The thing is, I'm a lifelong diehard Sooner fan... Went to undergrad and grad school at OU... And obviously the name of this club caught my attention, but I didn't tie it to an Oklahoma connection until Root mentioned the wagon... even with Al mentioning his family was from Tulsa. So, I've sent Al an email to ask a few questions about that as well as about Blackburns. I will update when I learn more.
The Converse All Star thing in their go the races dress code brought back a memory. in 1960 when I was 13 my dad took me to the opening weekend of Pacific race ways over the 4th of July weekend. I showed up with my Converse All Stars on that had been my gym shoes over the past school year. Dad would have nothing to do with me wearing tennis shoes to the races and insisted that I wear a pair of leather shoes (when he grew up only poor kids wore tennis shoes out in public according to him and my uncle) anyhow I gave in and we went to the races and almost every guy under 30 there had on a pair of tennis shoes and half of them had on Converse All Stars. As far as the Sooners name goes, a lifetime around being around guys from Oklahoma says you can take an Oakie out of Oklahoma but you will never take the Oklahoma out of an Oakie. That also goes for Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas in this area. That area is always "Back Home" even with later generations of folks who moved out here in the dust bowl days who have never been there because Grandpa called it back home.
I have a similar story. I grew up in the 70's and 80's. When I was a Freshman in Jr. High my dad would never spend the jack for the fancy leather basketball shoes. He bought me a pair of white Converse high tops. I showed up for practice the first day and all of the rich kids were making fun of my Chucks. I felt about an inch high. The coach walks into the locker room and says "Men, you need to make sure that we all have the same shoes." He points down to his feet......yep, you guessed it....White Chuck Taylors. He commended me on my shoe choice and told everyone else to take theirs back and have Chucks by Monday. It was awesome.
Update from Al: Ryan, that's how I found you and why I sent the note. All of the members were from Tulsa, OK except for two or three who were friends with my brother at Burbank High School. I don't remember any Blackburns in the group or anyone outside of Burbank, but I was only seven or eight years old at the time. It's possible some of the guys lived elsewhere. They had a club race car. It was a roadster of some kind. And I can remember coming home from school and all the boys working on it in the garage. I don't think it ever ran. It sat in the garage until my mother got a car. Then, our father made them move it out. They tried to race at all the local races, but I don't think they ever really did or if they did, they didn't accomplish much. More or less, this was a boy's club and they all liked cars. They dreamed bigger than they lived. My brother was into cars his whole life. When he died he had a little red Porsche and a white Mustang and he was 83 years old! - Al
Drag News April 1959 Hello, In order to get some perspective, the earliest mention of Santa Ana Dragstrip closing was in April of 1959. The actual last drag race at Santa Ana was in June 28, 1959. So, the Sooners of Burbank racing action took place prior to that date. June 28, 1959 To get everyone in the mood of the last drag race at Santa Ana, here is actual films from the 1959 year at Lion’s Dragstrip of the Top Eliminator at the last June 28 Drag Meet at Santa Ana. It was just a part of So Cal history that this sleek drag racer was winning almost every race it entered, back then. (Including the closing meet in Santa Ana, CA) Sidewinder films in Spring/Summer 1959 including actual original sound from Sept 1959 taken at Lion’s Dragstrip. Thinking back to those early 1950s times in So Cal, most of the kids wore high top black Converse Tennis shoes. The high top Converse All Star shoes were very popular in high school and college basketball. The pros at the time wore really large Converse shoes. (Bill Russell was one of the largest players and was the icon of basketball for us. ) As little kids, we all got our parents to buy black Converse Tennis Shoes. 1920's ad: This was way before our time, but during our 50's time, those old style shoes were not around. Those early 20’s historical basketball shoes were not worn by those players that we saw in the 1950 time period. The black Converse shoes were acceptable as part of the Levi’s/Khaki/Chino pants attire. From the junior high school days to the college age, 20 somethings, the black low cuts were the style of the day. Jnaki So, 1959 was a good year and those low cut Converse Tennies were part of our style, along with Clark's Desert Boots and sandals. The high top models were good for basketball and kept the ankle fairly safe. But they were no match for support of the latest 70s-80s to 2000 for basketball high top support shoes. The club had some oddball rules, but the style of Converse Tennis Shoes, low or high cut was right in place with the So Cal styles at the time. We future planning basketball players were always struck by the style that those pro players wore. So, the Converse All Stars were part of the lore and clothing styles from that 50’s time period, here in So Cal.
Sooners than Laters...when the light hits green those on the pedal sooner will in fact come out winners...
Suddenly that Showrod Coach of the 60s has taken on a whole new meaning tacky or not...inspiration is more historical that one imagines many times...of course it may not be but who knows... I often think where ideas in Hotrod/Custom come about...
Period dress has been discussed here and doesn't go over well likened to posing but back in the day it was Gospel to many a CC...and then there was the look of the rides...
Reason I was so interested in the Rugby: There was a clothing guy in LA that was really into heritage workwear and went into painstaking detail to get his materials right, cuts right, etc... He did a lot of period clothing for Hollywood. Anyway, I did these ****ty mockups and he did the legwork on the appropriate materials to use, patterns, ****ons, etc... He must have spent hours and hours on it... Once done, we started doing the accounting. Our cost on the shirts would have been around $225 each. So, I s****ed it... I've always wondered how they would have turned out. To get access to some of the materials, we would have had to do at least 500 shirts... and there is no way in hell I could sell 500 $225 shirts... But I'd paid a $1,000 just for mine. Seriously... I was that into it. I really appreciated that guy too. He was as much into period clothing as I am into cars. It was all he thought about... Super cool.
..........P***ions can come in strange ways sometimes, but once we lose them, we're doomed. They are often what keeps us pushing forward in the worst of times.
With the Oklahoma connection, maybe research College football/sports. I see Roothawg mentioned it was negative, but college sports has been around for a pretty long time.
Yeah, Oklahoma University’s mascot is the Sooner. It’s been that way forever. You have to remember the land run was in 1889, so a couple of generations p***ed before the time we are talking about. It had lost its negative connotation by that time. Day 2 of your Oklahoma history. There will be a test on Friday. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=LA014
Grew up in southern California from 5th to 11th grade in the late 50's and early 60's. Okie was not a complimentary term. Jethro Bodine would have been their poster child. Football coach, 11th grade history teacher and proud Oklahoman asked a girl in cl*** what the 11th grade play was about. "A bunch of dumb Okies."
With what Roothawg mentioned about the definition of the word "Sooner", Im gonna go out on a limb and suggest that the name "Sooners" was used as a name, with racing in mind. If in OK " Sooners" left early and showed up first on the land run, then maybe as a club name, it meant that the Sooners Club members left the starting line first and showed up at the finish line first. They could have just called themselves the "Winners" but I think that was already taken by Walker and Texas Ranger ( Ricky Bobby's boys.) " My kids are winners and winners do what ever they want" -- Ricky Bobby.
The new Sooner Schooner, built faithfully in the style of 1965 and earlier, still motivated by the same two horsepower, a thing of beauty to my eyes.
The Jalopy Journal
