Hot Rodding in the San Fernando Valley, by Tony Baker, tells the story of the Road Kings of Burbank car club, and how its members came to dominate the sport of drag racing in the early 1960’s. With over 200 rare photographs, the book offers a look at the Valley’s hot rod scene in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s as well as the colorful early days of drag racing.
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In California, the popularity of all kinds of motor sports reached its peak in the mid-20th century. None was more exotic or glamorous than the type commonly called road racing. Southern California Road Racing is a collection of historic photographs that depicts all the action and excitement of the golden age of motor sports. The images in this book will take you back to the days when the best cars Europe had to offer competed with homebuilt specials over world-famous road courses like Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, Glen Helen, and Riverside International, plus show all the cars and people that made it happen.
From action-packed Model T racing in the 1930s to exotic sports car racing during the 1950s and 1960s, Images of America: Central Coast Motor Sports reveals the colorful history of motor sports and hot rodding in Central California. Sam Foose, one of the pioneers of West Coast car customizing, created several designs that led to fame, while locals raced at the world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats and joined the exclusive 200 MPH Club. Don Edwards entered the exciting world of drag boat and hydrofoil racing and became one of the most successful drag boat racers of the 1960s. This collection of historic images spotlights the many drag strips, racetracks, car clubs, and personalities in the region during racing’s golden age. It also features some of the coolest hot rods, customs, dragsters, lake racers, sports cars, formula racers, sprint cars, jalopies, off-road vehicles, and motorcycles around.
Starting in the early 1900s, Santa Barbara County became home to over a dozen motorcycle racecourses. Not one of those battlegrounds survives today. Pershing Park once had a stadium, Elings Park on Las Positas Road was Veronica Springs Hill Climb Course, and before that, La Conchita was home to hill climbing and TT events. Motorcycling in Santa Barbara County will take the readers back in time to the glory days of two wheels on city streets and engage them in competition at its racetracks. Preserved in these pages are the firsthand stories of the men that competed on these courses as far back as 1924.
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Ventura County has a long tradition in motor sports, and area racing enthusiasts have done it all, whether on four wheels or two, on the road or off, in a straight line or a circle, or even on the water. Ventura County Motor Sports takes you back to the vintage years of the Central Coast car and racing culture with a new set of classic photographs. Visit the forgotten racetrack known as Oxnard Speedway, check out the hot-rodding scene in Ojai during the 1950s and 1960s, and meet some of the personalities from Ventura County that made their mark in the automotive and racing world, plus get a special look at local custom cars and some great motorcycle, off-road, and drag boat action from the golden years.
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Stretching from Ventura to Santa Maria, California, a vibrant and colorful community of hot rod clubs bloomed throughout the middle of the 20th century. Hot Rodding in Ventura County takes a look at the people, places, and, above all, the cars that made up this historic period in automotive culture. Take a look into the golden years of hot rodding through vintage images of the first national championship drag races; visit long-lost drag strips such as Goleta, Saugus, and Santa Maria; and gain access to hot rodding’s paramount clubs like the Motor Monarchs, the Kustomeers, and the Pharaohs.
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California’s central coast was fertile ground for hot rodding, and all motor sports in general, during the 1940s and 1950s. Hot Rodding in Santa Barbara County takes the reader back in time with a collection of remarkable photographs from the earliest days of the hot rod movement. This book includes images of the first drag strips in the country, rough-and-tumble jalopy racing, early road-racing action, and lots of great hot rods and customs. Follow local hot-rodders as they take trips to El Mirage dry lake and the world-famous salt flats at Bonneville, Utah, and visit a long-lost world as seen through photographs taken from the personal albums of people who contributed to the birth of a culture that would spread across the nation.
