Sunday will never be the same... (3 Viewers)

[Cliff]

That is how I felt when Firebird, now Wild Horse, opened, 1984 I think. Reminded me so much of OCIR except for the tower. Pits laid out the same way. Was soooooo glad AZ had a modern strip.

 

[M Jones]

We ran our first Alterd at stardust, buck jones drove the car, when speeddrome opened me and my brother ran our new car there, Thanks Chris for bringing up the speedways history, lot of good memories for me

 

[vegasnitro]

Chris, you ever go to Stardust? I loved the Speedrome, went about 15 times, mostly the excellent Division 7 shows.



TopFuel@Lions

No, the Stardust was long gone by the time I got to Vegas in 1994. I believe the Stardust closed in 71 or 72 ... I wasn't born until 74.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

Just some ramdom pictures I did not use when I started this
thread, couple of weeks ago. Stored on file around 200 plus
pictures. I don't see me using my son's computer gear anytime soon.
A real hassle to move from house to house, and set up. And teach
the Dumb Ass (that would be me) how to use.

Steve Tansy vega panel wagon AA/FC 1973

John Hoven AA/FC with Tom Ferraro in the seat 1972 Lions

Jim Robbins AA/FC from Texas. Other than that. I no nothing?

Butch Claunch Nitro Burning Flopper 1974

SoCal's Jim Terry AA/FC 1974

AA/FD Chuck Griffith 1967 OCIR

Ronnie Hampshire AA/FD 1965 looks like Carlsbad,CA

No ID It's OCIR for sure, maybe 1968?

No ID

Gary Cochan in Carl Casper's "Young American" AA/FD 1970
I remember building this model in 1971. Wish I still had it.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

Jim Nicoll AA/FD 1970

Kenny Safford in the seat of the Gotelli Speed Shop AA/FD 1969

"Little" Tommy Larkin OCIR 1969

The Sundowners AA/FD at Atco,NJ 1973

Frank Bradley AA/FD Pomona 1978

Bob Williams AA/FD 1975 Tossing some parts!

The next four shots. Connie Kalitta running a wedge body AA/FD at Indy 1971
The end result, he never ran another wedge body fueler.
And Oh, one more thing Connie walked away. Hay he's Connie!!!

 

[Cliff]

The guy right behind the Marathon sign was an NHRA worker. I think maybe Phil Burgess did an article about him in the Wedge series he ran on Insider. He survived, but I bet his shorts were a bit stained! arghh
Also noticed the photo of Chuck Griffith in the Starlite, the engine is a Ford Cammer. That was an old car, saw it run one year at Winternats in Pomona with a Chrysler. I think the car was built when they still smoked the tires & converted over to the slipper clutch. I never went to the Winternats until 1969. Was in Air Force 1964-68, so missed a lot of stuff. I think the '69 race was when I saw the Starlite & it was run out of the Pomona Valley Timing Ass'n.

 

[Cliff]

The name may not be familiar, but ...

Sad news earlier this week sent by reader Craig Eagle, advertising accounting assistant at The Columbus Dispatch

www.nhra.com

Ron Rickman was the man behind the Marathon sign. Here is his story.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

Nice Blower

John "Tarzan" Austin Fuel Digger chucking the blower 1974 Gator's

Jim Murphy in the seat AA/FD 1973

Next 3 shots. Davey Uyehara having a bad day at the old track in
Las Vegas. They didn't call Davey The Fastest living Kamikaze Pilot for nothing!

Frank Bradley lights one up

Old hand out of mine. Garlits doing a publicity shot
in 1972 for the US Navy.

Just another fire burnout. Larry Bowers 1972

Flip Schofield 1974 at Irwindale

 

[Gone Dead Train]

"Flash Gordon" Mineo AA/FC 1974

"Cha Cha" 1970

The late Kenny Goodall trying to turn himself into a chrisspy critter

Call today before it's gone

Another photo that goes with the photo on page 4
Photo shoot for Drag Racing USA Magazine

Marv Eldridge in his nitro burning Corvette Funny Car

Harlan Thompson in the "Tom & Jerry" AA/FC chopping down the tree

Jerry "The King" Ruth AA/FC

Gene Conway 1969 Firebird AA/FC

Don Johnson's Monza body AA/FC on the beach

 

[Ramjet]

What do you notice about the front half of this superlite chassis?

