Abandoned drag srtip east of Phoenix

[427TJ]

I was flying into Phoenix a few weeks ago and as we turned base toward the airport I look down and see what is clearly an old abandoned drag strip. The tower is at the west end and the cars ran eastbound. Here are the Google Earth images with the PHX airport on the left/west and the strip out east-northeast of the airport. Is this the old Beeline strip? I flipped when I realized I was looking down at an old dragstrip!

Orientation image:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/PhoenixStrip2.jpg

Closeup with tower at left/west end:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/PhoenixStrip1.jpg

[427TJ]

Closer-in view of the tower and start line area:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Tower.jpg

[1969l78]

Very cool find--any info on the track? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hmmm.gif

[Xplantdad]

That would be Beeline....if the Hwy is Hwy 87

http://arizonaracinghistory.com/beelinedrags

http://arizonaracinghistory.com/beeline2.JPG

http://arizonaracinghistory.com/beeline1.JPG

http://arizonaracinghistory.com/beeline3.JPG

[427TJ]

COOL Bruce!!! Too bad old Beeline isn't still in use. It would make a great nostalgia drags venue! I suppose the Firebird folks wouldn't want the competition from another venue. Thanks Bruce!

[Xplantdad]

Yep Bill...it is too bad...here is the google earth confirmation!

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/lotsayenkopics/yenko%20site%20misc/tn_beeline.jpg

[427TJ]

Funny, that info box didn't pop-up when I was looking at it earlier today.

Maybe we should start a new thread: Old/Abandoned Drag Strips. Calling Dog427435!

[Salvatore]

Keep it up guys. One of my favorite old drag strips! AHRA in its hey day.

[Xplantdad]

In the search window...just type what you are looking for! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[SS427]

Great information Bruce. Aren't you supposed to be at a concert with a VERY important young woman? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gif

[Xplantdad]

Ummm....I let Lynn take her!

I love to have hook ups just a phone call away. Thanks to my KDKB DJ buddy...Lynn and Holly are going to this...in a suite no less! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/lotsayenkopics/MISC%20CRAP/aaaaboston1.jpg

[SS427]

Damn that would be soooooooooooooo cool!!!!

GREAT e-mail attachment by the way!!!!

[Xplantdad]

BTW, they just called and they are there!!! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gif

[Xplantdad]

[ QUOTE ]
Damn that would be soooooooooooooo cool!!!!

GREAT e-mail attachment by the way!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Glad you like the email attachment!

Shhhhh http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


Like I said...somtimes in my job...I get some cool 'stuff'!

[SS427]

[ QUOTE ]

Shhhhh http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

You know me, mums the word. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif


[ QUOTE ]
Like I said...somtimes in my job...I get some cool 'stuff'!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes I know, looking forward to that sailplane ride! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Xplantdad]

Oh, the glider ride? I still have the "non expiring" ticket sitting on my dresser....it's just waiting for you to get out here! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gif

[Xplantdad]

[ QUOTE ]
Keep it up guys. One of my favorite old drag strips! AHRA in its hey day.

[/ QUOTE ]

The winternationals were held there... http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Dog427435]

This is a pretty cool site from Michigan, that has some cool old closed drag strips.

Drag Strips (http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/dragstrips.asp)

[m22mike]

Wow http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif neat link Dog. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[mockingbird812]

Bee Line property is on an Indian Reservation. Mark Murphy (dreemz) and I have kicked around the idea of at least getting in there (with permission of course) for a photo shoot of some area drag cars.

I am tracking down the only S/S '62 Mopar delivered to the area that used to haunt that track. I know where the engine, headers, Laker pipes, and BW 3 speed tranny are - now if I can just figure out where the rest of it is http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hmmm.gif .

Good eye Bill! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[427TJ]

Now that would be cool if you guys could get access to take some pics with your cars! I'll bet that if you approach the property owners and show them photos of your cars that they might go for it. A photo of the Savoy on the old Beeline strip--that would be incredible. You could lay down some burnout marks on the old pavement and take photos of the marks with the weeds growing up through the old asphalt. (Bruce, you need to go along with them in the '66 and do some burnouts a-la your nearby burnout spot!)

When I spotted the old strip we were at about 2,500 feet turning base-to-final (right turn to the west) for runway 26 in the afternoon and I saw the old Beeline tower and for some reason I thought "that looks like a drag strip tower." As we banked over the top of the strip I had my head up against my forward side window looking almost straight down and I saw the 1/4 mile and it all came together. I forgot all about it until yesterday and then hit G-Earth and there it was. Beeline! I love historical stuff (I have pin-pointed all of the WWII 8th Air Force bases in England, many still clearly visible on G-Earth) and seeing Beeline still there was great.

[mockingbird812]

[ QUOTE ]
Ummm....I let Lynn take her!

I love to have hook ups just a phone call away. Thanks to my KDKB DJ buddy...Lynn and Holly are going to this...in a suite no less! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/lotsayenkopics/MISC%20CRAP/aaaaboston1.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Holy cow Bruce! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif A bud called me late yesterday p.m. and said he had tickets for this concert. Had a blast. I am not a Styx fan, but those guys played a great concert, very talented, some awesome duelling guitar riffs that were over the top.

Did the girls enjoy themselves?


http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

P.s. Our seats weren't that good! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/no.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hmmm.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/BruceRocks.gif

[427TJ]

[ QUOTE ]
I am not a Styx fan, but

[/ QUOTE ]

In 1981 my still-in-high-school girlfriend (I was class of '80) went nuts over the Styx album Paradise Theater that had "The Best of Times" as well as "Too Much Time on My Hands." SO, we double-dated with a buddy and his GF and went to see Styx at the Oakland Coliseum. I got so sick of the song "The Best of Times" but "Too Much Time on My Hands" was a good song. Makes me want to go crusing with the Pioneer cassette player jammin' some Styx through the Jensen Tri-axials mounted in the rear package tray of my '67 SS 350. Jeez, was that really 27 years ago....?

