Hello, A few years back, I had a contact with Dr. Richard Tapia. He told me of the adventures of his extended family from Wilmington, CA just a few miles away from our Westside of Long Beach home. Also, close to the Lion’s Dragstrip location. With all of the films I had taken of the Tapia Brothers/Beardon /Hoffman FED, now I was getting first hand information behind the extremely low slung, fast injected Chevy FED. My brother and I like the fact that it seemed like it was a family affair and the sleek FED always impressed everyone at Lion’s Dragstrip. Jnaki So, with that in mind, exchanging valuable information, photos and films was a no brainer. Now, history has been preserved in one way or another. Thank you Dr. Richard Tapia… Here is one of the best accounts of the sleek FED that we were next to many times in the Lion’s Dragstrip pits and watching it race others in those early days. “ALMOST GROWN” Bobby Tapia and the Tapia Brothers were names in hot rodding and drag racing from a long time ago in So Cal. The photo posted shows the Injected SBC motor, Isky cam, Joe Hunt Vertex Magneto and a first edition of individual side header pipes to push the exhaust out and beyond the driver’s compartment. The name of the fast SBC powered dragster was “ALMOST GROWN.” The “AL” is visible in the B/W photo above. We all got a start somewhere in the early days of drag racing The small, low slung FED was not one of the big Hemi supercharged motor race cars. But, it put on a show for everyone to enjoy weekly in their own class and eliminator runs. In looking back, it was probably the precursor to the junior fuel class FED race cars. Thank you for the memories and up/close and personal adventures from some wayward kid at Lions Dragstrip in 1958-60. NOTE: Some kid in a red Pendleton shirt being up close and personal with the Tapia Bros sleek Hilborn injected SBC FED (filmed by James Nak) Tapia Brothers Total https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/lions-drag-strip-in-1959.1073655/page-2#post-13885573 Tapia History from Dr. Richard Tapia In a note from brother, Steve Tapia, here are some highlights: Robert “Bobby” Tapia passed away on May 2, 2020, in Boston, Mass. He was 82 and died after several massive strokes over the last month. Born in Santa Monica, California in 1938, Tapia was one of the drag racing’s most formidable competitors in the sport’s early days. He began drag racing in the 1950s. His first taste of major success came racing a ’57 Super Stock Chevy at the drag strips in Southern California. It was in that class that his rivalry with Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen began. In 1957, Tapia won the weekend’s competition in the Super Stock class 13 weeks in a row at the legendary Lions Dragstrip in Long Beach, Calif. Later, Tapia raced a small-block Chevy-powered D/Gas class dragster that was constructed in his parents’ garage in Torrance, Calif. That car earned the nickname “the Giant Killer” after upsetting Art Arfons’ legendary Green Monster aircraft engine- powered land speed record-challenging car in a July 1959 match race at Lions. That same year, he won 50 out of 52 Middle Eliminator races at Lions. He made Lions’ “Standard 1320" list of record holders three times in 1958. He raced dragsters, including Top Fuelers until 1961 when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. After being honorably discharged from the Army in 1963, Tapia came back to Southern California and raced Top Fuel dragsters exclusively. He drove for car owners Tarrant & Woodruff, Don Prieto, Don Madden, John Harbert, Ed Donovan, Larry Stellings, and Chris Karamesines. During this period, he continued his rivalry with Tom McEwen and was one of the few drivers who could claim to have bested the rarely beat Greer, Black and Prudhomme Top Fueler driven by Don “the Snake” Prudhomme. As posted earlier, the Art Afrons Green Monster was now delegated to exhibition runs. In the back of everyone’s mind a friendly competition between the two drag racer’s times that were similar in E.T. So, there was a race between the quick Tapia Brother’s small SBC injected motor FED in a match race against the Green Monster. The Mailliard/Chrisman Sidewinder or Kenny Lindley/Don Hampton’s “Misfire” would not be a fair race, so the small SBC motor dragster from the E.T. time sheets was selected. Everyone thought the blasting Green Monster would just stomp the small SBC dragster. But, as some had predicted, the quickness off of the starting line gave the advantage to the Tapia Brothers and Bobby Tapia led from start to finish. Much to the cheering of the local So Cal fans and racers. In discussing the race between the so called mis-matched race vehicles, Dr. Richard Tapia told me that everyone was nervous and afterwards, excited for the results. Here is a photo he sent me to commemorate the event at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1959. Tapia Bros Collection The Tapia Brothers' injected SBC dragster did beat the Art Afron’s Green Monster. It was called: "Bobby Slays the Green Monster." In 1959 in a highly publicized match race, Bobby Tapia in the Tapia Bros SBC race car called “Almost Grown,” beat Art Afrons in the big Green Monster #11.
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