EP51: Redwood Rally Drag ‘n’ Drive

Jon Summers is the Motoring Historian. He was a company car thrashing technology sales rep that turned into a fairly inept sports bike rider. On his show he gets together with various co-hosts to talk about new and old cars, driving, motorbikes, motor racing, motoring travel.

• Redwood Rally Drag n Drive
• What is a Drag n Drive ? Parallels with European Rallying
• Street Legal, so you can drive from one drag strip to the next
• Fixit Ticket
• The Oregonian: a breed, and beard apart
• Dave Freiburger, Inventor of the Drag n Drive
•  LS G body Cutlass, and Close Up
•  Beaumont; pic2 pic3
•  Turbo LS Nissan S14; pic2
•  Catfish Camaro; pic2
•  Red Fox
•  Black Fox
•  Madras Dragstrip
•  The Spectacle of drag racing
• Camaro 
•  Nova
•  Nova pic2 
• Awesome Blue Chevelle
•  Square body with 4 slicks
•  Ford Big Job, is For Sale
•  “Custom” Badge
•  “Big Job” Badge

[00:00:00] John Summers is the motoring historian. He was a company car thrashing technology sales rep that turned into a fairly inept sports bike rider hailing from California. He collects cars and bikes built with plenty of cheap and fast and not much reliable. On his show, he gets together with various co-hosts to talk about new and old cars driving motorbikes, motor racing, and motoring travel.

Good day. Good morning, good afternoon. It is John Summers the motoring historian. Today I am gonna review, uh, an event. I went and spectated back in September of 2025. It’s now December called The Redwood Rally. Dragon Drive. So you might not be familiar with what a Dragon Drive. Event is, and when I’ve explained, it’ll be obvious, but it, it’s not immediately obvious to it.

It’s uh, if you are [00:01:00] European, the principle is similar to our kind of stage rallies in that what we’re saying is this is an event where you might start in one city, drive to a local drag strip, compete at the drag strip, and then the following day drive to another drag strip. Where the same thing takes place.

Then the following day, this happens again. So in the case of the event that I went to this, uh, Redwood rally, in the case of the Redwood rally, I think it was five drag strips in six days, but they did a loop coming back to the original one. Anyway, I’ll put a link in to the website so you can go there and, and have a look at it.

But I guess if you haven’t already got there. The parallel with rallying is that it is all very well to have a car which can go around the muddy rally stage really well, or in this case, get down the quarter mile or even for some of the events, eighth of a mile, get down that really well. But [00:02:00] can it then drive a couple of hundred miles to the next.

Y event towing all your equipment as well, right? Has to carry all of the equipment as well. So on the face of it, for those of you that, that aren’t steeped in the world of motor sport, that might not seem very big deal. But the more attenuated a racing car becomes, the less practical it becomes for everyday kind of stuff.

And most dragsters are not street legal, so these cars have to be street legal. We are not in Germany. It’s not like they have to be TUV approved and it is out west here and there is a sort of wild west. Remember there’s no MOT out west. If you’re British, there’s no annual vehicle inspection. So what that means is if you drive a car without turn signals, if in California, if they pull you over.

They can ticket you for it not having indicators. So that would be what they call a fix it ticket, where you have a certain amount of time to fix it and prove to a policeman that your vehicle now [00:03:00] has indicators on it or whatever else. It’s lacking, but you’re not gonna have any issue for corrosion.

You’re not gonna have any issue around, you know, dragging a car of the junkyard and, and putting a turbo LS motor under the hood, which. Appears to be what a lot of people did, and really this was the takeaway for the event for me was, for me was the really, there were some awesome, awesome cars just.

Awesome builds in a really grassroots kind of way, and these vehicles are being used, right? So you’re not at a show and there’s not people, you know, polishing them. No. These cars are being raced down the track and then driven 200 miles and then again and again and again. It has the feeling if you’ve been to a vintage sports car club meeting in in England or Wales or Scotland, it has that kind of grassroots.

The people [00:04:00] involved here are really passionate, skillful people, and it’s really a pleasure to sort of piggyback on on their event in the way that that I did. I’m gonna share one anecdote and I should say, I wanna preface this by saying that the Oregonian. Is a breed apart. And I think if you know, as as I’ve been on the West coast 20 years now, the Path West is called the Oregon Trail.

You came to Oregon and when we think of Oregon, we think of all of the trees. And this is pretty much what I saw. But driving around on these seven, on these six drag strips or five drag strips or wherever it was, I only went to three or four. But driving around Oregon in the way that I did before, I really got a sense of, of what the state looks like.

