Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story
[Re: Mopar Grandpa]
#505958
10/25/09 08:33 AM
10/25/09 08:33 AM
|
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,079 Niles , Ohio
therocks
oh wait.but hey.lets see.oh yeah.
|
oh wait.but hey.lets see.oh yeah.
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,079
Niles , Ohio
|
Back them it was a lot different.We had a few places here that were actually marked off.They were in the country and basically no cops and no traffic.The local McDonalds was always filled on Fri and Sat nights.There was another burger place called The Yum Yum that if you wanted to run the best is where you went.The A%W and the Dog House was usually good to get a race also.Rocky
Chrysler Firepower
|
|
|
Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story
[Re: AeroMonte]
#505961
10/25/09 08:58 AM
10/25/09 08:58 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,252 Sebring, Florida
Mopar Grandpa
OP
top fuel
|
OP
top fuel
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,252
Sebring, Florida
|
I graduated from Tech High School (Indy)in 1968 and our school's hang out was Harold's Steer-In & the Little Brown Jug. Other high schools had their own hang outs like the Pole, the north and south side Tee-Pee, the A&W, etc. etc. The younger group probably doesn't remember yelling into a little aluminum box with their food order and then having some young lady bring it out on a tray and hang it on the window of your door but that's the way it was done back then. After throwing down a burger & fries, flirting with some hot chicks (I usually got turned down) then it was off to find the race of the night. A bunch of us would cruise from hang out to hang out slowly driving in front of the rival high school guys, reving our engines and just smiling. If they wanted to race then they followed you out of the drive-in and it was off to find your drag strip. Our's was generally a section of Interstate 74, late at night when trafiic was non existant. Back in those days everyone was home by 11:00 and the interstates were deserted, unlike today. We would actually race from midnight to 2:00 in the morning without ever seeing another car or cop. The cops were probably watching from a hidden location but we never got caught. DO NOT TRY THIS TODAY. We weren't very smart but man it was FUN!
|
|
|
Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story
[Re: Mopar Grandpa]
#505962
10/25/09 09:58 AM
10/25/09 09:58 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,874 New Castle, Indiana
STINGRAY
top fuel
|
top fuel
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,874
New Castle, Indiana
|
...our town had a Chrysler plant and a big cruise strip...in short, we had a thousand young guys making lots of money and they spent it on HOT cars...any week night the line of cars would stretch from one food joint several miles across town to the other and back...on weekends it was bumper to bumper...cruising meant seeing lots of hot cars in action and hopefully lots of hotter girls...
...I drove a new triple black 69 Chevelle SS 396/375 conv from 69 to 71 until I went to work for Uncle Sam, he needed a few good men, but he even took me...any night on the strip meant seeing one of several local Superbirds and possibly one of the 2 Daytonas in town...there was a sprinkling of AAR CUDAS, several T/A Challengers, quite a few 6 PACK cars including a couple of "Lift Off Hood" cars...I remember a few HEMI cars lumbering around town, but they seldom joined in the antics of the cruisers...HEMI cars were automatically feared and didn't have to prove their stuff to anyone
...there was an abundance of 396/375 Novas in town and a few more Chevelles other than mine...lots of GTOs, everyone had a GOAT it seemed...there was a 69 GTO Judge in town which I finally purchased a few months ago...there was a 68 HURST Olds and 3 1969 HURST Olds in town(one was driven by a blond with a big hairdoo)...on occasion, there was a NICKEY Nova that appeared out of nowhere looking for victims
...after giving the nod on the strip, we would head out to the "dump road" for a race or one of several other places, there were plenty of spots to wind em out...sometimes a couple of cars would hook up at the drive in on the highway near the edge of town and instead of turning right and going back to the strip, they would go left, meaning "the race was on...4 lanes of open road with no cross roads for a long ways...two hot cars in a row with their left turn signals on meant a race was about to go down...saw lots of action at that spot, but one of the best was seeing the silver NICKEY Deuce take a 67 435 Vette and beat him like a red headed step child...the NICKEY sounded like a top fuel dragster as it ripped down the highway...I tried to follow them in my Chevelle but couldn't stay close to the NICKEY Deuce, he was long gone
...GTOs and Chevelles ruled the streets in numbers, but the MOPARS ruled the streets in performance...open headers were the rule on weekend nights, slicks were not uncommon to see, these guys were dead serious about their street racing...sometimes a car from "out of town" would show up cruising the strip looking for a race with money taped in the windshield
...I was also hooked on the sport and can't type long enough to recount the stories on line...I owned a very hot 55 Chevy, a 68 GTO cv and finally the Chevelle so I raced everything in my town and surrounding towns...we played "car tag" chasing each other all over town late at night with no lights on...lots of top end runs and tire spinning...I had the 68 GTO ten months(18K miles) and was on my 5th set of tires...I spent many many hard earned $$$ on repairs, trannys, rear ends, tires and even an engine for the Chevelle...it was brutal on the equipment...a matching numbers car tells me it wasn't driven on cruise nights in my town
...it was a different time, less traffic etc...but it was still stupid, the cars weren't very safe by todays standards and NO ONE used seat belts...I talk to my buddies sometimes and the first thing we realize is we are lucky to still be here, shoulda been killed way back then...there was hardly a day I didn't run well over 100mph just for kix, raced anything that moved, anywhere, anytime...out ran the cops on several occasions...before I was out of highschool I had been stopped 23 times and had 5 tickets...
