| Nostalgia Drag Racing DVDs |
Last updated on September 28, 2013 |
Jackson Bros. nostalgia drag racing DVDs
Shown on the right are two long-time drag racers and race fans, Jamie and Janice Jackson. For decades, both of them raced the '57 shown below them.
The introduction below, and the video descriptions that follow it, were written by Jamie Jackson.
My love and enthusiasm for drag racing was born in 1961, at my first trip to Cotati Raceway. The highlight of the meet was a dragster match race between Sammy
Hale in The Champion Speed Shop Chevy and Sneaky Pete Robinson's Drag Master Chevy. That race left me awestruck at the speed and noise these cars produced. I
was equally excited with the gassers and altereds, and to this day I still enjoy the color and diversity of the sport.
I brought my older brother Sonny along when I started full-time attendance in 1964. We started taking photos almost immediately, but quickly resorted to my
parents' 8mm Brownie Hawkeye movie camera and Kodak color film. We filmed all of the races that we attended for sixteen years straight.
After about a four-year break due to burnout, video became popular and affordable, which captured our enthusiasm for the drags once again, but this time we
would have live sound and a lot more coverage of each event. After producing our first program in 1986, Bad Boy Altereds, and a little notoriety from our
contributions to Main Event and Diamond P videos, we began receiving vintage film and modern video footage from many of our fans throughout the country. The
collection of film and video in our historical archives has reached staggering proportions. More historically-important and rare film footage is contributed to
our archives every year as our popularity expands.
Shipping is included in the prices of all of our videos.
To order your DVDs, please print out the
Price List and Order Form.
If for any reason your DVD is incompatible with your DVD player, the DVD will be replaced with a VHS tape of the same program. We will also credit you or send
you a check for $5 for your return shipping.
High Speed Motorsports
56 minutes
Action Outtakes depicts their two fuelers racing other top-name cars at the Goodguys Vintage Racing Association events. All the smoke and thunder these cars
produce is captured by the Jackson Bros., close-up and intense, without any narration getting in the way.
There's no lengthy chit-chat, but true spontaneous excitement when Mendy Fry tells you what it's like to go 251 mph just after blasting off a 5.87-second pass
in the MasterCam fueler. That run made Mendy the first lady drag racer to go over 250 mph in a Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragster.
Sean Bellemeur drives the Plaza Hotel fueler and shows great promise as the new young hero of the class. His list of wins in his first year out are
impressive.
If you enjoy the excitement of Nostalgia Top Fuel, you will not be disappointed with this high-speed Action Outtake smoker.
High Speed Motorsports was filmed at tracks that include Famoso, Las Vegas, and Pomona.
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A/Fuel Action for Tony Waters
58 minutes
A/Fuel Action For Tony Waters highlights the 2004 Goodguys VRA 2004 A/Fuel action at its best, including record runs and top-end photography of high speed
dragsters trying to slow down - something dragsters don't like to do after a 200-mph pass.
Most of the A/Fuel cars that were competing at the Goodguys VRA races are included. The injected cars run on nitro and the blown cars run on alcohol.
We give special notice to Tony Waters and his team. Tony is a legend in the sport. He was Top Eliminator runner-up at the first March Meet at Famoso back in
1959, in his blown roadster. It's great to see the old timers still giving the youngsters a run for their money.
A top-end altercation takes place where two cars come together at the same turnoff. One of the cars is Tony's. Like most old timers of the sport, they pick up
the pieces and put them back together again for another season. However most of the youngsters have this same spirit and will come back next season to give the
old man hell.
A/Fuel Action was filmed at tracks that include Famoso, Las Vegas, and Pomona.
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Return of the Bad Boys
84 minutes
Those Awful Awful Altereds are back. Many of the '60s Altereds have been restored to life and they're still as wild as they were. Featured cars include the Rat
Trap and The Marcellus & Borsch restored AA/FAs. Other cars include Pure Hell, Pure Heaven, Nanook, Toco-Harper-Garten, The Mob, Burkholder Bros., Randy
Bradford, Woody "Pops" Duke, Panic, J&S Speed Shop, Blair's Speed Shop, and many more Bad Boy Altereds of the 2000s. This time, you get to see them and hear
them on DVD as well as VHS.
The color and audio quality is outstanding as the Jackson Bros. are now using industrial digital video cameras to capture the excitement of Nostalgia Drag
Racing.
