My '70s were in L.A., and Wed, Fri & Sat nights we'd drive all over Van Nuys, cruising the Blvd and catching street races on parts of Chandler, Woodley Ave, Burbank Blvd, and a couple places up at the north end of the San Fernando Valley. At the time I had a '57 Chevy with a T-10 and 4.88s and a small block; the car had been built for D/MP and some of the street equipment (signals, heater, etc) were removed. I don't think I ever powershifted it lower than an indicated 7500RPM on the old Sun tach of that era. I was one of the first to run narrow "frontrunners" on the street. I drove that car every day to work & wherever, in spite of no registration or plates, and barely any mufflers. 70MPH on the 101 was about 5000RPM, IIRC, and for a year I did that for 20 miles a day. It could & did badly beat a 406 Galaxie, a Hemi RR, God knows how many other cars; undefeated for 2 years, which might be luck, but mid-twelves would get the job done back then. I'd get the occasional fix-it ticket, and got "temporary operating" stickers from the DMV instead of having to smog (!) & license it. That was a great period, but as L.A. got more crowded, it became obvious that I needed to quit before someone got hurt, and run at the track. Sold the car, new owner got beat, motor went into a '62 Corvette, and I last saw the '57 in Van Nuys sometime around 1980, parked on the street.
I'm still amazed at my good fortune to have been there at the perfect time; and don't get me started on Lions!