Since its Winter what gave you your first "speed high" buzz.

First off my Dad had almost zero interest in racing but one time going to camp and don't ask my why, my Dad floored it. The old 1971 Chrysler New Yorker (440 engine) went from 55 mph to 115 plus and I'm in the back seat rubbing my hands like I won the lottery. Mom was half screaming, half laughing, saying what are you teaching Johnny. Well Dad, you taught me well. THANKS!!!!!!

Then it was around 130 mph in an old Pontiac grand prix with a 425 engine and shortly after that a Friend took me for a ride in his 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner with a 440 (6 pak) that from my view was in the 140 mph area. All well over 30 years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. I've been stuck at a personal best of 160 mph since 2010 when I wrecked my Daytona. Since my heads up car will be set up for 1/8 mile racing that may end up being the life bar for me. I will never be a dragster guy or we could raise the bar some.

My dad used to buy used cars from a junkyard. He was always buying some old guy's car that died or whatever. Pretty nice clean 70s cars. My brother and his friends always had pretty cool cars. Not real race stuff but some cool rides. Mostly go stuff. My probably favorite was our friends 70 gto 4 speed and gen built a 455. He used to take me out looking for races and I was just a kid. Some of them had some weird stuff too. One guy had a 76-78 nova with a 454 and 4 speed. I always wanted a dart or a body barracuda and my dad used to give me a hard time, telling me go was where it was at. When I was looking for anproject car I tried to humor him so he would be involved and found a non running 69 gto that I still wish I could have got, he said no because it didn't run and the whole drivetrain could be junk. Then I found a 68 Malibu with a crate 350 and 4 speed for about the same money. No dice it was too much money. I realized he wanted me to have no part of what he taught me my whole childhood. One more try, I found a running driving 69 dart for 1200. No good. I forget the excuse. Then a raggedy running scamp for 275$. Too rough, it really wasn't that bad.
I got mad and bought the 69 dart.

After getting out of service my Dad ordered a new 69 Hemi Roadrunner 4 speed

Lots of rides in this car to influence me.

Took this pic right after getting his Cragars for a father days gift

Still wears original paint.

Dart - that is a beautiful car!

I started out racing Motocross and for 20 years thought that was the best speed high around. Boy was I wrong! My first real speed high was a bit out of a movie - my buddy's brother took me for a ride in his blown small block Dart. I couldn't believe how hard it hit! Not only was it the fastest car I'd ever been in, we ended up in a street race against a 69 Chevelle with a blown big block. We waxed him and I was instantly hooked. That's where all my money has gone ever since...

When i was 16, a friend took me for a ride in his 68 GTX...
375 hp 440, 4 speed, 3:23 gears, headers, exhaust out in front of back tires, 625 AFB.
Got on the hiway and hit 130 and i was hooked!

As soon as he put it up for sale i bought it.

Still have the registration sheet for it too.

Hate to admit it but it was a Ford. I was 11 and my older brother bought an 65 ford custom with a 428 police interceptor. With a highway gear that car was insane.

At about 10 years old, me and my two younger brothers road coaster wagons down a long and steep pasture hill through a lot of trees, having to crash rather than go over the bank and into the river. It was a blast! Tore the front wheels off three wagons that day. Never forgot the thrill!
If you are only counting vehicles, i got a fast ride in a 1967 442, and got to drive it! Fall of 1966, i was 16 and driving a flathead Ford Vicky. A bit of a step up!

Me and my dad went to test drive a B5 blue '70 Super Bee a local guy had for sale when I was about 11 years old I think. Was a 383/727 car and according to him it was a dog, but felt pretty fast to me at the time.
Not too long after that I went w/ my uncle to test drive a '68 road runner 383/727, but this 383 was hopped up. He laughed at me b/c I was just standing behind it smiling listening it to it idle...had a real lumpy hydraulic cam in it and sounded good. That car was a strong runner.
Been hooked ever since and the sound of these cars is still my favorite thing about them.