But that rugged environment breeds a particularly rugged kind of individual, and that particular kind of rugged individual builds a particular kind of hot rod it seems to me. And. That was a pretty awesome thing to behold. [00:05:00] Now I have a excuse of a beard. It’s sort of halfway between stubble and a beard, but my beard did not pass muster in this world of big bushy beards and Ls swapped Fox Mustangs that still had their original interiors but had no hood, and were getting down the drag stripping under 10 seconds.

And then, you know, you see the guy with his wife or girlfriend at the Taco Bell eating dinner with it parked up outside afterwards. I mean, that is what this, this event is all about. Now you don’t get that at the BSCC in, in quite the same way. So, so this is all of the. Mechanical skill and compromise that it takes to keep a rally car going, but in this amazing wild West Vista and its Camaros and Mustangs and the paint’s bad and nobody cares.

Oh, it is. Bloody awesome. And I just wanna say at this point, these drag and drive events, [00:06:00] they’re generally creditors being invented by Dave Fryberger at Hot Rod Magazine. And I have to say, I happen to love the guy. I know that not everybody does, but the. Reality is the bloke invented something, made up a concept, which really gives people a reason to build a certain really cool kind of car.

And just sticking on the theme of these awesome Oregonian folk apart, on the last day at Medford Drag Strip, I parked up facing the track and I, I was tired because I’d been on the road and I’d done a lot of driving before I did like. 1700 miles in four days, including a couple of days where I was just at the drag strip.

Yeah. I mean, sure it’s in a tundra with heated seats and and so on. But I walked all around. I, I’d got hot, I’d eaten the crap food. I was just sat in the truck maced, watching the cars roll down the strip on the last day. And, [00:07:00] uh, I was looking to the right of me. There was a, uh, G body, black one that had an LS swap and pizza cutters and, you know, mini tubbed and, uh, parachute.

And I’d watched them swap the transmission on one day at the side of the track on a portable lift. And I’d watched that same car go like 9 74 at like 141 miles an hour or something. Ridiculous. Right. And I’m sat there. And I basically, I watched the guy, big beard check lumberjack shirt, pull his Silverado forward, get it hooked up onto two axle flatbed trailer, and uh, he puts the ramps down.

And then I’m. Looking at him off the left hand side of the truck and the regal, I think it’s a Buick Regal, but whatever his little G body with the turbo Ls in it, I hear it fire up and I look over and it’s his lad sat in it. And this lad can’t have been [00:08:00] older than Ollie. And his lad puts it in reverse and I watch him back it up around the back of the tundra and then I watch him line it up.

I’m thinking to myself, oh, his dad’s gonna hot pin now and drive it onto the back ramp. No, his dad is stood in the middle of the trailer backing him on, and I’m just like, wow. Firstly the build on the car. Secondly. The fact that you’ve taught the kid to drive it. But thirdly, the fact that you are stood right in front of him.

So this, if this kid unleashes this nine second monster, it’s just gonna pin you against the trailer. But no, you trust and have schooled the kid. Well enough to be able to do that. So that was a little bit of the blast of the world West and, and this, this is taking place against the Vista of Medford drag strip, which is a downhill, and then the runoff is uphill and it’s just the Oregonian forest.

And that’s like, you know, just like the black forest is just. Endless cheese as, as, as far [00:09:00] as, uh, as far as you can see. And it was all right in September when I was there, but my God, you would not, I would not want to be there in, uh, in wintertime. The other really standout image for me, there was a brownish.

I mean 68 69 Chevelle Body style. But I think it was, um, that Canadian one called it the, do they call it a Beaumont? Is that the name? I’m not really sure. But it has like a center split in the grill, but it’s basically a 68 69 Chevelle. And one of the most memorable images for me was as the sun was going down and you’re rolling across this like Oregonian.

Endless forest kind of, uh, kind of landscape with the case. Had the crew set about 65 or or 70, and this, uh, Beaumont Chevelle affair in the center line. Headlights on, came on by and it’s uh, a guy and his wife were doing it with their granddaughter. ’cause I heard the grandmother and the granddaughter.

[00:10:00] Talking one time when the car did a pass, I’ll include pictures of the car. The car was an awesome car. And that whole nature of doing the event that, you know, you got like the picnic basket and the child’s seat on the back seat of this like LS swapped, you know, I guess this, this Chavelle was doing, if I remember correctly, like, you know, elevens that kind of, uh.

That kind of time. It’s hard an interior. So other cars of note ice blue LS swap. Nissan two 40, like S four D. Not a drift car really. And that was one of the faster cars. I believe I saw that car do an 8 95. I’ll include a couple of pictures in it with all of this stuff. You see the car make the pass and then you’re like, wow, I really need to dig deeper.