Return of the Bad Boys was filmed at tracks that include Bakersfield, Sears Point, and Las Vegas.
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A Night of Cackle & Flames
60 minutes
The sound of nitro, the flames of nitro, the excitement of nitro. Here you'll see and hear Top Fuel qualifying and all of the Cacklefest cars under the lights
at the 2003 NHRA Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield. Also included is Mike Boyd driving the wild and wooly Marcellus & Borsch AA/FA and the Pick
Your Part wheelstanding pickup.
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Gasser Files 1 & 2
120 minutes
All-color film footage with narration and music, including modern nostalgia live-action video. Gasser Files is the greatest nostalgia video on Willys, Anglias
and Austins ever made.
How about the Stone, Woods & Cook versus Big John Mazmanian rivalry of 1965? You'll see many other famous gasser teams, too, including Jack "the Bear" Coonrod,
K.S. Pittman, Jr. Thompson, the Kohler Brothers, the Ariso Brothers, the Hill Brothers, the Mallicoat Brothers, Brasher & Cummings, Fred Texiera, Shores &
Hess, Mike "the Hippie" Mitchell, Panella Trucking, the Souza Brothers, Balough-Dubach & Pisano, the Del Rio Bros., Ron Nunes, and more.
Willys fans will really appreciate the vast numbers of '33 and '41 Willys shown. Numerous blown, injected, wheelstanding '49-'51 Anglias and Prefects will
thrill even the most discerning English Ford fans, and many of our wildest '48-'51 Austin shots are also included here. There are other popular makes here that
include '37 Chevy coupes, Henry Js, and shoebox Chevys.
Are there Wild Shots on this tape? Of course. A few scary wipeouts are shown, but no serious injuries were ocurred thanks to good safety equipment.
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Wildshots Oldies & Goodies
90 minutes
This tape contains some of the rarest historical film ever seen on the 1960s Drag Racing machinery. With a unique collection of front-engine Fuelers, Funny
Cars, AFX cars, wheelstanders, oddballs and exhibition cars, this tape will go down in drag racing history as the greatest collection of colorful nostalgia on
one video. Hot rod events announcer Dan Danner describes all the special historical sequences. This program is full of spectacular live-action shots of cars
losing the battle of the quarter-mile, whether from crashing, burning, wheelstanding or going every way but straight. Strict safety rules pay off as no driver
is seriously hurt in this program. Also included is a special history workup on the famed Chi Town Hustler Funny Car. We turn loose the high-tech,
hard-charging big boys of the '90s with unrestricted sound in all their four and five-second glory. Sooner or later, drag racing will take you to the wild
side, and so will Wildshots Oldies & Goodies.
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Bad Boy Altereds 2
120 minutes
Modern-day Fuel Altereds are just as wild and squirrely as they were in the '60s. The unrestricted sound of these and many other altereds found in this program
will satisfy your hunger for that screaming, supercharged thunder. Wild footage includes Richard Langson's Texas Ranger, Impulse, Coors Light, the Outlaw, the
Trillo Bros., Law & Disorder and a special segment on the awesome "Mob" Fuel Altered. Nostalgia and Comp Altereds are also included. Fuel Altereds forever.
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Bad Boy Altereds 1
60 minutes
All-color film footage dating to 1964. Dedicated to the AA/Fuel Altereds, this video depicts the typical wild and crazy action these cars displayed. Their
unwillingness to go straight will not be a faded memory, or a dusty photo, or even small talk about the good old days. Fuel Altereds are still charging hard
down the 1320 on this Jackson Bros. video.
Some of the Fuel Altereds you'll see here include the Marcellas and Borsch Winged Express, Rich Guasco's Pure Hell, Dave Hough's Nanook, Moore-Oates-Bradley's
The Mob, the Burkholder Brothers, Fred Sorensen's Warlock I, Leon Fitzgerald's Pure Heaven, Nick Otto's Warlock II, Rod Hynes' Coors Light, Richard Langson's
Texas Ranger, Quality Auto, Thomas & Pritchard, Higley & Hubbard, the Trillo Brothers, the Scrounger, Savage Jr., the Blue Max, Mondello's Porting Service, the
Instant T and Black Magic, plus many more hard-charging competition Altereds.
