Vintage shots from days gone by!

A couple of babes!

 

Thanks, we will keep in touch

 

Some scan pics from a 1964 Akron Ohio phonebook.

 

Great site . . .can look for hours!

 

No cellophane at my house and I used the eat the caps....

 

Awesome find now that I read it I think I read about this before but not in connection with NASCAR just that it was a fiasco and didn't fit very well.

 

Can't say exact but it's anywhere from a 1949-1952 Chevy.

 

\

 

If I had to pick one year, I would pick 1949...

 

Roger Penske in his Zerex Special. The Zerex was actually a rebodied Cooper Formula One car.
This photo may have been taken at the 1962 Riverside Times Grand Prix (which Penske won) as that's the configuration of the car at that time. Penske was second in the 1963 Times GP in the same car after he had sold it to John Mecom.

 

Planes, trains and automobiles one of Candy's best

 

What beautiful lines on that car!

 

My MOM in 1929.

 

Neal "those aren't pillows!"
funny stuff.
officer "do you feel this car is safe for the road?"
Del "yes officer, i do"

 

Is it just me... that thinks he sees a 46 front clip?

 

My Brother had 1950 Chevy Ambulance and he sold it about 5 years ago for $1000.00 It needed work.

 

Remember the recent "Porta-Walls" thread? Looks like a failed one on that '56 Pontiac. Bet that made some noise...

 

San Fernando HS, 1957:

 

Neglect and Ignorance
MaineDOT began a project to rehabilitate this historic bridge in 2000, however by 2002, MaineDOT claimed that the bridge was beyond repair. At that point, they began construction on a cable stayed bridge replacement on a new, nearby alignment. Following completion of the cable-stayed bridge in 2007, the bridge was left standing next to its replacement until 2012, when the demolition of the bridge was begun and completed in 2013.

By demolishing this bridge, Maine gained the dubious distinction of being the first to demolish a bridge that was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (NHCL). Based on a review of the few bridges designated as NHCLs since the program began in 1964, the only bridges on the list no longer extant today were destroyed by natural disaster. This is likely because most owners of an NHCL listed bridge realize that such bridges are extremely significant and should be preserved at all costs.

It would take a unique combination of severe neglect and ignorance to allow a suspension bridge designed by David B. Steinman to deteriorate to a point beyond repair. Ignorance because any owner of such a bridge should be aware of the extremely high historic significance of a Steinman suspension bridge and the importance of preserving it. While David Steinman can be regarded as being among the greatest bridge engineers in the United States, the total number of existing bridges associated with him is relatively small, perhaps because he devoted much of his efforts to working on large bridges that took many years to design and see to completion. This small number of surviving bridges, combined with engineering significance associated with these bridges should make the preservation of each surviving example the highest priority. Furthermore, anyone with even a basic knowledge of who David Steinman was, would know that bridges designed by Steinman are nothing but the best of bridges. Not only would it take an incredible amount of neglect and deferred maintenance to allow one of Steinman's suspension bridges (all of which date to the 20th Century) to deteriorate to a point "beyond repair," to do so would represent an enormous waste of tax dollars. Having to construct a new bridge is always extremely expensive, and worse, it is an unfortunate reality that bridges built after Steinman's time have failed to show a durability and quality of construction that would suggest that a replacement bridge could hope to offer a fraction of the potential service life of a Steinman suspension bridge.

 

Bandera, Texas. Still looks a lot like this.

 

Some "Safety" equipment


“Stormin’ Norman” Weekly was a Top Fuel hero in the early 1960s, when driver safety equipment sometimes meant a motorcycle helmet and a T-shirt under a leather jacket.




As engine horsepower grew and the chance for failures increased, drivers took to wearing flame-retardant facemasks that served a dual purpose protection from fire and from fuel fumes. This is Top Gas star Gordon Collecting Collett.




Breathers were added later.





Long bibs were added to keep flames away from seams and spaces in the masks.





If you can ignore the humorous addition of a ballpoint pen to the nosepiece, you can see another step in the evolution process a mouth hole to improve breathing that could be snapped shut prior to a run.






Early goggles Possibly not flame retardant yet

 

OK more history on "THE FIRST NATIONALS" two of them LOL.

This first one was before Indy and we have seen it before but this version has different photos (mostly) and a different reporters captions.

To be followed later by the SECOND First nationals before indy LOL.


"First finals"


FIRST NATIONALS AGAIN Seen some before with different captions

The event’s inaugural go was held on an 8,000-foot runway at the Great Bend [Kan.] Municipal Airport and known as the National Championship Drag Races. Originally scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 29, through Sunday, Oct. 2, 1955, the event was hampered by rain late Sunday and completed Nov. 19-20 at the Southwest Regional Championship on the airport runway at Perryville, Ariz., near Phoenix, a neutral site.
The event was sponsored by NHRA and Mobilgas and run in conjunction with the Sunflower Rod & Custom Association. Competition took place in 30 classes. The entry fee was a mere $5.
Here’s a photographic look back at that historic event.

Here’s a rare color photo taken from behind the starting line, looking downtrack. Accommodations were a bit sparse.






Announcing deck and support vehicle are a far cry from today’s modern Indy tower.






NHRA founder Wally Parks, far left, with the 1955 Nationals crew, from left, Paul Wallace, Jim Nelson, Chic Cannon, Bob Pendergrast, National Field Director Bud Coons, Dick Kateonagi, and Bud Evans. Wallace was the starter; Nelson and Cannon handled tech; Kateonagi was in charge of staging; and Evans was the announcer.





Great Bend Mayor J.E. McMullen did the official ribbon cutting at the 1955 event, and Art Chrisman’s Chrysler-engined #25 dragster made the first pass down the track. Chrisman later set the first real top speed of the meet when his second run of the opening day netted 145.16 mph in 10.98 seconds.





