Historic Drag Video: Awesome Footage From the 1963 and 1966 March MeetsBy Brian Lohnes Posted 03/4/2010
Well we're done for the day. We're going to sign off and start the thrash to get ourselves situated to bring you awesome live streaming coverage of the 52nd March Meet at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California, starting when racing begins tomorrow. Just to keep your heart rate up until then, we're dropping two killer videos featuring action from the 1963 and 1966 March Meets. Read More >
Killer Vintage Drag Footage: Pacific Raceways 1963By Brian Lohnes Posted 03/4/2010
In less than 24 hours, BangShift.com's live streaming broadcast of the 52nd Bakersfield March Meet will kick off, and to get you ready, here's some vintage drag racing footage from 1963. The films were taken at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington. Read More >
Killer Video: Mickey Thompson's 1969 Mustang Funny Car in Action at Bristol AHRA RaceBy Brian Lohnes Posted 03/3/2010
Crank your speakers up when you press play on this killer vintage drag footage. If you've ever wondered what a SOHC Ford motor sounds like on a full load of nitro, that question will be answered, and quick! Hearing Mickey Thompson give some off the cuff commentary, and watching Danny "On the Gas" Ongais horse wrangle the car down the track can't be beat. Read More >
Historic Drag Video: Garlits Does England Circa 1976By Brian Lohnes Posted 03/3/2010
As we speed ever closer to our live broadcast of the 52nd Bakersfield March Meet this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we're coming at you with some more killer drag racing footage from the past. This time it is a two part video showing Don Garlits taking on all comers at Santa Pod Raceway in England back in 1976. Read More >
Amazing Historic Videos: Turbonique Company Promotional FilmsBy Brian Lohnes Posted 02/25/2010
Turbonique was one of the most interesting, insane, and short lived companies in the history of hot rodding. Most of you probably have the basic idea of what the company sold, but for those of you who don't, Turbonique sold rocket engines, self powered superchargers, and the truly demented "Turbo Drag Axle" which was a turbine driven off the rear end using the company's Thermolene monopropellant. Read More >
Drag History Video: The Story of the Double Trouble Twin Engine SlingshotBy Brian Lohnes Posted 02/17/2010
All old race cars have awesome stories to tell, some more than others. The Double Trouble twin engine slingshot dragster has really been three cars in its life. The first was a hard running, Hemi powered Top Fueler. The second was an incredible Fuel car with twin Ford Indy Car motors. The third (and current) iteration as a twin small block Chevy powered machine capable of running into the 7s. We've got the video to prove it. Read More >
Video Bonanza: Classic Chevelle TV AdsBy Brian Lohnes Posted 02/16/2010
No conversation about American muscle cars could be considered complete without the mention of the venerable Chevrolet Chevelle. Rolled out in 1964, the mid-sized Chevelle would become the centerpiece of Chevy's run at the youthful muscle car crowd. They sold millions of them, and the basic chassis layout lived all the way into the 1980s. As you'd imagine, along the way, Chevy ran some cool TV ads to get people in a buying mood, here's a bunch. Read More >
Cool Video: Charles Taylor's One-Wheeled VehicleBy Brian Lohnes Posted 02/8/2010
One of the neat things that we've come to expect here at BangShift.com is the unexpected. Learning about stuff that we never knew existed is pure awesome to us, and when we were tipped off about Charles Taylor and the video of his experiments driving the one-wheel vehicles that he built, we were apoplectic. His creations are very interesting, even though they ultimately went nowhere. Read More >
Vintage Drag Video: The Coolest Jungle Jim Tribute Video We Have Ever SeenBy Brian Lohnes Posted 01/28/2010
One of the great games that fans of vintage drag racing play is "what if." If history could be rewritten and events were to happen in a different way, how would things be different? One of the most common scenarios presented is, "What if Jungle Jim Liberman was still alive." Would he have been John Force before there was John Force? Would have have actually made the switch from a life of match racing to running on the organized NHRA and IHRA circuts? Would he have slowed down his fast and loose ways? Read More >
Killer Video: 1968 US Nationals - The EliminatorsBy Brian Lohnes Posted 01/20/2010
The 1968 US Nationals served as a launching pad for many famous names in the sport of drag racing and cemented at least one racer as a living legend. The names of the guys in the winners circle read like a hall of fame inductee docket: Garlits, Vanke, Lombardo, Gianino, etc. Thanks to friend of BangShift.com Dawn Mazi-Hovsepian, we can show you this killer video of the event! Read More >
Video: The Ultimate Vintage Drag Film, Ingenuity in Action at the 1959 NationalsBy Brian Lohnes Posted 01/13/2010
