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

This is a great shot, but it belongs on the Bonneville thread. These must have been "high dollar" racers. Staying at the Western instead of the barracks at Wendover Field!

 

this brings back memories!

that's the famous western motel sign in wendover, utah. i spent many nights at this place.

so did doc ostich.

this coupe and the roadster in the back of the flatbed are -as it still says on the back window of my first race care - "not quarter mile cars"; they're getting ready to run the flying mile on the salt. this is before my time, so i cannot identify the owners or drivers.

 

we both jumped on this one, dean!

 

Har Har..you can tell I'm a drag racer.Should have noticed that,though.
Thanks for the heads up.One of you guys should copy/paste to that thread.

 

Unbelievable thread...
It just "Don't get no better than that" !!
Cheers,

 

dean, i love old ak miller stories; jack lufkin shared a bunch with me and ak told me a few, himself. please, do tell?

 

ah the good old days. norm weekly the frantic four at pomona. no phony glue on the strip. or computer crap. just good old jim fox brain work like all the other guys used to do.

 

Amen!

 

anther one of mine......the staging lanes at Irwindale, 1966

 

Wasnt Jim Fox offering his engine building skills to the general public back in the late 60's, early 70's.

 

I didn't want to hi jack this great thread, but since you asked. Dad and I watched the build of Doc Ostich's jet car at Ak's old garage on Whittier Blvd. When the day finally came, in 1960, to take the car to the salt, Ak asked us to go along. There was a large crew of guys from Firestone and some tech guys to monitor the GE engine. These guys were all business, and didn't think much of Ak's somewhat care free attitude. We all had rooms at the Western Motel. Having run at the salt for years, Ak knew you needed to be out on the lake bed early in the morning to take advantage of the calm wind conditions. The Firestone crew didn't see the need for getting up at 0'dark thirty. By the third day this was bothering Ak and Ray Brock who were sharing a room. Dad and I were up and ready to go, hanging around Ak's room, waiting for the crew to get out of bed. The motel's cooling system was an old swamp cooler on the roof that fed cool air to all the rooms through a common duct. Knowing that sound carried through the entire duct, Ak grabbed a chair and put it on the bed. He climed up to the vent, and hollered "get your asses up you SOB's", then turned around and stuck his ass up to the vent, and ripped the loudest fart I ever heard! Then he said "there's a wake up kiss for you"! And thats when I knew Ak Miller had the greatest sense of humor of anyone I ever knew. Brock was still laughing in the afternoon, but the Firestone guys didn't find their wake up call so funny.

 

that was worth the price of admission. i can see ak doing that!

thanks, dean!

 

Ha ha that is a classic.

 

Mazooma..how far was Irwindale from Lions?

Dean..super story on Ak.

 

Bucksnort, traveling via the "crow's" route from Lions up to Irwindale give or a take a few miles either side of 30. As for travel times by road another story.

 

C&D Speed Center Exton Pa

 

I loved Irwindale. Wednesday fun and grudge/co-driver drags,Thursday night speedway bikes, Friday night MX and the drags on the weekends.

This is a nice shot of Skippers Critter and the Pierce Trucking Thames. The Critter served as a great Revell model kit. I wonder if the blue Thames served as inspiration for the Revell kit that was to follow.

 

WCD, "Critter" a little later and now blown on a late afternoon at Irwindale