found this while fu*$ing off at work. who says you westcoast people have it made. yes that is snow on the side of the track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8v-oX2_iGA&feature=related
Neat video.......the east coast had a ton of great strips back then. In fact, by the mid-1960's there were more than a dozen within a 3 hour drive of Washington DC (York 30, Maple Grove, Aquasco, Capitol, Vargo, Suffolk, Atco, Old Dominion, Cecil County, 75-80, Mason Dixon, Sumerduck, Colonial Beach, etc).
Not to mention that you can still go to the Island and see vintage drags. Our very own Fossil races his Willy's there. Truly fun to watch.
Notice how gingerly they had to step out of the hole on those skinny tires!Everything was on the driver,big power and mostly 4-speeds made for a wild ride!No wonder people can't get enough of these cars even today!!
too cool, you sure can tell which 58-62 chevs had the 348-409's and which didn't! And how about that rail job with a straight 8 smokin that 62 chev? Must have missed a shift... yeah thats it missed a shift.
My dad vaguely remembers it as dirt right before they paved it. Used to be a 1/5 mile as he recalls up through the 60's. Then the cars got faster and they cut it back to an 1/8. My friends and I still run Old Dominion every Friday night......still the oldest strip on the east coast and one of the longest continually run in the country (they started racing there in '53). Here's a photo of what it looks like today from the starting line:
My father use to run his dads Lincoln at Old Dominion in the mid 50's. In my 20's, I use to go there a bunch. Haven't been in years every since the Gores sold the strip. Every now and then go down to the Gore's strip in Wayensboro.
Waynesboro (East Side) is still a great track.....we run the SBRA Bracket finals there every September. Beautiful location with the mountains in the background.
I'll have to dig to find it but somewhere here I has pics of Niagara dragstrip being cleared of snow for a Spring meet.
The '32 in the first pic is the "Automation" car built by Jim Davis (Super Stock magazine and later with B&M transmissions. It was later painted candy tangerine and was a show/race car. It was sold to a friend of mine in Woodbridge, Virginia and became a red street rod. It's still around but all the old cool parts are long gone. The second photo looks to be Charlie Hills "Filthy Forty" Willys piloted by "Pork" Zartman. He's still around but the car got wadded up years later. Aquasco was the first track I ever went to. I was helping a friend with a BB/GS Willys pickup and he took me with him. That was about '67-'68. I loved that place and all the great shows. In some of the photos in the link, you can see the tower and I can almost hear my buddy Ralph Hamilton doing the announcing....****, those were the days. I would not trade a minute of those times for anything. Mike
Hey drdoom-Greetings from Long Branch,NJ,Americas first seashore resort and 7 time U.S.summer capital...Great movie from Island Dragway.... brings back a lot of memories....run what you brung was the standard of the day with the flagman calling the shots. Back in '62 I was taking in the roundy round at Wall Stadium every Saturday night, get an hour of so of sleep and then on Sunday a group of us gas happy guys would head down to Atco Dragway to race....don't get down to Atco too much any more with E-town right around the corner....but I have been a track announcer at Wall for almost 40 years now. Great action ....you got anymore stuff from Great Meadows? Lee
Hey MRAK how are you? We'll be up there again in 2008. The new motor is 99% done and I'll be swinging it in about 2 weeks. Pretty sure it's going to get me solid into the 10's. -Scott
I'd love to see some more pics of rods and drag cars from the late 50's early 60's from that area. maryland delaware would be ideal! I'm hunting for pics of a channeled 32 sport coupe with welded shut doors (probably still with door handles), dual chrome masters mounted on the firewall and a chromed flat stock windshield frame bolted to the cutoff posts.
Speaking about having to clear the snow off the dragstrip... ...if you go to the bracket races (grumble, grumble), you'll eventually see snowmobiles running (even I can't stand this, and I'm a pretty tolerant guy). So I'm snowblowing my driveway a couple of weeks back, and it hits me...why don't they run the snowmobile bracket races in the winter?
