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

1951 - This may have been owned by Houston Eggleston from Denton.

 

1951 This car was owned and built by Bert Hallett. The car ended up being a race car only car in the early 50's. After that it disappeared. Bert told me that he bought the body out of a wrecking yard near downtown Dallas in 1950. Bert was an early member of the Chaparrals roadster club.

 

1951 Jack Joerns driving his sports special. This car was built in his backyard. Jack was the first president of the "Turtles" car club of Fort Worth. They formed in 1948 and lasted about 3 years.

They met up at Pat Kirkwoods on Jacksboro highway. Pat Kirkwood's father owned the famed 2222 club in Fort Worth. They would run their cars on Sunday mornings out on Blue Mound road. They measured a 1/4 mile distance at top speed.

 

Thought I saw Charles Duran in one of those pics!

 

Doug Mattox - Chaparrals club member

 

1949 not identified

 

1951 owner Jimmy Willams. Jimmy took it to California to have some work done on it. Barris shop maybe? They neatly z'd the rear frame. Narrowed frame to match body. It looks the turtle deck had some smoothing done. The engine was a '36 Ford bored to merc size.

Notice the rear of a 27' T to the right of the picture. It has a California licence plate. Too bad they didn't take a picture of it.

 

Hi Karl,I'll atempt to tell a little more about Charlie Adams 32(post #20),,Charlie stripped the fenders and all unneccessary item and ran this car at Bonneville as the "Liqua-Moly Special"(spellimg?) sometime in the early 50s..car was sold to Mitch Rosansky shortly after and he raced it at Caddo Mills
with Bob James driving..later it was owned by Ronny Mitchell,who finally sold it back to Rosansky.
Rosansky restored it back to the drag racing version and I believe he still owns it today,It can be remembered with the Donald Duck painted on the sides and Mitchell Auto Co
the Bert Hallet car in post 32 hung around Custom as he and Charlie were buddies..The little channeled
car appears to be one that Buddy Boren owned and we worked on it for him many times.Post #21
Buddy was the son of an oil man and years later Buddy brought road racing to the streets in Dallas.
If I remember any more,I'll add later..

 

KKROD: Great stuff! Thanks for sharing them. WBRW32 : Love the "back story" info on them!

 

You guys should publish a Dallas Hot Rod history book

 

Love this stuff. Thanks for posting. Great history.

 

Thanks Eric. I am enjoying posting to the HAMB. Only a few people have ever seen them before. Bobby Wolcott (wbrw) will really add to this thread as he was back there in the day.

 

I have a bunch of Hot Rod Magazines from '50 ... almost no hot rods outside of California in them...so these early pictures are very valuable...maybe the first time they have been shared with a wide audience... Texas has a hot rod history they can be proud of, as these pictures show...thanks for posting!!

 

So true 296ardun...Karl is doing a great job on this.

 

Thanks for the memories KK, you too Bobby (you old fossil )
MickeyD

 

Thanks for another walk back in time. Good thing I'm retired. I loved this forum before. But lately these new threads keep me on here 28 hours a day!

 

Thanks for all the comments. I hope you enjoy these photos. There are lots to go including the very first two meets at Caddo Mills Airport from 1951. The Chaparrals had a good relationship with the Dallas Sheriff department. It was the Sheriff department that helped them secure the Caddo Mills Airstrip for a drag strip.

First though here are several photos a legal street drag races. The Sheriff's department blocked off Singleton blvd close to the Trinity River for cars to run. I believe this is 1950.
View attachment 2878711

 

Holy wow!

 

North Texas had a California connection. Charles (Charlie) Adams returned to Dallas from southern California and opened up Custom Automotive, Inc in 1948. It was located on Pearl street and the building is long gone and is now covered by the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. He was a long time native of Dallas. He served his country in WWII in the Army Air Corp 1941-1947. He was close friends with Ak Miller and knew most of the early speed shop pioneers. Custom Automotive was open for five decades. He was a pioneer hot rodder in the southwest, he was intensely competitive. Bobby Wolcott (WBRW32) worked for Custom Automitive in the 50's. He brought a beautiful highboy roadster with him from California.

Here is a picture of Charlie (standing) and his highboy roadster. This photo was taken at the first ever drag races at Caddo Mills airport in 1951.

 

I found some more notes on Charlie Adams. He grew up in lower Oak Lawn. He was a prewar hot rodder who was friends with Ed Tennison Sr. When in California after the war he met Vic Edelbrock and began a commercial relationship. Had his first shop on Fitzhugh in 1947. This was a Gulf station at Fitzhugh and Cole. Later he moved to the Pearl St. location.

 

Awesome, Guys! I vaguely remember my dad and uncles talking about going up to Caddo Mills for the drag races from San Antonio, but it was way before my time!

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Karl.in addition,Charlie Adams was a captian in the Air Force,flying the B-17s to and from the USA,
While stationed in Calif, Charlie was also friends with John Ryan,Nellie Taylor,Paul Schiefer ,Harry Weber,Roy Richter,and Fred Offenhauser in addition to Vic Sr..
more later,Bobby

 

That would be me hooking up the tow bar, (so who is the worker?)
While Charlie watches and gets all the glory..

 

Fantastic thread! Thanks for taking the time to post these images.

 

Great thread...thanks KKrod & Bobby Wolcott for all the inside info.
I was only 10yrs old in 1950, but this is the stuff that got me started
there in Dallas.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^Above^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
got you started and your still at it Mike Brown,,Hahahahaha

 

Definitely the stuff that needs to be recorded while there are still some of you guys left. I dig the crap outta these pics and history. Thanks Karl and Bobby.