October 4, 2006 Source: :
http://www.sfu.ca/mediapr/news_releases/archives/news10040601.htm Early dragsters were rebels —
with a
cause Contact: Catharine Hilton, 604.803.8046 (cell); chilton@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 604.291.4323 October 04, 2006 Vancouver dragracers and hotrodders in the 1950s were more than
free-wheeling rebels - they were young men seeking respectability, happy to
race whatever they could get their hands on. "Instead of embracing the urban delinquent label, enthusiasts struggled to
gain respect and legitimacy in the eyes of government, law enforcement and
the public," says SFU history graduate student Catharine Hilton, a racing
enthusiast who studies Vancouver’s early dragracing and hotrodding scene. Hilton collects oral histories and has pored through mountains of club
newsletters, specialty magazines and media clippings from 1948-65. Racing and rodding enthusiasts considered themselves "a safe, professional
and viable alternative" to street racers. "They were part of a movement that
would eventually protect them from public vilification and negative law
enforcement pressure," she says. Racing and rodding turned from being viewed as an urban problem to one of
suburban leisure pursuit. The B.C. Custom Car Association (BCCA) became the
first club in Canada to work with police to encourage members to race at the
Abbotsford Airport in the 1950s. The BCCA opened Mission Raceway in 1965. Hilton says the RCMP and local governments would do well to look at the
example set by the association to gain perspective on today's street racing
problem. Hilton supports the Cruise the Street and Race the Strip movement, a group
of hotrodders hoping to help curb street racing and wean racers to venues
such as the Mission Raceway - where her fiancé races Purple Reign, his 1970
Nova. Hilton occasionally races herself - for fun - at a strip at the
Sechelt airport. Hilton will be among participants at the autoConsequences symposium, a forum
on the automobile and its social implications, on Saturday, Oct. 7, from
8:30 p.m.- 5 p.m. at SFU Vancouver, hosted by the SFU-led Traffic Safety
Project. Check www.sfu.ca/traffic-safety/events.html.
| 