My trans man was at the Dart/Camaro shootout. It was on the Conduit.
Actually, the race was run twice with the Dart being in the winners lane.

Come on guys .. the NY stuff was mostly just race-cars with licence plates on them. And way-back-then ... from what I saw and heard .. not even legit plated at that.

Lots of GREAT pictures and info, thanks for posting that link.

SO!
It was what you brung to get the green.
All the tracks were super packed back then in a tri-state area like NY, it had no choice but to spill out onto the streets late at night.

The Mudd Bros' Race was definitely big money and
on the Conduit (150th Overpass). The one I am
trying to get the full story on is the S.I. run
between the 68' Nova (Agaman) vs. 68' GTX (Cook).
Two pro's battling out for bragging rights. I
heard it was just as good as the Dart/Camaro run.
They squared off on the West Shore Expwy, near
the Bayonne Bridge. I missed this good run.

I knew the Dart would win, but two times. Sheese!
Mopower to him. And you are right about the action
spilling on the streets. They started shutting
down tracks in L.I. like left and right, back then. I knew of at least three tracks in L.I.,
plus two old airstrips they ran on. E-town was
sometimes costly and to flat tow there, could
sometimes be a hassle depending on how you left
NYC. They should have built a dragstrip at
Floyd Bennett Field (old airbase), it would have
been a great track. SCCA sometimes runs courses there, or they did a while ago.

twice is nice. The Camaro had a few different drivers piloting it because it was a handful to aim.
Once out of the hole, the Dart would square up and settle down for the back door hum.
I've seen many a great and big $$$$ runs out there during the tail end of it all in the mid to late 80's.
I like to say that when it came to racing, I ran my operation like the old school pros, only thing was that I wasn't as quick.

That's smart dude. That type of attitude keeps the looky-loo's and the foolhardy's out of your business, in which you have less problems with the law. You may have not ran quick but you have
learned consistency.

Here is a fond memory of 1969 that you youngsters might enjoy. Back then there were 3 of us that drove bowties as we hadn't graduated to the REAL muscle cars of the day, well actually my best friend owned the Chevelle but I turned the wrenches and we were pretty much joined at the hip.

Rumor had it that there was a guy that hung out at the northside TeePee that claimed to be beating every car on the street, he had a big block Mustang.

The 3 (4) of us decide to see if this guy was willing to put his money where his mouth was and race all 3 (4) of us for $25 a race. That was big money for us back then as we were just out of high school.

Jim Meeks had a Nova and the first time I saw his car I thought "Dude, why did you buy a Grandma's car". This thing was a TRUE sleeper, when you opened the hood it looked like a stock 283 with the factory air cleaner, factory valve covers, etc. etc. His engine compartment was totally unimpressive. Actually it was a 327 stroker motor that was extrememly quick. Small dog dish hubcaps on painted steel wheels, bench seat, no radio but it was a 4 speed.

Denny Grissom has just bought a '69 Chevelle, 427 4 speed car and it was drop dead georgous. Think we put 456's in it but could have been 410's but the car was quick regardless.

My buddies car was a '65 Chevelle, 327 4 speed, tunnel ram, headers, big cam and 456's.

We cruise the TeePee one friday night, find the guy and ask if he's up for racing all of us. Well the guy had a reputation to uphold so of course he said yes so we headed for a section of Interstate 65 that was still under construction. The deal was after all 3 races were run we'd settle up on the money.

Mustang draws the new Chevelle first and Denny takes him out. Mustang draws our '65 Chevelle for the second race and we take him out. That leaves the last race to Jim Meeks with Grandma's car. He beat that Mustang so bad that the guy just kept going so none of us got any money. However, we ended the bragging rights of that Mustang owner and I think that was what a lot of street racing was about: bragging rights and not so much about the money which I think hasn't changed over the years.

Did we ever loose some races? Yep. Did we ever blow up engines and transmissions and rear ends? Yep. Would I like to go back and relive those days? ABSOLUTELY!

