Covers the 1963 Drag News Invitational, West Salem Ohio. Save the tree for Christmas, it's flag start time! The starter taking his chances with short wheelbase slingshots, altereds, stockers and more. This tape shows you the early appearances of 'Mr. Pontiac' Arnie Beswick in Mrs. B's Grocery Getter, Don Garlits and the Super Stock Mopars of Bill 'Maverick' Golden and the Ramchargers and Golden Commandos teams.
A professionally produced documentary of the 1964 Indy nationals with commentary by John Lundburg. The colour is somewhat faded but the picture detail is extremely crisp with the added benefit of live sound as the cars roar down the track. This tape incl Wally Parks and in-car entertainment as Dave Strickler demonstrates transmission abuse on his way to the A/FX crown. Watch Roger Lindamood in his early Color-me-Gone Dodge outrun the equally famous Ramchargers team during coverage of the Top fuel, Top Gas and other eliminator categories.
Classic footage from 1964 and 1965. Concentrates on the super stock and developing A/FX classes but does not ignore the rails. I should perhaps mention that you get to see the complete car as very few tracks had guard rails in place back then. With the likes of Dyno Don Nicholson, Dick Landy, Ronnie Sox and Butch Leal racing at Longfield, Richmond and Aquasco dragstrips followed by the '65 Super Stock Nationals at York.
Shot at the 1966 Spring Nationals at Thunder Valley the tape shows just about every type of car that ran in those days. Thunder Valley strip is in a natural amphitheatre and most of the shots are taken looking down from the stands. Other spectators do in intrude into some of the shots but in general you get a good view of the whole track. Featured drivers include Jimmy Nix, Al Bergler, Mike Sohmitt, Jerry Stahl and Arlan Vanke. The tape has a special pictorial in honour of Sox and Martin showing Sox's cars from 1963 to 1979 (Chevy, Mercury, Plymouth and Dodge). There are also glimpses of the Hurst Hairy Olds twin engined exhibition car plus , at no extra charge, coverage of a minor punch-up in the opposite stand.
A slightly more modern collection of spectacular fires, explosions, wild rides and crashes (a couple sadly fatal). As may be expected funny car antics feature strongly but that is not to say that jet-cars, rails and even stock bodied cars don't provide their fair share of exitement. See Danny Ongias and Dale Emery's spectacular crash at the U.S. Nationals and John Weibe and Jeb Allen as they attempt to weld their cars together amongst many other hairy runs. With guest appearances from the Hell on Wheels tank styled wheelstander and the peroxide rocket go-kart which ran 6's, just as quick as the fuelers of the day ("Every home should have one" - Skip Norman, "200 mph on yer bum" - Custom Car). Last handful remaing in stock.
A professionally produced promotional film for Plymouth the tape shows some early colour (but very faded almost b/w) footage to give a potted history of drag racing from the dry lakes/rollbars not wanted pre and post-war years and then catches up with pr 1970-1971 exponents of Plymouth power. There is good coverage of the Sox & Martin Super-Stock/Pro-Stock team (with 1st and 2nd generation Hemi Cudas, Roadrunners and some shots of the Superbird) along with the losers plus useful footage of the then current slingshot fuelers, Don Prudhomme flying the Plymouth flag in both Categories in the last of his Mattel sponsored cars. Live sound with narration. Approx 27 minutes.
Thanks to Ted Spehar of Motown Missile fame we have a chance to see the early days of drag racing on the west coast. All the way back to 1957 at Santa Ana for the early altered rods and rails followed by the 1965 NHRA Winternationals at Pomona and the IHRA Winternationals at Phoenix. Includes shots of the early funnies and slingshots from bare rails to full streamliners. Useful glimpses of stockers, comp cars and a couple of bikes. The last section of the tape covers the 1968 Winternationals at Bristol with gassers , super stocks, altereds and more. Approx 40 minutes
For the smaller track promoter booking a handful of famous names for a set of match races would go a long way to ensuring a good crowd. This tape , shot by the much missed Woody Hatten who also took the film used in the 'Flames of Fear' tape, shows the early altered wheelbase cars changing through the steel bodied A/FXers into a split to give the tube chassis funnies and the steel bodied pro stockers. Classic altered wheelbase action with some really beautiful cars including those of Jungle Jim, Brutus, Dyno Don, Lindamood and the Rams. Approximately 43 minutes.
Continues into the '70s. The tape concentrates on the classic funnies and the rise in popularity of the pro stocks. The tape also shows gassers, stockers and the last of the slingshot rails against the rear engine fuelers. Includes Jungle, Schartman, Kallita, Landy, Jenkins, Sox, Bonner, Tasca, Brutus and others running at various tracks like Maple Grove, Pomona, Indy and New York. A worthy follow up to the previous tape. Approx 43 Mins.
The title is accurate, the tape spans from 1968 to 1978, slingshots, rear engines, funnies, pro stockers, gassers and comp cars driven by the likes of Garlits, Prudhomme, McEwen, Fred Hurst, Dyno Don, Sox, Ohio George, virtually everybody who was anybody. Along with the famous names comp cars and sportsman racers bring further variety to the field. If you ever collected model drag car kits you now have a chance to see the prototypes in action. Approx 40 minutes.
Save money on the tapes and the postage, the complete Birth of Drag Racing set
The official digitally remastered dvd release of American Nitro {please note that this is not a Golddust title}