Mission Statement: To research, record, document and preserve the personal histories of the young people from here in the Fox Valley and the Midwest who played a vital role in merging land speed racing and hot rodding creating modern drag racing. And also to simultaneously note the myriad of positive benefits that accrued to the lives and avocations of these young people by the very nature of their activities and labors at the track. Whew! Jay Thompson

The Legends Racing Series, this 2 disk DVD set is based on the Legends Reunion honoring Ed Rachanski and the Legends of Drag Racing the 60's & 70's including Don "The Shoe" Schumacher, Pat Minick and the rarely seen John Farkonas with their Chi-Town Hustler, plus Al Bergler and Terry Hedrick, plus Roger Lindamood, Gary Dyer, Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick, as interviewed and hosted by Legendary announcer, Pat Hart. Hear the their unscripted and unrehearsed comments about the cars, the tracks, the drivers & promoters who were (and still are!) the true legends of the sport back in the matchrace days. After the reuniun, Hart and Rachanski Travelled out West to hear Kelly Chadwick and Jess Tyree tell their early racing days. Many rare photos and live footage. Preserving history and cherishing it forever. 

A lot has been written about the origins of the hot rod and the development of the culture that gave rise to them and then grew up around them. and I'm sure others with more detailed knowledge (including the many who were there) might well disagree with my thoughts. With that caveat, I place the defining origin point for hot rods and hot rod culture as the end of World War II. A number of factors came together at one time -- the period between the end of the war in 1945 and the beginning of the 1950s -- and mainly in one place -- southern California -- to create a unique environment in which the hot rod and its culture were born.

At the end of the war, a legion of young men returned to America with a wad of demobilization cash in their pockets and a sense of freedom and excitement bred by their experiences in the war. With a period of peace and the steadily increasing prosperity of the country as a backdrop, these young men had a "can-do" attitude and a desire to express themselves in ways that their time in the military had stifled. And, all of a sudden, there were a lot of inexpensive used cars available. For five years Detroit had basically been in the business of supplying the military. Now all that production capacity was turned to creating a stream of new cars to satisfy the pent-up demand of a civilian population that had scrimped and saved throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s and the sacrifices of the war years. Men who'd stayed behind to work in America's offices and factories had a lot of savings and they were ready to ditch their aging cars from the 1920s and 1930s for gleaming new models offered by the Big Three (and the others who are now gone, like Willys and Kaiser). Their trade-ins became the starting point of the hot rodders, and came to define the way they were built and how they looked.

These factors dictated the core aesthetic of the classic American hot rod. It was the later Model Ts and the plentiful early-30s Fords and Chevy's that became the raw material for the young men who created hot rodding and hot rod culture. Here's a picture of a '32 Ford Roadster, a contemporary car, but one built on the style of those first hot rods. The basic performance and engineering elements of the hotrod came together in these cars: More power, less weight and a look derived from these things leading to chopped tops, channeled bodies, pinched frames, dropped axles and, eventually wide tires. And why southern California? Again, a lot has been written about the question of why southern California became the seed-bed for so much cultural change in the second half of the twentieth century. Part of it was Hollywood, part simply that the western part of the country had reached a critical mass of prosperity and population sufficient to establish itself as a new center of culture distinct from the old center in the northeast. But a few factors made southern California the right place for the birth of hot rodding. One was the climate:

with year-round perfect temperature and little rainfall, young men of little means could work outside on cars that had few creature comforts themselves. More important, Los Angeles was the first city truly shaped from its beginnings by the automobile: There were more roads, and new ones there. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, was "the lakes," the dry lake beds just east of L.A. that became a magnet for the chopped and stripped-down speed machines. Here the hot rodders found miles and miles of hard, glass-flat surface upon which to run their machines.

....here I have a '' The Lion 's Roar HOT DRAG RACING '' video , no its not two guys dressed on Hollywood Blvd. trying to get away from the police. this is Real Drag racing ( before the word Drag queen was invented ). this video has the'' MAIN ATTRACTIONS''.

