Lost Drag Strips: Ghosts of Quarter Miles Past (Cartech) - Softcover

Byrd, Tommy Lee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1613250452 ISBN 13: 9781613250457

Verlag: CarTech Inc, 2013

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Focusing on the period of the height of the hobby where customizing cars for sheer speed alone was the ultimate goal, Tommy Lee Byrd presents an insightful and fascinating exploration of the hobby's history and peak. 'Lost Drag Strips' is a strong addition to general automotive and hobbyist collections focusing on vintage topics. - --The Midwest Book Review, April 2013----Using photos from their hayday and comtemporary shots fo what they look like now, Byrd chronicles the rise and fall of beloved drag strips all across the country. It's a well-told but melancholy tale of how 'progress' has gobbled up all that racing opportunity. -- --Muscle Car Review, July, 2013

During the 50s and 60s, the sport of drag racing exploded in popularity and facilities sprang up all over the country, some national in scale and others very small and local. But with the sprawl of suburbia and the growing expense of racing over the last few decades hundreds of drag racing facilities across the country were closed. Many of these were places of legend; others were relatively unknown but served a local area's needs for a safe place for local speed addicts to run their cars. This book takes a look at many of the lost quarter-mile tracks across the country. The images are teamed with vintage shots of drag racing's glory days, sharing what once was one of America's most popular pastimes with the modern reality facing these facilities today. For fans of drag racing's past, it's a sobering and interesting study. The stories are true and the photos are thought provoking, which makes this book hard to put down. Tracks include: Lions Associated Drag Strip, Orange County International Raceway, Riverside International Raceway, Bee Line Dragway, Motion Raceway, Motor City Dragway, Oswego Dragway, U.S. 30 Drag Strip, Dover Drag Strip, Pittsburgh International Dragway, Connecticut Dragway, Pocono Drag Lodge, Lakeland International Raceway, Green Valley Raceway, Dallas International Motor Speedway, Hudson Drag Strip, Shuffletown Dragway, Brainerd Optimist Club Drag Strip, Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, Paradise Drag Strip, Double H Drag Strip, Southeastern International Dragway, Smithville Drag Strip, Lloyd's Drag Strip, Harriman Drag Strip, Green Valley Raceway Drag Strip, Drag City, Loudon Raceway. -- --Coastal 181, June, 2013

Drag racing exploded in popularity in the '50s and '60s, and as a result, drag racing facilities sprang up all over the country, some national in scale, others very small and local...while some of them are gone completely, others are ghostly remnants of what once was. The book teams with then and now images: Tracks include Lions Associated Drag Strip, Orange county International Raceway, Riverside International Raceway, Bee Line Drag Racing, Motion Raceway, Motor City Dragway, Oswego Drag Strip, Dover Drag Strip, Pittsburgh International Dragway, Connecticut Dragway, Pocono Drag Lodge, and many more. Featuring 160 pages packed with over 299 black/white and colour images -- --Modified Mustangs and Fords, September, 2013

Byrd traces the history of the rise and fall of these raceways, featuring a wide selection of now closed, lost and nearly forgotten tracks. The histories are well researched and feature pictures from their glory days, showing many of the cars that campaigned in the quarter-miles back in the day. They are in stark contrast to the present day, ghostly reminders of victories and disappointments long past. Some raceways are entirely gone, victims of massive redevelopment. Others lay simply abandoned, their tracks and timing control towers slowly retuning to nature, silent sentinels of a time when racing took place more often than not and cheering crowds filled the now crumbling grandstands to cheer on their heroes. With a foreword by Don Gartis, it's a nostalgic and rather timely of drag racing's simpler --Classic American, September, 2013

...looks at the drag strips that have been lost to time across the US.....The author ahs found so many of these strips, with period photos of them in action, and of how they are today. it is pitiful to see these 'ghost strips', overgrown with weeds and trees, some with timing towers and building still standing, usually stripped and vandalised, compared with the noise and vibrancy of their heyday. The photography is shockingly evocative - hoe a venue that held big, national events and race matches back in the day can suddenly close its gates overnight. Although the stories behind many of them are sadly but predictably repetitive, they serve as a stark and poignant reminder to us all: your favourite drag strip is never safe, is never immune to financial failure or government interference. Use it or lose it. --American Car Magazine, October, 2013

Reseña del editor:

During the 1950s and 1960s, the sport of drag racing exploded in popularity. In its early days, drag racing had a class for everybody, from professional rails to 4 door sedans. As a participant sport, drag racing made itself very accessible, and as a result, drag racing facilities sprang up all over the country, some national in scale and others very small and local. This was great, for a while, but with the sprawl of suburbia and various economic conditions including the growing expense of racing, hundreds of drag racing facilities were lost across the country. Many of these were places of legend where the biggest names in the sport got their start or ran some of their most memorable passes. Others were relatively unknown, but served a local area's needs for a safe place for local speed addicts to run their cars. For whatever reason, they are no longer in business, but evidence of their former existence remains.

This book takes a look at many of the lost quarter-mile tracks across the country. Some of them are gone completely, paved over to make room for housing developments or strip malls. Others are ghostly remnants of what once was, offering a sad and even eerie subject for the photographer.

The images are teamed with vintage shots of drag racing's glory days, sharing what once was one of America's most popular pastimes with the modern reality facing these facilities today. For fans of drag racing's past, it's a sobering and interesting study. The stories are true and the photos are thought provoking, which makes this book hard to put down.

Lost Drag Strips is a 2013 International Automotive Media Competition award winner and won "best-of" in the book category.

Tracks include: Lions Associated Drag Strip, Orange County International Raceway, Riverside International Raceway, Bee Line Dragway, Motion Raceway, Motor City Dragway, Oswego Dragway, U.S. 30 Drag Strip, Dover Drag Strip, Pittsburgh International Dragway, Connecticut Dragway, Pocono Drag Lodge, Lakeland International Raceway, Green Valley Raceway, Dallas International Motor Speedway, Hudson Drag Strip, Shuffletown Dragway, Brainerd Optimist Club Drag Strip, Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, Paradise Drag Strip, Double H Drag Strip, Southeastern International Dragway, Smithville Drag Strip, Lloyd's Drag Strip, Harriman Drag Strip, Green Valley Raceway Drag Strip, Drag City, Loudon Raceway.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: CarTech Inc
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1613250452
• ISBN 13: 9781613250457
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Anzahl der Seiten: 176