But because it’s like a dude and his mates, you feel guilty like going up and standing close and leaning too close. And to be [00:11:00] honest, the whole thing reminded me of I went to, um. Cadwell Park in England, which is a British club circuit to watch some motorcycle racing and it, its plumbers using their works van, you know, having taken all the plumbing equipment out and put the old, you know, TZ two 50 in it, had that same kind of feel.

I compared it with the VS CC earlier. The paddock has that same kind of. Have you seen that innovation? I’ve never seen anything like that before. I never thought that engine would fit. What on earth is it? I’m even looking at it has that kind of of thing, but with, as I say, with this sort of Oregonian kind of of bent to it.

So yes, the LSS 14 is a hell of a car and I also, I mean, I’ll include a link to this car a a Catfish era. 2002 Camaro with a cow induction hood and a whole shit ton of LAC appeal and well drag wheels on it and it just look the business, I mean, you just look at the car and you’re like, I want [00:12:00] that car and I want to do this event a really clean.

Red Fox Mustang got a photo of that car on on the trailer. It had a proper interior in it. The G Body car had a proper interior in it. The car was black, it was burgundy, crushed interior. It just makes you smile. And these are cheap cars. But my word, the ingenuity, the skill, the hours that’s gone into it.

And I’ll tell you, when you’re there in the paddock, you’re not just looking at the racing cars. I mean, I only just took pictures of the racing cars, but the camping setup, these guys have got, I’ll tell you what as well. I mean, how many Cummins Rams worth my word? That was fun. In fact, when I was watching on the final day at Madrass, I got talking to a guy who had been to the COOs Bay event and had told me that only a few cars made a pass because the diesel Chevelle, yes, that’s right.

Diesel. Chevelle 69 Chevelle with [00:13:00] a Cummins turbo diesel motor in it that had basically dumped a load of oil. It had like blown up oil line, had dumped a load of oil, and the COOs Bays guys just didn’t have the resources to like clear up the track and dry it off in time for, so the COOs Bay Day was lost, so I was no longer disappointed that I missed that day.

Madras drag strip, it is worth going out of your way to go to that venue. Literally there is beautiful clean air like Montana, big sky, super nice little town. You come through the nice little town, outskirts of the town, nice facility, lots of space, no resources whatsoever. You have to like bring all your like food and water and all of that.

But then you stood there and in the background there’s a mountain. It’s like a drag strip in the Alps. It is, it’s, it’s like almost like. Am I in Grant Ismo? And then you’re like, no, because there’s no way in Grant Ismo, you know, people would be running the kind of beater cast that there are here [00:14:00] with the kind of awesome engineering that there is to make them get down the drag strip in a decent time.

I did get some video of the drag racing. I’m not really gonna bother attaching that. I mean, the main thing is, is just the sheer violence of it. You know, that’s the thing, isn’t it? And the fact that the. Burnout where they warm up the tires, where they spin the tires on purpose to warm them up. That’s actually watching a old muscle car with a full interior and no roll cage, but like a 600 horsepower big block gets sideways in the box that, oh my word.

It, it’s, uh, it’s a spectacle. It is really a spectacle. Just like Sumer Wrestling is a spectacle. This is a spectacle. So a lot of Chaves and Novas and I’ll, I’ll include pictures of them. There’s one lovely little blue nova that, um, Chavelle rather that I really should use as the thumbnail, but I’ll probably use the G Body.

Probably use the G body and so we’ll see what I’ll share both with the producer and we’ll [00:15:00] both be surprised by what shows up as the thumb. There was a square body, like a short bed, square body Chevy truck with four slick tires on it. Now, when I showed my son the picture, he was like, that’s the coolest thing.

But disappointingly, I never really saw it hook up. So great idea, but didn’t actually, uh, really see it Transl. And the last image I’m just gonna include in the yellow slideshow here is a truck that I saw for sale at the side of the road. I’ll include the sign as well ’cause I dare say it’s still there, so who knows?

You can call it and buy the Ford Big job. What a great name for a truck. The Ford Big job. I’ll attach pictures. Thank you. Drive through.

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Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.

• 00:00 Overview of the Redwood Rally
• 00:50 Explaining the Drag ‘n’ Drive Concept
• 01:43 Challenges of Street Legal Dragsters
• 03:14 Grassroots Passion and Ingenuity
• 04:11 Anecdotes from the Oregonian Experience
• 09:08 Memorable Cars and Builds
• 14:05 Final Thoughts and Reflections
• 15:55 Closing Remarks and Sponsorship