Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Two Hours of Lou Baney's Drag Reels of the 60s! Continue reading the Original Blog Post
"But we realized that street racing was not a very safe activity. Then Ak Miller and I got together and got a contract with the people who owned the Santa Ana Airport so that we could come in one day a weekend and run drag races there. Well. Ak had his shop going pretty good and I had my shop going, and we put it off and put it off until finally one day in 1951 the guy from the airport called me up and said. "Look. Lou, I've got this guy here named C.J. Hart and he wants to make a drag strip out here at the airport. but I told him that I already had a contract with you and Ak. He's really hot to do this, so I told him I'd call you guys and see what the story is." So I called Ak and we discussed it for a while, and we figured we both just didn't have time for it right now so I called the guy back and told him to let that Hart guy go ahead and set up the drag strip out there. And so ol' C.J. Hart went and set up the nation's first organized drag strip out there at Santa Ana in '51." -Lou Baney, January 1973 Hot Rod magazine interview
This portion of the film was taken from the top of the tall cliff side location down the Riverside Raceway course. It was a popular spot to sit and watch the races... but, loud and the race cars came by quickly. Yes, even I sat a**** the folks at the top of the tall cliff area to try and get a better shot of the racers. the cool thing was, the tall cliff side walls made the exhaust sounds come alive as the little images flashed by down below our seating area. (At the time, when I showed my own developed 16mm film, folks laughed at the hexagon shapes caused by the angle of the sun on the lens. But, these days, Hollywood studio companies leave those in for emphasis of the surrounding location... ) Hello, It was 66 years ago when someone took the videos at the riverside raceway during the largest drag race ever produced at the time. It was the first time the biggest west coast drag racers attended and took on all traveling USA racers to So Cal. At the time, we were teenagers and it seemed like everyone we knew and saw at Lion’s Dragstrip was in attendance or racing. My own films were taken on the same day and it was similar in views. The safety protocols in those early days leaves not much in the way of access to the race cars, just a arm’s length away. The starting line crowds made the top races more exciting, but difficult for a teenager to get close enough for some good shots. All of my films can be seen on J NAKI You Tube Channel, a small laptop or large smart TV. Jnaki The Lou Baney film of the 1959 Riverside Raceway was interesting as the photographer was in the same locations throughout the day, with all of the famous drag racers from all over the USA in attendance. I am amazed that the pits action was not recorded as there were others with movie cameras. Note: Here are some famous faces from that time period, both from Long Beach. Both in the starting line gathering… Joe Mailliard and Mickey Thompson. When the Lou Baney film scans the audience near the starting line, I am in that crowd somewhere, although a young teenager does get lost in the gathering…YRMV One of the best runs of the day... Art Chrisman in the Hustler 2... (A sound version is being developed for a later post... )
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