For you all that don't know ... Lion 's Drag Strip was in south Los Angeles California back in the 50s and it closed in 1972. this video has about 50 minutes of different racing . remember Ontario Speedway ? well here is some footage on that grand opening day . okay i will write down part of what s in the back of the video......

lion 's drag strip remembered Mickey Thompson and C.J Hart put on the show of all shows , the 200 m.p.h. invitational '58' count '

em ' 58 of the fastest dragsters in the country . to qualify for this event you had to exceed 200 mph . at least five times . step

back in time to the roots of top fuel . see Jim Fox , Ed Pink , "dyno '' Don Nicholson , Tom ' the Mongoose '' McEwen , the

Purple Gang, Jim Davis , Bonanza . T & G special and Dons speed shop . but what this film really captures is the fire and

excitement of top fuelers running in total darkness. the sights and sounds are AWESOME in nitro color. in addition you will see

''circle of racing'' . a multi-race film that includes NHRA NATIONALS DRAGS AT INDY. 225 mph drag boats , crazy 'k' boats trams - am racing at riverside , hare' n hound motorcycles , sports at Laguna Seca and the only film of the first California 500 at Ontario motor speed way with Indy cars... ... this information is on the back

side of the video..

1964 Drag Racing Handbook by Popular Hot Rodding Popular Hot Rodding's Drag Racing Handbook / Argus Book #203 with a

1964 copyright date. It measures 8 1/8 by 10 3/4 inches with 82 pages. The magazine is complete with nothing cut out or missing.

(39) 1973 Drag News Magazines + (1) National Dragster

 39 issues of Drag News. March 17, 1973 to December 29, 1973. You also get 1 issue of August 31, 1973 National Dragster.

1970 Auto Racing Photo Greats

Dragsters, Fuelers, Diggers, Rails, Slingshots, Funny Cars, Floppers, Plastic Fantastics, Fuel Coupes, Funnies -- Drag Racing's Most Popular Class, Altereds and Roadsters, Awful/Awfuls -- '23 Ts, '32 Bantams, '48 Fiats , The Nasty Boys of Drag Racing, Doorslammers - Small blocks, big blocks, mountain motors -- gas, alcohol, nitro -- carbs, nitrous, blowers, turbos, fuel injection, engine's, Exhibition Cars, Jets, Rockets, Wheelstanders, Beswick "the farmer", Bonner, Durham, Bill "Maverick" Golden and the Little Red Wagon, Bruce Larson, Bill Lawton, Hubert Platt, Ronnie Sox, Buddy Martin, Bob Tasca Sr., Bill Jenkins, Jake King, Hemi Under Glass, Rode (Rodeck Chevy); KB or KBC (Keith Black Hemi or Chevy); JP-1 (Joe Pisano Hemi); Chry (Chrysler Hemi or Wedge): Milo (Milodon Hemi); Dono (Donovan Hemi); BNR (Newberry Hemi); BAE (Anderson Hemi); WAR (Austin Hemi); TFX (TFX-1 Hemi); CRE (Conway Hemi); Oddy (Oddy Chevy); Vene (Veney Hemi); Chev (Chevy); Root (Root Ford); Aria (arias Chevy); Font (Fontana Hemi); Yenk (Yenko Chevy); Ford (Ford); McGe (McGee 4- Valve); Buic (Buick); Olds (Oldsmobile); Pont (Pontiac); Seyl (Seyler Ford); Daim (Daimler); Batt (Batten 4-Valve); B-1 (Chrysler wedge); Sain (Sainty 4-Valve); R/R (Rolls Royce); P&W (Pratt & Whitney); T (turbo), The Alcohol / Gasoline Altered, AA/A and A/A cars, Sportsman Dragster, IHRA Top Dragsters, NHRA Comp dragsters, Aussie Comp dragsters, quick bracket dragsters, The Sportsman Doorslammer, Sportsman cars, Competition cars (altered and gas), Aussie Blown Super Stocks, Quick 8 bracket cars, Outlaw Pro Mod/Unlimited, Jet Trucks and Motorcycles, Rocket Dragsters, "Red Ranger" AA/Fuel Camaro, C&H 1972 Cuda Funny Car at Englishtown, 1972 Pinto AA/FC, Chevy, GMC, Ford, Dodge, HEMI, drags, dragsters, Chrysler and more, Indianapolis, Daytona, Bonneville, Rockingham, North Carolina, Knoxville, Eldora, Nazareth and Pocono, LeMans, Long Beach, NASCAR, USAC, CART, Sprint Cars, Drag Racing, Road Racing F1, Daytona 500, Daytona Beach FL, Cale Yarborough, Miller High Life 400, Richmond VA, Ricky Rudd, Rockingham, Bobby Allison, Coca-Cola 500 Atlanta GA, Benny Parsons, Bristol TN, Darrell Waltrip, N Wilkesboro, Tim Richmond, Darlington, Martinsville, Curtis Turner, Ned Jarret, Geoff Bodine, Talladega, Cale Yarborough, Dover, Richard Petty, World 600 Charlotte, Riverside, Terry Labonte, Dave Marcis, Benny Parsons, Pocono, Brooklyn MI, Bill Elliott, Richard Petty, Harry Gant, Dale Earnhardt, Mario Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser, Rick Mears, John Paul, Jr, Arie Luyendyk, Gordon Johncock, Roberto Guerrero, Michael Andretti, Al Unser, Jr, Danny Sullivan, Tom Sneva, Gary Bettenhausen, Modifieds, ARCA, ASA, IMSA, IROC, NDRA Late Models, NCRA Dirt Champcar, SCCA Can-Am, USAC National Midgets, World of Outlaws Sprint Car, WOO, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Plymouth Nascar, Cart and more..

