Northern California Drag Racing

Author: Steve Reyes
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467108170
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Book Description
Organized drag racing began in Northern California in 1949 thanks to World War II veterans with a need for speed. Towns like Redding, Lodi, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Fremont would host their own drag events featuring homebuilt jalopies. Anyone with a driver's license and a paid entry fee could participate, and as the cars got more sophisticated and faster, more and more spectators came to watch the local speed demons. By the 1960s, a metamorphosis began with the introduction of the slingshot-style dragsters. For the next 12 years, the slingshot dragster was the king of the quarter mile, and it made stars of Gary Ormsby, Frank Bradley, Dennis Baca, and James Warren. Meanwhile, in 1965, a funny new race car challenged The King as it gained popularity in Northern California. Leading this funny car charge was a Pennsylvania transplant named Russell James Liberman. However, the golden years of Northern California drag racing came to an end in the mid-1970s. Today, only 5 out of 17 drag strips are still open. Photographer Steve Reyes journeyed into the world of Northern California drag racing in 1963 as a 15-year-old kid. Upon seeing an advertisement from the Oakland Tribune that read, Come see the nitro powered 200mph slingshot dragsters, Reyes and his father made the 23-mile trek to the Fremont drag strip. With the noise of high-powered engines filling the air, Reyes was hooked and made it his duty to capture this one-of-a-kind world on film.

Drag Racing in the 1960s

Author: Doug Boyce
Publisher: CarTech Inc
ISBN: 1613255829
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
The 1960s were a fascinating decade on the race scene. Relive the memories today through this wonderful new book. Drag racing has a long and storied history. Many have said that the first drag race happened shortly after the second car was made. While that may or may not be true, racing prior to World War II was mostly centered around dry-lake activities and top-speed runs. After the war, drag racing became organized with the formation of the NHRA, and during the 1950s, many tracks were built across America to accommodate the racers. Technology in the 1950s centered on the manufacturers updating old flathead designs into newer overhead-valve designs, and the horsepower race really started to heat up. In many forms of racing, the 1960s brought technological evolution. The decade began with big engines in even bigger stock chassis and ended with purpose-built race-only chassis, fiberglass bodies, fuel injection, nitro methane, and blowers. Quarter-mile times that were in the 13-second range in the beginning of the decade were in the 7-second range by the end. New classes were formed, dedicated cars were built for them, and many racers themselves became recognized names in the sports landscape. In Drag Racing in the 60s: The Evolution in Race Car Technology, veteran author Doug Boyce takes you on a ride through the entire decade from a technological point of view rather than a results-based one. Covered are all the classes, including Super Stocks, Altered Wheelbase cars (which led to Funny Cars), Top Fuelers, Gassers, and more.

Drag Racing Gassers Photo Archive

Author: Lou Hart
Publisher: Enthusiast Books
ISBN: 9781583881880
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Book Description
One of drag racings very popular classes formed was the Gassers. During the `50s, Model A and 1932-`34 Fords were considered the hot set-up for these gas classes. Using Ford V-8 "flatheads" and later overhead valve engines, Gas Coupe and Sedan classes had to maintain stock wheelbases and the engine relocation was limited. By the mid-60s, it was rare to find an upper classed gasser with any other body make than Willys, Studebaker, Austin or Anglia. They were the stoutest full-bodied cars on strips nationwide. Touring teams ran four to six times every week, often traveling several hundred miles day and night to make their next dates. This was old school racing! However, interest waned as fliptop funny cars took over in popularity. The battles in A/GS (later AA/GS) ranks created many heroes and villains who etched their marks into drag racing history. Gassers shared with fans of the quarter mile one the most thrilling overall racecar types, and for an era that was all too short, they were literally the Kings of the Sport. Enjoy this photo book that takes you back to that time.

Drag Racing's Rebels

Author: Doug Boyce
Publisher: CarTech Inc
ISBN: 161325766X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Book Description
Learn the entire fascinating story of the American Hot Rod Association (AHRA) in this wonderfully illustrated color history. When the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) was formed in 1951 by Wally Parks, the reasoning for the formation was to "create order from chaos" by instituting safety rules and performance standards that helped legitimize the sport of drag racing. Some organization was certainly necessary. A postwar boom in automotive enthusiasm was reaching new heights, and Hot Rod magazine and the NHRA were right in the thick of it. The NHRA hosted its first drag racing event in 1953, and in 1955, the organization staged its first national event, which was simply called "The Nationals." The AHRA formed in 1956 as an alternative to the NHRA, where the drivers voted on the rules (rather than sanctioning bodies and tracks), and their influence on the sport was felt almost immediately. When the NHRA denied the use of nitromethane in 1957, the AHRA approved it. When the NHRA banned aircraft-powered dragsters in 1961, the AHRA welcomed them. When the NHRA said no to the emerging Funny Car in 1965, the AHRA said yes. When fans and racers screamed for a heads-up Super Stock category in 1968, the AHRA delivered. The AHRA was called a rebel association. Some say that it was more of an association that got things done—to the delight of fans and racers. The AHRA was on equal ground with the NHRA by the 1970s, drawing enormous crowds and racer entries.

