Moparts

Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story

Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 12:18 PM

I posted a thread that was directed to the 16-35 year old Mopar group and it is having a pretty good response. A few of them wanted to hear some of our (over 40?) stories from our teenage years as it related to our cars, racing, etc.

This request reminded me of the weekends hanging out at the local drive-in burger joints showing our rides off, looking for a good race for the evening and just being around a bunch of like minded gear heads. But most of all it reminded me of going from burger joint to burger joint looking for the kid from another high school that thought he had a fast car and then taking him out on the interstate and blowing his doors off.

Having said this I am in no way promoting street racing, it is dangerous and illegal, but the "Young Guns" like hearing our stories so if you have a particular memory that you would like to share please do so. I think they will enjoy hearing about our past as much as we enjoy remembering it.
Posted By: therocks

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 12:33 PM

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
Posted By: AeroMonte

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 12:36 PM

First off you have to remember that there weren't as many cars or people on the roads 30 yrs ago and as kids we did some stuuuupid stuff. But, I had a 68 Dart 383, 4spd, 4:10 geared car in high school. There was another gearhead with a Mercury Montego with a stock 302 that always wanted to race. I kept blowing him off because there was no way his Ford could even come close to racing my car. But he kept on harrassing me and spreading rumers in school until one day I offered to take him for a ride on a bet. The bet was I could leave the high school parking lot from a dead stop, peg the speedo and get stopped before we ran into the Shell station at the t-road about 15 blocks away. Getting up to speed was no problem, stopping in time was another story. I won the bet and he never ever wanted to race again.
Posted By: bigblock340power

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 12:55 PM

We all met at the local A&W here in town. But if you were looking for a good time with cars or ? you'd have to go to Sacramento on the "J" street cruse Friday and Saturday nights. Had some fun there. If you wanted to do some racing for money it was off to El Centro. Big money there. You'd better have it all together, and be ready to race.
Going to coffee right now, I'll tell my most favorite story when I get back.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 12:58 PM

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!
Posted By: STINGRAY

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 01:58 PM

...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...

Attached picture 5565636-1gjtho2.jpg
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 02:18 PM

Now that's the kind of stories I was talking about! Very cool and brings back more & more memories. And I take it you know Mike Leyes in New Castle? Big Mopar guy.
Posted By: Diego (not Ted)

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/25/09 02:39 PM

I remember when I discovered newsgroups when joining the Net, there was a good "room" with some old street racers. One of them was a guy named "Preacher" from the LA area. I think car guys who lived in LA in the 1970s were in heaven, so I'd love to hear some of the stories if anyone here fits that description.
Posted By: mopars4ever

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/25/09 02:49 PM

Our local hangout was Burger King. Two guys one with a 70 Chevelle and the other 68 Pontaic made a bet for IIRC $150. Which was a fair amount of money for the mid to late 70`s. The Chevelle had a small block. The pontaic owner wouldn`t open his hood. They drove out to the local Airport road and raced and the Chevelle lost big time. The Chevelle owner almost broke down in tears saying he didn`t have the money. He said" He didn`t think he was going to lose". He gave him the $50 bucks he had and said he would pay him later. I really doubt that the guy ever got the rest of his money.
Posted By: STINGRAY

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 03:01 PM

...yes, I know Mike and his dad both...good people
Posted By: 05dakota

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 03:09 PM

i know of several deaths in the early to mid 70s from this
Posted By: STINGRAY

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 03:30 PM

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
Posted By: CrAzYMoPaRGuY

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 05:24 PM

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'!
Posted By: 69DodgeCharger

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 05:28 PM

I only have one question. What is a NICKEY Nova?
Posted By: buildanother

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 05:32 PM

Kinda like a grand spalding dodge, only from Nickey chev.
Posted By: Diego (not Ted)

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/25/09 05:37 PM

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.
Posted By: 69DodgeCharger

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 05:37 PM

Quote:

Kinda like a grand spalding dodge, only from Nickey chev.




I thought it was something like that but had never heard of it.
Posted By: RUNCHARGER

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 05:44 PM

We street raced alot. There were a lot of neat cars in my town and no drag strip. We didn't race just anywhere, we would take it out of town somewhere, block off the road and race. I remember a few times the police would be on patrol and come through the mayhem. There were so many of us the cops would just drive through, no way 2 or 3 cops could control more than 100 young guys racing.
A few serious cars would get trailered out but a few guys would just leave the slicks in the trunk and put them on and open up the headers when they arrived.
Oftentimes you would be having a burger at the Dogn Suds or A&W and some loudmouth would show up and you'd end up driving out of town and running. I enjoyed racing most with my 67 GTX that looked stock and would generally take down the guys with tunnel rams and big tires. My factory Pink Challenger was fun too with a strong 440 and later a well tuned Hemi.
The scene started tapering off around 1975 and just got worse and worse, everyone seemed to lose their balls to be honest. People started to conform to all the rules and started families and things got boring.
Nowadays there's too many people, too much traffic and Street racing is stupid especially if there is a track available. I still think street racing is less harmful to society than drugs, corporate greed and beating the heck out of the wife is though.


Sheldon
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 05:57 PM

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.
Posted By: JonC

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 06:35 PM

I never knew anyone that got killed while racing a marked off quarter mile or light to light. The kids that got killed around here were the ones that did the stock car type racing. IE, who could get to the next town or one of the local lakes the quickest. Some one would surely lose it in a turn sometimes with oncoming traffic. I hate it when the media calls these events Drag Racing on the streets when it is more like Stock Car racing.
Posted By: Thread Ender1

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 07:16 PM

Quote:

I posted a thread that was directed to the 16-35 year old Mopar group and it is having a pretty good response. A few of them wanted to hear some of our (over 40?) stories from our teenage years as it related to our cars, racing, etc.

This request reminded me of the weekends hanging out at the local drive-in burger joints showing our rides off, looking for a good race for the evening and just being around a bunch of like minded gear heads. But most of all it reminded me of going from burger joint to burger joint looking for the kid from another high school that thought he had a fast car and then taking him out on the interstate and blowing his doors off.

Having said this I am in no way promoting street racing, it is dangerous and illegal, but the "Young Guns" like hearing our stories so if you have a particular memory that you would like to share please do so. I think they will enjoy hearing about our past as much as we enjoy remembering it.


Don't you think the 80s should be included , the cars were cheap and plentifull!
Posted By: jake4cars

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 07:56 PM

I didn't start my street racing until the early 70's but I was lucky that my neighborhood was full of guys a little older than I who took me with them. This crowd included big block Chevelles and Camaros plus a lot of RoadRunners and even a couple of Six Pack cars. I grew up in central Conn so we had the Berlin Turnpike where a real mean black 67 Hemi GTX hung out and the East West service roads in Hartford. It was a great time to be young. I remember one of the older guys had Tourette's syndrome pretty bad where he couldn't hardly carry on a conversation but after three beers he settled down, stopped shaking and could really row his 4 speed Chevelle with the best of them, go figure!. The streets today are too crowded to do the same stuff but it was fun then.
Joey
Posted By: JonC

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 08:37 PM

Quote:

I didn't start my street racing until the early 70's but I was lucky that my neighborhood was full of guys a little older than I who took me with them. This crowd included big block Chevelles and Camaros plus a lot of RoadRunners and even a couple of Six Pack cars. I grew up in central Conn so we had the Berlin Turnpike where a real mean black 67 Hemi GTX hung out and the East West service roads in Hartford. It was a great time to be young. I remember one of the older guys had Tourette's syndrome pretty bad where he couldn't hardly carry on a conversation but after three beers he settled down, stopped shaking and could really row his 4 speed Chevelle with the best of them, go figure!. The streets today are too crowded to do the same stuff but it was fun then.
Joey




I was there at that time with a 70 RR. Berlin Turnpike and East Hartford light to light. The fun would start usually on Thursday night and carry thru till Sunday. Was there about 4 years ago and met Kissalien and a few others at Burger king on the pike. And the Hartford drive in was closed.
Posted By: A34

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/25/09 08:59 PM

Not sure if this fits, but I hope you guys like it. It's a story I wrote for my local car club newsletter a few years ago. I agree street racing today is stupid, and they will throw you under the jail if caught.

1969 Charger R/T vs. 1971 GT-37

Flashback to late May 1983, first Saturday after graduating High School, I'm cruising in my trusty Green 1969 Charger R/T, 440 4-spd car, and run into a fellow Senior in his car. We didn't run in the same crowd, so we never spoke during school, however, we'd often pass each other while cruising the 2 lane highway that ran through the middle of town. We'd always rev our engines at each other, bounce the front-ends and other stupid crap teenagers do. But, we never met side by side until this night. He pulled out from a gas station on the main drag just as I pulled out from a side street onto that same stretch, meeting each other at the same time.

He had a Red 1971 Pontiac GT-37. I believe it was a 400 auto with the typical cam, headers and carb. My car was stock, but of course it was a Big Block Mopar! Anyway, we drove up through town for the next couple of blocks goosing the cars. We stopped at an intersection, which just happened to be beside an old walk-in movie theater that had been converted to a Holy Roller Church. The Church was letting out at the time we pulled up to the light. The sidewalk was full of very serious looking people.

The GT-37 driver brought it up against the stall, which got the attention of the Churchgoers. I tried to be cool and idle the 440 up to 1500 rpm while holding the clutch. I got nervous and ran it up to about 2500 and the light turned Green. I dumped the clutch and left the line absolutely smoking the tires, bias-ply’s mind you - G-60-14's. So did the GT-37, but not quite as bad. As my car slid right, I could see he had me by a fender off the line due to my over-revving. I still remember the open jawed bystanders as we left the line. My car quickly ran up to the shift point and I nailed second.

When I hit second, it was like the Charger hit warp speed, I left the GT-37 in the weeds. I literally pulled him so hard that by the time I was in mid third gear, I backed out of it because he was wayyyyy behind. I waited for him to catch up. He pulled up beside me and gave me the obligatory loser nod. I was cool, and gave a slight nod back. That's right, I won, you lost. Don't mess with Mopar. Yada, yada, yada.

Anyway, it was late by the time all this happened, so I drove home. As I pulled in the driveway, I heard something funny. The car didn't sound right. Oh no, had I hurt it? I got out and listened, it was missing. Hmmm, not good. I popped the hood in the gravel driveway and dug out the flashlight. As I scanned the engine compartment, it hit me. Number 7 plug wire was swinging in the breeze. I plugged it back and she purred like a kitten again. So, not only did I beat the GT-37, but I did it on 7 cylinders! Ok, ok, it was a 400 Pontiac, but hey 7 cylinders is kinda cool don't you think?

I left for Army basic training shortly thereafter and didn't think much about it. Just another easy kill. Then, my running buddy from high school, Jimmy, sends me a letter. In it he detailed how the GT-37 driver was running his mouth about how fast his car was. Jimmy, being the ultimate cool guy, saunters up in the middle of the crowd and states that he knows where a certain Green Charger is, if he really wants to race and thinks he's fast. The GT-37 driver wasn't a happy camper at that announcement and publicly turned down Jimmy's offer, receiving several derisive remarks from the crowd. That letter really brightened up my day after being yelled at by Drill Sergeants all day.

I did not see the GT-37 driver again for many years. But, around 12 years after that fateful May night, there was a car show close to my hometown. I happened to be in town visiting the folks. I decided to drop in, and he was there with his car. I was impressed he still had it. Looked like he had just painted it, it was missing the decals. No mistaking it was the same car. I didn’t see him until I was getting ready to leave. I resisted the urge to go up to him and say, "Hey, the last time I saw you; you were in my rear view mirror". Instead, as I was finishing a conversation with someone, he walked by, looked at me, did a double take, I nodded and smiled, and he moved out swiftly. I thought to myself, “Well, I guess he doesn’t want to talk to me.” I left and went back to my folk’s house, not thinking much about it. I regret not following him and at least saying, “Hi”.

