The Oilers Car Club was formed in 1947 in Carlsbad CA by Jim Nelson when a group of guys wanted to go racing at Bonneville and Muroc. Back then you had to be a SCTA sanctioned club if you wanted to race on the salt, members held different speed records throughout the years but by the mid sixties the club had fallen apart. The club’s President Jim Nelson had started a dragster chassis company called Dragmaster  http://www.nhra.net/museum/features/feature14.html and by that time most of the guys in the club had got out of racing. Jim however became the President of the SDTA “ San Diego timing association” which was formed around the same time as the NHRA and worked together with Wally Parks in the hey-day of drag racing.

One oft mentioned race was against Alex Xydias, founder of SO-CAL Speed Shop, Jim and Jack had a striped down 34 Ford Coupe with a 239ci motor in it against Alex's low chopped '34 Coupe sported a 259.5ci. In time trials both cars broke the existing B class record. The story goes that Jim and Jack flipped a coin to see who would drive, Jim won the toss and the two 34's were neck and neck down the track, but at the finish line Jim's driving skills won the day. After the race they were asked to remove the heads to verify the displacement, and Jim was declared the winner.

The Oilers club lives on today, with a new group of daredevils and speed demons and here is where you will find out more about them and their escapades.

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