Fiftie’s style hot rod drag racing at Flabob Airport

December 2022 • By Tony Thacker •  Presented by H&H Flatheads

The buzz around Los Angeles was palpable. Something akin to the release of a long awaited new movie or the arrival of El Nino winds or even the ‘Big One’ that everybody is anticipating. There was talk of hot rods being built just to compete and for what, no prizes, no trophy just the right to say that you raced at the first ever TROG Flabob Airport Drags.

TROG or to spell it out, The Race of Gentlemen, was the creation of Mel Stultz and the Oilers motorcycle and car club of  New Jersey. The first TROG was held in 2012 on the beach in Asbury Park, New Jersey—just days before Hurricane Sandy hit. New Jersey has a long tradition of beach racing stretching back to 1905 that includes an epic 1-mile beach race in Cape May featuring Louis Chevrolet, Henry Ford, and record holder Walter Christie. At the time, the Cape May beach was deemed the ‘finest racing beach’ in the world.

TROG has since moved from Asbury Park to Wildwood, NJ — a stone’s throw from Cape May—for its flatter, wider beaches. Sadly, in 2022, the Jersey event was cancelled apparently due to weather but according to NewJersey.com it was cancelled due to concerns over an unsanctioned pop-up car rally (nothing to do with TROG) that left two dead and two seriously injured. Weather certainly played its part.

The answer: Move to California and the tiny but cool Flabob Airport. Founded in 1925 as Riverside’s first civil airport, Flabob is the seventh oldest surviving airport in California. As such, Flabob proved an ideal location for a bunch of hot rodders to tear up the 1/8-mile asphalt with vintage airplanes and palm trees as the backdrop.

We were lucky enough to tag along with Troy Ladd of Hollywood Hot Rods who had just the night before finished building a blown-Hemi-powered Model A coupe that is the subject of a build-up in Hot Rod Magazine. Troy was building the car on his one day off a week from running Hollywood Hot Rods so the two-month build was fast and furious but he made it as did more than 100 other racers who had more than their fair share of flag-start drag racing as it used to be in the early fifties.

Also there with a brand new car, well, ‘29 Model A pickup actually, was Mike Williams. Inspired by a childhood dream, the truck was built by the Kennedy Bros. and finished up at Jay Dean’s Nostalgia Ranch. For a first outing, the Blair’s small-block Chevy-powered truck ran hard and strong and looked good doing it.

If you want to learn more visit: theraceofgentlemen.com