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

I think this is my car….

 

Two Long Beach high school friends at Riverside Raceway December 1959 drag meet. Posing with the Headers Club Roadster Pickup in the pits. The 56 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop owner and the 34 Ford 5 window black coupe with the Oldsmobile motor, owner, were a part of our drag racing friends in attendance that cold morning, but heated up fast, by 10 a.m.



Hello,

My brother and his older teenage friends had decided to go to the 2 hour drive to Riverside Raceway in late December of 1959. I was the tag along kid with a camera to record as much as I could. It was an honor to be able to hang out with older teens and still be a part of the contingent from Long Beach to watch the big name racers arriving at this event. As they walked along the pit rows and drag strip, I wandered on my own after a few morning shots.

It was the first and definitely not the last gathering of all of the biggest names in drag racing from all over the USA, to race in So Cal. Being So Cal drag race teens, we could not miss this big time event.

The Riverside Raceway Dragstrip course in 1959 from the cliff top perch looking back toward the starting line. Which of course was accessible as close as one could get to the actual starting line.

The 1959 track safety protocols were in place. But, people could walk right up to the actual starting white line across the track and stand there while the top racers accelerated away, down the quarter mile.

Jnaki

From the dark/cold climate of the early December morning in Long Beach, to the hot mid morning to after lunch feel at Riverside Raceway, it was a world of difference. The event was listed and noted as the biggest drag race in the early history days of Westcoast drag racing. December 20, 1959… YRMV

One of the early morning films taken and a great follow up story in the old Drag News weekly, during the same time period.

 

View attachment 6161655 View attachment 6161656

 

I'd really like more details on this "match race"!

 

https://twotogo.homestead.com/

 

Brasher and Cummins, Geri Tarvin photo


Bob Rounthwaite and Tom McLaughlin put their engine in Bruce Robinson's track roadster, to drag race at Saugus. Don Montgomery collection


Nick Van Wagner, at San Gabriel, 1962. Steve Gibbs photo


Boyd Penington at San Luis Obispo, Karen White photo


Safeway Sandblasting Ardun powered Willys coupe, at Bakersfield. Charles Millikin photo


Ernie Hashim's blown flathead at Bakersfield. Smoker's photo collection


Dean Turk, Woudenberg Pontiac sponsored dragster, from Arizona. Hot Rod photo


Warden & Cole, Steve Gibbs photo


Hayden Proffitt in the Magwinder, at San Fernando. Bill Mann photo