Oct/Nov 1966...'WOODSTOCK' of drag racing for this area. Local guy working in Akron, Ohio, had just taken delivery of new Satelite 2+2, Street Hemi 4 speed. Got it at Aikey. Arlen Vanke was shop manager at time as story goes. He was coming home for the weekend and everybody wanted a piece of him. Word traveled to all the drive-ins and bars that 'it was on'. Another local guy that worked in Michigan just also happened to be coming in with his new Camaro,,,427 4 speed from one of the dealers up there. Don't remember if Nickey/Scoggins or just what dealer, but it was real. Another local, had a '64 Buick GS 4 speed that had kicked everyone's butt. The cars from all over showed up...'65 Comet 289 2 4bl 4 speed STRAIGHT AXLE, '65 Impala bigblock 4speed, numerous GTO. I imagine at least 100 cars counting spectators and all. The Buick continued to kick butt except the Camaro. Races lasted for better than 1 1/2 hour before the cops showed up. The guy with the Impala got caught as he tried to flee the red lights but was not familiar with the back roads in the area and drove down my friend's driveway to a dead end thinking it was a road! There was frost on the grass that night. The next morning when I went through the area, you could see the footprints in the frosty grass wher people had ran when the stateys showed up. This story is a legend in my area. I wasn't racing then. I was a senior in highschool. I have made many passes down that road/strip in years gone by though. In fact, I used to keep my '62 Savoy Max Wedge(clone) in the garage on the dead end drive where the guy got caught. Those were the days. They will never be again.

I was racing a few weeks ago and an old friend came by the trailer. He asked if I knew where my 69 Road Runner was. He then ask if I remember racing him in his 66 Charger. I replied no to both. I sold the Road Runner in 1974. As he walked away he looked back and said I beat him bad on the local 1/4 mile. A bridge on Interstate 64. I don't remember but as they say, I'll take a win any way I can!!!

AS BoB Dylan sang it "These Times Are Changin'".
Kids today try to have the cajones to defy the
law of organization and authority. They want,
what they want, when they want it (NOW).

Youngsters,(LOL). I do too remember some "straight axle" cars running on the street.
Along with superchargers and "ram-induction" on
early 60's Mopars (big C bodies ie; 300's). They
ran hard like the B-bodies.

Connecting, Cross Bay, Francis Lewis, I used to run them all. It was`nt hard to find a run anywhere. My best rememberd run was on a road in Nassau County, it was called Community Drive. I was at a light with my 6 pack road runner, when a guy pulls up next to me in a camaro. Edgeing me on (yea right) when the light turned green we went for it. I beat the camaro by about a car lenght, all of a sudden out of nowhere we had a Nassau County cop right behind us. He pulled both of us over. He goes to the guy in the camaro first and wrote him up maybe 4 or 5 tickets, this cop left no stone unturned, he wrote him for speeding, competetive driving, loud exhaust, race tires, the whole nine yards. He then told the guy to get in his car and leave. He then walks over to me looks me right in the eyes and says "nice mopar", whats under the hood, after I showed him he said have a good evening, he then got in his car and left.

The car does sound very familiar, I might have
seen it at Fountain/Vandalia Avenues. Hey, do
you have a line on the Staten Island run between
Agaman and Cook on I-278/440 towards Bayonne.

Are you aware of a story for Hemmings Muscle car about NY street action? If I remember correctly, there was a Nova and a Road Runner/GTX running in Staten Island.
My main man "TNT" was the ace 4 speed driver of a wicked almost stock 70'Chevelle back in the day both at Fountain and Red Hooks Columbia St.

The Hemming article I never read. I was wondering
if there as anyone can provide an "eyewitness
account" of the run. I heard too many "conflicting" stories about this run. I do
know that Ray Cook did do this run against Benny
Agaman in S.I. on I-278/440. GTX vs. Nova, HEMI
vs. Maxed RAT.