest.com/Greek-204.shtml Jnaki Here is an excerpt for your files: "Chris Karamesines, known as "the Greek" to fans and friends alike, was and is a professional drag racer of the first order. In the 50s and 60s he owned the respected Engine Specialists Shop in Chicago, Illinois, but his first love from day one was driving the quarter-mile. In 1963 Chris was a 35-year-old family man who had been aiming for the #1 Fuel Eliminator title for 12 years. He had owned several different cars to this point but for the 1963 season he got a new Rod Stuckey A/FD and named it "Chizler". It was the most beautiful, most successful Karamesines car to date. It was to debut at the AHRA Winter Nationals held mid-February at Mel Larson's Phoenix, AZ, drag strip now known as "Speedworld". On the way out to meet him with a spare engine, Don Maynard - with Kenny Hirata riding along - was killed in a head-on collision with a sleeping-driver-car that crossed a median. The Greek was devastated and left for Chicago to be with Maynard's family. He left instructions for Stuckey to race the car in his absence. There was a set of super-compound M&H's on the roof of his Chrysler wagon but the Greek wanted to test them himself so told Stucky to race on the current tires. Wrong thing to say. Stuckey mounted the new tires and set Low E.T of the event at 7.81 seconds! One week later "the Greek' set Low E.T. at the March Meet with the same combination at 7.99...."
Hello, History is pretty awesome. For someone that did not like history classes in high school, (except for the cool girl that sat next to me in all of the history classes we had in 3 years.) history has its rewards and brings back memories from those past time periods. Sure, exploring the vast history books as a requirement just did not do it for most of us. Even going to those expansive history museum exhibits was fast. My wife calls it a head bobbing time as we watched many little kids bobbing their heads looking up and down, then the short attention span makes all move to the next big glass display. In my research for facts about drag racing and hot rods in our past teenage years, there are many ways to present the facts as we remember it happening. Since the internet came upon us, many people started the websites to gather as much as possible to showcase what they perceived as facts or history. Drag racing goes back a long way when two people in cars stepped on the accelerator to get ahead of the other guy/girl. But researching about the origins of drag racing gives people many different ways to see history as they hear, see, and find. Some of what they find is not true and continues to be placed on fancy website as true facts. We have a pretty good background in hot rods and drag racing in So Cal, having grown up from two years old until 50 years later when we sold our final family house and moved permanently to the OC. But, that is one experience in the activity that spurred a zillion dollar industry. There are plenty of others. Jnaki What is known as the beginning of drag racing in Goleta has been widely accepted as the first in a long line of places that have come and gone. But, fact can be checked only if one does some research and finds people that can verify what was what from those early days. The fact that the Santa Ana Dragstrip created in central Orange County was the first official dragstrip functioning as certified competition. (We drive by there almost every week and it is too bad there isn't an official historic marker where the Santa Ana Dragstrip was located.) But here are some “iffy” facts put on some big flashy, colorful website, as fact. It is a good laugh at that! Facts: Santa Ana Dragstrip: The drag strip was an unused runway at what is now John Wayne Airport. It opened on June 19, 1950, and operated until June 21, 1959, with races Sundays from dawn to dusk. This photo was taken on the area on the old airport property near Redhill. In 1965, another new strip was built just a few miles north, next to the 210 freeway in Irwindale. Closed in 1973. The million-dollar Orange County International Raceway opened in Irvine in 1967 as the first quarter-mile "supertrack" in drag racing. It closed in Oct. 1983. “Don’t get fooled again…” seems to be rampant, even in flashy websites as true fact. Not everything you see on the web is in fact, true…maybe hearsay, but real facts do not lie. Do your research well and make sure your facts are real. Fact is not from a friend of a friend, who has a sister, that dated the security guard she met at the mall and once worked at the snack bar at the local dragstrip that has been closed for 48 years. The “firsts” have been pretty much brought out in the open. “We don’t get fooled again… Don’t get fooled again… No, no !” The Who
Hello, We have all known about Tom McEwen’s prolific history in drag racing. I was doing some research in the early days of the Lion’s Dragstrip opening months and came across the results of possibly McEwen’s first trophy. It was listed one month after the original Lion’s Dragstrip opened in October of 1955. The date was November 13, 1955 and he is listed driving a 1954 Oldsmobile sedan in B/Stock. As far as Bixby Knolls history is concerned, during our time, just before and afterwards, McEwen was known for his line of new 55, 56, 57 Chevy sedans the ruled the streets and at Lion's Dragstip. But in 1955, just one month after the grand opening, here he was winning with an unheard of 1954 Oldsmobile Sedan. Is this Oldsmobile sedan from 1958 perhaps the one he used to win the B/Stock class in 1955? Jnaki We all knew about the successive Chevy sedans starting from 1955 to 57, but this result is a surprise. Perhaps it was his last hurrah with something other than a Chevy sedan for his early drag racing adventures. :44 from the Lion’s Dragstrip pits clip. At :44 SEC possible 1954 Oldsmobile Sedan. It is in the B/Stock class lanes. November 13, 1955: one month after the Lion’s Dragstrip grand opening, McEwen wins his first trophy…?
