Lions Drag Strip – Timing Tower

40th ANNIVERSARY LIONS LAST DRAG RACE

admin — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 06:10:33 +0000

40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LAST DRAG RACE AT LIONS, December 1, 2012, NHRA Museum, Pomona, CA It was a damp, dreary, dark, chilly day: December 2, 1972, the last drag race at Lions Drag Strip, Long Beach, CA. It was a damp, dreary, dark, chilly day: December 1, 2012, the 40th anniversary of the last drag race at Lions Drag Strip, NHRA Museum, Pomona, CA. Once again many of drag racing’s legends gathered at the NHRA Museum in Pomona, CA to reminisce about the magic that was Lions Drag Strip and to remember the last Lions drag race held 40 years ago. Last year 177 people attended the event. This year 350 chairs were set up and the crowd spilled out into the hallway. Two panel discussions were capably led by Greg Sharp, Curator of the Museum, and Dave McClelland, the “Voice of the NHRA”. The first panel: Gene Adams – Engine builder Gene Adams worked for Hilborn for years and now runs Gene Adams Performance. Don Gillespie – Don Gillespie is a photojournalist who has made DVD’s and written about Lions. Bones Balogh – Bones Balogh is one of the more notable gasser builders and drivers. Among the cars he drove was Big John Mazmanian’s ’41 Willys. Jim Dunn – Jim Dunn’s first car was a flat head Lincoln- powered Volkswagen. His 40 year career includes winning 3 March Meets. John Ewald – John Ewald was the track photographer at Lions for 5 years under “Pappy” Hart. With his brother Don Ewald, he runs the drag racing historical site “We did it for Love”. Tommy Ivo – Tommy Ivo was the 2012 CHRR Grand Marshal. Because of his TV and movie career, he is known as “TV Tommy”. Ivo’s twin engine Buick was the first to go 160, 170 and 180 mph. Ivo is one of the top fuel pioneers and is credited with the first 5 second run. The first question posed to the panel by Greg Sharp was “What made Lions magic”? The responses varied: Gillespie said the tamales with chili, and the place was like family. Ewald offered the air and track prep which gave great traction. Adams said it was easy to get to – everybody was there and the good track prep. Ivo said it was a back alley place; he could drive his Model T to the track, run throughout the day and then drive it home again. Dunn stated because so many cars ran, there was a lot of rubber on the track. Balogh believed it was the good air and that it was home track to so many racers; he took his ’55 Olds, knocked off the hubcabs and ran. Lions offered a place for a variety of cars to run – cars ran the gamut from “run what you brung” to top fuel. When Pappy Hart was running Lions he started the Jr. Fuel class and the ET brackets in order to provide racing opportunities to more people. Racing was different then. The cars left the line at about 3 minute intervals. When a car dumped oil onto the track, the track crew would throw down some oil absorbent, run a broom through it and send the stockers down the track. Lions also allowed the fans to get up close to the cars. A chain link fence separated the fans from the track. As Gary Cochran noted: “Lions was a happening not a drag race – it was where everybody was.” Between the two panel discussions, previews of the new movie “Snake and Mongoose” were shown. The movie is scheduled to be out next summer and looks to be good. In the movie, the Snake once again takes the wheel of the iconic Greer, Black and Prudhomme car. The second panel: Mike Kuhl – Mike Kuhl is the owner/ builder of the Kuhl and Olsen top fuel car. Kuhl and Olsen won top fuel at the last Lions drag race and many other events for years afterwards. Kuhl now restores vintage race cars; Roland Leong – Roland Leong is “the Hawaiian” and raced under that name for decades. He had a driving career that lasted 7 seconds. After he crashed his top fuel car, he decided driving wasn’t for him and hired Don Prudhomme to drive his car. Over 4 decades, Leong had 22 different drivers. Tom McEwen, “the Mongoose” – The idea for the Lions reunions came from Tom McEwen. McEwen made more runs in more cars at Lions than anyone else and from Lions he went on to a 40 year career in racing. McEwen was the ultimate promoter and secured sponsorship from Mattel for the Snake and Mongoose rivalry. The Mongoose beat the Snake at Lions last drag race. Ed Pink – Ed Pink has been building race engines since the early 60’s. Both Prudhomme and McEwen raced with Pink engines. Ed Pink Racing Engines is still building engines in the shop it started in Van Nuys in 1965. Don Prudhomme “the Snake” – Don Prudhomme had a 47 year drag racing career, 32 years behind the wheel and 15 years as an owner. The Snake and Mongoose rivalry changed drag racing forever. Don Prudehomme is No. 3 on the NHRA list of top 50 drivers. Gary Cochran – Gary Cochran started racing in 1964 in a Ford powered modified roadster. Gary Cochran built, owned and tuned his own cars until 1970, when he switched to just driving. He drove many cars including Bob Melville’s funny car. When asked “what made Lions magic?” this panel answered: Kuhl said it was a good track at sea level. McEwen said everyone could work up with different partners to learn and improve. Prudhomme said it was like playing “Yankee Standium” it was the coolest place ever. Pink liked the good air and smooth track which let him build engines with as much power as possible, he just had to get the clutch, tire and gear ratio right. Cochrane noted […]

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LIONS LAST DRAG RACE REUNION