[COPO CARTEL]

[ QUOTE ]
In the search window...just type what you are looking for! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ] Blonde 25ish with big.... I'm sorry I was thinking out loud. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

[427TJ]

Here's what Fremont looks like today:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fremont1.jpg

The former GM plant at right, now a Toyota plant:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fremont2.jpg

Back in the '70s with the strip to the right and a small airstrip at left:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fremontc1970s.jpg

1993 aerial photo after Fremont, then known as Baylands, had closed:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fremontc1993.jpg

[Xplantdad]

Yep...they had a blast. They got home at 12:45am. Boston sounded great according to Lynn and Holly...as well as Styx.

I spent today with Rick E.(69SUPERSPORT396 on this site)and his family showing them the area around where I live. We cooked out and had a great time!

Bill Eaton...you keep bringing back the memories....

Cruisin down PCH with Boston playing in the 8 track...followed by Pieces of Eight http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[x Baldwin Motion]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ummm....I let Lynn take her!

I love to have hook ups just a phone call away. Thanks to my KDKB DJ buddy...Lynn and Holly are going to this...in a suite no less! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/lotsayenkopics/MISC%20CRAP/aaaaboston1.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Holy cow Bruce! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif A bud called me late yesterday p.m. and said he had tickets for this concert. Had a blast. I am not a Styx fan, but those guys played a great concert, very talented, some awesome duelling guitar riffs that were over the top.

Did the girls enjoy themselves?


http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

P.s. Our seats weren't that good! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/no.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hmmm.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/BruceRocks.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I have seen Styx several times in the 70's/80's , they were opening for Aerosmith on several tours.
I have never seen Boston but would have loved to, how did they perform without their lead? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

[Salvatore]

Hey Bill, Great pictures! Fremont was real fast cause it was right on sea level with that real good air! Should have never closed in my opinion. Now......some pictures of Half Moon Bay Dragstrip please. We were there a few years ago and I took some pictures of the air strip as it is today. I am just not sure how and which way it was set up as a drag strip. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[Xplantdad]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ummm....I let Lynn take her!

I love to have hook ups just a phone call away. Thanks to my KDKB DJ buddy...Lynn and Holly are going to this...in a suite no less! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif




[/ QUOTE ]

Holy cow Bruce! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif A bud called me late yesterday p.m. and said he had tickets for this concert. Had a blast. I am not a Styx fan, but those guys played a great concert, very talented, some awesome duelling guitar riffs that were over the top.

Did the girls enjoy themselves?


http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

P.s. Our seats weren't that good! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/no.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hmmm.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/BruceRocks.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I have seen Styx several times in the 70's/80's , they were opening for Aerosmith on several tours.
I have never seen Boston but would have loved to, how did they perform without their lead? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

They found their new lead singer from a tip of some guy singing their songs on myspace...

He sounds eerily like Brad...and looks nothing like him. Lynn said that he sang really well...and dedicated a few songs to him..."A man I'll always be"...instead of "A man I'll never be".

She said the best thing is that he doesn't try to act like Brad did...

BTW, thanks to Chris (YenkoYS-199Stinger) for giving me the heads up that they were touring! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gif

[427TJ]

Half Moon Bay, located about 20 miles south of downtown San Francisco along the coast. Built as a navy PBY seaplane training airfield in WWII, it was used as the drag strip in the 1950s and '60s and is now the local airport. The famous "Mavericks" surfing area is adjacent to the airport off the point at the bottom left of the G-Earth image. The drags ran toward the southeast or lower right along the airport runway.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HMBay.jpg

Gasser Willys pickup gettin' it on at HMB in the mid-1960s with the coastal hills in the background:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HMBay3.jpg

Neat Garlits v Prudhomme poster with the Little Red Wagon in attendance as well:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HMBay2.jpg

54-minute long DVD on the history of the strip, available here: wediditforlove.com/Jackson-DVDs.html

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HMBay4.jpg

Text from DVD ad:

"Located along the California Coast about 20 miles south of San Francisco lies the historic Half Moon Bay Dragstrip. All of the big name drag racers of the late '50s to the late '60s competed there before thousands of enthusiastic fans. The track closed around 1968 and it was not until October 29, 1994 did the track re-open for "Sound Tests" of mild to hot drag racing machinery for environmental impact studies. Local prominent citizen of Half Moon Bay, Bot Senz, and his friend Lenny Kolstad have spearheaded efforts to revive the track which would center around the promotion and development of the Jr. Drag Racing League created by NHRA. Stock cars with capped headers would compete once a month with an occasional nostalgia drag race. Bob Senz has waged a tough uphill battle against environmentalists, local boards and home owners with irrational, unfounded misconceptions. The name Drag Racing still carries a stigma and still gets a "bad rap" since its inception. The question is: Do we "blot out" Drag Racing to save the earth or do we let Earth take care of itself and save our youth and human spirit?"

[Salvatore]

Thanks Bill. I remember coming in off the main road and pulling up to the airport restaurant and hanger area. I believe I was on the right piece of black top that was used for the drag strip. Good picture of Panella Bros probably with Ken Dondero driving ( may be a little early for him) the gasser! Guys around here that ran the very early Pro Stock circuit used to go out west to test and tune in the winter months. It was tough for them coming back east and running 2 tenths slower because of the air and the sea level difference. Fremont truly was the place to go fast! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif

[x Baldwin Motion]

whats left of westhampton according to GEarth, they have an old overlapping a new satelite photo.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q101/65z13/westhampton2.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q101/65z13/Westhampton1.jpg

[Woj]

With all this high-tech detective work going on here, I thought I'd share an experience I had last year while flying a low-level practice mission here in Ohio in a C-130.

