Sure, there might be nothing groundbreaking about this week's "Hump Day Holeshot," just about 5 minutes of grainy, sepia-yellow film footage from a hand-held camera up in the grand stands at the now-defunct Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, California, but it's the history enclosed in these short few minutes of film that's worthy of this week's column. Make sure to watch the whole video to check out the vintage motorcycle, head's up racing, and twin-engine bucket dragster. This stuff was cutting edge in 1958 and not the entries of a nostalgia class (which didn't exist back then).
Lions, which survived from 1955 until 1972 amid the rail yards and neighboring shipping docks of the Long Beach Harbor in Southern California, was the site of plenty of legendary drag races, records, and showdowns. Today, where the meager little two-lane blacktop strip existed is another railroad junction backing up to Carson Auto Wrecking, a favored wrecking yard for parts scroungers. We've walked the long stretch of colorless pea gravel and reminisced of days before our time. Unfortunately, drag strips like Lions have been replaced by housing tracts, commerce and industrial complexes.
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Hump Day Holeshot: Vintage Lions Drag Strip Footage circa 1958
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