As the Long Beach Grand Prix approaches (September 24 to 26, 2021), let’s take a look at the past and another racing venue that had everyone talking.
Many remember Lions Dragstrip in Wilmington, at 223rd and Alameda. Though in another city, it was the youth of Long Beach, especially those in the Westside, that benefited most from the drag strip.
Hot rods were a national passion among 1950s and 60s teenagers. Like today, there were good teens, and there were troublesome teens. It was hard to distinguish gang members from car club members. Both wore special jackets and painted names on their cars. Most car clubs had a good bunch of youngsters and were sponsored by law enforcement and civic organizations.
In Long Beach, the Associated Car Clubs of Long Beach, the first of its kind in the nation, was formed by nine local car groups in June 1951. Members realized they needed a responsible central organization which would have the approval of police and civic groups.
One of the necessary qualifications for membership was to pass the California Highway Patrol’s test for safe vehicles, which meant the association needed places where members could test their cars, conduct speed and timing tests and just enjoy drag racing. Thanks to Long Beach judge Frederick Miller, whose courtroom was overwhelmed with street racing incidents, they found a place – Lions Dragstrip.
Judge Miller persuaded all nine Harbor Area Lions Club to take on the project. They volunteered to raise $50,000 ($566,400 today) to cover construction costs. Also, a deal was made with the Harbor Commission to buy a narrow strip of land that still sprouted a bit of alfalfa from farming days. The land, once used for storage by the railroad, was now situated among oil tanks and derricks at 223rd and Alameda. The Lions went to work.
According to hot rod enthusiasts, the Lions track “officially” opened in October 1955 (9th?), shortly after actor James Dean’s death. However, the first reference to the strip I found was in a newspaper article in December 1954 in the Long Beach Independent when the Rod and Custom Car Association asked the Lions’ Club if they could use the drag strip on specific days to educate the public on hot rods and safety programs.
At that time many youths desperately wanted to be part of the “in-group” of car club members, many of whom identified with James Dean and Dean’s 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause. In real life, Dean was a car racing enthusiast, and many young men wanted to be just like him. Dean’s death in a car accident in September 1955 raised his image to cult-like status. Drag racing among the clubs “a la James Dean style” became the “in” thing to do, as did clashes between rivals.
For the first three years attendance was low (after all would James Dean give up street racing for a drag strip), but in 1957 strip manager Mickey Thompson hit on what many felt was the salvation for the entire sport: night racing. Fans who avoided the sport began to pour back in record numbers and within five years the mortgage was paid in full and member Lions Clubs began donating their profits to needy charities. By 1971, over $480,000 ($3.2 million) had been donated.
Just to give you an idea of how popular the clubs and the sport of drag racing was: it was estimated there were 1500 car clubs, with an average membership of 15 to 20 in Los Angeles/Orange counties in 1961. Mickey Thompson, who served as Lions manager until 1962, was an inspiration to local youth, holding more than 485 world land speed records.
Thompson estimated that about 50% of the kids who raced or watched the Wednesday and Saturday grudge races were Hispanic or Black. Admission was only $2 ($18), something they could afford. He claimed that within two years of opening street racing incidents had been cut in half, and by 1962 they were almost non-existent.
Lions Drag Strip continued to attract a new generation of car enthusiasts, hosting the American Hot Rod Association’s World Drag Racing Championships, and Evel Knievel, recovering from a broken back, who jumped a motorcycle over 13 cars in December 1970 before a crowd of 14,780.
At that time, however, the port of Los Angeles was expanding and needed space for more storage, or so they said. In reality, they wanted to avoid a lawsuit by nearby residents annoyed by the noise.
Coincidently, the lawsuit was dropped when the LA Harbor Department announced it was closing the strip because they needed the area for storage. On December 2, 1972, after witnessing Don Moody break a National Hot Rod elapsed time record before a crowd of 21,000, the strip was forced to close. The land remained vacant until the late 1970s.
In 1979 Big Willie Robinson, head of the nonprofit Brotherhood of Street Racers, opened another drag strip on Terminal Island. It closed in 1985. Today sanctioned racing is no more.
However, those who remember Lions and the sport of drag racing may visit the Lions Automobilia Foundation & Museum, 2790 E. Del Amo Blvd., Rancho Dominguez.
The museum, founded in December 2019, is scheduled to reopen August 21, 2021. Advance tickets must be purchased in advance and COVID-19 restrictions followed.