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X-Treme Nostalgia
60 minutes
On-the-edge Fuelers and wall-crunching action takes you to the extreme side of nostalgia drag racing. Also included are the popular blown altereds and super
charged gassers. The Goodguys races are the best with the hottest and fastest covering the quarter mile at Famoso and Sears Point in 2000. You will get the
added benefit of great audio since the live action is not talked over and actual recording levels were not softened. You'll see and hear drag racing the way it
should be seen and heard on your audio/video system. So crank it up, buckle up and shut up. It's time for some serious nostalgia.
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Front Engine Fueler
90 minutes
You'll get nothing but today's Front Motored Fuel Dragsters along with 45 minutes of rare, never-before-seen film footage shot from 1959 to 1962 by the Jackson
Bros. and their contibutors. Big-name drivers of the '60s like Garlits, Prudhome, Kallita, Chris Karamasines, James Warren and many more are included along
with the big name drivers of today like Ted Taylor, Paul Romine, Bill Dunlap, Jerry Steiner, Dan Horan, Bob Hallock and many more. The original film footage is
accompanied by music and narration while the modern footage will deliver full unrestricted sound of nitro-breathing Top Fuel Dragsters.
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Nostalgia Wild
90 minutes
The Jackson Bros. have taken from their vast film and video archives a mix of rare film footage from the '50s, '60s and early '70s and coupled it with some
modern day nostalgia to make a hot rod Drag Racing video like no other. The theme of this program is based on then and now sequences going from the past all
the way to the present. We use descriptive titling and light rock music behind rare film sequences and the modern footage puts forth unrestricted live action
audio. There are comical moments and there are serious moments just like in real life. Dave Tedford summed it nicely after crashing in his top fuel nostalgia
dragster when he said, "Oh well, that's drag racing." You will meet Dave in this program and see other drag racers in the same "oh well" situation. Blown
Altereds, Gassers, Dragsters and Smokers are highlighted. You will come to realize and agree with the Jackson Bros. that nostalgia is wild.
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Raw Drags Adventure
118 minutes
All classes of drag racing machinery from modern to nostalgia have one goal in common and that is to get down the drag strip in a straight line as quick as
possible without blowing up parts or crashing. Let's get real for a moment. Once upon the quarter-mile, anything can happen. Not only does this tape show an
abundance of neat-looking cars making hard straight passes with unrestricted audio, we also include wildshots.
You will see crashes, fires, wheelstands, smokin' burnouts, into the wall, sideways, squirrelly and just about anything out of the normal. Beautiful cars doing
some ugly things. NHRA strict safety rules pay off as no critical injury accidents will take place in this video. Most drivers walk away unharmed.
In life, many people have experienced a raw deal, but in Drag Racing, a Raw Drags Adventure is something else. Featured tracks include Fremont, Sears Point,
Bakersfield, and Sacramento. A few East Coast wildshots are included. Special thanks to Brian Christiansen for his outstanding ground-level video. Thanks also
to our East Coast video contributor and the worldwide customer support of Jackson Brothers Video. Now let's return to those thrilling rides of
yesterday.
This DVD has a revised sleeve with the same program content as before, but improved video and audio quality. The last three years of various Fremont Raceway
action is included in this program. These pressed versions also make it possible to watch the program in two parts or straight through.
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The Shoebox Dream
82 minutes
It has long been the dream of many a young man to own a really fast car. Whether his pleasure may have been cruising or racing, a typical teenager from the
'50s might have realized his fantasy from behind the wheel of a 1955 Chevy. Those free-thinking racers from the past have given new hope and a new name to the
great race cars of the '50s: Shoeboxes.
Why do present-day fans find shoeboxes so intriguing? Because some of these dinosaurs are running the quarter mile in around seven seconds at close to 200 mph.
World record runs of these fabulous '50s cars can be found in the The Shoebox Dream. This tape features: Charles Carpenter's '55 Chevy, Thunder Craft with Rob
Vandergriff, Dave Riolo's Temptation-'55 Chevy, Wayne Torkelson & Son's '55 T-Bird, Bob Bunker, Ron Harding, Jr., John Scialpi's Wappado, Kirk Kuhns, Lamar
Walden, Mega Ford and Christine. There is a special appearance by Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen's fabulous '57 Chevy AA/Fuel Funny Car and three wild upside-down
segments of Shoeboxes biting the dust (with minor driver injury). This tape has live action sound, narration, music and driver interviews.