That brings back some great memories. I grew up at my uncles dragstrip in Erie, Pennsylvania. He opened it in '58 and ran it till the early 70s. It still goes today under different ownership, and there are still a few of the guys from the early days that still race there. It was a great time to grow up getting to see the A/FX cars develop into funny cars, the Little Red Wagon, Arfons and his jet cars, Ohio George Montgomerys Willys before it was chopped, and tons more. The video here surprized me with the amount of convertibles running. I have an old 8mm converted to VHS from the same time period. I will have to figure out how to get it on here. It has coverage of my uncles place as well as a strip form Dunkirk, NY, and some cool footage of a couple of local guys with a 32 coupe running a Lincoln engine.
61 cad, Thanks for posting the picture of the filthy forty. You know how i love that car. Hot Rod Mike yes the car did meet its demise at the maple grove raceway not long after charlie sold it. It's still a sore spot for pork. Him and the rest of the S&S team are still going strong. Freddy bear is racing the car the he did up. Are you going to be at the hot rod reunion in bowling green this year? We will be there with our coupe and the rest of the team. G***er Girl
they do. the great thing about snowmobiles is you can race them ANYTIME. they run ice-drags on the lakes in the winter, and gr***-drags, asphalt drags (complete with slick track), and water skipping in the summer. that's just the straight line stuff! they've got sno-cross, cross country, ice ovals, hill climbs, and even x-games stuff where they do back flips
Mike: I know the guy that has all the show (chrome) suspension and frame that came out Automation. He is on this website from time to time and the Ch***is is for sale. I got the pictures from a client who's Speed Shop sponsered that car and others back in 50's and 60's Yep!, the Willy's is the Filthy Forty. Jay
Here are some more East Coast drag photos: Automotion @ Capitol Raceway Gene Altizer @ Cecil County Dragway Diggers @ Capitol Raceway Wheeler Dealer @ Capitol Top fuel @ Bristol Rail @ Aquasco Tex Randall in 1964 Roanoke Dragway (anyone remember this one?) Nailhead g***er at East Side Speedway (Waynesboro, VA) Wheelstand @ Richmond Dragway Dave Hales @ Aquasco -Lee www.atomicpinup.com
Yeah, I was in contact with the S&S guys when I lived in Northern Virginia. I didn't know the guys back in the day but I knew of them and their cars. We raced out of Big Ed's Speed Shop but, occasionally, went by S&S to pick up something or hang out a while. I did know Gene way back when he had the funnycars. Went to his house a few times. Fred's a great guy and Dave moved down here to Florida a while back. I've talked to him but not seen him in a while. Wish I could get to the HRR. Not in the cards for this year. Way too much other stuff going on. Glad I got to the first couple of G***er reunions at Thompson. They were huge fun. What car are you with? We may have met already. Are you on the gas/fx list? I took myself off a while back but still check it out occasionally. I know you can't live in the past but the old days were the best. imho Mike
That car was absolutely a 60's survivor when Ronnie Bohn sold the car to the current owner. The body was perfect. The candy tangerine paint was absolutely brilliant. It was incredible. A friend tried to buy the ch***is but the owner wouldn't sell it and left it ouside for at least one winter. Then it was gone. Now the car is just another red '32 3-window with a TCI ch***is and all the street rod stuff. That car should have been left alone in my opinion. I'm sure the current owner is happy with it and maybe that's all that matters..... Could you pm me with the info about the ch***is? My buddy may still be interested in it. Thanks, Mike
Wow, this site is amazing. The video brings back great memories of my HS years. I lived in No. Arlington, N.J., and went to Island Dragway almost every weekend to crew for my cousin, Bobby Burgess, who ran a D/G '55 Chevy 210 Post, and then a "58 Vette, C/MSP, that at one time he held the National Record in. He also ran a Speed Shop in Harrison, NJ, that I worked as a counter man during college. Moved to Ma. in '75, but still visit the Jersey Shore every summer. Is Island Dragway active? Anybody have any other old Island Drag pics?
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