Some good old Drag racing footage!

[Toejam]

I sure wish I got the chance to see a race at Ontario.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf5RS20LR0g

 

[Gordon]

Very cool.

I loved the stogie! Don't suppose Rick Stewart would go for that today (lit or otherwise), huh?

 

[Vern]

Cool Thanks for the link...

 

[d'kid]

Joe, Thanks for the link... best use of a pit road ever... and yeah, I was there... now to go wipe the tears from my eyes....

 

[RacerRose]

I remember seeing that footage on ESPN when Dave Despain hosted a show called Glory Days. I'd rather heard the commentary than the music, but it's still a pretty cool clip.

 

[.]

That's great footage.
The more I see and learn about the good old days, the more I wish I was around for them.

 

[T.Smith]

That footage is from a 1/2 hour movie called "The Age of Drag Racing". I have it on tape here somewhere, taped it off a nostalgia racing show(The Glory Days) Dave Despain was hosting on ESPN2, a must have if you can find it. It covers Dick Landy as he gets ready for the World Finals.(..or Supernationals?) and the race itself. There's a little coverage of Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock. It also has some neat testing footage from OCIR.

Sounds as though ESPN still owns the shows and there is very little chance they'll ever be released.

 

[Harry Mannback]

Very nice footage!

I only got to go to one race at Ontario, my dad was working for Wide World Of Sports and got me a pass. I think it was the Supernationals.

Didn't they build an industrial park or something where it used to be?

 

[Gary Stroud]

I found this link there YouTube - Burnout HaHa

 

[Vern]

Gald I don't have to pay for them tires !

 

[Johnny Mopar]

Very cool.

I loved the stogie! Don't suppose Rick Stewart would go for that today (lit or otherwise), huh?

Some groovy footage for sure! Besides the stogie, how 'bout those white slip on tennis shoes with the white socks?

Landy was one bad a$$ dude in his day...the floor cam of him power shifting was really cool. He was man-handling that ole HEMI!

 

[DragFan2]

I sure wish I got the chance to see a race at Ontario.

YouTube - DRAGCARS HAVIN FUN

Joe, I never got to see a drag race at Ontario, but I did see some Indy car time trials on a visit there in the mid 70's. That facility was huge. The video you found showed how the staging lanes and even the burnout area actually started on one of the curves of the race track. Pretty wild. Here's a good question...does anybody recall when they started raising the body on Funny Cars after backing up from the burnout? I seem to recall that was never done back then, and this footage seems to bare that out.

 

[Mooseman]

What a really cool video , I wish it was still like that today . They really liked smoking the tires in the staging lanes back then didn't they . The bit where jungle jim did the burnout in the staging lane was really cool.

 

[Angelo]

That was too cool Joe, thanks for sharing.

 

[Dave]

Just wonderful!!!

I can't get enough of the vintage stuff.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Rajunz]

Thanks so much Joe, I love that old stuff.

 

[Suzie Q]

That was some great footage! I love all the "Mutton Chops"!!! Thanks!

 

[Toejam]

That was some great footage! I love all the "Mutton Chops"!!! Thanks!

Mutton Chops?????

 

[Daryl Naber]

Was that a quick shot of Bernie at the mike, also would like to see Gene Snow deleted from anything to do with drag racing.

 

[SuperCamaro]

Joe, I never got to see a drag race at Ontario, but I did see some Indy car time trials on a visit there in the mid 70's. That facility was huge. The video you found showed how the staging lanes and even the burnout area actually started on one of the curves of the race track. Pretty wild. Here's a good question...does anybody recall when they started raising the body on Funny Cars after backing up from the burnout? I seem to recall that was never done back then, and this footage seems to bare that out.

I may not have this exact, but Austin Coil started doing this in the Eighties on John Force's cars. He had a problem banging the the blower on the burnout, I believe and to solve this, he grounded one of the mags, for the burnout only, after John backed up, he had to lift the body to pull the ground strape off the one mag. Today they have so much to do after the burnout, it's almost funny, but I think Austin still grounds the one mag to this day.......Perry Jr.