A side note of sorts: In 1959, a Ferrari bodied by Vignale of all things made a run at Bonneville. According to an Italian paper, it managed a 151.770mph pass. Now, as someone who’s split their life between the raw pulse of hot rods and the sculpted finesse of Italian machinery, that little nugget of info has always gripped me by the collar. I’ve long dreamed of catching even a whisper of that car in some dusty old frame. But nope. No dice. And wouldn’t you know it? Tom Cobbs, who loved European cars as much as I do, didn’t shoot a single frame of it. Not one. It’s a ghost. And that kind of thing leads me to a long-held gripe of mine: Every other major racing discipline has a detailed, organized archive of results going back to at least the 1950s. Indy? Easy. Daytona? Piece of cake. Pikes Peak? You bet. But Speed Week? Good luck, pal. The SCTA, for reasons I can’t fathom, never bothered to create a comprehensive, publicly available record of the runs. That’s borderline criminal, considering how historically significant this stuff is. It’s not like it would be impossible to reconstruct. Hot Rod magazine and others did excellent coverage in the day. With a little sweat and some obsessive digging, I’d bet you could patch together a solid year-by-year roster with most of the speeds filled out. Sure, it’d take time. But impossible? Hardly. We should know who ran what and how fast they went. The salt deserves that kind of memory. And so do the cars that came to prove themselves there… even the Italian ones.
that ranchero must have had some serious overload springs, I love details like that in these old photos.
Feels like I’m screaming into the void with rolls of film that should be punching people in the chest. But there’s so many damned photos that somehow the novelty has worn thin to the common man. Don’t matter to me though. This train stops for no one.
I don’t think the novelty is getting lost. It’s just the detail density of each photo makes coming up with an intelligent comment nearly impossible. There are so many questions!
@Rocket Scientist Chris has it right. @Ryan, you just keep on doing what you are doing with all those pictures. I, for one, am not tired of seeing how it used to be. I'm sure I was born in the wrong time, so if they ever do perfect time travel, I'm going back to experience early hot-rodding for myself.
The novelty hasn’t worn off for me, I love this stuff. I don’t know much about the LSR stuff so I can’t comment on any history etc. however I’m learning and enjoying the history lesson. Love the photos - great stuff. Dan
Here's a case where pictures really are worth a thousand words. More, even. Absolutely amazing. Thanks @Ryan for your efforts in bringing these pics to the world.
Ryan, keep on screaming until the void is filled. I've seen countless images of cars, races, engines, etc. starting in the 1950s when I would read dad's N.S.S.N. before he came home from work. What you bring to us through Cobb's eyes is a rarity. He does not just show us the iron, but captures the environment and characters with the innate skill of a gifted photo-journalist. I want to see every roll of exposed film, even the shots with the lens cap firmly in place. I want to ride the train till the end of the line!
I’m not bitching… I’m gonna write regardless, because at this point it’s hardwired into my system like some degenerate tick. There’s no off switch. I don’t know anything else. Even if “knowone” gives a damn… I’ll still type away. Also… I get it on some level… I really do. I stare at these goddamned photos and I got nothing. Just slack-jawed awe. How the hell do you add to that? How do you pile words on top of raw myth or art… or whatever the hell this is? You don’t. You just salute it, grit your teeth, and keep typing through the static. I guess? That’s what I’m gonna do anyway…
The Jalopy Journal