Doing my part to read the map while flying at 500 feet, I usually take note of out-of-the-way junk yards. We (the crew) were south east of Mansfield, Ohio when I noticed a junk yard; I asked the navigator to mark the position (latitude and longitude). He did that and handed me the lat/long after the mission.

For the heck of it, I put the lat/long into google maps: (N40 34.56 W082.41.54).

Result: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=...sa=N&tab=wl (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=n40%2034.56%20%20w082%2041.54&um=1&ie =UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl)

It plotted the location, then I hit the "search nearby" button and entered "auto wrecking". It came up with Beck's Auto Wrecking as the closest location. I then hit the satellite view and there it was.

I haven't yet driven out to the place, but checked with some folks that I know that live nearby and they confirmed that they still have some "old stuff" in the yard.

Maybe I'll get there one of these days. It is about 1 1/2 hours from home.

Bill, nice detective work locating the Bee Line drag strip. What a great thread.

Phil Woj.

[427TJ]

Phil, you remind me of me. I love looking at stuff from the air. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[Dog427435]

Bill - What a great thread - Love the aerial views of our disappearing Americana! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[427TJ]

Now I KNOW you could make a considerable contribution to this thread Glenn. Jump in and lets' see how long we can keep this rolling!

[Xplantdad]

Can I play???

Here is a picture of the now defunct OCIR (Orange County International Raceway) in SoCal. My Nova was there quite a bit http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Nice aerial view...

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/lotsayenkopics/ocir/tn_ocirair.jpg


And here's what it looks like now...with sort of the same view...you can just make out where the end of the track was...at the top of the picture in the dirt area

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/lotsayenkopics/ocir/tn_ocir3.jpg


And here's a wider shot with what looks like MCAS El Toro in the upper right? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hmmm.gif

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/lotsayenkopics/ocir/tn_ocir1.jpg

[Xplantdad]

And who can forget Lions...

Here's opening day in 1955

http://www.standard1320.com/1320History/Tracks/Lions55.jpg


And now it's a container storage lot http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b156/lotsayenkopics/ocir/tn_lions.jpg

[427TJ]

So that's where OCIR was, next to El Toro. El Toro is just sitting there nowadays awaiting another series of malls/shopping/condos/box warehouses to replace it. Too bad one of those runways can't be used for drags.

Ah yes, Lions. I have a great DVD history of Lions and I wish I could have been there and done that.

[Salvatore]

Keep em coming! How about Santa Ana, Inyokern and the famous Irwindale?? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif

[YenkoYS-199Stinger]

Cool picture of Lions. I spent many an afternoon down ther ewith dad and still have a bunch of his timing tickets.. That was a cool old place.

It looks like you drag race between the rows of containers now. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

[YenkoYS-199Stinger]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ummm....I let Lynn take her!

I love to have hook ups just a phone call away. Thanks to my KDKB DJ buddy...Lynn and Holly are going to this...in a suite no less! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif




[/ QUOTE ]

Holy cow Bruce! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif A bud called me late yesterday p.m. and said he had tickets for this concert. Had a blast. I am not a Styx fan, but those guys played a great concert, very talented, some awesome duelling guitar riffs that were over the top.

Did the girls enjoy themselves?


http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

P.s. Our seats weren't that good! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/no.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hmmm.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/BruceRocks.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I have seen Styx several times in the 70's/80's , they were opening for Aerosmith on several tours.
I have never seen Boston but would have loved to, how did they perform without their lead? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

They found their new lead singer from a tip of some guy singing their songs on myspace...

He sounds eerily like Brad...and looks nothing like him. Lynn said that he sang really well...and dedicated a few songs to him..."A man I'll always be"...instead of "A man I'll never be".

She said the best thing is that he doesn't try to act like Brad did...

BTW, thanks to Chris (YenkoYS-199Stinger) for giving me the heads up that they were touring! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gif

[/ QUOTE ]


Bruce,

Glad I could be of service. It sounds like Lynn and Holly got the same great show as we did one week earlier. Too bad you had to stay behind....

Who would have ever thought that BOSTON would have gone down to Home Depot to get a new lead singer. I guess they are having to stock everything these days.....He had lost his job and was working at Home Depot making $10.00/hr to support his family when Tom Scholtz found him. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gifBOSTON---that's my band http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gif

[SS454Elky]

I took this picture just last month of the Beeline Timing Tower. I used to go there a lot in the late 70's early 80's. I am pretty sure it was still operating up until '80 or so as I recall going to the 78 or 79 Winternationals there. Saw all the big names run there... Garlits, Muldowney, McEwen... those were good times! http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/7913/20080506mexico0150yb6.jpg

[427TJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Keep em coming! How about Santa Ana, Inyokern and the famous Irwindale?? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Sam, funny you should mention Santa Ana, I am at the airport about to walk out to my jet and fly down to John Wayne and land on that very dragstrip, now known as runway 19R. Santa Ana used to be WAY out in the sticks... I think Inyokern's strip was an unused runway at the local airport?

Jon: Cool pic of the old Beeline tower! Needs a few old racers parked in front of it.

[PeteLeathersac]

This thread is THE Chttp://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gifhttp://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gifLEST!!!

I really can't believe the technology w/ the Google Earth thing...like we're living in the future!.

