LIONS LAST DRAG RACE REUNION

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:19:31 +0000

LIONS LAST DRAG RACE REUNION, December 3, 2011 Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, Pomona, CA To only consider the infamous “Last Drag Race” at Lions is to miss the rich and colorful 17 year history of the drag strip. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum did an excellent job of presenting both aspects of the storied track with an informative and entertaining event on Dec. 3rd. This was accomplished by a panel composed of two class winners at that last race; Bill Bagshaw and Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen; the irrepressible top fuel driver Tommy Ivo; the longtime starter and racer, Larry Sutton; and, Judy Thompson, first wife of Mickey Thompson, track manager for 10 years. The 2+ hour discussion was expertly moderated by Dave Wallace, editor of Hot Rod Deluxe magazine. The Lions Last Drag Race Reunion was hosted by Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen. In introducing the panel/moderator to a standing-room only crowd, Greg Sharp, Curator of the Museum, noted the following about each panel member: Judy Thompson, the first wife of Mickey Thompson the track manager, was there from day one and helped get the place going; she wrote and handed out time slips, read the clock, took tickets, and wrote the results for Drag News. Bill Bagshaw raced in pro stock and in 1970 his pro stock car was named best engineered car, he won March Meet pro stock three times and the Last Drag Race in pro stock. Larry Sutton was a starter and drag racer at Lions. He started working at Lions in 1956 at age 13 and stayed for the Last Drag Race. He didn’t miss one day of work the entire time. He was there when Garlits’ transmission exploded at the start line in 1970. The Garlits’ car hadn’t stopped moving when Larry ran up with a fire extinguisher. Tom McEwen began his career in 1953, before he had a drivers license, when he hot wired his mother’s Olds and took it to the drags in Santa Ana. At his 1964 match race with Don Prudhomme, Ed Donnovan, remembering his Kipling, named him the Mongoose (Prudhomme was known as the snake due his cobra fast starts) and it stuck forever. McEwen won the match race. A career spanning 4 decades included sponsorship by Fortune 500 companies. He won the 1972 March Meet in top fuel, 1970 U.S. Nationals in a funny car and dozens of other races and titles. He is a member of the Drag Racing Hall of Fame. McEwen won the Last Lions Drag Race in a funny car race with Don Prudhomme. Tommy Ivo went to England in 1964 with the United Drag Race Team. During his career he drove everything from stockers to jets. His first car was a 1952 Buick. He retired in 1982. Ivo has been named the grand Marshal for the 2012 CHRR. He is a member of the Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Dave Wallace, the panel moderator, started writing for Drag News at age 14 and was the editor from 1975-1977. In 1977 he joined Hot Rod Magazine and today serves as editor of Hot Rod Deluxe Magazine. In addition to the panel, many of the drag racing famous and infamous were in the audience, including: Don “the Snake” Prudhomme; Floyd Lippencotte, Jr. (driver of John Peter’s Freight Train); Art Chrisman (owner/driver of the Hustler); Roland Leong (the Hawaiian); Al “Mousie” Marcellus (owner of the Marcellus-Borsch-Boyd Winged Express), Mike Kuhl (Kuhl & Olson, Fast Guys, top fuel dragster), Don Long (chassis builder), Linda Vaughn (Miss Hurst Golden Shifter); Steve Chrisman (driver of current NHRA top fuel car Nitro Fish). The photos above show: Greg Sharp talking to Don Prudhomme; Mike Kuhl; Greg Sharp talking to Art Chrisman; Greg Sharp with Roland Leong; Linda Vaughn; and Floyd Lippencotte,Jr. The panel reminisced about Lions Drag Strip, officially Lions Associated Drag Strip (“LADS”), from its inception to the last race. The name Lions came from the many local Lions Clubs that raised the money to build the drag strip. The strip’s motto was “drive the highways – race at Lions”. Mickey Thompson was hired as track manager and the first race was held on October 9, 1955. Lions ultimately became known as the greatest drag strip. As Greg Sharp, Curator of the Museum, noted in his opening remarks “..the Gasser Wars started there, the Snake versus the Mongoose started there… in 1967 there were 90 top fuel cars trying to qualify…It started the careers of McEwen, Ongias, Don Prudhomme, Keith Black, made them famous…It was just a magic time.” Larry Sutton recalled the time Don Garlits’ foot was severed in a transmission explosion at the start line and gave an account of his rescue of a fan seriously injured during the explosion. Sutton explained why he always wore a black hat – to keep the rubber out of his hair, of course. Larry also talked about his stealing the Lions Drag Strip sign from under the tower clock a couple weeks before the track closed. Then track manager Steve Evans was so angry he hired security to protect the track until it closed. It wasn’t until years later that Evans learned Sutton had taken the sign. That sign was at the Museum during the Reunion collecting signatures of anyone who raced or worked at Lions. Bill Bradshaw talked about the slickness of the track surface before the use of VHT. He also stated that when VHT was used, once applied it had to dry to get sticky. Sutton said that at Lions after the VHT was applied to the strip, they would light the strip on fire to dry the VHT. Tommy Ivo and Tom McEwen relayed a story of a practical joke Ivo played on McEwen at a hotel. Tommy snuck into McEwen’s room set the alarm clock for 3:00 a.m. and hid it in a ceiling […]

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LIONS LAST DRAG RACE REUNION