 

[unclebob]

It's one of Davey's 3 rail cars, I turned it's twin "The Cotton King" into the world's first 5 railer when it collapsed at Pomona !

 

[Gone Dead Train]

The late Mike Snivley in the Hawaiian AA/FD 1967

No ID, But it's Irwindale,CA

No ID Cool shot AA/FD OCIR 1970

Jim Dunn's "Rainbow car" near lane vs Kelly bown 1968

From Oregon it's Cordy Jensen "Bev's Steak House" AA/FD 1967 at Puyallup,WA

From The Great Northwest. Green Dragon AA/FD 1966 Puyallup,WA

The late Mike Sorokin in the seat "The Grecian" AA/FD 1967 Irwindale,CA

The late Raymond Beadle in Prentiss Cunningham AA/FD at the
NHRA World Finals. Amarillo,TX 1971

No ID It looks like Fremont in the lights. Check out the front wheels

Not a bad AA/FD entry list. Do you agree?

 

[Cliff]

Photo #2, check out the injected digger in the background. JR/F? Like the rear body work on it.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

SoCal's Jeff Courtie AA/FC 1975

From Oregon Wendall White AA/FC 1975 at SIR Seattle

This is the AA/FC that would end Gas Ronda's career. Nasty oil fire.

Colorado's own "Hells Cargo" Mustang body AA/FC

The "Hindsight" rear engine Nitro Flopper. Dennis Geisler in the seat

Pat Foster driven "Damn Yankee" Funny Car. Both owner and driver gone RIP

LiL' John Lombardo Plymouth Cuda body Nitro Funny Car.

Larry Chrisofferson on fire

Some guy named John Force 1975. I wonder what ever became of Force?
Check out John's hand going for the parachute lever

The AA/FC of Fred Goeske burning to the ground

 

[Cliff]

Jeff Courtie got his start in nitro w/ a Woody station wagon, an Olds at San Fernando. Had a blown Chrysler on nitro and ran maybe 10's? Saw it run a few times. He went to F/C after that.

Trivia: Jeff was born in Liverpool, England.

 

[Cliff]

One of a Kind Rides: Jeff Courties Nitro Woody

Here is Jeff's Woody back when it ran nitro. Was classified AA/FA.

 

[Cliff]

Troy Cagle's story

This is the story about how Jeff built his first F/C. Had help from some famous racers, like Tommy Larkin.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

Jeff Courtie got his start in nitro w/ a Woody station wagon, an Olds at San Fernando. Had a blown Chrysler on nitro and ran maybe 10's? Saw it run a few times. He went to F/C after that.

Trivia: Jeff was born in Liverpool, England.

Jeff is a frequent poster on another Drag Racing message board

 

[Gone Dead Train]

AA/FD Larry Frazier 1974

Pat Dakin's Fueler 1974

AA/FD Leland Kolb 1974

The late Paul Longnecker having a bad day 1973

Danny Ongais in the seat of the Vel's Parnelli Jones nitro digger 1974

Jack Revelle AA/FD 1975 at Dragway 42 Ohio

Mike Reynolds Top Fuel airing it out 1979 Winternationals

Gary Cornwall on fire at Fremont,CA 1976

Dennis Baca AA/FD 1976 at OCIR

One of my all time favorite AA/FD from Washington State Rob Bruins in the seat
of Gaines Markley's 1979 car. The 1979 NHRA Top Fuel World Champion

 

[Al]

Troy Cagle's story

This is the story about how Jeff built his first F/C. Had help from some famous racers, like Tommy Larkin.

I love stories like this about the true underdogs of the sport. A fascinating story. Thanks for sharing Cliff.