At LYON Air Museum
Santa Ana Drags and Beyond exhibit at Lyon Air Museum. The Lyon Air Museum is within yards of where the original Santa Ana Dragstrip laid. This celebration of the first official drag strip in the United States when C.J. “Pappy” Hart, Creighton Hunter and Frank Stillwell commandeered an auxilary runway at the Orange County Airport on June 19th, 1950.
The drive for innovation after the war developed as families grew, so was the need for nearby schools, shopping and business. Companies came for the great weather, abundance of skilled labor and new transportation opportunities. The automobile was a major part of OC families. Soldiers who returned from the war were looking for an adrenaline rush and began “hopping-up” their cars and competed with each other on performance and style.
The weather was a perfect 70° on this final day of Spring in 1950 when C.J. “Pappy” Hart opened the first sanctioned dragstrip in the United States on an auxiliary runway at the Orange County Airport. Santa Ana Dragstrip had installed revolutionary computerized timing clocks so the racers could actually get accurate times for each run. There was a pit area, restrooms, a concession stand and grandstands with plenty of parking.
Today there is a bustling International airport that at one time was the busiest airport in the country by takeoffs and landings. All the private planes, flying schools and weekend flyers accounted for most of the action. The tarmac was full this morning with traditional hot rods, customs and war-birds along the west side of a busy John Wayne Airport, spilling out of the LYON Air Museum hangar.
