Martin US131 Dragway, From The Beginning
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- The first 8 minutes of this video are from an 8MM movie that was given to me by my old racin' buddy Dennis White. He was given the film by his friend, Joe McNett, who's late father, Marv, took the movies in 1962-'63. Marv's 'dark blue '56 Ford can be seen at 1;42. Although the film was in very poor condition, I felt that, for historical purposes, it should be shared. I have never seen any film from the track from the first years that it was in operation, although some may exist. From the 8 minute mark until the finish are photos and movies that I took myself over the years 1966 to the present. A special thanks to Jim Luikens for providing the rare photo of Arnie Beswicks '63 Pontiac Tempest Wagon, "The Grocery Getter", when it was sponsored by Seltzer Pontiac.
I too was raised up at Martin 131 dragway from 67 to 77 ,thanks for the walk down memory lane.
Thank you so much for sharing! I was born and raised in Michigan. When I was a kid in the late 80's to early 90's my step father worked security at the pit entrance near the small bleachers. Mostly to keep people with glass bottles out of the pits. I spent half my childhood at this track from about 5am to well past midnight for big events. I remember meeting many of the drivers, the time the bottom windows were blown out of the old tower by a jet car (possibly roger gustin, I don't remember) and another time a car ran off the end of the track and ended up in the trees. Before the crowds would be let in I'd ride my bike up and down the 1/4 mile. Great memories of this place before the re-model.
fantomfoto wow. Very cool
Thanks for the share! I miss the old days of the Popular Hot Rod championship with Shirley, Chi-Town, and many others. Always had a blast there!
A great compilation of Martin US131 history!
Lots of memories, SUPER CHEVY SUNDAY.
Thanks for saving history! If not, it could have been lost forever. So important to share and say, see guys this is how it all started. Awesome job!
Thank you so much! God! that brought back SO Many memory's!!! Fantastic!!!
Gosh ... I wish I owned a time machine .... AWESOME video !!
Very very cool video!! Thank you for sharing. I love this strip. I was a kid fishing at gun lake at this time and I cajoled hear the cars in the stone dead quiet of the lake. And when the nitro cars raced that was really cool. You would hear them. Then the shock wave would hit up against the trees and add to the coolness. Awesome track. LOVE 131
John, thanks for all the pictures and videos. Great memories and great times. 68-75
I've been going there for decades now. A lot of memories there. I remember a couple incidents involving jet cars. On one pass, the jets took out the lower windows of the tower and the other is when one blew the starting line away on it's pass. The shutdown was always bumpy in the early days and the big MPH guys weren't fond of it but since the total remodel, the track is straight as a string.
Nice job John. Too bad this has slipped away from us. God Bless...
Tim S.
Thank You for the memories
Thanks so much for watching and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
John
We will be there on August 23rd and 24th for the Harley races. It will be my 1st time there and we are looking forward to running at a legendary track with so much history. The video brings back so many memories of the early days.
What an awesome video. Thank you for taking the time to digitize the 8mm footage, and assemble this piece. Wow!
What a awesome video brings back great memories, i raced there in my yellow 57 chevy RAMPAGE many many times and this video really got me in the feels thank you very much!!!
John I want to thank you very much for posting this. I now live near Canton Ohio but grew up in Kalamazoo. I remember when Martin first opened up and spent many weekends up there. It brought back a lot of [pleasant memories. Just a GIANT THANKS :)
Gary: I'm so glad that you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching and commenting!
John
Geat! Seamless transition from video to stills and back. I made 1 trip to the track back in 89~ still have some good memories.. Driving a primer 70 AAR~ you would have thought it was a space ship~ Thanks for the post~ Awesome~
I've been to this track many times.. last time was probably about 10 years ago
This is great, seeing a lot of my favorite racers from the 60's!
Great video. This is where I learned to race and have spent many a weekend. Thanks for posting
Im proud to say that my father, Sam Stockwell was the 1st person to ever set a National Record at Martin. Those were the days...
Jim: Thanks for the compliment! I appreciate you taking time to watch! The original 8mm film was sent to mymovietransfer where they transferred it to miniDV tape. I then loaded the tape into my computer via my miniDV camcorder.
