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

Ohio George Montgomery's '33...from mild to wild!

 

So very sad to hear this. I always thought Dave McClelland and Steve Evans were two of the best Drag race announcers ever in the sport. I had heard Dave McClelland was a racer but only knew him from his television broadcasts. Back in 1998 I unknowingly raced his son Kevin in the semi finals at a bracket race at Sears Point. I beat Kevin but then had to face Ted Seipel in the final. It was my day in the sun as I was able to take out Mr. Seipel and win my first race. This was a big deal for me but when I went up to the tower to collect the money I opened the door and to my surprise there was Dave McClelland sitting right there with a big smile on his face. Seeing him there just made my day. Gods Speed to him and all the other greats we have lost.

 

Now parked in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn....

 

I've got one (actually two) of these cars.
The Studebaker wagon behind...the dragster !



Mike

 

Loved that car, Randy is a cool guy, still at it.
Tom West capture:

 

Hello,

I was looking up various locations and routes we used to take coming back from our surf trips to Baja, Mexico. The coastal route was usually the fastest going down the coast and also coming back to the border crossing at Tijuana. We even took the route via the improved freeway/highway in the 65 El Camino and despite the distance, the roads were filled with trucks loaded to the brim, but relatively few travelers.

Not only did the 65 El Camino do the coastal Baja road trips with a surfboard and gear, there were several times that we drove down the coast to a beach resort for special early Baja Motorcycle races. Not the Baja 1000, but held locally in a closed course with deep sand, hard sand near the water, on hard dirt slopes and small hills near the scrub area of the cliffs.

Most of the riders were from So Cal and were desert motorcycle racers looking for similar style races, but located in a different area. The El Mirage Dry Lake (USA) surrounding mountains, valleys, sand, packed dirt had similar riding techniques on the Baja courses.
Plus, the road trip down and back were nice drives…

Jnaki

But the surf trips that we took early on resulted in a couple of Tecate entrances to the USA. Why? One was because my brother wanted to buy a guitar made in Mexico and several early shops had good quality guitars, but only in the Tecate area. The USA made Martin Guitars were far over our budget, but, he was saving up for a D28.

The other trips were to bypass the busy Tijuana traffic coming back into the USA after a holiday weekend. Plus, there were some cars/vans that usually got stopped in Tijuana and not in Tecate. Scrubby surfers, dark tans and cars full of stuff that usually had to be pulled over/inspected at the border. The Tecate side trips gave us a different route back into the USA and a different scenery back into So Cal.

We surfers never got stopped in the Tecate border crossings. In Tijuana crossings back into the USA, many times, the sight of surfboards was a key to being pulled over. Then for the next hour or so, had to go to the customs house parking lot to empty out our cars, vans and station wagons.

The Tecate border crossings were a lot smoother and pleasant. Relatively no traffic and a simple wave to the stationed guards. Plus, the Tecate Beer Factory was in the middle of town… YRMV

The old airport was right in the town and on the way to the border crossing. It is gone, now, but was a small town airport similar to the little airports all across the USA.

Here is an interesting portion of some Tecate history:

"The Coachmen San Ysidro" from the book: San Diego Lowriders: A History of Cars and Cruising

 

A coupe at Kingdon.


Paul Sutherland's Fiat coupe on a Fremont pass


Garlits, possibly this is Kingdon?


Ray Matelli, in the Fremont pits. Ray painted the K-88 green, numbered it "13" and named it "Superstition."


Fosberg and Hubbard, Algon injected fuel Chevy, strong runner.


Art Malone at Kingdon. All these photos were sent to me on a CD by Gerilynn Tarvin, who is a drag racer, photographer, and a class act. She asked me to post them. I know that some of you repost my photos on this site on FB. That's ok, normally, but I ask you not to repost these. I will post more later. Thanks, Geri!

 

Thanks Junji for filling in some of the blanks surrounding Joe Maillard. His name appeared on so many cars at Lions back then but it seemed like it was Joe Reath who got all of the magazine coverage.
I always end my day by reading old magazines in bed. Last night I was reading a 1964 Car Craft and saw an ad for a deep cast aluminum pan for the old flat pan Hydro. I have never seen one before. It was offered by C&O Hydros and I wondered if you had one on your '58 Impala since C&O did your trans and installation.

 

Magic Muffler Fiat...

 

Hey BCB,

My C&O Stick Hydro was one of the first ones they created for the drags and street. It was in 1960-61. Most of the modified transmissions were stock looking and by the time of the article in 1964, they had 3-4 years of development. Plus, in 1964, their 1941 Willys pickup B/Gas race car was probably the guinea pig for all future accessories.

The Gas Coupe Class was moving fast forward and now most had modified Stick Hydros from B&M, C&O and Cal Hydro, as well as a couple of local transmission modified units. It was all they could do was step on the gas and hang on to the finish line. No more worries about coordinating hand/eye/foot for the fast reaction off of the starting line.
1964

Jnaki

Now, it was brake left, stomp right and hang on to the end. Faster reaction times and an instant grab of the slicks to get moving. Some folks had hand held brakes, but that was ok, too.
1964 All Gas Coupe and Sedan drag meet at Lion's Dragstrip.

By the way, Joe Reath did get a lot of credit, but no one took Joe Mailliard for second place with his involvement in a lot of racers and their top drag racing cars at the time. As teenagers, we were in awe of both of them. Joe Mailliard's shop opened up near our Westside of Long Beach house. Joe Reath was a few miles away, closer to our high school on the other side of the LA River.

 

Obviously more stroke than C&T STROKERS planned on!

 

Logghe Brothers...Gene & Ron.

 

Bud Faubel...

 

Little Red Wagon Two-for-Tuesday...The Wheels Up Edition!

Saginaw:

 

Got a Lions thing going on here,lol.

Lot's going on here, Dave Z at the controls, Pat Foster behind him in the white pants and black shirt.

Staging lanes...

 

More Lions...











Gotelli Speed Shop.

 

MAN!!! What a time to be ALIVE!!! Too bad I was born 30 year's too late...

 

Tracy Price photo, San Fernando, 58 or so