Friday, April 16, 2010
Drag racing's 1st live TV show Lions Drag Strip KTTV
On September 16, 1961, history was made at Lions Drag Strip (Wilmington/Long Beach, CA), when local Los Angeles television station KTTV (Channel 11) aired the first-ever "live" drag racing TV program. Hosted by Bill Welch, plus the legendary track's first manager and iconic hot rodder, Mickey Thompson. Clip is from Part 1 of the three-disk DVD trilogy "Lions - The Greatest Drag Strip", by Don Gillespie. Early day film clips include Tom McEwen, Dode Martin, Zane Shubert, Bob Muravez and Gary Cagle. TV show was the result of manager Thompson's second job, as a pressman for the Los Angeles Times, and friendship with its owners, the Chandler Family, whom also owned KTTV. Each "Lions - The Greatest Drag Strip" DVD is nearly two hours in length, and chronicles the track's incredible history from its opening in October 1955 thru "The Last Drag Race", held on December 2, 1972.
No comments:
Post a Comment
For now, we're opening this blog to Anonymous comments. This will continue as long as civility rules. Disagree as you may, just keep it clean and stay on topic. No profanity, and no name calling. We reserve the right to moderate such comments, though the person who made it may come back and reword their message in a more civil way.