Fresno, 1938: Irrigation-Ditch-Jumpin' Hupmobiles Compete In Old Hack Race
Imagine California’s Central Valley with no personal-injury attorneys and a glut of sub-50-buck Model Ts, Essexes, and Oaklands.
Or, as the Beastie Boys say:
Fresno Bee, thanks to Team BMW Douchebag Factory Drivers for the tip!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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Would this be the long lost father of Le Mons racing?
Post WW2 several airbases used for training purposes and present, if needed, to assist in fending off a Japanese invasion that WAS a true fear "in the day" were abandoned (not all... the Crows Landing base was used until the 80s or 90s or so as an emergency landing strip and by the Navy for carrier pilots to practice touch-and-go landings (turned myself in for AWOL/UA there; a nice bunch there). Anywho, the abandoned bases scattered here and there throughout California's central valleys had lengthy, flat, concrete landing strips so convenient for 1/4-mile racing. A local amateur racer with is "Hemi Countdown" set an unofficial NHRA record for his car's class (can't recall the exact class) while running at the local abandoned airstrip for a TV camera and reporter crew from a Sacramento TV station. An interesting local story at the time. Up and down the central valleys are barns here and there and a peak under the tarp in the back of the barn can reveal the car(s) built and run in the 50s and 60s (and earlier). A local farmer I did some work for during high school had a "2 tarp barn." Hot rods with 'souped-up' engines. One was street legal for its time and was used for street racing in nearby Modesto (the "where were you in '62" days [and earlier] as portrayed in the movie American Graffiti). Memory fades but I was most impressed with the Anglia-bodied hot rod with self-fabricated plastic body panels and a chassis made partially of steel tubing. It was a track only car. The farmer stated the engine's compression was so high it took two large tractor batteries to provide enough ooomph to turn the engine over. That farmer sure made me work hard at minimum wage but it provided money and there was no work in town since those jobs were reserved for locals with connections, not an outsider recently arrived. That was before the immense horde of "immigrants." I wonder if local youth can still earn a few bucks what with the intense competition from the MILLIONS of "immigrants" in California? I wonder if the "tales of old" are still passed on to a younger generation of USA citizens.... or maybe today's younguns wouldn't even care. Oh well.
Under $50? Try under $20, Mr. Rockefeller. My friend recently inherited a great deal of his grandfather's Model A and Model T vehicles, parts, tools, models, and photos and most of the photos have various details on the back -- like the fact that he paid $17 for one of his '26s.
I also used to correspond with Tad Burness and still have two albums full of 'Auto Album' comics/articles. He was a great guy and a real enthusiast. I wonder if he's still around?