Attached pic is Jimmy and I, December 1984, while on leave from the Army from beautiful West Germany.

Attached picture 5566294-1984.jpg
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/26/09 01:15 AM

As far as I'm concerned it fits and fits very well. Thanks for the story.
Posted By: RUNCHARGER

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/26/09 01:32 AM

One of my favorite memories. A savvy street racer always just wins by a fender... My Challenger had the original, dull paint, stock exhaust manifolds and a 383 pie tin on the extremely worked 440. I was up against a 455 SD Trans Am. Coming out of the hole I got into it a bit too much and ended up on the dirt shoulder of the road. I got it back on the road and then proceeded to reel in the 8 or 10 carlengths that the SD had gained.
No one would race me the rest of the night after that, everyone did want to look under the hood though.

Sheldon
Posted By: jake4cars

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/26/09 02:24 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I didn't start my street racing until the early 70's but I was lucky that my neighborhood was full of guys a little older than I who took me with them. This crowd included big block Chevelles and Camaros plus a lot of RoadRunners and even a couple of Six Pack cars. I grew up in central Conn so we had the Berlin Turnpike where a real mean black 67 Hemi GTX hung out and the East West service roads in Hartford. It was a great time to be young. I remember one of the older guys had Tourette's syndrome pretty bad where he couldn't hardly carry on a conversation but after three beers he settled down, stopped shaking and could really row his 4 speed Chevelle with the best of them, go figure!. The streets today are too crowded to do the same stuff but it was fun then.
Joey




I was there at that time with a 70 RR. Berlin Turnpike and East Hartford light to light. The fun would start usually on Thursday night and carry thru till Sunday. Was there about 4 years ago and met Kissalien and a few others at Burger king on the pike. And the Hartford drive in was closed.




I remember the East Hartford stoplight to stoplight stuff, I was back home in May for the first time in a looong time and couldn't believe the traffic, no way that stuff could go on today.
Joey
Posted By: skyhawk61

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/26/09 03:10 AM

It was 1964-68, and most of the street racing around here was stoplight to stoplight out on US70, a four-lane stretch just outside of the city limits. It wasn't chock full of businesses like today, and our county only had one or two state troopers on duty at any given time.In those days, NC law split street racing into two types:1) spontaneous, where you just rolled up beside someone at a light, asked them if they wanted to go, and nailed it on the green; 2) pre-arranged, where the racers met somewhere 1st to decide when and how the race would be run. Anyone doing prearranged ran the risk of having the book thrown at them if caught--arrested, car confiscated and possibly sold by the court; anyone who gathered to watch the race got charged as well if they were caught. There was some of this going on in a county next door, even to the point of marking off the quarter mile with spray paint. The highway patrol watched this one pretty close, so you had to pick your night and time.
I had a 57 Pontiac Star Chief 2dr hardtop that was good off the line, good enough for a few stoplight encounters till I got smarter. Lots of Chevelle SS 396s, GTOs, modified 57 Chevy's, Mopars of all descriptions, you name it, it was out there.
The town got bigger--more police, more troopers in the county, lots more traffic, and we grew up. Nobody crashed, nobody got hurt, and only a very few ever got arrested for prearranged racing...most of the tickets that were written for spontaneous racing got changed to speeding or reckless driving in court.Different days then. I have heard it said that experience is really nothing but being able to survive your mistakes--may be something to that.
Posted By: SCATPK

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/26/09 03:50 AM

Not a story from the 60`s or 70`s but from 1981. I bought a 1969 Dart Swinger 340 from a guy in the neighborhood that had the car just sitting out on the street in front of the neighborhood grocery store. I had a 1968 Firebird with a 389 and 3 2bbls that I had traded for a 1968 Dart Western Sports Special with a trusty slant six that I bought for $400.00. The guy with the dart lived aross the street from the grocery store and I would often see him and his buddies hanging out in the garage wrenching on cars mostly gm products. Everytime I went to that store he would eyeball the firechicken and I would look at the Dart. One day he came out and asked if I wanted to sell the bird and I said sure if that Dart is for sale. We ended up trading and I ended up pushing the dart a block away to my house due to a bad transmission. Turned out the guy bought the Dart from the original owner with about 150,000 on the clock and beat the crap out of it. He actually painted the car white over the faded Y2 yellow with a spray can and it looked pretty beat. It was completly original and I was a happy camper as I now had my first factory high performance mopar. I ended up pulling the trans in the street and had it rebuilt with a nice shift kit. I gave it a complete tune up with new wires and all and it roarded to life. Once it was running I quickly realized it also needed a 3rd member as the original 323`s were clunking. I swapped them out for a set of junk yard 391`s and all was well. Me and a buddy of mine were out cruising the streets of San Francisco one night when we decided to head down the penisula to San Mateo where they had a big cruise every Friday & Saturday night on the El Camino Real. We drove down and cruised the main street for a bit and though my Dart sounded good it looked a bit rough, actually the original vinyl top was ripped/shredded and a good portion of it was missing. We came across 4 guys in a 66 Chevelle SS 396 that was painted candy apple red with stripes that sounded hot and looked good, and these guys started yelling out the window with the mopars are -rap -hit and wanted to race. Well up untill that point I had never raced anyone in my life and was a bit nervous. We came to a red light and we were side by side. I heard him rev his engine so I held the brake and brought the rpms up a bit and shifted into low. When the light turned green he passed me and made it across the intersection first. But I was catching him and when I hit second my little dart pulled away from the Chevelle badly. Pulled into a station a couple of blocks away and the guys in the Chevelle followed. They jumped out of the car and said what do you have under the hood? You should have seen their faces when they all saw that greasy stock 340 sitting in the hole even with its factory aircleaner still in place. My buddy looked at them all and said you guys just got stung by the Dodge Scat Pack and Chevys Suck! This is my story and I am sticking to it.
Posted By: sthemi

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 04:50 AM

Back in the mid 70s we used to cruise Archer av in Chicago, for some stoplight action..
Anyway,
I was driving the 68 Charger with a Dyer's blown 440 in my sig. and one of the header cones breaks off, leaving one side open...It was Loud..really loud.
So the guy in a early nova with a built small block needs to try out the blown Charger...
The results were predictable, but Chicago's finest was not far away and heard but did not see anything illegal...
I would up with an opportunity to contribute to the Chicago budget...
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 10:02 AM

My first Mopar..a black 62 Dodge Dart, 361 auto. This is 1967 and I'm 17. Picked it up on Friday evening and drove it to school on Monday. Monday after school, with 4 of my buddies in the car, a bow tie is right on my bumper after we pull out of the school parking lot so I'm gonna show him who has the fastest car so I nailed it and of course so did he, still behind me but in the same lane as this was a narrow street in midtown Indy. Well an officer pulls me over and writes me a ticket for a 50 in a school zone, drag racing, loud pipes and reckless driving, lets the other guy go.

Go to court with my mom (my dad knew the judge) and I'm only charged with reckless driving (6 points)but the judge tells me to give my keys and license to my mom for 3 months. After leaving the court room she refuses to give me my keys and license back and to make matters worse she drives my car for the next 3 months and yes all my buddies saw her driving my new ride, how embarrasing. However, other than a speeding ticket in the same year I haven't had a ticket since and now I'm 59 & 5/16. Guess I learned my lesson: Speed is for the drag strip not the streets and interstates.
Posted By: Thread Ender1

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 03:09 PM

Quote:

Back in the mid 70s we used to cruise Archer av in Chicago, for some stoplight action..
Anyway,
I was driving the 68 Charger with a Dyer's blown 440 in my sig. and one of the header cones breaks off, leaving one side open...It was Loud..really loud.
So the guy in a early nova with a built small block needs to try out the blown Charger...
The results were predictable, but Chicago's finest was not far away and heard but did not see anything illegal...
I would up with an opportunity to contribute to the Chicago budget...


Youre not rich myier (sp) who had the blown 68 from Il who lived in Simi Valley for awhile?
Posted By: Pyper70

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 03:27 PM

Thanks for sharing these stories fellas....I am only 30 and never really did any street racing in my time. Played a few times on the track and a few times harassing the imports but I wish I lived in the hay day and got to experience what you guys did....Its my generation and the next one to keep these stories alive...
Posted By: PTHemi

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 04:29 PM

1976, as a junior in HS I owned a respectable 1972 340 3-sp duster.After the usual "farmer's boy modifications" the car ran like hell, and for some reason always seemed to beat any small block. and several big blk. cars. My favorite story was in 76 after spending time at the local drive-in some Charles City guys in a 455 trans am started "chest beating" We took it to a back road blk. top and settled it for 50 bucks. The start was even but when I hit 2nd. I pulled 3 car lengths ahead and never looked back...as we stopped at the local car lot they jumped out and screamed what the hell do you got in there! I popped the hood and they left shaking there heads and 50 bucks lighter they couldn't get past the stock air-cleaner...Fast forward to 1991 after college and paying off loans, I had accumulated 4 or 5 mopars. One was a 71 340 4spd blk on blk duster. when I bought it in 85 it sported a custom 3-tone paint job and stripped for the 1/4 mile.. I painted it vit. c dropped in a 440, 509 cam, 915 hds with mild port and max. wedge valves, 4 spd with low 2nd. gear, and added b-body dana with 4.56 gears, street stickies and SS springs, 90/10 front shocks , fenderwall hooker headers, 850 double pumper on holley High rise with spacer.. .. car ran 11.60's through exhaust and would pull the wheels ... one night I brought the beast out I ran into a 64 ford falcon. it sported a "lumpy" sound, roll bar, super lites rims, big tac on dash and gorgeous girlfriend..the stage was set on a 3 lane university ave. in Cedar Falls Iowa, I was in the middle lane,Ford on left and a bunch of HS kids on my right in a chevette..On launch the duster pt. up and I only had to " slide step and spd. shift 1,2and into 3rd.. by that time I was way out front and coasted to the next light...the girl smiled and said " wow damn nice car" the driver never looked, and the HS. boys went nuts.. I just rumbled away later I put in a tran-brake, j-converter, and would run 11.15 all day long....now I'm going to repaint it blk. with ghost flames and add a 400 stroker.....
Posted By: minivan

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 04:40 PM

My recollection of that time ( I am 54) was the endless lines of muscle cars cruising in traffic backed up for miles.. Main idea was checking out the ladies going in the opposite direction.. Traffic was so slow you could get a good look at them... Usually had to go blow out the plugs a couple of times a night, and make some cool down runs...

Very similar to the cruises nowadays ( without the crowds of people on the sidewalks) except these were our " everyday drivers"....
Posted By: RUNCHARGER

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 04:46 PM

It was about 1976 and I was visiting my friend in Red Deer Alberta in my 67 GTX. We were cruising around and were on some main street (Gaetz ave?) which headed out of town and onto the freeway, we were following a hot rodded 69 Ford pickup and something else, my friend thought they were going out of town to race. Well right in front of us they both jumped on it at the green light. I thought to myself "hey they must be racing lets keep up" well I was behind the car but I wasn't all the way into the throttle so I matted it, got around the car then changed lanes again and got the pickup too.

