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

Butters and Gerard a real staple in the local So-Cal top fuel wars 69-70. The Lions sign? It was devoured by the rabid, drunk fans on the night of the LAST DRAG RACE

 

Would this be the sign in question? It's in one of the back rooms at Garlit's museum. Or, it was back in May. Mike

 

Looks like the same sign

 

This car was later to become Bob Hankins Blue Blazer, a very competetive car. Hankins later mounted a Vette shell on it in late 1970 in an effort to earn some real money. It was cool looking, but it was very eratic in its handling; Worse then when it was being run with the roadster.

 

So Doug, were you at the last race?

Every time I fly out of Santa Ana-John Wayne and we climb out over the shoreline northwest past L.A. I can look down at the old Lions site. I'm home sick today so maybe I'll watch my Lions DVDs!

 

The one and only time I went to Lions was for the Last Drag Race. Towards the end of the night the large and unruly crowd was prying & ripping loose any thing they could get their hands on as "keepsakes". As we were walking out some guys came running by us with a big chunk (the piece with the Lion) of the sign. That probably stands out in my mind more than any part of that event

 

Nope, wasn't there..couldn't go...
Took my first photos at that strip as an 11 year old in 1962...these two were the first of hundreds...

 

Talk about the ultimate piece of garage art! The Lions lion! (The Chrisman A-Tudor's Von Dutch grille insert would be right up there too.)

I can't believe the NHRA gave away the "last race" Lions sign? Then it went onto eBay? I guess Garlits bought it on eBay?

 

I just finisned reading the new bio of Mickey Thompson and "drunk" and "rabid" was a rampant condition at Lions in the old days! Mickey had numerous fist-fights with racers over tech failures, etc.

 

No, I don't know where Garlits got that sign...
The one recently on Ebay was the one that was on the tower that was over the catwalk...2 pieces, 16' total..it was somewhere in Colorado, as I recall.

The Garlits sign was in the center of the track...

 

here it is...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ORIGINAL-LIONS-...Shop?hash=item4399616d7c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

the last time i saw les was at a radio station in pasadena (he was doing some contractor work at kroq and trying to convince the airstaff to play country music instead of rock and roll) around 1977/78. i do know that his ex-wife, vicki, passed away around 2002 here in fallon, nv.

my sister and her husband ended up renting the house in west covina in which he and vicki lived back around '76 after he and vicki split-up.

i remember a story les told me about running at irwindale with a fuel (what else?) car (was it miles in the bad news coupe????). they shoved a bunch of steel wool down one of the header pipes and pushed off to the starting line. eventually, the steal wool began to break down and left the header in sparks giving the apperance of a valve going away. apperantly, the ruse worked and they won that round.

another story i remember (i'm pretty sure it was the 15oz coupe) two guys suited up, one strapped in the driver's seat and the other hanging onto the roll bar as they pushed off to the starting line. after turning the car into the lane, the non-driver got out, fully suited, and closed the door with engine still running. after a few seconds the driver stabbed the throttle leaving the non-driver standing on the starting line.

those were the days, my friend!

 

thanks for the correction!

yes. that's it.

i think i might have been thinking about the commercial or print ad that said the beer from which the inspiration for the name of the car came (was it falstaff?) said: the difference is delicious.

the babies were confirming that there was a difference.

don't you just love creative memory? especially how i gets more vivid the older you get?

 

Damn man, even at 11 you had a great eye for composition. Thats a natural talent, no amount of schooling can teach someone to take photos as well as a 'Natural' can.

Doc

 

Who let those tractor pull guys in?

 

Photo shop has a lot to answer for!

 

Got to love this thread just spent an hour looking through it with all these killer pics.

 

i just asked "the ol' man" if he knew anything about les.

he told me the last he heard hawkins was also living here in the silver state in yerington.

 

After 50+ years in drag racing, this is the first photo (post 14100) of a tripple motored digger I've ever seen! Who can add more info on this very unusual rail?

 

Some of it just recently showed up on ebay!

 

OK, is that for real or somebody photoshop it...

 

...I think the same guy owns this one...

 

THE UNUSUAL ... THE UNEXPECTED ... THE UGLY .....

 

You heard right about the two driver thing, I was a part of it...night races at Irwindale, we suited up both Lyle Webster, the normal driver of the 15oz coupe, and Mike Bartlett, who had taken Lyle's seat. We let the announcer know of the stunt, and then fired up and rolled to the starting line...the point was to make the crowd think that the driver panicked and the coupe left on its own...so Lyle bailed out on the starting line and ran away ...and then Bartlett launched the coupe...the only problem was that the crowd could see his helmet through the back window, so were not fooled....point was that in the old days we could still have fun.

 

THE ONE IN A MILLION SHOTS ......

 

... AND, JUST SOME REALLY COOL SHOTS ....

 

Man, I loved the twin engined cars. What an effort to keep two motors in sync

 

Yes those were the days, Hot Rods smog and unique race cars. But us O.G. Vanderwell kids prefer to call it Valinda vs. West Covina.