Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    San Diego Drag Racing and the Bean Bandits
    San Diego Drag Racing and the Bean Bandits
    San Diego Drag Racing and the Bean Bandits
    Ebook168 pages54 minutes

    San Diego Drag Racing and the Bean Bandits

    By Emmanuel Burgin, Colleen M. O’Connor and Susan Wachowiak

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    San Diego enjoys a long and storied race car and drag racing history, and the Bean Bandits are a huge part of that heritage. Yet their story remains buried in plain sight. Told here in photographs garnered from private, personal, and historical collections, the 1950s pioneering exploits of Bean Bandits leader Joaquin Arnett and his contributions to that racing history come to life. The San Diego native led his Bean Bandits to over 300 wins and several land speed records while competing against other local clubs, like the Prowlers, Oilers, Roadsters, and Roadrunners. Eventually, the Bean Bandits' streamliners set records on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Arnett won the first National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Championship in 1953, was named to the International Car Racing Hall of Fame in 1992, and was awarded an NHRA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. Arnett and his Bean Bandits' car also graced the cover of Hot Rod magazine's special drag strip issue in 1953.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateDec 11, 2017
    ISBN9781439663585
    San Diego Drag Racing and the Bean Bandits
    Author

    Emmanuel Burgin

    Emmanuel Burgin is an author and former sports editor for El Sol de San Diego. Colleen M. O'Connor is a native San Diegan and retired college professor. Susan Wachowiak is a retired educator and lifelong history enthusiast.

    Related to San Diego Drag Racing and the Bean Bandits

    Related ebooks

    United States History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Chevy 3100

      Apr 11, 2023

      Chevy 3100
      5 min read

    • Article

      Big T Roadster Lives On

      May 15, 2023

      Big T Roadster Lives On
      5 min read

    • Article

      Score To Settle

      Mar 12, 2021

      Score To Settle
      3 min read

    • Article

      Harley-Davidson Sportster

      Apr 23, 2018

      Harley-Davidson Sportster
      8 min read

    • Article

      Building Greatness

      Oct 6, 2023

      Building Greatness
      1 min read

    • Article

      1965-’66 Ford Mustang

      Dec 29, 2019

      1965-’66 Ford Mustang
      7 min read

    • Article

      Top 10 LS Engines

      Jul 12, 2021

      Top 10 LS Engines
      9 min read

    • Article

      Swap Meet

      Aug 27, 2021

      Q: I am trying to buy an 8.5-inch GM 10-bolt rear end. Based on the article you wrote, and the picture shown with it, the axle I am considering has all the features you mentioned, but it comes with stock disc-brake brackets. Does it mean that it’s an

      3 min read

    • Article

      Modest Mouse

      Sep 2, 2022

      Modest Mouse
      2 min read

    • Article

      High-Tech Powerhouse

      Oct 6, 2023

      High-Tech Powerhouse
      4 min read

    • Article

      FEROCIOUS Feline

      Aug 1, 2023

      FEROCIOUS Feline
      4 min read

    • Article

      Mastering The Muncie

      Feb 10, 2023

      Mastering The Muncie
      1 min read

    • Article

      KiLLER K20 BUILD

      Jul 26, 2019

      KiLLER K20 BUILD
      3 min read

    • Article

      1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

      Feb 27, 2021

      1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
      6 min read

    • Article

      Bang For Your Ls Buck

      Feb 14, 2022

      Bang For Your Ls Buck
      6 min read

    • Article

      Factors of 10

      Jul 5, 2019

      Factors of 10
      15 min read

    • Article

      New Star On Wheels

      Sep 8, 2023

      New Star On Wheels
      3 min read

    • Article

      Connecting VW Rods

      Jan 5, 2021

      You may have seen that connecting rods are available in several lengths and types. Why would someone use something other than stock dimensions? Here’s the long and short of it. The connecting rod’s length is measured from the center of the piston pi

      4 min read

    • Article

      Sweet Soul Music

      Feb 5, 2021

      Sweet Soul Music
      7 min read

    • Article

      Ls Family Ties

      Jul 5, 2023

      Ls Family Ties
      8 min read

    • Article

      5.3 LS Short+AC0-Block

      May 6, 2022

      5.3 LS Short+AC0-Block
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for San Diego Drag Racing and the Bean Bandits

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      San Diego Drag Racing and the Bean Bandits - Emmanuel Burgin

      support.