Here's a film that's been around a while, 60 years to be exact. It was lost to the public eye for many years, but in today's times it has been passed around the Internet. This most recent version that we found on YouTube is the cleanest copy we've seen, and it's presented full length, 27 minutes of greatness. The film we're talking about is Ingenuity in Action, produced by Hot Rod magazine in 1959. Read More >
Vintage NASCAR-NAGE Video: Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp Leave the Ball Yard in 1960By Brian Lohnes Posted 01/8/2010
First we'll say that it defies logic that either of these men lived, let alone both. This is another piece of old NASCAR footage from Daytona. It was also shot in 1960, like the large wreck of the Modified field we showed you earlier. This is a famous crash not only because it is so dramatic, but also because it effectively ended the career of Lee Petty as a competitive driver. Read More >
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Vintage NASCAR-nage Video: 37-Car Wreck at Daytona in 1960By Brian Lohnes Posted 01/8/2010
We seem to be on a bit of a nostalgia NASCAR video hot streak lately. This footage is truly killer. It was shot at a 250-mile Modified race run at Daytona in 1960. The field consisted of 73 different cars, and you need to pay close attention to that. There are pre-WWII cars lined up to boxy '50s coupes and everything in between. It is a mish-mash of the highest order. Then it becomes a crash-bash of the highest order. Read More >
Video: The Coolest NASCAR Film of All TimeBy Brian Lohnes Posted 01/7/2010
Bar none, end of story, this video featuring clips from NASCAR racing in the 1960s is the coolest stock car racing video we have ever seen. There's Ford FEs running with the valve covers off, Hemis swinging through the air, guys drinking beer during pit stops, and full size cars on big rubber hauling ass. Read More >
Old Time Carnage Video: Ancient Stock Car Flies Off Track and Wipes Out GrandstandBy Brian Lohnes Posted 01/7/2010
All we really have to work with on this video is the date, which is 1960 and the place, which is Darlington Speedway. Let's just say that it was a bad day to be sitting in the elevated grandstand. Read More >
Vintage Drag Video: Legendary American Racers Running at Santa Pod Raceway in EnglandBy Brian Lohnes Posted 01/1/2010
Santa Pod Raceway in England opened up as the first permanent drag racing venue in Europe on Easter, 1966. It has been going strong ever since as the awesome video we have unearthed proves. It was not uncommon for American racers to load up their junk and head off to a European tour during the late 1960s and 1970s. This video is a bit of a documentary showing the Santa Pod stop on said tour. Don Schumacher, Tony Nancy, Paula Murphy, and others mix it up on the quarter mile at Santa Pod. They also bitch about the showdown area. Ah, racers. Read More >
Totally Bitchin' Video: Ford/Shelby Promo Film From 1965By Brian Lohnes Posted 12/31/2009
It was very good to be Carroll Shelby in 1965. Hell, it is very good to be him now, but in the mid 1960s the man had the world by the stones. Bankrolled by the Ford Motor Company, Shelby was building street and race cars as fast as he could and those cars were winning races worldwide. If Ford's "Total Performance" mantra had a front man, it was Shelby and in this film he shows why. Read More >
Insane Video: WWII Deuce and a Half SubmarineBy Brian Lohnes Posted 12/9/2009
Last week we brought you video of a Suzuki Samurai pretending to be a submarine. It was more like a semi-sub though because it came close, but never fully submerged. Unable to rest until we found something that actually was both a truck and a sub, we bring you the greatest piece of video in the history of video. Read More >
Abandoned Drag Strip History: Double H in Blue Ridge, Georgia, with VideoBy Brian Lohnes Posted 11/26/2009
With today's focus on nostalgia, it's neat to see so many people starting to remember the drag strips of the past and digging out their historic photos and videos for all to see. It helps us all recall the times when the Beach Boys sang about racing cars, and nearly every county had a quarter mile. One of them was Double H Dragstrip, 5 miles West of Blue Ridge, Georgia, on Boardtown Road. The track only ran from Noveber of 1963 to 1966, but that was the era of the Super Stock, A/FX, and match racing wars, and many of the Southern boys brought their Hemis, 409s, and FEs to Double H. Read More >
Vintage Video: 1966 Can-Am Action From Stardust Raceway in Las VegasBy Brian Lohnes Posted 11/25/2009
It can be said that the Can-Am was the wildest, most wide-open road racing series that North America has ever known. About the only thing wilder we can think of are the old Group B rally cars, but even they couldn't hold a candle to the mind-warping Can-Am race cars of the 1960s and early 1970s when the series was at its zenith. This video takes you into the thick of the action. Read More >
