That '61 Ford full-size 2 door wagon in the background is a pretty cool piece too! Don't know that I've ever actually seen one in the wild before. I'd guess that by '62 or '63 Ford didn't even offer them, except for the Falcons. The picture looks like it might have been taken at Indy, but then there were a lot of tracks that looked like this back in that time frame.
1958 early Lion’s Dragstrip Hello, Jess Van Deventer had this earlier version of the same roadster at Lion’s Dragstrip in 58 and 59. It was one of the first race cars I shot on film. I was trying to get a feeling for the whole Lion’s Dragstrip scene, like a real Hollywood producer. The blower came after these films. Jnaki It was very competitive in the Modified Roadster Classes. He traveled to a lot of different So Cal dragstrips and back to several U.S. Nationals. Jess Van Deventer, running what looks like a 3-71 blower. Jess set many a national record and won many a national event with this car. “The white roadster is Jess Van Deventer or his brother,,,, they both drove the car in the very late 1950's & early 1960's. The number on the car never changed ... It is #502 California Penal Code for drunk driving.” “My father built that car in his garage in Imperial Beach, California in the late 1950's… It was originally built for a “Bean Bandit...” The T Roadster was traded to Van Deventer for a street legal 32 roadster..." Thanks, and great information on all things racing in San Diego History... By Randy Chenowith By Desiree Peters “In 1957, Jess' senior year of high school, he built his first drag car in auto shop class, a 1934 Ford Coupe. For two years he raced it at Paradise Mesa Drag Strip. He graduated to a self-built injected "B" Modified Roadster and used that car to set local records at Long Beach, Santa Ana and most other California/Arizona drag strips. In 1960 he won his class setting the record for elapsed time at the NHRA Nationals in Detroit, Michigan.”
Pocono Drag Lodge vid / slide show. * Notable racers were Joe Amato and Wally Bell Joe Amato (dragster driver) - Wikipedia Tribute for Walter C. "Wally" Bell | Covenant Funeral Service
"I remember when Garlits first made the West Coast appearance, His wife & kids in their Chrysler Station wagon pushing him off the line at Bakersfield in 1958." I believe this is not Bakersfield. In my memory (not too good), he ran unblown at Smokers. The week before he was tuning Setto Postonian's blown fuel car at Colton, and after Bakersfield, he ran blown up in Northern California.
Hello, Your memory is correct. Garlits' history for the Westcoast contingent was created from the speeds then shown in the Drag News weekly newspaper. Doubts were held and the Westcoast folks wanted to see the “record setter” in action. “The Smokers Car Club of Bakersfield sensed an opportunity in that skepticism. In the spring of 1959, they offered to pay Garlits a large sum of money to come out to California and race against the most notorious teams on the West Coast in an event they called the U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships. Garlits accepted, and the rest is history.” “The March Meet, was held on March 1, 1959… More than 25,000 spectators jammed Famoso Raceway that day to see Garlits take on the California contingent. Although Garlits lost in the first round, his presence at the event made the U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships a huge success.” Jnaki This is the best recollection of that particular time period of the events as it happened. The "Three Weeks in March" tells the story behind the West Coast foray of Don Garlits, that wild driver from Florida. He had captured the attention of all of the fastest racers on the West Coast and this book tells the story of that scene in So Cal. Was that East Coast drag racer with top speeds and times listed in the Drag News, real? That was the questions asked from most West Coast racers. So, with all of the hoopla from the east coast records being set, everyone wanted to see what was what at the first sighting in March of 1959. This took place at the Bakersfield Smokers March Meet. 1959 By the time he traveled up North in California to continue his 1959 Westcoast tour, he was again setting records and impressing other racers with his skills and build, thanks to several So Cal representatives. From all carburetors to a new, 671 blower spec motor, it was the last carburetor version of the original Swamp Rat. If you get a chance, read the book: http://www.backinthedaystore.com/product/three-weeks-march/
The Jalopy Journal
