Hot off the 8mm reel digitized by the folks at Speed &Kulture, about two hours ago, part of the Andy Southard Jr. archives is this reel from Bakersfield 1965. See greats like Big John Mazmanian, Tommy Ivo, Stone Woods &Cook, Don Garlits as well as others I can't remember right now.
Thanks for posting, such a great time for all facets of car culture. I didnt start going to the drag races until later 70's (born in 59) when I was able to go with my buddies. Dad always promised to take us, but it never happened.
Hello, For something as historic as the 1965 Bakersfield Smokers March Meet Number 6, it would sure be better with all of the professional photographers and access to multitudes of equipment they had to film the races as they did. Where are those colorful films that are clear and not faded out, blurry or fuzzy? My brother and I went to the Smoker’s March Meet #2 in 1960. It was the perfect day for some action and to take movies with our point and shoot color 16mm camera. We missed the first one in 1959, but got a lot filmed for the 1960 action, with our 16mm point and shoot movie camera. Sadly, there was no sound in those early 1959-60 consumer movie cameras. But, there were plenty of pro camera folks with larger cameras and telephoto lens set ups with sound capabilities. So, where are those films? Note: As a reward for doing well improving in college studies, our dad wanted to get his sons back into making movies of all kinds. He knew we had limited time, but the vacation times and summer vacation offered plenty of movie making scenes. So, he purchased a high end Beaulieu 16mm reel to reel movie camera with a powerful telephoto lens attachment and sound capable connections. The large movie camera made our dinky original 16mm color movie camera look like a toy. But, those movie days for surfing would have been great, in addition to the "new" desert motorcycle action scenes and the European "motocross" races. Drag racing was at a turning point around this time period and the classes for the everyday hot rod racer was beginning to disappear. It wasn't just the change in drag racing, but who had time to film those activities? We were now into the events as participants to expand our repertoire of activities. We were limited in our time as participants as our future adult lives were fast approaching. So, we thanked our dad and told him that we no longer were involved in movie making, despite the new camera equipment being top notch stuff. Yikes! Jnaki The original, drag racing sounds were pretty outstanding, for us, but we did not have recording sound capabilities. So, for a commercial movie to be made for public showings, why the comical music that has nothing to do with drag racing or hot rods? But, a sound recording would have been nice, instead of a Saturday afternoon cartoon soundtrack added to two racers blasting down the track. Even, when the film showed a great looking Ford Sedan Delivery, the silly music continued to ruin the moment. One of the racers from the PNW was in attendance and it would have been nice to hear the sound. I was steps away at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1960 when this blue FED came whipping by my “secret” filming location. The sound was piercing, as it came zipping by my location. But, it was music to my ears, sorry for not having a sound system recording the actual powerful motor. It was as close to a whirlwind passing by creating some powerful noises from the motors. The posted thread topic film itself stops and photos take over, so we are able to see the race cars a little more clearly. As I found out with my own, limited lens action, the use of a telephoto lens is almost mandatory as those tech/safety committee folks kept everyone away from getting so close to the action on the dragstrip., for fear of safety rules... Note 2: This is what the posted film would have been with "real drag racing sounds," not silly music that has no meaning to the favored action we all like to see... YRMV
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