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

Rockford Drag Way

 

Maybe a re-post

 

My two cents on this new picture old picture issue. I agree there is a specific time frame for this thread. However there are times when pictures need to be put into context. So many of drag racings heroes from these pages are gone. So when someone post of a recent picture of perhaps two of the most signifiant personalities in the sport of drag racing from this era then I have no issue at all. It is good to know they are still with us and still enjoying the sport of Drag Racing. Vintage Shots From Days Gone By another wonderful thread and I think it is fascinating when some posts up a picture of what the view looks like now. To me it just adds some real quality to the thread.

Again my opinion but the self appointed sheriffs have always troubled me. The site has a capable team of moderator/administrators whose job it is to keep thing on track but entertaining. That is why this place is so popular, threads like this one, people come to visit and enjoy. I am sure that if this is out of line that it will be deleted and that is fine with me.

 

San Fernando, late '50s, blown Olds, looks like an Italmechannica (sp??) blower



two shots of the Grant Rebel....we couldn't help calling it a Nash...built by RCS, initially with coils at the front, Dave Jefferies was involved in building the chassis....Hayden Proffitt took it over and drove it with Les Shockley (my old high school classmate) as crew chief. It ran an AMC 438" engine, and an AMC rear end.....in the end, it was hard to squeeze enough power from the AMC engine to be competitive, but it was creative...


Starting line at Bakersfield (really Famoso) late '50s. The place was huge, a former Air Corps training field...notice that there is no timing tower, no guard rails (those came years later), and the spectators could stand along the strip...


I don't have an ID on this well finished dragster at Bakersfield, maybe before '55 and the evolution of the slingshot...


Back when street coupes could be competitive in the gas classes (though this has attachments for a towbar, so it might not have spent too much time on the street)


Not sure who or where...anyone?


Starting line, San Fernando, early '60s...pretty sure that the middle deuce is Tom McMullen's. At San Fernando, street-driven cars lined up at the start of the track, while the competition cars pushed down the push road that ran parallel to the track. Behind is Glenoaks Blvd where the entrance was, track shutoff was under a bridge where Foothill Blvd ran....that did not always end well.


No ID, anyone?


Before the Frye brothers went to a twin Buick dragster, they ran this roadster


Big...caption reads "Dover"


Drag racing square 1: Goleta, 1948...first organized drag racing meet, at least until someone finds an earlier meet. The Santa Barbara Timing Association held a meet in 1948 which featured a match race between Tom Cobb's blown flathead roadster and Fran Hernandez's deuce coupe with a fuel flathead. Cobb, who was running snow tires to get better traction, spun the tires, and lost the race. Hernandez, who later worked for Autolite, quickly loaded his coupe and left before anyone could figure out what that strange smelling fuel was. This photo is of the finish line (marked on the pavement), which went over a narrow bridge, and then a curved pave area to shut down. The track was very narrow, there was no spectator control, but fortunately no bad accidents. The first real dragster reportedly ran at this meet, Cunningham & Davis took a track roadster chassis, removed the body, and installed Howard Johanson's 4 cylinder track roadster engine. Other competitors complained that the car was not a hot rod with no body, so the officials only let it run once. When the driver tried to reach the kill switch, he hit the steering wheel and the car sailed into a marsh. The driver was unhurt but had to ride in the back of the pickup on the way home because the marsh water smelled so bad...

 

Looks like Ken Montgomery on the line.

 

That picture is awesome, never seen this one of Don Havers car! You can really see how crude the fiberglass parts are on the hood and doors

 

Also, it appears that the orchard along Famoso Rd has not been planted yet.

 

Good point, still there today...

 

No ID


Possibly Bob Routhenwaite, whose coupe was on the cover of HRM...notice that before slicks, track roadster tires were an option...this might be Paradise Mesa


Paradise Mesa, nothing left today...(that sailor in the background needs to square away his cover!!)

Caption says "Dickie Dunham," though the "Master's Auto Supply" and the "Oilers" identify it as Jim Nelson, of Dragmaster fame.

 

Thanks to those who chose to support - looks like the moderator's have made their decision and deleted the picture - anyone interested who missed it, it's on the Greeks Facebook page.

 

Frye Bros. at Indy.