In 67 I bought a used nova with a 4sp solid cam..
was a quick car.. in 70 I went in the service and
during my over seas time I told my brother to fire
it up about once a month.. well when I got back
from Nam I asked my dad how it was running(this
was on the way back from the airport.. they started
looking at each other(mom, dad and my girl friend)
when I asked again and asked them if I still had a
car.. dad told me that my brother totaled it.. he
hit a light pole then a brick wall then into a
apartment(he ended up in the front room) after he
took out the 2' tall riser in front..he was lucky
he didnt get hurt.. boy was he scared when I walked
in the door at home.. he payed it all back and then
I bought a 70 442 W30 4sp.. that car cam out of the
GM tech center... I did a lot of racing in that car.
I lived 1 mile from 13 and Woodward.. where did I
spend the next month.. yep every night on Woodward
and had a riot with it

Visiting my Dad in SC years ago I went on a crazy ride in a 68-69 BB Road Runner w/relatives and remember being in the back seat at looking at the wavering speedo hoovering at around 115 mph on a windy azz swamp road. The sound and feeling was amazing then I used to go to races w/my uncle Bob in his original 289 AC Cobra and watched him autocross that bad boy then drive it home which explains why Mopar is #1 and Ford #2 in my world............

I think the 1st time the hook was set was by my parents' friends; the husband owned a Triumph TR3 and took me for a spirited ride; then it was off to a sportscar race at Torrey Pines where I saw my 1st Ferrari, a pontoon-fender Testa Rossa. Around this time we'd take summer trips back to Chicago in Mom & Dad's '57 Sport Suburban, which soon had a transplanted engine from a CHP car; it was a BB, I remember that, but not if it was a 383 or 413. Dad always liked to get on with the program on the highway, and regularly passed cars like he never wanted to see them again...

My older brother had a 66 charger when I was 16. He let me drive it (i only had a permit at the time), of course I had to let it rip. At 125 he said that's it. that was a rush. My first car was a 68 dart gts 340 4 spd all black. I drove it everywhere coz high test was only 25cts a gallon. Never took it to the strip, just a little street racing. Drove it in the winter with studded snow tires too. Couldn't afford a beater car back then. Lol.

Dirt /trail bikes, somewhere between age 8-10. Grew up on the prairie near pavement, so not much to jump besides the roads. We would burn the knobs off the back tires doing brake stands on the pavement, then we would drag race the bikes down the long flat gravel roads spinning all the way thru 3rd gear. Made those little 80-175cc bikes feel like rockets when you are a kid 😂. From that point on my brothers and I were hooked on blasting the tires off anything and everything....

My dad had a '66 D100 with a 318 3 on the tree when I was young that I thought was the best thing since jam, that planted the seed. An uncle had a '67 Coronet with a cam/intake 383 that basically set the cast for fast Mopars. Lots of old cars around my grandparents place, all of the boys worked at a wrecker and would drive the best ones home: '60 Dodges, '62 Chrysler, lots of '64 Galaxies, probably 6 or so Sweptlines. At one time there was probably 50 cars in the back there. Oh, another was when I was around 11 or so, an uncle had a '76 Ford F150 with a 351W in it that he would take up to the highway and pull powerturns till you couldn't see the truck, lots of influences growing up

I don't know which was the first but a few stick in my head. Around 2000, the street racing scene was very big around here. A guy I know (not very well) has a 89 Mustang with an Incon twin turbo kit. I rode in the car one night and at the time, I think it was making around 600HP at the wheels. The guy hammered it at about 60-70 MPH and the car broke loose and went side ways until about 110MPH. The electric poles just started to fly by. If I had to guess, he probably let off at 160 MPH. The 140MPH speedo had been buried for a little bit so; I don't know how fast we were going.

Years later, I was in the guys shop and got some pictures of the crank laying on the floor in pieces, with pieces of the block attached to it which came out with the crank. A few years after that, back in his shop and it was back together making 1050HP at the tires. I've just always been impressed with the car. Very stock looking, doesn't sound like much, still gets good MPG's, everything works and it could be a daily driver.

I've had two cars on his dyno and have felt inadequate when making pulls knowing what kind of power the thing has seen.

Racing snow mobile impressed me; the brakes did not. Hit a ditch going 50MPH; just did have enough field left before reaching the road. Some side by sides and Raptors have really impressed me over the past few year.

In the mid-'70's my friends older brother took me for a burn on his CB750.I was no more than 9 or 10 years old,he sat me on the front so I could hold the bars,and watch the speedo/tach.I remember going over 85 is a 25 zone,passing the church and my dad's best friends house,worrried for days that he saw me and would tell my dad!

