History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

It's funny, I don't remember seeing T-Birds in Modified Sports. Here is my friend Larry Kalsch with his C/A with a Cammer engine, he used to run a top in B/G.

 

Here is one.

 

From a post by @loudbang

 

I didn't know they ran msp either. I can definitely see the one I posted as a aa/gs or bb/gs. Thanks for the discussion. That's why I love this place.

Found this pic today in the t-bird thread posted by @loudbang. Car is running b/g here. Looks way cooler with the spindle mounts tho.

 

Gasser Wars...Part 1.

 

That's just mean. Or just hype?

 

Strictly hype, it was generated to sell cams but it sure was humorous and entertaining too.

 

Gasser Wars...Part 2.

 

I don't think these ads were only to sell cams. The ads got a lot of people to come see them race each other. There was great rivalry there.

 

Back in the mid 60's watching the Funny Cars match race each other I thought was cool and I never realized until years later that the promoters of these races decided in advance who would win each round.

I had a customer who ran altered wheelbase funny cars from Maine to California for many years and he explained to me that in order to race for the promoters who put on the big shows you had to go along with the program.

He told me he never liked doing but the promoters would tell him either do it or go home to Texas.

He also said remember in the early and mid-60's there were only a few promoters putting the bigger shows across the country.

Jimbo

 

Petersen pictures from Lions.

 

I am sure there were times when the outcome was predetermined by the racers themselves.

 

Something seemed, familiar. Great to see old race cars still going at it.

 

Here's another Modified Sports T-Bird...Spens and Poll:

And in motion:

 

Well everybody’s heard about the bird…

 

I 'understand' NASCAR was the same way.......'They' used to say a team would...."get-the-call" BEFORE the race about who was to win and.....everybody went along. (ONE of the things that soured me on NASCAR)
6sally6

 

The Lizard at The Patch...

 

A surprise gift was given to me from Mike Cook. (Doug Cook’s son)

The rivalry had been going on since the early days of the Gas Coupe and Sedan competition. It was big money versus big money and the start of major sponsorships to sell products to the general public.

Hello,

I did a story on the SWC’s Swindler 2, that is now on permanent display at the Lion’s Dragstrip Museum.
The original front end...
Then, as the set up was going on, the next day had some move in race cars in the empty building.

The museum display staff told me that the silver blue 1941 SWC Willys Coupe was going to be on permanent display at the newly created Lions Dragstrip Museum in the huge wing of the sprawling trucking/container complex. (That got my blood flowing.) Seeing the actual SWC Olds powered coupe up close and personal…I could not wait.

I was amazed at the interior of the Willys Coupe. Pristine and ready for any encounters on the So Cal dragstrips…

On opening day/night in 2017, the 1941 Willys Coupe was joined by a friend and the display was neatly a part of Gas Coupe and Sedan history.
Thanks to Mike Cook’s family and his company. I was at the Price Transfer Lions Museum Grand Opening in June 24, 2017, I was able to talk to Mike Cook for some time. The Swindler 2 was there on the previous weeks getting ready for the opening displays. I was able to get some great shot in the prelim set up days. No one there to muddle up the background, etc.

Mike Cook was very informative. His information on the Willys and other builds was enlightening. The whole museum event was awesome, from the live Cacklefest outside to the multiple car displays inside the Lions Dragstrip Wing of the whole Price Transfer Automobilia complex.



Jnaki
But, as history tells us, it started in the original Gas Coupe and Sedan Classes with one record set, another broken, and so on... It all came together in 1964 at Lion’s Dragstrip.


A/Gas Supercharged Class winner, the new Black Widow from SWC. The B/gas winner the C&O Hydro Willys pickup.

Note:

Sometimes, we just happen to be in the right place at the right time and have captured some drag racing history for the next generations. I happened to be invited to Atts Ono’s debut of his immaculate B/Gas 1940 Willys Coupe at Lion’s Dragstrip. We had not been to Lion's Dragstrip since our own 1940 Willys Coupe accident in the C/Gas class final elimination race in August 1960.

A combination of no more participation, future college work and trying to make the most out of our remaining teenage lives played into not going to Lions from 1961 until this All Gas Coupe/Sedan drag race came into being. I had to go just because of the hard work our friend, Atts Ono, did on our Willys Coupe and his dedication to his own Willys Coupe build.

So, with my trusty 16mm point and shoot movie camera in hand one more time, I shot what was shown to me later, after developing the film loops, was a "piece of history" as others have said, many years later.

Note 2:
Here is the story as shown in an earlier HAMB post.

History is sometimes confusing. The Gas Coupe and Sedan classes were going through some changes not all good, but none the less, changes were made. So, the need for lighter, faster, more powerful Gas Coupes and Sedans were on their way and who cares if the moniker of “street legal” is listed as part the class rules.