Sheldon
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 04:48 PM

Growing up in NYC in the late 60s/early 70s streetracing was as common as sewer rats so any gerhead from then has tons of stories. You could literally go anywhere and find a race on one of NYC's many highways. In Queens, one of the places to hang was the World's Fair Marina parking lot not far from Shea Stadium. We'd meet there, set-up a race & go up on the Van Wyck Expressway and square-off. The neat thing about the lot was, for some reason they had laid two strips of asphalt on either side the length of the lot. Guys would do burn-outs & generally show-off while everyone parked in between these two strips.
Back then I had a tubbed & caged Chevy powered Pinto (apply appropriate comments here) that was "ProStreet" before the term became popular. On this particular night some guy comes in with a '68 or so Mustang, smokes the tires the length of the asphalt strip, jumps out & says he'll run ANYONE for ANY amount--dumb thing to do in NYC. Dumber still, my buddies convince me to square-off with him, but first I should "test" the car. I pull up onto the asphalt, bring the revs up & dump the clutch. The front-end rises somewhat, as expected, but when I grabbed second I felt a jolt I never really had felt before. I continue on my little "test", turn around & park across from the Mustang, get out & just lean against the car. Before my friends could get to me the guy jumps in his 'stang & bolts out of the lot. Confused, I just sit there until my friends join me. One of my friends then tells me the guy just about s#$t himself, as when I grabbed second I had apparently pulled the front wheels a foot or so! I had never done that before so I was (rightly) proud of the display. The pride didn't last long though as some guys from Brooklyn showed up with a trailerd car & wanted to run me. My wallet & ego simply couldn't afford that type of race.
Years later my Dad was doing some charity work outside Shea Stadium when he met a police officer who told a story of his older brother taking him to the street races near there when he was younger. He remembered a bright green Pinto he thought the guy driving it was nuts & wondered whatever became of it. My Dad just laughed & said he knew of the car & yes, the guy DID have a few screws loose. Thanks, Dad!
Posted By: Paul_Fancsali

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 05:28 PM

One of my favorite races was with my buddy's 426 Hemi GTX Rod shop built with 4.56 gears 4 spd and 2" Hooker headers. All this aginst my Duster 340 4 spd with a 292 cam and Custom headers.and 4.10s Three different times in 3 places I beat that car by a car The last time he screamed that I cheated due to power shifting! When I was younger I street raced almost daily during the summer and whenever I could in the winter! I loved it,I realize now how lucky I was not to get killed as we really pushed the cars but after 11 oclock there was no real traffic back late 60 early mid 70s By the way I still have the car and a nitrous bottle if need be which I did not have then
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 08:44 PM

if u street raced in the 60's/early 70's in nyc, it started and ended on south ave. in staten island...
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 09:02 PM

Quote:

if u street raced in the 60's/early 70's in nyc, it started and ended on south ave. in staten island...


Any good stories that you'd like to share with the young pups?
Posted By: jagrunt551

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 09:58 PM

Great stories!!! I grew up around Lake George, NY which was a summertime resort town. In the 60s and early 70s it was a car show every night of the week in the Summer. Being 60, I just love to hear the stories and did have some great races myself. Times have changed and so have the laws. I guess that maybe I should give up building this 82 stepside and just turn in my license.
Posted By: Tom_440

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 10/27/09 10:16 PM

Back in 1984 we used a strip of freeway in San Jose, CA as a drag strip. We would just get on highway 85 in the middle of the night, park in the first 2 lanes, and go for it. There was no traffic! I remember drifting sidways at a certain curve in the road at a hundred and something in my '72 340 Challenger...it was a blast having no "end" to the 1/4 mile track. Too bad the highway was not banked.

I was less mature then and had a couple of fun races through the hills with the local law enforcement on my tail. I did not get caught or I'd probably still be in jail. My two craziest friends later joined the local police force...
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/03/09 12:31 PM

Quote:

Quote:

if u street raced in the 60's/early 70's in nyc, it started and ended on south ave. in staten island...


Any good stories that you'd like to share with the young pups?




well grandpa... south ave was about 1 mile of service road next to the expressway, straight as an arrow, in an unbuilt area. some nites there would be 100 cars lined up next to one another awaiting the flagman to drop the flag. cars would be trailered in from nearby new jersey. on the side of the road before the starting line, there were cars jacked up, putting on their slicks..the racing would go on for hrs. every now n then a police car would 'happen' by, a few words would be exchanged, there would be a 'handshake' , and off leo would go, and the racing would continue..... until one nite during a race when one of the participants did not stop at the end of the 1mile strip, went thru the stop sign, and broadsided a car with 3 girls in it, killing the 3 of them...

that sort of brought the racing on south ave to a halt.

but for a short time, the racing there was better then going to e-town or national speedway...
Posted By: AARCONV

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/03/09 02:40 PM

back then, street racing in brooklyn on fountain ave..you need to know when the race is over and u are beat...some people continue way passed when the race ended and end up crashing....reckless knuckleheads..just to say they beat you...even now..kids come up to me and want to race...in a quick 1/4 i can beat you...passed that...I give up...it's not worth the time to take it till the end...i'm not geared for that .... plus i'm not dealing with the law anymore...been there done that...
Posted By: Harley

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/03/09 02:48 PM

Here is a link of some street racing history that went on in Queens New York.
http://www.connectinghighway.com/
Posted By: terzmo

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/03/09 03:52 PM

Quote:

I posted a thread that was directed to the 16-35 year old Mopar group and it is having a pretty good response. A few of them wanted to hear some of our (over 40?) stories from our teenage years as it related to our cars, racing, etc.

This request reminded me of the weekends hanging out at the local drive-in burger joints showing our rides off, looking for a good race for the evening and just being around a bunch of like minded gear heads. But most of all it reminded me of going from burger joint to burger joint looking for the kid from another high school that thought he had a fast car and then taking him out on the interstate and blowing his doors off.

Having said this I am in no way promoting street racing, it is dangerous and illegal, but the "Young Guns" like hearing our stories so if you have a particular memory that you would like to share please do so. I think they will enjoy hearing about our past as much as we enjoy remembering it.




Street racing?? Still do it since I had My license issued 9/66....but not very often. Problem,as I see it, is the "young guns" don't know when it's over. In the 60's, if You took a guy off the line and He wasn't gaining after a half block or so...it was over and both backed down...they knew who was quicker. Today, they want to be "fast and furious" and run for miles.

I enjoyed the light to light...block to block runs..even the "old" people of then raced. Was funny to see a 4 door 58 pontiac and a 61 plymouth station wagon "peeling" out.

I can't go out with My GTX or BEE without having some youngster pull up next to Me with a ricer and revvin the crap out of it wanting to "drag" Waste of time, no competition. When My cars are in the driveway, some even stop and "chirp" their tires in front of My house....LOL...or hit passing gear when going by emitting that "fart can" sound only they can appreciate.

So's here's one...in the 60's..a subburb of Buffalo Ny decided to let a patrolman go on traffic duty with His 66 GTO. He'd pull up alongside a chevelle,mustang,mopar, whatever and give it a small rev(signal for"let's get it on")
So the unsuspecting "rodder" would jump...smoke tires...look over and see a big fat red light emitting from the competition. Usually got ticketed for improper start and speeding.

My buddy had his license suspended for 9 points in 1 year. He decides it's time to go down to the local strip,Him driving. Well, He gets pulled over and gets arrested for speeding,improper start and of course,suspended license. After bail and a few days, court date. Judge fines Him 200 dollars and suspends His license for 1 year. My buddy starts smiling and the Judge asks why? Friend says," I have orders for southeast asia for a year,I'll pick it up if I make it back" The Judge still enforced the suspension but waived the 200 dollars.
Posted By: Challenger 1

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/03/09 04:05 PM

I haven't street raced since 80s, but we did race out on I-275 here in town before it was opened! Each weekend it would change because of the construction progress. I'm 49 and hung out with some guys who were about 10 years older than me and they told me about when the local cops would shut down the road for a little while so a couple of cars could race. Times were way different 40 years ago.

I really glad I was able to race big time with the NHRA on a track, many tracks all over the country, thanks to everyone that helped me.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/03/09 04:59 PM

I was the Flagman at for a few good years on South. Tuesday and Wednesday nights there after the cruise/show over on Hylan Blvd.
Thursday and Friday nights was over to Fountain Ave to be the Flagman there also. I was applauded by the racers and the crowd upon arriving each and every night.
The Conduit guys never appreciated me because of the Big $$$ involved over at their races, too much cheating to have a good arm drop guy between the Pro-stocks.
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/03/09 06:06 PM

Quote:

I was the Flagman at for a few good years on South. Tuesday and Wednesday nights there after the cruise/show over on Hylan Blvd.
Thursday and Friday nights was over to Fountain Ave to be the Flagman there also. I was applauded by the racers and the crowd upon arriving each and every night.
The Conduit guys never appreciated me because of the Big $$$ involved over at their races, too much cheating to have a good arm drop guy between the Pro-stocks.




so u probably remember the vietnam vet (forget his name) who was blind, had a fuelie vette, that would pull in front of wetsons on forrest ave and pop wheelie's.. then he build a monster 64 lemans which was a street animal... i'll remember his name and post it...
Posted By: mickm

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/03/09 06:57 PM

grew up in denver, where the cruise was downtown on friday and saturday nights. seemed like it was a cop for every two people there, and you so much as let your tire hit a yellow line, and it was a ticket!

racing was out on a service road by I-70. same story every time, gather until the cops came to shut it down. cops were total jerks too, this "my territory" attitude. once again, any little thing they could ticket you for...

but it was great, i was only 12 or so, watching these cars go for it at the drop of the flagman's arm. lots of fast cars to, occasionally one would be towed in.

my best story though...

68 hemi gtx 4 speed, black on black, stock with headers. car ran pretty bad most of the time i owned it. lived in denver, and it was a sea level car, and for some reason that i never found out, (just fixed it), it was starving for fuel above 4500 or so. so it was running really rich and really lean at the same time. but before i sold it, i got it all dialed in and it was running really strong.

was in the parking lot of the guy who re-painted the car. 69 chevelle pulls in, rumbling like a small earthquake. someone mentioned that was tim, he and his dad owned a machine shop that built race engines. everyone went to look at the car. don't remember all the details, but a well built 396 with a turbo 400.

after a few minutes i said, out of nowhere, "want to race?". "yea sure, what?" i pointed over to my car thinking, what the hell did i just do that for? i was just going to make a fool of myself. i knew that the gtx was fast, but a built car from engine to rear end?

ah well, i decided. would look worse if i backed down. a friend said, "he's got a buddy with him, i'll ride with you!" i almost said no, as i didn't want the extra weight, but i went for it.

we get the cars out on a nice long, long straight stretch of open road, right in front of the body shop. no other cars. 20mph or so, and my friend with his arm out the window drops his hand. i slip the clutch a little and nail it. we both took off at the exact same time, no hesitation, a great start! all the way through first, we are dead even. i shift into second, and i pull about 1/2 a fender length in front, shift into third and jump to almost half a car length, 4th and i am close to a car length in front of him!

we shut it down and bring it back down to about 20 again. my friend can hardly believe it, i'm thinking "[Edited by Moparts - Keep it clean], i knew this thing was fast, but not this fast", the guy in the chevelle is looking like i just sideswiped him or something.

we go for it again, and by 4th, i have him by a car length! (long road, 6th ave viaduct in denver) i can hardly believe it, proud as hell of putting that car back together!

we exit and turn around to come back. we go for it a third time and my buddy says "give him a car length this time, you'll still beat him!" "what the hell" i thought. we went for it, and by the time i nailed it, he was a little more than a car length ahead of me. not sure why this time was different, but by the time i hit fourth, i hadn't gained at all on him, we were still in the same position.

but it was clear that the first two races were mine, and the third would have at least been a draw if i had started at the same time.

didn't go for it again, even though we had the road, but met back at the paint shop parking lot. everyone was waiting to see what happened, and the guy in the chevelle was all excuses! babbling about the transmission slipping. refused to believe me when i said it was all stock except for the headers. said "man, that is the fastest mopar i've ever raced..."

now i knew the gtx was fast, but it was still stock. i was proud as hell, and was just a smug smile from ear to ear, but also was thinking that for a built car, that chevelle was pretty slow!

my best race experience ever, and [Edited by Moparts - Keep it clean] do i miss that car!
Posted By: 68GTS383

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/03/09 09:09 PM

In 1972 I was a junoir in high school. I purchased a real 69 CUDA 340 Red with black CUDA striping. One saturday nite I was cruising a local hang out. As I pulled into the parking lot going out the other side of the parking lot were a 68 or 69 Road Runner and a 64 Belvedere big block.They were heading out in the country to race. They stopped at the last stop light heading out of town. The Road Runner was in the left lane and the Belvedere in the right.I lined up behind the RR and the light turned green and everybody launched. The RR eased past the Belvedere and then I went on by the RR. I had worked my way into their race and out ran both of them! There were several other street races that my CUDA 340 won. That car also out ran three NC Highway patrolmen and a couple of local deputies. All of these happened at seperate times! I had my brake and tail lights on toggle switches. I could turn them completely off! I still don't why GOD let me outlive that car!!!
Posted By: 11secdart

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/03/09 09:53 PM

In the mid 70s I had a 73 Duster 340 not much done gears, headers, and a few bolt ons. We used to hang out at a Burger King in Parsippany NJ. my friends at the time had a 70 340 Dart, 69 340 Dart and a 71 Demon 340. We all used to street race. I ran a local hotshot in an AMX right out in front of the BK and beat him, another time we shut down Rte 287 so I could race a 75 Camaro which I also beat. There used to be street racing on 287 back then because it was a dead end and unfinished. The Burger King is still there and who would of thought I`d end up buying a house 3 miles from there. I don`t know what happened to all my friends or their cars the guy with the 69 Dart built a 70 Duster 360 that we took to the Car Craft Street Machine Nats in 78 and he bracket raced it for awhile but hasn`t been around in 4 or 5 years.I took my Duster in 79 I drove it there and had fun. I bought my present Dart in 82 and have bracket raced it ever since. I`ve heard some great street racing stories about Avenue "P" in Newark but I`ve never been there. At my local track on test and tune days there are always a couple of No Time cars so you know they`re street racers.

Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/04/09 01:02 AM

Quote:

I was the Flagman at for a few good years on South. Tuesday and Wednesday nights there after the cruise/show over on Hylan Blvd.
Thursday and Friday nights was over to Fountain Ave to be the Flagman there also. I was applauded by the racers and the crowd upon arriving each and every night.
The Conduit guys never appreciated me because of the Big $$$ involved over at their races, too much cheating to have a good arm drop guy between the Pro-stocks.




the blind vietnam vet who owned the vette and later the lemans was named elliot... not sure 1st or last name,,,,
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/04/09 01:53 AM

Did not ever see him.
I was there during the early to mid 80's
Fountain Avenue also.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/04/09 01:54 AM

These stories are really great. I don't know about you but when I read them it takes me back to those days, I can see the races, relive the excitement and feel the joy long past but our memories will live on and I think it's great to share them with the youngsters.

We used to race on I-74 quite a lot, this is in Indy. There was a Sunoco station at one of the interchanges and after midnight we would pull in, jack the car up and while one guy was pulling the street tires off and putting the slicks on his buddy was unbolting the exhaust from the collectors and opening up those headers. I think one of the coolest things we ever did, and did alot, was to entice a guy (from another high school of course) into a race. We said " we'll give you 3 car lenghts", well who wouldn't go for that? We told them "when you see or headlights raise then you go", we did not use flagmen. Well they didn't realize that by the time they reacted to or car launching we were already beside them in full momentum ready to take their money. They never caught on. Now when we took their money it was for big bucks, $25.00 and back then (1967) that was big money for a bunch of high schoolers.

So when you young guns see us sitting and just smiling chances are we are reliving those great days of street racing. However, take it to the drag strip and don't do it on the street. Times have changed, traffic is a lot different than back in our days so be smart and do it legally.

Okay, I'm ready for some more stories from you old farts!
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/04/09 02:09 AM

The best time I had was when I was going to the McDonalds one Oct evening. Ran across a guy on the street that had a stock red T/A Challenger, I was driving my built 390 '67 Mustang, both 4-speeds. We'd met before as we had a mutual friend and we both knew what each other had.

That road was the main drag thru the cruise area of Aurora, Ill. past the shopping centers and along the river.

There was about 10 or so traffic lights.

We drove side by side while talking the whole ways doing about 15 mph in a 30 or 35. We got stopped at each and every light. I'm sure all the cars behind us were expecing us to race sooner or later. I turned off into McDonalds and he went on home. The traffic finaly cleared out.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/04/09 03:05 AM

Quote:

The best time I had was when I was going to the McDonalds one Oct evening. Ran across a guy on the street that had a stock red T/A Challenger, I was driving my built 390 '67 Mustang, both 4-speeds. We'd met before as we had a mutual friend and we both knew what each other had.

That road was the main drag thru the cruise area of Aurora, Ill. past the shopping centers and along the river.

There was about 10 or so traffic lights.

We drove side by side while talking the whole ways doing about 15 mph in a 30 or 35. We got stopped at each and every light. I'm sure all the cars behind us were expecing us to race sooner or later. I turned off into McDonalds and he went on home. The traffic finaly cleared out.


Okay, Okay. I liken this story to that high school girl friend, that would nibble on your ear, french kiss you to death, melt in your arms and then when you were just about to make your move she said..." well I have to go home now". We all had a name for those sweethearts and you know what it is, she was a _ _ _ _ _ teaser. This story puts me in the same frame of mind. Are you sure you didn't race that night? Were those your doors on the road? Say it ain't so Joe, say it ain't so!
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 03:05 AM

Street racing...yup. I did some of that......
Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 03:07 AM

Quote:

Street racing...yup. I did some of that......





Say it isn't so...
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 03:09 AM

Quote:

Street racing...yup. I did some of that......


Wanna share a story with some of the young pups that are reading these posts? I think they enjoy hearing about our little racing habits of yesteryear.
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/04/09 03:14 AM

Quote:

Quote:

The best time I had was when I was going to the McDonalds one Oct evening. Ran across a guy on the street that had a stock red T/A Challenger, I was driving my built 390 '67 Mustang, both 4-speeds. We'd met before as we had a mutual friend and we both knew what each other had.

That road was the main drag thru the cruise area of Aurora, Ill. past the shopping centers and along the river.

There was about 10 or so traffic lights.

We drove side by side while talking the whole ways doing about 15 mph in a 30 or 35. We got stopped at each and every light. I'm sure all the cars behind us were expecing us to race sooner or later. I turned off into McDonalds and he went on home. The traffic finaly cleared out.


Okay, Okay. I liken this story to that high school girl friend, that would nibble on your ear, french kiss you to death, melt in your arms and then when you were just about to make your move she said..." well I have to go home now". We all had a name for those sweethearts and you know what it is, she was a _ _ _ _ _ teaser. This story puts me in the same frame of mind. Are you sure you didn't race that night? Were those your doors on the road? Say it ain't so Joe, say it ain't so!


Nope, no racing that night. A couple nights later I raced the friend. He had a new stock '72 340 Challenger on the same road, but going the other direction. I beat him, AND got the ticket.
Posted By: Rodder

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/04/09 03:37 AM

Everyone tells of the ones they won, here is one of the worst times I have ever been beat. I had a friend in high school that was a ford guy. He was a cool loner, very popular guy that very much reminds me of John Milner in American Graffetti. In high school, he had a pumpkin orange 57 ford Fairlane that he raced anyone that would challenge him. The hot set up then was a 57 Chevy 283 bored to 301. Everyone was scared of those 301's, but he just ate up all comers. He traded cars while I was in college and when I came home he had a 64 Falcon sprint. It was a cool car with 260 badges, and it some how carried on his reputation. By then he was known for 50 miles around as never been beaten. It was fall of 1967 and I ordered and got a new 68 barracuda with 3:23 sure grip 4 speed and a 318. I got home from college and ran into him in town on Saturday night. He was at the local gas station hanging out just exactly like a John Milner would have been. When I pulled in, he gave me some crap about my new barracuda. I said ok we used to push each other all the time in high school, I have never raced you, so tonight is the night. He didn't want to but after some crap from me in front of the locals, he opened the trunk and tossed out a couple of 4 speed transmissions and a clutch and said "lets go." We have a clover leaf inter section on two highways that cross in the country and one side has a long truck lane on it. That gives two lanes to race on for a perfect measured quarter mile. It was fall and pretty chilly, the local high school crowd gathered, while he did a few "tweeks" to his car. We lined up and took off, his being cold (and non stock) jumped and died on the line. I took the clover leaf and came back around. "Cold engine lets run again". So we did and the same thing happened. I came back around and said ok this is the third time and cold engine or not I am going to win if that thing dies. You Loose! This time we took off and I power shifted all that 318 had. Like before, the Falcon jumped and died on the line. Believe it or not, then he actually started that Falcon again and blew my doors off about 50 yards from end of the quarter! All I remember seeing in the rear view mirror was the pavement on fire under that Falcon lit up from the open headers. The next day I stopped at his place and said ok, I have to see the engine. He would never open his hood for anyone in the past, but being an old friend he finally did for me. To my amazement it was a solid lifter full race Cobra 289 under the hood. He just smiled and said "you loose". A couple years later, he came home completely messed up from Vietnam and I never heard where that Falcon ended up. He now resides staring out the window here in the local rest home at age 58.
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 03:38 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Street racing...yup. I did some of that......





Say it isn't so...




Yeah, I had to get that off my chest...I feel better now.
Posted By: MikeyT

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 03:44 AM

cool stories!

Yet I want to know who was the baddest of the bad? Who was out there, that you knew by and large you were like don't "f" with this guys car, he'll blow your doors off kind of thing?

I always figured 6 pack cars would be really stout on the street with a deep set of gears. I mean give me a six pack Superbee 4:10 gears in a trackpack and I would be good to go!

Mike
Posted By: mickm

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 04:26 AM

Quote:


Yet I want to know who was the baddest of the bad? Who was out there, that you knew by and large you were like don't "f" with this guys car, he'll blow your doors off kind of thing?





there were these guys in denver, one of whom is still around, tony richards and his brother, bruce. late 70's early 80's, tony was building stroker RB's long before there were kits or anything. he was building 511's, and they were wicked.

they had a shop and did mostly high performance stuff, but any kind of mopar work.

bruce had a hemi cuda, built from the ground up. besides strokers, tony's real specialty was torquflites. i'm sure it probably was, but i never knew or saw that cuda beat.

bruce used to laugh that he would take people for a ride, and they would come back impressed as hell. then he told them that all they got was the rear primaries on the progressive carb setup, and he would take them out for another ride. this time they came back scared ----less!
Posted By: Rodder

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 04:32 AM

Here is strange one, a friend when he was in college bought a new burgandy and black 68 road runner. He was wild and crazy and just abused the car unmercifully. He would go to Omaha and street race all weekend, every weekend on the back side of the air port. I rode with him several weekends. The car was a 383 4 speed and he put Mickey Thompsons on the back. It would wipe the road with 396's and 427's. That road runner had such power that it would not hold a 11 inch clutch at all and we changed clutches literally every weekend in that thing. The really weird thing with that car was (and I am not making this up) that is had some sort of factory experimental engine in it. Every year he would get a serial numbered survey letter from Chrysler about the "experimental" engine, (I saw the form) asking about the performance and problems with the engine and If I remember correctly, it listed it as 390 horse power. But it was a single 4 barrel. Through its short life, that car was also one of those that had never been beat. He had it several years and just tore it up power shifting it all the time. He finally hit a bridge with it and it went directly to the junk yard. I was not technical enough as a kid back then but I sure wonder to this day what that 383 was that made it "experimental".
Posted By: 67Satty

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 04:42 AM

Baddest of the bad, in it's own time and place, was my buddy's '67 Belvedere. In Minneapolis, in the mid-80s, for one or two summers, nothing would touch it. I'm talking 30 wins, zero losses record. It was a 440, .590 DC cam, tunnel ram, 3800 stall Turbo Action, 3.91s, SS Springs, subframe connectors, L60-15 street tires. But that thing would always hook hard on the street. The fastest it ever ran at the strip was low 12s but that was fast enough at that time and place to be untouchable on the street.

