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

Two for Thursday...the For Sale edition!

 

Car is currently being restored by Corey Conyers...

 

3rd Magicar...

 

Ongais in The Mangler...

 

Bob Brissette passed away today...some memories:




From Jnaki's great Lions videos (I saw him barrel roll this car in the Fontana lights)










Bill Alexander driving



When he broke the B/FD record I briefly held at San Fernando.

May he race in peace.

 

When I broke my back at El Mirage in '62 I was in the hospital 3 weeks. Every single day of that 3 weeks I received a card from the Brissette Brothers. Those guys will always be aces in my book. RIP Bob.

 

Sidewinder Friday...

 

Is that sprocket a one-off or from some industrial application?
It reminds me of the ones used in LSR bicycle racing.

 

Fontana Drag City, another one of my hangouts...

 

Was in motion...Pacific Speed with Dave Russell driving.

 

1959
Hello,

What is not to like? A red primer Willys sedan, lots of power, great looks and one of the earliest Willys sedan competitors in action. It was late in the afternoon of a winter day in December 1959. It was cold in the morning when we arrived just at the gates were opened.

We got set up, got something to eat and started our wandering with jackets in place. But, being in Riverside, an inland city compound, it started to get hot and then it became T-Shirt weather.

When I took these separate films, it was my 4th location on top of the tall cliffs in the afternoon. It was jacket time again when the sun started its decent. The starting line film shows the power. The cliff side shot also shows the power to pull away and win hands down.
"... power shift... here we go..."
Jnaki

So, the question is: Who owned the Willys sedan, who drove it and what was inside to make go?

A reward for your efforts and old file keeping. Also, what class was it competing in during the day… the window lettering is a jumbled mess.
108 A/Gas?
Can anyone read the poster on the driver’s door? (A/Gas?)

It might be advertising another drag race coming up in January 1960, but who and where?


No, the red primered 41 Willys sedan is not the Weddle-Nichols, record setting Willys Gas Sedan from the same time period, in the Gas Coupe and Sedan Classes.

1959 Riverside Raceway
Red primered Willys Sedan Drag Cars In Motion...

 

What, no one noticed the..."bumper jack" holding the back of this "race car" up ?

Also, anyone have an idea, what looks like a pump is that's chain driven beside the blower ? A large hose, down beside the block, with only one visible hose.



Mike

 

Ah yes, the good old days.... When I only had a bumper jack, random shaped blocks from the woodpile and had to take the Hydramatic out of my 4050 lb. '53 Oldsmobile on a somewhat flat gravel driveway... Somehow I thought nothing of it and lived to tell the tail. One of my acquaintances however, tried it, was not so lucky and did NOT live to tell the tail.

 

That’s the fuel pump driven off the blower and the fuel line going to the front mounted tank.

 

I’m thinking fuel pump with the large hose being suction hose from tank. If pump was in normal location driven by cam, it would out so far that the fuel suction hose would be exposed to debris from right slick or guard rail etc. if car got out of shape.

When zoomed in I think I can make out smaller hose behind chain guard just below the larger sprocket on pump, which could be running down from elbow of pump to between manifold and magneto to opposite side to a shutoff valve and onto the injector on top of blower.

Edit: Well damn …… @Fordors posted while I was trying to zoom and locate out fuel line from pump. Caught sleeping on lights again. ….. Story of my life.

 

.

 

IIRC, the Grist brothers used 4 door sedan front doors and reworked the tops of the doors for their coupe

 

Loved the Hairy Canary!

 

That explains the odd profile I was trying to figure out.

 

Wonder if Hairy Canary was inspiration for the Fuel Cuda.

 

I don't think so. The Cuda was a glass body set over a fuel dragster.

 

Fuel Cuda...then & now:

 

The Grist Bros Willys was one of my favorite cars from my Lions days.
Would anyone who was around then care to offer a brief bio of Joe Maillard? He seemed to be involved with a number of interesting cars from the Long Beach area but there's little written about him.

 

If anyone would know, it would be @jnaki. He is the Long Beach authority.