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:19:31 +0000

LIONS LAST DRAG RACE REUNION, December 3, 2011 Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, Pomona, CA To only consider the infamous “Last Drag Race” at Lions is to miss the rich and colorful 17 year history of the drag strip. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum did an excellent job of presenting both aspects of the storied track with an informative and entertaining event on Dec. 3rd. This was accomplished by a panel composed of two class winners at that last race; Bill Bagshaw and Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen; the irrepressible top fuel driver Tommy Ivo; the longtime starter and racer, Larry Sutton; and, Judy Thompson, first wife of Mickey Thompson, track manager for 10 years. The 2+ hour discussion was expertly moderated by Dave Wallace, editor of Hot Rod Deluxe magazine. The Lions Last Drag Race Reunion was hosted by Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen. In introducing the panel/moderator to a standing-room only crowd, Greg Sharp, Curator of the Museum, noted the following about each panel member: Judy Thompson, the first wife of Mickey Thompson the track manager, was there from day one and helped get the place going; she wrote and handed out time slips, read the clock, took tickets, and wrote the results for Drag News. Bill Bagshaw raced in pro stock and in 1970 his pro stock car was named best engineered car, he won March Meet pro stock three times and the Last Drag Race in pro stock. Larry Sutton was a starter and drag racer at Lions. He started working at Lions in 1956 at age 13 and stayed for the Last Drag Race. He didn’t miss one day of work the entire time. He was there when Garlits’ transmission exploded at the start line in 1970. The Garlits’ car hadn’t stopped moving when Larry ran up with a fire extinguisher. Tom McEwen began his career in 1953, before he had a drivers license, when he hot wired his mother’s Olds and took it to the drags in Santa Ana. At his 1964 match race with Don Prudhomme, Ed Donnovan, remembering his Kipling, named him the Mongoose (Prudhomme was known as the snake due his cobra fast starts) and it stuck forever. McEwen won the match race. A career spanning 4 decades included sponsorship by Fortune 500 companies. He won the 1972 March Meet in top fuel, 1970 U.S. Nationals in a funny car and dozens of other races and titles. He is a member of the Drag Racing Hall of Fame. McEwen won the Last Lions Drag Race in a funny car race with Don Prudhomme. Tommy Ivo went to England in 1964 with the United Drag Race Team. During his career he drove everything from stockers to jets. His first car was a 1952 Buick. He retired in 1982. Ivo has been named the grand Marshal for the 2012 CHRR. He is a member of the Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Dave Wallace, the panel moderator, started writing for Drag News at age 14 and was the editor from 1975-1977. In 1977 he joined Hot Rod Magazine and today serves as editor of Hot Rod Deluxe Magazine. In addition to the panel, many of the drag racing famous and infamous were in the audience, including: Don “the Snake” Prudhomme; Floyd Lippencotte, Jr. (driver of John Peter’s Freight Train); Art Chrisman (owner/driver of the Hustler); Roland Leong (the Hawaiian); Al “Mousie” Marcellus (owner of the Marcellus-Borsch-Boyd Winged Express), Mike Kuhl (Kuhl & Olson, Fast Guys, top fuel dragster), Don Long (chassis builder), Linda Vaughn (Miss Hurst Golden Shifter); Steve Chrisman (driver of current NHRA top fuel car Nitro Fish). The photos above show: Greg Sharp talking to Don Prudhomme; Mike Kuhl; Greg Sharp talking to Art Chrisman; Greg Sharp with Roland Leong; Linda Vaughn; and Floyd Lippencotte,Jr. The panel reminisced about Lions Drag Strip, officially Lions Associated Drag Strip (“LADS”), from its inception to the last race. The name Lions came from the many local Lions Clubs that raised the money to build the drag strip. The strip’s motto was “drive the highways – race at Lions”. Mickey Thompson was hired as track manager and the first race was held on October 9, 1955. Lions ultimately became known as the greatest drag strip. As Greg Sharp, Curator of the Museum, noted in his opening remarks “..the Gasser Wars started there, the Snake versus the Mongoose started there… in 1967 there were 90 top fuel cars trying to qualify…It started the careers of McEwen, Ongias, Don Prudhomme, Keith Black, made them famous…It was just a magic time.” Larry Sutton recalled the time Don Garlits’ foot was severed in a transmission explosion at the start line and gave an account of his rescue of a fan seriously injured during the explosion. Sutton explained why he always wore a black hat – to keep the rubber out of his hair, of course. Larry also talked about his stealing the Lions Drag Strip sign from under the tower clock a couple weeks before the track closed. Then track manager Steve Evans was so angry he hired security to protect the track until it closed. It wasn’t until years later that Evans learned Sutton had taken the sign. That sign was at the Museum during the Reunion collecting signatures of anyone who raced or worked at Lions. Bill Bradshaw talked about the slickness of the track surface before the use of VHT. He also stated that when VHT was used, once applied it had to dry to get sticky. Sutton said that at Lions after the VHT was applied to the strip, they would light the strip on fire to dry the VHT. Tommy Ivo and Tom McEwen relayed a story of a practical joke Ivo played on McEwen at a hotel. Tommy snuck into McEwen’s room set the alarm clock for 3:00 a.m. and hid it in a ceiling […]

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