Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Bit Player


Before it was known as Dragonsnake, Carroll Shelby rented this Cobra to MGM Studios for Viva Las Vegas. After its brief movie career, CSX2019 wearing a "Sun Gleam Viking Blue" metalflake paint job, stopped the clocks at 12.81/108.95 to set the A/SSP record at the 1964 AHRA Winternationals.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Scale Destruction

From the murky depths of Cold War paranoia comes this miniature nuclear battery. 31 of Uncle Sam's finest for junior to assemble, a masterstroke of polystyrene propaganda.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Paradise Lost

As a child I was enthralled by futuristic images under the misguided presumption that this was tomorrow.
Pictures lie.

Glob Blurp Voop & Zopp




Lindberg's offerings from the height of the monster model craze.
See more monster madness at: mysticskull.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

A/FX Showdown !!!!

A star studded line up from the dawn of the funny car.

Pit Stop #18

A station wagon was never too far from the action at the strip. The Trip making the trip to Irwindale.

Strip Shot

Ford powered dragsters were certainly in the minority during the 1960's, but that didn't mean they weren't competitive. The Brand Ford Special AA/FD at Lions with SOHC 427 power.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Neato !

No explanation necessary.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Who Loves Ya Baby ?

I missed Kojak bubblegum cards the first time 'round, my juvenile mind was busily immersed in a world of unfinished model kits.

Via: Jimmy Tyler

Ramchargin'

Distracting bikini clad chicks don't help reaction times. Perhaps FoMoCo strategically positioned her as a booby trap ?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Driver's Seat #2

Shifting gears with Dandy Dick Landy.

Do The Watusi

"The Watusi should be performed to music with a moderate tempo."

Pit Stop #17

Fremont 1963
This roadster pick-up, with its injected Hemi, must have been a very serious contender.

Armchair Racer

More slot car shenanigans.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

La Mano Nera

Here's a dragster that has drawn a blank with the Magnetic Brain. With its black paint and distinctive Black Hand logo it should be fairly easy to identify. Anybody out there have any clues ?

Monday, March 15, 2010

Speed Merchant

Gary Gabelich giving the Scoundrel top fuel dragster the once over at Bakersfield in 1966. Four years later Gabelich would set the world land speed record in the rocket powered "Blue Flame". His speed of 622.407 mph remained unbeaten until 1983.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Utopian Turtletop

"Mom and the kids couldn't believe that somebody else had bought an Edsel."

Clowning Around

Nerves of steel and a total disregard for personal safety were required to drive a 1959 Dodge on two wheels.

Snap

From the long forgotten era of topless vinyl shindigs.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Strip Chicks

Linda Vaughan, the Hurst girls and their hair.

Pit Stop #16

Photo: Mike Manson
Simon Templar's Volvo was no match for this injected rig.


Driver's Seat

Jack Chrisman suited up and ready to run in his A/FX Comet.

Squad Car

The 1966 Galaxie has plenty of room for hauling two-bit hustlers downtown.

Friday, March 12, 2010

FOURTWENTYSEVEN !!!

"There won't be any excuses to the young fellow with the channelled '32 that lives down the road about how this car was meant to cross the winding roads of Europe not burn rubber for three hundred feet."

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Pit Stop #15


This is as much advertising as I ever wish to see on a dragster.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Behind The Iron Curtain

No you are not looking at a Bonneville streamliner. This is the Kharkov 6, a Russian record breaker from 1952. Perhaps the KGB had a few spies on the salt ?

Haulin' Freight

Loading the scourge of Maranello.

Los Hermanos de Rodriguez

"Victory and death lie closer together
in motor racing than any other sport."

Brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez tragically lost their lives chasing the chequered flag.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Hot Sauce

Pedro Rodriguez at the wheel of the N.A.R.T Ferrari 330P. The Mexican's fearless driving style was fueled, in part, by his secret culinary weapon. Tabasco Sauce !!!!

Pit Stop #14

An earlier incarnation of Lew Arrington's Brutus. The background action is always captivating in these pictures.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Fried Chicken Or Spaghetti ?


What's in a name ?


However you slice it, The Race Of Two Worlds, 500 Miglia di Monza or Monzanapolis was a grudge match between the boys from the Brickyard and the best Europe had to offer. For two short years Formula One went head to head with the Indianapolis roadsters. The overall race winner was determined by the driver who finished all three heats with the highest average speed. The Americans had the advantage, their cars perfectly suited to the high speed banking of the Monza circuit. 1957 saw the American Jimmy Bryan, in the Dean Van Lines Special, take the trophy with an average speed of 160 mph. Ferrari, Maserati and Jaguar lined up for 1958 hoping to keep the trophy on home soil. Jim Rathmann took the series again for the U.S.A, his Watson-Offy Leader Card Special winning with an amazing average speed of 166.756 mph.

Miss Hurst

Linda Vaughan just can't quite
reach that line lock.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Pit Stop #13

The absolutely stunning Fred Hurst Opel gasser receiving some TLC between rounds. This photo comes from a fantastic site : http://drags.lookskool.com/index.html
Check it out !

Unsafe At Any Speed

Cecil County Dragway 1970.
The end of the road for Petrucelli & Haskett's Super Twister Corvair funny car.

Maybe Ralph Nader was right.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Twin's Turbo Terror

Photo: Roy Gerritson

Identical twins Jerry and Gary Mallicoat became the scourge of the gasser ranks when they unveiled their twin turbocharged B/Gas Willys at the 1965 Winternationals. The brothers had previously won the 1964 Winternationals B/Gas trophy with a more conventional 6-71 blower but quickly made the change when they realised the horsepower available from the new setup. This method of induction was virtually unheard of at the time, but that didn't stop the boys from shutting down all the biggest names. The fans must have been at a loss to see the blue Willys, with no scoop poking through the hood, run away from the Stone, Woods and Cook
Swindler B for a convincing win in the final.

Daredevils On Wheels


A very early example of the hot rod comic.

The Mouse That Roared At Lions

You can bet when Fiat launched the Topolino in 1937 they didn't have this in mind. Mondello & Matsubara tearing it up at Lions.

Pit Stop #12

Funny cars actually looked like their road-going relatives in 1968. There's no mistaking the Blair's Speed Shop flopper, even if it was spelled out between the flower power headlights.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Horsepower

"Horsepower costs money ;
how much can you afford ?"

Smokey Yunick

Pit Stop #11

By the time the Blackwood, Eckard & Kirk Charger hit the strip the gasser wars were well and truly over. To the casual observer the Rod Shop entry had the appearance of a funny car. However, underneath things weren't so funny, it was all gasser.