The Event: The Santa Barbara Drags is a street-racing event put on by The Race Of Gentlemen group, who normally race on the beach of Wildwood New Jersey. This year they decided to bring their circus of vintage cars and bikes to the streets of Santa Barbara. The location was the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. This upscale hotel is about the last place you would expect to see vintage hot rods and their owners dressed in period clothing hanging about.

The Journey: I decided to burn some of my Amtrak rewards points and take the Pacific Surfliner from Fullerton to Santa Barbara. I had a business class ticket and rode in the lounge car on the trip up from Orange County. It has very large windows and seats that are facing outward so that you can enjoy the view. The view got nice once we got out of Los Angeles. The landscape looked like something you would expect to see on a Disneyland ride, with lots of large red rock formations and rolling green hills. It’s hard to believe it’s just a few miles out of LA.  Once we got to Ventura, the train hugged the coastline for the remainder of the trip with some long stretches with just the beach between the train and the ocean. Very picturesque indeed.

It was a diverse group of racers: young and old, ladies, and gentlemen

Friday Party at The Hilton: This was billed as a great big blowout party to kick-off the event. We arrived there about 45 minutes after it started and found a huge line waiting to get in. If you had a VIP ticket or were paying cash, you could get right in. Alas, I bought my ticket in advance, and it still took an hour to get in. Once inside, there really wasn’t much to see so we left after about an hour. Hopefully there will be some better organization in the future.

We got a tip from a local that The James Joyce Bar was a good place to go, so we went there. We met some nice guys there that were from a hot rod club in Salt Lake City called the Throttlers and they had just finished preparing their race car the night before making the journey to Santa Barbara.

Raceday: We arrived at the track Saturday morning just as the action was getting started. It was a real “chamber of commerce” sort of day – clear skies, sailboats and palm trees in the background really set the scene.

The competition consisted of three groups of carefully chosen “period correct” cars and bikes that run in 3 classes: 4-cylinder cars, flathead V8 cars, and bikes, racing down a 660-foot strip of Cabrillo Blvd. With more than 70 pre-war cars and 30 plus bikes there was plenty to see, and the action was non-stop.

This is old-school drag racing. Racers are slowly moved up to the start line under the guidance of the flagman. There are no “Christmas Trees” here for staging. Once the racers are in position, the flagman checks with both racers to make sure they are ready to launch. Then with a jump in the air and the drop of the flag the two combatants drop the clutch, punch the gas and race down the strip, smoking tires as the leave.

One of my favorite cars was a very faded red 1941 Willys coupe “Gasser”. It had an all-steel body with a supercharger protruding from the custom forward tilting hood. The front end sits really high on this one, with white painted open headers ending just inside the bottom of the fenders.

It was a diverse group of racers: young and old, ladies, and gentlemen, even one competitor who came all the way from Japan to participate.

Summary: A fun event that could use a little better organization. I realize this was their first time, and there are going to be growing-pains, so I would definitely return if they return to this great location.

It was my first time staying in Santa Barbara and really enjoyed my stay. The city has some pretty cool architecture, there is plenty of night life, and some great restaurants to keep you entertained.

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