Lions Last Drag Race Reunion – Timing Tower

CALIFORNIA HOT ROD REUNION, OCT. 18-20, 2013

admin — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 17:54:03 +0000

22ND CALIFORNIA HOT ROD REUNION, FAMOSO RACEWAY, Oct. 18-20, 2013 Sunday Racing It’s amazing to see what amounts to flat open land around the Famoso dragstrip transform into a small “city” during Hot Rod Reunion. The population of that 3-day “city” would probably exceed a number of rural California towns. The size of this ‘city” was swollen by the pits of 38 funny cars, thirty-four 7.0 Pro cars, 80 Cacklefest cars together with about 170 other racers in the various classes. Sunday afternoon this “city” gradually melted away as cars not in the finals were loaded up and their crews rolled out. By around 5:00 p.m. one could stroll through the nearly empty pit area. The knots of people surrounding the cars being prepared for the final rounds readily stood out against the increasing open space. This week-end Mother nature showed she could be a cooperative partner in the event, however, Zeus,the Greek God of thunder, repeatedly stopped the thunder exploding from the the top fuel and funny cars when a number of oil downs caused long delays. It wouldn’t be Hot Rod Reunion without the Speed Sport Coupe to open Sunday morning fuel car racing. As is the Reunion tradition, Steve Gibbs in his orange ’50 Ford Coupe gave a push start to Red Greth’s orange Speed Sport Coupe aka “Old Noisy”. The Speed Sport Coupe was pushed from the far end of the track. When it was fired up, it turned around at the start line and ran for the finish line. Once the Speed Sport Coupe went through the lights, the first pair of funny cars fired up and fuel car racing was under way. TOP FUEL: The No. 1 qualifier, Denver Schutz in Raisin Express 3 had a bye in round 1 of eliminations, beat Bill Dunlap in High Speed in round 2, and Brett Harris in Nitro-Hemi in round 3 to meet the No. 6 qualifier, Adam Sorokin, in the Champion Speed Shop car in the finals. Sorokin left the line first with a .062 reaction time with Schutz following with a .129 reaction time. Schutz appeared to be catching Sorokin before his car pulled right and he crossed the center line. Sorokin took the win with an ET of 5.912 at 216.76 mph. After running strong in qualifying setting both low ET of 5.674 and top speed of 249.03, and running a race low ET of 5.671 and top speed of 255.48 in the quarter-finals, Schutz couldn’t take the win. Sorokin won with an ET of 5.912 at 216.76 mph. Although Jim Murphy went out in the 2nd round of eliminations, he gathered enough points to maintain his points lead in the Heritage Series and win the Series title. FUNNY CAR: When Dan Horan went into the final round of eliminations, winning would give him not only the Reunion Wally but the top prize in Heritage Series racing. John Hale in the Mike Burkhart tribute car played spoiler by taking home the Reunion win and thereby giving Jason Rupert the Heritage Series. Jason Rupert was the No. 2 qualifier and had the top speed in qualifying but lost to Hale in the semi-finals. At the end Horan and Hale both had reaction times of .128 but Hale was quicker with an ET of 5.685 to Horan’s 5.744. Horan’s Patriot Mustang ran in the 5.7’s all day Sunday, but couldn’t get into the 5.6’s for the finals. PRO MOD: The final round found Dan Myers in a ’69 Camaro and Tim Krupa in a ’53 Corvette at the line. No. 1 qualifier Marc Meadors and No. 2 qualifier Mike Maggio both went out in the semi-final round. Myers left Krupa sitting at the line with a .023 holeshot. Krupa’s reaction time was .131. Myers led Krupa down the track finishing with an ET of 5.958 at 250.37 mph. Krupa crossed the finish line with an ET of 6.672 at 229.82 mph. 7.0 PRO: 34 cars showed up to race in 7.0 Pro. The quickest 16 qualified in this class with the next 16 qualifying in 7.0 Pro B. This class races on a 7.0 index. Mike Smith qualified at No. 12 and took out the No. 5 and 4 qualifiers in rounds 1 and 2. Steve “Flattop” Faller in his ’63 Corvette runs in A/Gas in the Heritage Series, but turned out for 7.0 Pro. Faller qualified in the No. 6 spot. Faller ran near perfect index times winning in the first round by .002 of a second running a 7.014 to Joey Steckler’s 7.016. In the 2nd round Faller ran 7.001 and turned in a 7.014 in the 3rd round. Smith advanced from the 1st round when Mike Buersken broke. In the 2nd round Smith ran a 7.025 and in the 3rd a 7.017. The finals proved a challenge for both contestants when Faller red lighted and Smith broke out running an ET of 6.973 on a .000 tree. By going red, Faller gave Smith the win. 7.0 PRO B: Richard Phillips in a ’32 Bantam ran an ET of 7.165 at 189.76 mph in the finals to take the win after Dewayne Sanders broke. Phillips was the No. 8 qualifier and Sanders the No. 2 qualifier. Phillips marched through the ladder taking out first Mark Tarabochia when he broke down, then Ron Huegell when he broke out and finally by knocking off a quicker and faster Cal Tebb with a holeshot. A FUEL: No. 1 qualifier Kin Bates lost to Ryan Davenport, the No. 2 qualifier, in the final round. Davenport left the light first with a .027 reaction time and ran both quicker and faster than Bates. Davenport ran an ET of 6.256 at 214.55 mph. Bates reaction was .066, ET of 6.938 at 212.19. Kin Bates, a perennial A Fuel winner, ran an ET of 6.212 at 225.15 in the semi-finals but couldn’t repeat that performance in the finals. JR. FUEL: This class fielded only 9 […]

