Bakersfield Drag Strip (Famoso)

History

Before moving to Famoso, the Bakersfield Smokers Timing Association raced from 1951 until December 1952 at the Kern County Drag Strip on the Maricopa Cutoff, more than 30 miles southwest of Bakersfield. The new site was a landing strip sixteen miles north of Bakersfield off the Porterville Highway on Famoso Road, and its sheer size suited drag racing. Of Southern California’s growing number of strips, it was reportedly the “widest and cleanest.” The first race there was on December 7, 1952. Spectators paid 60 cents and racers $1 to $2, and events in the first year regularly drew 100 racers and more than 2,000 spectators. Class winners got trophies and savings bonds, and Ernie Hashim won often in the early years. Races were held bi-monthly at first, and on the first Sunday of each month in 1953.

The first March Meet, called the West Coast Championship Drag Races, was held March 6-7, 1954. Eight thousand spectators watched Tony Waters take top eliminator in his GMC-powered roadster, and the Bean Bandits of San Diego sold one of their race cars, minus the engine, to raise money for the Crippled Children’s Fund. Another two-day event, the Pacific Coast Drag Race Championships, followed on November 6-7, 1954, and in 1955 the two-day meet returned as the California Championship before 6,000 fans.

Five drivers have died at Bakersfield over the years. The first was Howard Stamp on December 1, 1957, whose throttle stuck as he tried to slow from a 157 mph run. He tried to broadside the car, and it overturned. Jay Cheatham of Sunnyvale, a frequent winner at Northern California strips for several years, was killed during the first U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships on March 1, 1959.

On August 3, 1958, Bill Crossley drove Ernie Hashim’s dragster to a strip record of 170.45 mph. The Bakersfield Californian called him the first in western drag racing to reach 170, though Don Garlits had set a national record of 171.42 mph at Kissimmee that June, a mark West Coast racers doubted. On December 7, 1958, Glen Ward set a world record for gas dragsters in the twin-engine Howard Cam Special, with an aggregate best of 9.10 seconds and 166.06 mph, while Crossley took top eliminator and matched his 170.45. Art Chrisman set a track record of 8.77 at 174.41 mph in the Chrisman-Cannon dragster on January 4, 1959.