I never made it there. All I remember was the saying Saugus Stocker. I think it meant a car modified but the owner claimed it was stock.
Hi Jimmy - Good photo memories. The photo of the '40 Ford coupe lined up to race the cycle helps to date the photo. The coupe is the Fox-Cobbs (GCRC) blown flathead car. Buddy Fox ran the car during the 1951 Russetta season in the Class A Coupe class, with his under 260 c.I. flathead engine. Tom Cobbs was running his blown flathead in his coupe/roadster during the 1951 season, including setting the Bonneville Class D Modified Coupe record. The guys decided to put Tom's engine in Buddy's coupe for the 1952 season to run Russetta Class B Coupe and in SCTA Class C Fendered Coupe. The team did some tuning at drag races including the Saugus, San Diego and I believe Santa Ana strips, early in the year. Note the "surplus" hood they added so that Buddy did not have to put a hole for the carburetors (above the blower) in his hood. They started the Russetta lakes season in May of 1952. The photo does not show the lakes no. (16) which may indicate that the photo was made somewhere between the end of 1951 and before May of 1952. The handling of the '40 at the lakes was considered "scary" which was probably the main reason that Buddy built a '36 coupe for Bonneville that year and the '40 was retired by August. So my guess is that this photo is from early 1952. It is fun to see the old Saugus photos. It was truly early drag racing. Note that there were no full length grandstands down the strip.
Jimmy, hope you don't mind me tagging these on. I've posted them on the HAMB before but they are some more shots of Saugus from a guy I know in Dallas named Steve Muck. The scalloped T roadster was his.
Don, thank you so much for the addition info it adds depth to the photos that only a first hand account can do. I have seen the '40 coupe pictured somewhere but haven't been able to place it, the Fox-Cobbs link will give me something to search for. Do you think the '32 roadster has any link to Tom Cobbs? Tom seemed to be the person at the forefront of blower development. Anderson, thank you for posting the photos they are awesome. I don't mind at all I am happy you posted them here. I actually came across your old thread while I was doing a search for info on Saugus Drag Strip. Karl, I am always happy to share what I uncover, especially more obscure rodding material.
Talk about the birth of Drag Racing, great photo collection and coverage of a wonderful era, the beginning of legal racing. Thanks for posting!!
fabulous stuff, thanks for sharing. the nostalgia racing we do now is alot of fun but can't compare to what the boys were pioneering back in the day.
Nice! Growing up around there, I heard about the drag strip in Saugus, but this is the first time I'm actually seeing pictures of it. Does anyone have more info on the blowers pictured?
Thanks Jimmy! Great photos, I wonder if that Ansen pickup was used to haul the car I'm looking for in my avatar? Bob
Jimmy I do not know of any connection between Tom Cobbs and the blown roadster shown in this thread. I have not seen the car in any of Tom's memorabilia. The attached photo was forwarded to me by a former Fuel Dragster racer, Jay Carpenter, who lives here in Fallbrook. I believe it came from one of the drag racing sites on the internet. The photo shows the trophy winners at an early Saugus meet. Lou Baney (strip manager) is kneeling in front just to the right of center. On the left, I believe, is Vince Rossi of the Spagetti Benders (stripped '34 coupe). I am in the back row, the fourth from the right. The photo was taken at the starting line of the strip. I do not know the date but it would probably be in the 1951 to 1955 period. It was just a day at the Saugus Drags. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
Does anyone have more info on the blowers pictured? I think the bottom picture is of a 3-71 GM blower (3 cylinder 71-series), with a homemade manifold and drive. The one in the top 2 photos is a puzzle, though guess it could have come from another brand of diesel engine.
This photo was taken by George Boltoff (later of top gas fame) at Saugus in 1954. No ID. Photo from Don Ewald's site:
I believe this blower is from the less common 2/71 Detroit Diesel G'day Bob, It is quite possible especially if the sprint car was run around the time these pics were taken in the early 50s. Try contacting Jim Miller at AHRF he might be able to ask Lou Senter Ok thanks. Hopefully I can find some info in the future. Don great photo.
I have that issue somewhere in a huge pile, recognize a couple of the cars here: The chopped '34 coupe on the first page is Harry Duncan's "Jitterbug," running an injected Chrysler (his grandson has been on the HAMB). The car, painted "Duncan purple," was later run by Goodyear and Serpa as the "Pacific Auto Body Special" (I learned this from a Don Montgomery hot rod book, of course!). The Pape Brothers roadster is on the second page, rear engined '27, now flawlessly restored. Thanks, Jimmy, for the thread and the pictures!!
Thanks Jimmie and Anderson for posting the great pics.... and what are the heads on the blower motor that seamed to have recessed bolts ?
I believe the hears are Thickstun. These are the heads that had the "marine" covers available that made the engine seem to appear to have overhead valves. However that was not the purpose. The covers bumped up over the spark plugs and could shield them from splashing water in boating applications. They have been reproduced and are seen in some of the nostalgia hot rod creations today. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
What a fantastic thread! Incredible photos and history from guys who were there, it doesn't get any better than this! Thank you JimmyB and all who contributed! I do, however, find I need to ask about this radiator set up. Having a somewhat sectioned core and such a strong Flathead wouldn't this if anything have a tendency to run hot? Why then would it have the two core bypass tubes from bottom tank to top tank, that would pass heated coolant without any cooling done. Again giving a tendency to over heat? Cheers, Doc. EDIT; On thinking about it, I guess there wouldn't be a selection of water pumps or pulley's to vary coolant speed at that time. The blown Flattie would spin much faster, maybe pumping too much coolant for the core to cope with? There is still fluid flowing through the core for cooling and the bypass to lower fluid back pressure when it reaches dangerous levels in the core? Or am I just overthinking nothing really??!!
Jimmy Here are a couple of pictures of the Fox-Cobbs '40 coupe that they raced thru the first half of the 1952 dry lakes season. The car had Tom Cobbs' blown 249" flathead engine under the hood. The team ran both the Russetta Timing Assn, (RTA) meets and the Southern California Timing Assn. (SCTA) meets. The car recorded a great 146.222 mph time at the June RTA meet. They used Tom Cobbs' number 16 at the Russetta meets and number 34 at the SCTA meets and at Bonneville. The picture showing the car without fenders was taken at an SCTA meet where the were competing in the non-fendered class to score points toward the championship. They completed the season with a new '36 coupe which set Bonneville records and won the coveted no. 1 in the SCTA. Drag racing at places like Saugus provided a great opportunities to check out and tune your racecar. Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com
Great cars and people. I would like to know more about Saugus race track. Was this on a airway? Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks for posting all the great pictures of Saugus dragstrip. I am Lou Senter's grandson and I would be happy to ask him any and all questions you might have regarding Saugus.
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