Ferrari Mailing List: F1 fan survey.

[Douglas Anderson (dnt]

Drag racing – Yeee Haa

 

Picture this – about 1963 (?), Lions Drag Strip located in Wilmington (north of Long Beach) CA.

 

Now here’s my hero – Flaming Frank Pedregon. 

 

His two sons, Cruz and Tony have both been national Funny Car champions.

 

 

Yes – Those ARE flames on the rear of his tires. 

 

If I had to rate this fellow in the early days of drag racing with a number from 1 to 10 on the dangers of this crazy sport Frank would rate 11.

 

But he was entertaining.

 

At Lions, for $2 bucks, you could get into the pits.  That expense was a no brainer.  Crushed rock and granite and a bunch of hoses bibs to refill the engine with water.  Nothing but the best.  No semi’s, no motor homes, and only the porta potties. 

 

This place was also a test track for many of my first dates.  If she never wanted to see me again after this night she wasn’t for me any how.

 

So we located Frank, our hero.  He’s holding one of those old fashioned white porcelain dish pans with a red rim that you’d wash a baby in.  he’s holding it under the engine crankcase and a yellow liquid is draining out of a petcock and into the pan . . . . ?  When real oil starts to drool out he shuts off the oil pan petcock, carries the dish pan full of yellow stuff up to the front of his car, opens the fuel tank and pours the stuff into the fuel tank.

 

Wazzat we ask.  Frank replies – “nitro blow by.  Some of the pistons are a bit too small for the bore.”

 

Looking closely at the competition coupes Anglia body, or what’s left of one, we note it is held onto the frame with series of large 3/8ths screws pushed through a hole larger than 3/8ths, and a hole drilled in the screw with a girls hair pin pushed through and bent over.

 

We didn’t ask for a ride.

 

I think he was in the 170 or 180 range.

 

Yep – pioneer days of drag racing – just like pioneer days of early flight.  Self cleansing.

 

Frank made it to old age and his two sons continued on with the name Pedregon.

 

Doug