What Christmas Tree? Starter Paul Wallace takes flight with flags in hand to send a pair of cars down the Great Bend track





Chrisman’s speed didn’t hold up through the event as Lloyd Scott later ran 151.00 and, later, low e.t. of 10.48 seconds with his fabled Bustlebomb dual-engine dragster. The car was also named "Best Constructed." Note the airplane hangars in the background.




The late, great Mickey Thompson was on hand with this sleek machine, the Panorama City Special dragster. Fritz Burns, a real-estate magnate in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley who also owned San Fernando Drag Strip and much of Panorama City, sponsored the car on its trip. The car was short — just more than 97 inches in wheelbase — but featured a sleek body that enclosed the rear tires and a cockpit canopy. The car ran 142 mph.





Eventual winner Calvin Rice, winner of the first Regional of the year, in Colton, Calif., in the yellow and black J.E. Riley & Son Spl., with sponsorship from Riley's construction company. From the cockpit that was formed from the inverted tail of a sprint car, Rice turned 143 mph. The car ran his 331-cid Hemi at Great Bend but switched to a flathead for the finals in Phoenix.




"Jazzy Jim" Nelson had the meet's fastest coupe, the Edelbrock & Iskenderian Spl. Mercury-powered Fiat coupe, which ran 132.93 mph in an impressive 10.90 seconds to take the A/Competition Coupe honors. Nelson was one of six finalists when the race moved to Phoenix.





Jack Moss and his Ramblin' Ram out of Amarillo, Texas, were strong players, taking down the Bustle Bomb in the Top Eliminator quarterfinals before losing to Rice in the semifinals.






And here’s the reason the race was moved. The worst rainstorm in 30 years hit Great Bend Sunday evening, washing out the final runs as well as the planned record runs.





Before the conclusion of the event, class winners were honored, including many future familiar names. (Above left) Future Division 4 Director Dale Ham won the C/Street Roadster, and (above right) car owner Raymond Godman collected the A/Modified Roadster honors won by driver Red Dyer.





Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. Tall mountains and cactus were the backdrop for the completion of the Nationals. Six dragsters — Scott's Bustlebomb, Rice's flathead, Moss and his Ramblin' Ram, the famed "Bean Bandits" from California, and Texans John Mulkey (in Chuck Adams' Equa-Flow Special) and Ray Harrelson (in the Motor Reco Special) — would determine a winner, then enter into a three-way battle with Nelson's coupe and Fred Voight's Chrysler-powered dragster, winner of the Open Gas class.





After beating the Bean Bandits, Mulkey, and Moss, Rice took on Voight for the Top Eliminator title. Rice and Voight lined up three times, with three foul starts, and as way of the tradition then, the races were waved off as "no-go" and the contestants returned to the starting line to try again.

On the third try, both drivers jumped the flag start, and Rice's transmission blew. The race had already been waved off by starter Paul Wallace as another "no-go," meaning Voight could not claim the trophy by default.

Rice’s crew was given 30 minutes to repair and leaped into action, bolting in a new transmission ... which didn't fit. A reworked Ford tranny was bolted into place with nary a moment to spare. The team didn't even have time to adjust the clutch linkage. Rice had to scoot down deep into the seat and work the clutch with the tip of his toe to make the shift in the final, which he took in 10.30 seconds at 141.95 mph, overcoming Voight's early lead to make the 25-year-old resident of Santa Ana, Calif., NHRA's first Nationals champion.

 

SECOND "first finals" before Indy

This one was the first based on points covered before back in this thread

Covered grandstands were a new and great addition.




Maynard Rupp, representing Division 3, earned the Top Fuel championship with a tough four-round slog through the best fuel dragsters in the country and set top speed of the meet in the process at 207.47 mph. Rupp’s semifinal win over Division 7 champ and low qualifier Danny Ongais actually clinched the title for Rupp as final-round opponent Red Lang, the national record holder from Division 1, was unable to make the call for a semifinal bye and thus was ineligible to run in the final.





Ongais’ first-round wheelstand could have cost him against opponent Buddy Cortines, but Cortines had already turned on the red-light.



Jim Minnick, near lane, drove his Hemi-powered rail around Division 4 runner-up Richard Warwick’s holeshot in the Top Gas final to win with an 8.27 at 178.57 mph.





Richard Warwick, near lane, pulled off the upset of the meet when he drove the Fenn & Warwick AA/D to a win over pre-race favorite Gordon Collett in the Top Gas semifinals.





Ohio-based veteran Virgil Cates won in Comp, earning the championship with a final-round victory with his C/Altered Willys over heavily favored Pete Shadinger, who had won both the Springnationals and the U.S. Nationals earlier in the year with his D/Dragster.





Doug Kahl, left, received congratulations from NHRA founder Wally Parks for his Jr. Stock win. Like all winners at the event, the Sportsman champs received new Mustangs and also contingency awards plus a Hawaiian vacation. Doug Kahl drove his C/SA ’62 Plymouth to a final-round triumph over Bill Spanakos’ I/S ’55 Chevy.




Top Stock honors went to Joe Smith and his S/SA ’65 Plymouth Super Stocker after East Coast sensation Bill Lawton red-lighted in the Tasca Ford A/FX entry.





Indiana’s Gene Moody collected the Street title with his D/Gas ’55 Chevy by besting Houston-based Johnny Liebham in the final round.





Jack Ditmars' B/Altered wowed the fans with hard launches like this.




Another trophy girl with event banner




OK so clear as mud right. One FIRST finals without regard to points, one more FIRST FINALS WITH points counted, and then into the indy era which some folks say started The finals.. hope you got it all down there will be a pop quiz later LOL.