|
Author
|
Topic: Drag races/car show Lodi ,ca Oct 7th
|
6D9
¯
Member # 7001
|
posted
 
 
Return to Kingdon
Fueled by the need for speed and a return to their youthful heyday, locals ready to blaze back into the past at Lodi's legendary drag strip
By Richard Banas II
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Last updated: Saturday, Aug 19, 2006 - 08:08:06 am PDT
Comments(0)
It was 1953 and Marlon Brando and the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were roaring across the silver screens in "The Wild One."
Like a rebel without a cause, James Dean was speeding along in the much too fast and ill-fated Porsche Spyder that was to become his death car two years later. A new era of the need for speed — raw, blindingly fast speed — was just beginning.
Jerry Napier, left, and Lee Barnard run a practice race against each other on Wednesday at Lodi's Kingdon Drag Strip (now Kingdon Airpark). The drag strip, which shut down in 1978, will return to its glory days on Oct. 7 during "Return to Kingdon: A Day at the Races." (Angelina Gervasi/News-Sentinel)With World War II over seven years earlier, our Greatest Generation produced our first drag-racing pioneers complete with custom muscle cars complemented by Ray-Ban aviators and slicked-back hair.
Bomber-style leather jackets with upturned collars, Levi's with rolled up pant cuffs and white T-shirts holding cigarette packs tucked away in a shirt sleeve screamed rebel attitude.
Over in Stockton, a tough cop named Bob Kress was growing tired of writing too many speeding tickets for young men and women he caught back-alley racing. Frustrated, Kress began eyeing an obscure WWII military airplane training and emergency landing strip built in the early 1940s just west of Lodi as a possible racing venue.
Kress, a car-racing enthusiast, told Stockton 99 Speedway owner/promoter Billy Hunefeld of his desire to get the kids off the public streets.
Hunefeld saw the potential for large crowds and healthy gate receipts at the venue in the Kress concept. Convinced, Hunefield bought the surplus military airport from the federal government and installed Kress as the general manager.
For a three-quarter mile stretch of asphalt at the corner of DeVries and Armstrong road in southwest Lodi, it was the beginning of a quarter-century of legendary racing at Kingdon Drag Strip. After the drag strip closed in 1978, the legacy created by Kress still resonates today in the sentimental hearts and minds of the Central Valley Cruisers.
ADVERTISEMENT
"From the fifties through the seventies Kingdon was the drag strip to be seen at and the place to race," says CVC member Joe Nemie. "My buddies and I ran Roadrunners and Cyclones from 1968 through 1971. We had so much fun, all of us here in the CVC want to do it again, even if its just for one day."
On Saturday, Oct. 7, Kingdon Drag Strip will roar again.
CVC members, Nemie, master mechanic Jerry Napier, the husband-and-wife team of Randy and Diane Gonzales, owners Dennis Cunnington and Kim Hoellwarth of Big "O" Tires and the current Kingdon Airpark staff will host "Return to Kingdon: A Day at the Races" from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
"W wanted to bring people back together and race again with some local guys just like we used to on Tuesday nights out here at Kingdon," Nemie said. "I was raised on Armstrong Road my whole life and would even sneak through the fence to watch the races at Kingdon as a kid when I couldn't afford it."
It's the first reunion at Kingdon since 1994-1995. Open to the public, the $20 per car ticket cost includes a car and motorcycle show complete with grudge match drag races, a raffle and a host of assorted vendors. Proceeds from the no-alcohol-allowed event will benefit the Lodi Junior Flames football program.
As they do every Thursday evening at Pete Knight's A&W Root Beer in Lodi, the CVC members take up their parking spots to watch the vintage automobiles ride back to the future on Classic Car Show night while discussing the upcoming Kingdon reunion.
Beautiful hot rods like Napier's '57 Bel Aire, creamy pearl white set off by radiant red flames. Seconds later, Jerry Ives and his custom red '64 "Red Ryder" Corvette take up residence in one parking spot, followed by Bob Earley in his dark gray and silver '56 Chevy. Not to mention 82-year old Gene Tull as he steps down from his 1930 Model A, both the car and man in mint condition.