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif
~ Pete

[Salvatore]

I believe Santa Ana closed early! I have some pictures in some old Drag News and National Dragster of the old days. Best part about being in California is.........just being there!! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[SS427]

Here are a few on the then famous Minnesota Dragways as seen then and now. I believe I have the correct spot on Google Earth though it has been a very long time since I was there and a lot has changed since.


http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n300/ricknelson427/MINNESOTA_DRAGWAYS_SIGN.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n300/ricknelson427/Minnsota_dragways_air_t.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n300/ricknelson427/MinnesotaDragways.jpg

[Salvatore]

Rick, Is that now Brainerd? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif I am digging all this Bee Line stuff too. Isn't that where Zl-1 #1 made its Winternationals debut in 1969? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[SS427]

Sam,
I could be wrong but I believe Grumpy won the 1970 Winternationals at Pomona, CA with the ZL-1. BIR (Brainerd International Raceway) was and still is in Brainerd, MN and you would NOT want to hold the Winternationals there.


http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n300/ricknelson427/tn_BIR.jpg

[SS427]

Speaking of BIR, here is a video of a friends 1970 El Camino running down a Lotus Elise at BIR at 148 mph.

Keith Anderson's L78 (http://videos.streetfire.net/video/37-year-old-American-iron_86997.htm)

For more videos, check out http://www.cardomain.com/ride/703372 . They are pretty awesome.

[COPO_Anders]

Here is the Melrose Missile in its 2% altered wheelbase form at the AHRA Winternationals at Beeline Dragway in January 1965. That was the only time the four cars built were used with only 2% AWB. After the Winternationals they were all changed more radically.

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[ORIGLS6]

Here's what's left of our local strips.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m57/dmcumby/WhiteHall.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m57/dmcumby/Beardstown-1.jpg

And the saddest of the three; an Historic track where the Golden Greek first broke the 200 MPH barrier, Alton Dragway is now a mobil home park. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m57/dmcumby/Alton-1.jpg

[TA Guy]

I was looking through my junk (memorabilia) looking for my Senior High School (Chaparral, Scottsdale Arizona) Shop Class field trip pictures to the Winternationals at the Beeline. It was 1978 and I have some great pictures if I can find them I will be scanning and posting them.

I also have some pictures from the WInternational Drag Boat races at Firebird Lake in 1979. Those are pretty cool also.

I know this is a Dragstrip posting but what about Ascot racetrack in Torrance, another of my favorites.

Hope this post finds everyone well.

Happy Summer.

Dave (TA GUY) Ochser

[TA Guy]

OK, So I did find some old OCIR Pit Passes and Participant Sticker as well as an Old Lions Pit Permit Drag Strip ticket that I ferretted away years ago.

[Salvatore]

Real nostalgic stuff David! You got this stuff personally! I love it. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[Salvatore]

Ok 427TJ man...how about Fontana Dragway?? Any info? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif

[SS454Elky]

Here are a few pics I found of the '78? Winternationals at Beeline. I apologize for the pictures, at 17 I had no photography skills.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/5393/file00023ri5.jpg

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/718/file00022ug7.jpg

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/9051/file0007wh1.jpg

[Xplantdad]

Neat pics Jon...


Hey TAGuy Dave O.....cool pit passes. How about time slips?

Here's one of about 10 that I have! It's from my Nova that I ran there... http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/timeslip.jpg

[Xplantdad]

[ QUOTE ]



I know this is a Dragstrip posting but what about Ascot racetrack in Torrance, another of my favorites.

Hope this post finds everyone well.

Happy Summer.

Dave (TA GUY) Ochser

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Dave....Ascot was in Gardena...if I remember right. We were there at least once a month! Stocks, super stocks, figure eights, midgets, sprint cars and world of outlaws...WAY COOL!

Okay, so here is a picture (that was made into a puzzle by my older sister) of yours truly (with his future wife standing behind him) and my sister (with her soon to be ex boyfriend standing in front of her).

Notice the shirt I am wearing! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

No cute remarks...LOL! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/tn_ascot.jpg

[Dog427435]

Were you the guys that sang that 409 song??

[Xplantdad]

[ QUOTE ]
Were you the guys that sang that 409 song??

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice Glenn...real nice! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[TA Guy]

You are probably correct with Gardena! I have a lapel pin with the Ascot logo on it. What a cute couple! Way cool.

[juliosz]

This link is has some great pics of Michigan dragstrips, yesterday and today along with some aerial photos: Michigan Dragstrips (http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/dragstrips.asp)

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[Bill Pritchard]

[ QUOTE ]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/timeslip.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Looks like you need an Ovaltine Secret Decoder Ring to decipher that writing http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Good thing you wrote it in English at the top of the slip!

Great picture of you and Lynn http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[Xplantdad]

Thanks Bill. Now that I look back at all of the time slips...one thing definitely pops out...I didn't know what the heck I was doing!

Mid 15's at 100mph...mid 14's at 105...

LOL http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I showed the picture above to someone at work...and they asked me if that was my brother http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Bill Pritchard]

I don't think he looks like your brother, but he does look like he's wearing a wig! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif

[Xplantdad]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think he looks like your brother, but he does look like he's wearing a wig! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeppers...that's when I definitely had more hair http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[427TJ]

Sittin' here with a cold Heineken and a bag of tortilla chips and not ready to go out and mow the lawn--so here's a couple more abandoned strips in NorCal!

Vaca Valley Raceway located along I-80 just east of Vacaville (translates as "cow town" in Spanish) between the Bay Area and Sacramento. Opened late 50s and closed early 70s. One website said that they tried to revive racing at Vaca Valley in the 90s but locals complained.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Vaca3.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Vaca4.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Vaca2.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Vaca1.jpg

[427TJ]

If you have the DVD of "Bullitt" you have probably watched the back story on the making of the movie and seen the part where McQueen and the Charger driver (can't remember his name at the moment) are up at Cotati Raceway "practicing" for the chase scenes filmed in San Francisco. Cotati is about 25 miles north of SF along highway 101 and was originally built as a WWII Navy OLF (outlying field) for training pilots. Cotati is just north of Petaluma where George Lucas filmed some of American Graffitti, but I digress. Cotati had a road course and a drag strip and Carroll Shelby won the first road race held there in 1957. Being in California, Cotati Raceway was consumed by suburban development and nothing of the former OLF/track ramains today except a street named "Airport Way."