      INTRODUCTION

      San Diego drag racing has been at the forefront of this American sport from its inception. Drag racing was born in postwar Southern California from dreams filled with endless sunny skies, fast cars, beautiful girls, and the American can-do spirit.

      What made the sleepy navy town of San Diego such a hot bed of drag racers, lakesters, and other speed demons?

      Firstly, speed demons had been coming to San Diego ever since Barney Oldfield made his appearance here in 1907, and many followed—including Eddie Rickenbacker and Bob Burman, to name a few. Lakeside Inn owner John H. Gay built a track around the lake to attract guests and tourists, and they came by the thousands. Many of the San Diego drag-racing pioneers would grow up with these stories. Every kid wanted a jalopy and to go fast. Joaquin Arnett and the Bean Bandits were no different.

      Once Arnett’s dad mentioned a race on the salt sea, and that’s all the 15 year old needed to hear. He jumped into his car (already with a valid driver’s license, but that’s another story), rounded up his future Bean Bandit friends, and headed to the races. A couple of days later upon his return, his angry father asked him where he had been, and Young Arnett replied, Salt Lake City, but there was just this big car with big wheels going around in a circle. His father shook his head and replied, I said the ‘Salton Sea.’ There were some boat races on the Salton Sea—not Salt Lake City. Boy, was he mad, Arnett stated with a grin and a fond memory.

      Many years later, he would find out that what he had witnessed as a young man was Sir Richard Cobb, who owned the land speed record and was then attempting to break the endurance record. Fifteen years later, Arnett, along with his Bean Bandits, began their lifelong pursuit of the world land speed record.

      Secondly, in San Diego especially, these young racers were not only living the Southern California dream, but they were also living it surrounded by naval and aerial stations along with their commercial counterparts. With speed and ingenuity in the water and in the air above, these young men were inspired and spurred on to innovate. And regarding the military, not only did it inspire and influence this postwar generation, but it had also taught and trained many of them during the war. Moreover, after the war military salvage yards and surplus stores provided inexpensive equipment and materials to ply their passion. It would also supply them with their first drag strip by the way of an old abandon airfield.

      The ground was fertile, and from that came the early innovators and champions the likes of Joaquin Arnett and the Bean Bandits, Dode Martin and Jim Nelson of the Dragmasters, Paul Schiefer of Schiefer Manufacturing Company, Dave Schneider of Schneider Racing Cams, Crower Cams & Equipment Co., Emery Cook of the record-breaking Cook-Bedwell dragster, later champions like Jerry Baltes and Jess Van Deventer. Also, we must not forget a tip of the hat to the San Diego Prowlers Hot Rod Club, formed in 1947—the longest, continuously existing car club in America.

      Of these many San Diego champions, Joaquin Arnett and Bean Bandits stand out if for no other reason than they won the first National Hot Rod Championship event in 1953. But their legacy is long and began on the dry lakes in the late 1940s, then to drag racing and again a return to land speed racing on the dry lakes and ultimately to the salt flats of Bonneville in pursuit of the grand prize of the world land speed record. Arnett and the Bean Bandits would win countless championships and set several drag-racing track records across the country and land speed class records at the lakes and at Bonneville.

      Arnett would also come to be known as a master welder and body man, building, chopping, and, sectioning cars for many drag racers and hot rodders. His work can be seen to this day in automotive museums. A chapter is dedicated to this Drag Racing Hall of Famer.

      And so, as Arnett and all those young postwar speed-demon pioneers of San Diego raced, tested and innovated from the dry lakes of Muroc and El Mirage to the drag strip of many firsts Paradise Mesa all in an effort to go faster, they were, all the while, invigorating a burgeoning automotive industry with engineering feats and innovative designs. San Diego drag racers were part and parcel of the Southern California car cultural, and this book is an attempt to shed a little light on their story.

      1

      TRAINING GROUNDS

      Many drag racers began racing the dry lakes of Muroc and El Mirage postwar before there was official drag racing. Here is Lou Bingham of the San Diego Roadster Car Club in his 1932 five-window coupe. Bingham sold the car in the 1980s. Then, sometime in the 1990s, he was contacted by the owner who brought it by from Texas on his way to a car show. Bingham said it still had the original Kaiser Top Shop upholstery. (Courtesy of Lou Bingham.)

      Pictured here is a Chrisman fender-less coupe at El Mirage. It must be cold, as everyone is wearing their jackets. Art Chrisman,

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1