Probably my first exciting, memorable high speed ride was in my Dad's 68 4dr Satellite with the whole family in the car, mom smacking him as he passed an old lady who was going 45 in the left lane on I20 heading to Shreveport La, he passed her on the right side going well over 100, afterwards he looked back at me and laughed..."did you feel the car floating?" LOL

My Dad was stylist at Chrysler. He started getting lease cars in 64. First one was a 64 300K 4 speed. From there we had Formula S Cuda, 68 383 Charger. Then it was time to get my license. He let me pick the lease car. 70 Hemi R/T SE Challenger. Took my road test in it to get my license. I've been ruined ever since.
Doug

dvw,That is awesome!

Great stories guys. Our love is deep in our sport

One more story,

What I remember was being four or five years old and my Uncle Jerry had a 1966 GTO, I would stand up in the back seat and yell out "Burn out Uncle Jerry" and off we would go past my house (3 houses down). I loved riding in that car! When I was 16 years old my Grandpa (Life time Mopar man) came by the house and said "I found your car" My Dad and I Jumped in his 1967 Plymouth VIP and went to look at this car. On the way there my Grandpa told me and my Dad it was a 1968 GTX, I knew nothing about cars really but I did remember the GTO! I said "Grandpa do you mean a GTO?" He said "NO a Plymouth not a Pontiac!" There was a guy waiting there for us and I saw this Dark Red car that looked pretty mean. My Dad seem excited about the car which was rare to me. My Grandpa asked to drive the car and the guy said sure. All four of us pilled in the car. My grandpa held nothing back, stumped it and off we went, man what a ride.
I was hooked for life! I probably have a couple of my friends telling stories about there buddy having a 1968 GTX in High School that changed the way they thought about cars as well.

I was 10 years old. A local used car lot had a 69 Super Bee, 383 4 speed, B5 Blue with a white stripe, and white bucket seats. My Dad took it for a test drive, and picked up my brother and I, and beat on that car like a rented mule. I can remember sitting at a stop sign, and my Dad hammered on the car in first, and I was trying to pull myself up between the bucket seat, and he power shifted second like Ronnie Sox, and I was slammed into the back seat. That experience is the biggest reason I love manual trans cars.

My Dad didn't buy that Super Bee, but he did find a much nicer one 2 years later, and he still owns it 30+ years later.

I also grew up with a brother that has a 69 Charger, and his buddies have a 69 Road Runner, and a Challenger T/A. They all still have there cars. Back in the day people still had fun with these cars...

I was 14 and my uncle Bob had a 1960 Chrysler New Yorker 2dr hardtop.
413 with the long ram induction and a push button transmission.
This was the first big block car I rode in that made an impression.
He would stand on it from a stop light and the rear tires would just boil.
I can still remember the smell of the tire smoke.
What a time to be alive. Three years later he was in a bit of trouble with some of the boys in blue so he traded the car to me for a 23 channel CB! What a deal.
I drove the car all through college and dated my wife in the car.
The best part of the story is that I still have it! Who says all the good ones get away?

Digger73 (Mike)

I raced a Hodaka 100 at 14, CZ 250 at 16....Don't get me started.

Man I loved dirt bikes too. At 8 I was on a 50cc Bronco, then a 120 Suzuki, then a 250 Kawasaki trials bike, then my big mistake. Thinking I was better than I was a bought a 360 WR Huskivana (bad spelling). Well it rained the first day I had it and on the second day I flipped it over end for end in 5 th gear with me landing on my neck (no damage) to me. The handle bars smashed into the gas tank holding the throttle floored blowing up the engine. Luckily I had the case welded and I rebuilt it. I babied it for a week and while flying down the road about 80 mph with a studded rear tire and he engine locked up. The rearend went hard right then hard left as I pulled it the clutch in. I sold it shortly after that. Lol

First car was a 60 Bug , second was a 64 Dart 273 pushbutton automatic ( moms old car ) used to cruise McKnight Rd in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh ( my home town) first real speed was at an old drag strip near New Castle Pa. and the Ohio border with it ,can`t remember the name but it was back around 1971-72 all these years later still racing a Dart

