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

Random shots, not sure the sources, and, in some cases, IDs:


This picture has been posted before, I think, the Mahoney Brothers dragster, 296" Merc, but I didn't realize until I saw on Drag Strip Deaths that the car was involved in a fatal accident in December 1956, killing driver Joe Mahoney, here is the text: "Biographical: His handmade fiberglass Mercury-powered race car went out of control and flipped over at least seven times after being clocked at 129 MPH. In the morning time trials, the Mahoney Brothers car had clocked the meet's fastest speed (135.82 MPH) and time (10.31). He was from San Jose, California, and was an engineering student at San Jose State. The drag strip had only been in operation for two months. Santa Rosa police ordered the strip closed three days after the accident reportedly because "safety specifications had not been met." This was a really advanced dragster, slingshot design and full body, like some other full-bodies dragsters of the time, it had a midget racer style.


Speaking of slingshots, this is Mickey Thompson's dragster, reportedly the first slingshot (though there are reportedly earlier models)...Mickey sort of threw this together to see if the concept worked, and ran his injected Ardun on fuel, with a body so crude that once he reportedly just left it at the drag strip. Later the car got a streamlined body, a fuel Chrysler, and sponsorship from the City of Panorama.


I think this was once Ed Taylor's fuel roadster, blown Olds, Dean Lowe would know...It was painted purple and ran pretty hard...


The Dillon, Sampson, and Mudersbach gas burner after winning top eliminator at the '57 Nationals. This was a flyweight car with a bid 471" Olds, direct drive, and a tube frame. Buddy Sampson drove, on the left, Lefty next to him. Lefty would go on to race and build both gas and fuel dragsters, later dying in Dick Goss' fueler when a tire failed.


Carl Grimes of Phoenix, early flip-top drag car, this one a Fiat bodied Buick powered gas altered.


Unknown Fiat



Hank Vincent's "Top Banana" from Hayward. In this shot it still has the injected Chevy, would later get a blower. This was a beautiful car, full body by Jack Hagemann, bright red paint, I saw it run at the Smoker's meet in '60. Sadly Hank flipped it in the lights at Fremont, and lost his life in the resulting crash (sorry, this post seems to have too many fatalities but that is a part of our history, and it never hurts to remember those who lost their lives while drag racing).


Early Ivo, Dave Zeuschel moving away from the car...not sure where this is. Ivo would later add the full body and the red paint that most of us remember...but he kept it unpainted until he sorted out the initial traction problems.


Here it is in full body form, racing Norm Weekly at Ramona.


and far side racing Prudhomme. Prudhomme won more against Ivo than he lost, but each time these two guys raced it was worth watching. They HATED each other, remember that Prudhomme once crewed for Ivo, and they were very different personalities; Prudhomme driven and focused to win, Ivo the practical joker who cared less about winning and more about putting on a show. Even years later they would fight in the pits (I remember one at National Trails in Ohio, at the Springnationals)...even today, while everyone else called Prudhomme "the Snake," Ivo still calls him "the Worm."


Ending with a no-ID, this might be in Louisiana, note the twin trees...anyone else....??

 

was Dean regretting the dates he missed while racing ?

 

Lefty lost his life at Fontana in the mid 60's, when the new style ' Zoomie headers ' were on the car

They did not have enough clearance between the last exhaust pipe and the tire, and in the lights when the tire grew it grew into the pipe and blew out the tire causing the car to crash

Sad to say I was standing there on the line and saw it happen

R.I.P. Lefty

G Don

 

NOPE!! Met my future wife in '63, and she's still putting up with me!

 

This is indeed Ed Taylor's Austin 7 roadster. Ed sold it to Jack's Monte Vista garage, a customer of Ed's ET Autoparts, when he built his Fuel Comp roadster that was driven by Merek Chertkow. This is the only fuel altered I ever saw that ran this rare Austin body.

 

Another round of photographs for your viewing pleasure: