Tucked in the rolling hills of San Diego, California’s north county, Barona Dragstrip is the kind of sleepy local track you’d find in the Midwest – mostly about Junior Dragsters, the Summit Series, and grudge matches. But once a year, the Rockabilly Road Trip turns this hidden valley into a time machine back to the 50’s, with the King of Clubs shootout bringing out local hot rod fraternities with names like The Shifters, Road Devils, Lifters, and Cat Killers. For the sixth year in a row, the event has featured drag racing, music, and even burlesque, and this year we dropped in to see what all the hubbub was about.
The hot rod culture was ground zero for the explosion of organized drag racing in the late 40’s and 50’s, and San Diego has a long and colorful history of youthful rebellion when it comes to straight-line speed. On August 20, 1960, an organized protest over the closing of Hourglass Field, a disused Navy training airfield that had been host to races run by the San Diego Timing Association, turned into an honest-to-God riot when an estimated 3,000 teenagers and adults shut down El Cajon Boulevard, one of San Diego’s main drags, and began running pairs of cars down the street. When the police showed up, they got pelted with rocks and bottles, and arrests were plentiful.
San Diego's El Cajon Boulevard was the site of the "drag race riot" in August of 1960.
Though San Diego gained and lost a quarter mile dragstrip over the years (though most would agree Carlsbad Raceway wasn't exactly the ideal track, at least it was something), Barona is a fitting spiritual successor and certainly came to life over the weekend, with scores of cars ranging from polished perfection to rat rod rough.
Some rods are rougher than others. That's the interesting thing, though - you never can tell which ones are "finished" and which are works in progress.
Now that the street rod scene is represented by either high dollar professionally built trailer queens or clapped out rats in popular perception, it's important to remember that the 1320 is the natural habitat of the hot rod, and there were plenty of runners at Barona.
The coveted "Mas Chingon" trophy receives its hand-lettered final touches.
Chopped, bagged, and murdered-out, but not very practical. But who cares? We still want it!
That will buff right out... not that you'd want to!
Good hand-painted pin-striping is one of those things that never goes out of style.
Of course, it's not rockabilly without a few girls in period-correct attire, doing period-correct things...
A highlight of the event was the participation of the
Bean Bandits racing team. Established in 1949, the Bandits are a club that can trace their roots to the very beginning of hot rodding, drag racing, and dry lake time trials. As a tribute to one of the original 7 members, Joaquin Arnett, one of his original drag cars, restored to running order, made an exhibition pass down the eighth-mile strip.
Gotta love that roll hoop… safety has come a long, long way.
The group is currently better known for streamliners and salt flats specials, and continues to participate at Bonneville and El Mirage.
As the sun dipped below the SoCal hills, the bands took to the stage, with no fewer than ten different acts over the course of the evening.
We had a rockin' good time at the King of Clubs Rockabilly Road Trip, and we're looking forward to the seventh annual event next year. In the meantime, check out our
complete photo gallery to see what you missed this time around...
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