History Hot Rod History and Photos Dallas Texas 1949 on -Caddo Mills Drag Races

Here are some more cars from Caddo Mills, 1951 (unidentified)

 

unidentified

 

This car is in Don Garlits Museum. It is a survivor. Looks nice in color!! This car belonged to Houston Eggleston.

 

Bert Hallett was a bricklayer who lived in Pleasant Grove.

 

John Hilscher

 

This was the fastest car of the day. I believe this was Johnny Lovlean's car.

 

Ed Wilkins special. Ed was a founding member of the Chaparrals. For those of you Carroll Shelby fans. This was the first car he ever raced. Shelby and Ed were friends going back to grade school. Shelby borrowed his car and the rest is history. This is a true story. Ed designed the chassis, and had a shop near Fair Park build it for him. The body work was steel. He drove it on the street.


"After that, as Shelby wrote in The Cobra Story, “I wasn’t working regularly, but just making out on a little of this and a little of that; odd jobs.” A friend, Ed Wilkins had built a special with a home-made body and a 1932 Ford V8 under the hood. He mentioned to Shelby there was to be a drag race nearby. Ed wanted to see how the car would go and asked Shelby to drive; Shel ran away from the competition. Wilkins was impressed. “I think you’ve got the touch. Would you like to have a go in a real sports car race?” Wilkins also had an MG TC, so he entered Shelby in an SCCA event at Norman, Oklahoma. The first race was for MGs only, which Shelby won by a good margin. The next was for a bunch of different cars including a number of Jaguar XK120s. Nobody there was more surprised than Shelby himself when he beat all the Jaguars and won again. Next, he borrowed an XK120 from a friend and won again at Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Later that year in his third race, he drove Roy Cherryholmes’ Cadillac-Allard to first place at an SCCA event at Caddo Mills, Texas."
Art Evans - Sports Car Digest (May 15,2012 online)

 

Cad Allard possibly owned by Roy Cheryyholmes. Carroll Shelby later raced this car to great success. The Cad Allard was discovered in a garage or a barn somewhere around Fort Worth in the 90's.

 

Yup, not a whole lot of coupes or tudors either.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to post these great old pictures! There is just something special about seeing how it was done in the beginning like that.

 

gwhite,
Yes the roadsters were the rage.

 

morepwr, thanks for your comments. There is nothing like the early days. Keep watching!!

 

I have a 59a I picked up in Northeast Texas. It had an 8ba crank and pistons, unknown cam, adjustable lifters, and one stuck valve. The block has "Carl Yeldon" stamped on the pan rail close to the crank case vent. Looking for info. Thanks, Harley

 

Karl - thanks for posting these great shots! Such an interesting peek into the history that wasn't picked up in east/west coast mags and glad to read a little about the folks in the photos.

I have a request that may fall in among your knowledge of Dallas at this time - do you recognize my car (hard chopped '36 3-window) from any past photos or events? I got it from a guy in OKC, but it was rumored to have been in the OK/N. Texas area around this time. Here's a link to the photos - http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1936-ford-3-window-custom-survivor.967686/

Carry on with the photos!

 

Karl, Im not familar with the car in post # 98,but later around 1958 Johnny Lovelean ran a full fendered
32 Vicky,,,even took it to the west coast and outran all the locals..

 

This is such a great pic. The car reminds me of the Tom Orren/Waco Kid roadster.

 

pm sent

 

@KKrod - Great thread! ... Thanks for sharing with the H.A.M.B. community!

 

Radical. So wish those front tires were repopped. Too cool!

 

They are really narrow. Do you think they may be motorcycle tires?

 

They very well could be...can you PM me a larger scan (if you have one)...I'm an idiot for old tire ads, will dig thru my collection & see if I can find a match.

 

View attachment 2884916 View attachment 2884917 Another unidentified roadster. I really like it though. It looks like it uses 1934 Ford frame rails?

Here are some more pictures from the early Caddo Mills races including 1951 and 1952 seasons. In 1953 the lease was not renewed with Caddo Mills airport for some reason. It was back to Caddo in 1954 and on to the early sixties when the last race was held.

 

pm sent

 

They had beautiful trophies back then.

 

Oh God, please don't let this picture get out, hahaha. Wonder how fast it was...

 

Holy Lord...always knew those Denton & Collin County boys were a little 'off'. Hahahaha. Just wonder how he shoe-horned is way in there...

 

Nice 33/34 Ford roadster - unidentified. Wouldn't it be great to know the story behind this roadster. Must have been a nice street rod.