NHRA Safety Safari Wagon a Hit at SEMA

Talk about an entrance! Corky Coker, chairman of SEMA, gave the folks attending the recent sold-out SEMA Banquet in Las Vegas a thrill as he stepped out of the restified version of the historic NHRA Safety Safari vehicle...right up on stage!

The 1954 Dodge station wagon, a project of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum and sponsored by SEMA, is an exact copy of the original and was onstage throughout the 3-hour banquet. Its presence was part of SEMA honoring both the NHRA and performance pioneers of the past. The wagon, which transported a crew of four across the country 50 years ago, helped get street racers onto the track and spread the word on drag racing safety to local car clubs, skeptical civic leaders and police and it a true symbol of the NHRA.

At the banquet, SEMA also honored NHRA Founder Wally Parks and the original Safety Safari crew who were all in attendance: E.J. "Bud" Coons, Bud Evans, Chic Cannon and Hot Rod magazine photographer Eric Rickman.

The vehicle made its official debut to cheering crowds in September in Indianapolis as it drove down the track at the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Nationals. However, the wagon has been on the move. Hundreds of people involved in the automotive aftermarket industry got a chance to see it first as a work-in-progress at another SEMA function at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena, Calif., back in July. The finished wagon also made a stop at the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California in Bakersfield, and a Twilight Cruise Night at the Parks Museum in Pomona. It will be at the upcoming 40th Auto Club World Finals and will be seen on Huell Howser's California Gold TV show in early 2005.

For SEMA and the Parks Museum, the vehicle represents the beginnings of drag racing as a national sport. The Safari's efforts contributed greatly to the rapid and dynamic growth of the performance aftermarket.

Fifty years ago, former Pomona police chief Coons led the Safety Safari team on a trailblazing journey that helped legitimize the sport. Together they crisscrossed the nation with timing devices, measuring equipment, car classification and inspection gear, along with perhaps the most important ingredients of all, optimism and hope. They were armed with basic safety regulations, rules and the ability to perform technical inspections in the field, and they were able to expand on these as they went along, making racing safer in the long term and from race to race.

They left a lasting legacy of safety and a rock-solid foundation not only for drag racing, but also for the pioneer speed equipment manufacturers who would eventually organize SEMA in 1963.

"The NHRA's Safety Safari, along with SEMA pioneers such as Edelbrock, Holley, Iskenderian, Weiand and a host of others, helped an entire sport and industry develop and prosper," said Chris Kersting, SEMA president and CEO. "We're proud to be saluting our origins with this historic vehicle."

"Thanks to the Safety Safari and NHRA drag racing, the performance aftermarket blossomed," said Sam Jackson, executive director of the Parks Museum. "We owe these guys a great deal of gratitude. Thanks to SEMA, we can honor them and tell the story of their accomplishment with this vehicle."