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

This is the competition coupe that Mike Sorokin drove before his stint with the Surfers:


This is '61, at the NHRA Winternationals...could this have been a later version of the rear-blower Willys above? Maybe, as I think it was pictured around '59...that is Mike in the foreground...

 

I posted a picture of Leonard Abbott's fueler at Riverside a while back...and got a PM from Michael Abbott, Leonard's nephew and the son of Leonard's brother, Norris, who died in a dragster accident at Paradise Mesa in July 1958. He sent me two other shots of Leonard's "Shifter," driven by Joe Lee; here they are:




The bottom one is a color shot of the car I posted in black & white. The car was a testbed for the famous Lenco tranmissions. Michael reports that his younger brother currently races at Wichita, and that his niece has started driving as well...keeping it in the family.

Thanks to Michael Abbott and all the other racers and members of racer families who share stories here, this is our history site, and these stories enrich all of us.

 

I guess that now only one of the three Surfers remains, Bob Skinner died last summer...


Bakersfield...


Don't know whose car this is...flower power?? and what is that thing above the chutes??


Was in motion, looks like Lions...can't see enough of the remains to identify...anyone?


Art Arfons at Lions....I don't know if this was a highly-advertised appearance by the Green Monster, but once at Lions Art ran against the Chevy gas burner of Tapia and Hoffman, and the Chevy won....much to the delight of the Drag News writer...but hardly surprising...the Monster was built for high speed, not e.t., way too heavy...It might have been on this trip out west that the Monster met its demise, crashing at either Lions or Half Moon Bay (it was a long time ago, I forgot)....when the car went over the parachute came flying up unopened, and the horrified crowd thought it was Art....but he survived and continued to build a long string of aircraft-powered cars (piston and jet)...


Freight Train on the fire-up road at Lions....


If you saw these guys run, you never forgot the experience. original 32 Ford steel body and frame...they continued to compete even after the fuel altereds had shifted to fiberglass bodies and tube frames...Thurmond Brothers kept on smoking the tires most of the way down the track, guardrail to guardrail, Butch driving....they didn't win much but you never forgot that they were there. (as I look at this photo, I wonder if the Thurmonds ultimately replaced the steel body with a fiberglass one...the doors don't look right).


Larry "Shorty" Levenson driving, from NoCal


Fuller, Zeuschel, and Prudhomme, won '62 Bakersfield with this car, then egos clashed, the car was sold several times (once to Ivan Reynolds of Cash Auto in San Francisco), later went to Lou Senter and Ed Pink, who put Tom Dyer in the seat:


Same car as above, now under Ansen Sponsorship, Senter & Pink, Ed pushing on the right. Tom Dyer might be driving, though Lou and Ed put Prudhomme back in the seat and he immediately set a track record in the car at San Gabriel...and Drag News started calling him "Magic Foot." There was a dispute over who actually built the car, with Rod Stuckey claiming that he did...Fuller disputed it.....


This shot is taken close to the end of Lions life, note the date....the old push road is now blocked off, not much of a crowd (though Long Beach could get cold in January).....so many memories for so many of us.


I first saw Bizio run this gasser in primer at night, one of the meanest-looking competition cars there....it was restored a long time ago, Ron passed away but his widow had some vital details about the truck that allowed for a perfect restoration...


Racers like this rarely made the pages of Drag News but they were the bread-and-butter of drag racing...


No ID...most fuel cars did not run chrome headers...maybe a gas-burner?

 

This is a new one on me. Never saw this shot before. HRM Meet at Riverside1965. Won class and went 7 rounds to win street eliminator. Won about $2500 in cash and contingency prizes. Like yo know where this was published.

 

Don't know who this is...Lions


Gary Cochran at Lions


Can't read the name (but Roo could: Jim and Alison Lee's Great Expectations. The car was restored by Bruce Dyda for current owners, the Beattie family). Numerous drivers drove for Jim and Allison; one of them was my old Pasadena High School classmate Hank Westmoreland, who died recently. The Lees lived in The Plains, VA, and wanted Hank to stay on as their driver, offered to build him a house there. But Hank ultimately wanted to return to California, so declined the offer.


This might be the Allen family ...


George Cerney at Lions


Cerney, Linn, and Moody??


No ID


Earlier SWC, maybe when they still ran the blown Olds


Irwindale, Henry Harrison usually drove, though story has it that John Force also drove...(no, I don't know who that is at the rear of the car)...Howard Cam Rattler in the background...


Jr Thompson's Stude gasser


Same car as above, but the Isky ad on the door is gone...so what happened?

Childs & Albert "Addict"

 

Anybody recognize this dragster? Possibly S & P Speed on Atlantic Ave in Jamaica NY.

Pat

 

View attachment 3204550
Irwindale, Henry Harrison usually drove, though story has it that John Force also drove...(no, I don't know who that is at the rear of the car)
Obviously found by the 'Beaver Hunter"

 

Early pic of Bob Dunn(mates father)and Graham Cowin,Surfers Paradise Aus I think!