History The complete story of the last drag race at Lions..

What a cool sign. Where'd it come from?

 

Duh! I should have looked there first... But thanks for the link. What did you think of the picture I posted from Garlits back room? Real sign or no?

 

Here she is

 

got this one as well but don't know the year.. Any Help?

 

Thanks for the photo of the rollers and the story. It sort of puts closure to my brief but interesting connection to Lions.

 

From the article "and the Blair's Speed Shop Anglia."



There were two Blair's Speed Shop Anglia's - This one of Jay Lindsley (that I now own) and Phil Lukins AA/GS chop top. Both were there

 

Got it a couple of years agpo off ebay. I'll see if I can figure outwho was making them.

 

Mazooma:I crewed a fuel car at lions in 63 & remember the ride down the start road in the back of a pickup truck & jumping out at the back of the start line to stage the dragster. I participated in drag racing at many strips over the years but none evoke the vivid memories that a night or day at lions did those many years ago.

 

I wasn't there. I wasn't even a thought yet...but the story gives me goosebumps

 

Looks like Mazooma1 already found it. Dunno on the Gar sign.

 

After another look, I'd have to say it's a "phantom" considering that "Fremont", seems to be misspelled. It's not "Freemont"

 

Once upon a time, if you knew exactly where and when to look while driving South on the 405 San Diego Freeway you could for an instant see the closed drag strip off in the distance when a large number of container trucks sitting idle. But now, trees have grown, buildings built, and you just can't make anything out while going 65MPH on the freeway.
On this same thought, once upon a time, also on the 405 Freeway, going North, you could see just for a second the outside area of turn-1 at Ascot Park. That was enough to get me excited!

 

The era of "roller starts" didn't last very long, did it? I think I remember seeing the remnants of the starting rollers at Indy when I started going to the U.S. Nationals, probably around '73. Seems like there was just a single pair, in the east side pits near the apron, that was powered by a small block Chevy built into it's own little shed for protection. Never got to see them in use though, everything was already being self started.

 

Mazooma1 you may now that the 554 in this shoot was owned by Al Freeman it was driven by his son Elgan they later sold the car to some one back east

 

Here's some little tid bits from DRAG NEWS.. Thanks guys! http://www.standard1320.com/Stories/1320Stories.html Enjoy!

 

This one has a few pics of Lions and a bunch of other strips....... http://www.standard1320.com/1320History/Tracks/Tracks.html

 

I live so close but missed it by quite a few years.*****S!

 

Just stumbled across this thread. What happened to Mazooma1s pictures?

 

Thanks for a neat post. I spent mt last day as a civilian at LADS. Aug 1960, the next day I joined the Army. Iskinderian's Sidewinder was there that day and I think he won. Some girl ran into the back of my '48 Ford convertible on the way home. Ruined her dad's new Dodge, put two little dents in the back fenders of mine.

 

I mimic your thoughts too. Having ventured to Lions but a handful of times, still left me feeling as though I had a complete drag racing education; from a spectator stand point anyway. Cool ocean air, slight mist in the air and a gaggle of jr fuelers lining up for the rollers in preperation for Round 1 still stays fresh in my memory.