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

Kev, PLEASE post this pic on the "why do all Willys have to be gassers" thread!! Because a custom would look stupid doing this!!!!

 

Hank Vincent's Top Bannana in the lanes at the March meet 1960. This was an amazingly clean car for 1960. The little blown SBC ran around 170.

I have a lot of pics from the 60 March Meet all taken in the pits, or in the lanes, not in motion. They are little 3 1/2 X 3 1/2 snapshots taken with my trusty Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera. Not the greatest quality when blown up in the scanner. If not in motion is OK, I can scan and post more.

 

Love that Hank Vincent Top Banana car, one of the most beautiful and "bad" at the same time. I say post the pics you have!
Joel

 

Hey, you can never get too much of something this good.
Lets see 'em, Dean...

 

That's just wrong!!!>>>>.

 

Willy looks like he's lookin' for a parking place at the mall.............. total calm.

 

OK, here's one for the old El Monte guys. (Am I the only one) This is Nick Cirino's (Big Al's carponents) Durfee Auto roadster. He teamed with Jim Steele who owned Durfee Auto Parts in El Monte. They ran Jim's big olds unblown at San Gabe, I mean Old San Gabe, the original, and won their share of top eliminator trophies. They wanted to run a blower at the March meet in 60, but didn't have an injector for the 6-71. Notice the Hilborn port injectors on a home made pyramid manifold on top of the blower. That boys and girls is inginuity! This was one of the very few 30/31 roadsters I ever saw set up for altered class. I wish I had a pic showing the whole car. it was pretty showy for the day. Painted a pretty green.

 

Can't forget the Nelson & Martin Dragmaster. The black box on the manifold is Jim Nelson's homemade water injection unit. Jim ran very high compression on the blower motor (see Ryan's "Master's Coupe" video thread where Jim is hammering homemade o-rings around the cylinders) and the water injector was an attempt at controling detonation.

 

Oh yeah, that kid with the jacket and camera case is me, 15 years old.

 

No shit and most of the time he had his left arm resting on the door post>>>>.

 

GORDON COLLET. LOOK AT THIS OLD WHORE LOOK LIKE SHE HAS BEEN THROW HELL

 

CUCK KURZAWA MATCH UP JIM & ALLISON LEE

 

"They ran Jim's big olds unblown at San Gabe, I mean Old San Gabe, the original, and won their share of top eliminator trophies."

Was there more then one San Gabe? I always thought there was just the one off of Rivergrade Road, where Cal Edison is now.

 

Only one San Gabe...thats all folks

 

There were 2. The original lost the lease on the ground, and moved a little farther down Rivergrade Rd. about 1960. The first track was verey primitive. No guard rails one small grandstand, and the strip was the only paving. The pits were just sand and rock. Saw my first drag race there in 59. Ivo beat Jim Nelson for TE. That's when I knew that stock Model A RPU we drove up Rivergrade Road to the races that day was going to go drag racing someday!

 

The second 22jr. waiting it's turn at Famoso 1960. That was a gorgeous roadster.

 

Going a little farther back now. This is Pomona June 1959. I came up with enough to buy a roll of color film for the Brownie. This is the top fuel car of Ted "Curly" Cyr and Bill Hopper. A Scotty Fenn TE-440 frame. They took TE that Sunday at around 167.

I was 14 that summer. My Mom would drive me and a couple of buddies out to Pomona and drop us off in the morning. For 3 bucks I had a hell of a day. A dollar for admission, and 50 cents for a pit pass. Another $1.50 for a hot dog and a coke. I know for a fact that i had more fun those Sundays than I've had for years at an NHRA race.

 

Another Sunday at Pomona in 59. This is the Burkhart, Brammer & Burns lakes roadster. This day the roadster had Art Chrisman's engine out of the Hustler under the hood. Seriously shook up the troops with an unbelievable high gear only pass of 156!! The A/F roadster record was listed in Drag News as Burkhart-Brammer-Burns-Chrisman & Cannon, and stood for a long, long time.

 

Dean! I love this, keep the storys comeing PLEASE.

 

Two more at Pomona in 59. Creighton Hunter's flathead powered T, and Sam Parriott's City of Industry Special #1. Sam ran a blown Cad in this one. As I remember it ran around 135.

 

Kenny Lindley's Miss Fire, and The Isky Clown, a couple of beautiful cars that became hopelessly out classed when cars like the Cyr & Hopper Chassis Research framed car began showing up. In 59 the benefit of the drivers un obstructed view of the track offered by the Potvin blower set up was becoming out weighed by the drive ratio variations available with the top mounted blower. This day in June 59 was the last time I saw either of these cars at Pomona.

 

Geez, Dean...You have one great memory for details. I stand corrected on the one San Gabriel Drag Strip. I had no idea. Geez, the San Gabriel that I remember was primitive enough! Thats where I learned that your not supposed to sit on cactus. Dumb kid. The SG that I remember sure didn't last long as I believe it closed in '63 or '64. What's that three/four years is all. Actually it was San Gabriel Valley Drag Strip although nobody called it that. The city of San Gabriel was at least five miles to the west. San Gabe was its name to us.
For you young guys, it was just a few hundred yards east of the Irwindale Speedway oval thats there today.

 

You're forgetting Doug, I've got you by a few years, I was there. You never forget where you saw your first drag race!

 

Mr Lowe
What fuel altd won the grand prix at the last san gabe?

 

Here ya go Dean,
Two of the San Gabe that I remember:

The checkered black and white painted tower and Ivo...


and the cover of Hot Rod, Sept, 1963 with Tony Nancy...

 

I give up, which one? Mazooma1, a little help?

( I said I remember my first drag race, not all of em.)

 

Yup, that's San Gabe II. The first track only had a little raised platform like the first Pomona timing stand. I may be wrong, but didin't this tower get relocated, and become the Irwindale tower?

 

Back at Famoso. March meet 1961. All my pics from 61 are from the grandstands. Still the little brownie camera, so not the best quality. This is one of Bobby Langley's Scorpions pushing off.

 

Leonard Harris in the Scrima & Adams top gas car. I always liked the narrowed sprint car rear end with the Halibrand knock off hubs.