1965 aerial image:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Cotati6.jpg

Today:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Cotati8.jpg

Circa-1945 as a Navy OLF:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Cotati5.jpg

Found a neat website with Cotati pics from the late 50s:

http://wediditforlove.com/Birky.html

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Cotati1.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Cotati2.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Cotati3.jpg

LOVE THAT '55!!!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Cotati4.jpg

[427TJ]

Just off of Foothill Bl. (Route 66) in SoCal, just north of the current California Speedway. Track ran towards the northeast from Foothill, which ran east-west.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fontana4.jpg

Track was to the left of my yellow push-pin locator:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fontana3.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fontana8.jpg

Foothill Bl. in the background in this southerly view:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fontana1.jpg

Following photos from the H.A.M.B. thread on old drag cars in action, a GREAT thread. Photos taken by "Mazooma1." Go surf this thread, it's a LONG one, but you will crap at all the killer old photos and Mazooma's are among the very best.

Start here if the link works. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=228509&page=193


http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fontana6.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fontana7.jpg

[427TJ]

San Gabriel was in Irwindale west of Pomona. My pin-locator is a little too far to the left--the track was along the right/east side of the drainage canal and ran towards the southwest/lower left of the image.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Gabe6.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Gabe2.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Gabe3.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Gabe4.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Gabe1.jpg

You had to have big brass ones to drive a FED in those days:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Gabe5.jpg

[John Brown]

[ QUOTE ]
Following photos from the H.A.M.B. thread on old drag cars in action, a GREAT thread. Photos taken by "Mazooma1." Go surf this thread, it's a LONG one, but you will crap at all the killer old photos and Mazooma's are among the very best.

[/ QUOTE ]

{edit} Here is the real first page of the thread. {edit}

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=228509&page=1


I've been following the H.A.M.B. thread since it started. It's awesome!!!! Please resist the temptation to hit the "view all" button as it overloads their server, and it will overload your connection too. Don't mind the red "X"'s where some of the pictures should be, since some of the pictures have been lost since the thread started. 233 pages and still counting. Enjoy!

[Mark Hickman]

I have been lurking awhile, but this thread really caught my eye.

There is one in NE Ohio, was called Meander Dragway. You can point Google maps to 41.059874, -80.831180 and see its present state. You can zoom in and still see rubber on the track.

My cousin raced here when I was a kid. One cool thing is it was an airport as well. Occasionally they would stop the racing to let a plane land.

We also came close to losing Quaker City in Salem OH, but they are still running. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Salvatore]

man that is a real nice 68 Chevelle you got! Lets see/here more about it. Sam http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Dog427435]

Fabulous aerials Bill and those vintage shots are GREAT!!

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif





Not much left from all the strips I grew up with on the island - urban sprawl has pretty much obliterated all my old haunts many years ago!

[427TJ]

Paradise Mesa is east of San Diego and was one of dozens of drag strips that popped-up on disused WWII military airfields in the years after the war. The strip operated from 1951-59 on the abandoned runway of the former Sweetwater Dam Naval Outlying Field (OLF) which was built during WWII as an auxiliary airfield for nearby NAS North Island. Here's an excerpt from the history of the famous "Bean Bandits" drag racing team:

"Paradise Mesa Airfield, outside of San Diego was one place where the Bean Bandits built their memories. It became their home track. Paradise Mesa was a strip where illegal racing was restricted following what, in 1951, Hot Rod called "hazards of frequent uncontrolled drag meets." Bean Bandits' president, Mike Nagem, helped form the San Diego Timing Association (SDTA) and convinced property owner Henry Adams to create a legal venue for racers to show off their abilities. He agreed and the SDTA, with the help of local law enforcement officers, organized the country's first legal drag strips. SDTA brought needed order to a world of chaos. They instituted track rules, charged entrance fees and used Otto Crocker's reliable timers. The track officially opened in 1951 and before closing 8 years later, young Arnett and his friends cleaned up with the trophies. Arnett recalls hopping into his car and racing the fastest vehicles there, motorcycles."

San Diego at left and Paradise Mesa out to the east/right:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para5.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para6.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para7.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para8.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para9.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para10.jpg

The Bean Bandits car, lower, faced off with Dode Martin's "A" dragster at the 1953 Pacific Southwest Championship Drags at Paradise Mesa. Martin won but the Bandits set low ET of the meet.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para1.jpg

Receiving their Low ET trophy:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para2.jpg

An Austin Bantam and an A (on Deuce rails) face off:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para4.jpg

Neat '35 Ford with hole-punched fenders:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Para3.jpg

More information here: http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/CA/Airfields_CA_SanDiego_S.htm

And here: http://members.aol.com/beanracers/history.html

[427TJ]

San Fernando Airport began operations in 1939 and the drag strip, located adjacent to the airport runway, opened in 1955 and was known as "The Pond." The airport closed in 1985 and was paved-over and is now an industrial site. I am pretty sure the cars ran from the south to the north--anyone remember?

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fernando9.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fernando8.jpg

1988 USGS topo map image after the airport had closed:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fernando7.jpg

Pilot's VFR chart showing layout of runway and drag strip to the west of the runway along the large drainage canal:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fernando6.jpg

Some great Tommy Ivo photos, found at this site:

http://www.standard1320.com/Ivo/Buicks/SingleBuick/SingleBuick.html

Ivo's first dragster, with an injected Nailhead, seen at San Fernando with builder Kent Fuller standing and Ivo in the seat:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fernando2.jpg

And in color!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fernando3.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fernando4.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fernando5.jpg

And a postwar Olds woody to finish off!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fernando1.jpg

[Dog427435]

[b] This was originally West Hampton Drag Strip - then changed to Hampton Auto Raceway Inc., in the
early eighties - then Suffolk County Raceway - then in the nineties to Long Island Dragway until their
close in the early 2000s.



http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Capture-2.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Clip_5.gif
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Some shots from the sixties -
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/img081-1.jpg
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[427TJ]

[ QUOTE ]
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/img062-2.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Look closely--I think that '61 Impala convert is an SS!

