Santa Ana Drags & Beyond
July 2023 • By Tony Thacker
Presented by HandHFlatheads.com, MicksPaint.com & USAutomotive.co.uk
History says drag racing got its start in 1948-49 at Goleta, a small town 11 miles up Highway 1 west of Santa Barbara, California. According to an account by Wally Parks in his book Drag Racing Yesterday and Today and Robert C. Post in his book High Performance, there was a paved road on the north side of the airport that ran east to west, away from the mountains and towards the ocean.
Around 1948, members of the Motor Monarchs club from Ventura and engine-builder Bob Joehnck of Santa Barbara approached the airport manager to see if they could use the property for legal drag races. He agreed, if they could get some insurance, which they did. Named the Santa Barbara Acceleration Association (SBAA), they started holding organized drag races every other Sunday in late 1948 or early 1949.
Similar events quickly sprang up across the US and it was inevitable that some enterprising Americans would commercialize the activity. Those guys were Cloyce Roller Hart known as CJ Hart, Creighton Hunter who delivered oil and spark plugs and Frank Stilwell a used car and motorcycle dealer. As he was already 39 in 1950 CJ was known as ‘Pappy’ and he operated a gas station and used car lot on Bolsa Avenue not far from a small airport north of Newport Bay. That airport, a training base for US Air Force pilots, is now John Wayne International.
Compared to other impromptu strips, Santa Ana was organized. Using an abandoned taxiway, the initial entry fee was 50 cents, there was insurance using Stilwell’s motorcycle racing connections, there was an ambulance and there was timing equipment for top speed at the end of the quarter. The Navy got 10 percent of the gate.
The first event was July 2, 1950, and there were 55 entries. There was no prize money, instead Pappy handed out trophies that could be sold back to Pappy for the wholesale cost of $7. In his book High Performance author Robert C. Post says, “Hart had designed a timing system with a pair of photoelectric cells that activated a clocking device set up in an old hearse parked at the finish line.”
According to Dean Batchelor in his book The American Hot Rod, “The Santa Ana strip started out with top speed timing at the end of the quarter mile because most rodders were accustomed to seeking the highest speed. It soon became obvious that the car which recorded the highest speed wasn’t necessarily the first car to reach the end of the quarter mile.”
The fastest time recorded by an automobile in 1950 was 120 mph set by brothers Harold and Don Nicholson who operated Nicks’ Speed Shop in Pasadena.
As he was often quick to point out, Pappy Hart did not invent drag racing but he and his partners sure made a safe business out of a dangerous pasttime. Seeing the potential, other strips soon opened at Kingdon, Saugus, Paradise Mesa, etc.
After a good run, the ‘Santee Ana’ drags ceased operations on June 21, 1959, and the airport eventually developed into John Wayne International a busy transport hub in Orange County, California.
Founded by Major General William Lyon, the museum is an aerospace museum located on the west side of the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California, close to the original location of the drag strip. Although a stunning airplane museum, the Lyon has hosted several very successful auto events the most recent of which is Santa Ana & Beyond followed a few weeks later by the second Hot Rods on the Tarmac—a hot rod drive-in for about 150 rad rides.
For more information about future events visit www.lyonAirMuseum.org
Jack Chrisman’s Model A Tudor, photo courtesy Chrisman Family Collection.
