Hey all, as I know there are fans of the late Akira Dan Sakai (aka Danny Sakai) on here, just wanted to share some images that have turned up recently. The first was taken at a June 1940 Harper timing event — it includes the timing tag that day for Sakai's V8. I believe this photo now resides with the Sakai family. The second and third photos come from the recently processed Sakai Kozawa Family Papers collection at the Huntington Library. Danny's family became a major part of the L.A. florist industry, especially after WWII, and the while the vast bulk of the majority isn't focused on Danny, there were a couple of photos of him and based on my research, it's quite hard to find many extant photos of Danny anywhere. The second photo is untitled and undated but clearly is from another lake event from the late 1930s or 1940-1. Perhaps someone out there can use the car number in the photo to better narrow when/where it was taken. Likewise, there's no date on the third photo but regardless, it's a reminder of just how young Danny was when he was active in the lake races; after all, he was only 23 when he was killed in a motorcycle accident in fall of 1941.
Interesting. Very interesting. I wonder how the vehicle performed on the dry lakes.whoops, I guess I didn’t read the last post correctly.
Wasn't his family put in " internment" camps? He is a legend in dry lakes/ hot rodding history. I'm so glad you shared these!
The Jalopy Journal
