Lions Dragstrip....Who was there??

standing at the starting line,Greer-black-prudome T/F yellow full bodied car.light turned green,the exhaust from the zoomies on the blown hemi pinned me to the fence.eyes watering,ears ringing,smile on my face.200 mph run.never forget lions

 

One of the cleanest cars at Lion's, Rollema and Hill (pictures also earlier in this post, pearl blue with a white pearl frame, ran well too

 

Im told I went to lions but was too young to remember. I remember OCIR, LA County, Irwindale and of course Pamona.

 

If you ever drove a model a Ford with a 4 banger. Rev the engine and pop the clutch it would jump of the line. The model a had a big heavy flywheel. Thats how Jazzy was fast off the line. He had a very special heavy flywheel on his flathead V8.
I lived on the westside of Long Beach and could here the drags from my house. Was a member of Rakers car club which was a member of LADS. I raced my blue 36 Ford 2 door sedan with cad engine and la salle trans
DICK

 

I drive by it every morning on the way to work. Still pisses me off.

 

The c/gas 1940 Willys of Morago & Hooykaas. Testing out wheelie bars. 327 small block Chevy, Hilborns, and 4-speed.

 

I wasn't there, but a client of mine was. He was part of the starting line crew running things in the early sixties. When he started telling me all these stories and dropping names, I thought he was full of shit... Then a couple of guys here locally that I asked questions of and I KNOW were there told me to talk to him. I'll try to sit down with him and get some stories soon.

 

That's the first time I heard this about Jazzy Nelson, knew he was a genius but never heard the story about the heavy flywheel.

Remember the Raker's car Club very well, they not only ran at Lion's but at San Gabriel, Henderson NV (I remember the Fiat coupe there), and their dragster...sadly I also remember watching the fatal crash in '62 that took Bruce Woodcock's life at San Gabriel...something you never forgot...

 

I was born in Torrance in '65, moved up north in '68. Dad/mom took 6 kids, the essentials and the moss kart up to beaverton, or. Fast forward to '96, I met a co-worker that shared the same travels, he was 20 years older but spent the same time period in Torrance and had some fantastic stories of my hometown including Lions. We became fast friends,listening to his stories made me yearn for what I missed growing up in in SoCal. ....he scrubbed tires for TV Tommy and was a dragstrip junkie. This strip and Lakeland are 2 that leave a pit in my stomach every time they're discussed.

 

My dad took me several times in the mid-late 50's when nitro was still not condoned. The fast times were barely in the 9's and 150's.....still pretty darn cool. I can picture Jack Christman Sidewinder with a brand new set of M&H's (all of 9" wide) and couldn't break them loose

....Later on Saturday nites helped Steve Korney with Goldfinger A/G and A/GS when he had the SBC. This was cool racing with the C&O guys, Shore&Hess, Herrera, SWC,
Big John, etc. On Sunday, they ran classes and I'd run my 49 Ford in B/G. I had well used M&H's that I bought for $50 from Lefty Muddersbach but trophied a few times.

The mid-60's Saturday nite show couldn't be beat for entertainment

 

Tavares & Plount finding out they may need wheelie bars when racing at the Beach. The sea level and dense beach air made our low-end torque / horsepower yield some interesting launches. Notice the drivers eyes are still pointed straight ahead as his line of sight has not adjusted to the 45% angle of his car.

 

I remember those folks and how about the Jackson Brothers '39 Chevy coupe with the 12 port 261 in it? They'd put a bedsheet rolled up in the hands of a woman sitting in the back of an old pickup and the driver had an in cab "release" to let it go after the cars started. The bedsheet never did tear when I watched it. I raced there from '55 thru '61 when I had a visit with Uncle Sam. Good memories too!
Normbc9

 

Here are some LIONS Dragstrip memories.
Normbc9

 

In case this has not been posted. This would be the place to be on Dec 1st for those of us that raced at the 'Beach'

 

Just another suite of Willys gassers from the Beach

 

... and as I was saying to my ex, there were other reasons we spend so much time at the Beach.

 

I was at Lions too-Summer 1965 - Dec.2.1972.

Lions Drag Strip:

 

I've got a really cool print of a photo taken at Lions for sale if anyone is interested:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=759332

 

Mom used to take us in the late 60s, biggest memory is not being able to see over chain link fence (i was 8) and cool vw bug that did alot of hopping around on the starting line, really he would get all 4 off the ground during burnouts, does anyone remember this bug doing this or am i loney, lol.

 

Thanks for keeping the memories alive for others to enjoy.

Old drag strips don't really have to die off as long as we can still have the wonderful memories.

Jimbo

 

Nope, you're not looney, I remember it too, the guy would start wheel-hopping before he got to the line....

Began spectating there in '60, spent many a night in the stands, then raced B/FD there until we ran out of money, then ran "Panic" AA/FA before I sold out, not sure who invented the "night motor," but we noticed that the flared gas flame at the nearby refinery blew almost flat after around 8:00, realized that cool moist air blew in from the ocean at night...asked Jack Engle to grind a top-end cam (forgot overlap, duration, etc.), and got a 296" bln DeSoto to 198...later realized that Sutherland, Frank Cannon, and others had gotten there before we did, that's how Cannon ran 199 (along with zoomie headers)...it was spooky to drive it at night, but what a rush!

 

We got use to the unusual at Lions. Here is an example of cars trying to defy gravity. Enjoy, Dick M.

 

This was the norm at Lions. Straight was not an option.

 

I was there one afternoon with a friend and his little sbc in an injected gas dragster. His wife and my then girlfriend were with us.

As the norm., the two girls walked off to the little girls room. When they got back, my girlfriend kept telling me there was a girl driving a Funny Car and "she" was waving her (my girlfriend) over to "her" car...she didn't go... but later in the day, she showed me the car the "girl" was driving....it was the Worlds Fastest Hippy...Mike Mitchell...trying to put the move on my girlfriend..! His hair was fairly long at the time, but with the helmet on, all my girlfriend saw was the long blond hair....
It was funny...I never let her live it down..being persued by a "girl"...!

Mike

 

Thanks for the photo of "Tavares & Plount" Willys. I did the signs on their car, one of the cleanest, most well detailed Willys of the time. I spent many saturdays match racing a AA/GS-BB/A '69 flip top car at the beach. Qualified 16th for comp eliminator at the last drag race and put Boudakian Bros. AA/A on the trailer in the first round (best run we ever made 8.37). Lost to Kay Sissel's "Six Session" twin six D dragster in the second round. My partner and I are still glad we were able to race in that time period; lots of competitors and lots of comraderie.

 

I saw that Willys coupe stand the car on it's back bumper in a succession 3 times one night. Every time it would land ,forward momentum would whack the pedal WFO and up it would come again. The last wheelie had the car vertical ,just sliding on the rear bumper and it came close to going over backwards. Gravity prevailed and it did come down--hard ! The front axle gave up and the wheels , cambered out , stuff was dragging and he managed to get it shut down . OT , went to the Snake & Mongoose movie , and through the magic of computer image-ing was the old bridge and timing tower , really brought back memories .

 

Don Gillespie has 3 dvd's a great collection of old video/film as it happened . www.Lionsvideo.com Just for history buffs and former lions racers.

 

I agree, the Tavares & Plount willys was super clean. I have a picture somewhere with the car after it broke its front end at Lions. I'll post if I can find it.

 

I was up there a couple of times in '65 with my '55 chevy 392 hemi gasser turned in the mid 11s 120 mph but mostly hung out at OCIR that was much closer to home, mostly bracket racing in those days I was 16 and just finding my abilities. Those days would dictate what I did with the rest of my life. BUCKD