...one story comes to mind in particular...driving my 68 GTO cv home from a late nite date with my favorite girl of the week and a big white Bonneville cv in front of me motions me to pass him on a local city street...I passed him chirping the tires and he starts chasing me...we went thru several stop signs at about 90mph...they were yelling and blinking their lights etc etc...I didn't recognize the big Poncho so I just kept going...a few clever moves and they were long gone...so, I decided to do a 180, stopped in the middle of the street and waited for them to catch up...I was standing in the seat of my GTO(top was down)giving the finger to the big Poncho...they slid to a stop and jumped out, both were armed off duty cops...pretty soon, there were 5 police cars surrounding me and a major ticket was in my hand...later, one of the cops was suspended over the incident and my ticket was done away with...I still have the ticket in my archives, speeding, reckless driving, disregardind stop signs, improper lane usage no turn signals and resisting arrest...they pretty filled out the whole side of the ticket...lesson here, I didn't pass any more white Bonnevilles EVER AGAIN...
Last edited by STINGRAY; 10/25/09 10:01 AM.
|
|
|
Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story
[Re: 05dakota]
#505968
10/25/09 11:30 AM
10/25/09 11:30 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,874 New Castle, Indiana
STINGRAY
top fuel
|
top fuel
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,874
New Castle, Indiana
|
Quote:
i know of several deaths in the early to mid 70s from this
...I think many guys figured if they didn't get killed on the street, they would surely get killed in Viet Nam...and, a couple of my street racing friends are on "the Wall"
...deaths from street racing didn't even compare to drug related deaths, even then
|
|
|
Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story
[Re: Mopar Grandpa]
#505969
10/25/09 01:24 PM
10/25/09 01:24 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 16,479 Canada
CrAzYMoPaRGuY
I Live Here
|
I Live Here
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 16,479
Canada
|
It seems to ME that "street racing" back in the 1970s was more about organization and cars, and seeing which cars were fast, what worked etc.... Nowadays it seems to ME that "street racing" is more about partying, ego gratification, and bragging rights. Don't get me wrong- bragging rights factored into street racing since it began, but the ATMOSPHERE has changed over the years, and I find "street racing" nowadays to be a complete and utter waste of time. Take it to the track, and a TIMESLIP DOES THE TALKIN'!
CrAzYMoPaRGuY
|
|
|
Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s
[Re: 69DodgeCharger]
#505972
10/25/09 01:37 PM
10/25/09 01:37 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 22,900 Gabba Gabba Hey! NYC
Diego (not Ted)
Too Many Posts
|
Too Many Posts
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 22,900
Gabba Gabba Hey! NYC
|
Quote:
I only have one question. What is a NICKEY Nova?
It's a Nova modified by Nickey Chevrolet of Chicago, which was one of the premiere Chevy dealerships in the country. They were one of the ones who was transplanting 427s in cars that didn't have it as an available option.
|
|
|
Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story
[Re: buildanother]
#505975
10/25/09 01:57 PM
10/25/09 01:57 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,252 Sebring, Florida
Mopar Grandpa
OP
top fuel
|
OP
top fuel
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,252
Sebring, Florida
|
Quote:
Kinda like a grand spalding dodge, only from Nickey chev.
Me and a couple buddies had the fortune of visiting both Nicky Chevrolet and Grand Spalding Dodge back in the late 60's. That was one of the best memories I'll ever have. Seeing those modified factory muscle cars was enough to make any young boy drool for days.
|
|
|
|
|