Northern California Drag Racing (Images of America) - Hardcover

Reyes, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1540251985 ISBN 13: 9781540251985

Publisher: Arcadia Pub (Sc), 2022

Synopsis

Organized drag racing began in Northern California in 1949 thanks to World War II veterans with a need for speed. Towns like Redding, Lodi, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Fremont would host their own drag events featuring homebuilt jalopies. Anyone with a driver's license and a paid entry fee could participate, and as the cars got more sophisticated and faster, more and more spectators came to watch the local speed demons. By the 1960s, a metamorphosis began with the introduction of the slingshot-style dragsters. For the next 12 years, the slingshot dragster was the king of the quarter mile, and it made stars of Gary Ormsby, Frank Bradley, Dennis Baca, and James Warren. Meanwhile, in 1965, a funny new race car challenged The King as it gained popularity in Northern California. Leading this funny car charge was a Pennsylvania transplant named Russell James Liberman. However, the golden years of Northern California drag racing came to an end in the mid-1970s. Today, only 5 out of 17 drag strips are still open.

Edition details

• Publisher: Arcadia Pub (Sc)
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1540251985
• ISBN 13: 9781540251985
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 130