Here's a one and only . . . Colton was an early drag strip in California. In its waning days, it became apparent that the speeds over 160 or so in the quarter mile were dangerous because of the limited shut-off area. So they went from 1/4 mile to 3/16 mile. It didn't catch on. (Edit) WAIT A MINUTE! I just (hopefully) did the math and 3/16 of a mile is 1003 feet!!! Isn't 1000 ft. what the NHRA fuelers and funny cars are running? Who would have guessed that Colton was ahead of its time! Where's John Bradley now that we need him?
You will need to very carefully specify your terminology at the front of your work. Words like "official" and "sanctioned" can mean different things to different people. What makes something official? Who is allowed to sanction something? In the early days of the sport, there were no recognized sanctioning bodies. If the town mayor and the police chief gave permission for group of hot rodders to shut down a road and hold a drag race, it that considered "sanctioned"?
4 Wide racing at Lion's Dragstrip Hello, In the fall of 1957, my brother was ready for his first legal drag racing at nearby Lion’s Dragstrip. The dragstrip opened in 1955. We had seen plenty of races from the tall railroad berms as little kids. But, once my brother started going, there was no turning back. After the legal inspection by the tech crew, we were classified as A/Stock. The next highest/powerful class was S/S that allowed the higher horsepower stock cars from the factory to race each other. The A/Stock 58 Impala had a 348, but with 280 h.p. late 1958-60 4 across racing in the popular A/Stock car class. As the class grew with the popular designation. The Lion’s Dragstrip officials realized the eliminations would take too long for a morning to night race day. The closing time was near 10PM and there were a lot of cars in almost every category during this time period. It was explained that to make the timed runs and then go into the eliminations, several classes would run with multiple cars, one in each lane. At first, it was very hectic as the normal wide lane versus the other opponent was fun and gave each plenty of room all the way to the end of the quarter mile. Now, there were 4 wide 50s-early 60s cars in the same class, two taking each side of the dragstrip. normally, there would be two competitors. Not only did you have to time the light for a good start, since most of us were of equal horsepower and accessories. But, now, one had to make sure the driving was straight and not drifting over to the other car very close by, in the normal lane. Jnaki The first several time we raced in those narrow lanes, it was worrisome. But, as we all learned, it is the quickness off of the line that usually won the races. The several 4 car races I was in were beginning nerves and it was slow from the starting line. But, in each race, I kept the gas pedal floored and barely won at the end of a quarter mile. All while keeping a safe distance from the close by car in my original lane. It was different and exciting all at the same time. P.S. Then with the success of the stock cars racing 4 across and the eliminations running smoothly, the next class to get the 4 across was the Gas Coupe/Sedan Classes. Who would have thought to line up against Junior Thompson in B/Gas with your own street version of a hot rod, along with two other Gas Coupes/Sedans? real sound from 1959 Gas Coupe and Sedan Class multiple cars racing. It was the first time multiple cars in the Gas Coupe and Sedan Class were racing at a certified dragstrip in the USA. Even Doug Cook in his 1937 Chevy Coupe got in the action with 3 other cars in the C/Gas class. The result was not so good for the others. Doug Cook vs three others at :28
P.I.D. in Pittsburgh was always a great time.. Here are photos from there web site.. P.I.D. - Pittsburgh International Dragway
Hello, During our days in drag racing our Willys Coupe in the B/Gas and finally in the C/Gas classes, we were amazed at the other classes in drag racing. Innovations were coming at us in droves and we were all impressed. It wasn’t just in the Gas Coupe and Sedan Class with the Stick Hydro transmissions taking over and the newly created Isky Gilmer 671 Blower Drives for SBC motors, but a whole slew of records were being set left and right. Tommy Ivo has always been in the forefront of hot rods and drag racing. He had very innovative ideas about Buick motors, chassis designs and what was needed to go fast at the drags. We liked all of his ideas and when we saw the single engine injected Buick FED in the pits for the first time, it was impressive. A show quality drag racing car that was fast and pristine in every inch of the build. Tommy Ivo progression single injected Buick to the dual injected twin total Jnaki In 1959, he set the B/Gas Dragster record with his single injected Buick FED. Then as the year progressed, a foray into adding a 671 supercharger was tried and was somewhat successful. Not as much as the injected Buick, but still competitive. But in the early days of 1960, there was a revelation that made everyone stand back and admire what was accomplished at the dragstrip. A new world record for drag racing. Not only did he win the A/Gas dragster class at the famous Riverside Raceway East vs West drag racing meet in December of 1959, but now a new twin Buick engine FED was making some smoking runs all over So Cal dragstrips. Original Tommy Ivo Twin Sound from 1959-60. Thanks, Mr. N… In February 1960, the magic 9 second barrier was cracked and in the record books. Feb 7 1960 The sponsorship ads were all over the fabulous record set by Tommy Ivo, a drag racing first.
The Jalopy Journal
