Street Drags on Adam–12

Here's a neat way to kill 25 minutes and see some far out cars. This episode of Adam–12 has Reed and Malloy trying to get the kids off the street and onto a local track. It's the famous Lion's Drag Strip that was in Long Beach, so this is a fantastic look at drag racing history and how it got started. That's also where they filmed the Hot Rod Herman episode of The Munsters. Organized drag racing had been going on for a while, but it was still very much a hobbyist sport at the time, rather than a boring sponsored–to–hell factory–controlled show. The cars were still real. There's primer everywhere on these babies. Check out the red 'Vette with no hood or windshield. Dig the black cat behind the front wheel on Officer Reed's '54 Ford. (I think I'll cop it and put it up in the header with the Eveready cat. It's not nearly messy enough up there.) And the American flag peace sign sticker on Gary Crosby's (ugh, I hate him) wing vent is cool.

This episode is just packed with stuff. That's Dick Clark as the strip owner. In shots of the tower, the big wing of a Daytona can be seen on frame left. Looks like it's gold on the bottom, black on top, and orange Daytona lettering.



And yeah, the goofball with the Keota Eagles letter jacket, sideburns, and peace sign belt buckle is pretty creepy, especially when he has that Andy Kaufman smile while sitting at the start line. What a dork. He makes me laugh.

A few interesting things about the cars are discussed here. And the black cat is explained here.