John
This is an awesome video taking us back to a special time in a lot of lives. Wishing that I had a video camera when I first started going to the races. Thanks for sharing as history needs to be shared with a younger group of gearheads !!
Thanks for taking time to check it out, Dawn! That means a lot, coming from you!
John
Love this great job!!!
Thanks, Ricky!
Fantastic job- wish all the old tracks not here anymore can upload their own races.
very cool love that track :) such an adrenaline rush running every time!
is this literally the same place the current 131 motorsports park sits on? If so I had no idea it was that old. I've just recently started participating in some test and tune nights with my challenger and it is an absolute blast. It's an atmosphere thing, you get moments of excitement on the strip then good fun between runs. Even my 10 year old daughter keeps bugging me to go again, she loves it too. We were there when some of the junior dragsters were running and its cool too see that the majority are actually girls.
Yes, it's the same place. Many upgrades over the years and now it's a first class facility. Glad you're having fun there!
John
Gosh what's that tune!!
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE.... That's was awesome!/.................................Thanks!
Indeed!!
BTW the '59 El Camino at 7:12 made my day...
I bet I was in the stands in some of these shots of the late 60's early 70's
thanks for posting......didnt miss out a lot....I just blew up alot of cars.
Great Video! Thanks for sharing this.
I love history videos about good stuff lol
Thanks Jim! I wish I had some pictures of your A/S '68 Nova running at the PHR race at Martin. I would have put them in the video for sure! Thanks for the nice comment Bro!
John
always a good weekend at the drag strip
Thanks for watching and commenting, Randall. Unfortunately the early '70s was a period of time that I didn't get to the track at all due to health issues. I returned to the track in 1974 when my brother began racing his '67 427 Mercury Comet Cyclone in Super Stock. In '75 I built my own race car and have been involved ever since. I am an administrator of the Martin US 131 Dragway facebook group page and if you message me your email address I can sign you up. Someone on there may have pictures.
Wow great footage! Thanks for sharing this.
Great video for us old door slamers.
Just wanted to compliment you for a great video. Your editing techniques are terrific. I was wondering what you used to capture the first 8 minutes of original film? You kept my interest all the way through the clip.
Jim Amos
Bee On Video
John I've been enjoying your videos for a couple of evenings, raced bracket bikes at 131 in the mid 1980's. Big question though is... do you have anything of the UDRA Alcohol Funny Cars from the early 1970's? Likely 72-75? Been scanning you stuff for my fathers car Williams & Bohl BB/FC. (oh it started as a blown gas F/C circuit, tell you the story of how they switched to Alcohol if we get to talk, it happened at US 131.)
Thanks for all the great stuff your putting together!
This is went it all started for me 1962
I went to Marten when I was just a boy.
5:13 I am pretty sure this is Dave Van Luke.
Anyone remember Bobby Bliss from the circle track over to Berlin?? (Marne)
Hey John, great video!! I have always said that I would race ANYTHING!! But, @ 7:40, HELL NO!!!
I'm with you, Sean! Thanks for watching and commenting!
John
Really enjoyed watching this. My dad raced here when he was young. I have a question. At about 2:46 there is a car that looks like my dad's. Do you have any more footage from this point that you haven't put up? My dad passed away in 2012 and we miss him, so I was looking online to see if I could see him and/or his car just to get a possible glimpse of him.
Hi Diane, thanks for watching! Are you talking about the white Chevy in the near lane or the white Chevy in the far lane?
John Camfferman The black Buick Lining up.
Diane Ferras-Erb Okay, I'll see what I can find.
John Camfferman Thank you!
Diane Ferras-Erb Diane: I watched all 20 minutes of film that I have from 1962-63 and the car you noticed only shows up this one time. After looking closer at the car it appears to be a '57 Chevy and not a Buick. You can see the trim inserts on the quarter panel that only the '57 Chevys had. Sorry...
Mr. Camfferman ... What is the music for the footage: Martin US131 Dragway, From The Beginning ...Thanks in advance "
I recorded the music myself. The first song is my instrumental version of "Little Sister" by Elvis Presley. The second song is my instrumental version of "Honey Don't" by Carl Perkins. The third song is an original instrumental. Thanks for watching!
John