Vintage shots from days gone by!

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Ron Funkhouser · Mar 31, 2019

Autoramas

Deuces · Mar 31, 2019

Al G said: ↑

View attachment 4238677
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Woh!...

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Deuces said: ↑

Woh!...
Click to expand...

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Al G · Mar 31, 2019

Ron Funkhouser · Mar 31, 2019

Al G said: ↑

View attachment 4238699
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My good friend Todd found this truck in a barn and, is presently restoring it back. I have better photos. I just need to find them.

Sent from my SM-G920P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

jnaki · Mar 31, 2019

jnaki said: ↑

Early Lions Dragstrip 1958-59
Hey L,
From the early days of Lions, it started with single bleachers on the tower side (East )and a set of bleachers on the spectator's side. (West) Anyone could sit on the spectator's side that expanded down the strip to accommodate the ever growing amount of weekend race fans. But, a pit p*** was required for access to the tower side bleachers as it was directly connected to the PITS.

The return road was on the tower side and they gave out the timing slips as the racers rolled by the tower, heading back to the Pits. This is all good and well for the most part. But, in my films (on You Tube) from 1958 to 1964, one will notice that the Tower side bleachers grow as the years go by and then in 1960 there were a few races with less seating on that side. It was a mystery.

The Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena grew and the seating concessionaire needed more bleachers along the parade route. So, they borrowed the bleachers from Lions and other places just before the International Rose Parade was broadcast. Then, mysteriously, the big bleachers appeared at Lions tower side again, in January.
Glen Stokey 1960 tower side full bleachers

Jnaki
The last year of 1960 filming had the big bleachers on the tower side. In the later years, improvements happened and the cross walk building structure was built. One day at Lions in 1964, I was contacted by my friend, Atts Ono, to come and do***ent his immaculate Willys racing debut at Lions in an All Gas Coupe/Sedan event.

CHECK OUT THE FACILITIES DIFFERENCES:
1958-60 SPECTATOR SIDE BLEACHERS
ATTS ONO DEBUT 1964
SWC 1964 YELLOW TOWER PAINT

That is why it is confusing when people just copy and paste photos of drag racing without any information searches or history. There are some taken in mid 60s, late 60s and up to closing in 1972. With a little research, a well taken photograph will have tons of information when, where, and who in a byline or two. Because HAMB limits drag racing photos to 1965 or earlier, we should not have any up to 1972.

We live in an information age and not just copying a name from the side of the race car does it anymore. Now, check out the films for the barriers on the drag strip as they made the strip safer for the participants and the spectators. Explosions not accounted for, otherwise, steel barriers would have been in place. That is another mystery and a great research.
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lewislynn said: ↑

I lived in Anaheim. We used to get a wild hair once in awhile too and go to the pike. It was a raunchy but cool place with a huge rollercoaster on a rickety old wood frame.
The other poster mentioned signal hill. Isn't that where Mickey Thompson's shop was?
BTW, my first experience on bumper cars was at the Pike
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McClelland/Madigan

From Mickey Thompson’s words: THIRD YEAR 1958
“Long Beach started making money after the third year and we just kept getting bigger and better. We built more grandstands and the crowds increased so fast we had to build more. Everyone called the place, The Beach. The strip got a reputation for having good bite and all of the top cars wanted to run.”

“It didn’t hurt to have the ocean mist and fog roll in every Saturday night. Fuel burning engines loved the place. Guys would run the motors rich at the start, so they would pull hard at the top end. The fans would go crazy when two top fuelers would stage.”

Hello,

In reading about Lions Dragstrip, the history tells us that more grandstands would be added by 1958, due to the increase of drag race fans. They estimated that 30% of the racers came from Long Beach. So, each year, they improved the functioning of the Dragstrip to make it better for the racers and fans.

It was around this time that we started attending almost every Saturday from early opening time to the last race around 9-10pm. Lunch and dinner were a combination of hot dogs, chips and cokes in various degrees of hunger. If we were racing, a quick lunch until the finals, then a quick, fast hot dog dinner.

Jnaki

Both sets of stands usually flocked to the main food center, just behind the spectator’s grandstands.

altered refreshment sign in back

teenager in the pits first Impala race…no tower side bleachers. Late 1957- early 1958.

However anyone looks at the development of any drag strip, if it becomes popular, then growth happens and things change…usually for the better.

Extra: As far as Mickey Thompson’s shop, it was on 1410 Cota Ave. It was located one block behind Santa Fe Importers Delicatessen on Santa Fe Ave. Trying to stay as accurate as possible, in doing further research in several books and files, I finally found the correct address for Mickey Thompson Speed Shop in our Westside of Long Beach neighborhood.

In many articles including some of mine, we all thought Mickey Thompson’s Shop was on Santa Fe Ave, between Bill Williams (huge) Welding Shop and the Santa Fe Importers building. It was actually one block behind. Old memories sometimes need a kickstart and more research to validate the brain.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/so-cal-back-in-the-day.1017743/page-15#post-12741115 Santa Fe Importers
1410 Cota Ave

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...hood-muffler-man.1097291/page-2#post-12454951 Bill Williams Welding

BILL STROPPE ENTERPRISES WAS LOCATED IN SIGNAL HILL...

lewislynn said: ↑

I lived in Anaheim. We used to get a wild hair once in awhile too and go to the pike. It was a raunchy but cool place with a huge rollercoaster on a rickety old wood frame.
The other poster mentioned signal hill. Isn't that where Mickey Thompson's shop was?
BTW, my first experience on bumper cars was at the Pike
Click to expand...