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

This is Mike Sorokin in the early '67 version of the "Hawaiian II" with the shorty body. Later in '67, it was Red & full bodied, along with a few other changes.
I've done a lot of research on this car, it's in my shop being restored!

 

Carlsbad

 

Wichita Falls Dragway, car unknown.

 

Gary...cool picture of your dad....that front turret was not an easy spot to man....thanks for his service !

 

I think the car in the near lane of the Carlsbad picture is Eddie Hill.

 

Thanks Pete, I stand corrected. As you know I did not get to see this stuff close up at the time and usually have to rely on what I have seen in print. I had only ever seen the photos of the red version with the wrap around windshield and based my comments on that.

Roo

 

Tommy Ivo Green Dragster.

 

HHHHMMMMM.I think that was colorized!
I remember all his cars were red! I guess it could be the giraffe car before the giraffing!

 

I think it's Gary Gabelich in the Rossi, Rapp, and Maldonado, Purple Gang car.Gary was quite a guy! Died way too young.

 

Thanks for the nods to my father. He died a few years ago.I miss him every day.He took me to the drags at Woodburn when I was 11 years old, 1964.A great man to me, and I'm proud of him!
He would laugh at being a hero, he was one of millions that did no less than save the world. Think about that.
Anyway.......I can't ID the other car in the Carlsbad pic. I keep thinking Mcewen
in the Tirend car, but it could be anyone. The time frame may be off that one.
SoCal guys!!!!
It's early in the morning!

 

Maybe not for long but think it did exist in this color - this picture from his website.

 

The Mongoose

 

If it's from his site it's real! I've seen Tommy race several times and the cars have all been red! I stand corrected!

 

Glad he saw the light so to speak.

 

You're probably right about the Carlsbad picture, looks like there might be a plume there.
I was thinking about this car, but it's not it. Sorry bout that.
Action picture is at Amarillo, pretty sure it was taken by Keith Dyer.

 

Is it just me or does this shot of Eddie Hill's car make the engine look absoutely HUGE! It's probably just the angle of the photo. Or maybe the fact that the engine looks so uncluttered and has a relatively simple fuel system without a lot of extra hoses and pipes run all over the place. Maybe the body and chassis is a bit scaled down compared to most other cars of this vintage. But it is a great effect, making the engine look about 20% physically larger than it should.

 

Speaking of the past has me remembering the early days (for me) of Woodburn.
A young upstart by the name of Ed McCulloch was driving the Albrich-McCulloch-Krieger Northwind to glory, whipping the name California cars up and down the West coast! The Columbia Racing Engines hemi was the equal of any nitro car.
They became NUMBER ONE IN THE NATION ON THE DRAG NEWS LIST, which was a big deal in those days!
I posted Jim Rocksteads account before, but it's cool and bears a re run! WILD TIMES HUH MARTY?!!! LOL
Jim Rockstad
"With Top Fuel dragsters racing nearly every weekend, the Northwind went from Lions to Bakersfield, Riverside, and Carlsbad in southern California. In the Northwest, it was Woodburn and Balboa in Eugene, Oregon to Puyallup, Arlington, and Pacific Raceways in Washington state."

"At the time the Northwind was the baddest of the bad. The car was awarded the Drag News No. 6 spot after running 204 miles per hour and gaining the national attention that it needed and deserved"

Jim Rockstad-
"
With Ed driving, the gold metalflaked Northwind beat Sid Waterman in May of 1965 at Woodburn Drag Strip while running a new Northwest record of 206.88 miles per hour. According to Al Beachell, strip manager at Woodburn in 1965, "That performance clinched the challenge for the number 1 spot in the nation." The holder of the number one spot up until then was "Sneaky" Pete Robinson, of Atlanta, Georgia. His "Tinker Toy Too" fuel dragster had held off five previous challengers since he was awarded the coveted top spot in September of 1964.

After several phone calls to Pete Robinson by Al Beachell a deal was set for a match race on Sunday, June 13th, 1965. The best of three match race would be a huge step for Northwest race fans as this national caliber event would take place on Oregon soil. Team Northwind called Pete and offered him use of the Columbia Racing Engines shop so he could come early and work on his car. You see…Pete, “Sneaky” as he was, did use two different engine combinations in his car. A Chevy small block and a Ford "cammer" motor were used at different times and Team Northwind would have liked to have gained that knowledge prior to the big showdown.

