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The Era of the
Oswego Dragway 
Jay: A pleasure to meet you today at the Oswego Family Restaurant.
I just finished looking at your Oswego website. Regarding the picture of Al Thompson leaning against the white Dodge:
This was Al's first and last effort to race in the Super Stock class, about 1962 as I remember. He found it boring, compared to racing the "rails", and soon pulled the engine out of the Dodge to put it into a 413-powered dragster, the frame of his own construction. He built several of these frames.
I remember another guy who put in a lot of time around Al's shop.
His name is Don "Foxy" Fox, from the Aurora area. He may also be a gold mine of information.
I'll contact you again, soon.
Dennis C. Ryan, Elburn, IL.
Al's Speed & Muffler Shop
As part of the on-going documentary, The Era of the Oswego Dragway, we will be helping with a display and exhibit unveiling Don & Gary's ‘Miss Kelly II’, an in-progress, reproduction project at PrairieFest on Saturday June 17th and then on Sunday June 18th the exhibit will move 100 yards south to the PrairieFest Car Show.
Al's Speed Shop Cars compiled by Don Baker
|
Car # |
Class |
Year |
Chassis |
Engine |
Notes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1935 Ford |
? |
1955 |
Pickup |
Flathead-? |
|
|
Car #1 |
? |
1956 |
Early Chevy Car Frame |
Flathead-? |
|
|
Miss Kelly 1 |
A-Fuel |
1957 |
Chassis Research ? |
DeSoto 295 |
Maybe 1st Chassis Research Frame |
|
Miss Kelly 2 |
A-Fuel |
1958 |
Chassis Research TE440 |
Chrysler 354 |
Won NHRA Regional Meet Oswego 1958 |
|
" " |
B-Gas |
1959 |
Chassis Research K88 |
Chevy 301 |
Set record at 1959 Nationals |
|
Miss Kelly 3 |
A-Fuel |
1958 |
Chassis Research TE440 |
Chrysler 440 |
Set record at 1959 Nationals |
|
Miss Kelly 4 |
B-Fuel |
1960 |
Chassis Research TE440 |
Chevy 352 |
|
|
Miss Kelly 5 |
A-Fuel |
1961 |
Chassis Research ? |
Olds |
1st Chassis Research rear engine frame |
|
Miss Kelly 6 |
A-Gas |
1961 |
Garlits Chassis |
Olds |
|
|
1963 Dodge |
A-SS |
1963 |
Dodge 330 Sedan |
Dodge 426 |
|
|
Miss Kelly 7 |
AA-Gas |
1964 |
Al's Speed Shop Chassis |
Dodge 426 |
|
Kelly Thompson, the daughter and name-sake of the series, joined me, Jay Thompson (not related as she likes to quickly add), is planning to restore Miss Kelly VII while the dragster Don and Gary are building is a reproduction of Miss Kelly II.
The '‘Miss Kelly’ series were late-fifties, early–sixties dragsters owned and operated by the infamous Al Thompson whose, “Sponsored by Al’s Speed Shop”, was a mark of distinction for any dragster whether raced at Oswego or other drag strips that became popular across the country as part of a national hot rod phenomena most often associated with southern California, the National Hot Rod Association and movies like Bikini Beach.
Mickey Thompson
Guilty verdict in Thompson murder case
Former business partner Michael Goodwin faces life without parole in the deaths of the racing legend and his wife.
Collene Campbell arrived in court Thursday wearing the St. Christopher medal her brother, slain racing legend Mickey Thompson, wore during his races. It lay over a diamond necklace her mother gave her on her deathbed 11 years ago, asking Campbell not to take it off until her brother's killer was brought to justice.
On Thursday, after nearly 19 years, 74-year-old Campbell was released from those mystic bonds.
A Pasadena jury convicted Michael Goodwin of murdering his former racing-promoter partner and Thompson's wife, Trudy, in 1988, thus writing the climactic chapter in one of Los Angeles County's most enduring murder mysteries.
"I wish I could look up and touch Mickey and Trudy and say, 'We won!' " Campbell said after the verdict, her eyes welling with tears. Later she waved a black-and-white checkered racing flag in triumph. ...
Available at
Aurora Historical Society's David L. Pierce History Center
Aurora Regional Fire Museum
Little White School House Museum - Oswego
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