Landracing Forum
El Mirage => El Mirage General Chat => Topic started by: Jack Gifford on October 18, 2018, 12:42:26 AM
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Reading 1948 Hot Rod Magazine articles, it's clear that SCTA members (of all 37 or so clubs) were anxiously looking forward to a paved venue. After the final El Mirage meet of that year ran a shortened course due to water (with a number of new records), they realized that a paved course of about 2.5 miles would serve them well. Why didn't that happen? :?
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Probably money wasn't there
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Well Jack they were obviously forward thinkers back in 48... :-D
I say that because big SAC runways going in during the late 40s - early 50s were about 13000 feet long.
Those same runways are now being used in mile and 1.5 mile racing :cheers:
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I just wondered if possibly the "mood" of the contestants changed over time- morphing into a sort of "dirty Elmo" pride. Otherwise, it seems a so-Cal airstrip could have been used.
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My guess is was about access... they used to run at Muroc too.... Those 13000 ft runways were in use around the clock....
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Yon must remember that SCTA did run 1/2 mile pavement meets for several years. I guess access was the reason for ending that. At that time Hot Pods were not looked upon favorably by the press and many government agencys. And it is the SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Timing Association. They had a somewhat limited area to look at.
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Thanks for the comments.
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From the Bruce Geisler collection.
(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/4-BarrelMike/Geisler/Half%20mile%20drags.jpg)
Mike
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Oh yeah, I sure do remember the old Riverside Raceway NASCAR straightaway. It was so long that I had to bring a book to read when racing a Formula Vee. It seemed a little shorter in an old FB car, however.
So, at the end of that straight was turn 9, a long right hand sweeper. Was this part of shut down?
John
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No we ran the other direction.
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What years were the 1/2 mile SCTA events at Riverside?
Did they start it out with open records in all classes?
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What years were the 1/2 mile SCTA events at Riverside?
Did they start it out with open records in all classes?
I first ran at SCTA's RIR ½ mile drags in the winter of 1958/9. I last ran in 1968. "The original racetrack had a 1.1-mile (1.8 km) backstretch from 1957 to 1968." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_International_Raceway The ½ drags had a lot of non-SCTA cars. Both ¼ mile drag racers and street driven muscle-cars.
Of course they started out with open records, minimums are a recent addition. During the 1960s Bonneville and El Mirage didn't have minimums for new classes.
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Thank you "Stew".
What class were you running then?
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Thank you "Stew".
What class were you running then?
'58/9 was a production class car I ran at the drags. For 1968 it was a big-block stocker owned by a dealer. In-between I ran both production and roadsters.
Larsen and Cummins put slicks on their AAMR and ran about 175mph. At one meet they got too much bite and blew the QC ...shrapnel everywhere!
Sometime during the 1950s SCTA ran ¼ mile at Colton. A NorCal club also ran ½ mile someplace around Reno.
George AFB (Victorville) has a 2.8 mile main runway and another 1.7 mile runway. It was closed in 1992 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_California_Logistics_Airport Could this be a replacement for both Riverside (½ mile) and ElMo (1 mile)? Maybe worth looking into.
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Is there as much pavemen-desire among Elmo contestants now as there apparently was in 1948?
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There didn't seem to be a big SCTA turnout at the Mojave speed trials. Maybe the expense was involved.
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There didn't seem to be a big SCTA turnout at the Mojave speed trials. Maybe the expense was involved.
Not sure about the money end of it but one issue that was voiced about Mojave was that it wasn't a very smooth course and the owners and drivers of vehicles with rigid axles were not all that excited about running there. Also, there were no records or points on the table for that meet and the general public was not invited. I'll tell you this though, the people who did run there ran a lot and had a great time. An official SCTA event on pavement has been bantered about but their hasn't been a push for it from the membership.
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First, let's see if I can post this picture . . .
I guess it's there. Any way, I believe that in late 1954 when Colton opened, the SCTA did the timing. They only had speed lights at the end (no E.T.), but put the "timing tower" on the starting line. And of course, that's (now) my roadster.
Yes, I know it's a 55 Ford, but back then you took your new car out to the drag strip to see how fast it really was (or wasn't).
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Well that's pretty cool.
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I got a trophy at Colton in my FH dragster.
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A good read: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/colton-dragstrip-info.328960/ (https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/colton-dragstrip-info.328960/)
:cheers:
Mike