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Goodguys Go Wild
60 minutes
Here you'll see world record Top Fuel runs, and race cars getting out of shape and hitting the guardrail, including Tarrii Moorehead (in the '41 Willys shown
on the cover), the A/Fuel Dragster driven by Mark Woods, Jr., an A/Gas Henry J, Bob Truluck's Fiat, and Russell Jackson's '66 Nova.
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Hot Rod Thunder
60 minutes
Better known as the 5th Annual Jim Davis Memorial Hot Rod Drags. Every category of nostalgia covered with special old timer interviews. Featured speakers
include Jim McLennan, Rich Guasco, Tom Prufer, and Gerry Steiner. Heavy coverage of all hot classes, include Top Fuelers, Gasser, etc. This is a Goodguys
Association event that was held at Sears Point in May of 1993.
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ANRA Action Outtakes
90 minutes
Covers nostalgia races at The Top Gun Raceway in Fallon, Nevada and at Sacramento Raceway in California in 1996 and 1997. Top Fuel Dragsters, Blown Altereds
and Gassers highlight this program, not to mention some of the most popular makes and models that compete in the various E.T. brackets. We give the names of
the drivers through descriptive titles so as not to hinder the thundering audio that most race fans hope to get and look forward to hearing on their
audio/video systems. No less than eleven Front Engine Fuelers will excite your interest in the way it used to be and footage shot from the top end of the
Gassers, Altereds, Dragsters, and other hot machinery will definitely get you motivated to attend the next nostalgia drags in your area.
The resurrection of '60s drag racing has already taken place, and has to be the best thing that could ever have taken place within the sport. Through heavy
exposure and promotion along with fan attendance, the nostalgia drags will flourish, so we need not dwell on just memories about how things used to be.
Nostalgia lives.
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About the Jackson Brothers, by Jamie Jackson
After more than thirty years of filming and promoting drag racing, my feelings and deep interest compelled me to sit down and write about our past
accomplishments, and talk about our plans to make our film and video scrapbook available to anyone interested in the history and development of the sport. In
the 1960s and '70s, we showed edited highlights of our best hot action and popular hot rods at car shows, youth-oriented seminars, club meetings and track
parties. Our first Highlights film sales were advertised in the April, 1973 edition of National Dragster. Film-making was too expensive and time consuming, so
it wasn't until the advent of consumer video that we made headway into program sales. We have produced more than ten programs and dozens of individual racer
features since going to video in 1984. For the most part we are relatively unheard-of by the mainstream National Event viewer, because most of our videos are
geared for the hardcore nostalgia drag racing fan.
The direction of our programming lies in the area of documentaries on certain types of cars and their drivers. Our Highlights and Wildshots programs are also
important as they were a huge part of our popularity right from the start. We were not involved with entire event programming back in the good old days of the
sport and the same holds true today. We do not do event tapes and we are not associated with any telebision broadcast companies, although we occasionally
contribute when asked to do so for the betterment of the program or for the sport itself. We have not interfered with or have been a threat to the ongoing
interests of television broadcast operations like Diamond P, TNN and ESPN. We have actually been a help to these production companies by providing needed
material for the benefit of their programs.
We usually ask only for credits in the program, but do not always get them. Diamond P has used some of our footage in the NHRA Today shows without knowing it,
but has rectified the problem in recent shows. Our film contributions to Diamond P's archives was by way of John Mullin and Sid Lazarus, who were producers for
Diamond P back in 1986. Our verbal and written agreements with Diamond P allowed them to use our footage only in the videos they contacted us about, and a deal
was struck. The new folks at Diamond P were not aware of any agreements concerning our film usage nor did they know whose footage they were using so there was
no intentional misuse and things are being worked out, but recognition is greatly appreciated, especially when many people at NHRA and Diamond P don't know who
we are or of our contributions to the betterment of the NHRA and Diamond P Sports video programs.
Four major Diamond P home videos contained an abundance of J.B.V. film clips that greatly helped in the success of those tapes and they were: Fabulous Floppers
- Kings of the Sport, Shirley Muldowney and Professional Racer, Don Prudhomme. As of late our footage was used in past Hall of Fame induction shows and Don
Prudhomme retrospects on his retirement. Other major film contributions to popular successful videos were Don Garlits, Close Calls by Main Event, Hot Rod
Thunder by Pacific Crest Pictures for the Goodguys Rod and Custom Association, and American Nitro filmed in 1976 for drive-in and walk-in theaters, but
released on video in 1984.
