History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

More from the George Klass collection:



Shubert & Herbert?? I don't remember it ever black, but the rest of the car sure looks like it...Bakersfield?



This is a mystery -- Ardun powered, sponsored by Lakewood Muffler, but it is not the Mikklson (sp?) Brothers car that Don Yates drove to a disputed 9.44 et. Note that the Ardun does not have visible plug wires as they sometimes blew off, so the valve cover was notched to put the wires under it and then to the plugs (Ruddy & Weinstein did this, I didn't, and lost to Hugh Tucker when my V8 became a V-4 when I got to the lights). Anyone know anything about this digger (love the chopped 33-34 behind it!)



The Maloney Brothers, really nice body. I think that this was a central California car, don't know what track?



As the caption states, early rubber biscuit TE-440 car (NHRA later banned the buscuit front "spring.) This could be Bobby Tapia in the Tapia & Hoffman car, not sure, and not sure what track it is.

 

The Ardun seems like it must've had a Red Cagle association

 

NHRA banned the biscuit front end, yet Kent Fuller's Magicar had a rubber biscuit where the front axle attached to the frame. NHRA must have loosened up a bit 10 years after the TE 440's.

The tail on the Maloney Bros car looks very much like a Kurtis midget tail.

 

The Chevy A fuel car looks like the Shubert-Herbert car. I never saw it in any color but orange.

 

You could well be right, he ran his Ardun in both a Lakewood-sponsored 32 roadster and in the Belmont Sanchez Bonneville coupe, also Lakewood-spondored. There is a picture of the engine on the (former) R&C website but they won't let you copy it...has the same plugs in the spark plug holes as this engine does. Here is the link:
http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/featuredvehicles/1953_studebaker_coupe/photo_06.html

 

You're

right about the tail looking like a Kurtis midget tail...the other car that ran a midget tail was the J.E. Riley car that Calvin Rice drove, but they had it upside down...made a neat rear body piece.

 

There are always options...

 

Pegging the cool meter right there! ^^^^^^^

 

I know its has been a long time ago but I don't remember Dennis Holding smoking, but what comes to mine is he would pop in a sucker often...... I maybe thinking about someone different. The guy in the blue jacket is Chuck Quinzler, Another good friend and a great tuner. He helped out Garlits a lot when he was in the neighborhood.

 

That's the Belmont Sanchez '53 Stude, the first of Raymond Lowey's slippery coupes to hit the salt. That car broke ground for all the Studebakers that followed. First door slammer over 200.

 

I don't know if this picture of Wenderski has been posted before. The long wishbones identify it as a Ivo chassis. Ivo said that he built this car longer (109") because he knew John was a rookie who had never driven anything faster than a 409" super stock. I remember when John debuted it at San Gabriel -- drove it out the back door on the second pass to over 180mph.



Holly Hedrich racing the Chrisman brothers, looks like Paradise Mesa.



Paradise Mesa, final run as the sun was going down. I have forgotten whose cars these were.

 

Ardun........over 2400 posts and I would bet most of them are right here on this thread. I really appreciate the history lesson you are providing. Carry on teach.

 

Thanks! Glad to do it, ... when I'm wrong, someone here steps in to correct, lots of smart people on this site...here are a couple more:






GBP on the fire-up road at Lions, maybe 62-63? This was before the roller starters, which ran on an electric motor. It drew so much electricity that when they lit off cars, the lights at Lions would dim.



For those who love Fiats, from Texas



Jack Kulp, strong East Coast runner. I don't know where this picture was taken, East Coast guys?

 

Wenderski's Black Beauty, I believe, was the most beautiful full bodied top fuel car ever. Too bad John didn't approach driving it with a little caution.

 

Hey @rooman, I'd love to run a couple of those pics of 'The Pig' that Phil Reilly ran back in South Oz. We've done a feature on Outlaw II in the upcoming Street Machine Hot Rod, but we're also featuring a '30 Ford coupe with a Hemi in it that Phil Reilly screwed together. Can I get some hi-rez versions of it, by chance?
Boris.

 

Guy in the PVTA jacket is Gene Greenwood, I think. Lived in Pomona somewhere

 

Early Garlits. Don once said that after HRM covered a Florida drag race, he asked about where a picture of this car was, and later found out that they put this (or another like it) picture on a bulletin board and laughed at it. I'll bet they stopped laughing after he beat Cook & Bedwell at the ATAA nationals in Illinois in the summer of '57, or in November of '57 when he ran 176!









Melvin Heath from Oklahoma, won the '56 NHRA nationals.

 

"Not Black but Dark Green. Zane painted it this color late in the 64/5 Winter and it was Green for 3 to 4 events including the 1965 March Meet. It blew an engine every time out. Chet told Zane to ditch the Green or no more motors, so it was back to Shubert Orange." - Big Yohns

 

"Moody called the color "Laumm Farr".
"In the second pic, he's racing the ex-Ivo car....could be Prudhomme/Zeuchel fueler before it was shipped to Denver."

 

Thanks, here is the ex-Ivo-Prudhomme car after it went to Denver, think the new owners were Heth-Thompson...they ventured back to San Gabriel after buying the car, think they got beat first round:










And here is a picture of the original version -- haven't seen this picture before, note the rear body is the same....San Fernando had constant trouble with noise, note the houses in the background...uncorked stockers and competition cars could only run between noon and 3:00 because of the complaints. Later they put wooden walls and rows of trees but the noise complaints won out in the end. I think the houses are now gone too, seems like mostly industry now. You can also see the drainage ditch that ran along the track, it was easy to wind up in it if you went off the left hand side at the top end (or hit the Foothill Ave bridge at the back end).

 

My brother Leon's anglia at SIR. 331, 4spd injected SBC.

 

Man, is that a bizzy paint scheme!

 

I don't have much information to go with this shot, I think it is Northern California because that Crosley in the background (an HRM cover car) belonged to Vic Hubbard from Oakland area. The dragster is pretty crude, but it represents the technology of the time. The driver's T-shirt says "Century Toppers," which I think was Gene Winfield's car club. Maybe this is Cotati, or Vaca Valley or Lodi?? Anyone else know anything more?


A couple of door cars from a collection of Southern drag racing photos







More from the same set

 

Charles "Boogie" Scott, at Biloxi Dragway (yes, I took it off the picture). There were not a lot of Bantam-bodies cars running in the altered class (as opposed to competition coupe class), but this was one of the coolest, ran well too...


Bobby Woods from Alabama, once ran a gasser, this was an early version of his funny car...

 

Lippy, that's trippy! Far out, man.

 

I'm pretty sure this is a young James Warren.




Dustin

 

Nope, it's Gene Winfield.

 

You're right Dean, that would explain why it says "Windy" on the helmet.


Dustin

 

Some Texas photos from Facebook...(though I'm not sure they are all in Texas)...very few captions:







Dick Bourgoise in Big John's car racing K.S. Pittman, where is this?? I thought that the NHRA Winternationals were always at Pomona, but this does not look like Pomona, timing tower was in back of the starting line and the bleachers ran all along the track??? But the first letters on the timing tower are Pom... so maybe it is...





I'm guessing this is the Veselka of Mackey and Veselka who raced both competition coupes and dragsters in Texas



If this is the same Bill Jenkins as in "Grumpy" then I'm doubting that this is from Texas...and yes. it's the "Monster Mash," remember the Bobby "Boris" Pickett song?

 

That is definitely Pomona. The tower moved ahead of the starting line in the mid '60's.