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SATURDAY NIGHT NITRO JULY 13, 2013 FAMOSO RACEWAY

admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 01:01:03 +0000

Robert Overholser in the California Hustler on his way to winning A hot Saturday produced a track temperature of 152 degrees and hinted at the sizzling night of racing to come. Friday night test and tune had affirmed that points leader Dan Horan, Jr.’s Patriot Mustang was the car to beat, but the hot action started at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night when 13 nitro funny cars pulled into the staging lanes — their teams thinking upset. On Friday night Dan Horan, Jr. ran a 5.80 ET in testing. The first pair at the line were Rian Konno in the Kazanjian-Lemon-Konno car and Chris Bennet in Pure Heaven. Konno took the win with an ET of 5.894 at 238.76 mph making him the #4 qualifier. Next up was Dennis La Charite in Back in Black and Ed Dougan in the Fighting Irish. Dougan prevailed with an ET of 6.139 at 199.64 mph. Dougan was the #9 qualifier and first alternate for the final eight. Then came War Horse driven by Roger Garten sitting next to Bob Godfrey’s Burn ‘N Money. War Horse was the first to cross the finish line with an ET of 6.115 at 233.72. Next at the line was Darkside with Rick Rogers at the wheel side by side with Quarter Pounder driven by Dale Van Gundy. Van Gundy turned in an ET of 5.962 at 241.20 mph to advance to the finals as the #7 qualifier. When California Hustler met the Pedaler, California Hustler driven by Robert Overholser became the #3 qualifier when it took the win over James Day in the Pedaler. Day became the #5 qualifier. Overholser had an ET of 5.885 at 238.51 mph. The final pair to face off was Dan Horan in his Patriot Mustang, the current Blitz points leader, and Dennis Taylor in Evil, Wicked, Mean and Nasty. Horan ran an ET of 5.809 to qualify at the #2 position and Taylor ran an ET of 5.958 making him the #6 qualifier. Devery Howard in Bays and Ruppert Black Plague had a bye running an ET of 5.780 at 246.30 to become the #1 qualifier. The final field of 8 cars was set: Howard #1, Horan #2, Overholser #3, Konno #4, Day #5, Taylor #6, Garten #7 and Dougan #8 (Dougan in Fighting Irish moved into the #8 spot when Van Gundy in Quarter Pounder couldn’t make the final call.) The second round of funny car racing got underway around 11:00 p.m. Rian Konno and James Day were first up. Konno turned up the heat by running an ET of 5.753, which at that point was the quickest time of the night. Konno easily beat James Day in the Pedaler. The second pair at the line was Overholser in California Hustler and Dennis Taylor in Evil Wicked, Mean and Nasty. Overholser got the action sizzling with an ET of 5.720 at 246.84 mph. Taylor turned in an ET of 6.859 at 115.64 mph. Next up was Dan Horan, Jr. who ran a smokin’ ET of 5.764 at 253.66 mph. While Horan was faster than Overholser, he wasn’t quicker. Horan ran against Ed Dougan in the Fighting Irish. Dougan started the race in the Budweiser lane, broke past the half-track mark sending him into the Auto Club lane behind Horan. The last pair at the line was Roger Garten in War Horse and Devery Howard in Black Plague. Howard red lighted giving Garten the win with an ET of 6.385 at 161.52. After crossing the finish line War Horse hit the wall. Garten was uninjured. A Blitz race is won by the quickest running winning car. At the end of the night Robert Overholser in the California Hustler finished in the No. 1 spot with an ET of 5.720; Rian Konno finished at No. 2 with an ET of 5.753; and, Dan Horan, Jr. ended up at No. 3 with an ET of 5.764. The Boise/Bakersfield Blitz now moves to Boise for race number 4 of the Blitz. That race will be held August 8-11. The top eight points holders of the four race Blitz series will face off in a special race to be held at The March Meet in 2014. California Hustler in the Winners’ Circle Before, between and after rounds of Funny Cars, other nitro burners kept the action going. Rick White in the top fuel car Neal and White along with top fueler Circuit Breaker made runs. Mike Sullivan and son Jeremy fielded a supercharged nitromethane burning Hemi Fiat AA/FA turning in an ET of 6.37 at 202 mph. Also making 8 second passes were the nitro Harley’s. The two jet cars, MAV Missile and Terminal Velocity, made two runs during the evening – once at the end of the first round of funny cars and once at the end of the funny car racing. These two cars put on quite a show with billowing smoke, popping fuel, and shooting fire. West Coast Hot Rod Assoc. heads up classes, True 10.5, Outlaw 8.5 and Limited 10.5, also raced Saturday evening. These three classes race on an 1/8th mile track. Below are some of the West Coast Hot Rods running this week-end. All photos posted on this page can be ordered from www.timingtower.smugmug.com or you can contact us directly at timingtower@gmail.com. After the first round in Limited 10.5 Mike Salki was the #1 qualifier, Gary Brandt qualified at #2 and Allen Gadberry was the #3 qualifier. The final race was between Mike Salki in a ’67 Nova and Gary Brandt in an ’86 Mustang. Although Salki and Brandt had close reaction times (.068 and .071), Salki was quicker and faster and took the win with an ET of 5.306 at 133.14. The Outlaw 8.5 class ran 3 rounds of eliminations and the finals. The final race found Ryan “Toaster” Jones in a ’65 Nova next to Matt Sendejas in an ’83 Mustang. The Nova crossed the finish line first with an ET of 4.854 […]

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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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