"Burn Up That Quarter Mile"
Drag Racing's Pioneers
Part I
By Ed T. Willys

Okay, class, today's question is, "Where did the term, 'drag race' originate?"
A: "Drag that old car of yours out of the garage and let's go race."
B: "Let's run tonight, meet me on the main drag."

Or, perhaps, somewhere in the Roman Empire when Claudius said to Octavius, "I'll bet you a Denarius that my chariot can wax yours!"

We may never know the answer to that question and it might not be important, but we do know that hot rodders were gathering on California's dry lakes in the early '30s, attempting to see what their Ford Flatheads could do.

There is little doubt that Southern California was this country's hotbed for motorsports following World War II. In 1947 the SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) was born and the following year held their first "Speed Week" on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Technically this wasn't drag racing, but it fueled the fire for speed.

The first recorded drag strip was in Santa Ana, California, on an abandoned World War II P38 fighter base. During the summer of 1950 hot rod junkies in SoCal made the trek to Santa Ana to get their "fix" much to the relief of the law enforcement community.


Chet Herbert overseeing his creation, the Beast. Chet's bike was the top dog for a few years. From the Bruce Linsday collection.

These early races were wild affairs with little in the way of rules, no real safety equipment and just a flag man positioned 20 feet ahead of the combatants ready to give 'm the go. Crossing the finish line first was, and still is, the goal. But in the early '50s the only instrumentation was a set of lights you cut through to record your speed. A participant's elapsed time was not a factor since, at the time, there was no way to measure it.

Meanwhile in 1951, in an attempt to, "create order from chaos," Wally Parks, then editor of Hot Rod magazine formed the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association). This new group had the authority to institute safety rules and performance standards, although, when you look at some of these early photos, it's clear the safety "equipment" was slow in coming. The NHRA held its first official race in April of 1953, at the now-legendary track, Pomona. Pomona is still home to the NHRA's season opening Winternationals each year. The NHRA might have brought respectability to the sport, but there were still many outlaw races taking place on deserted back roads across Southern California.

An article on Lloyd Krant's Giant Killer in the September, 1953, Cycle magazine.

Men with names like Chet Herbert, Lloyd Krant, Larry Lilley, Bob SirKegian, Clem Johnson and Tommy Auger were just a few of drag racing's pioneers. Even Bob SirKegian's 13 year-old son, Bobby, got into the act turning a 107.62 mph to trophy in Class B, during a July 19, 1953, San Diego meet. Bobby was on a hot Triumph Thunderbird that day. A 13 year old? Sounds incredible today but back then you didn't need a "sanctioning body" to tell you what was dangerous. You made your own decisions and lived (or?) with the consequences.

Wheelchair-bound Chet Herbert didn't let his disability from polio become a disability. Far from it. He had been in the high performance Harley parts business shortly after World War II grinding some of the best cams available. As early as 1950 Chet with his partner, Roy Felkner, were burning up the strip, and, California's Rosamond dry lake shattering records which, in some cases, were held by the fast cars of the day. In July of 1950, with their modified Knucklehead the "Beast" they ran a 128 mph at the Lakes and a 103 at the Orange County airport strip. Legend has it their Knucklehead was christened the Beast because of the 103-mph run which slammed the old record, set by a car at 101 mph, and, because of its ugly appearance.

Records were falling fast in those early years. By the end of October Chet had pushed his quarter mile speed to 119 mph and on the dry lakes he picked up another 14 mph to end the year with a 142.

In the following year Chet was back at it. Here is an excerpt from Cycle, July, 1951. "Then, in March, 1951, Herbert's high camer was ready for its grand attempt. Ted Iorio of the USMC was riding and took it through on two trial runs at 124 and 125 mph. The big one was coming; special fuel that would burn up an ordinary engine was pumped in by rubber-gloved pit men, and Ted took off for the record run. The Beast starts in second gear, winds to 8,000 rpm, then power shifts to high. On this run, everyone knew that he was going to do it, as the rear tire caught fire from spinning on the asphalt, then was off, fish-tailing all the way down. At the other end there was a cloud of dust, as Ted went off the end of the strip (still) doing sixty. He was going too fast to stop. Cycle and rider were one blur, spinning end over end in the dirt, while over the loudspeaker came, 'He's all right, folks. You have just seen a new record set-129.49 mph for the quarter mile drag!' To emphasize this, it might be noted that a good stock 74 OHV Harley-Davidson will hit 80 mph in the same distance."

J.P. putting the "can" into Lloyd's Giant Killer some time in the early '50s.

Jim "J.P." Griffin, our history detective. He mentioned that if there are any errors in his information, on Lloyd Krant, to please forgive him. "It was a long time ago."

Hanging names on our toys is nothing new but during the early days of drag racing it received a real boost. Chet had the Beast, C.B. Clausen had the The Brute and then, of course, Lloyd Krant's fuel-burning 105ci Knucklehead was dubbed the Giant Killer. This name was hung on Lloyd's machine by Wally Parks in an article he penned in Hot Rod magazine. Along the way we had double-engined drag bikes like; Bud Hare's Triumph, Double Trouble, which certainly was trouble. From Chicago, Bob Schmidt's Monster and Walter Ross and John Bozzie's The Thing, both of these were Harley Knuckleheads, the preferred ride in those days. There were others, of course, some more creative than others, but if we were handing out awards for the all-time best name for a multi-engined drag bike it would go hands down to Russ Collins (R.C. Engineering) with his triple, SOHC Honda, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.

One of the most successful and longest running drag bikes had to be Lloyd Krant's Giant Killer. Lloyd was a furrier by trade, a very talented machinist by night and a drag racer on the weekends. Jim "J.P." Griffin was his pit man and here is what J.P. Griffin remembers from those wild early years.


In the June, 1952, Cycle magazine staged a drag race, "Jet vs Harley." It featured Louie Castro, on C.B. Clausen's The Brute, racing an Air Force T33 Shooting Star. After a short test run it was obvious the jet was no match for Clausen's Knucklehead. The pilot said, "We're no match for that baby." So, changing gears and air frames, they rolled out a P-51 Mustang. We'll let Cycle take it from here, "... The plane was purposely allowed to accelerate an instant before the Brute was gunned and, to us at the other end, it looked as though the day was lost for the first hundred yards. Then it happened, the Brute began to grab traction. Although the bike was only geared for a quarter mile, at the end of a half mile it was a good four plane lengths ahead of the already airborne P-51 - what a thrill, what a day for the bike boys!" To our knowledge no photos survived from the actual race. It seems that "Harley vs Jet" had more sales appeal. Photos from the Bruce Linsday collection.

"Krant's bike was so dominate for so many years, why, he used Top Eliminator trophies for door stops. Eventually he asked C.J. Hart, the track owner, for cash instead of a trophy. This amounted to $7.50 for fastest run of the day! Lloyd was a super nice guy. I think it was one of the magazines that called him "modest Lloyd Krant." That was true, he was a quite, soft-spoken guy. All the racers were decent guys. It could get real competitive during the runs, but even then, most riders would share information with you, except for fuel ratios, that is. There were a group of Hispanics, most of them from San Diego, who ran some pretty hot cars and bikes. They called themselves the Bean Bandits. Joe Frenadise, another Hispanic, ran a Harley he called the Saint. We raced hard but were friends too.


J.P. Griffin in the saddle of his 80 inch Harley stages for a run. From the Bruce Linsday collection.

"Lloyd's father, and Lloyd, were furriers in LA. Lloyd was a genius when it came to machinery. He built some of the special equipment they used in the family business. His drag bikes were incredible. He raced both an 80 inch Harley, on gas at first, and his big bike, the 105 inch Knucklehead, only on fuel. On the 105ci bike he made his own cylinders out of steel, not cast iron. Then to stroke it, he took two rods, cut them, and welded in the additional length. They held together! Oldsmobile pistons were his favorite and for valves he would buy International truck valves, shorten, and machine them to fit. If I remember, these were two inch valves. Lloyd ran a Harley 3-speed transmission, but would start in second, then shift to third.


The jet was no match for "pilot" Louie Castro, on The Brute. From the Bruce Linsday collection.

"There were no drag slicks back then. We used 16-inch automobile recaps. Most of the guys with big inch Harleys would start them with the help of another bike - tire to tire. Lloyd would just kick start his! His bike was so fast that often, if the fast car guys would show up and see Lloyd was running, they would turn around and go home. Off the line they couldn't touch him but they would start to catch up on the top end. Until real drag slicks were available a really fast bike could beat any car.


Ross and Bozzie's, The Thing. A very sanitary bike. From the Bruce Linsday collection.

"At first we raced on the street. Main Street south between LA and Long Beach, right next to the power lines, was a favorite spot. Word would get around by phone, some street bikes and maybe 10 to 15 cars showed up and we would run. We didn't have a flag, the starter just waved his hand! I ran a pretty fast 61ci Knucklehead that I stroked to 68 inches with 80 inch flywheels and 74 inch barrels and pistons. I had polished the ports and installed a Chet Herbert cam. It would run 104 mph on gas. Lloyd also ran on the street with his 80 inch Harley."

We asked J.P. if there we many Indians drag bikes. "They were really rare. Racing on the street they were okay, but at the strip they were outclassed by the Harley overheads."

J.P. mentioned that at first they raced at C.J. Hart's Santa Ana track. But the sport spread quickly. "We had one early race at an old Army blimp base near Santa Ana. Some Colonel gave us permission. But when he saw us running over 100 mph, he threw us out!


Bob Schmidt's double-engined Harley, the Monster. Cute Whizzer gas tank, but watch out for those exposed chains. From the Bruce Linsday collection.

"Bob Corbit started the first night drags at his track in Saugus, California. I was the first announcer at that track. There was a hill behind the starting line, so we raced from there toward the street. Not a good idea. When a few of the fast riders went through the fence, across the street, and into a farmers field, he turned it around and we raced toward the hill. Safer, but not by much. You had to build horsepower in those days, you couldn't just buy it."

Keep your helmet and leathers on, buddy, we'll be back at the strip in the next issue, with the inventive Clem Johnson and Barn Job, Bill Martz & Tommy Auger's fuel Vincent as well as Bob Weir's Triumph Thunderbird, Guided Missile (132 mph on fuel) which was putting pressure on Lloyd Krant's big Harley.

At the drags somewhere in SoCal. Lloyd with his 105 inch Harley on his way to collecting yet another Top Eliminator trophy. Note how casual things were in the early days. From the Bruce Linsday collection.


How the "other" guys started their machines. From the Bruce Linsday collection.