James Wright

James Wright of Long Beach, California was a member of the Crusaders of Long Beach car club. In 1954 James got his driving license, and was given driving privileges by his parents. He borrowed their 1952 Pontiac 4 door sedan with a perfectly balanced straight eight engine, and went street racing during the nights. At the time, Studebaker Road, between Pacific Coast Highway on the west and Seal Beach on the east was little used, except as an informal drag strip in the late evenings. James raced the Pontiac at Studebaker Road, and won a lot of races from very surprised guys with substantial modifications on their hot rods.

James attended Long Beach City College in 1955 and 1956, driving a 1947 Ford sedan that was lowered and fit with skirts and glass pack mufflers. The Ford was pinstriped by Art Summers with a "Crusader Rabbit" striped on the trunk lid. James did also run his Crusaders of Long Beach plaque and a pair of hand knitted angora dices hanging from the mirror. That was a mistake, because one morning when he came out, someone had sliced the ragtop and stolen the dice. He sold the car soon thereafter, bought a bright red Sunbeam Talbot Cabriolet and wen into the Air Force. James attended college with Ron Guidry that had a customized 1936 Ford. At the time, James remembers that there were two other guys at school with significant custom cars. Chuck Bell had a candy apple Mercury sedan that was chopped, channeled and sectioned with solenoid doors and frenched seams. The other one was George Cerny's 1950 Plymouth station wagon that his son George Cerny Jr. drove.

James worked at the Lion's Drag Strip in Long Beach in 1956, during the National Drag Competition. There was a breakdown in the light tree, and after they were repaired, someone needed to run the strip to test the lights and the timing system, and James was elected. So with the top down, Wearing his white Crusaders jacket and a tophat, he ran the strip. The lights and the timer worked fine. He did the quarter mile in 21.08 seconds, probably one of the slowest times ever recorded at Lions according to himself.

James Wright's Cars

James Wright's 1947 Ford