Not only didn’t Pete Robinson show up at the shop, but he didn't call and no one had seen or heard from him at all. When the Northwind left for Woodburn Dragstrip the morning of June 13th the big question was, “Where is Pete Robinson?” Upon arrival at Woodburn, just 30 miles south of Portland, a trailer and tow rig were sitting at the front gate of the track. Sound asleep inside was Robinson, waiting for the event to start. He had driven from Bristol, Tennessee, after participating in the NHRA Springnationals the weekend before. The Northwest rain was coming down but only in shower form, stopping from time to time. The crowd numbers for the day are a little sketchy but one local newspaper listed the attendance at 10,000. To say the least, Northwest race fans were ready for the Northwind and this showdown for the number one spot in the nation.

As the intermittent showers came and went that day, the track was dried, thanks to a few slower cars. About 1:30 in the afternoon, the main feature was ready for round one. They both pushed down the track in preparation for fire-up. Making the turn around at the top end, it set the stage for an epic battle. When both cars fired, the huge crowd pushed forward, some near the edge of the track, in anticipation and showing support for the Northwestern car. McCulloch drove right on by Robinson's Chevy car at a 7.62 at 199.54 miles per hour in true 60s style, smoking the tires all the way through the lights. The Chevy car was well behind at 7.95.

Round one was in the books and the Northwind had outrun the number one car in the nation. One round later, the Chevy car of Pete Robinson red-lighted away the number one spot.

Ed ran 7.50 and 206.42 mph to take the coveted spot in just two rounds of the match race. There it was. The Northwestern region had finally broken through to the big-time in the sport of drag racing as the huge crowd gathered around the two cars with excitement in the air. The car that was a huge question mark to its performance potential had just knocked off the top spot in the country in a few short months. It was an incredible achievement, to say the least."



Northwind vs The Greek
Arlington, Wa 1965

The Northwind was one of Fullers Magicars.
It's now restored.

 

Jim Rockstad's Anglia which he ran for years.I believe it came to a bad end. Marty?

Jim became a promoter and ran Seattle International and Portland International. Put on great 32 car funny car races in the 70's (off topic but biographical info)

Jim and Kenney Goodell pitting together.


Here a 64 funny car show! Are there even 25 AA/FC cars in the entire country now?

 

One last nostalic shot. The trip to Riverside was for the Hot Rod Magazine meet, a biggie at the time.They shook up the California guys!
Look at a young Ed McCulloch!

 

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
There are tons of colorized pics on the web, of all kinds of things, race cars included.I'd never seen Ivo in that UGLY green.
I have no problem being wrong or with any posters.

 

Bill Dunlap
The match race with Arigoni-Gregg for the No. 4 spot on the Drag News Mr. Eliminator list; unbeknownst to Bill, chaos was reigning on the track behind him - Glenn Gregg lost, out of shape.

 

Some captions I write and some I take from the photos I find. Sometimes the captions written by the guys that actually were there are WAY the best.

 

Then vs now
The Goose is always at Bakersfield selling souvenirs, is always approachable.
Snake.....not so much!

I can't believe SO MANY years have passed!

 

Goose in the Tirend car.

 

Some Mongoose stuff-from National Dragster

Tom tested tires for M&H

The Shark car

McEwen sits behind the wheel of the Super Mustang for a promotional photo shoot prior to the car’s debut at the Winternationals in 1967

 

Warren & Coburn. How cool is this shot!?

 

Gary, Jim Rockstad ran his Anglia with an injected BBC. When Jack Coonrod quit racing at the end of the '67 season, he sold the Willys to Bob Schoonhoven, and the Blown Chrysler went to Jim, as I remember Jim was married to Jack's Niece. The extra power of the Chrysler made the Anglia hard to handle, and Jim crashed it at Balboa (Eugene). That's the story that was told to me. The first dragster I remember "The Ace" driving was Ernie Hall's Desoto powered Gas car, "The Astronut"!

 

Actually Prudhomme is very "approachable" of late. He was very intense at all times when he raced and also as a team owner but now he is about as mellow as it gets. Hardly ever wears any "Snake" shirts etc and I bet that quite a few people have passed right by him in the swap meet area at Bakersfield without spotting him. Bob Gewertz and I chatted with him for a while at the CHRR last year while he was looking for parts for the Super Snake restoration. Bob commented about how slim and fit Prudhomme looked and his reply was that he had done quite a few nostalgia event appearances with McEwen that past summer and that Goose had been eating for both of them.

Roo