OCIR Paul Posted March 25 Posted March 25 New to MCMF. Almost retired (couple years to go), waiting for the time when I can put some time into some builds I have been planning for a long time. Have the usual work/family demands. Worked at OCIR from 1978 to 1984 when the track closed. Had a great relationship with managers Ken Green and Nancy Newcomb, I got free roam of the track, but if they needed something photographed that was always priority. I knew what I was doing as I had been taking professional wedding photos for years and had all the best equipment. Wished I had started earlier because my favorite cars are from the previous 5-6 years. But I was at every race and have some awesome memories of what real drag racing was like. I want to get a website up where I can share the images, also brought my brother on board in 1980 and he recorded a lot of audio from that time. So I want to combine images and audio into a fun place where chirps and full track burnouts were commonplace. My brother is still shooting at Famoso, the NHRA is tough to get press passes for, even at Famoso, he has some local connections at the track. Leslie Lovett of the NHRA was a giant in drag photography and a very kind and generous man, he got me into a couple events at Pomona, had a great time. I was a "freelancer" and did not even try to apply for an NHRA press pass, Les was a gentle man and I really appreciated our discussions when the track was recovering from an oil down. When the Super Track closed I focused on work and have never looked back. Wished I could have seen Jungle. I want to build a couple of starting line dioramas for the 1/25 and 1/16 cars I am building. Want to stage the typical 1/25 monster matches, Snake v Mongoose; Jungle v the Shoe; Ace v Snowman, etc. In 1/16 Snake v the Hawaiian; Jungle v Ace; and in front engine TF Snake v the Loner. All Revell stuff. I just got a 1/25 Competition Resins Arrow which was typical of what was running when I was just getting started at OCIR, got the TV Tom decals from Slixx...one of my favorite cars. I would like to do a another CR Arrow but can't find any Lil John or Snake Arrow decals; I think I looked on Slixx years ago and they were there, but it seems like some licensing stuff came up and a lot of decals have become scarce. Would like to find an aftermarket source. I got these cars off of Ebay many years ago when Ebay first started and am happy that I did. I would really like to find an Aurora 1/16 Vega to be able to compare with the Revell stuff. I am willing to pay a fair price for the car, so if anyone has one taking up space that you want to part with, I am interested. I am wondering what the Vega body matches up with the real FC builders at the time, it seems like Aurora did not want to deal with licensing, etc. Whose body was that? Where could I get decals? Who ran that Vega body? My hope would be that it would match the one that Snake ran with Bob Brandt, etc. Its just amazing how far Force has come since his early Corvettes. I think the Leo's Stereo car was one of the best FC paint schemes ever created. Again, in another life, I thought I saw Leo's Stereo decals on Slixx at one time. What Corvette FC would I use? I remember those early days, he always got an A+ for effort; luck was rarely an ally. We all pulled for him, but Lil John and Chi Town were the out front crowd favorites. I remember Chi Town was very late for a 64 Funny Car event, the sun was going down and I saw the top of the tow ramp truck pull up behind the staging lanes. They did not have an enclosed trailer so the car looked like it had come all the way from the East (it had, must have been a real conversation starter on I40). Everyone else had done one or two low stress test ("qualifying", for 64 FCs) passes down the track during the day....the Chi Town guys drop the car and start pushing it to the staging lane. I think the BBs were coming up but they wanted to get one run in before the BB/FCs started eliminations. The track was dark enough to start showing header flames well, Pete Williams does a hair raising half track burnout to get the car and the crowd warmed up; remember they just got to the track and put fuel in it. The crowd, which was already feeling really good about this time for a variety of reasons (OCIR was a fun track) came to their feet with the burnout. The usual chirps and Williams stages it alone. I don't remember the exact ET but it was the LOW ET of the meet for the AAFCs. What a class act, I'll never forget that run. Austin Coil would graduate to being a major reason why John Force is the legend he is today.
Bainford Posted March 25 Posted March 25 Welcome to the forum, Paul. Sounds like you are going to be busy for the next while. Cheers.
OCIR Paul Posted March 29 Author Posted March 29 Thanks Gentlemen! Looking forward to contributing to this amazing forum. I just got completed reviewing Chris Sobak's Prudhomme's Vega AAFC project and I am extremely motivated to get working in 1/16 scale. There is more usable information in that one build than in many years of Scale Auto magazine, etc. Also looking back to the years he did the build and considering the advances in 3D printing I am interested in his current projects. Thanks for the welcome and I hope I can eventually contribute to this platform.
Bill Eh? Posted April 6 Posted April 6 Paul welcome. Thank you for all of the great pics that you have posted in the short time since joining MCMF. As a person who has little to no experience building drag racers, I eagerly look forward to your posts.
bytownshaker Posted April 7 Posted April 7 My Father in Laws track York US30, my wife was track manager at one point. 1
OCIR Paul Posted April 12 Author Posted April 12 Thanks Bill and Edgar, That is quite a timing tower at York US30. I wish I could have been there when Jungle Jim Liberman was doing his thing. I just missed him by a couple years at OCIR. One of the things that could happen at OCIR was filming. Below are a couple images from what I believe to be the movie "Heart like a wheel" about Shirley Muldowney. One of my interests have been Mopar ever since I bought a 74 Charger new, my Dad did the financing and I did the paying. I loved the car, so much that I wore the paint off of the quarterpanel by over waxing the thing. It had a white vinyl top and was the light blue metal flake. Once I got the car broken in I realized that the horsepower to weight (it was a two barrel 318) was not in the car's favor. Coming home from work one night somebody feeling way to good for normal time and space T-boned me at an intersection, and I ended up in the middle of the car. I could not admit that the car was gone so I tried to straighten the frame but that was a waste of money. My Dad was actually the one that saw the Charger on the lot of Glendale Dodge, and he actually like the car more than I did. So I looked for and found a 68 Barracuda coupe with a TA340 block in it. The price pretty much told me that the motor was lunched, but I finally had the car that I wanted. It was a Frankenstein with 4 different keys, a definite "Genuine Junk Parts" in that same light blue metal flake, so I had finally the car I wanted. Truth said, if I had been T-boned in the Cuda I would not be typing this message today. The Cuda's doors were paper thin compared with those solid Charger doors. I eventually bought another Cuda, a fastback in perfect stock condition, but that is another story. I have several 68/69 Cuda 1/25 kits including some already built that I will dip in the purple cleaner. As long as the parts are usuable after stripping I don't care if it is "repurposed" as we say today. I will definitely do a Judy Lily and De Frank & Cohen, photo SPTM65W below. DeFrank & Cohen was a class act, the car was owned by Jim DeFrank and Jim Cohen, Jim was owner of Beverly Hills Motoring, which was the car cover of choice when I was covering my Mopars. So I had no worries about the car cover fitting my pair of street machines. The 68 Cuda is the choice of the drag crowd, so I have to remove that "bump" on the front of the grille that they added in 1969. I wasn't a fan of the hump on the 69's. A couple shots of my Cudas are below, I don't know if there are any restrictions on the number of photos you add to these messages, but I guess I will find out now. Thanks!
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