Remembering Tucson Racing / Hot Rod History

Hey All!

I'm not a frequent poster here, however, I thought I would bring up this topic.

Tucson has had a long an illustrious hot roding and racing history. I can remember my dad, Larry L. Price (1936-1999) telling me stories of his hot roding and racing days in Tucson. We proudly have on the garage wall, the newspaper article detailing the formation of one of Tucson's fist Hot-Rod Club, the Low Riders (formed in 1943-1954 at Tucson HS). Pictured in the article was my dad, and several others in the community.

As technology gets better and more prevalent so too do newspaper articles. For instance, the detailing my dad's accident in 1959:

" Race Driver May Lose Right Eye Modified race car driver Larry Price seriously injured when a piece of exhaust pipe from his own car came up and hit him in the face last week may lose his right eye However the operation on his cheek bone and over his right eye proved to be successful Price underwent hours of surgery Monday night at St Mary's Hospital as a result of facial injuries received from a freak accident at Tucson way Sunday night Stock cars again dominate night's card at the way Thirty stocks including a dozen or so from Parker and Phoenix will be on hand for the main and Don Arnold who currently tops all drivers in the Tucson stock car point standings heads the list of entrants Four heat race and a trophy dash comprise the program"

I do apologize for the editing and grammar but this was pulled via text from an archive site.

I welcome any and all who have memories of the Tucson Hot-Rod scene to post. One of these days I will pull out the archives of photos of dad and his friends back in the early to late 50's and their cars and post here.

The names I do remember from dad's stories:

"Hank" Arnold
Bill Sipes
Jim Izlar
Dosett

Can anyone pull up any other names or know anyone from the old days?

 

http://www.arizonaracinghistory.com/tucsondrags.htm

 

Awesome site!

I may be heading to Tucson this weekend - if I do I will see if Mom will let me scan some pictures for inclusion. Dad used to take "before and after" pics of his card. Although they were the opposite of today's --- his before were of perfect pristine cars, and the afters - well - were usually not so pristine or nice anymore! The ones I remember him telling me about

1927 Model T
1936 Ford 2 Dr (His first car - succumbed to an M80 in the gas tank)
1936 Ford Phaeton (Uncle Roy purchased from Dad so dad wouldn't destroy)
1940 Ford Coupe
1940 Ford Pickup
1940 Ford Woodie
1950 Ford 2 Dr
1958 Chevy
196? Corvair

 

Hey All!

I finally got around to scanning at least ONE picture in. I have several boxes more to go through, but this one I thought was worth posting.

Dad used to race both in Tucson and Phoenix. Unfortunately (as the story goes) my dad's car had been wrecked in a previous race and he had no car. A friend of his loaned him this one for the race. If memory serves right Dad came in 2nd or 3rd in the race.

We had this picture hanging in the garage since I was a kid. I pulled it down this weekend and scanned it in. Should have been taken sometime around 1956-1959. We still have his helmet and goggles as well.


The rear caption says:
Richard Warren Photography
4430 E. Flower St.
Phoenix, Az
WH 5-8562

 

One of my childhood heroes was from Tucson, "Wild Bill" Cheeseburg.I miss the those Saturday nights at Manzy watchin him, Smiley,Trimmer, Adams and others go at it on the 1/2 mile.

 

Cool - keep pics coming

 

Here's an online article I found a while back with some neat stuff in it. It's more than one page, arrows on top and bottom of page.
http://www.dragracingonline.com/columns/baker/xiii_10-1.html

 

Anyone ever hear of SPEED SPORT ROADSTER?One of the most famous cars of the era.

 

Evans - yes I remember hearing about the "Speed Sport Roadster" from my father. If I remember right it was a friend of my father's car. One of these days I'm going to sit down with my uncle (Roy Price) who's nearing 72 now - and pump him for all the old hot rod / racing stories he has. My dad was more into racing and hot rodding - Uncle Roy was more into driving and having fun. He's also younger than dad (dad would turn 77 in 2013).

 

No mention of Roger McCluskey?

 

Rootie -

There are a lot of names I remember my dad mentioning - McCluskey was also a good friend of dad's. Names like Izzlar, Arnold, Dossett.

I believe the picture you posted is of the same car I posted - but a few years later. Dad told me a story about him helping to get the car - an original 26 or so Model T coupe. They bought it for $15 and drove it home and modified it.

The car was not my dad's and was borrowing it as he'd wrecked his. I have a picture of the car my dad wrecked somewhere as well.

 

The car McCluskey is in is the famous ECCA sprint car that he and Arnold built for Ron Purvis. They would bolt on a roll cage and T body to race it with the super modifieds. After McCluskey went back east to race with USAC, Don Davis took over and won the CRA championship with it in 1960. After Davis went back east Bobby Unser took over and pretty much ran roughshod over the competition all over the SW and central states until he went back east. It now lives in the Unser museum in Albq. N.M.

