Audrey Saffel accepting her trophy for winning the Belle's Classic race in Gainesville, 1957. Floyd Jillson/AJC
@jeepsterhemi Hello, I was in between races for our own 1940 Willys 671 SBC Coupe. So, since there was not much to do and we did finish all of our prep work for the next round, I decided to take a lunch break and take some movies. Of course, we had a great chili dog in the pits snack bar where our high school friends worked and that was always fun. Then, I wanted to get some different shots, so I took some from the staging area down past the starting line. One had to be careful that the guy in the security uniform was not there. He always wanted to get the best seats in the house and stopped by plenty of times to stand and watch. If anyone, except for Mr. Childers, the ambulance driver was there, then a gruff authority voice came out and told us where to go, in so many words. The pit pass was good, but not for that portion of the drag strip. Despite being shooed away from the dragstrip security guards last week, I wanted to go see my friend, Mr. Childers. The many times i walked up the return road to get to the ambulance spot for filming, we struck up a friendship. He worked for a company owned by friends of ours from our high school and their family. Dilday Mortuary and Ambulance Services. Mr. Childers and the rare 2 door Pontiac Ambulance “The above picture is typical of a scene one would see if they were to look around any of the drag strips. The driver shown is Mr. C.B. Childers of the Dilday Ambulance Service. His ambulance is provided at the Lions Dragstrip, located at 223rd Street and Alameda Street, Wilmington. An ambulance is provided at every dragstrip to take care of any injury that might occur, even though a strip is the safest place anywhere to take your car to find out the best time it will turn in a quarter mile. These strips are being made safer every day.” Note from our incident in August of 1960: “I got to the white Pontiac Ambulance and my friend, the attendant, was helping my brother on a stretcher. They were placing my brother into the back of the ambulance. My friend, the attendant, said to not worry and they will be at the local hospital, (Long Beach Memorial) in the emergency wing. He said he would wait until I got there.” Thanks, Mr. Childers... Lions tower side Jnaki I was amazed that the streamlined FED in my early films was identified as the Scuderia in a race. It was over in a flash, but enough to identify the shape and design as the blue race car on a fast run down the dragstrip. Other racers from this time period have also identified the image as the Scuderia FED. So, the famous, blue Scuderia FED dragster created by Canadian, Jack Williams: 1960 The streamlined “Scuderia” FED race car has been around a long time, with the original in the early 1960 to the reconstructed streamliner for the current nostalgia shows. The Canadian FED was beautifully constructed and was the envy of many drag racers back then. YRMV You Tube Channel:
"yea mom I'm standing on the seat of my trike to talk to you..but don't worry I have to do the same to use the urinal in the restroom"
The Jalopy Journal
