Rich,
My dad took me to Santa Anna in June or July of '49 for my birthday.
Spectators, must have been several hundred, could go anywhere. The
cars were pushed by hand to the starting line for a rolling start. This was
done to reduce axle breakage I was told. The one car I remember was
a GMC "rail job" driven by Chet Herbert. Part way down the track it
started making a real weird noise. Turned out the center had blown
out of a spark plug. The cars went real fast, some over 100 MPH!
Richard Fox wrote:
>Bruce; Those other guys might be able to help you out with drag strip
>opening and closing dates, 'cause they are really old. I on the other hand
>am much to young to remember any of that.
>I do remember the first Drag Race I ever went to at "Little Bonneville Drag
>Strip" in San Jose. Near Reid-Hillview airport and the old paved San Jose
>Speedway. It had a very short shut off and a nice looking fenderless coup
>went off the end and rolled, crunching the top. I told the guy it was to bad
>his car got ruined and he said, " It's OK. It will just be a roadster next
>week". Good lesson there. Rich Fox
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