BLUE ANGELS FLY-OVER / Houston, Texas / May 6, 2020

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roddingandracing

Although I post images on my website of all the car shows we go to, sometimes I send extended coverage to HOT ROD HOT LINE. To visit their website, click on their logo above or to go directly to our images, go to hotrodhotline.com/leal-brothers.

HOUSTON HUSTLER

NHRA just posted on their website the passing of Houston area racer Johnny White, owner and driver of the Houston Hustler Nitro Funny Car. He lost his life due to the Corona Virus Epidemic. White was 70 years old and lived in nearby Channelview. I've posted a couple of pictures that I took, left at Houston International Raceway and right at Alamo Dragway in San Antonio. 

HOT ROD POWER TOUR

2015..."Miscellaneous"

My first 2015 Power Tour posting was Trucks, then Rods and on my last update it was Pro Street/Gassers. Below is my fourth and final posting "Miscellaneous"; in other words.....everything else.  

ADRL 2007 WORLD FINALS

.....just like my event t-shirt says (bottom, left) 

Last year (2019), on our annual "ROAD TRIP", we covered the "Cruisin' Ocean City" event in Maryland. The previous five years, we followed the Hot Rod Power Tour. In 2018, after covering four stops of the Power Tour, we headed back to Bowling Green KY (Power Tour first stop) to cover two days of the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion. We finished up the week on Saturday in DuQuion IL covering    the    2018   Street 

Machine Nationals. Then came 2020; then came the Corona Virus. We had planned on going back to Maryland but the event was canceled until 2021. The rest of the posted events (above) have always been held in mid-June but changes had to be made, luckily all rescheduled. The NHRA Hot Rod Reunion is now set for August 20-22, the Power Tour will be held August 23-29 and the Street Machine Nationals are now scheduled for October 9-11. I got e-mails from these guys so I'm passing the information along. Hope y'all can make them.   

Every time we go to an event outside of the Houston area, we look for "side trips" we can make. If we're lucky, its another automotive event. If not, an automotive museum is nice. We also don't mind visiting well known eating establishments. A couple of years ago, we went to the Texas Motor Speedway north of Fort Worth to cover a Goodguys event and the day before (Friday), North Star Dragway a little further north in Denton was holding a big drag racing event. They had pretty much everything; Funny Cars, dragsters, wheel standers, car show. My favorite though was a "Gasser" circuit that showed up to compete. Below are a few of those "Gassers". 

One of the good things that came out of this "lock-down", was my posting of some of my old images. As stated before, my external hard drives go back 5 years, my CDs go back 15 years but my 35mm slides and negatives are nearly 50 years old! All the events below are from the mid-'80s. 

Did a little research and found that the NTPA held one of their Grand National events at Alamo Dragway twice, 1983 and 1984. One of the photos below is of Dave Banter but he won the Unlimited Class both years. Either way the pictures below were taken over 35 years ago!

This Tractor Pull took place in the mid-'80s in Selma, Texas 18 miles northeast of San Antonio. I thought it might be the Texas Truck and Tractor Pull Association but they were formed in 2007. We started the week up in Dallas at the Goodguys Lone Star Nationals at the South Fork Ranch in Plano. We headed east and spent a couple of days at Disney World. Heading back, we spent a day in New Orleans sampling their cuisine. Spent the next day at State Capital Dragway in Baton Rouge watching a day of qualifying for the NHRA Cajun Nationals. Heading west on Interstate 10, we drove right past Houston (hometown) and headed to San Antonio. Spent the next day at the tractor pull below.  

Don't have much information about this dirt drag racing event other than mid-'80s and up in Conroe, Texas. They do have an off-road park up there but don't know if it goes back that far. 

A few pictures I've taken over the years of Bob Perry's HELL ON WHEELS and HELLS FIRE tank-inspired wheelstanding exhibition vehicles. The whole top row were taken at Houston International Raceway (tower in background). The first two on the bottom row are at Eastex Dragway and the bottom, right image was taken at Corpus Christi Dragway. Perry passed away in 2005 and all the tracks below are no longer in excistance. 

I was doing research on the "tanks" above and came across artwork from famed automotive artist Kenny Youngblood (left). I recognized the artist immediately since I have a few of his drawings including the Raymond Beadle, BLUE MAX artwork on the right. If you notice, I also got the artwork autographed by the late Raymond Beadle. 

I was watching the local Houston news this past Friday morning (May 22) and they announced that it was the 40th anniversary of PAC-MAN. Due to the "lock-down", I have been posting some of my older images and I just ran across the image on the right. As stated above, it was taken in the mid-'80s.   

* DON'T LET AGE CHANGE YOU; CHANGE THE WAY YOU AGE. *