Ok, let’s hop in the way back machine... I remember my sister coming home from her first job. I was watching “speedracer” she says,” you should have dad bring you up to my work at lunch time. The guys race in front of work on their break.”
My sister worked for Miller brewery. They had a bottling plant on a dead end road that is about 3/4 of a mile long. The guys had some serious hardware for the time. The concrete was almost pure rubber. The street had a finish line painted across it that had been there a long time. After seeing a few races I was hooked. I remember a guy talking to my dad saying, “If you like this, come back after 10:00! He never took me back... he could see it in my eyes.
When i got old enough to ride my bike and stay out later, that is where I was. Over the years, more businesses built up around there. It got to the point where late Saturday night was the only time races would happen, but they were BIG. There would be hundreds of people watching. The air had spiderwebs of VHT all over the place. The police would let it happen. At the time the fastest cars were 10 second 1/4 cars. The two fastest cars were a 69 “302” Camaro, and a 74 Laguna S3. That huge Laguna was the first car I ever saw do a legit tire hanging wheelie on the street. That image is burned into my brain like a branding iron.
I was very close to being a Chevy guy until the night a superbee with a hemi came in and cleaned house on all the GMs. After that night I have been and always will be a mopar fan.

To start out, my dad was under the impression(may still be)that drag racing was boring, required no skill. He won a pro-solo class in the local sports car club 3 years in a row in a bone stock Subaru wagon. So ralleys and going around cones were what interested him. That said, I had no concept of what "fast" was. I knew that I loved Dodge, because I grew up with this car in the barn, and I loved looking at it.

Since I had no concept of speed, although I always dreamed of going fast while reading my brother's subscription to Hot Rod, when I got my first vehicle, I stuck headers, a dual feed Holley and a homemade dual exhaust system on it. It was loud, had a clutch, would burn the tires, and actually could outrun a lot of kids at school. (Probe GT, etc. It was much nicer back then.)

For the longest time I thought it was hot. But around my Jr. year in high school, this Satellite started screaming up the road past my house.


I lusted after that car for a long time. Talked to the owner at a car wash, just as he put it up for sale. Found it in the Auto Trader. Passed it on the way home from school. Finally, I actually called him up and decided to take a look at it.
Well, folks, that's when I figured out I had NO idea what fast was. It set me back in the passenger seat and when he chirped second I knew I was hooked. I know that car ran 13.15 at National Trail in the mid to late '80's with very much '70's tech on and in it. The guy who gave me the ride had shaved a full second off the 1/8 mile time at Pacemakers before he sold it. (Not to me) I was hooked. I was obsessed. I tracked the car.I talked the owner into financing it for me. I finally bought it. It was the first hotrod/muscle car I ever owned. It was the first/only muscle car I ever wrecked. But it left plenty of impact on me.
Wow. That got long.

My first car came from my great-aunt, a 66 Lay Down Rambler 4 door. No speed out of the 6 banger, but lots of sex on the reclining seats. My old man was a Volkswagon freak, so we never had anything approaching hot in the house. A friend in high school borrowed his sister's 383 Challenger one night and took me to the local cruise. Still didn't take hold.
Then after my first deployment, I needed a car, so I answered an ad in the paper. 71 RR, 440, hemi 4 speed, Dana. The ride home with the open headers was like nothing I had ever felt. I babied it on the back roads until it came time to get on the freeway, and I wooded it up the ramp. The hook was set. Learned something on that drive too. First time I ever had to put the fan belt on while on the side of the road!

My oldest brother is a retired Ford design engineer and started out as a test driver at the proving grounds. He took me for a ride in some of the test vehicles when I was really little and I was hooked. He also raced at Detroit Dragway.

My boyfriend (now husband) also took me in his high school Challenger for lots of rides. Of assorted types.

<<< Still have that car (in avatar) 31 years later. He got it when he was 15. I raced it to its first 11 second pass a few years ago.

My Dad was more interested in fuel economy than hp. I remember a couple Studebaker Champions with mighty flat head 6's. That changed though when he bought a 62 Chrysler 300 with a 383 2 bbl. It was fast to me at the time. I bought a 63 300 with the 383 but after getting beat by a Chevelle out came the 383 and in went a 440. The Chevelle never beat me again.
After that I bought a 69 RR 383 4spd. In went a set of headers, a cam, 2 4 bbls. and 3.91 gears. After that car came a 68 Hemi GTX 4spd car. And a 77 Fury police package car, headers, cam. It was FAST.
Finally my old truck, a succession of 440's, a 528 Hemi and now a 605 Hemi. It is SCARY fast.