[SS427]

I made that exact same mistake Bill. Check this out just an Impala (http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=racing&Number=259095&Sear chpage=1&Main=241524&Words=Impala+SS427&topic=&Sea rch=true#Post259095)

[427TJ]

Rats! Thanks Rick, that other thread has some great pics.

[427TJ]

Los Angeles Times article: Losing track of a special time

By Jim Peltz
October 30, 2007

Panning across a vacant strip of asphalt and empty grandstands, a homemade video clip on YouTube.com shows the now silent Los Angeles County Raceway, a drag strip in Palmdale that closed this summer.

It’s a requiem for a wind-swept parcel of land that presented drag racing for more than 40 years, a track that outlasted – until now – the march of progress that long ago doomed most other such venues.

But a generation ago Southern California was a drag racing capital, with nearly a dozen quarter-mile drag strips from Saugus to Long Beach at various times between the early 1950s and early 1980s. It was drag racing’s golden era for many fans, with mostly grass roots racing and celebrated drivers with nicknames such as Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen.

“California was the hub of what was happening in drag racing,” said Tom Madigan, a former racer who chronicled the area’s racing history in a book this year, “Fuel & Guts: The Birth of Top Fuel Drag Racing.”

Then there was the outsider they all feared, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, a Floridian who wasn’t particularly big in size but whose black “Swamp Rat” dragsters often humbled local drivers on his frequent trips to Southern California.

The region’s drag racing heritage comes to mind as the sport’s top professional drivers return to Pomona this weekend for the season finale of the National Hot Rod Assn.’s premier circuit, the Powerade Series.

The Auto Club Raceway in Pomona is among the few surviving drag strips in Southern California because it remains to pro drag racing what Indianapolis is to Indy-style race cars and Daytona Beach are to NASCAR. The only others left are a drag strip at the California Speedway in Fontana and a one-eighth-mile strip at Irwindale Speedway. Another survivor is the Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield.

Otherwise, the drag strips that once featured mostly amateurs racing in Long Beach, San Gabriel, Colton, San Fernando, Orange County and other Southern California cities are long gone, squeezed out by surging population and land that became too valuable for the sport’s nitro-burning, tire-squealing cars and were too noisy for ever-encroaching homeowners.

“It was urban sprawl,” Garlits, now 75, said on a recent visit to the Famoso track for a drag racing reunion. “It’s not the same as it was when we were getting going in the ’60s, when there was a drag strip in every little town, practically.”

Drag racing took hold here after World War II, when returning soldiers and others with a few extra bucks and a love of racing built cars they initially ran on dry lake beds. As the hot-rod culture took root in Southern California in the early 1950s, drag racing blossomed as public drag strips began opening, with plenty of land and weather that supported year-round racing.

“At the dry lakes, it was hot, dusty and a long way from here,” said Greg Sharp, curator of the NHRA Wally Parks Motorsports Museum in Pomona. “At the [local] drag strip you could go every weekend and your car didn’t get filthy dirty.”

Whether it’s coincidence, as the drag strips have disappeared, the number of accidents and arrests related to illegal street racing has become a major problem in Southern California.

Some former drag strips in Southern California were opened 50 years ago, at least in part, to get the kids off the streets.

One of the region’s most popular old strips was Lions, just outside the Long Beach city limits. It was started in 1955 by several chapters of Lions civic clubs, a Long Beach judge and a manager named Mickey Thompson so that people would have a legal place to race. Lions quickly became one of the drag racers’ tracks of choice, and Thompson would later become one of Southern California’s leading motor sports promoters.

“Each drag strip had its own specific character,” Madigan said. “That was important to the guys who ran them. Like Long Beach. You didn’t have any nerve if you didn’t run Long Beach. It had a mystique about it.

“It’s kind of hard to describe, but that drag strip became hallowed ground,” he said. “You could smell the oil from the nearby refineries, you could feel the smog.”

All the drag strips enabled drivers of modest means to keep racing, and gave fans the opportunity to see flame-spewing, ultra-loud dragsters up close for an admission of $2 to $5. “We ran Long Beach one day and the next day San Fernando,” said Tony Waters, 80, a drag-racing pioneer who also attended the reunion at Famoso. “Back in those days the drag strips were everywhere, and everybody could afford it.”

Sharp said most racers “ran on a weekly basis and it was open to all-comers, anybody who wanted to come and try to race.”

“They would typically be racing for $500 cash or a $500 savings bond, something like that,” Sharp said. “But they were all mostly amateurs.”

In the late-1950s and early ’60s, “guys actually started making a living running on Saturday nights and Sundays,” Madigan said. “They started making a grand here, two grand there. And back in ‘60-‘61, you could live on a grand a month.”

In 1967, the sport hit its apex in the region with the opening of Orange County International Raceway in Irvine. Considered among the best drag strips ever built at the time, it featured modern grandstands, an electronic scoreboard and state-of-the-art timing technology.

But as the 1970s arrived, drag racing began changing and the surge in Southern California’s population and property values changed the landscape for drag strips too.

Before then, the most popular form of dragster was the top-fuel car, which had a tiny cockpit in the rear over enormous tires. The supercharged engine and transmission, and a long, spindly chassis, were in front.

But after losing part of a foot when his transmission exploded in 1970 at Lions, Garlits designed the rear-engine top-fuel dragster that revolutionized the sport and is still used today. (One of his cars sits in the Smithsonian Institution.)

The new design enabled dragsters to go well over 200 mph, and corporate sponsors were increasingly drawn to the growing sport.