Here is a synopsis of the origin of the black Willys Coupe of SWC, that also made its debut at the All Gas Coupe and Sedan Races held at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1964.
Lion's Dragstrip 1964
“In 1964 the A/GS car was painted black and given a Hemi. It was a terror and set several records. The black car was run for one season, 1964. It was known as the "Black Widow". The car did not get the magazine attention because it was not photogenic in black. Most of the photos you see are B&W…”
Thanks... @Joe Troilo

In April 1964, the new lighter-weight Willys, informally referred to as Black Widow because of its black paint scheme was fitted with a fiberglass front end as well as various other lightweight components to make the most out of the new rules. Still, the car weighed nearly 1,000 pounds less than Swindler II.

I just happened to be at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1964 for the biggest, All Gas Coupe/Sedan Meet. I was invited to film the debut of our friend and fellow Willys builder, Atts Ono. He helped us with our 1940 Willys 671 SBC coupe and now, after years of painstaking work, he was ready to make his own debut. What a meet to make a debut.
1964 Lions SWC single run
Every powerful Willys Coupe and/or Sedans/Trucks, made an appearance at Lion’s Dragstrip on that day. These are the only SWC film clips available from that past historic event.


Extra note:
The SWC camp just came off of a match race against the Northwest’s fabled, Wilbur-Massey Ford modified sedan, in the event the day before, on Saturday night. Then on Sunday, they competed in the All Gas Coupe and Sedan drag meet.


“Coming down from Davenport, Washington to race Stone-Woods-Cook tonight was Wilbur-Massey’s little DFMC. It’s a sanitary early Ford sedan with a 267 inch Chevy on fuel. The block is of the 1958 vintage. Home strip is Deer Park, Washington. The best time for the car is 9.80-150.00. The driver is Vern Masse, 28 and single."

"He makes his home in Spokane, Washington and has been around the sport some 10 years. The mechanic is Don Wilbur, 24 and single who makes his home in Davenport, Washington. The best the boys could get out of the car this evening was a 10.60-144.00. They had mixed feelings about Southern California. But both said the racing plants out here are boss.”

Here is the massive list of the “best of the best” that attended this once in a lifetime meet at Lions Dragstrip. By 1964, Lions Dragstrip was known as being in Long Beach. But in reality, the border is right on the edge of the property and is officially in Wilmington.

So, most of the reports from this time period in the Drag News is labeled Wilmington, not Long Beach. (for us older guys that grew up in Long Beach, next door, it will always be Lions Dragstrip in Long Beach.) And for those that insist that it be called “the beach”…there is no beach in Wilmington, only a harbor.

I am amazed that my old films match some of the written class races and developments back in 1964. It felt the same, being in the middle of the action, but changes had already been made to the dragstrip and the cars. We could see the writing on the wall and in the Drag News papers. This write up was one of the last good reports on what we all enjoyed reading everywhere about Gas Coupes and Sedans.

 

Creitz & Goleman...

 

Interesting car showing the evolution of the sport. I'm not even sure wht it is. Dragster? Comp coupe? Model T? A/M something callout on the rear. Cool car.

 

I was on a fuel altered crew for ten years starting in the late ‘90’s and never witnessed a staged outcome and we were primarily match racers. I’m not saying it never happened, only that I never saw it and we had raced from South Carolina to Boise, ID and points in between. We always prepped the car to win and whether the owner drove or later on other drivers they always went for the other guy’s throat. Some track managers could be dicks though wanting to cut your appearance money saying the burnout was a little weak on that second pass or some other lame excuse.

 

That car would be running in /MR, Modified Roadster, there were also closed cars running /CC Competition Coupe. They were a dragster fitted with a car body, center steer, any engine location, no front brakes, etc.

 

Launching a blower at Lions and the camera man has a bead on it...

 

"Tennessee Bo-Weevil" at the Detroit Nationals in 1959

Hello,

As my brother and I were in the throes of our local drag racing experience at Lion’s Dragstrip, we read the Drag News weekly paper like it was our own newspaper. But, we had to peddle over to Joe Mailliard’s Westside of Long Beach’s speed shop or later on, Mickey Thompson’s shop(s). When we drove our car(s), we went to Reath Automotive at 10th and Cherry just past our high school campus.

Some of the time, various Midwest drag racing scene came up with some unusual competition race cars. One of them hit us with a bang and stayed with us as a possible next level race car build.
The original Tennessee Bo Weevil with Ray Godman.

The west coast was full of great chassis makers and there were a ton roadster bodies to be found and purchased. Our 292 c.i. 671 supercharged SBC blower spec motor was powerful enough, so we did have something to put in a modified roadster build, if we decided to go to that level.

Jnaki

The news from the Mid west always included something this unusually named modified roadster did the past weekend at a race track or two. The “Bo Weevil” was making a name for its build and record setting runs.
JULY 1960
In May of 1960, he had previously set the record for the Modified Roadster class.

So, we were impressed at the constant barrage of records set at various dragstrips.

Here is a tribute I created from real A/Modified Roadster sounds of Ray Godman’s Bo- Weevil from 1959…
Ray Godman SOUND from 1959

It is a tribute to a hard working guy, who overcame and adjusted to adversity. At the time, we always thought the name was just a classic..."Bo Weevil."

 

I thought I remember reading that Ray Godman was shot by a sniper during the Korean war. That is why he is in a wheelchair.