Thread: new poster child

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As I remember it, Al VanDerwoude had one the first "altered wheelbase" cars to ever grace a drag strip. I've heard that there are some who refer to him as the father of "funny cars". The first I saw was at Lions in late'64, early '65.

he was for sure one of the 1st. he had a huge impact on the way the funny cars took shape. and was always the first to try something new, an inovator and master fabricator to say the least, with a dare to be different approach to the sport. here is a picture of one of the 1st funnys that caught everyones attention, and following it is a picture of
Al Vanderwoude standing in front of the charger 3 grinning ear to ear. a moment of silence please! and please remember these are very personal pictures i am posting on this forum and only on this forum, and i ask that you please do not post them anywhere else, i am chosing to only post these exclusivly here thank you.

Great pictures, thanks. It's hard to tell, but could that first picture be at Lions?

What great pictures, and what a wonderful stash of memories you must have in your head. To be there and see some of these history making cars and be involved with them had to be just the very best. These were the glory days of racing IMO.

Loved seeing them, hope you post more.


Don

most of these i cant give a location from my prespective. i was between the age of 9 to 15 during all this. ive got a couple lions for sure but they were taken about 5 years later, so i cant tell for sure. ive confiscated all my dads pictures because he keeps moving and is losing a few more every time. so i am scanning pics and redoing all slides in digital format, so they will be forever. and yes the memories, i wake up thinking cars and go to bed thinking cars. it had a huge impact on me. everytime they test fired the car, my seat was always sitting on one of the front tires.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

Great pictures, thanks. It's hard to tell, but could that first picture be at Lions?

Ken, while the proximity of the stands and the fence look similar to Lions, they're on the "wrong" side for the "long" set of bleachers relative to the starting line. Also there's a sign on the fence that says AHRA sanctioned, which I don't think is accurate for Lions either.

Bob, both the spectator and pit stands at Lions in the mid '60's were approximately the same length with the pit stands closer to the strip. Originally Lions was an Nhra sanctioned strip, but lost that sanctioning due to the close proximity of the stands in relation to the strip. To my knowledge from that time forward it was an AHRA sanctioned strip. I was pretty much a permanent fixture at Lions from late '64 to '70.

I (mis)spent most of my time at San Fernando, so I'll bow to your experience (and age )

That's very kind of you, I think.