The body had been pulled out of a junkyard, and it had "Rock and Roll Machine" painted in big letters on the sides. Everyone laughed at it until they got stomped by it.
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 04:47 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Street racing...yup. I did some of that......


Wanna share a story with some of the young pups that are reading these posts? I think they enjoy hearing about our little racing habits of yesteryear.




OK, so one night I'm supposed to race Scotty Guadagno and his bottle Buick 225 with this Hemi Challenger that I used to drive for a guy named Stan. Super Stock Hemi, 14x32's, stick car.
So, I make a couple of warm up passes on South Ave...spit the driveshaft out on the first run, fixed it, and then grenade the trans just about 10 minutes before we're supposed to run.
So Scotty shows up with his car, and a big old Ford pick-up...his shop truck/support vehicle...and I'm standing there with no race car.
But..we were there to race and nothing was gonna stop us. My buddy Neil was there with his girlfriends brand new Nissan Sentra. After a few minutes of negotiation we decide to run the Sentra heads up against the truck.
So, We line up, go...and a quarter mile later, we go across the stripe DEAD even. Way too close to call without electronics. So, we decide to go again...and again, the same result. Now it's tme for a little strategy. Back in "the pits", Scotty and his crew are pulling hunks of wood, and tools and parts out of the pick-up. In the meantime, Niel and I are yanking the spare, backseat and floormats out of the Nissan. Again we go, AGAIN, it's a dead heat.
Back to the pits...the ashtray, the contents of the glove compartment, the washer bottle...anything we can yank out of the car is now piled on the side of the road...Scotty and his crew have the same thing going on across the road. Again, we run and again it's dead even, BUT, this time, I felt we had just the slightest hair of an advantage the first few feet of the run..we were close to having the edge.
Time to get drastic. We found a few more trinkets to add to the pile, as did Scotty's guys. At the last second, I decide to pull out all the stops. Scotty is in the truck waiting for me to line up..I motion for him to wait a minute while I take a leak. I stepped out into the weeds, drained my bladder, and then took off all my clothes and tossed them on the pile. I jumped in the car, lined up, and off we went. At the end of the quarter, we had it by half a bumper..VICTORY at LAST!
Lemme tell ya. I street raced NYC 7 nights a week everywhere and in everything you can imagine, but that one night with the truck and the borrowed car was the tightest, most fun racing I think I ever had.
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 05:30 AM

Quote:

Everyone tells of the ones they won, here is one of the worst times I have ever been beat. I had a friend in high school that was a ford guy. He was a cool loner, very popular guy that very much reminds me of John Milner in American Graffetti. In high school, he had a pumpkin orange 57 ford Fairlane that he raced anyone that would challenge him. The hot set up then was a 57 Chevy 283 bored to 301. Everyone was scared of those 301's, but he just ate up all comers. He traded cars while I was in college and when I came home he had a 64 Falcon sprint. It was a cool car with 260 badges, and it some how carried on his reputation. By then he was known for 50 miles around as never been beaten. It was fall of 1967 and I ordered and got a new 68 barracuda with 3:23 sure grip 4 speed and a 318. I got home from college and ran into him in town on Saturday night. He was at the local gas station hanging out just exactly like a John Milner would have been. When I pulled in, he gave me some crap about my new barracuda. I said ok we used to push each other all the time in high school, I have never raced you, so tonight is the night. He didn't want to but after some crap from me in front of the locals, he opened the trunk and tossed out a couple of 4 speed transmissions and a clutch and said "lets go." We have a clover leaf inter section on two highways that cross in the country and one side has a long truck lane on it. That gives two lanes to race on for a perfect measured quarter mile. It was fall and pretty chilly, the local high school crowd gathered, while he did a few "tweeks" to his car. We lined up and took off, his being cold (and non stock) jumped and died on the line. I took the clover leaf and came back around. "Cold engine lets run again". So we did and the same thing happened. I came back around and said ok this is the third time and cold engine or not I am going to win if that thing dies. You Loose! This time we took off and I power shifted all that 318 had. Like before, the Falcon jumped and died on the line. Believe it or not, then he actually started that Falcon again and blew my doors off about 50 yards from end of the quarter! All I remember seeing in the rear view mirror was the pavement on fire under that Falcon lit up from the open headers. The next day I stopped at his place and said ok, I have to see the engine. He would never open his hood for anyone in the past, but being an old friend he finally did for me. To my amazement it was a solid lifter full race Cobra 289 under the hood. He just smiled and said "you loose". A couple years later, he came home completely messed up from Vietnam and I never heard where that Falcon ended up. He now resides staring out the window here in the local rest home at age 58.




Sounds like this is a person who needs to be taken out for a day trip to the local track, or at least strapped into something loud and fast for a little cruising.
Posted By: Kirby

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/04/09 04:07 PM

Quote:

Baddest of the bad, in it's own time and place, was my buddy's '67 Belvedere. In Minneapolis, in the mid-80s, for one or two summers, nothing would touch it. I'm talking 30 wins, zero losses record. It was a 440, .590 DC cam, tunnel ram, 3800 stall Turbo Action, 3.91s, SS Springs, subframe connectors, L60-15 street tires. But that thing would always hook hard on the street. The fastest it ever ran at the strip was low 12s but that was fast enough at that time and place to be untouchable on the street.

The body had been pulled out of a junkyard, and it had "Rock and Roll Machine" painted in big letters on the sides. Everyone laughed at it until they got stomped by it.




Big Al's gold one?
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/04/09 08:44 PM

Quote:

Did not ever see him.
I was there during the early to mid 80's
Fountain Avenue also.




early/mid 80's... south ave was over prob in 71/72..
Posted By: dulcich

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 12:21 AM




OK, so one night I'm supposed to race Scotty Guadagno...
Time to get drastic. We found a few more trinkets to add to the pile, as did Scotty's guys. At the last second, I decide to pull out all the stops. Scotty is in the truck waiting for me to line up..I motion for him to wait a minute while I take a leak. I stepped out into the weeds, drained my bladder, and then took off all my clothes and tossed them on the pile. I jumped in the car, lined up, and off we went. At the end of the quarter, we had it by half a bumper..VICTORY at LAST!
Lemme tell ya. I street raced NYC 7 nights a week everywhere and in everything you can imagine, but that one night with the truck and the borrowed car was the tightest, most fun racing I think I ever had.




Hey Tony, the way I heard it you went out behind Scotty's trailer to take a dump and then pulled him by a car.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/05/09 01:15 AM

Sorry! thanks for playing. It was well and alive till 85-86. I was there and the designated starter for quite a few years. I had a Yellow 1973 Hatchback SS Nova then.
Drunk Mike from Brooklyn first with his Challenger and Duster and Billy the Kid with his 69 Notch back Cuda from upstate NY were the ones to beat on some nights.
Siverado the unmarked Silver Grand fury Highway car driven by a Highway patrolman with silver hair was the thorn in every ones side and a sign of the times. 1983-84 Grand Fury it was.
Great races with some nasty cars driven in that were capable of low 12's and some in the low 11's.
Posted By: 67Satty

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 01:44 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Baddest of the bad, in it's own time and place, was my buddy's '67 Belvedere. In Minneapolis, in the mid-80s, for one or two summers, nothing would touch it. I'm talking 30 wins, zero losses record. It was a 440, .590 DC cam, tunnel ram, 3800 stall Turbo Action, 3.91s, SS Springs, subframe connectors, L60-15 street tires. But that thing would always hook hard on the street. The fastest it ever ran at the strip was low 12s but that was fast enough at that time and place to be untouchable on the street.

The body had been pulled out of a junkyard, and it had "Rock and Roll Machine" painted in big letters on the sides. Everyone laughed at it until they got stomped by it.




Big Al's gold one?




No, but I remember that car and guy. It was a gold '66 or '67 Coronet that used to cruise Central Ave. in northeast Minneapolis. I remember he was running aluminum rods on the street, something we considered pretty radical at the time. I don't think my friend ever raced him.
Posted By: buildanother

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/05/09 02:05 AM

You people should be ashamed of your reckless driving habits.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/05/09 03:23 AM

Tell that to Shirley M. Scott S. and a host of many that got it going on the street. LOL.
Posted By: maximum entropy

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 03:55 AM

growing up in southern california in the 70s was a gearhead's dream come true. but before that, we lived in northern california, and i was just too young to drive. my best buddy lived in schellville, an unincorporated area just south of sonoma. we'd sleep outside in his backyard, and listen to the street races all night long. that happens to be where the race scene in american graffiti was filmed. we moved to socal, and i started driving and racing. every weekend we raced. the local scene in santa barbara was hopping. cruising state street all night long, the burger joints would be packed with local legends and their cars. my first hotrod was a 69 satellite wagon with a 318 i built in my parent's garage. it had a street hemi cam, headers, a holley 600, 4:10s, and a 3000 stall converter. the preferred local race venue was highway 217, which went from hwy 101, to the beach and ucsb. divided 4 lane highway as flat and smooth as, well, a dragstrip. the return lanes had a 1/4 mile stretch marked for our convenience and enjoyment. a white starting line (marked start, for the neophytes), and a red line EXACTLY 1/4 mile down the road marked "finish". that's where all the big local races went down. we were very organized. there was an area the police would gather in anticipation of a busy night, and if they were there, we'd eschew racing for the moment. we'd meet at the beach for a "drivers meeting", and agree on starting line protocol, and egress protocol, should the need arise. if we were feeling like a road trip, we'd go down to ventura, where the big guys were. some would come up from los angeles, and a lot were on trailers. the bean fields west of town were the place. rose, and rice ave. there was a dairy queen in the middle of the bean fields, with divided road, and a stop light thoughtfully erected for the sole purpose of facilitating our shenanigans. the police would be lurking in the shadows, but, as long as we adhered to "the code of common sense", they'd leave us alone. if someone did something stupid, the police would descend upon us with a great vengeance, and we would disperse immediately, if not sooner. by that time i had a nitrous injected 340 duster, and was the only car i (or anyone else for that matter) knew of that had nitrous. i was hailed as the "mad scientist" of the bunch. the car was untouchable with fresh spark plugs and a full bottle. it ran 12s, which was super fast back then. it was undefeated, and i refused to race for money. most of the "heavies" thought that strange, but, really, i think the thrill of street racing was such that involving money would dilute the experience for me. and of course, there were the buffoons screaming for a "race for pinks". i'd jeer, telling them i didn't want their car, i just wanted to race! my boys are grown men now, and i feel free to share (some) of my adventures with them. and when we watch "american graffiti", i tell them, with maybe just a little wetness in the eyes, "yes, it was just like that."
Posted By: ahy

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/05/09 03:55 AM

It was the early 80's but here goes. I was driving back to school in Virginia on a Sunday night. My car was a Plymouth Horizon, 2.2l 4 speed. Funds were a little low but I had just done a decent brake job... even turned the rotors. Tires were another story. Three almost bald all seasons and the spare which was a different vintage almost bald all season.

I always took a "short cut" through several National Forests and over 7 mountains in West Virginia and Virginia. I got into the boonies about 10 PM driving about 8/10'ths and a car was closing slowly on me. It turned out to be an Escort. He pulled out to pass, I slowed down just a little to let him by and then the race was on. I had a very slight edge in acceleration and he could get around the corners a little better so we were closely matched. Passing required momentum and "getting the jump". On the rare straight aways, the 85 MPH speedo was pegged so hard it wouldn't even wiggle. We were at it for over an hour swapping positions several times. By unspoken agreement we slowed down in the few small towns. Near the end there was a straight away followed by a near 90 degree bend. I knew it well and got slowed down and around the bend with a bit of drift. At that point he was behind me. After the bend I didn't see him at all until I slowed down later for a town and traffic. When I turned off I saw him pass with a big crease in his back bumper. He must have met a tree on the bend. My only casualty was severly warped front rotors from overheating the brakes. I lived with the shake until I finished school and got a job and enough money to fix it. The Horizon continued to serve me well past the 100k mile mark.

