The Cal-look Lounge

dave you said that you lived no so far form the old defunt LIONS DRAGSTRIP
can you share with us some old stories
rgd
fabs

The more I look at all these kind of ol' pics the more I wish I turned 18 in 1970 ::) ;D ;D

The Beach...

That's what Lions was nicknamed due to it's close proximity to the ocean, with those wonderful cool damp evenings that brings out the best in a racecar.

My story with Lions is much more personal to me than being able to tell you all about the VW Gassers, although I do remember watching them run and loving every minute of it!
 
Ever since I was a child, from my own back yard when the wind was right I could hear drag racing going on at Lions. We only lived fifteen miles or so from the track.

I was eight years old when my Dad bought his '58 Corvette. Soon after, he got bored with it in stock form and starting building a street legal (somewhat)/ class legal race car out of it. I'm thinking I was about nine when we first started going to Lions and competing... my Mom hated it that I was able to ride with him sometimes, but he knew-- even at my young age that I was hooked. We raced (I say "we" because I was part of the team, you know) for about four years until my parents split up and the car was sold. I'll never forget those years with the Father / Son times and the great friendships I made even at such a young age. My favorite racecar class were the Top Fuel Altereds, although my all time two favorite race cars were the Don Burns Durachrome Bug driven by Warren Gunter (Fabs? anything?), and the Beach City Chevrolet Corvette driven by Gary Gabelich. Both were top fuel Funny cars. Since my Dad and I were always at the track, I made lots of friends with some of the other racers and many of those guys were really cool with me, but the absolute highlight of my life back then was when the Beach City team, Gary in particular let me steer the Corvette Funny Car while it was being towed back to the pits on the return road after a pass one night... mind you I was only eleven or twelve at the time! This type of thing would never happen in this day and age. After my Dad sold the 'Vette he was pretty much done with Lions, but not me! No sir, I'd catch a ride with my Brother or Sister to get to the drags... I even rode my Schwinn Stingray all the way there one time-- without my Mom knowing! At least 15 miles! I was supposed to be at a friends house. I stayed there most of the day and realized I was too tired to ride back home and had to call Mom... she was completely mad at me, but I think she blamed my Dad somehow anyway. This went on for a few years, and unfortunately the track was closed before I was old enough to make a pass. Lions closed on December 2, 1972 when they had "The Last Drag Race". My Brother and I had to be there... It was a sad day for everybody even though there was lots of exitement with the racing, the mood was somewhat sober. We stayed all day and in to the night... seems like the racing was over around midnight, but people didn't leave for several hours. Somebody broke out a big pry bar and started breaking up the race track. They kept working at the asphault, breaking off pieces and giving them out to everybody... I'll have to find my little chunk of Lions sometime.
For another year or so after the Drag strip closed, they operated "Lions Motocross" a Motocross track. I was driving by then and even worked there as a flagman for a while until they closed it too...

Lions was special, had a rich history, and will always be my favorite drag strip...

~DR.













 

I found a cool story about Lions and "The Last Drag Race"

http://www.draglist.com/artman/publish/daily_stories/article_001937.shtml

It's not about VW's, but good reading.

~DR.

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

P-

Here's another...

http://www.northernthunder.com/lastrace.html

That's a great link Sarge!

I don't remember quite all that madness, but I've slept since then...
Another awesome tale from the 70's ;)
I wonder who got the white Honda 90's the staff used to ride around the track?
Probably find 'em on e-Bay ;D

~DR.

thx for he story dave  :o
for the durachrome i will look today on my computer for picture if i remember well i've one at lions with the chute opened

rgd
fabs

i've a original t shirt from lions dragstrip won this one on ebay sevaral year ago , but he's to small for me  ;D ;D i will post picture too

i found this one on the net , and she was on my blog  ;D ;D ;D
(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images/002/922/662_8e934bc6eb79e698eb5b49adb7b2b1cd.jpg)

another one at lions too
(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images/002/922/533_6fd12bd9806abdef93bed82065375237.jpg)

maybe this one was at irwindale ???
(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images/002/922/564_73dba56827889580db76b7cdc4d7525c.jpg)

car after crash
(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images/002/922/682_4cf1d41ca115aef1d3e296d08ddf1e98.jpg)

 this one was taken at ocir

here's my t shirt from lions dave  ;)

Fabs,

Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

I really enjoy your postings.. they add so much to the Lounge.

~DR.

 :)

Just registered for this site. Nice to see some of the more popular pictures of my Durachrome Bug posted here. Lions was my home track since I lived in nearby Gardena. I first raced there about 1960 in my 1956 Chevy with 265 ci V8. I did a marginal job of hot rodding that one with 6 Stromberg 2 barrel carbs are a lot of other silly stuff.

