this is an oldie....

[bobby]

1955 and my cousin from texas.....he wrote this to me....

.....Hi guys: This came from buddy George, who found a bunch of negs stashed
away. Taken at Amarillo airport strip, June 1955. This is the first
serious dragster that my good friend, Jack Moss built with a little Dodge
Hemi. It ran 131 at an earlier meet, and then had new Weber cam. He
predicted 135 , but don't recall what he did, except to twist an axle,
(first of many) but think he was top Eliminator after the axel fix. I was
there, home for summer vacation (two weeks! ) from NAI.. Don't you love that
big beefy roll bar? He had top time in same car at NHRA Nationals in
1956. He was shut down by the Bean Bandits. Yeah, they were a stormin'
bunch out of S. Cal.. Geesh, that was long ago!!!
Jack was captured when Japs overran Java in January, '42. He spent WWII
in several slave labor camps, and worked the Death Railway, the one that
went over the River Kwai. He is still kicking . Just completed an
electric car he calls Sparky.. We saw it and Jack at car show in Amarillo
in March. A great American and a good man.. Regards, Leroy

more on this story...............

Bobby: Hey, he is right on..Must be a displaced Texian. (Or a wanna be). The photo was taken in June of '55 at Tradewinds Airport, on S. side of Amarillo. There were several races held there, starting in '54 I think. I was there, home from CA for summer break (2 weeks). Tradewinds was the municipal airport, and the only airport strip near Amarillo I know of. Don't recall anything close and NE of town.
The strip near Pampa, was about 60 miles NE, was where we did lots of early racing. It was just "Pampa" at the time, was out on the prairie, had been a WW II practice strip. (I never knew why the strip was there until much later when learned it was built by USAAF . A buddy at NAA wind tunnel did touch & go's there, flight training in '43. He later flew B-24's in S. Pacific with the "Jolly Rogers".) The Pampa "operation" was really informal, with no tech inspection, minimum classes, "Stock" ie: "hello cheaters", "Modified Stock" (anything goes), "Dragster" ie: "My Gawd, just frame rails and an engine" or "Motorcycle". My '40 Ford Tudor flathead (bored, stroked, relieved, ported, a wild, short track cam, with two/three/or four carbs, 9:1 heads & Lincoln gearbox, & sometimes doped gasoline. Yes, it stunk! ) It was the reigning champ in Modified in '53-'54. I have a few trophies still stashed away in the garage. (We even ran 100% alky once. That's another story, huh George?)
A new, purpose built "Amarillo Dragway" became a big venue in the '60s and is still used, but not as popular as once was. During its prime time, they held NHRA Regional meets. Old timers talk about having thirty or so nitro burning dragsters, all fired and cackling at one time. Enough nostalgia to make an ol' rodder cry...
BTW: We had supper with Jack Moss last month after a car show in Amarillo. He just had his 85th b-day two weeks ago. An amazing guy. He even called me Friday to say thanks for the card I sent.
Enough for now. Cheers, Leroy

[BadNick]

Wonderful. And it's much more interesting when we hear a little history of the people involved. Thanks.
I love seeing the cool old cars that were the forerunners of modern day dragsters. No slicks; I wonder if they ran Atlas Bucron tires; that's what we ran before we could afford slicks since they had great bite.

I see an old Corvette, a '55 Chevy ...are those people sitting on an early XK Jag?

[echo5delta]

Awesome photo, awesome history lesson. This really emphasizes how "they don't make 'em like they used to". Men and machines, that is.

Sometimes, that's not always for the better, though.

[BadNick]

I see women in that pic, too, and a couple of those babes aint bad, either. Car babes FTW!

[fastom]

Bobby
A great shot and Jack Moss history, i'd love to see more too. Do you or George know which airport that was? Supposedly in that area their were drags at Tradewinds Airport just south of town and the old Amarillo Municipal Airfield just northeast of town but i'm not sure which years they ran. There was also Pampa (called Top of Texas Dragway) about 40 miles east.

Maybe you can go by the old folks home and introduce Nick to the "babes" ! LOL

[BadNick]

Thanks fastom, that might actually be interesting. Perhaps you have too, but I've talked to a few ballzy grandma's and it's great fun and educational.

Are you thinking this was not at Amarillo Airfield like bobby said?

[newtx]

That is a cool shot. The history of the photo adds a bunch. Good looking cars in the background as well. Back in the day................

