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

Those old Argus' were great cameras and NOTHING beats Kodachrome film. I wish I had shot more slides instead of print film through the years.

 

I always love these shots from days gone by, with the rolling hills in the background. Always wonder what the same shot would look like today.

 

Here's a few more.

 

I am digging the orange coupe at what appears to be Fontana. The use of bicycle wheels shows a "serious" attempt at weight reduction. Note that the car has been classified as an A/dragster as denoted by the shoe polish on the side of the tire. The car must have really strayed from the rules of what constitutes a class legal car.

 

Great photos!!!

 

They grape vines in the background say this is Fontana. When the sand from the vinyards blew across the track in the late afternoon, it made for some exciting action on the top end!

 

Wow! this car looks so sweet. Has anyone got any more pics of it or magazine feature articles. It would be most appreciated if they could be posted up.Thanks
Cheers RM

 

Those are awesome pictures, mgrant...thanks for sharing them!!

 

Outstanding photos!!

 

Outstanding. Thanks MGrant and welcome. Slim

 

Here's my pics. I know they are after 68, but they are of my 65 Mustang at Cecil in 79 with my Dad.

 

mgrant

Welcome.Just terriffic photos.Love checking everything happening in the shots.The 4wd digger is cool.

 

Welcome mgrant. All you guys really keep coming up with fantastic stuff. I hope you all realize how much its appreciated. This is one of the best threads ever.

 

Indeed it is, corner of Foothill and Eastland Ave if I recall correctly. Dad and I attended there once in 1965 before Irwindale opened. The track was still able to draw good car counts. Didnt return until 1970 when they featured a booked fuel altered meet. Seemed a bit sad as the facility hadnt really been updated or cleaned up. Impromptu events were being held when ever the promoter (Ben Christ I think) decided. In 1976, my buddy and I drove his Ranchero down the then abandoned course. Long shut off area earned the nickname Mini-Bonneville.

 

I think Chassis Reaserach gets the prize here. The WE DID IT FOR LOVE site identified a car baring all same detials as the Logghe Stamping Spl.

 

I spent many a fun days there...great track, gritty, the way they ought to be......

 

Wow, Maz...that picture pretty much says it all about racing in general. You should try taking pictures for a living...

 

Here are some more. I've had to do a lot of digital manipulation on some of these to bring out the detail so the colors may not be accurate. I don't know where the action shots were taken, but I'm sure that some of you can recognize the location(s).

 

top left is Pomona

 

winged express
lots of great photos on here

 

Well, thank you, but to be fair, that photo isn't mine.
Pretty much sums up the way we all felt as these strips were shut down, though.
Bitter-sweet is the word I would best associate with seeing them disappear.
Bitter to see them gone. Sweet having spent so many of the happiest days of my life at Lions, Fontana, San Gabriel and Irwindale......thankfully I do have some photos to remind me of the days of:

A. a body that did not ache. A body that knew no pain.
B. a mom and dad who put a roof over my head and a hot dinner in front of me every night.
C. friends who were my real friends and the occasional argument was settled with arm-wrestling or, at the worst, a tumble in the dirt for 60 seconds....followed by a handshake.
D. the promise of having a career of my choosing and a bright future.
E. My Christmas and birthday presents every year comprised of a renewal of my subscriptions to "Hot Rod", "Car Craft", "Rod & Custom" and "Drag News".....which came every thursday so we could scramble through the ads to see which strip had the best "show" for the weekend....whether it be a "top fuel" show at Fontana or the "Fuel Altereds" at Lions, etc.
A young guy had to make plans, ya know....

 

Here's a couple.....

 

If you look at the picture of the Fontana shack, you can go back in time, smell the burnt rubber and nitro fumes and almost hear the headders cackling and the loud speakers giving out the times.

 

I think, if the color was better on this shot, it would actually show the coupe to be a light lavender color. I believe this is Lou Bingham's Olds powered lakes-drag car. Lou also had a '32 roadster body painted the same lavender that he would swap on this chassis to run the street roadster class at El Mirage. In '62 he held the SCTA B/SR record at El Mirage at 147. That was very fast for a full fendered roadster then.

 

Dean, I agree, looks a lot like Lou Bingham's car, the one he initially towed to Bonneville in maybe '52 behind a T roadster with a V8-60. The coupe was fendered then, and ran a fuel flathead. Lou was originally from La Canada, but later moved to La Jolla where he ran a Flying A gas station. I remember seeing the lavender painted roadster out in front.

 

Great shots, thanks for posting.

Top Left, the Bantam coupe is Thayer and Trobee, Al Thayer from Pomona (at Pomona), not sure about the Willys. Next to it is Bill Coburn's fuel competition coupe. Not sure about the street roadster, the bike, or the T roadster. In the 2 dragster shot at Fontana, I think that is Pak Akins car trailing the car in the far lane.

 

Great photos my favorate cars as I grew up racing with my dad and our 65 Holman Moody A/FX Mustang. Does your dad still have the 65? what motor was he running at the time?

 

Hmmmm, not Fontana. The fireup lane was on the far side, not near side and there was no rise in elevation where those spectators are.
That was th epits and flat as a pancake. Sure looks like those eucalyptus trees, though.
Her's a photo of my neighbor's '63 in the pits in about the same location as the background as the other photo...f l a t
Sure close...scrubby trees, even a ridge-line that looks like the San Bernardino Range....
we're like drag racing detectives.....without the trench-coats
Sure close, but something tells me, nope...the detective work continues...





fireup lane against the fence (below), but none on the west side (camera side)....

Dean...............what do you think?????

 

Man I hate to see the old photo's from Fontana. These great drag strip help put drag racing on the map and to see what's left is hard to take.

I know you always have the memories but it is really sad to see each one of these great old drag strips fall by the way side over the years.

This recession is speeding up the decline of many more that just cannot make it pay to run a drag strip.

Jimbo

 

You're right, with the photo blown up, more details, no fireup road where it should be, and there was a parking lot behind the stands, but where? Not Colton, parking was behind the stands (when there were stands, Colton was pretty minimal), not Pomona, Irwindale, San Gabriel, etc...got me puzzled...