Past Executive Producer for Diamond P, John Mullin and present Goodguys President Gary Meadors were pleased with our involvement and allowed us to use our own
personal outtakes from NHRA and Goodguys events for our videos. We would also give honorable mention and association membership information on screen in our
videos on behalf of these associations goodwill. Besides the USA, we have distributors in Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, and Australia. We are somewhat
recognized more outside of the USA than in. Distributors like Jegs Performance and the Don Garlits Museum have been a big help in spreading our name in the
USA, not to mention Dave Wallace's Hot Rod Nostalgia catalog and the Jackson Bros. own mailing list that has exceeded 3,000 buying customers at one time or
another. Sales and marketing strategies of our tapes have not been heavily pursued due to limited finances and regular full time employment by the Jackson
Bros. The door is open for potential business opportunities for anyone who might want to help the Jackson Bros. advance from the hobby business level while
making it profitable for their business or association. Profitable does not necessarily mean making money where as the advancement and promotion of a worthy
cause would actually be more important as in generating more interest and participation in localized and nostalgia drag racing events. The Jackson Bros. have
documented many non-national events, and who knows what future superstars and heroes might emerge from those video files. Broadcast television doesn't have
such files so you can see the need of a local, small producers efforts to document all forms of drag racing apart from the national event circuit riders
associated with the corporate, mainstream side of drag racing. The sport originated and flourished by way of the little guy. The little guys tested, competed
experimented and innovated drag racing machinery until they ran out of money, burned out, forged ahead or lost their lives to the sport, but they all started
out as little guys of unknown existence.
The Jackson Bros. were also unknowns who captured the little guys on film in the '60s and are capturing the little-knowns on video in the 21st century. Of
course some of our greatest heroes of all time like, Garlits, Prudhomme, The Greek, Kallita, Eddie Hill, Muldowney and a vast host of others emerged and
endured. The vintage 60s footage of these racers and many more that millions of people have seen on television at one time or another did not come from the
companies airing them. Much of it came from film entrepreneurs like myself.
The Jackson Bros. hope the NHRA reserves a little room for us to collect and use footage for our scrapbook-style videos that are available to everyone. Some of
the folks at the NHRA whom we dealt with in the past whether to give promotional tapes to or require press credentials are Wally Parks, P.J. and Bernie
Partridge, George Phillips, Mike Lewis, Steve Gibbs, Steve Evans, Chris Martin, and Dave McClelland. Evans got film footage from us for television promos when
he managed Fremont in the early 70s. There have been a lot of faces and races down the road for all of us I'm sure. We currently hold season press passes for
Sears Point Raceway. In 1995 we supplied KPIX-5 archive footage of track manager Georgia Seipel for a televised special on behalf of Sears Point's PR
Department. We did not charge for this and the management was grateful to say the least. We have also supplied the track management and safety crew
crash-accident footage to help understand the how and why of the incident and how better to run a safer race. At one time, NHRA contacted us regarding a
lawsuit in which a racer was killed on the East Coast in a notoriously hard handling Anglia. We were available for testimony with information and film footage
of these ill-handling cars, but were never called upon. We have donated tapes to D.R.A.W. raffles for the injured. We also have compiled enough footage for a
tape promoting Jr. Drag Racing. Our tapes have been shown at Bay Area high school auto shops to promote sanctioned drag racing and high performance technology.
We've shown film and displayed cars at Bay Area juvenile homes and including Hanna Boys Center. We showed films at law enforcement car shows and participated
in a suicide prevention seminar with videos and hot rods. We've supplied other race tracks with promo clips, including Sacramento, Las Vegas, Jackson County
Raceway, Firebird Raceway, Boise and others in the past. The ads using Jackson Bros. Video footage were televised in the Reno, Nevada area promoting a ANRA
Nostalgia Race at Top Gun Raceway, Fallon, NV. The Discovery channel called us in regards to using Greer-Black-Prudhomme Top Fuel footage we might have. For a
small license fee they got what they were looking for and were very satisfied with our cooperation. This hookup with the Discovery channel came by way of a
Chris Martin referral. This is not the first time that NHRA's Chris Martin turned people in need of original stuff in our direction. When someone asks where
they can get nostalgia, you gotta check with the Jackson Bros. because they usually deliver. We pride ourselves in making our archives available to everyone
for the good of the sport and the program it's to be used for. Our pay for these services are usually very little, although we could use the bucks and a little
less glory. Film and video collecting, research and production are very expensive so we hope to find some sponsors as we move ahead.