That was the first - and last - time I really raced on the street. We were both lucky.
Posted By: 68KillerBee

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/05/09 04:27 AM

Quote:


...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...





i'm enjoying these! can't wait to have my new intake and carb on this winter and try it out next spring.
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 05:11 AM

Quote:




OK, so one night I'm supposed to race Scotty Guadagno...
Time to get drastic. We found a few more trinkets to add to the pile, as did Scotty's guys. At the last second, I decide to pull out all the stops. Scotty is in the truck waiting for me to line up..I motion for him to wait a minute while I take a leak. I stepped out into the weeds, drained my bladder, and then took off all my clothes and tossed them on the pile. I jumped in the car, lined up, and off we went. At the end of the quarter, we had it by half a bumper..VICTORY at LAST!
Lemme tell ya. I street raced NYC 7 nights a week everywhere and in everything you can imagine, but that one night with the truck and the borrowed car was the tightest, most fun racing I think I ever had.




Hey Tony, the way I heard it you went out behind Scotty's trailer to take a dump and then pulled him by a car.






Awwwwww, c'mon, ya don't believe me? Ya can't make stuff like that up! I've got a long standing rep for going over-the-top, maddog for any victory. The Niel in that story is legendary Automotive Journalist to the stars Niel Van Oppre...I got witnesses!!!
There was one night I was runnin something down at the Fount, and having no luck getting any hook at all..it was brutal and I was gettin my asss handed to me lap after lap. So, my wife was standing off to the side spectating...I decided to put her to 105 pounds to use.
Lee (Full Metal Jacket) was the starter that night, and I had his 3 count down to an absolute science. I made my wife get in the back seat...leaning all the way forward, kinda hunched over the back of the front seat. When lee got to two, of the three count, I'd have Kathy throw her weight as hard as she could into the right rear corner of the seat. When I saw her body move, I would swap feet and go. The strategy worked like gangbusters and we were in the hunt for the rest of the night.
Those were some great times man....shiit...I gotta race something. Lee, is there still any action up there?
Posted By: topside

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/05/09 05:20 AM

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!
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 01:58 PM

Fountain has long been redeveloped and speed bumps introduced to the strip. A giant mall is right across the way on the other side of the killing fields.
I remember when the cops would find dead bodies out there in the weeds during the late 70's and 80's. I'm wondering if they were extras from the fatal crashes there. After our hey days and nights, the animals from Columbia St. came over and trashed the haunt with their stupid modern day racing antics, if you want to even call it that, hence the fatal crashes.

South is desolate and redeveloped also. A few out-houses have been built along the shut down area. That's my title for condominiums.
Siverado, the unmarked Grand Fury and its occupant must long be retired now.

The only action on a special notice situation is The White top, a name just to protect the not so innocent. $$$$ is the only language spoken there.

Newark's The Hole is on a special call of duty also. The last of the Diehards only run at these parts, because the track is now trying to court the streeters into getting it on at the track. Fun, but not exciting like the street.
Every one says the same thing. It's like covert poker in the basements of Chinatown compared to the legality of Vegas.

My little spot that is an icon from way back is the old Connecting. I've had a few runs there in the not so distant past and every now and then spot check my car there to make sure the cobs are out of the cogs. I feel like the Ghost of christmas tree past there.
Always nice to hear your intentions Tony. You are the best.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 02:12 PM

You know, come to think of it, in the early 90's, I remember saying to some cats that a street race show withholding the ID's of place and face would be a smash on TV. Cats laughed.
Who's PINK in the face now. I am, because I should have just gone and done it with a great proposal and bring the real DEAL OR NO DEAL to the screen. My art career gets in the way of some mischievous fun some times.

I think to bring some new jazz to the popular show on TV now is for a one episode special guest appearance by the TOP ARM DROPPERS of our time in major cities to guest DROP on the show. I know there is some of us out there still recovering from LONG ARM syndrome. LOL.
Kind of give a relief to Richard and make for real trash talking. I promise I won't upstage him.
I'd rep New YORK in a ZOO YORK minute. Ready for my close up. Tony, we in or what? LOL.
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/05/09 02:46 PM

Quote:

. It was well and alive till 85-86. I was there and the designated starter for quite a few years.




guess it was then.. i left 'the rock'(staten island) in 74, and for a couple/few years prior to 74, south ave had died... there was the occassional race there, and arden ave, but when 'leo' would see a large group of muscle rummbling on forrest/richmond ave, they knew the destination and got there first.

and then as u say development happened,and the fat lady sang and that was the end...
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 03:26 PM

In NYC you had plenty of "bad actors" running the streets & some were even good enough to turn pro or semi-pro. Those guys would prefer not to own up to that part of their past, but those of us who were there Remember & miss them. The "Mutt Bros" with Ronnie Lyles certainly desreves mention. Scott Shafiroff (YES, the engine builder) was out there, Bernie Agaman a VERY good S/S racer was there, "Brooklyn Heavy" (aka Rufus Boyd)who on occasion had Herb McCandless drive for him was there with his "Wild Pumpkin Race Team", A strange guy I only knew as "Hogan" with a red,white & blue '66 Chevelle was pretty good ---and these are only guys I remember after 30+ years! I'll give credit to most anyone who could street-race in NYC back then as it all was a combination of good car, good luck, mind-games & the fine art of BS'ing that earned you the respect of your peers. Sadly, all that seems to have disappeared. The young guys simply have lost the fine "art" of street-racing & its etiquette. But for a few of us old guys that are stilla round & occassionally square-off with each other,we still remember .
I'd love to hears some of the "pros" accounts of back then. I can remember seeing some of them haging around, trying to hide until they actually had to get in the car & race then just beating on the car like they were at the track, not caring if or when the cops would show up. I always believed they paid someone off, as the bets were too high & the rep/BSing was too long for the cops to simply not be there without them getting paid-off.
Posted By: 70 buzz

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/05/09 04:07 PM

Anyone from Marion Ohio? four way street through town which ran in a circle. Used to drag from one stop light to another. It was hard for the cops to catch us because we new which side of the loop they were on. We called it shooting the loop. Every make and model of muscle car was there on the weekends.
Posted By: Kirby

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 04:21 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Baddest of the bad, in it's own time and place, was my buddy's '67 Belvedere. In Minneapolis, in the mid-80s, for one or two summers, nothing would touch it. I'm talking 30 wins, zero losses record. It was a 440, .590 DC cam, tunnel ram, 3800 stall Turbo Action, 3.91s, SS Springs, subframe connectors, L60-15 street tires. But that thing would always hook hard on the street. The fastest it ever ran at the strip was low 12s but that was fast enough at that time and place to be untouchable on the street.

The body had been pulled out of a junkyard, and it had "Rock and Roll Machine" painted in big letters on the sides. Everyone laughed at it until they got stomped by it.




Big Al's gold one?




No, but I remember that car and guy. It was a gold '66 or '67 Coronet that used to cruise Central Ave. in northeast Minneapolis. I remember he was running aluminum rods on the street, something we considered pretty radical at the time. I don't think my friend ever raced him.




Big Al is a trip! He's like an idiot savant with a six pack set up- he's helped me tune my T/A, and A-12 Bee. He really knows his stuff- and a lot of tricks too. He still has the Coronet- and has rebuilt the motor again- now a very nasty set up- he figures he'll get into the 10's now. The one thing that blew me away about him- is that he's gotta have a burning in the ash tray at all times. I used to go on tour with the Dead in the 80's, and I have NEVER seen anybody get after it like that in my life. Great guy- he should have the Coronet back on the street by now- if not, spring for sure. He has TONS of street racing/cop ditching stories. One thing I think is nuts- is he has a nasty shot of NOS on his car- and a 4speed to boot. The car looks exactly like you remember it- as he's never restored it cosmetically- old school look still-
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 05:28 PM

Quote:


I'd rep New YORK in a ZOO YORK minute. Ready for my close up. Tony, we in or what? LOL.




Bro, I've thought about doin something pink for a while now...but my personal fleet is too dear to me, and dedicated race car cash goes into my Fuel Car a couple of dimes at a time...but I do think a few of us old school NY Street Rats could make that whole deal real interesting.
It sucks to hear that all the old haunts are built out and populated up. The scene we used to have was amazing...I think we took it for granted back in the day. There was always somebody to race somewhere. There were times I remember running the Fount early with one car, heading over to South Ave for the late shift with another car, and then going out to the Hole to check out their deal just before the sun came up, all in one night. I'd eat dinner, wash up, stash a few smokes in the lining of my jacket in case I got busted, and then GO RACING! 7 nights a week.
Remember those whack jobs down in Red Hook? That was one place I never had the stones to try. Narrow little strip of pavement that ended up in the drink. Fun stuff but I didn't have any scuba gear.
Man, I would do it all again in a heartbeat, but the scene just does not seem to exist anymore. Tell ya what Lee, and this is a promise. I've got one particular beast going together in my backyard that I think might be able to do some damage to that big asss Dodge of yours. I'm thinkin you and me, heads up, no break, three count on the pavement of your choice...sometime before one of us is dead. You down for that?
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 06:01 PM

[ I'm thinkin you and me, heads up, no break, three count on the pavement of your choice...sometime before one of us is dead. You down for that?


And for the entertainment of you young pups.....this is how it all began. A little trash talk, a little dare and the race is on. Just let me know the place and time and I'll flag you. LOVE IT! (In all seriousness, take it to the track where it's safe.)
Posted By: imfixinmopars426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 07:03 PM

couple of cool memories are in the fall of 76,riding on the school bus,i kept seeing,in one of yards of the homes we passed, a really bad looking 55 chev,straight axle,flip front and "mighty mouse" painted on the 1/4's. now that was the start of me needing a fast car!
another in 1978 or so,my dad had a insurance agency uptown,and i mowed grass,and walking to the near gas station,i heard a fantastic engine start up,and clear out! i spun around to see a faded,but clean maverick leaving the gas station,cragers,open headers,and tom lipman driving.the local wildman,now dead druggie. he left the station,banging gears,and front end looking a little light,and posi's all over the mainstreet. later i found out,that his dad had a boss 302 wrecked,and they cobbed it into the maverick,man i can still see that bad machine,and toms wild look.
Posted By: steved033

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 07:06 PM

Quote:

You know, come to think of it, in the early 90's, I remember saying to some cats that a street race show withholding the ID's of place and face would be a smash on TV. Cats laughed.
Who's PINK in the face now. I am, because I should have just gone and done it with a great proposal and bring the real DEAL OR NO DEAL to the screen. My art career gets in the way of some mischievous fun some times.

I think to bring some new jazz to the popular show on TV now is for a one episode special guest appearance by the TOP ARM DROPPERS of our time in major cities to guest DROP on the show. I know there is some of us out there still recovering from LONG ARM syndrome. LOL.
Kind of give a relief to Richard and make for real trash talking. I promise I won't upstage him.
I'd rep New YORK in a ZOO YORK minute. Ready for my close up. Tony, we in or what? LOL.




Along these lines...

So how cool could it be to have the next "fast and the furious" installment be set in about 1972?

Same characters (maybe playing their parents?)

sjd -- threadjacker!
Posted By: imfixinmopars426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 07:20 PM

1982,i was cruising in the 69 gts to the left,383,big cam 850,headers,and 4.56's...i keep seeing a black 340 dart pacing me from behind,through town. i thought to myself,i have him covered big time,so why not? finally we line up on the last light leaving town...now mind you,my dad has the biggest insurance agency in town,and is the bailbondsman,and he told me"dont EVER call me to get bailed out"...so usually i was careful,but...well you know,no punk in a 340,can get away with,that look,that smirk.so we rev'd,and i like to leave strong,so we do,and through my first,we are side by side,i powershift into 2nd at 6500,and pull on him HARD.as my eyes drift away from the tach,i look to the left,then hard to the left!....i failed to see the white,and black chevy suburban sitting at he light we just passed....opps,local sheriff dept! i let the dart pass me,and slide behind him,and like right now,the cops are pushing me to the curb,HARD! they cut me off,and blocked me,like they just busted the mob or something,and the passenger gets out,screaming at me,long story,short,RECKLESS DRIVING! so i tell dad,and all he says is fight it,it wont cost any more,so i did,and see the dart kid there to testify against me.after a hour,the clerk comes to tell me,the cop didnt show,and charges are dropped,and all dad did is smile...thanks dad! miss him bad,lost him in 1988
somehow i cant get the attach pic to come up,after i resize

Attached File
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 07:38 PM

Quote:


I'd rep New YORK in a ZOO YORK minute. Ready for my close up. Tony, we in or what? LOL.




