WOW! Imagine my surprise...

[bigkid59]

... when I found one of my old race cars on the Internet!



I was surfing the Internet a couple of weeks ago trying to come up with any information regarding drag racing around the Memphis area in the 60's, as that was when I was involved in it. I was using Google to search names of racers I knew back then and when I tried a search on Ray Godman several hits came up. One of those hits was a picture of Ray's Tennessee Boll Weevil AA/FD along with my car! The caption stated that the site had received the picture because of Ray's car but that the site owner was interested in the other car as he had no information on it.

I Emailed the site with information on ownership of the car and that information has been added to the picture. The owner of the site, Don Ewald, has asked me to compose a caption for the picture and I am working on that now. After several calls to others in the picture I have most of the info I need. There is a strong possibility that the chassis of my old car might have a significant history, and I am trying to research it further.

The site it is on is an absolutly fantastic site devoted to top fuel racing in the era of the front engined dragsters, primarily pre 1972. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in seeing it "the way it was".

The site is www.wediditforlove.com. There are 80 main pages each consisting of 20-24 pages of photos and text. My car is on page 16 of main page 44. The site also has very much more content than the pictures.

I have really enjoyed looking back at the good old days. I am now 61 years old and sure would like to relive my racing days in the 60's! By the way, I am the Bill in the info, not Lowery.

The caption will be updated soon with some info on both cars and the names of the people in the picture.

 

[Ramboy]

Bigkid,

Great site. I am the same age as you and have great memories of trips to Minter Field and Famosa (Cal) during my teen years. The pictures are definitely a walk through history. Had to chop cotton in the summer and pick cotton in the fall to make the money to go but it was worth it.

Phil

 

[RHARVEY]

I have spent a lot of hours at Famosa (Cal) helping with a dragster! Famosa is where I took my wife on our 2nd date and that has been nearly 19 years ago... Memories of standing on the starting line at 1 am with the track owners at that time and being invited to a free trip to the snack bar for BBQ steak. . What memories...



Rick

 

[Jumbo Jet]

Just to let you know, I used to visit Memphis's Lakeland drag strip back in the mid 60's.



I remember when the funny cars were just hitting 200mph through a 1/4.



Ah, for a return to those days for us old ones!

 

[Joe G.]

Great site. I was a regular at Lions in Long Beach in the '50s. Sure brings back memories of some of the cars I thought I had forgotten. It will take some time to see all the pictures. I wonder if there is a picture of Jack Christman's twin Chevy when he had the piece of plywood for a nose piece. I see a picture of that car after they replaced the plywood with a nice looking fibreglas nose. I've seen some races in the '60s at Kingdon near Lodi too. I saw the Frantic Four run in PA somewhere near Philly in '64. It had to be in the late summer or early fall. They broke a rear end and borrowed one from a spectator who owned the right model Olds. Won the meet with the borrowed rear end. Those were the days all right. I can't imagine anything like that happening today.

 

[Grey Wolf]

If you want to relive the "Old Days" Check out the meets for The Good Guys some of your peers may still be out there



http://www.good-guys.com/8-Drag.html

 

['956Wheel]

OH YEAH

I used to get a kick outta the "Freight Train". Do you guys remember Garlits dog"s name... ... ... NITRO! Was at Lions on closing night, that was the place to be! Seems like so many great places are gone, Ascot, Saugus, Irwindale (1/4 mile) and of course Lions. I think it was on closing night at Lions that Garlits melted 4 pistons after his 1st burnout. Anybody been to the racing museum at Pomona fairgrounds? NEAT! And what about "CHA-CHA"! GREAT SITE... ... ..... THANKS!







Mike

 

[weber1048]

I was a regular at Oldsmar Drag Strip in Oldsmar Florida in the late 50's early 60's. Garlits was from Tampa. They could only run 1/8th mile since the shut down was not long enough. Then they build Tampa Drag Way, had Tommy Ivo's 4 engine Buick powered, Don Garlits, Don Prudhome, Chris Karamasenies etc. Garlits has a museum just south of Ocala, Fl. Most of his Swamp Rats are there as well as other assorted racers. Lots of pictures on the wall, one of which I am in. No bleachers in those days just a bank and your car to sit on.



Doug

 

[bigkid59]

Update

A big thank you to all who expressed interest in the old days of drag racing!



Don Ewald has just updated the site to cover the 2001 CHRR (California Hot Rod Reunion) event. Lots of new pictures of some of the best racers of all time.

I sent him a caption to describe my car. As of now he has not used it and the old caption just identifies the cars in the picture. I found a bit of interesting history about the chassis and sent it to him. He has probably been very busy with the CHRR material.

Again, the site for thousands of pictures of front engined dragsters is www.wediditforlove.com.