Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Movie of the Week: El Mirage 1948 Continue reading the Original Blog Post
At Inglewood hi in 1948 we always looked forward on Monday to see who went the fastest at the lakes over the weekend. Local guys included Bob Pierson's '36 3 window coupe & Joe Torvick's '40 coupe.
Hello, We have always had appreciation, envy and needs to get something on the full on performance runs at the local dry lakes in So Cal. My brother always wanted to go fast for a drag race, but also, for longer distances. So, the dry lakes were only a couple of hours driving away, but, we never had a race car to make a run or runs. One-two mile runs on longer streets and back roads were all we were able to perform. But, when we were into our desert area Hare and Hound Motorcycle Racing time period, we did race on the El Mirage portion of the dry lake area. The course was 40 miles in the normal desert area of sand washes, short dirt hill climbs and jumps across some stream beds to make up one course. The other course was different in that they incorporated most of the above terrain and a long, full bore, squat down position for a long distance run on a portion of the dry lake bed, to get back to the hilly terrain area. Jnaki The portion of the dry lakes area was a part of several times we were in a Saturday events. The beginning of the course was spent going up and down the hills, the desert dry washes and terrain. Then around a small hill and now, we were all on a wide open dry lake surface. This was no longer a slow, plodding, tight turns and weight shifting to compensate for angular terrain. It was lay down, grab on tight and twist the throttle as far as it can go for a full level racing effect. Our 250 cc bikes were at their top speeds. Then the big 500cc-650cc bikes zipped by us like we were standing still. Our gearing kept us in some high rpms, but at least we were moving fast and heading for the endless horizon. When the long dry lake bed run was coming to a hilly area, again, we were able to catch some of those big bikes as our gearing allowed us to go into the sandy, dirt areas with some grip and power. Back a few years ago, I wrote about our late friend, Don Nowell. He, too was a Greeves Motorcycle guy and perhaps we were at the same events without actually knowing about each other. There were hundreds of desert racing enthusiasts at each race in different parts of So Cal outskirts. My brother and I each had a 250 cc Greeves motocross/desert racing bike and were trying to climb up the ladder to get to the next level of competition. It was very difficult and something was that we needed more practice and lots of races under our belts. Don was a Gas Coupe guy that we all know with his immaculate, blue 37 Chevy. But, in reading the post ... http://writingdisorder.com/don-nowell/ it gave one of many sides to his history. This was a great article by Don Garson written in June of 2017. I found this section on Don Nowell’s exploits with dirt racing motorcycles. I can’t help but wonder if we did not cross paths out in the Mojave Desert in those zillion “Hare and Hound or European Scrambles” events during the same time period, 1964-68. “Greeves: Don Nowell: When asked when he got into motorcycles, Don points to 1964 when he bought his first bike, a Yamaha 80 motocross, then wanting more power went for a 175 Montesa for blasting out into the desert and through the canyons. Says Don, “Back then people were running imported Greeves and the Dots (Villiers) fitted with Blooie pipes, basically straight pipes and you could them making bitchin’ music playing off the canyon walls, but then they went to those expansion chambers for more power but they sounded like bumble bees.” I had a 61 Greeves “Blooie pipe” version at first, then moved up to a 66 Greeves Challenger specifically set up for desert racing that had the expansion chamber…Yes, we sounded like a bunch of bees going in and out of the canyons, river washes and terrain. Thanks for the memories, Don… We did not cross paths at the drag strip, as he was a few years later than our Impala and 40 Willys escapades. He had mentioned that we could have been in the same class: B/Gas Coupes and Sedans all over So Cal. That would have been some exciting racing... But, out in the vast So Cal desert racing scene, our paths probably crossed and we did not know it. YRMV
Bump, everyone should watch this video, first 4.15 minutes is from '46/'47. Amazing footage I've watched it a number of times.
This is a Bttt and a Happy Birthday to you Deuce Daddy...you were there in 48...you fellas were having a heck of a time it seems even the timekeepers...you had reason to...I see some real movers and shakers there that's for sure... Great blast from the past @Jive-Bomber...
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