Bro, I've thought about doin something pink for a while now...but my personal fleet is too dear to me, and dedicated race car cash goes into my Fuel Car a couple of dimes at a time...but I do think a few of us old school NY Street Rats could make that whole deal real interesting.
It sucks to hear that all the old haunts are built out and populated up. The scene we used to have was amazing...I think we took it for granted back in the day. There was always somebody to race somewhere. There were times I remember running the Fount early with one car, heading over to South Ave for the late shift with another car, and then going out to the Hole to check out their deal just before the sun came up, all in one night. I'd eat dinner, wash up, stash a few smokes in the lining of my jacket in case I got busted, and then GO RACING! 7 nights a week.
Remember those whack jobs down in Red Hook? That was one pla
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 07:52 PM

Game!
or Game over when you line up against this Dark side of the force. LOL. Street car remember.
I've got a strip and it will only be revealed when we meet at the telephone booth on the corner. Ooohhhps, there isn't anymore telephone booths left, well........
How about we do it at Atco one day when it is packed, and we buzz up the crowd to bet on the cars. $ 1.00 a person or what ever they want to put in. Winner takes all and donates all 100% proceeds to the charity of their choice. Prefer it be for a Children's charity.
Posted By: bigsexy440

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 08:03 PM

So I am a young guy (funny to say that since I am 30) but Street Racing has been pretty much out of vogue in my driving days.

I love reading this stuff, because it makes me think about the nights when I was a kid standing around the shop with my dad and his buddies and they would be telling stories like this.

I just want to make a note about "idiot" kids today racing in town and "why the HECK dont they just go out in the country like we did???" from older guys like my dad, and most of you guys.

And without making excuses for them, because alot really are idiots, but the whole "going out in the country" part is pracically nonexistant anymore.

Back in the 60s and 70s you guys could go find a perfectly straight road in the middle of nowhere less than 5 miles out of town! Now adays, it takes dang near 30 minutes to just get out of a normal sized town, and then just TRY and find an empty road!
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/05/09 08:07 PM

I was there one night on 150th where I saw and heard a ...............cop take a pay stub to allow them let it all hang out. He simply said, Get it off in three minutes because I have to report to the home base after that, and you'll all be in deep ....
You should have seen how quick both teams got the cars off the trailers, burned out, lined up, hung all four front tires in the air and squared off at the motel at the end. Nascar pit teams could never hang with them.


........Cop was watching the whole run from his reserved front row seat up above at the first overpass just before the finish line. CRAZY.
I have many .........
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 01:03 AM

Funny you should mention 150th--I knew a Housing Authority cop, I won't mention his name 'cause he works for a well-known engine builder now, that lived near there & had a certain yellow Gremlin he streetraced alot. The neat thing was his "shop"(home) was right nearby. He was the first guy I knew that raced an automatic (Vitar to be specific)and did quite well for himself on & off the track. Last I heard he had an original S/S AMX he occassionally races at E-town.
But to get back to some stories--- one night at Connecting Hwy the cops tried to disperse everyone by opening the hydrants along the access road & let the water run down the Hwy, figuring no one would run on a wet road. My friend goes over & tries to shut off one of the hydrants & gets jumped by 2 NYPD Highway Patrolmen who arrest him for "Disrupting Govermental Justice" . His parents have to bail him out over by the precinct near Queens Blvd. I never figured out the "justice" of risking kids racing on a road soaked by "government officials" yet trying to prevent a potenntially serious wreck was "disruptive"
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 01:06 AM

my bad... the guy on staten island with the fuelie vette and the 64 lemans was a fellow named johnny amanaro ... spelling mite be off on the last name... he was there in the late 60's/very early 70's...
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 01:55 AM

I just remembered a guy named Joe, knew him but never really hung with him because he was a little older than us juniors and seniors in high school. Joe was a die hard Mopar guy and I think it was in 1967 he ordered a 4 door Coronet, Hemi, automatic, steel wheels and dog dish hubcaps. Guess how many people he fooled on the streets? Absolutely everyone and took a lot of wins from some pretty fast cars. The car looked like my grandma's car, other than the drive train.
Posted By: sixpakdodge

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 02:12 AM

Quote:

I just remembered a guy named Joe, knew him but never really hung with him because he was a little older than us juniors and seniors in high school. Joe was a die hard Mopar guy and I think it was in 1967 he ordered a 4 door Coronet, Hemi, automatic, steel wheels and dog dish hubcaps. Guess how many people he fooled on the streets? Absolutely everyone and took a lot of wins from some pretty fast cars. The car looked like my grandma's car, other than the drive train.




Hmm. What color? Are you sure it wasn't a '66?
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 02:22 AM

Hmm. What color? Are you sure it wasn't a '66?


Dark blue and it might have been 1966. It's been 43 years +/- since I've seen the car but it was definately a sleeper.
Posted By: sixpakdodge

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 02:25 AM

Quote:

Hmm. What color? Are you sure it wasn't a '66?


Dark blue and it might have been 1966. It's been 43 years +/- since I've seen the car but it was definately a sleeper.




Not a factory Hemi.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 02:32 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Hmm. What color? Are you sure it wasn't a '66?


Dark blue and it might have been 1966. It's been 43 years +/- since I've seen the car but it was definately a sleeper.




Not a factory Hemi.


I believe it was, but then again I was 16 or 17 years old at the time but I was sure Chrysler produced a very small number of 4 door Hemi cars and Joe had one. Maybe he did the swap himself but I don't remember him saying so but then again I don't remember what I ate for dinner last night.
Posted By: 69B3GT

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 02:35 AM

Quote:

So I am a young guy (funny to say that since I am 30) but Street Racing has been pretty much out of vogue in my driving days.

I love reading this stuff, because it makes me think about the nights when I was a kid standing around the shop with my dad and his buddies and they would be telling stories like this.

I just want to make a note about "idiot" kids today racing in town and "why the HECK dont they just go out in the country like we did???" from older guys like my dad, and most of you guys.

And without making excuses for them, because alot really are idiots, but the whole "going out in the country" part is pracically nonexistant anymore.

Back in the 60s and 70s you guys could go find a perfectly straight road in the middle of nowhere less than 5 miles out of town! Now adays, it takes dang near 30 minutes to just get out of a normal sized town, and then just TRY and find an empty road!




It all depends on the crowd, i grew up around street racing and ill always be around it. I hang out with alot of the older guys that i met in highschool and they all build and street race old cars. We have a few roads that are always vacant with a start line and another line at exactly 1320 ft. Its common to still find open headers, slicks, a bottle in the trunk and some good old VHT traction compound. I dont street race but i enjoy watching it. Not all kids are dumb about street racing, some of us still do it like the old days

Thanks for sharing all of the stories, it makes me wish i was around back then for all of it.
Posted By: sixpakdodge

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 02:40 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Hmm. What color? Are you sure it wasn't a '66?


Dark blue and it might have been 1966. It's been 43 years +/- since I've seen the car but it was definately a sleeper.




Not a factory Hemi.


I believe it was, but then again I was 16 or 17 years old at the time but I was sure Chrysler produced a very small number of 4 door Hemi cars and Joe had one. Maybe he did the swap himself but I don't remember him saying so but then again I don't remember what I ate for dinner last night.




3 Hemi Coronets; white, red, and tan. 1 Satellite, bluish-gray.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 02:42 AM


Not a factory Hemi.


I believe it was, but then again I was 16 or 17 years old at the time but I was sure Chrysler produced a very small number of 4 door Hemi cars and Joe had one. Maybe he did the swap himself but I don't remember him saying so but then again I don't remember what I ate for dinner last night.


I just Googled 4 door Hemi Coronet and found that Chrysler did produce some of these these cars in 1966. Glad part of my memory is still intact!
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 02:47 AM


3 Hemi Coronets; white, red, and tan. 1 Satellite, bluish-gray.


That's all? Just 3? Imagine what those are worth...WOW.
So maybe Joe did do heart surgery but it still impressed me. Thanks for the info on the number of cars produced. I read where at least 1 was produced for the FBI. Ain't getting away from those guys.
Posted By: sixpakdodge

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 03:03 AM

Quote:


3 Hemi Coronets; white, red, and tan. 1 Satellite, bluish-gray.


That's all? Just 3? Imagine what those are worth...WOW.
So maybe Joe did do heart surgery but it still impressed me. Thanks for the info on the number of cars produced. I read where at least 1 was produced for the FBI. Ain't getting away from those guys.




Rare doesn't always mean desirable. The white Coronet was built for the Feds. It's in Garlits' Museum.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 04:26 AM

PDs always have weird cars ordered or made availible to them for a variety of reasons. Personally, I believe there were more than 3 Hemi 4-doors built, as Suffolk County PD Hwy Patrol had more than that themselves. Grant it, it was 40+ years ago but my Dad had friends on there that frequently mentioned how they hoped they could get one for their shift or how some supervisor got one & they really didn't need a car like that. All the manufactureres did it back then so it shouldn't be a surprise & given Mopar's notorious reputation for erratic record keeping who can say with absolute certainty there WERE only 3 produced?
Posted By: plasticfantastic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 03:21 PM

Quote:

Quote:


3 Hemi Coronets; white, red, and tan. 1 Satellite, bluish-gray.


That's all? Just 3? Imagine what those are worth...WOW.
So maybe Joe did do heart surgery but it still impressed me. Thanks for the info on the number of cars produced. I read where at least 1 was produced for the FBI. Ain't getting away from those guys.




Rare doesn't always mean desirable. The white Coronet was built for the Feds. It's in Garlits' Museum.




red one was trying to be sold last summer, (dude wanted a million for it), and the 3rd is in Europe somewhere, (Finland maybe?)

guy that was selling the red one is a member on here iirc, he wanted to buy all 3 and have all of them, but Garlits said he'd never sell his.
Posted By: plasticfantastic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 03:40 PM


All these racing stories are really cool, and entertaining... (I'd like to hear the ones where people got beat too)

My dad did all this in the late 60's and 70's, even running his C/MP 69 Cuda on the streets, but growing up when I'd go to the cruise place in my 68 road runner (17 at the time) parked a couple down would be my dad in his 70 road runner. So I didnt participate.
Working at Milan, I didnt feel the need to street race, always knew someone was always faster, and looks never can tell how fast someone is. Besides when I was 16-17 all you saw on the streets were 5.0 mustangs and grand nationals.

Now a days I dont get the mentality of driving down the road at 60 mph, beep the horn 3 times and floor it... thats not a race to me, but then I practically grew up at Norwalk and Milan.


