Guys,
I ran at the Santa Maria Drag Strip in 1960. Won a $25 U.S. Bond as Top
Eliminator (the only top eliminator of my career). I beat a Cadillac
powered Slingshot for the title. At that time they were using a red and
green light hung over the middle of the starting line as a start
signal. We were facing into the sun, we started and the dragster
stopped, so I stopped, and we returned to the line. The driver of the
dragster told the starter he couldn't see the light, so next time he
started us with a flag. What had really happened was that he had lost
second gear. On the second start, he tried to make it in high gear only,
but failed to get to the finish line in time. Bye the way, the shut off
area ended up in someone's front yard.
We stopped in Santa Maria when we went to the Gas Up in 1994, and tried
to find the old drag strip, I think I located it, but boy things have
changed since 1960.
Tom, Redding CA
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