@swi66 In between our own rounds, I was always wandering around with our 16mm color point and shoot movie camera. So, I got to see the drag racers up close as my pit pass would allow. It also allowed me to wander to places where I probably should not have been. One of those places was the tower side location on the Eastside of the dragstrip. I got to be good friends with Mr. Childers from the Dilday Mortuary/Ambulance Services from downtown Long Beach. My brother and I went to high school with the two teenage Dilday Brothers. Mr. Childers was the contracted driver for the old White Pontiac 2 door Ambulance. This allowed me access to the spot for starting line movies. Today, the next generation of family is still in the business. Mr. Childers and his 1953 Pontiac two door Ambulance Hello, As you can see, there were different models of ambulances for daily use and specialty use. This 2 door Pontiac version came from the Dilday Family Mortuary Ambulance Services. It was not a commercial big city ambulance. It was a 2 door version, but met the needs of Lion’s Dragstrip quite well. Mr. Childers the specialty location by the Orange Timing Tower I found a semi-secret filming area at Lion's Dragstrip that no one else, except one guy with a super telescopic lens on a 35mm camera was using. Over the months I wandered over there, I became friends with Mr. Childers, the famous white Pontiac Ambulance Driver from the local Dilday’s Mortuary Service of Long Beach. The two brothers in their khaki pants and blue nylon jackets talking with Mr. Childers... 1958-59 Jnaki 1959-60 What was the most exciting spot for taking my drag racing films? Across the dragstrip from the spectator’s side bleachers and not having a chain link fence in front of me. But, wait, that puts me on the other side of the orange tower where the white Pontiac Ambulance was always parked. Yes, that was the secret spot that would be good for maybe 15-20 minutes. Note: The shots were easier as it was a good background and closer to the action. (I did this enough, to time it, when the security guard would come by and yell at me to get back to the bleachers.) I went over there plenty of times and actually struck up a friendship with Mr. Childers, the ambulance driver from Dilday Mortuary. We became friends from the talks during the break in the action. The sons of the Dilday Mortuary Family went to our local high school during the same time period. In an effort to not have films taken from the spectator’s side for all of our 16mm color movies, I wandered all over Lion’s Dragstrip for different looks at drag racing. If I had a telephoto lens, it may have been farther down the dragstrip and filming the blazing starts. Been there, done that, but it was a small non-telephoto film that captured the racing at its finest, for what I used. My Lion’s Dragstrip pit pass allowed me to walk across the staging area from one side to the tower side seating. While I was walking across the staging area in front of the class lanes, I quickly took some movies as fast as possible. After the first one, no one bothered me, so I stayed low key for several other staging area films. I took several other race cars films from my “official” place in the staging area, until a security guard came over to ask me a question. Eventually, I got asked to move to the pits seating or go into the pits area itself and stay out of the staging area. I got the picture. (pun intended) So, I wandered over to the tower side for some other angles and meeting my friend, Mr. Childers from the Dilday Ambulance Service. Note 2: It has been over 62 years, but it seemed like it was just last week. The confusion of the late night race still is sharp in my mind. My brother, Atts Ono and I were standing in the B/Gas-C/Gas Class Lanes ready to come out into the final staging area prior to the starting line. We were talking about what my brother had to do to win the final C/Gas eliminator race against the class champion in the space in front of us. When the gate opened up and we were allowed to push toward the starting line, my brother assured us that the quickest start was going to win the final elimination race for the trophy. So, he was prepped. Atts Ono and I moved the 58 Impala up behind the 40 Willys Coupe. All prepped items were checked one last time and the 671 SBC motor fired up and rolled to the starting line. We lined up on the tower side. Over to the side was the top drag racer in the USA with his 671 supercharged Oldsmobile powered FED. Albertson Oldsmobile with Leonard Harris at the helm. The talk of the whole dragstrip was of seeing a 13th straight Top Eliminator victory for the team that night. One of the highlights of the 1960 drag racing year. No drag racer in history ever won 13 straight victories anywhere. They were prepped and ready in the staging area. We saw Mr. Childers up ahead standing next to his White Pontiac Ambulance and he waved to us. Last recollection: When my brother was in the Willys Coupe accident and the ambulance took him to the hospital. As he was loading my brother into the Pontiac Ambulance, Mr. Childers told me that he would stay at the hospital to keep tabs, until my parents and I came back to the emergency department. Friends help friends in an emergency. Thanks...Mr. C.
The Jalopy Journal