Of the many valued and important services that we have provided in the sport of drag racing, none is more important than the individual history features on the
drivers and owners of the cars found in our archives. We have taken all of the film and video that we have on a racer and compiled it in order of their
appearances dating back to their beginnings. Although we mainly cover the west coast scene and its history, we are able to do valuable features on eastern
racers like Don Garlits, Chris Karamasines, Connie Kallita, Shirley Muldowney and some of the more popular Funny Car and Pro Stock racers that toured the west
coast in the '60s and '70s.
No one can compare to the number of racer profiles and promo tapes we've provided since 1986. Some of the more prominent racers of their day include Frank
Bradley (Top Fuel), Jim Davis (Top Fuel), Ted Gotelli (Top Fuel), Chuck Flores (Top Fuel), Jesse Perkins (Top Fuel), Birky & Neal (Jr. Fuel and Top Fuel),
Steve Woods (AA/Gas Super), Ron Nunes (AA/Gas Super), Rich Gausco (AA/Fuel Altered), Stevie San Paolo (Top Gas Dragster and Top Alcohol Dragster), Chris
Christiansen (Alcohol Funny Car), Dale Armstrong (Funny Car and Top Alcohol Dragster), and there are many, many more. Gary Ormsby's girlfriend ordered a
feature on him a year before he died. It was very much enjoyed during his last days. We sent a complimentary feature on Shirley Muldowney to enjoy while
recovering from her nasty accident. She called and expressed her thanks. We sent Dave McClelland a complimentary Bad Boy Altered tape loaded with Fiat
Altereds, and he called not long after his heart attack to give a hearty thanks. We sent complimentary tapes to a seriously injured lady racer mentioned in
National Dragster with a return note of praise for our concern. In the '60s we even went to the homes of injured Top Fuel racers Frank Martinez and John
Blanchard, and showed film clips of their accidents that happened at Fremont Raceway. Martinez suffered burns to his hands, face and neck from an engine
explosion and Blanchard caught a chunk of metal in his knee while firing up his Top Fuel dragster. In April and June of 1996, we taped Nostalgia Top Fuel racer
Dave Tedford's and Super Gas racer Darren Sealy's accidents at Sears Point Raceway. Tedford tore ligaments in his shoulder and ribs while Sealy was badly
bruised from the waist down including a serious knee injury, and both cars were totally destroyed. Both drivers received J.B.V. footage and got to reflect on
what happened as most drivers want to see what they went through.
Several drag racers down through the years were not so fortunate to survive their accidents. I will list a few of the drivers that we have footage of and will
release to the public for remembrance and fond memories, a special tribute in one of our future videos. They are Lefty Mudersback, Denny Milani, Mike Sorokin,
John Mulligan, Marvin Schwartz, Pete Robinson, Dickie Harrell, Ron Dees and possibly John Wenderski. At a race at Fremont in 1987, the last two people Bob
March saw before fatally crashing his super eliminator dragster were my brother and I, as there was no one at the end of the track but us. Our camera was not
running at the time and I'm happy to say that we've never filmed a fatal accident and I hope we never do. That day when Bob March hopelessly passed by Sonny
and I with the throttle stuck open stayed on my mind and left me feeling lousy for a long time afterward. Three other devastating crashes in the '80s and '90s
that we've recorded were Brent Davis, Mike Grieco and Paul Gommi, none of whom have returned to racing since. Brent's Nostalgia Top Fuel dragster disintegrated
after blowing an engine and going off the track. I had just helped Brent's father (the late, great Jim Davis) and Top Fuel pilot Gary Ritter back the car up on
a burnout. I'll never forget that because the nitro fumes blinded and gagged me, but didn't seem to phase the two old pros, Davis & Ritter. Brent almost died
on the way to the hospital and was left paralyzed from the waist down. We produced a special front-engine fueler tape with Brent's father Jim as the featured
racer, and half of the profits of sales went to Brent's hospital bills. Grieco plowed his Top Alcohol funny car into the guardrail at Fremont, totally
destroying the car, leaving Mike badly bruised and dizzy for months. We stayed in contact with Mike and sent him crash footage to review to determine the
cause. Mike has not returned to racing since the accident. Mike was in the top ten of the Alcohol Funny Cars racing to be the points champion in Division 7.
