MONSTER ROUNDUP OUT WEST

Chicks and ducks and geese had to scurry when the hot-rod people moved into Oklahoma. About 500 of this happy, grease-stained breed were congregating at the National Hot Rod Association's annual meet at the state fairgrounds in Oklahoma City, with some of the darndest contraptions you ever saw. They'll attract some 50,000 spectators to a four-day show starting August 29.

Among the monsters most likely to succeed is the 15-foot-long, needle-nosed Dragliner Special (bottom picture). This is one of four rapid dragsters built by Dode Martin, 31, a plasterer, and Jim Nelson, 30, a machinist, of Oceanside, Calif. They spent $3,000 on the sleek Dragliner, which has a warmed-up 1955 Chevy engine beneath its aluminum skin and has hit 133.9 mph.

A near twin of the Austin Bantam "Creeper" (top picture) will be entered by Mailliard Automotive Engineering of Long Beach, Calif. Painted flames curl toward the 1953 Dodge V-8 amidships. The driver scooches down inside what is left of a 1931 Austin Bantam. A Santa Ana mechanic named Harland Dodd spent almost a year building it, and it won a class championship last year.

TWO PHOTOS