Art & Inspiration FED cowl art

Racers turned a hobby into a business

 

Our car from the eighties.

 

A few I took pictures of at Don Gatlits Museum of Drag Racing, not all cowl art,but close enough.

 

Have a picture of this car over the door to my office.



Yes I'm aware this image is of the 1320 diecast. If you can find a good pic of the original car don't be shy, post it up.

 

Isn't the California Charger the last FED to win a major event? That sticks in my head for some reason, and it has great cowl art.

 

No , there were others

 

Neat subject, I've always liked that stuff too. I have a few I can add...

This first one isn't quite the "cowl", but I like how Tom Hanna signed his work. Cl***y.





And here are a few more:

 

@TerrytheK I see you are from Minnesota, are you familiar with Dave Edstrom? Dave drove that dragster in the late ‘60’s and unfortunately he lost his eyesight in the mid-‘70’s to complications of diabetes. Still, after that he ran and he tuned (!) a FC called Blind Faith that eventually was driven by his son Mike. Dave p***ed away in 1991.

 

Doug Petersen Photo

The original Dragmaster SBC drag car before all others…in the requisite Gold color of the squadron of Dragmaster Company cars from Carlsbad, CA. and Jim Nelson/Dode Martin.


Hello,

With the success of the company car, the orders for the custom made ch***is went all over the USA. They were painted various colors, had some success in their locations and were a giant plus credit to the original builders from So Cal. One local supercharged racer from So Cal decided that the Dragmaster Ch***is was the logical next step after numerous national ***les and top eliminator trophies everywhere they went.
from this history:
to this historical fact:

The new challenge was a Potvin styled 671 in front of an SBC motor, in a lighter, Dragmaster frame. Instantly, it became known as the “Worlds Fastest Chevy.”


Cyr and Hopper Dragmaster Ch***is

NOTE:

Back in August 2016, I had started to organize my recently digitized, old drag racing films that I took as a teenager. They were mostly at Lion’s Dragstrip from 1958-60. In between racing the 58 Impala (from 58-late 59) and our home built 40 Willys 671 SBC C/Gas coupe in 1959-60, wandering around the pits/dragstrip allowed me to take some 16mm color movies from that era.
1959
Since my movie camera is/was a simple point and shoot, silent film camera, there was no sound to these old films. I remember the sounds of most of the racecars when I watched these films from the 16mm reels and in the 80s, VHS tapes. Then, recently, I got the idea that old drag racing LP albums had some sounds of these racers at various dragstrips, namely the U.S. Nationals from Detroit in 1959. My brother and I had journeyed to Wallach’s Music City in Lakewood, CA. to buy our own version of that recorded 33 1/3 LP album back then in 59.

The early hi-fi/stereo set that my dad had bought, gave us great sounds when we turned it up rather loudly. Of course, we did not do that when my mother was around…she just hated all things hot rod/drag racing. But, the sound filled the small study room/den to our enjoyment. Now, they were about to get a new lease on life. We tried coordinating the sounds from the LP album with the 16mm color films being shown in the next room to a bunch of teenagers. But, at the time, we all made our own drag racing noises to the silent films.

Jnaki

I found the old LP album and had a guy digitize the whole thing on a flash drive. Now each track was separate and could be placed anywhere or altered in any fashion. (If anyone is doing this or having it done for your own albums, have them digitized on flash drives, not CDr OR DVDs)

I had to find the 1959 Lions Dragmaster race, then find the Dragmaster race in the 1959 Detroit Nationals Tracks. The fire up/warm up was exactly the same as my films, so I had to find the one that would fit closely, with as few alterations as possible.


Remember, I filmed them in the Spring/Summer of 1959 and the sound was from September 1959 at the Detroit Nationals. But, added together, it makes it look like I filmed and recorded live sounds directly from 1959 at Lion's Dragstrip !!!

The wonders of digital recordings and our modern computers are eye opening. They make new visions of old stuff come to life, just like standing there along the wire fence, looking at a top name racer make a run down the dragstrip…but in 1959.

Original Dragmaster 1959 sound
1959 Lion's Dragstrip