Paul Gommi crashed his nostalgia front engine fueler just before the lights at a Hot Rod Reunion meet, impacting the guardrail at over 180 mph. Paul told me
that he knew that it was going to be catastrophic, but for some reason his system shut down, and he doesn't even remember anything before the initial crunch.
At his request, we sent him the sequence during his recovery. This veteran racer was banged up pretty good and the car was totally destroyed. Paul has not
returned to driving since. The NHRA's strict but necessary safety rules helped save Paul's life as well as those of countless other drag racers since the
mid-'50s. The Jackson Bros. and millions of other fans down through the ages owe the NHRA a debt of thanks, as I believe that in the hearts of true fans,
nobody gets any enjoyment out of crash and burn, but realize that the high speed nature of the sport will produce some pretty bad accidents. Drag racing is
heavily participated in every week across the USA and Canada, but the number of accidents is very small relative to the number of passes that made down the
tracks. It must be made known to everyone that over 99% of The Jackson Bros. archives are accident-free. Our documentation and participation relies heavily on
the positive and fun side of the sport, as our library will attest.
California was the hotbed of organized drag racing in the mid-'50s, and every drag racer that set speed and elapsed time records had to prove themselves on the
west coast if they were to be established as being number one in the nation. Chris Martin's Top Fuel Handbook gives names, dates and places of drag racing's
earliest and most important beginnings of Top Fuel, and legendary drivers like Don Garlits and the many who proceeded and followed him. I am amazed at how many
cars and racers of the '50s and '60s we have stored in the Jackson Bros. film archives, dating all the way back to 1952. The racers mentioned and the photos
depicted put into focus the depth and diversity of our collection. The bulk of our film files in the '50s is concentrated in southern and central California.
The same holds true for our '60s Top Fuel action footage that coincides with Chris Martin's description and stats on who did what, where, and when. Chris
Martin's Top Fuel Handbook will be of great help in the production and direction of our nostalgia-based programs, and this little jam-packed stats book would
be of great interest to any front-engine Fueler fan like myself. We are not looking to score any points with Chris, but he deserves an honest thanks for his
assembling of this historically-important compilation.
As they move beyond 2000, the important question that the Jackson Bros. have on their mind is whether they can receive and maintain support and recognition
concerning the production of their nostalgia programs. The corporate side of drag racing is ever-expanding and very protective of its interests, not that
anyone or anything could be considered a threat to their mainstream-oriented concerns with the bottom line, which is, will the Jackson Bros. get in the way of
our programming and will they lose us any possible sales in the future? Will they bring more honor and notoriety to our organization or will they not? The
answer really lies with the media aspects of associations like the NHRA and the Goodguys Vintage Racing Association. They can build our potential up or they
can knock our efforts down. In the end, I believe we can greatly benefit any hot rod association by generating greater interest in their events with our videos
that depict only partial scenes from their shows. Even if a production company comes in to do televised event coverage and offers event videos for sale, our
programs will be totally different in nature, because they include old and new footage from other bygone races, leaving very little crossover if any while at
the same time giving double exposure to that association, and that's a good thing for promoting and money making.
Although television broadcasting of drag racing has been great for the promotion of the sport, the Jackson Bros. feel that their contributions can only help
guarantee that the historical and local concerns of racing fans flourish and become appealing to the youth of today. The corporate aspect of national event
drag racing and its style of television broadcasting has to be the way it is in order to have sponsor involvement and mainstream fan appeal. As the old pros
start to fade and the winning edge starts to favor the hungry young lions, the past history of the racers and their accomplishments become of greater
importance. The grass roots of the sport along with the racers' accomplishments and adventures will spring up for review and discussion once again. This cycle
will repeat itself for years to come, and the Jackson Bros. film and video archives will be of great use and importance. The beginnings of drag racing along
with its heroic legends will be visually captivating and memory-stirring in the 21st century with positive influence from associations like the NHRA and
Goodguys VRA. The Jackson Bros. feet are deeply embedded into the foundations of the sport. That's where the little guys became the big guys and the pillars of
the foundation. It is the Jackson Brothers' destiny to help the pillars remain standing, making a positive difference for the good and prosperity of the NHRA
and Goodguys VRA and the sport itself.
See you at the drags.
- Jamie Jackson
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