As a roar starts up from the '58 Cobra that drowns out all other engines, a striped blue-and-white '71 Shelby Mustang and a '65 rust-colored Ford Mustang compete for attention nestled in between a yellow '66 Chevelle, the same color as the 1970 Chevy El Camino next to it.
"We want everyone to come out to the drag strip and just relax and just have fun. Really, other than the safety and race car inspection rules, there are no rules," CVC member Diane Gonzales said. "It's family friendly. You can bring everybody and just do whatever you want."
For some car owners, like CVC's Napier, it is a way to feel the wind in his hair again, or what's left of it. Napier, who modestly estimates spending around 1,000 hours restoring his classic car, says it's a way to recapture his youth.
"It will feel great to be a 60-year old kid again. It's gonna be a real fun day," Napier said.
The real attraction, however, will be the drag racing, which is expected to attract between 500 to 1,000 cars and drivers, including dragsters that originally competed in the heyday of the quarter-mile strip.
From the early '50s to early '70s Kingdon literally was the drag strip king of Northern California and some famous National Hot Rod Association drivers cut their teeth on the Lodi track. NHRA Hall of Fame legend Don "Big Daddy" Garlits set the Kingdon record in his 1964 Swamp Rat IV in winning the Top Eliminator title with a world speed record of 201.34 mph.
Other big names that raced at Kingdon, home to the 1967 Winternationals, include drag racing Hall of Famers Connie Kalitta and Don "Snake" Prudhomme.
"JetCar" Bob Smith and his jet dragster "Untouchable" reached 287.7 mph at Kingdon on Jan. 13, 1963, setting a record that was listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for 13 years.
Even a car painting artist from Lodi, the late Joe Bailon, creator of the color candy apple red paint, got in on the act by making his mark at Kingdon with the dragsters as his canvas.
Anyone could race at Kingdon, even the odd, occasional airplane pilot that might come in for a landing In the middle of the weekly Tuesday night drag races and scatter everyone off the runways. As soon as the plane taxied through, the drivers, spectators and event staff reassembled the equipment and the racing went on as scheduled.
First published: Saturday, August 19, 2006
__________________
--------------------
Performance Alliance Motorsports
1969 BBC Camaro
Posts: 171 | From: stockton,ca | Registered: Aug 2006
| :
|
|
6D9
¯
Member # 7001
|
posted
Anyone plan on going??
--------------------
Performance Alliance Motorsports
1969 BBC Camaro
Posts: 171 | From: stockton,ca | Registered: Aug 2006
| :
|
|
season'd 88
¯
Member # 169
|
posted
[ November 06, 2006, 12:39 AM: Message edited by: season'd 88 ]
Posts: 1383 | Registered: Feb 2001
| :
|
|
season'd 88
¯
Member # 169
|
posted
[ November 06, 2006, 12:40 AM: Message edited by: season'd 88 ]
Posts: 1383 | Registered: Feb 2001
| :
|
|
1320MASTER
¯
Member # 773
|
posted
I pulled in at 9am and there was about 2k people already. Alot of nice cars and Rhett pounding on his wifes GTO had a great time.
[ October 10, 2006, 12:12 AM: Message edited by: 1320MASTER ]
--------------------
EA Smog Tech/Smog Lic/ASE Master Tech
93 SSP Coupe 440ci sbf coming soon
Posts: 593 | From: Sacramento Calif | Registered: Jan 2002
| :
|
|
season'd 88
¯
Member # 169
|
posted
[ November 06, 2006, 12:40 AM: Message edited by: season'd 88 ]
Posts: 1383 | Registered: Feb 2001
| :
|
|
1320MASTER
¯
Member # 773
|
posted
Sorry,My fat finger typo error. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
--------------------
EA Smog Tech/Smog Lic/ASE Master Tech
93 SSP Coupe 440ci sbf coming soon
Posts: 593 | From: Sacramento Calif | Registered: Jan 2002
| :
|
|
|
Email this post to someone!
Printer friendly view of this Ford topic
