Drag Racing So Cal Style

[HotRoddin]

For you young ones that would like to see what drag racing in its hey day in southern calif. looked like ... here are some incredible pictures from Orange County International Raceway (OCIR)

http://silverstone.fortunecity.com/b.../218/ocirdmil/

[MidNiteBlu 5.0]

its too bad all the liberals are shutting down the good tracks

[jj_jonathon]

ive only ever seen car slike that run once at the speedway in bradenton...i was young...but it was sweeet....those cars are so f**king cool....

[HotRoddin]

Originally posted by MidNiteBlu 5.0
its too bad all the liberals are shutting down the good tracks

In the case of the local drag strips i think its more like greedy real estate developers and fussy neighbors that move next to a drag strip then whine because its to noisy.
OCIR closed in 1983 so its been gone a long time

[HotRoddin]

Originally posted by jj_jonathon
ive only ever seen car slike that run once at the speedway in bradenton...i was young...but it was sweeet....those cars are so f**king cool....

You can't imagine JJ .... they use to have funny car meets at that track that would bring in over 50 double A fuel funny cars for one race ! Every name in drag racing would show up ... The nitro would hang so thick in the air by sundown you could hardly breathe !! If you were into drag racing even a little bit, it was a religious experience

[The Deuce]

That brought a tear to my eye. A strip and a MX track are the two things I wish they would put on the old base grounds. I know I'm dreaming though.

[HotRoddin]

Originally posted by The Deuce
That brought a tear to my eye. A strip and a MX track are the two things I wish they would put on the old base grounds. I know I'm dreaming though.

I'm dreamin with ya but considering that base land is probably worth a gajillion dollars a square foot i'm not holdin my breath either

Just to give you guys an idea what we had around here in the mid 60's to early 80's ... we had OCIR that would rival any drag strip we have today, we had Lions drag strip (the beach) they were always setting records there because of what they called the rare air at the beach (cool dense moist air) ... we had Irwindale raceway, which i remember best because the snack shack was right next to the starting line and people would buy beer then turn to look as a funny car launched and it would vibrate their beer off the counter lol Then we had Riverside international Raceway, it was one of the only road courses on the NASCAR circuit ... back then they were still using 427's and when they dropped the green flag (couldn't see it from the S turns but the anouncer would anounce it ) then you would hear this deep rumble getting louder and louder until it felt like an earthquake and they would come into the S turns already doing around a 100 MPH, 33 of them bumper to bumper two abreast, by then the rumble would be shaking dust up off the ground at your feet !! They also had trans am, can am and even cart races at Riverside Raceway it was 2.6 miles around for the NASCAR configuration. Then there was Ontario Motor Speedway i think to this day there isn't a super speedway that can hold a candle to it as far as modern and beautiful goes ! the front straight there was a fantastic drag strip (super flat laser layed asphalt) they held the NHRA world finals there for awhile. Then there is Pomona Raceway (the fairgrounds) where they hold the Winternationals still, and the world finals (this weekend) but thats the only 2 races they hold there now i think, cause of the pissy neighbors whining about the noise. Then there was Ascot ... one of the oldest sprint car tracks around, i think it was 1/2 mile dirt ? Chris might know ? There wasn't even one of those tracks that was more than 40 miles from where i'm sitting right now, and there isn't one of those tracks except Pomona left ... they are all parking lots and industrial buildings now everyone of them a long time gone ... but if you were into motor sports it was sure glorious back then

I say sometimes I was born at the wrong time,this is one of those reasons,back then I would kill to see drag racing like that