History Vintage Drag Racers with their Cars!

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Here's Dennis Coker and friends @ Riverside with the '56 two months before I was born.

 

Thanks Kev.....

 

Glad to see this thread back!

 

Another great thread

 

KiwiKev, Any idea who the guys are in the pic of the soon-to-be overpowered 33 Willys sedan? Know anything about the car? Anybody else know?

 

great trend to start asome pics.thanks

 

i'm looking for a photo of les ritchey's 1956 ford . this car held every super stock strip record in southern california in 1956 . it was a black victoria and les ran a nascar option 2X4 , 260 HP 312 engine set-up . can anyone help , or point me in the right direction ? and i may not be posting in the right section / forum , but perhaps someone can direct me on that issue , also .
thank you .
jack

 

Does anyone know this car and it's driver? ..or have any more photos??

 

Contact Les' son, Randy. He runs Les' Performance Associates in San Dimas, Ca. 909-592-4441.

 

Here's Sam Jones and Dale Moody with their 3-time National champion 1937 Chevrolet C/GS from Washington, IN.

 

Fantastic trip down memory lane.

Thanks.

 

thanks , dean . haven't been back here in a while , so i'm just seeing your post now .
i've been trying to reach randy for several years . whenever i call , someone tells me to leave my name and number and randy will get back to me - but he never does . if i lived in california , i'd pay a visit , but living in N.J. , that's a bit of a trip . if someone living near san dimas can / will ask randy , i'll sure appreciate it . les' '56 would certainly be a historic / iconic race car - especially for ford fans .

jack

 

This Ford ran out of Les' Performance Associates shop in the late 50's. It ran a Paxton blown 312 with a 3 speed. It took a damn good '57 4 speed fuelie Chevy to beat it. I took this pic at Pomona in '59.

 

Great stuff Dean ... thanks for sharing the blown '57 picture. Do you have any more of it or Ritchey's blown '57 Ranchero from the same era?
Joel
www.JFNStudios.net

 

The only stock 4 speed 57 Chevy Fuelie was a Corvette. I am not anti Chevy, I owned and raced a 59 Corvette FI car.

 

Notice the class designation on the Ford. In Ca we had "modified stock" classes. I know the '57 Chevy Bel Aires didn't come with 4 speeds, but guys swapped 4 speeds in them, and ran modified stock.

That's the only picture I have of that Ford. None of Les' Ranchero either.

 

My friend, the late Bill Kelly took these photos at the 1960 NHRA Nationals. He and a buddy drove from Philadelphia the to Detroit Raceway for what would be the last Nationals held there...Indy took over the following year.



Ivo standing there by the Nailhead powered rail....not sure if it was his but Bill said it was.






Another Nailhead digger....



And another pic he took....well just because he was partial to 3 windows:

 

I'm in my seventh decade of racing roadsters. The first pic is at Detroit Dragway ca 1970s. The second pic is at a recent appearance on Pass Times TV.

 

Great shots of Ivo's first dragster. Very early, the body is still bare aluminum.

 

Thanks Dean....I just went back and looked at the back of the photo...




Ha....I should know better than to doubt the guys who were there !

 

The Pond. Damn, I miss that place...

 

Picture MG day one 005 Dave Daly (L) and Willie (The Welder) Feyh (R) at Westhampton Raceway 1962.

MG Dave Daly 012 Dave and Willie at Rhinebeck Swap Meet 2010 I was behind the camera for both these shots 48 years apart.

Ray Kobel working on his Willys around 1965

Eddie Sanzo and his Willys P/U around 1965 at Westhampton I think maybe Island.

Jack Merkel (seated in car) and his Wife at York also around 1965

These guys and many more are the reason I do what I do today and the reason I restored the MG to the way it looks today.

Pat

 

Tom Burger

 

Tom Dunn at 1st New England hot rod Reunion with his first dragster that he built in 1956. this summer was the first time the dragster has been back at a race track since 1961

 

Here are some of a Dallas based team that started racing just out of High School.
The yellow car was a 120" wheel base Jim Davis car. We were called Hearter, Fite. and Ross then. we later had three different partners. Mike Leverett, Bill Ross, and the last to join up was Tom Helms Then we stretched the chassis and built a full body . First it was blue and later we painted it Red White and Blue to go along with Our team name The U. S. Kids.
The car is currently being recreated in my shop.
dwrfab Don Ross www.donrossfab.com

 

Paul Rossi with westborn plymouth

 

Another car of Tom Burger.