Some possible topics might be Race Cars, bolt on horsepower, great pictures, flatheads, Chevy, GMC, Ford, drags, dragsters, low rider, deuce, Bonneville, coupe, low boy, laker, Chrysler, muscle car, custom hot rods of the 1950's and 60's, Custom and High Performance automobile, performance and maintenance tips for hotrodders, News, trends, technologies, auto events, product reviews, car show coverage, step-by-step technical articles, performance and appearance articles, building, modification, performance, speed, street prowess, road handling, shows, classics, customized vehicles, restoring, rebuilding, restyling, customizing, modifying cars, engines, performance, racing, car care, races, drivers, NHRA, Pontiac, Plymouth, Boat Drag Racing, Model A, Model T, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, Studebaker, California, Honda, Triumph, Harley Davidson & BSA Motorcycles, Muscle Car and more.

Drag Strip magazine from November of 1967. Has articles on Pellegrini's Super Bird Buick, Chrysler Engineering, the Plymouth Road Runner, Super Stock Camaro and more. 

TIRE SHRINKER TO DRAGSTER - T-BONES AND CHEATER SLICKS - RISSMANN AND HERMES NYE - TEXAS FOLKLORE SOCIETY - 1968 - A GOOD LOOK AT THE EARLY HISTORY OF CONVERTING VEHICLES FOR RACING AND A FINE WORK ON THE SLANG AND FOLKSAY OF THE DRAGSRIP - DISCUSSES THE DETAILS OF SHRINKING OF EARLY VEHICLE WHEELS, THE METHODS USED TO SHRINK THESE WHEELS - TELLS OF THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF HOT RODS FROM EARLIEST AUTOMOBILE TIMES TO THE RAGE DURING AND FOLLOWING WW 2  WHEELS AND TIRES, POWER PLANT, BODY STYLES, TRANSMISSIONS, FUEL SYSTEMS, EXHAUST SYSTEMS, LANGUAGE OF THE RACE TRACKS AND CROWDS AND 26 NICKNAMES OF FAMOUS DRIVERS - ALL IN ALL A GOOD LOOK AT THE FOLKLORE OF DRAG RACING - SOURCE NOTES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH - AS NEW CONDITION - PLEASE SEE IMAGE PETERSEN’S COMPLETE FORD BOOK

 HOT ROD MAGAZINE

• The Case for Restoration

• Ford at Indy

• Rodder vs. Restorer

• The Baja Phantom

• Flathead V-8 Rebuild

• Detailed Chassis: Street Rod Style

• Major Engine Specs

• Shelby’s Cobra