[dave-r]

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aIxk3n- ... ture=share

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKIzmo40 ... ure=relmfu

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS7G1OG3Xys

[Adrian Worman]

Well cool stuff mate, interesting cars too

[dave-r]

I was reading about Drag Racing in those days. I had seen Dragsters at London shows and one Slingshot on display in Newcastle (which I got to sit in). I was building the plastic models from the late 60s.
But it was the late 70s before I ever actually saw a Drag Race.

[Adrian Worman]

Our old man was taking me and fat Ian to the 'Pod as soon as we could walk, regular visits to the CustomCar shows too.............. Saturday mornings at me Nans house in Hastings were a good time cos there was a model shop just round the corner......... we worked our way thru AMT and Monograms full catalogue, loved them cars

[dave-r]

The first dragster kits I got were sent to me from the USA by a "pen pal" in the 60s. That was the first time I had heard of a "Funny Car". I couldn't understand why it didn't have doors.

The best quality dragster and early Pro Stock kits were made by Jo-Han. The detail in the engines in particular was amazing.

[Adrian Worman]

I've still got some unmade plastic kits up in the loft, a few of the really big 1/8th scale cars too, but there is a Jo-Han 1/25th scale 65 Caddy in there somewhere, I must dig it out

[dave-r]

I have a Jo-Han Caddy Hearse with dual injected Hemis in the loft still. I used the engines from in in other models.

[Eddie]

Cool vids Dave! Although, lately Ive been fascinated watching Colin Chapmans Lotus cars of the 1960's. Grand Prix Racing was lethal in those days much like the time bombs of the drag classes. Top Fuel and short wheel base altered's and gassers. I have a lot of respect for those dudes!

[fal308]

I had a friend that was a crew chief on Danny Miller's AFXers/Funny Cars back in the '60s. He had some cool stories to tell. (His garage is still full of first gen Hemis )
Back in the '60s/early'70s the St Louis Missouri area was a cornerstone of drag racing. There were strips all over the area.
There was a professional photographer in ST Louis that was a drag racer back then and took thousands of photos. He's also figured somewhat prominently in a book or two on the '60s Altereds and Gassers, name of Wayne Arteaga (http://gassermadness.com/arteaga/). I had the pleasure a couple of times of looking thru some of his scrapbooks at his studio. He once took us (girlfriend & I) to a back room and set us down in front of a big pile of photo albums and said "take your time, just come on out when you're done". I think we stayed over three hours (gf was ready to leave or I probably would have stayed another three hrs ).
The cars were just so much cooler then!! Nothing looked the same. And to top it off, Wayne detuned his cars and was running then on the street until he passed away a few years ago!
Nowadays it's hard to tell who's who without the fancy paintjobs. Plus how cool is it to watch an old Altered running down the track sideways!!!!!!!! Used to see it at one of the old tracks here that just closed about ten years ago. That track (Mid America Raceway) used to run nostalgia events before they were popular. So I was able to see Big Daddy, Ronnie Sox, K S Pittman, the Stone, Woods & Cook cars and many big other names of the '60s and '70s there before they were re-discovered.

[dave-r]

Great link that. Love those old gassers.

[fal308]

The old gassers and esp. the altereds are my all-time favorite drag racers. The modern Pro Mods are about the closest thing to the old altereds and are pretty fun to watch also.