Ever see these magazines?

Speed and Custom started out as a pocket size book, then would change to large format.

 

Speed and Custom large format.

 

Speed and Custom continues, with more emphasis on SPEED than custom.

 

Changing trends continue, no more Speed and Custom, the name is changed to Speed and Supercar.

 

Those were Spotlite books offered by Peterson. They had a whole series, a dozen or more books covering, chassis, fuel, ignition, clutches, various popular engines.

 

Here are a few more magazine covers, if there is some interest in seeing them. Some are obscure, and some are a little more common.

 

I'm still on the lookout for a July 1951 Hop Up. At the right price.

 

Here is one of my favorites Eastern Drag News. This would lay the seeds for the new publication in 1964, Super Stock Magazine. EDN would continue on, and sometime in 1966 would switch to a newspaper format. In 1966 they would change the name to Drag Times, and would continue on through the 70's. Not sure when they ceased operation.

 

I love these mags. I just want to get my hands on anything in the 50s or 60s.

 

Here is a regional newspaper/magazine covering the eastern United States and Canada. 1320 News was produced in Providence, RI.,by Joe Vanni, who was involved with the Barhdal Hemi Bug wheelstander. It closely resembled Eastern Drag News. I have issue one in 1966, and a dozen or so more, not sure how long the magazine lasted.

 

Notice the name is the Virginia and Maryland Drag News in March of 1962. Looks like, by May, the name had changed to Mid-Eastern Drag News. It eventually came to be know as Drag Times. All these came out of a very small office about 5 miles from my house. Jack Redd was the editor. He's still around and active. Remember all the "boss" cars that used to sport the "JA" decals? Stood for "Jack Approved". I still have a couple of the old stickers around here. Mike

 

I was doing good, have all the magazines mentioned until you started into eastern Drag News and the rest... nobody out west got those so they don't ever appear at our swap meets.

The eastern mags like Custom Rodder and Cars Illustrated were fairly common here. Super Stockers in Action and Street and Strip weren't common but i've found them locally.

 

The east coast books in the 1960's were quick and dirty cash cows. Jim Davis, Paul Huluza and Marty Schorr were the publishers of a bunch of rags out of Virginia and NYC. Dale Neff was an ad salesman for all of the Petersen books in Atlanta (Coke was his only client) and after he was laid off, started AUTOBUFF.

 

And Autobuff, I had every issue until they went... ummm ... tits up.

 

I never saw an issue of Mid-Eastern Drag News, except on E Bay. I was always under the impression that it was seperate from EDN covering more Virginia and Carolinas. EDN covering Virginia north up to New England. I would like to hear as much history as I can on these publications.

 

As I said, Jack Redd is still runnng around to nostalgia events. Last time I saw him was at the funeral for our old pal Ralph Hamilton, the announcer at Aquasco. That's been a while. Jack seems to spend a fair amount of time over at www.draglist.com I'd bet you could find him and get your questions answered. I didn't get involved with the drag racing scene until '66 or '67. I'd be interested to hear his story about the evolution of the east coast mags. Let me know what you find out.
Super Stock and Drag Illustrated was also based close to me in Alexandria, Virginia. Went there a few times too. Mike

 

Jack is on one of the other boards I visit. I will see if he is interested in giving us a breif history.

 

That would be great. I know he has stories to tell. I'll look forward to seeing what ya find out. Thanks, Mike

 

Jack is my traveling partner to the East Coast nostalgia shows. He does hang out on the draglist message board and I'm sure he would love to provide some info... just contact him there... bp

http://draglist.com/phpBB2/index.php

 

Super Stock magazine was the best.........Rich

 

I've had those but recently thinned up my collection only keeping from the early years my Cartoons collection.

 

I contacted Jack Redd, about Eastern Drag News- Drag Times- Super Stock,and he helped put the magazines history in order for us. Here is what he said. JA JAck, Monk Reynolds started Maryland-Virginia Drag News in 1962 with the help from Al Gore (of Va.) the owner of Old Dominion Speedway & drag strip. As more tracks opened up in the early '60's he changed the name to Mid-Eastern Drag News in 1963. Then as he branched out over the east coast he changed the name to Eastern Drag News in 1964. At the end of 1964 or the being of '65, Jim Davis and Monk started Super/Stock Magazine. In June of 1965 Drag Times started. Monk didn't have enough capital to keep S/S Mag going, so he sold EDN to DragTimes owners in order to keep S/S Mag going. Then EDN & DT combined, later dropping the EDN from the mastheah. Hope this helps

 

I dug out about 120 of my old magazines and put them in a rack in my junk room not too long ago. I've got a lot of strange old titles like those hanging around in boxes. They really made a lot of stuff over the years.