We're Not Dysfunctional... Really

When one decides to glance back through the looking glass into the late 60's through early 70's, things tend to be more than a bit fuzzy or hazy. High performance, muscle cars, and racing was no exception. I can remember a while back when a friend of mine named Glen was restoring a 1970 Chevelle SS. He managed to pick up a very original, low mileage example with its numbers-matching L78 big block and Muncie 4-speed. While the paint was faded and heavily oxidized, the car was literally rust free. The SS396 still ran and drove, even though the brakes and some of the suspension were toast, and all four tires wouldn't hold air due to extreme weather cracking and dry rot. The old man who sold the car to my friend said he loved the Chevy, but always had one complaint - the heat sucked. It never worked right.

Glen took his words with a grain of salt as just about everything on the Chevelle was original (or damn close to it). It was a miracle a number of the systems on the car still worked, especially the electrical. However, after the car was freshened up and completely gone through, Glen noted that the heat did indeed suck - just like the old man said. The entire cooling system had been gone through except for one item; the heater core. Glen removed it one Saturday afternoon and found what was left of about two or three cigarette butts lodged in the fins of the core body. My friend remembers his first thoughts when stumbling onto his discovery - "How the f**k did cigarette butts get into the heater core?"

About a year or so later, Glen was having a discussion with a fellow Chevy SS enthusiast. The topic turned to the butt infested heater core and Glen was enlightened with the following; it turns out, the father of this fellow enthusiast used to work on the GM assembly line where they manufactured Chevelles back in 1970. Assembly line workers used to sneak smoke breaks while working on the line, but needed a place to stash the discarded cigarettes. Since things like heater hoses were some of the last items to be installed, assembly line workers used to dispose of their smoked butts into the inlet and outlet holes in the firewall that led to the heater core that was already installed. Once everything was buttoned up, the coolant / water mixture went through the system and pushed the cigarette butts into the fins, thus blocking the efficiency of the heater core but not disrupting the cooling system. So - if you ever encounter this scenario and you're wondering just who put cigarette butts into your heater core; now you know. General Motors did.

That also reminds me of the picture I have that was taken at the very end of the Chrysler Lynch Road assembly line where they were building Roadrunners back in late 1967 / early 1968. There's a huge sign above the exit where plant workers drove the vehicles out that stated "Please Drive Carefully". The kicker and hilarity of that picture is someone is doing a massive burnout while exiting the building in one said Roadrunners. Adding insult to injury is the fact there is literally dozens of black tire marks on the floor by that same exit door...

Have you ever read about the last drag race at Lions Raceway back on December 2nd 1972? If not, you should. The event has been labeled, "The night the music died". Others claimed it was very strange and surreal at the same time; somewhere between having the time of their life and attending a funeral. Dress it up however you'd like, but one thing is for sure - it was an absolute domino effect of chaos. Even before the event, their were radio ads announcing the last race. They stated, "...come and get a piece of history." The ads actually encouraged fans to take the place apart. As one can imagine, the stands were packed to capacity. As the afternoon wore on, more people kept coming in. By 6pm, the local sheriff made Lions track management close the gates. No problem for those locked out; they just pushed the chain-link fences over. Security tried stemming the problem at first, but after a while, just threw up their hands and gave up. About an hour before the event was over, all security staff was gone.

As the night wore on, things got even more out of control. The races got stopped more than a few times. The crowds were starting to move towards the guardrails, what was left of them, as people were unbolting them and taking them as souvenirs. As the various classes of race cars concluded their runs, regardless of how the finished and placed, many racers didn't even go and collect their checks - they knew they (their cars, trucks, and equipment) would never get out of there. The very last race of the night was between Top Fuel drivers Jeb Allen and Carl Olson, which almost didn't happen. By this time, all the guardrails were gone and there were lots of people standing in their place. Olson recalls during that final run, he ran over several beer cans and wine bottles that littered the track and the crunching sound they made when he hit them. After that run, it was all over - it took an hour for Olson and Allen to get back to the starting line due to the mass amount of people, the out-houses being torched, the bonfires - he remembers the whole scene looked like one of the Watts riots. To top things off, one of the most amazing things happened; in all this madness, no one was hurt, fights didn't break out, no one was even arrested.

Even though the track closed on that chilly December night, it would be nearly a decade before the Los Angeles Harbor Department (who owned the land) would actually use the land for the container terminal it planned for. It sat mostly vacant with piles of pipes and other junk for years. And the residents who lived nearby who complained about the noise since Lions opened in 1955, they got kicked out anyways. God bless eminent domain laws. The undoing of Lion's Drag Strip was America changing in the 70's - where too much was no longer enough for some people, balanced capitalism was truly a dinosaur, and the new mantra was make as much money as you can. Who gives a shit about people and what they think?

Now that winter is officially over for good here in coastal Maine, we're compiling the list of events Vintage V8 Photography will be at. From local shows and cruise-ins here in Maine, to big events at New England Dragway in New Hampshire, to the Carlisle Fairgrounds in Pennsylvania, and other gigs in between - look for us, the pictures that follow and like us on Facebook!

Until next time, peace out.
Dave