The Mother of All Vintage Drag Picture Threads

flaming dragster burnout
Be it F1, rally, stock cars or drag, vintage racing is a peerless paradigm of authentic automotive awesomeness. The sponsors were few, the cars were metal and the helmets were open faced. On some level, old-school drag racing wins points for being the most low-budget, under-engineered, whittled to a single purpose activity. F1 is a ballet, rally is a wrestling match, but drag is a punch so hard it knocks your jaw off.


Where are we going with this? The Jalopy Journal’s Hokey Ass Message Board, aka the H.A.M.B., contains a thread, comprised of seventeen thousand four hundred ninety three posts germane to “History Drag Cars in Motion”. If you’re into this kind of thing, you’ll likely recognize a few these, which will leave you only several thousand other shots to admire. We’ve got a a few samples to whet the appetite, but you really ought to just give up on work for the rest of the day and head over there.


Lastly, it’s technically not really in motion, but what the hell is this?
Hat tip to MadKaw!

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  1. Tripl3fast Avatar

    Oh yeah. Hold my calls, I'll be there the rest of the day.

  2. Smells_Homeless Avatar

    Looks like an Allison V24, but I thought those were experimental. That guy must've been really lucky or really connected to come up with one.

    1. nofrillls Avatar

      An Allison V24? Seriously? I just assumed for whatever reason they were running two pipes per exhaust valve on a 24v V12. I like your hypothesis more.

      1. Smells_Homeless Avatar

        Yeah, and check it, the XB 19-A had FOUR of those bad boys!
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_XB-19

  3. scroggzilla Avatar
    scroggzilla

    As a motorsports fan, drag racing has never particularly appealed to me…..I know…I'm a Communist.
    As a photography fan, this is a wagon load of awesome!

    1. Tim Odell Avatar
      Tim Odell

      I appreciate it from a perspective that's a bit detached from being an actual drag racing fan. Like, it's not important to me who beat who with what RTs on any given weekend…but the purity of purpose of all of the cars…all the weird things you have to do to keep thousands of horsepower in line…and the brutality with which they launch all appeal to me.

    2. acarr260 Avatar

      Go check out a good event sometime and you will at least come away mildly impressed. You can find anything from imports to muscle cars to purpose-built monsters out there just like a track day. The violent launch and hold it to the floor until it blows or you cross the line appeals to me too. it's also great for people who have a problem paying attention to racing for very long because the individual races are so fast and… wow, look at the blower on that one.

  4. nofrillls Avatar
    nofrillls

    Ever since I went to see nitro-fueled funny cars race when I was seven and had to mash my hands into my ears for fear that my brain might explode from the noise, I've had a respect and appreciation for the incredible power and fury that these machines embody. That said, if I were to spend lots of time and $$$ on competitive motorsports (and one day will), I would much rather the experience include the art of negotiating curves.

  5. Tomsk Avatar

    I'll set this aside for later, and I'm guessing my dad will want to peruse it as well. He not only raced (at the amateur level) back then…
    <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2755/4420619813_145672b857_b.jpg&quot; width="640" height="431" />
    (He's in the black '65 Impala)
    …but also painted one famous car of the era, the Blair's Speed Shop Camaro funny car. (These are pix of a nicely done model of it.)
    <img src="http://www.draglist.com/photoimages/POD-0102/Wendell%20works%20his%20magic%20with%20the%20Blair%27s%20Speed%20Shop%20Camaro%20FC.%20Photo%20by%20Wendell%20Sowers.jpg&quot; width="468" height="351" />
    <img src="http://www.draglist.com/photoimages/POD-0102/Wendell%27s%20Camaro%20flopper%20looks%20just%20as%20good%20from%20the%20other%20side.%20Photo%20by%20Wendell%20Sowers.jpg&quot; width="468" height="351" />