This is the first race the car ever participated in. Spring of 1958 in Santa Maria. We called it the 3-day wonder as a bunch of us put it together the weekend before from a pile of parts I had in my garage. I had a 400″ Olds with 6 Stromberg 97′s with a Caddie LaSalle trans, saved from my 49 Ford coupe, and a Columbia two speed rear end. A 28 Chevy body and a 34 Ford chassis. Raced against a altered roadster from Santa Barbara with, I think, a supercharged GMC 6 cylinder. I actually won the race at around 112 and in the high 11′s or low 12′s. That was a frightening ride. Worse than when it went 155 at Lions.
Check out all the cool old cars in the parking area and the girls with the skirts. Those were the days. BTW, no tattoos on the girls. A pack of cigarettes rolled up in your tee shirt sleeve. Gas was 20 cents a gallon.
When I saw the picture I knew exactly where it was and it remined me of how things come around. It was also the location of my first “legal” drag race but mine happened eight years later. I got out of the Army in December of 1965 and in February of 1966 I ordered a new 66 SS 396, it ran 14.46 @ 101.56 and that was bone stock one week after picking it up at Ventrua Motors.
All through my army time I followed your progress and the evolvement of the car, you, Kenny Dutwiler and Wes Evens were the three people that most of us followed the most during that time. I miss the time and the absolute fun and excitement it was. I was never really good enough to be really good but I was good enough to have a whole lot of fun. I’m currenly working on a 56 210 Chevy , a car I cruised main street, Merlels and Tony’s all through high school.
My younger brother Rick was good enough and had a national record holder for several years but just didn’t have the backing or money to follow up on it. After I sell my business I’ll be leaving California for Tennessee to be closer to my brother so we can maybe do a little old cooter drag racing in these final years.
I am sure happy to see that you have your car back and put it back the way it was, it brings back great memories for me and a ton of other guys from Ventura. I live in Northern Calif now but get back to Ventura now and then to visit my kids and my best friend Robert McPherson. If I am not mistaken you were either a city or county fireman, Robert worked for the County.
Great car, great website, fantastic memories, thank you.
If the GMC powered blown roadster was a white one it may have been owned by one of the “Chevrollers.”
TheChevrollers were a Santa Barbara car club and I ran around with several of the members for a while circa 1958 or so.
The owner of the GMC roadster also owned a Buick powered 32 Ford full fendered three window.
They may have lost the engine on the run with you.
Their thinking was they didn’t have a pop off valve and the blower pressure went beyond the metallurgical limits of the engine and it let go in front of the traps.
We – the Chevrollers and myself – went to Santa Maria a couple of months after the GMC powered roadster blew up, camped overnight and the next day watched Frank Floyd (a Venturan you may know) run his flathead powered roadster against a flathead roadster from Santa Barbara.
The SB guy let Floyd fire up and go to the line first and then played dumb for a while until Floyd’s roadster got hot.
The SB guy won the race, but there were more than a few comments about cheating etc. from the Ventura guys.
Anyhow, Santa Maria was a fun strip and I ran my Rocket powered 50 Ford coupe there a couple of times in 1962-63.
14 flat at 99 mph was the best I could do at the time.
Eventually got to 100 and 13.90′s.
At the time, if you had a street driven car that turned 100 most considered it fast..
Towed it home to Nehwall on Monday and drove it to work on Wednesday – the last day of a four days off schedule.
I rode in your 49 one night when six of us got in and you ran it out to the Rincon.
I remember the Caddy trans synchro’s were acting up and shifting was tough.
That about 58 or so.
Ryan Butts who lived up the street from your folks house and a guy named Chip are the only ones I remembered.
I believe Chip bought your 49 – does that sound right?
Anyway, enjoying the site.
Jay
C9
Jay,
Sorry about the long delay responding to your post. The site was new and was getting so jammed with spam and junk it was almost impossible to find the few needles in the hundreds of piles of hay, if you get what I mean.
Your post brought back a lot of memories. Ryan Butts? 39 Buick coupe with a 348? (light blue) I always liked that car. That was a long time ago. The name “Chip” doesn’t bring up a face for me, and I don’t remember who I sold my 49 to.
You mentioned something about a “last of a four days off” in your post comment. That sounds like a firefighters schedule, is that what you did?
My nephew designed our web site and handed it off to me last month after getting the major bugs worked out. His biggest obstacle was me and my lack of computer knowledge.
I am again active in creating car parts and enjoy teaching some of the younger set basic “old time machining techniques”. It is my intent to get caught up with these overdue, lost, emails then start posting the fun projects I am working on. Besides keeping the roadster wiped off and the battery charged, I am building a 40 Ford two-door sedan as a driver. The engine is a 56 Dodge D-500 with a Whipple blower. A Tremec TKO 5 speed and a Art Morrison chassis. I have to make everything, and I’m enjoying every minute of it. I just hope to live long enough to drive it.
My son is a HAMB guy and keeps an eye on that culture. Not me. This email stuff is about as much as I want to know and have more fun creating hard parts in the shop. If I get too old to do that maybe I’ll do more with the e-social networking. Til then, give me a week or so to get some current stuff posted on the VM site.
Thanks for posting comment.
Hugh Tucker
Hi,
I was a Chevroller member and the car C9 is referring to was indeed powered by a 302 ci GMC six cylinder with a GMC 671 blower. The original blower didn’t have a “pop-off” valve and suffered a failure due to overpressure, apparently in the race of subject. A 2nd blower WITH a “pop-off” was installed and the car won the Central Coast Champion “A Roadster” title in ’59. At the time the car was bright red, with some decent white pin striping and the name “Quiet Village” on it.
A agree that Santa Maria was a fun place to race…although getting up Gaviota Pass on 101 from Santa Barbara at night when the fog was in could be a challenge trying to get there…!!
Ah, yes…those were the good ol’ days, eh?
Best to all interested enough in the article to have read it…
Bob L
Bob, Good to hear from you, Those were some fun and less complicated times. I had forgotten about Gaviota pass, it was a good test to the tow vehicles and cooling systems.
Hugh