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

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Mighty FE power! I dig that car....

 

This looks like the first Masters & Richter fueler that Bob Haines drove out the back door at Half Moon Bay.

 

Pretty rare to have a six-engined drag race...Ivo's "Showboat" racing Bob Sbarbaro in the Ambassador's Car Club twin Chevy from Orinda, CA, Fremont, '62. Not sure who won but Ivo's car was very heavy and while it put on a great show, it didn't win many races. This photo from Don Ewald's site.


I'm not sure where this photo came from, but it is very early San Gabriel. It was very unusual for a 4-cylinder dragster to win top eliminator even then. But the Smaldino and Vespa car was one of the fastest and quickest 4-banger around...If memory serves me correctly, they ran a Fargo head with 4-97's.



and, speaking of 4-cylinders, here is Ed Donovan's blown Offy powered car at Lions. I wondered why a guy who produced Chrysler hemi speed parts wanted to run an Offy, then learned that Ed had been a machinist at Meyer & Drake, working on Offys, so this may explain why he tried one in a dragster. It ran hard when it ran but it broke parts in the drive train (apparently sheared the flywheel off the back of the crank, for example), so Ed went back to Chryslers. I also wondered by Ed ran this apparently '50's era design in the '60s, and then found this:


Here is a much earlier shot of the car, this time with a Fargo Model B engine, and what look like side-draft carbs. So apparently Ed first ran this Ford banger and then later tried an Offy in it. This looks like Bakersfield. The guy on the left looks somewhat like Don Yates, who also raced Fargo-powered cars with Vic Smaldino, whose car is above. Yates would go on to drive fuelers for Dick Goss, Jim Ward, and Garren & Madden.


The "no B.S. race" poster. The rivalry between Big John and SWC was partly real, though after it was over Big John became close friends with Tim Woods and his family. It was also the camgrinders war, with Engle competing against Isky...The B.S part came from a series of ads that both teams took out, with SWC claiming that Big John and Isky Cams were claiming B.S. from their claims, illustrating the ad with pictures of b.s. Big John claimed that this was in bad taste, and then challenged SWC to the "no B.S." race at Half Moon Bay. I don't recall who won, but these guys would go at it race after race, and the fans loved it.


Westenberger & Bill, once ran a flathead, then this sbc...Reath Automotive must have sponsored dozens of cars, 4th and Cherry in Long Beach.


Champion Speed Shop, looks like Bakersfield.


Very hazy picture of Fritz Voight at Pomona in his Open Gas car.


and who is that soldier in uniform next to Bobby Langley? It's Private Tommy Ivo, stationed at this time in Texas, so apparently took some leave to see a Texas drag race, and pose with one of Texas' finest.


Somehow this looks like Bernie Riegel et. al. in the A&B Speed Shop from Massachusetts at Fontana...knew they towed to Bakersfield but didn't know they may have also ran Fontana. My ID could be wrong, corrections welcome!



Two shots of Boyd Penington's roadster, one at Bakersfield and one at Lions. Boyd's drag racing history dated to the early '50s, notable cars included a '29 Ford roadster and the "Smog Rat" fueler whose name was a take-off on Garlit's "Swamp Rat." Boyd was a racer, built his own stuff, and raced hard.


Ramona, around '63...no ID on either, a Dragmaster chassis near lane.


The Bean Bandits, rear engined modified roadster, which they first built in the '50s, this is its latest interation with a blower...bright yellow. It was too heavy by this time to be competitive, but these guys loved to race, so here it is at Ramona in the '60s

 

Who is the driver ? Great pic !

 

Appears to be Mike Sorokin in the stretched version of the Surfers T/F car at Irwindale. Loved those guys.

 

Interesting wheels and spinners.

 

The Triple Trouble Nova still had the 327/350 hp engine and IIRC, 3 on the tree when this came out in the mag. article, I still have it somewhere.

 

^Those wheels on the '55 look like 'Vette knokckoffs.

 

Not every day you see a Boss

 

Have a good friend that was working on a Pro Stock Boss car that has some good story's.

 

It is Mike...he had a brief absence from driving for the Surfers, but by this time he was back in the seat.

 

Friday night SIR 64 funny cars the King

 

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