Drag Socks
Description: "Dyno" Don Nicholson earned his nickname while working at the big Pasadena Chebby dealer, using the dynamometer to tune customer cars. With the aid of his dealer connections, his prowess on the track caught the attention of Bowtie's racing gurus in Detroit, and Nicholson was one of the first to receive a 409 when it debuted in 1961. He put that 409 to good use, winning the Top Stock Eliminator at the first Winternationals in his Bel Air. He repeated that feat in '62, by which time he had been lured to Atlanta to work his tuning magic for Nalley Chebby. Nalley would not ony sponsor his Bel Air, but also set him up with his own dedicated tuning garage, calling it the Nalley-Nicholson Dyno Shop.
Description: This World War II era airfield was located ten miles north of Green Cove Springs off of U. S. Highway 17 opened up in 1960. Drag races were held on the northern east-west asphalt runway of the Fleming Island Naval Outer Landing Field and was named after the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft that flew out of the base. The track was back-lit by two big WWII surplus searchlights that would go from idle to full light when the cars staged. Starting was by a liberated traffic light hanging across the track, so no Chrondek type tree here. Races were first every Sunday, but later in 1961, changed to the first and third Sunday.
Description: Among the dealership-based supercar builders of the 1960s and ’70s — including Yenko, Nickey, Grand Spaulding Dodge, and Royal Pontiac, most of these dealerships of the muscle era offered what was known as a 'supercar' service, which essentially provided a brand new, stock-bodied vehicle with plenty of extra horses, using either a highly tuned factory power plant or a high-performance crate engine. Baldwin Chevrolet took a slightly different approach, taking new Chevys sold through is dealership in Baldwin, New York (Long Island), and then delivered them to Joel Rosen’s Motion Performance speed shop (also in Baldwin), where they became street-legal, turn-key drag cars. many of which had optional wild custom body kits
Just because a bar hosts drag shows doesn't mean they are queer friendly Socks
by The Witchy Bibliophile
$14 $20
Description: The early days of drag racing were largely a run what you brung affair, but by 1954, the true dragster shape and form had emerged and was a refinement of the earlier “slingshot” concept. Built using haphazardly assembled tube steel pipes, these cars gained the nickname “rail jobs.” In 1956, Both Scotty Fenn (on the west coast) and Pat Bilbow (on the east coast) decided it was time for a dragster chassis built of quality materials and welded by professionals. Scotty called his new company “Chassis Research, Inc.” and Pat retained his firm’s already established name, Lyndwood Welding Co. and by 1957, both had produced a pro built dragster chassis and both claimed to be the first, though depending on who you ask, that remains up for debate.
Description: DRAG-U-LA, along with the Munster Koach, was one of two cars designed by Tom Daniel while working for George Barris and Barris Kustom Industries for the television show The Munsters. It was only seen in one episode, despite being shown in the intro throughout season 2. This version of the Dragula design is nicely distressed and faded to make it look like it was handed down from Grandpa Munster himself.
Description: This design includes a large Bee Line Dragway imprint on the back and a small AHRA logo on the front making it twice as cool! On July 20, 1963, ground was broken for a drag strip to be built on the Salt River Indian Reservation in what was then a pretty rural area in Scottsdale, Arizona. Jim Rodgers, national 1962 C/S drag champ, built the track on eighty acres of land leased for ten years from the Salt River Pima Indian tribe. Directions to the track were given as being four miles north of the McDowell Road on Arizona Highway 87. It was a 60-foot wide quarter-mile asphalt strip, with seating for 2,000 people, and a pit area to accommodate 300 cars. It opened for every-week Sunday racing on October 6, 1963, under AHRA sanction.
Description: Most longtime drag racing fans are familiar with the ultra-swoopy Wonder Wagon Vega that he debuted at the 1973 U.S. Nationals, and some may even remember that the sponsorship program actually began with a completely different team at the end of the 1972 season. The Wonder Wagon was one of the most popular funny cars ever fielded amongst fans, but it’s driver frequently stated that it was the most dangerous too, mainly due to the car’s aerodynamics, or lack thereof. Dangerous or not, the cars and the sponsor was something different, and these bread truck inspired wagons really resonated with race fans.
Description: Despite what kit car ads in the back of magazines say, claims of easy assembly and performance are dubious at best. Jim Kellison set out to change that in the late '50s with a grand vision and a beautifully designed car body. Kellison's J-4 was initially offered as a fiberglass coupe ready to be mounted on your choice of chassis. Wanting to deliver a more complete offering, Kellison hired an Indy chassis builder to design a custom box tube frame that was both lighter and stronger than any donor chassis, and could be finished with readily available components. The result was a car that didn't just keep up with the best European models but outperformed them. This design is based on the Kellison 'Springy Thingy' mascot that showed up in 1968.
Description: The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles (two of those being pony cars) produced by American automobile manufacturer Dodge. However, the first use of the Challenger name by Dodge was in 1959 for marketing a "value version" of the full-sized Coronet Silver Challenger.