The first car that impress me with its power in 1962 was a home made roadster that was Olsmobile powered by a 1957 J2 motor, he used a stock 1957 three speed Olds stick shift tranny. The builder/owner has passed on several years ago, RIP Tookie Smith
He used a Ford model A framed that he Z and put a 1949 Olds rear end and rear suspension in with a mode A rear buggy spring axle and a stock modal A front axle and spring with split wish bone. He dug up a 1923 Dodge pickup roadster body out of the desert near 29 Palms, CA and he hand made a sheet metal short pick up bed to finish it.
That car weighed a little over 2300 Lbs. wet without the driver.
That was in 1962 when I was still in high school, he took me for a ride in it and it would fishtail the 8.20x15 recaps every time he would get after it
That ride with that dude hooked me up on speed
I've been hooked ever since
Faster and faster until the world becomes a blur

A friend of mine collects letter series 300's and DeSoto Adventurers. He had a full restored 61'G that was fast for a big car. He also has a 57'C that's been slightly moddified, it hauls the mail. His sleeper is an all original unrestored DeSoto 4dr, factory pink, factory 383 8 bbl. Adventurer powered.

My Son we have a neat little story to tell his kids someday. I bought a 1970 Duster years ago for a street cruiser and for my ex-wife to race. I put together a nice little engine for it and she ended up going 12.20's. She raced up to her 5th month of pregnancy and then hung it up.

Matts Duster 001 by John Cadamore, on Flickr

old duster by John Cadamore, on Flickr


Years later after a second son we ended up getting divorced so I kept the car and several times took the boys for a ride in it. They both continued to go to the track with me but my youngest never got the drag racing bug but Matt who was inside Moms belly can't live without it. I ended up giving him that car and here he is 29 years later.

Untitled by John Cadamore, on Flickr


Now although my youngest son Ethan now 24 never got the drag racing bug and is living and working in an autobody shop in Colorado owns this car and from what I hear they have some get up and go.


Untitled by John Cadamore, on Flickr

Untitled by John Cadamore, on Flickr

My dad worked for Chrysler, but except for the car I was brought home from
in the hospital, after being born ('64 Catalina with a 421 4bbl)..he
never had any "performance" cars. When I was around 12 or 13 a kid down the street from me who was probably 17 at the time, had a B5 blue
'69 Road Runner 383 4spd. this was around the mid 1970's. He would
take me for banzi rides in that Plymouth, and that's how I got hooked on
Mopars....

I was raised around a 340 '71 Roadrunner, and when I turned 16 I was able to take it down Quaker City Dragstrip, I was hooked!
My first car was a '69 383 Coronet, my Dad actually started building it for me when I was 14.

First buzz was Watkins Glen. Was in my mom's belly. That's where she said I got my buzz.
Buzz killer was my friends GSXR750. Borrowed it and proceeded to go 260 KPH down a 2 way street on the strips with a posted speed limit of 50KPH. Was tucked in behind the wind screen and decided to sit up straight. My moron move made me go into a speed wobble and almost crashed. This was during lunchtime traffic!!!!!
Drove it back to my place at 20 KPH and gave it back to my friend.
Never got on a motorcycle again.
Matt

Was your '69 mini-tubbed or did you stuff that much rubber under the stock wheelwells?

It was stuffed. And it rubbed a little lol. That was a LONG time ago.

It looks really good. Centerlines and all. I think I'll need to go to a six pack hood and a taller intake to get the full potential out of my engine. I see you got lured away by the lightness of a-bodies, though. Lol.

The day my Dad brought home his brand new 1968 Dodge Charger (383 4 bbl) car and took us for our first drive in it. My brother and I were 4 years old at the time and I have been hooked ever since. That car still sits quietly in my garage today.

Thanks, we never really completed the Coronet, it just needed paint and stuff. I sold it and bought a 360 Scamp and couldn't believe how quick that little thing was, I've had A-bodies ever since then. I would love to own another 68-72 B-body some day though.