Firebird Raceway renovation?

[Gearhead]

OCIR closed in 1984. Firebird opened in 1985. Charley Allen was the leaseholder of the property when it expired and the Irvine Company reclaimed it for development. I was at OCIR for the real last drag race the weekend after the supposed Last Drag race that featured funny cars. The real last drag race was a Saturday bracket race that lasted until 4:00 AM Sunday morning. Since it was the last race no one cared about the curfew.

Randy, I'll have to disagree with you on the opening of Firebird. It was Aug. 1983. It was their first race and we got there around 8:00am and didn't run 1st round until almost 1:00am because of the number of cars. I also have a picture in my garage of my Nova at the Jan. 84 race.

 

[Randy]

Randy, I'll have to disagree with you on the opening of Firebird. It was Aug. 1983. It was their first race and we got there around 8:00am and didn't run 1st round until almost 1:00am because of the number of cars. I also have a picture in my garage of my Nova at the Jan. 84 race.

Jerry:

You are correct about the closing date. I was a year off. According to this web site O.C. History Roundup: Orange County International Raceway, Irvine OCIR closed October 1983.

According to this article Firebird Raceway closing down; drag racing possible in 2014 | azfamily.com Phoenix and quote from the NHRA, Firebird opened in 1983, but it also mentions Charlie had a 28 year lease which would make the lease start in 1985. “We have had a very successful partnership with Charlie Allen and his team during their 28 years as lease holders of the facility and look forward with much anticipation for the 29th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, February 22-24, 2013.”

In your pictures can you tell if the tree was a hanging 3 amber back then? It was when I went to Firebird for the first time after OCIR closed. OCIR used to have a 5 amber tree on the ground until the fuel altereds started mowing them down. Then they went to the 3 amber hanging tree with sequential lights on each end of the cable for reaction time.

I know for a fact that OCIR was cleaned out and all the equipment went to Firebird which makes sense. The Irvine company would have loaded it all up into a dumpster.

 

[Randy]

I always enjoy your posts describing racing at the old SoCal tracks Randy...then I remember that I'm still mad at you for ever selling that Arias powered A/A.

You mean this one? From the January 1981 issue of Popular Hot Rodding. Article and photos were originally taken by Steve Reyes at OCIR one saturday during the Summer of 1980.

 

[Gearhead]

Jerry:

You are correct about the closing date. I was a year off. According to this web site O.C. History Roundup: Orange County International Raceway, Irvine OCIR closed October 1983.

According to this article Firebird Raceway closing down; drag racing possible in 2014 | azfamily.com Phoenix and quote from the NHRA, Firebird opened in 1983, but it also mentions Charlie had a 28 year lease which would make the lease start in 1985. “We have had a very successful partnership with Charlie Allen and his team during their 28 years as lease holders of the facility and look forward with much anticipation for the 29th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, February 22-24, 2013.”

In your pictures can you tell if the tree was a hanging 3 amber back then? It was when I went to Firebird for the first time after OCIR closed. OCIR used to have a 5 amber tree on the ground until the fuel altereds started mowing them down. Then they went to the 3 amber hanging tree with sequential lights on each end of the cable for reaction time.

I know for a fact that OCIR was cleaned out and all the equipment went to Firebird which makes sense. The Irvine company would have loaded it all up into a dumpster.

Randy, I'm pretty sure it was the hanging 3 amber tree. The picture doesn't show the tree. We made it to OCIR shortly before they closed. It was a fun weekend, but expensive. We broke the rearend on the second run Sat. and then dropped a valve on Sunday. We didn't have a spare rearend, but a racer, Randy Gillis (I think that's his name), loaned us a complete center section and even supplied the gear lube. At least we made it OCIR before they closed.

 

[Fuel FC Fan]

You mean this one? From the January 1981 issue of Popular Hot Rodding. Article and photos were originally taken by Steve Reyes at OCIR one saturday during the Summer of 1980.

So Randy,
That was a Arias Chevrolet?
Hemi Heads, Chevy Block?

Heard of that combination a few times in the past but never got up close enough to figure out what the Combo. was.

Thx.

 

[Randy]

So Randy,
That was a Arias Chevrolet?
Hemi Heads, Chevy Block?

Heard of that combination a few times in the past but never got up close enough to figure out what the Combo. was.

Thx.

It was a cast iron Chevy truck block partially filled, cast aluminum Arias water jacketed hemi heads with three pushrods. It had one intake pushrod and two exhaust pushrods per cylinder. The engine belonged to Dave Calvert and Nick Arias.

 

[Nunz]

That's the one Randy. You posted those pics before, and I actually remember that issue of Pop Hot Rodding! My dad held the national record in A/A about 10 years before you ran yours, so his was still a 100 inch wb. jackrabbit with a 504 in. Chevy (huge in 1970). I know I've posted this somewhere, sometime before, but your car would look wild if it rolled out of a trailer today.