Half-Moon Bay was once a Drag Strip

[TigerTigerM]

I was reading a book about drag racing in the period 1956 to 1970, & found that the Half Moon Bay Airport was a drag strip from 1957 to 1968.

Apparently it was one of the most popular in Northern California during that period & hosted most of the 'big names', such as Garlits & Prudhomme.

 

Some history about the strip can be found at this link:

https://www.dragzine.com/news/flashback-friday-drag-racing-at-norcals-half-moon-bay/

 

What I can't tell is whether the airport was shut down as an airport during the drag racing years, or continued to operate?

 

TTM

[Triplane]

Oh my...........do I ever remember Half Moon bay......1958-1962. I was fortunate enough to own one of the fastest Super Stock cars in the country back in those days. We would tow it up  to Half Moon Bay on Saturday (night races), find a cheap motel,  and then tow it down to Fremont and do it all over again on Sunday afternoon. As far as I can remember the runway we used at Half Moon Bay was active during daylight hours (uncontrolled). There's no way I can ever express the memories of those days. I just wish I had some photos to share..........Doug

 

[TigerTigerM]

2 hours ago, Triplane said:

Oh my...........do I ever remember Half Moon bay......1958-1962. I was fortunate enough to own one of the fastest Super Stock cars in the country back in those days. We would tow it up  to Half Moon Bay on Saturday (night races), find a cheap motel,  and then tow it down to Fremont and do it all over again on Sunday afternoon. As far as I can remember the runway we used at Half Moon Bay was active during daylight hours (uncontrolled). There's no way I can ever express the memories of those days. I just wish I had some photos to share..........Doug

 

You may be interested in, [if you don't already have it], the book that I found the Half Moon Bay reference in.

It's "Gasser Wars", by Larry Davis.

Published in 2003 by Car Tech, it chronicles 'Drag Racing's Street Classes: 1955 - 1968'. (Gas, Gas Supercharged, Street Roadster, Modified Sports & Mod. Production) 

191 pages chock full of photos & descriptions of the cars, the people & the rivalries of that period.

The Half Moon Bay ref is from an advertisement on P. 143:

advertising a March 22, 1964, 2 out of 3 match race set between Big John Mazmanian & Stone, Woods & Cook.

The series never happened as Cook's "A" car wasn't ready, + it rained.

There are indexes of Car names, Drivers & classes. If you ran in any of the classes above, I could see if you get a mention ,via the car name

TTM

 

[Triplane]

Unfortunately, Gasser Wars, both the book and the magazine, tends to ignore the "plain vanilla" folks like me. I never got into the low 12's and that's just not fast enough to make the big time. I did have a mentor, though, way back when. His name was Ace Bradford and he ran a B-altered coupe. I made two runs in that sucker and it scared me to death. I can't even imagine what top-fuel must be like. If there is any mention of Ace in the book (doubtful) I'd love to hear about it.........Doug

[TigerTigerM]

Can't find Ace in the book, but there is an Ace Bradford in Draglist.com.

Did he run a 29 Austin Bantam?

 

Here is the link, he is past half way down the page.

 

http://www.draglist.com/draglist/category.php?SORTBY=FNAME&ASCDESC=ASC&VIEW=Compact&CATEGORY[0]=GASALT&x=altered%2CEMET&page=3&VIEW=Extended#70777

TTM

[Triplane]

Yep. That's him. He had a little shop in Monterey, California, and was a chassis building wizard. Next to my father, Ace was the best welder and fabricator I've ever seen. That's a great website. I've got to look around there a bit and see if I can find any others from the "old gang". Sort of makes me  want to do it all (or at least some of it) over again..........Doug