Return to Lions Drag Strip Long Beach California 2008

This is the third year of featuring restored dragsters that have run the 1320' Lions Drag Strip in its hey day... This video, typical of going to a drag strip, despite John Ewald telling everyone to stand back, you never get to see much when they display cars this way. Typical of the drag strip, all the vehicles require too much support, they stand around the car and block the view.... At the CHRR in Bakersfield, the Cacklefest is blocked by a bunch of folks standing at the concrete wall on the track blocking the view to the grand stands as if the concrete barrier wasn't enough....I have been going to the drags since I was a youngster and it seems the problem is no one can stay seated for a run and your typical day at the drags to this day takes on a Jack in the Box atmosphere.... I guess that is the way it is.....Anyway, the City of Long Beach Chamber of Commerce puts on a nice event and I hope it continues into the future.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Lions Drag Strip
• City of Long Beach
• NHRA
• SCTA
• Nitromethane
• Nitro
• Chrysler Hemi
• 392
• Super Charged
• 6:71
• Drag Racing
• John Ewald
• Explain Nitromethane

[Landspeedinsider]

No... it has been gone since the 70's but has a cult following... Although the residents on the east side of Long Beach ran them off years ago due to noise, it still lives on in the memory of those who raced there.... The Beach is Still Alive....

[battlestroke7]

MAN that was awesome !! You always post the good stuff thats why i subed you. I enjoyed this so much. THANKS !

[Landspeedinsider]

You are welcome.... Hope to post more soon...B

[motionperf]

i was there and it was freakin awesome , i really liked the poison ivy and ratican -jackson & stearns fiat topolino .the sound these vintage top fuelers and altereds made that day was bringing tears to my eyes as i remember going to lions drag strip when i was younger

[Landspeedinsider]

Yea... Steve Davis just finished the metal work on the Yeakle car... I hear they found it in Hawaii pretty rusty I believe and paid a pretty penny just to get most of it...Looks real good... Davis did the Greer-Black-Prudhomme resto too......b

[lophatmike]

@SuperRobbie1976 Lions had their last drag race in Dec. of 1972. The Navy now uses it for storing junk from the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. What a waste!!!

[SuperRobbie1976]

is this drag strip still open?

[MrRonnieG]

I saw the Smirnoff AA/FD (@ 1:07) run at the July 1967 Lions' PDA meet. The motor was built by the (late) great Dave Zeushel who was a drag racing legend from the early 60's on. T.V. Tommy Ivo ran Zeushel motors exclusively, for years. Dave was also involved in airplanes and was killed in 1987 while piloting a Korean War-era F86 at an air show in Shafter, Ca. Dave was only 46 when he was killed. Zeushel, Ed Pink and Keith Black were the masters when it came to motors.

[MrRonnieG]

My all-time favorite top fuel car/driver combo, from '64 and '65, was the Yeakel Plymouth Special out of Downey, California. It was Lou Baney running the deal, Tom "Mongoose" McEwen in the seat and John Garrison turning the wrench for Baney. I remember in the Fall of '64 when the "Goose" set a Lions track speed record @ 214.00 MPH, it was an ass-busting, tire smoking blast that seemed, in my memory, to be the fastest & most exciting run I ever witnessed!

[LongBeachPits562]

@bradlyw420 It was 5:28-5:29 you dumb ass.

[MrRonnieG]

Front-engined cars (especially AA/FD) were the best though spooky to drive and always trouble waiting to happen. I lived at SoCal strips from 1964 until 1969 and saw my share of this babies run. Clutch explosions were always catastrophic and any number of drivers, well known and otherwise, lost their lives with none more well known that John "Zoo Keeper" Mulligan who died from injuries received @ the 69 Indy Nationals when his "Fighting Irish" top fuel car was burned down in such an incident.

[bradlyw420]

Haha I love how the guy at 5:33 jumps from the backfire...that was awesome.

[psyhobill5150]

is this in l.b.? if so what part?

[efrem1]

I used to live in the old Navy dependent housing near Webster Ave. and Willow St. in Long Beach from 1969 to 1972 and we used to hear the engines roar every night. Hard to believe it has been almost 40 years. I just wish they would move those shipping cargo containers that are there now for just one more run.