[fastom]

Nick, there's not enough background showing to tell, and airfields can look quite alike. Tradewinds is also an Amarillo airport that had drags. Both did but probably not at the same time.

I try and stay out of old folks homes, i melt above 100 degrees.

That is a classic shot, i like the cars in background like the Jag the babes are sitting on and the Corvette. A ritzy crowd!

[Daniel_]

Great story. Love the picture.

Thanks fr sharing, Bobby.

[bobby]

more info was added to the first picture above here is second photo and story....xoxoxoo

This is same car in George's Tradewinds photo, but about four months later with a body. Photo taken at 1st NHRA Nationals in Oct. of 1955. The event started in Great Bend KS, but was rained out.
NHRA moved the final elimination event to AZ sunshine, to be run as part of an Arizona State drag meet.
The cartoon on the car's nose says "Ramblin' Ram from Texas" and has a ram (goat) for logo. (Yes, that is your cuzzin' before I was your cuzzin'.) I believe photo was by Eric Rickman of Hot Rod Magazine fame, who gave photo to Jack Moss. He had it posted over his work bench for years. I did not know photo existed until a reunion of Amarillo hot rod guys in 2000 where it appeared.
I was at the AZ drags with another ex-Amarillo racer, also at Northrop Institute in Inglewood. We drove all night, after Friday's class to work as pit crew for Moss. Jack had top time of about 142, and defeated the dreaded "Bustle Bomb" (one of the first successful twin engine cars), but later lost to Cal Rice, from S. Cal. (not the Bean Bandits, as I said earlier). Moss still says that Rice had "used up" his flathead at Great Bend, and could not have made the final rounds without the respite between events when he rebuilt/replaced his engine. But, that's racin'.. Rice was eventual top eliminator.
BTW: I still have that Barons Racing Team club jacket. I wore it to the car show in Amarillo last month.
Cheers, From your faithful cuzzin', Leroy

[BadNick]

I'm really enjoying all the personal details. Thanks, bobby.

Wondering if perhaps I may have seen Jack Moss at one of the local dragstrips around here (within a couple hours of Phila, PA) when I was a youngster in the late '50's/early '60's, I searched for some history for him. I didn't see any clue that he ever raced in the Northeast, but I found this reminiscing thread by a Mr. Richard Burk http://www.dragracingonline.com/firsttime/i_2.html talking about "...The memories that I have of my first drag race are probably a compilation of several races that I went to with my brother in that summer almost 40 years ago at Amarillo Dragway..." and then he mentions Jack Moss:

"...And of course, our local hero was there that day: Jack Moss in his twin-engined Chevy dragster. He had previously run a Dodge-powered dragster and had actually made it to the final four at the first Nationals (as in "The Nationals"). Back then you didn’t have a national race every week.You had the Winternationals in Pomona and the Nationals that was run in Indianapolis. Our guy actually had been there!..."

[bobby]

Bobby: Yep, I got a bunch of photos. I took this one at the 1955 NHRA Regionals in Denver. This was a nice, quick, lightweight built by Kenz & Leslie, the Denver boys. (Same gang who built the record holding Bonneville twin engine streamliner.) It took fastest time @ 122.28, but Moss had better ET & shut him down at 120 mph.... Yep, long ago & far away...

[fastom]

Wow, great stuff Bobby! Very nice pictures that give a great feel for the era.

OK that also explains the confusion. I had assumed (that's an ASS between U and ME) that the other airport was the Municipal Airport they raced on. That clears it up.

[BadNick]

Cool flathead dragster. I wonder what that little round gadget is on top-front of the engine cover? I see wires going down ...could that be the tach? As far as minimalism goes, I don't see too many parts you could leave off that thing.

[bobby]

Since you asked : At the old Pampa strip, circa 1953-54. As I said in earlier clip, "Tech Inspection" was a bit loose, meaning ZIP. Car had been a circle track Sportsman class, built by Moss , originally had a cut Model A coupe body. (you can see where he cut of the "nerf bars " from frame rail.) He took off the body, changed axle ratio. And SHAZAM! an instant dragster. A bit scary by today's standards, but pretty quick for its day. His main competition for top eliminator was a modified motorcycle, which he shut down pretty easily. I bought a Moss built, mean flathead from Joe in early '57, which he had bought from Jack in maybe '56. It may have been that engine.