In this fascinating history, veteran author Doug Boyce tells the story of the AHRA, the rise, the competition, the events, and the eventual downfall of the organization. After AHRA President Jim Tice passed away in 1982, internal fighting for control of the association resulted in its doom. Get the whole story here, and add this wonderful volume to your drag racing library.

Hot Rodding in Ventura County

Author: Tony Baker
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 0738599689
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 130

Book Description
Stretching from Ventura to Santa Maria, California, a vibrant and colorful community of hot rod clubs bloomed throughout the middle of the 20th century. Hot Rodding in Ventura County takes a look at the people, places, and, above all, the cars that made up this historic period in automotive culture. Take a look into the golden years of hot rodding through vintage images of the first national championship drag races; visit long-lost drag strips such as Goleta, Saugus, and Santa Maria; and gain access to hot rodding's paramount clubs like the Motor Monarchs, the Kustomeers, and the Pharaohs.

Quarter-Mile Chaos

Author: Steve Reyes
Publisher: CarTech Inc
ISBN: 1613255942
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
Relive drag racing’s dangerous past in this softcover edition of a previous best seller. Quarter-Mile Chaos looks at the treacherous side of drag racing's golden age. Almost 200 rare and stunning photographs from the late 1960s and early-to-mid 1970s capture terrifying fires, explosions, and crashes, all by-products on the quest to go faster. Quarter-Mile Chaos is full of up-close and personal documentation of the perilous task to reach the 1,320-foot mark first. Armed with just a few cameras and some film, veteran drag-racing photographer Steve Reyes shot some of the most dramatic and eye-catching pictures of these quarter-mile warriors. Reyes roamed the nation's hazardous strips in search of the perfect action photo. The result is some of the most breathtaking drag-racing imagery ever recorded, depicting out-of-control demolition and devastation during drag racing's most entertaining era.

Fuel and Guts

Author: Dave McClelland, Tom Madigan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781610609388
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Book Description

Stardust International Raceway

Author: Randall Cannon
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476673896
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 430

Book Description
Professional motorsports came to Las Vegas in the mid-1950s at a bankrupt horse track swarmed by gamblers--and soon became enmeshed with the government and organized crime. By 1965, the Vegas racing game moved from makeshift facilities to Stardust International Raceway, constructed with real grandstands, sanitary facilities and air-conditioned timing towers. Stardust would host the biggest racing names of the era--Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, John Surtees, Mark Donohue, Bobby Unser, Dan Gurney and Don Garlits among them. Established by a notorious racketeer, the track stood at the confluence of shadowy elements--wiretaps, casino skimming, Howard Hughes, and the beginnings of Watergate. The author traces the Stardust's colorful history through the auto racing monthlies, national newspapers, extensive interviews and the files of the FBI.

"TV" Tommy Ivo

Author: Tom Cotter
Publisher: Motorbooks
ISBN: 1610601270
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 243

Book Description
2011 International Automotive Media Gold Award Winner In the early 1960s, Tommy Ivo had the world in the palm of his hands. Still a young man, he was already a star of television and film with a promising Hollywood future ahead of him. Then his producers told him he had to quit drag racing. He quit the entertainment industry instead. This is the official story of Ivo’s incredible life and racing career. Readers will follow “TV” Tommy as he becomes the most ambitious drag racer in the nation, building his own cars in the garage behind his Burbank home; becoming the first driver to pilot his dragsters to 170, 175, and 180 miles per hour and towing his cars to match races at small-town drag strips across the United States. Always the showman, Ivo pioneered promotional techniques that are today taken for granted. In this regard especially, his impact on the sport cannot be understated, and his legacy is detailed in this incredible bio of one of drag racing’s most irrepressible characters.

Roland Leong "The Hawaiian"

Author: Lou Hart
Publisher: CarTech Inc
ISBN: 1613257783
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Book Description
From racing the family Oldsmobile in 1960 to winning the Winternationals in 1964, read about the meteoric rise of drag racing’s greatest owner and tuner in the first-ever book about "The Hawaiian" Roland Leong. As the son of a Harvard graduate, it could have been difficult for Roland Leong to live up to his family’s expectations. However, that wasn’t the case. “The Hawaiian” knew at a young age that drag racing was his career path. His supportive mother, Teddy, saw potential in Roland and bought him a new 1962 Corvette for "educational" purposes, such as wrenching and tuning. From there, it didn’t take long for the world to discover Oahu’s best-kept secret in drag racing. In 1964, less than two years after reaching the mainland, Roland was in victory lane at the Winternationals in Top Gas Eliminator. The following year, with Don Prudhomme behind the wheel, “The Hawaiian” immortalized his place in drag racing forever with wins in NHRA’s Top Fuel Eliminator at Pomona (Winternationals) and Indy (US Nationals). Leong became the first ever to capture those iconic crowns in a single season. For good measure, Roland repeated the achievement in 1966 with Mike Snively, showing the world that a Harvard education isn’t required to achieve greatness. "The Hawaiian" Roland Leong: Drag Racing’s Iconic Owner & Tuner is a tale of family, friends, and forging a path that no other Chinese-Hawaiian before him had carved. Re-live his biggest wins and lasting friendships in this first-ever publication on drag racing's first builder and tuner superstar, Roland Leong!