In 1959 I bought a 1923 T Coupe and preceded to build what initially was to be a street rod. It ended up to be a Jr. Fuel Altered that I raced at Lions and the other So Cal tracks from 1966 to 1969. With a big block it ran 8.63 at 265 mph. 

I really had the drag racing fever by then so I built the only VW bodied AA/FC ever. A side note that that car initially was to be A Fuel Altered but as we began it just seem to make more sense to go all the way!

I have attached a picture of the VW the first time it ran at Lions. I will post some more pictures of the T and some other Bug pictures later today or tomorrow. By the way the T is now a street rod!

Warren Gunter

Welcome Warren! Honoured to have you here. Look forward to hearing more about the Bug and seeing any more photos you might have. Very cool! 8)

welcome to th e lounge warren it's ap leasure to have you here
enjoy the place
rgd  ;)
fabs

 8) 8) 8)  Welcome to The Lounge, Warren!  Let me be the first to buy you a beer..., now, what about those stories and pics???  Nice to see another "older" guy here.... maybe you can take some of the heat of me ::) ;D  I went to high school with a guy named Cliff Wright who had a C Altered Fiat Topolino... always had a good time hangin' with him at Lions.

Just plain wow!

I love this place :)

Sheesh Warren, you were my hero back then!

Welcome!!

I was always hanging out in the pits when my dad was racing, your car and the Beach City Chevrolet Corvette were my all time favorites.

Glad you're here!

~DR.

Hello again. I am going to open a new post with pictures of the Durachrome Bug and the Gunter Bros. 'T' A/FA.  The 'T' pictures will all be in So. Cal. but I have some Bug pictures are from the two years we were on tour back East. I'll answer any questions but just give me some time to get back to you.

The 'JewelLure" name is from the years in the 80's and 90's that I was in the jewelry business and is now the name of m 42 foot sport fishing boat here in San Pedro Calif.

Warren Gunter

dave here's something for you  ;)
http://images.google.be/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dragracingonline.com/pmachine/images/uploads/Beach.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dragracingonline.com/livecoverage/x_2-marchmeet-1.html&h=451&w=675&sz=128&hl=fr&start=2&usg=__Rh3Omx6RDMezYSnUtLu8pOmNnkk=&tbnid=ihQ0CsLOEHNtoM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=138&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBeach%2BCity%2BChevrolet%2BCorvette%2Bdriven%2Bby%2BGary%2BGabelich%26hl%3Dfr (http://images.google.be/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dragracingonline.com/pmachine/images/uploads/Beach.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dragracingonline.com/livecoverage/x_2-marchmeet-1.html&h=451&w=675&sz=128&hl=fr&start=2&usg=__Rh3Omx6RDMezYSnUtLu8pOmNnkk=&tbnid=ihQ0CsLOEHNtoM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=138&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBeach%2BCity%2BChevrolet%2BCorvette%2Bdriven%2Bby%2BGary%2BGabelich%26hl%3Dfr)

this's a replica of hte beach city corvette , watch the links on the other post
 ;)
fabs

more : http://www.competitionplus.com/03_25_2004/lions_roar.html (http://www.competitionplus.com/03_25_2004/lions_roar.html)

here're 2 pict after the burning of the vette  :'(

Saw the beach city Vette at the Hot Rod Reunion at the weekend, I will try and get some pics up in the next couple of days ;D

cool and if it's possible to  take pictures of 70's funny car for me that will be great it's my other passion  ;)
thx a lot
fabs

2 mores

(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images_v2/002/593/708/20081016/dyn008_original_750_563_jpeg_2593708_a3c3f885a7dc00c3336e35c278bd74af.jpg) ;D

Bitchin' pic!!! 8) 8) 8)

I agree!

That photo of the car on fire... wow! :o

When I knew the car, Gary Gabelich was the driver... Gary was a good guy.

~DR.

Yeah Fred, I understand.

For me it was a different story. I grew up around Corvettes... Back in the 60's. my Dad had '58 Vette that later became his race car. At the same time my older Brother had a '56 Vette that was a hot street machine (ran low 13's). That was long before I was driving, but I got plenty of hot-laps in both cars (used to drive my Mom crazy)

I latched on to the Durachrome Bug and the Beach City Corvette because I used to see them often at Lions, and I liked that they were both Chevrolet powered...

Lastly, take a look at the specs on the 2009 ZR-1 Corvette sometime... I wouldn't throw one out of my garage ;)

~DR.