Folks Of Interest Happy Birthday Isky

A life that continues to give. A True Legend.
Earned. Rare in this world.

 

Heard this a lot, "he's just doing his job." Well, let me tell you, there is a mul***ude of people that are Very Thankful that this Man was Just Doing His Job! Not his words, but His Job was His P***ion and we should all be very grateful. Thank You!!

 

He celebrated his 104th by attending the Roar of Lions G***er Show yesterday in Rancho Dominguez, Ca.!

 

You dont get to be 104 years old by acting like a fool !
Here is wishing you a very Happy 104th Birthday,
from Dennis in Seattle.

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Happy Birthday, Ed! My Dad is 101 - you’re doing great and my Dad says “keep going - I’m right behind you”!

 

Hello,

The last time I saw Ed Iskenderian was in 2017 when the original Lion’s Dragstrip Museum opened. All of the old time drag racers were in attendance. The opening day/night was just for the racers, builders and suppliers. Since then, the latest version of the expanded Lions Museum has been the home court of Isky’s birthday celebration day events in So Cal.

8 years ago, I filmed a portion of the original Lion’s Dragstrip Museum opening day happenings. It was in a short area of the Stone Woods, Cook section of the whole large warehouse. I was talking to Mike Cook and completed a set of photos, plus a short video of the afternoon happenings. They had set up dinner tables surrounded by a lot of local drag race cars and the invitees were the old Lion’s Dragstrip racers.

I knew the grand opening would give me some surprises. Seeing some old friends and talking about those old days was fun. But after talking to one of the folks who had a book signing table, I was ready for any other surprises. The book was called “So Cal Thunder… When Lions Roared.”
by John Glaspey. It is the definitive book on all of the early Lion's Dragstrip history. The original artwork by art majors from a local college and outstanding photos makes this book, one to have on a coffee table for all to see. Now, one sits on our coffee table for some quick memories each time I walk by the book.

The whole time we were talking, the author was explaining about how he and several college friends were watching our 671 Willys Coupe winning each race all day. They were 19 year old college kids out for a good time in the bleachers. He said it was fascinating that our Willys was out in front of every race. By the time it was 9:00pm, he saw us roll to the starting line for the final race of the C/Gas Cl*** eliminations.

Much to their surprise, he saw the big two car lead, the powerful motor screaming, and the giant fireball exploding right in from of them on the track. Our Willys was on fire, then as it p***ed the finish line, turned right and ended up in the chain link fence. It was right in front of their seats. He saw racers (including me and Atts Ono) spraying the large cans of fire extinguishers. It was exciting and sad at the same time.

Jnaki

After that conversation, I could not get that image of the night action, out of my head and walked into the large open area of the warehouse where the tables and race cars were positioned. As I filmed the whole area, when I got home, I noticed the last film I shot had a familiar face.

Happy 104… we should be so lucky…

 

104 laps.

 

Step on the gas and keep hauling ***!

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Hey, I got one of those too!! Ordered it from one of the Isky ads in Car Craft when I was a kid back in the 60s and it's hung on the wall of every garage I've been in. Ed himself autographed it at the Meltdown Drags. It is now proudly displayed on my wall of fame a**** all the other offerings to the gods of speed.......

 

That's as cool as a cool thing, yours Charlie?