History Old Time Philadelphia area Hot Rods + drags

BP, if you can make the next one at K&G I'll be there. I'll see if I can talk a couple other hot rod buddies into going, too.

 

Hopefully, this one hasn't been posted before.
Having just moved up from a Schwinn bike to a 51 Stovebolt Powerglide, I watched with envy as the older, cooler guys raced their hot rods at Atco. One of my favorites was a red 55 Chevy gasser called " Mr. C". That thing really put on a show and hauled ass!
Here's a pic and a story I found about it on the web.
Anybody else remember it?

http://www.draglist.com/stories/SOD Apr 2001/SOD-042001.htm

 

BeatnikPirate, Cool stuff, I got a kick out of the old pit passes tied on with string, I almost forgot about them.
Some of those old Atco cars were really cool with their names and sayings. I remember a henry J called "Yogi Bear" on the deck lid it said "Some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you" !! Another one was the "Tomato Can" referring to the big cubic inches of it's small block engine, it's saying was "Eight great tomatoes in that itty bitty can" Circa 1960 Atco.
A few years later I built a nailhead Buick powered crosley. I called it "Bassackwards", on the hood it said "Buick powered by crosley" On the roof it said " owner driven by the car" I guess I learned that stuff at Atco.
There is a picture of that Crosley on page two of this thread.

 

Wow!! What a great video.

 

Yea that is a great video. With Tom Brookshire and TV10.
-Pat

 

Does anyone remember drag races in the 1950's at an airport near Allentown, Pa. ?? I saw a photo of the Satan's guys in a magazine and it said it was at Allentown drags. That would have been around 1958.

 

I think that they used to refer to Vargo Dragway as Allentown Vargo Dragway. Vargo was not an airport, it was purpose built to be a dragstrip.

 

HYSKI-O-ROONEY-MCVOUTIE-O -ZOOT!!(spelling?) What memories!! WIBG radio 99 AM(WIBBAGE was a powerhouse in the 50s and 60s) I grew up listening to Hy Lit!! Sam, his son has a internet radio show (HyLit radio . com) great stuff and the gingles are awesome to hear again!! Pete

 

When I got to Danang in March of 1967, I'm listening to Armed Forces Radio and damned if I don't hear one of the DJ's from Wibbage. Of course, his name escapes me now, but apparently he got drafted and wound up over there. It was nice to have a little bit of home to listen to.

 

I think goldy means 40 foot airport, that is where the Lehigh valley timing association started organized drag racing on the airport in 40 foot pa. when vargo opened they shifted the races to that venue. there are a few "Bee-On" videos out there you can buy or maybe see on youtube?

 

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Yes Shadow ! I do remember The Lehigh Valley Timing Assoc. being mentioned in that article. Where is Forty Foot Pa. ? I think I remember a Forty Foot road in the Hatfield area.

Was the drags at that airport 1/4 mile ?

 

outside of wilks-barre pa, it's still there and they have a yearly reunion too

 

Convair field was where drag races where held in 55 56. it was home of the Convair airplane factory that was built near the end of WW II. The drags where held by the Lehigh Valley Timing Assoc., which I am a member. Some of us old members still get together once a month for breakfest. NHRA held their Regional drags there in Nov of 55. This is a picture of my car on that day.

 

That was Forty Fort near Wilks Burra

 

Sorry I was wrong, NSRA was in Allentown in Aug. 55, it was in Hot Rod Mag. in Nov.55.

 

I forgot about convair field, I always get the 2 confused? I knew Bilbow ran his Lyndwood at 40 foot thats why I thought of that. you would know more about the lehigh valley timing assoc than anyone on here, glad you chimed in lol!
Paul

 

Thanks Terrarodder for clearing that up, Where was Convair field located and is the pavement still there today ??

My question is, did they race 1/4 mile at Convair Field ??

By the way that looks like a pretty cool 5 widow coupe that you ran in 1955, what engine did you run ? Tell us more about your car and the cars of the LVTA. Post more pics if you have them.

 

Yes they ran a 1/4 mile at Convair Field, it is now called Queen City Airport. Its about 1/2 mile north of 309 on Lehigh St in Allentown. The first couple races were one car at a time for time only. Two car races started when NHRA came in and changed the direction the cars ran.
My car was a 31 body, chopped and channeled over 32 rails running a 50 Olds., wasn't very fast, didn't have much money, but it was fun. Lost most of my pictures through a divorce.

 

Terrarodder, " Wasn't very fast " ----- A 303 cu. in. olds in a 2600 lb. Model A?? Well maybe by todays standards it wasn't fast but I would bet that in 1955 it held it's own against other local hot rods!! An olds, a Caddy, or a Chrysler were the "mill" of choice in those days, even the flathead was still popular. The Chevy 265 was brand new in 55' and hadn't yet proved itself to win everybody over. Sorry that you lost your pics and thanks for sharing the ones that you have. Looks like that Model A was a lot of fun.

 

A lot of Philadelphia area hot rods show up on Tuesday nights at Shadybrook Farm in Yardley, Pa.
Every tuesday night during the spring and summer hundreds of cars show up for cruise night and trophies. A lot of them are nice hot rods. Shadybrook is located at the corner of the Newtown bypass and Stony hill road, about 3 miles east of Newtown. Be There!!!

 

Last night I went to Shadybrook Farms cruise night. There were enough cars there to cover a couple acres of farm land. There were at least fifty or more 1948 and older rods and too many cars of the 1950's to count them. Muscle cars all over the place and the weather was awesome. Plenty of food is cooked and even an ice cream stand for desert. Every Tuesday night, pretty cool event to attend. Only about 1/8th of a mile from the Newtown exit of Interstate 95. North of Philadelphia before you get to New Jersey.

 

Taken in 1957 at the NHRA Nationals in Oklahoma City. The Satans from Philly.

 

Not exactly Philly but I see Maple Grove has been mentioned... these are slides that my uncle gave me a couple years ago. Really great pics and there were even notations on a few of them. For those of you that missed the thread when I first posted it...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=324191

 

Great Pictures! My Uncle Ed said they raced prior to class racing. About what year did racing go from "run what you brung" without classes to class racing in the Philly area?

 

modelacitizen-- What do you mean that Maple Grove is not exactly Philadelphia ? Philly did not have a dragstrip except for street drags ln south Philly and Decator road in the north east.
Everybody raced at Maple Grove after it opened in 1962 and later at Englishtown, NJ. Before that in the old days it was; Hatfield, Langhorne, Atco, Vineland NJ, and a long haul to Lancaster or York in Pa.
Thanks for posting those pics, lots of memories, I raced at Maple grove back then with a 32 roadster in primer, powered by a 401" Nailhead.

 

I dunno I guess I just meant "philadelphia proper". Technically its the suburbs. I grew up 10 minutes from that track and my dad, uncle and grandad raced there in the 60's.

 

more from the Grove
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312548

 

Thanks for that link or I would not likely ever find those. Great pics and it brings back fond memories of being there when I was a young kid.

 

I keep forgetting about Shadybrook. Next decent weather Tuesday I'll drive mine over and see what's up.