Northern California Drag Racing

Author : Steve Reyes
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2022-05-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781467108171

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Northern California Drag Racing by Steve Reyes Pdf

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.

Author : Philip Harkins
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 1960
Category : Drag racing
ISBN : OCLC:2147597

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The Day of the Drag Race by Philip Harkins Pdf

Author : Doug Boyce
Publisher : CarTech Inc
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2023-11-15
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 9781613257661

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Drag Racing's Rebels by Doug Boyce Pdf

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.

Author : Steve Reyes
Publisher : CarTech Inc
Page : 180 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2020-06-15
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 9781613255940

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Quarter-Mile Chaos by Steve Reyes Pdf

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.

Author : Steve Reyes
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2023-06-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781467109727

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Southern California Funny Cars by Steve Reyes Pdf

Southern California was the birthplace of organized drag racing, with the first organized race held at the Santa Ana airport in 1949 and the subsequent founding of the National Hot Rod Association in 1950. Over the next decade and a half, the dragster became the king of the quarter mile on Southern California drag strips. In 1964, veteran dragster owner/driver Jack Chrisman had an idea for something different to grace Southern California's drag strips. It was not a dragster but a stock-bodied race car using nitromethane for fuel in a supercharged engine. With the help of Gene Mooneyham, Mercury's Fran Hernandez, and sponsor Helen Sachs, Chrisman put together the world's first nitro-burning "funny car." It was a steel stock-bodied Mercury Cyclone with a supercharged 427 Ford engine running on pure nitromethane. Chrisman started the evolution that soon turned stock steel-bodied cars into fiberglass-bodied tube chassis funny cars. Southern California drag racers began to lead the way for racers all over the United States in the new funny car class.

Author : Jim Rockstad
Publisher : Dorrance Publishing
Page : 181 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2018-01-02
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781480946873

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Rocky's Road by Jim Rockstad Pdf

Rocky’s Road By: Jim Rockstad With more than three decades of experience in the world of hot rods, drag racing and funny cars, Jim Rockstad has a million and one stories of the races, drivers and good old days of drag racing in the Pacific Northwest. He was there in the pit when Ed “Ace” McCulloch put the Northwest racing scene on the map with his momentous win in the Northwind dragster in 1965 and from there the rest is history. Rocky’s Road is a trip down memory lane through the milestones of West Coast racing from one of the sport’s premier managers and promoters. Rockstad’s story isn’t just sports trivia—it’s also a personal memoir, showing that anyone with enough passion and luck can find success in chasing their dreams.

Author : Jeffrey Zuehlke
Publisher : LernerClassroom
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2007-09-01
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9780822590132

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Drag Racers by Jeffrey Zuehlke Pdf

Drag racing is all about pure speed. Inside and out, top fuel dragsters, funny cars, and other drag racers are built to burn off the starting line and sail across the finish line. Races take just a few seconds, but they're packed with excitement, danger, and intense competition. Even the smallest mistake can be the difference between winning and losing. In this book you will learn how the sport got its start on a lonely stretch of road near Santa Barbara, California. You'll also learn about the major classes of drag racers, how they got their start, and the drivers who push them to their limits.

Author : Randall Cannon,Michael Gerry
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 430 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2018-09-24
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781476673899

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Stardust International Raceway by Randall Cannon,Michael Gerry Pdf

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.

Author : Robert C. Post
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 460 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Science
ISBN : 0801866642

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High Performance by Robert C. Post Pdf

Providing a firsthand history of the sport, this book takes a detailed look at all aspects of drag racing: the sport, the business, and tracks the innovations that permitted racers to disprove the "laws of physics". 147 halftones.

Author : Scotty Gosson
Publisher : CarTech Inc
Page : 177 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2016-04-15
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 9781613252239

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Lost Drag Strips II by Scotty Gosson Pdf

Fresh on the heels of the best-selling book Lost Drag Strips comes a new look at other long-lost and forgotten drag racing facilities from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. In the first volume, the author examined the birth of drag racing and its subsequent popularity that invaded every city and community across America. Unfortunately, after the initial explosion of popularity, it waned, and various drag strips closed for a myriad of reasons. Financial pressure for the real estate they occupied, suburban sprawl, and waning participation were all reasons for the change in fortunes for the small, and even not-so-small, racetracks. The first volume was great, but readers demanded more! Lost Drag Strips II picks up where the first volume left off, covering even more tracks with archival photos of racing in the tracks' heyday, the cars that ran there, and coverage of the tracks as they exist today. This volume also includes some of the tracks that survived, those that fought off the economic demons and the urban sprawl and continue to run today. Tracks in this volume include: Fort Wainwright/Racing Lions Motorsports Park, Avenue G Drag Strip, Fremont/Baylands Drag Strip, San Fernando Drag Strip, Fontana Drag City, Inyokern Drag Strip, Kahuku Air Strip, Las Vegas Speedrome, Continental Divide Raceways, SRCA Drag Strip, Southwest Raceway, Willow Run Raceway, Minnesota Dragways, KCTA Drag Strip, Detroit Dragway, Niagara Airport Dragstrip, New York National Speedway, York US 30 Drag-O-Way, South Mountain Raceway, La Place Dragway, Yellow River Drag Strip, Thunderbolt Dragway, and more.

Author : Lou Hart
Publisher : CarTech Inc
Page : 177 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2023-08-15
Category : Transportation
ISBN : 9781613257784

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Roland Leong "The Hawaiian" by Lou Hart Pdf

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!

Author : Robert C. Post
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 456 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 1994
Category : Science
ISBN : UOM:39015009125538

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High Performance by Robert C. Post Pdf

What emerges is a compelling look at the men and women who have devoted their lives to this extraordinary pursuit and a sensitive exploration of their motivations.

Author : Don Garlits
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2013-06-01
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781613217559

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Tales from the Drag Strip by Don Garlits Pdf

Since the moment that young men began modifying and personalizing their automobiles back in the 1940s and ’50s, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits was squarely in the thick of this intoxicating pursuit. Tales from the Drag Strip with “Big Daddy” Don Garlits is a first-person account of the many memorable experiences this drag racing icon has lived through in his half-century of nitromethane-fueled exploits. The many races, racers, race fans, and race tracks that have touched his colorful career are recounted as only Big Daddy can, painting a vivid picture of his life at speed and the triumphs and tragedies that came along the way. Insightful, ironic, humorous, and touching—but all true—Big Daddy’s remembrances are the next best thing to reliving the glory days of America’s quickest and fastest motorsports through the eyes of an American institution.

Author : Dave McClelland, Tom Madigan
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2024-06-01
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1610609387

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Fuel and Guts by Dave McClelland, Tom Madigan Pdf

Author : J Chris Roselius
Publisher : Extreme Speed (Lerner (Tm) Spo
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2020
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781541577190

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Superfast Drag Racing by J Chris Roselius Pdf

Start your engines and get in gear! Exciting photos and facts will have readers turning the pages to discover the history of drag racing, what a typical race day looks like, and more about the sport.