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

Bobby Tapia...

 

Man the image of this timing tower are burnt into my brain….so many great images with that piece of history in the background..RIP OCIR…

 

The DC Lip...

 

Running through the rosin

 

Heavy rosin!

 

Hello,

And… before The C&O sponsored, Braskett and Skinner 41 Willys from the photo, there were other versions. In 1964, there was a Braskett and Corwin B/Gas Willys Coupe at Lion’s Dragstrip for the all Gas Coupe and Sedan Drag Race meet.

In 1964, Dave Braskett had a different Willys Coupe.

“Gary Burgin began his racing career in 1963, helping Dave Braskett campaign an A/GS Willys. After Braskett crashed the car at Irwindale Raceway in 1966, Burgin took over the driver’s seat and later got his own A/GS Roadster, also supercharged.”

“I wanted to go fast right away, so I never messed around with carburetors or fuel injection.”

“By the end of the 1960s, it was clear that funny cars were the next big thing, and he reunited with Braskett on first a Camaro and then a Vega that not only became a fixture on the Southern California scene, but also set the national record at 6.72 at Lion’s Dragstrip’s 1972 Grand Premiere”

Braskett and Corwin B/Gas Willys

Jnaki

While walking around to see the competition, we stumbled across another C&O Stick Hydro sponsored Willys Coupe sitting in the far reaches of the pits at Lion’s Dragstrip. The Braskett and Corwin Root Beer colored Willys Coupe. With the C&O Stick Hydro and some work done by Jocko’s, it was all So Cal prepared for the tough b/gas competition.

As part of the C&O Stick Hydro Family (C&O installed one the first Stick Hydros in our 1958 Impala ) we loved watching the C&O Willys Truck's showing at this meet. Actually, anything that had a C&O Sticker and sponsorship, like the Braskett and Corwin Willys Coupe looked cool. It was a Willys Coupe built right...

Extra:
I did not get an action shot of the Braskett-Corwin Willys Coupe, sorry. (They are listed as #9 671 supercharged Chevy) but, here is the massive list of the “Best Of The Best” that attended this once in a lifetime meet at Lion’s Dragstrip. By 1964, Lion’s Dragstrip was known as being in Long Beach. But in reality, the border is right on the edge of the property and is officially in Wilmington.

So, most of the reports from this time period in the Drag News is labeled Wilmington, not Long Beach. (for us older guys that grew up in Long Beach, next door, it will always be Lion’s Dragstrip in Long Beach.) And for those that insist that it be called “The Beach”…there is no beach in Wilmington, only a harbor.

I am amazed that my old films match some of the written class races and developments back in 1964. It felt the same, being in the middle of the action, but changes had already been made to the dragstrip and the cars. We could see the writing on the wall and in the Drag News papers. This write up was one of the last good reports on what we all enjoyed reading everywhere about Gas Coupes and Sedans.

The popularity was still there and the class was developing, but within a few years, they were overshadowed by funny cars and AA/FD FED race cars for popularity and write ups of the results. Then the competitive class was relegated to match races if any and different eliminator groupings. No more Gas Coupes and Sedan Class racing from A to F.

 

Reminds me of my old Chevelle and the reason I bought it.
Jimbo

 

The GL Rupp car existed as a Top Gas car until the '71 season. Updates done by RCE for the '71 season in AA/FD. Still hunting more info on the car. It did later have Canards. And a low mounted wheelie wheel ran at Bristol.

 

The late, great Gary Ormsby in the Vagabond at HMB...

 

Thanks for all the work you guys do finding and posting these pictures.

 

Well, while not a wrap around helmet support/pad that they all use today, at least it was padded.
Good going Malcolm.



Mike

 

Not uncommon in the early wide chassis funny cars, see red arrow pointing to padded head rest on one of mine.

 

Hmm, I don’t remember fog being in the weather report.

 

Ingenue had one as well, pretty standard fare, you can just see it in this Crane Cams ad from 1968.

 

The Brute and ChiZler...

 

Priceless

 

Brocchini and Agree, Hot Roadster, steel body, before it got a blower...Geri Tarvin photo.


Twisters of Vista, Don Bennett driving, 324" Olds...Life Magazine photo


Billy Scott at Lions, don't have photo information. At least that's the caption, but I'm not sure that it is not Tom McEwen.


This might be a fueler that Romeo Palamedes owned, with Bob Sbarbaro driving, but I'm not sure.


Smith and Rupert, Spokane, 1955. Eric Rickman photo


Scoville and Koper, from Sherman Oaks, California, at the '59 NHRA Nationals. Blown Chrysler for power...the engine later went into Tom Ivo's single Buick car so he could set the top gas dragster record at Riverside with a 159mph run.


Shrank Brothers blown Desoto in a Chassis Research chassis, Algon injectors. These guys set the 1320 record for their class. Another Geri Tarvin photo


Bob Sullivan at Kingdon, Geri photo. Geri has done it all, raced gassers, dragsters, took lots of photos, and reliving it all. She was good enough to send me a lot of her photos.