Gasoline cost about 30 cents a gallon, John F. Kennedy was the new president and "Wagon Train" was the most popular show on television.
And in Southern California, a man named Wally Parks settled on a parcel of land next to the fairgrounds in Pomona in 1961 to establish the second major drag-racing event for his relatively new National Hot Rod Assn.
The event was called the Winternationals, and five decades later it remains among professional drag racing's signature contests, even as the sport has expanded nationwide and speeds of its top-flight cars have soared to more than 300 mph.
But last year, the NHRA shortened its top-fuel and funny car races to 1,000 feet to slow down the cars, whose speeds had climbed to 330 mph.
Routine maintenance on a 2008 Porsche Boxster took an unusual turn Thursday, when a Sanibel mechanic took the car on a wild test drive, reaching an estimated 163 mph, and crashed it.
Kenneth Kasten, 50, owner of the Sanibel Shell service station, was driving the Porsche on McGregor Boulevard near Punta Rassa Road at 6 a.m. when he lost control and flipped the car into some mangroves, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Porsche - owned by Nanelle Wehmann of Sanibel - was the only vehicle involved in the crash, which occurred in a 55-mph limit zone.
The FHP estimated the damage to the Porsche at $50,000.
Kasten wasn't seriously injured and left the scene before emergency crews arrived, Cpl. George Kantor of the FHP said. Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor in the crash.
Authorities arrived on scene to find the car smashed, abandoned and upside down.
Initial reports were that the car was stolen, but Kantor said it quickly became clear that Kasten had permission to drive the car.
Wehmann said she has been bringing her vehicles to the Sanibel Shell for years and was surprised to learn about the crash.
"I'm just thankful he wasn't hurt," she said.
Kantor said because Wehmann knew Kasten would drive the car, Kasten wasn't charged with theft.
Kasten was found a few hours after the crash hiding in a nearby parking lot and was given a notice to appear in court on charges of willful and wanton reckless driving and leaving the scene of a crash.
As the souped-up muscle cars, restored classics and lowriders cruise through the old Rydell Chevrolet lot on Van Nuys Boulevard, Reid Stolz takes stock of a scene that was familiar to anyone growing up in the San Fernando Valley a generation ago.
"Remember when we were young and the cops were old?" said Stolz, 51, watching an LAPD patrol car glide by. "Now the cops are young and we're old."
After a 28-year break, Stolz and other car lovers have brought cruising back to "The Boulevard," though the drivers are now more likely to be middle-aged guys with graying hair and grandkids, driven by nostalgia rather than teenage vanity.
It was more than just a scene, it was an iconic ritual that was imitated, written about in hot rod magazines and captured on film. Cruise night came to represent a Southern California lifestyle that young people in the Midwest and the world over could only read about. Cruising the boulevard on a Wednesday night was about adolescent freedom, a sense that anything was possible and, above all, fun.
Back then, young people just showed up every Wednesday night. Girls and boys by the hundreds milled on sidewalks as candy-colored cars blowing rubber smoke streaked by blasting Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd from eight-track stereos.
The tradition dates to the late 1950s when high schools in the San Fernando Valley held club meetings each Wednesday, said Jon Billesbach, 67, of North Hollywood.
Youths in car clubs would head to the boulevard after the meetings ended for street racing, he said. Later, everyone gathered at the Bob's Big Boy restaurants in Toluca Lake or Van Nuys.
Cruising reached its zenith in the 1970s, and the boulevard was its own teenager universe.
Streets lamps bathed the bikers at Arby's in an arc of white light. The van guys parked outside the Heads 'N Highs head shop and the street racers converged at Bank of America. Latino youths parked their lowrider at the June Ellen Doughnut shop, just south of the 101 Freeway, Stolz said.
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The 2009 Lexus ES 350 shot through suburban San Diego like a runaway missile, weaving at 120 miles an hour through rush hour freeway traffic as flames flashed from under the car.
At the wheel, veteran California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor desperately tried to control the 272-horsepower engine that was roaring at full throttle as his wife, teenage daughter and brother-in-law were gripped by fear.
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Norton's 1949 500 ohv single.
Visitors surround Yamaha's new concept bike, the "Super Tenere", which features a traction control system, anti-lock brakes and other advanced technologies, at the Tokyo Motor Show in Chiba on October 21, 2009. Futuristic concept cars, plug-in hybrids, zero-emission electric vehicles and even a hydrogen-powered scooter jostled for the limelight as the Tokyo Motor Show kicked off on October 21.
Still testing the camera mount. Vibration level seems OK at cruising speed, still need to rubber mount it before old-fashioned long-stroke single vibrates modern electronics to bits. Heh. Moved it closer to center of bike, now it picks up too much wind noise, not enough exhaust note. I'll keep after this 'til I get it. It's fun.
This ride is out of my neighborhood and north on California SR 89 to the Hobart Mills turnoff. Note all the dirt haulers. That's a major industry around here.
Please enjoy a ride in the Sierra Nevada sun.
Harley-Davidson plans to discontinue its Buell product line and divest its MV Agusta unit.
The move, approved Oct. 14 by Harley-Davidson's Board of Directors, is part of the OEM's new business strategy to drive growth through "a single-minded focus of efforts and resources."
Harley-Davidson, Inc. purchased 100 percent of MV Agusta Group shares for about $108 million in August 2008. At the time, MV was retailing 5,800-some bikes through a worldwide network of about 500 dealers.
H-D says it will immediately commence efforts to sell the business, which is based in Varese, Italy.
See a video from Erik Buell at www.Buell.com.
Exclusive video inside the Loncin motorcycle factory in Chongqing, China where the BMW650GS engine is manufactured and then shipped to Germany.
For More details, full coverage and photographs visit www.bikeland.org
Magneto clearances should be checked at the regular 500 mile major service intervals.
Gaining Access
First remove any leg guards, fairing panels, engine bars and/or auxiliary fuel and oil tanks that may be blocking access to the engine. Such additions depend on the model. In the case of the Gentleman's Twin-Outrigger Combination, remove both sidecars. Remove the cylinder head and cylinder. Finally, remove the seat (remembering to "safe" the ejection charges if fitted), fuel tank, main oil tank, carburettor, spark plug, battery and starter motor.
Steerforth - An Appreciation
...of Captain Eric 'Killer' Steerforth MC, the famed Hurley-Pugh development rider and six-times TT challenger. Educated at Eton, a variety of crammers and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, 'Killer' soon became well-known within his circle for his robust attitude to discipline and his enjoyment of the more esoteric field sports. A fine horseman, he was renowned throughout the Rutland country for his keenness to be in at the kill, often joining hounds on the ground and tussling them for a crack at the fox.
After a gallant career in the Army, serving throughout the First World War on the Western Front in a variety of roles, ranging from command of a rifle platoon at First Ypres, to command of a company on the first day of the Somme, to command of a battalion at Paschendaele, to a platoon command in Flintshire after an incident at the Bull Ring in Arras,
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Who can forget that rangy, black-shirted figure on the howling Hurley-Pugh Manxman Excalibur Clubman as it wallowed through Ramsey, spreading its characteristic slick of waste oil over the road behind it, or the unforgettable sight of the tall figure, in its trademark long black leather coat, playfully shooting at the Scunthorpe apprentices with a Mauser Model 1892? Who will ever forget his Christmas party game of 'Pin The Tail On The Hebrew'? Certainly not Nat from Assembly!