 

you should look at this link and the links within the thread.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265269

 

Nice pics: I can't figure out what year the "T" coupe?? body is. It looks like a '23 BUT not the side panels and roof.??

 

Hey Rootie!

Purvis is another name my dad used to mention. I wish I had written down all the stories my dad used to tell. Like I said - he's been gone for 14 years now.

My mom pulled all his pictures down out of the garage and put them in boxes which are in the storage shed. All of his trophies are still on the shelf where he left them.

After his accident in 59 he pretty much hung up his hat on professional racing. He said it was at that moment he realized just how close to death he came. I think the death of a few other of his friends during races also came as a shock to him.

He did race in the Baja 1000 twice, and built a car for one (OT VW based) which we still have.

Dad used to point out one of the racetracks off of I10. I think I remember him saying it was the old race park. When I was a kid you could see tires out there that dad said marked part of the track. Then it became a gravel pit. West side of town if I recall right - north of the Prince Rd exit somewhere.

 

This may be the track in 1972.



http://www.historicaerials.com/

 

Yup that was the one!

 

So - going through some of my dad's stuff this weekend. Found these, thought you folks would like to see.

They're from the early 50's. Most are 1953 and a couple from 1954. I have a ton of them. Looks like dad's obsession with cars started around 1951 or so. He would have gotten these when he was in HS (1950-1954).

Also found a couple of old goggle frames and inserts. I remember dad telling me he used these when he raced.

Lots more to go through.

 

Last one for today:

Found this in another box. This was the club plaque dad's hot-rod club had back in about 1952 or so when they first started. If I recall right it was the first hot-rod club in Tucson.

 

Neat! I bet those Desert Dust mags are fun to go through.

 

That sure looks like an early version of the "Peat Bros" Modified, out of Salt Lake City, with a roadster body and a top added.

 

Dad also had a couple of other pics hanging in the garage by this same photographer. One was of a spectacular crash my dad had in his car probably in 1955 or 1956 where the car had totally flipped. My dad staggered out from the crash - saw the photographer and cracked a smile. Dad penned on the photograph "What - me worry?!" I'd love to find that one and post it. It's how dad met the photographer and got the second pic.

I still need to find the pics of all of dad's cars. We have boxes of stuff to go through. He saved everything - we even have Hot Rod Magazine Issue 1 number 2. Dad heard about the mag from a friend and bought the next one out. Never got an original to go with No2. Part of the collection I photographed included a couple of OLD Mags....including an issue of "Road and Track" June 1951. Not directly Tucson related - but will post that one here anyway.

 

Hey all!

So I went through and took some pics of the contents of the Desert Dust mags. Mostly 1953 (50 years ago). Maybe some names will register with folks here. I've left the captions in as best I could. This isn't all the mags and their contents - just things that looked rather interesting.

In the future I may scan all the contents I can of the mags I have. These mags are very fragile and obviously were not made to last (cheap paper - staples for bindings)

 

The last for this round.....

I noticed the plaque for the Aces of Phoenix looks similar to the Low Rollers of Tucson

 

I know this is an old thread. But...my uncle...my dad's brother is nearing the end of his days. I wish this generation could go on forever though.... Soon all we'll have is pictures...

 

Thanks for posting the Desert Dust pages. Those are pure gold.

 

landseaandair> Glad someone appreciates them!

On another note, I had to go rescue a bunch of my uncle's belongings from a property thats being sold. I was able to get a TON of old hot rod pics of him, and my dad back in the early 50's. I even found a GREAT one of my dad, his car, and a wreck he was in! More to follow in the coming days.

 

I'll be watching.

 

So here is the pic I've been talking about.

Background on dad. Dad had been a flathead guy. He always raced flatheads. Till the day he quit racing in 1959 it was always a flathead. The last set of cars we had were three model T's, a 1932 Ford Roadster (stock) and a 50's style 28 Highboy (now in the Ryan Newman collection).

This pic was taken probably in 1956 or so in Tucson. Just before dad got really good. He was still learning and was only 20 or so. He was doing well in the race when he took a corner a little too hard. His right front wheel separated and dad rolled hard. The car landed off the track in the desert. The towtruck driver hauled the photogropher over both jumped out. Dad was just getting the erant tire into the cab of his car when the photographer yelled "Smile!" Covered in oil and missing his helmet, dad complied.

Dad loved this pic. Right after he got a copy he penned "What me worry" on it and that was how he always faced problems. With humor.

 

Also a quick one of Dad and his highboy. He bought it in 1995. It was sold in 2000 after he died. It is now in the hands of Ryan Newman. You can see it for just a second in "American Pickers" when they visit Ryan Newman.