By the Spring of 1941, Europe was in utter turmoil as Nazi Germany had swallowed up surrounding international locations and established its sights on jolly previous England to the north. Right here in the United states, life carried on with nominal regard for what was taking place ‘over there’, until eventually the horrors of war came to our doorstep at Pearl Harbor toward the end of that 12 months.
Look at out this British Newsreel filmed April 17th, 1941 at a “Jallopy” Derby in Texas, which seems to be to be a cross involving the Devil’s Bowl and Pismo Seaside with a twist of Earth Rally Championship! You’ve bought a bunch of stripped-down roadsters charging up and around tough-packed dust hills that seem to be properly above 20 ft high… This was ahead of the advent of automotive seatbelts, and you will observe how much the drivers and travellers are catching air in excess of each individual bounce. I’ve by no means seen everything fairly like it, but I just can’t assistance but question if the impending war could possibly have misplaced this exceptional very hot rod pastime forever. It’s possible by the time the boys returned from the European Theater they moved onto racing on the airstrips and employing the go-quick tech they discovered in the pursuit of speed?
(You may well recognize the announcer refers to the cars as ‘Crocks’ which was a British time period for ‘Just one that is worn-out, decrepit, or impaired a wreck.’, in other text, a Jalopy!)