History Early drag racing photos

Who dat?

 

We used to catch Langley & the Scorpion run at Caddo Mills in Texas

 

1963 my Dad's 2nd home built rail Olds powered ,my Brother drove it a lot ,a parachute failer put an end to that venture. Im seated my older sis,s kids the one I'm holding up 8 months BIG BOY his bro 3 yrs drag racing is a family thing lol

 

Hello,

We were die hard drag racing teenagers since 1957. In 1959, we became aware of a drag race meet that was going to happen at the Riverside Raceway track location, about a couple of hours of driving to get there from our Westside of Long Beach house. But, no one was going to keep us away from this historic event. All, or almost all of the top drag racers in this time period as noted in the weekly publication, Drag News, listed who is coming to the event. It was a dream list of racers…

This is/was a historic time period in So Cal drags. Riverside Raceway was the first So Cal dragstrip to run a huge drag race day that invited the top drag racers in the USA for a challenge… The East vs West style of race day. The Eastcoast, Midwest, PNW, Southwest, and South were part of the challengers against the top Westcoast racers. Led by Art Chrisman, Cyr/Hopper, etc… and fellow Westcoast drag racers…


But the day in December of 1959 at the Riverside Raceway was a huge drag race for everyone in So Cal. A lot of older drag race/hot rod folks remember their stories of sitting in the sun on the cliff, waiting for the race cars to come down the dragstrip. Even the smallest racer's exhaust noise was amplified to make each run more exciting.

The noise, the small image at the starting line and then in a few seconds, a full size race car right in front for a fleeting moment… all of the excitement of 1959 drag racing at its best.

Here is a great example of the dragstrip set up at riverside raceway and talking to a lot of old hot rod/drag racers, they remember sitting up on the cliff side waiting for the races to begin.

One of our favorite Willys sedans blasting away from the starting line coming to the “big cliff side seats” before zipping by at speed. Watch the original films on J NAKI channel on You Tube for all Riverside Raceway drags from 1959.

Riverside Raceway Dragstrip course 1959

But sitting up on the cliff top gave us a wide view of the whole raceway and it was a different outlook at drag racing.


The view from the cliffside seats of Tommy Ivo and the new twin Buicks racing.

Jnaki

We followed the Scorpion build from Bobby Langley of Texas from those early years. We read every Drag News weekly paper that had stories and results of his exploits with his versions of the streamlined drag race car. There were two drag racers that had similar full bodied FED race cars at Lion's Dragstrip. We filmed most of them, but did not get to see or film the Bobby Langley Scorpion FED way back then.


From all of the accounts read in the weekly Drag News papers and articles, the sleek black FED of Bobby Langley from Texas became one of our favorite non-So Cal racers. It was one of the nicest full bodied streamlined race cars. Its big Hemi Motor stood out with lots of power. It had the coolest injector scoop with fins to match the design. A hand made scoop with some cool fins on top.

Very early historic Bobby Langley: Old Friday Art

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/friday-art-show-8-27-21.1239551/#post-14177707


From Kustomrama... Thanks...SK

Older Friday Art :

When his group finally, decided to head West to complete in the 1959 big even at Riverside Raceway in December, we could not miss this local appearance. It was the drag event to cap off a great 1959 year.

I was able to capture some of those races at the 59 Riverside meet and the 2nd annual Bakersfield Smokers Meet the following March of 1960.

“The Scorpion”
Impressive... YRMV
Then, a few months later in the Bakersfield March Meet #2, bobby Langley made this impressive run.

...a smoking time trial run in 1960 March Meet #2

 

"50 Rare Photos of the First Drag Racing Championship"

Just a few, see link for all of them.





Dig the pipe ( threaded) roll bar.


https://www.hotrod.com/features/first-nhra-nationals-1955/

 

I often wondered why they used a roll bar at shoulder height. Maybe get a price break on a shorter casket?

 

Hello,

The above photo is/was taken in front of the the Banning Residence Museum in Banning Park , two miles from the industrial expanse that is the Port of Los Angeles. We had driven by the residence and huge park on PCH on our way to and from the Los Angeles South Bay beaches many times. In the middle of a community of homes and businesses, near the local large high school, there stood a large, Civil War-era mansion.

We had seen the park gatherings of families on many road trips down PCH through the city of Wilmington, CA. The city was just over the bridge of PCH and over the Terminal Island freeway from our Westside of Long Beach house. The end of Long Beach was there and the city of Wilmington started. In the neighborhood of Lion’s Dragstrip a few miles North, it was the same border line and approximate edge of the city along the harbor railroad tracks.

Manuel Gonzales was from the city of Wilmington. This was his latest version of the supercharged SBC motor FED race car we saw almost every weekend at Lion’s Dragstrip from 59-60.

Jnaki

Manuel Gonzales "Californian," one before paint at Lions and the second, with the pearl colors, at Bakersfield. The You Tube video is the first motion shot I have seen of it since I saw it at Lions around '60 (?). Manuel was tennis pro Poncho Gonzales' brother. The history search is that Lefty Mudersbach built the ch***is. YRMV


Note:

“Started in 1959, Manuel's dragster was built by Allen Mudersbach. (Lefty) Allen used Shelby chrome moly tubing to construct a 96-inch wheelbase ch***is. Bob Sorrell fabricated an aluminum body that Dean Jeffries painted Candy Apple Red and Pearlescent White. The interior was done in polished chrome and lacquer.”

Old Friday Art:


Manual Gonzales “Californian” FED

Manuel's blown Chevrolet dragster was built by Allen “Lefty” Mudersbach. He was a member of the Pharaohs of Wilmington Car Club and a popular and well-liked guy at the Lions dragstrip in the 1960s.