1938 Standard Tudor, like my first car 60 years ago, for which I paid the princely sum of $25, and drove it for years. Nostalgically, my favorite of pre-war cars, much more than the Deluxe.
Hello, The disadvantage to filming or actually taking action photos without a telephoto lens is that one has to be close to the action for a “drag racing life style” connection to the racing sounds and action. The far away photos are nice, but the close action, if possible, makes it real for those folks seeing a FED race car for the first time. I was limited as our 16mm color movie camera was a fixed lens unit. The unit took great color shots when we had the color film in place. But, the lens made us take action shots from far away as the drag strip allowed. Behind chain link fences for protection??? and safety being so far away. So, with the limited version of a movie camera, I had to get creative for close up action movies. As my brother and I got to be friends with the local Lion’s Dragstrip ambulance driver, Mr. Childers. The two brothers in their khaki pants and blue nylon jackets talking with him… Mr. Childers... 1958-59 plus the two khaki pants blue nylon jacket, desert boots teenagers walking around between timed runs and eliminations. Mr. Childers and the rare 2 door Pontiac Ambulance in "his" spot, in front of the orange timing tower. The return road to pick up the "timed slips" was right behind him. “The above picture is typical of a scene one would see if they were to look around any of the drag strips. The driver shown is Mr. C.B. Childers of the Dilday Ambulance Service. His ambulance is provided at the Lions Dragstrip, located at 223rd Street and Alameda Street, Wilmington. An ambulance is provided at every dragstrip to take care of any injury that might occur, even though a strip is the safest place anywhere to take your car to find out the best time it will turn in a quarter mile. These strips are being made safer every day.” Lion’s tower side looking back at the starting line. As anyone can see, there were different models of ambulances for daily use and specialty use. This 2 door Pontiac version came from the Dilday Family Mortuary Ambulance Services. It was not a commercial big city ambulance. It was a 2 door version, but met the needs of Lion’s Dragstrip quite well. (we knew the Dilday Brothers from our high school classes) Mr. Childers the specialty location by the Orange Timing Tower Jnaki I found a semi-secret filming area at Lion's Dragstrip that no one else, except one guy with a super telescopic lens on a 35mm camera was using. Over the months I wandered over there, I became friends with Mr. Childers, the famous white Pontiac Ambulance Driver from the local Dilday’s Mortuary Service of Long Beach. My brother and I went to school with the 2 Dilday Brothers in the years we were at our local high school. The younger brother was in my graduating class. Note: One of the racers from the PNW was in attendance and it would have been nice to hear the sound. I was steps away at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1960 when this blue FED came whipping by my “secret” filming location. The sound was piercing, as it came zipping by my location. But, it was music to my ears, sorry for not having a sound system recording the actual powerful motor. It was as close to a whirlwind passing by, creating some powerful noises from the motor. The posted thread topic film itself stops and photos take over, so we are able to see the race cars a little more clearly. As I found out with my own, limited lens action, the use of a telephoto lens is almost mandatory as those tech/safety committee folks kept everyone away from getting so close to the action on the dragstrip., for fear of safety rules... YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
