These photos were taken by Dennis Friga, who died too young in June 2009. These dragstrip shots are probably of a strip in Tuscon, but some could be from southern CA. The time is early 1960s. Dennis was an Army brat, who spent a couple years in my central NY high school, leaving for Arizona in 1960. I have a bunch of his pics, and will caption the ones I have info on. I'll post them piecemeal instead of all in a single entry. Frank C.
Do you recognize the track? I'm pretty sure it's in southern AZ, but don't know what locale. Frank C.
Dennis studied design at San Diego City College, and made spending money doing rock concert posters. Original prints now fetch huge money, but he got maybe $20 for his work, and never saved any copies for himself. Here's one example: He worked in set design for TV and movies, pro photography, and was in the custom body and paint business for a while. This is one of his paint jobs, Steve Doane's '29 RPU:
Here's a few more of Dennis' drag strip images: (If I post some duplicates, I apologize. I had an upload glitch on Photobucket, and some were copied twice.) Frank C.
Dennis owned a few cool cars in his day, including this '36 coupe crammed full of early hemi. It was hooked to a stock '39 gearbox, which led to his calling the car "The ****** Buster." Here's his own description of the car: Unfortunate....I had this back in the early 70's and 3 speeds were fairly cheap. It was a pain to pull but not bad to tear down and re load a new cluster, It was my only transportation though, so I would have to drive with no first or sometimes second until the week end to do it. Also three speed ford trannies started getting harder to find -guess those cheater slicks didn't help much either...To put something better meant an adapter, (expensive) an open drive shaft another rear end etc-etc I was going to San Diego City College and working full time painting air plane parts at Convair and money was going to rent, gas, books and beer. .so down the road it went. If I only could learn how to keep my foot out of it! No Fun! </pre>
Dennis also had this '50 Chevy panel delivery, which he repainted in the style of the day, and fitted with a 327.
May he rest in peace... Amazing photos! Looks like he carried a p***ion for what he did! Truly Awesome
Dennis Friga's automotive tastes were quite varied, as evidenced by his MG-TD with Ford V8 power. This must have been fun! Dennis spent several years building this '62 Jaguar sedan, which was his last car project. His son, who learned his profigate gearhead ways from his pop, is now repainting it and freshening the 327 motor. Here's a video clip of its shakedown run: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=djf3694 And here's what the car looked like the first time it was [almost] finished. Frank C.
Dennis liked 2-wheelers, too, but gave them up because, in his words, he just got too wild on them and was sure he'd end up hurting himself.
Dennis Friga spent lots of hours helping friends with their cars, such as this Merc with 430 Lincoln power. Here's his story: The 430 was stock but with the light little Merc stick rear gearing it was good for the first 20-30 mph. It wouldn't even go over 55 with out over revving. We used to cruise the Blvd with it and with the high front end no one could see what was in it. We would just pull along side, buzz and clutch it and the front would lift about 8 or 10 inches. What ever fool that was in the next lane would see that and go Oh ****! must be a monster! They would back off and make the next right turn!! It was loads of fun until they caught on and found out that's all it could do. Here's another of his brief histories: One of my other fav fakes was this guy- Ed Winder. His Chevy was a six with a floor shifter, gl*** pack and the first chrome reverse ever seen in Arizona. ( he would tell people they were off a Jaguar) We would cruise slow and pretend it was too fast to bother with the locals cars. Most of them would just nod ok and drive on, no sense taking chances! Back to Bob's Big Boy for coke and fries. DF: The only car we ever actually raced on the street was the 29 with the nailhead and Muncie 4. . it was actually a fast little ******.
Here's some random shots for which I have no info to share. Feel free to jump in if you know anything about any of these cars. Frank C.
What used to be... Now Tucson is a trafficking hub for the importation of drugs and illegal aliens. It is heart breaking to look at these photographs.
Just to put a face with all this, here's a couple pics of Dennis Friga: NOTE: The wheelchair was just a prop for this photo. This is one of his earliest car projects, which seems to have been interrupted by a flood. Not sure where this is, perhaps Tucson.
I have some shots he took in Tucson back in the 60s, but they're not really on-topic, save for the cars on the road and parked. I'll pick a couple with some good cars in them and post those later. Frank C.
Extraordinary!! Thanks for posting, I do not recognize most of these cars, which is why these shots are special, not many took pictures of the "little guys," who drag raced for fun and rarely made national headlines...and look at the innovation...the double-blown Chrysler dragster, the back-motored Buick, etc, etc...Dennis had an eye for the different, and left behind a great archive! Again, thanks for memorializing him by posting his collection.
Thanks for these pics must go to Dennis Friga's son Clint G., of San Diego. he sent a couple CDs full of vintage and more recent shots. I knew Dennis from high school, but lost touch when the Army xferred his father to Tucson in '60. By dumb luck I spotted his name on an ebay listing for a Grateful Dead poster that he had done for beer money and free tickets. I did a search and got his e-mail addy from a HAMB-style forum where he was seeking parts for his '62 Jag sedan street rod project. We spent the next couple years catching up, then last year he became terminally ill. We were both camera collectors, and he arranged to have some of his collection sent to me, and I archived every one of the e-mails he sent. The last one was from his deathbed, dictated to his girlfriend as he was by then too weak to even sit up. His closing words were: See you in Hot Rod Hell! Dennis Yes, you will, my friend, yes, you will. Frank C.
Very,.............very interesting. Thanks for sharing. The '36 stuffed with the Hemi was really Kool ! firstnomad www.angelfire.com/jazz/flatlandstudio
AWESOME THREAD! Thank you so much for sharing these with us. It is such a treat when people do***ent the happenings around them.
The Jalopy Journal