The introduction of “funny cars,” dragsters that had a complete body over the driver, engine and chassis, drew even more sponsors. Their involvement, and the costs of building cars that could keep reaching ever-higher speeds, started lifting the cost of drag racing beyond the reach of many.

“It was just too expensive,” said James Warren of Bakersfield, another former driver who attended the Famoso reunion. “That’s why we had to drop out. I had to either quit my job and tour, or work. I had to work.”

Simultaneously, many tracks could no longer survive the noise complaints, rising land values and higher insurance costs related to the soaring, more dangerous speeds.

San Fernando closed in 1969, Lions in 1972 and the first Irwindale drag strip closed in 1973. Even the more modern Orange County strip held its last race in 1983.

Southern California remains a hotbed for young men and women to customize their cars for either more speed or exotic looks, said Sharp, the museum curator.

But he’s not sure they appreciate how drag racing – on sanctioned, commercial drag strips – was once so popular in the area.

Today’s car buffs hold shows next to the museum, he said, “and not one of them comes in here because they don’t have a clue that it connects with what they’re doing now.

[427TJ]

[ QUOTE ]
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fontana3.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Update: USGS topographical map showing exact location and orientation of the strip:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Fontana9.jpg

[427TJ]

Located 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, Riverside Raceway opened in September 1957 with a road course and a drag strip. Known more for its road course, Riverside did host the 1964 Hot Rod Magazine Championship Drag Races and some of the August '64 magazine coverage is shown below. Cancerous urban sprawl finally made its way out to Riverside by the 1980s and the track succumbed to the relentless spread of stucco in 1989.

Located east of the intersection of two freeways, 395 and 60, and just north of March Air Force Base:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Riverside3.jpg

USGS topo map image:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Riverside1.jpg

Drag strip, shown in orange at bottom, ran toward the north:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Riverside1a.jpg

HRM August 1964 coverage:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HRM864.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Riverside5.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HRM864-2.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HRM864-3.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HRM864-4.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HRM864-5.jpg

Grandstands on west side of track, which can be seen running under the bridge at far right:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HRM864-7.jpg

Top Fuel winner Jack Williams (8.13), far side, defeated Tony Waters who fouled:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/HRM864-6.jpg

1965 photo showing a new GT 350 with the starting line of the strip in the background. View looks east:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Riverside4.jpg

The stucco monster finally gobbles up Riverside in this 1988 photo from Wikipedia. View looks east:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Riverside2.jpg

[427TJ]

Great photo of a Dart funny behind the tower at Fontana c66. Photo taken looking north and the grandstands are clearly visible:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/FontanaDart.jpg

[427TJ]

Irwindale operated from 1965 until 1977 when the city forced its closure to make room for a Miller Beer brewery. Today's Toyota Raceway at Irwindale, with its 1/8-mile strip and oval, is west of original track site.

New Irwindale 1/8-mile strip location at left and original Irwindale site at right, now a brewery. San Gabriel was just a few miles to the southwest of old Irwindale. Imagine that, two historic dragstrips just a few miles apart! Those guys had it good.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Irwindale3.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Irwindale2.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Irwindale1.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Irwindale5.jpg

Photo from Jungle Pam's site:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Irwindale7.jpg

[427TJ]

Carlsbad raceway was just north of San Diego and operated from 1964 until 2004. The Google Earth image shows the track still intact but it has since been completely obliterated by yet another business park. Like we need another frigging business park.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Carlsbad1.jpg

You can see the cancer moving in from the south, the east and the north:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Carlsbad2.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Carlsbad3.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Carlsbad4.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Carlsbad5.jpg

[Dog427435]

In the sixties there were 3 drag strips on Long Island, the oldest, West Hampton opened in 1953
and closed in 2003. Islip an 1/8 mile track was around from 1961 - 1972. Both were great tracks,
Hampton was always my favorite, but the track with the most hype and hoopla was
New York National Speedway. It hosted the National Events, drew all the biggest names,
heck they used to run cars 4 wide in the lower classes!
National Speedway is long gone, racing from March of '66 until October of 1980.
An Active Adult Community now resides where the strip once was.
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_9.gif
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_14.gif
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The circled area was the staging and starting lanes. The track ran south to north.
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/CopyofClip_14.gif
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This is how the staging / starting lanes look today.
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_18.gif
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_19.gif
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_21.gif
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_24.gif
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This is the strip!!
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_17.gif
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This is how it used to look - Every weekend!!
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/syc018.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/syc016-1.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/img021.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/img056.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/img014.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/img018.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/img016.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/img053.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/img020.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/syc023.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/syc026a.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_29.gif
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_27.gif
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_30.gif
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Like I said, all the biggest names!
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_32.gif
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Clip_33.gif
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/c1a.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/60nynationalrepo.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/win2aSmall.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/win2Small.jpg
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The pictures of the deserted staging lanes / Harrell's funny car and Nikki Phillips are from Bee-On Video's
Drag Racing on Long Island DVD, a GREAT 90 minute trip back in time!!
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[427TJ]

Bad-ass Austin!

[ QUOTE ]
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/syc018.jpg


Love the cut wheel arches on that Belvedere!

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/img053.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

[427TJ]

Located along what is now I-10 just west of the town of Colton in western San Bernardino County California, Morrow Field was a small airport used as the Colton Dragstrip. Morrow Field was built in 1942 and by the mid-1950s the runway was being used on weekends for drag racing. When an airplane wanted to land or take-off during the races the drag action would be halted to allow the aircraft to use the runway. By 1980 the USGS topo map showed Morrow Field as abandoned and the land was sold-off for development. For more info on Morrow Field, click here: http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/CA/Airfields_CA_SanBernardino_W.htm

Note Fontana Drag City to the west of Colton:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Colton1.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Colton2.jpg

Looking closely, the diagonal orientation of the old Morrow Field runway/dragstrip can still be seen:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Colton3.jpg

1954 USGS map showing the highway as 2-lanes each way:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Colton4.jpg

1980 USGS showing Morrow Field as "abandoned." The golf course was built by the orignal airport developer, a Mr. Morrow, for which Morrow Field was named:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Colton5.jpg

Found this photo on the HAMB. View looks east:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Colton4a.jpg

[Salvatore]

Man-O-Man you guys, I am lovin it! The whole state of California and New York was a drag strip!! Glad I have a lot of old papers and magazines with this stuff in it. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif

[ORIGLS6]

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Ain't this cool! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[427TJ]

Since San Fernando, like Fontana and San Gabriel, had a drainage canal alongside the track, occasioanlly a racer would lose it and go under the fence and wind up in the canal. I read a story where Frank Pedregon went down into the canal at San Fernando, climbed out and "played dead" while the ambulance crews struggled to get to him. As they approached he jumped up and let everyone know he was okay. Here's a photo of a racer that had gone into the canal at San Fernando:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Sanfer1.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Sanfer2.jpg

[427TJ]

Text from the Ontario City Library site:

"The Ontario Motor Speedway (the Big “O”) was designed as a replica of the 2.5 mile racetrack at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It also had an infield road course and a drag strip to maximize racing events. Designed by Walter Ted Tyler at a cost of $25.5 million, it opened on Sept. 3, 1970 with the inaugural California 500 on Sept. 6. This Labor Day event was to complement the Indy 500 traditionally held on Memorial Day. A second race, the Questor Grand Prix, was held in March 1971 and won by Mario Andretti. 86 separate days of racing, qualifying and practice for championship, sport, stock and drag races was anticipated with over one million persons in attendance per year. Although races were held each year, the actual monies coming in were below expectations. The management tried to improve attendance with three rock concerts – the California Jams I, II and III. Talks took place with promoters of the Expo ’81, a world’s fair-type extravaganza with pavilions on the racetrack grounds. By 1980, the track management company was bankrupt and the City of Ontario sold the property for $10 million to the Chevron Land Management Company. The track was demolished in 1981 at a cost of $3 million. Subsequent development, most recently the Piemonte mixed-use development of condominiums, offices and retail stores and the Citizens Business Bank Arena has largely covered the old racetrack grounds. Echoes still remain in the area’s street signs however: Concours Drive, Mercedes, Ferrari and Triumph Lanes, Porsche Way, Dusenberg and Corvette Drives, Lotus Ave, Shelby Street, Jaguar Way."


Note Fontana Drag City at upper right and the new California Speedway:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Ont1.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Ont2.jpg

The asphalt and stucco beast overtakes the site:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Ont5.jpg

The dragstrip was in the infield at far right:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Ont3.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Ont4.jpg

[427TJ]

Terrific photo of NHRA founder Wally Parks at Pomona, mid-60s:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/ParksPomona.jpg

[427TJ]

Kingdon drag strip, just southwest of Lodi, California was built as an military auxiliary landing airfield during WWII. As with so many such airstrips, Kingdon lapsed into disuse after the war and then became a public airport and a drag strip by the early 1950s. Racing ended at Kingdon in 1978 but in 2007 Kingdon was host to a reunion drag event so perhaps one of the old strips will be back in use, if only on rare occasions.

Located north of Stockton, southwest of Lodi:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon1.jpg

Very little has changed since WWII:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon2.jpg

Looking west:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon9.jpg

The Sacramento-based "Glass Slipper" made appearances at Kingdon in the late '50s:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon4.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon3.jpg

As did Garlits in '59 on his first trip to California:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon6.jpg

Even car customizer Gene Winfield tried his hand at the Kingdon drags in the early '50s:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon5.jpg

Back in those much simpler times when any working man could race a car as a weekend hobby and not go broke just trying to have some fun:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon8.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon7.jpg

Tommy Ivo at Kingdon c1970 with one of his Cadillac push cars:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Kingdon10.jpg

[427TJ]

Great photo of the staring area not long after the track opened in 1957:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Riverside1-1.jpg

At the '64 HRM Drags Danny Ongais had to push his rail through the 1/4 after his car quit on the line:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Riverside3-1.jpg

Wild Willie crossed-up (!!!) in the lights trying to stay out of the weeds. Photo taken by Steve Reyes from the old pedestrian bridge across the top end of the track. What's he doing--about 150?--with the front wheels cranked hard left! Friggin' unbelievable!:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/BE427TJ/Y-Net%20Photos/Riverside2-1.jpg

[Dog427435]

[b] Islip Speedway was Long Islands 1/8 mile drag strip from 1961 until 1972. But Islip was around much
longer then that, built on the Islip Airport site in 1947 it's 2/10 mile 18 degree banked oval lasted until
1984. It was the home of the first demo race, the first figure 8 race and the NASCAR great's even raced
there until the "Modern Era".
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Way back when
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/2r.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/3r.jpg
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Islip Speedway today
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/16r.jpg
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Back in the fifties and sixties you could go to the races practically every night! The drags were
Friday at Islip and Sunday at Hampton or National.
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/1.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/5r.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/6r.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/1r.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/7r.jpg
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Johnny Rocco was a racer and long time Flagman
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/15rLarge.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/13rLarge.jpg
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Steve Park got his start at Islip
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/14rLarge.gif
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The drag strip ran from the back edge of the property down between the concession stands
and the oval track. There were no concessions at the drags! The 1/8 ended at the oval racers pit
entrance and the shut down area ran out into the dirt parking lot.
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/Clip_4.gif
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/Clip_7.gif
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Tommy Ivo in the pits and coming between the stands and concessions.
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/8r.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/9r.jpg
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The starting line
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/10r.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/12r.jpg
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http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t114/dog427435/Super%20Chevy/Family/img064.jpg
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