So, heres my best memory, In Toledo, on the corner of Alexis and Lewis, there was this cruise spot, and jsut a mile to the north was the Michigan border. If you were on Lewis heading towards toledo, the last stop light street is smith, and conviently enough its a quarter mile from Smith to the water treatment plant, and then after that into toledo, is enough shut down so that when you come into toledo, youre going the speed limit, or close to it.
so it wasnt uncommon to see people pull out followed by a bunch of others heading north into michigan.

the crowd i hung with was mostly mopars, my dads 6bbl road runner, my friend johns 69 Charger with a stout 440, Matts 70 coronet (with a 500 incher <- back when that was major) a couple grand nationals that ran exceptionally fast, and me with the stock 68 383 roadrunner. we always just hung out, we raced at Milan and afterwards go to this place, buy some drinks at McDonalds and hang out looking at all the cars,

one night some guy comes in with an Iroc Z Camaro, it was white, it had all the plastic body panels on it, big wing off the back, (and this is like 1988ish), T tops out, and hes looking for a race, so hes shooting off his mouth and so it gets around to us and he wants to race me, my dad says no way, so this guy says he'll race anyone there.
after a lot of BSing, it was arrainged that Matt would take him on with his 70 coronet.
its sad that memories fail, but I can remember 4 car lengths off the start and then Matt burping him all the way down Lewis as this Camaro was WFO and falling behind.

now adays when confronted to race on the streets, i reply with the typical, "ill race you at the track",
if they are faster, i'm ok with that, but I'll "11:50 them to death" and thats what racing is to me.
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 04:46 PM

It is about-time I add my $ 000000.03 here .....

NOTHING compared to the street-action in the Detroit and metro areas ... NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Racers would come from everywhere ... Chicago, Cleveland, NY etc ....and I think one time there was a guy who showed up from Dallas.

Thursday nite "action" ... would last until 5 or 6 am sometimes ... and at times guys would be still-around until 10 or 11 in the morning.

It is sometimes nice to be self-employed and have an open-schedule that would allow you this freedom.

...and I have not mentioned ANYTHING about the action on or around Telegraph, Woodward, Gratiot ..... in Flint, downriver, Pontiac, the actual downtown Detroit .. etc.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 05:25 PM

I was wondering when some more "Motown" folks were going to show up so what's your best street racing story?
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 05:42 PM

Quote:


NOTHING compared to the street-action in the Detroit and metro areas ... NOT EVEN CLOSE.
etc.




i'd put south ave on staten island in the late 60's up against ANYPLACE...

but since i was not in detroit and u were not in new york.....
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 06:55 PM

NEVER heard of anyone going to NYC from Detroit for a little "action" ... but the opposite happened many times.
Posted By: EWJ

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 07:11 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:


3 Hemi Coronets; white, red, and tan. 1 Satellite, bluish-gray.


That's all? Just 3? Imagine what those are worth...WOW.
So maybe Joe did do heart surgery but it still impressed me. Thanks for the info on the number of cars produced. I read where at least 1 was produced for the FBI. Ain't getting away from those guys.




Rare doesn't always mean desirable. The white Coronet was built for the Feds. It's in Garlits' Museum.




red one was trying to be sold last summer, (dude wanted a million for it), and the 3rd is in Europe somewhere, (Finland maybe?)

guy that was selling the red one is a member on here iirc, he wanted to buy all 3 and have all of them, but Garlits said he'd never sell his.




The breakdown of publicly known existing 4 door Hemi cars are:

3 66 Dodge Coronets: White/Red/Tan, all autos. William D. owns the Red and Tan cars- and the red one was on display at Carlisle in 2005 or 2006.
1 67 Satelite: Blue/auto in Finland.

In additon to this list, there was a 66 Plymouth Belv II, Dark Green/4 speed built in St. Louis, late March 1966.

To call it 'sleeper' was an understatement...
Posted By: imfixinmopars426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 07:56 PM

typical,cool post turns into a pi.ssin match if detroit/nyc is better 40 yrs ago,and if they made a 4 door or not....
Posted By: 540challenger

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 07:59 PM

Quote:

typical,cool post turns into a pi.ssin match if detroit/nyc is better 40 yrs ago,and if they made a 4 door or not....




Well NYC 4 door cars were the faster cars from coast 2 coast 40 years ago...........J/K
Posted By: EWJ

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 09:34 PM

Quote:

typical,cool post turns into a pi.ssin match if detroit/nyc is better 40 yrs ago,and if they made a 4 door or not....




Yeeesh. You're the first to bring true negativity to the thread.

I'm done with any input. Sorry for hijack.
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 09:35 PM

Quote:

typical,cool post turns into a pi.ssin match if detroit/nyc is better 40 yrs ago,




pissing match??? one guys says detroit was da place, i say new york.. what pissin match??
Posted By: imfixinmopars426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/06/09 11:07 PM

Quote:

Quote:

typical,cool post turns into a pi.ssin match if detroit/nyc is better 40 yrs ago,




pissing match??? one guys says detroit was da place, i say new york.. what pissin match??



i was hoping for more cool racing stories,not which city had the best turn outs,and what color 4 doors in 66.just hoping it was going to get back on track,sorry for being negitive,not my goal,should have worded it different i guess,sorry.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 01:39 AM

Hey guys and gals, let's keep the racing stories going for the youth out there. Now I know some of you think NY had the fast cars and others think Detroit had the fast cars but in reality everyone should know that the racing capitol of the WORLD probably had the fastest cars and that would be INDY! We all love our home state and that's understandable and I'm sure there were some very fast cars everywhere but the topic is: Sharing your memories with those that will follow in our footsteps, those that will buy our cars when we are too old to yank a strong second gear, and continue the hobby of owning these great muscle cars of the 60's and 70's.

So, as the young folks have requested, let's share some more of our stories because it is quite obvious that they enjoy them, and I do too.

One youngster requested that we share some of our "loosing" stories but like a failed marriage we somehow don't seem to remember the bad side, like loosing. However, I don't think everyone won all of the time so if you can share some of the times when a "bowtie" or a "blue oval" smoked you, it's okay, Dr. Phil will help you in your distress.

Thank you all for taking the time to share your past with our youth. Memories are what make us smile.

Now, we need some more stories weather you won or lost.
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 01:53 AM

How about the time I ran a big Pontiac with my brand new '71 Sebring 318 auto. He beat me twice in 2 blocks at the stop lights. I had the Sebring for about a week after I traded in my Mustang.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 02:16 AM

Okay, here is one of my loosing stories. In 1967 I had a black '62 Dodge Dart which had a 361 and auto tranny and if you read the "what did you take to the prom thread" you read that I got my girlfriend pregnant in that car but that's a different story. One of my school buddies had a '64 Plymouth Sports Fury Convert., very pretty car and he was running a 383 auto. I had just rebuilt the engine, milling the heads (yeh, that added a lot of H.P.)and putting a new AVS Carter on. He challenged me to a race and as every 17 year old "racer" knows....I wasn't about to back down. So we headed to one of our favorite racing strips, a new blacktop road in front of the Kroger warehouse on the near eastside of Indy. Late at night, no traffic and two "seasoned racers" ready to lay it on the line. We lined up, fender to fender, had the infamous countdown...3..2...1 and we both stabbed it at the same time. I think I got out just a little but he was starting to press me, as my index finger was ready to push second ( dash mounted push buttons)I noticed my oil pressure was dropping so I shut down. Bill came back and asked what was wrong and I told him I was loosing oil pressure but let's try it again. Same thing happened. As I was winding out in first the oil pressure was starting to drop so I shut it down again. What in the world was going on? After all I was a 17 year old engine builder with many, many years of experience in building these mighty Mopar engines, yeh right. I just couldn't figure it out then it hit me. When I put the engine together I filled the crankcase with straight 10W oil, not 10W30, just straight 10W oil. No wonder the pressure was dropping like a rock. I didn't tell Bill what I had done as I could tell his 383 was going to put my 361 in the loosing catagory so I just played dumb and never raced him again.

Incidentally, my new carb was stolen just a couple of nights after that race. I wonder who took it?
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 08:26 AM

Losing story? Got one of those, too. I had just gotten my license & my Dad let me "fix" up his '62 Plymouth wagon. The poor thing--it was my first attempt at "body work" and suspension mods & such & to say I screwed it up is an understatement. With the traditional shackles waaaay too high , Thrush mufflers & all, it was, quite honestly, an abortion.
Anyway I'm heading over to Connecting in it & this white Catalina pulls alongside. He starts playing with me, so I drop it down a gear & start bouncing the front-end. All of a sudden I hear this roar like a cross between a Cessna & an over-revved John Deere & he's gone---I couldn't have caught him if my wreck had a JATO unit on it. I pull up alongside of him at the next light and what do I see? A small emblem on the front fender that simply reads "SD421" . The driver looks at me & grins & with the traffic light now green, I sheepishly turn off the access road we're on & head straight for home. I deserved that "spanking" but I never squared off with someone again without at least SOME intel. on their car........
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 08:54 AM



NOTHING compared to the street-action in the Detroit and metro areas ... NOT EVEN CLOSE.

No doubt, Detroit had to have some REAL serious cars there---who wouldn't expect it?
I think the NYC "thing" wasn't that it was any better or worse than other places, just different. With the amount of roadways, and how they inter-connected & the character of some of the guys there it was as much a freak show as it was a race.
Posted By: HoosierGTX

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 12:41 PM

I grew up and still live in Seymour,IN. and this place was a hotbed for cruising and street racing for decades,the cops have put a stop to it now,but our most famous son John Melloncamp even wrote a song about it years ago called Chestnut Street Incident.Back in the day I owned a white 65 Coronet 500 with a mild 440,AT with a convertor and etc. There had been a red 69 big block Camaro coming from a nearby town and taking peoples money several weekends straight and my freinds and I decided we were going to put a stop to this.We issued a challenge to him one night for the next Saturday night on a old road outside of town we called Weasners dragway (weasners lived in the only house on the road). My freinds and I spent the whole week on the Coronet and come Saturday I showed up with 489 gears,slicks and open headers,much to my surprise the Camaro was waiting on me as was 250 to 300 bystanders,it seems everyone had heard about the big race.We do our burnouts and line up,the flag drops and the Camaro was history,I think I beat him by 6 or 7 car lenghths,but as we crossed the line redlights appear from the side road,a state cop had obviously heard about our race too,knowing I couldn't out run the big Mopar cop car with 489's I pulled over but the Camaro ran and he went after him,luckily I knew a local farmer and was able to put the dodge in his barn and catch a ride to town as cops were searching the area.The Camaro got caught and no one ratted me out,man I miss the good old days!
Posted By: Steve Reynolds

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 12:48 PM

Did any one reading or posting on this grow up in the St.Louis, Mo. area & ever hear of or wittness the Hall St. street racing. There is a story of the owner of a "Bad Fish" taking the title of a mid 60's BB vette, not the first Pinks show I'm sure. I do know there were a lot of street races in & around the StL area on both sides of the river, this is from a little 1st hand experience.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 01:11 PM

Broadway or off Broadway.
Economics vs Ego-nomics.
When you have big Money and big front stage egos on the cutting block with no time to chitty chat yack about it, it commands a pedigree of some of the fastest cars out there. The likes of hot Stockers, Pro-stockers, and even rails with the shoots opening right there on the street.

Now granted, Detroit had all the combos bleeding out onto the streets instantly right off the assembly line which would call out that all Muscle being produced was christened on their Blvd's foremost and around the clock. Recreational yes,
Business, probably not for at least for the first few fertile years.

The quest for the crown may lay on who was/is more hungry and for what.
Or maybe there is no crown at all, just two different entities co-surviving and reviving themselves, not to mention many other cities that caught the bug.
Recreational feather in the hat supremacy, or cold hard cash in the hand.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 01:24 PM

I rarely ventured outside of Queens & when I did it was often simply as a spectator. I think the best races in NYC in terms of serious cars & big money was in Brooklyn or near JFK Airport. Of course most any area you'd find guys racing for hundreds & at times thousands of dollars, to say nothing of the side-bets, but to be privy to that stuff you had to know someone. for the older NYers a friend owned "Competition Speed", a shop in Jamaica, Queens and his shop alone supported 3 street racers I knew of, to say nothing of helping out customers like myself. I spent all my free time there either listening to stories, getting the latest info or simply advice from Larry on what I should be doing. Sadly guys & shops like that are long gone.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 01:41 PM

Now moving on to Speed shops since this thread is open to many sub-subjects, LOL "Manhattan Speed" in lower Manhattan had some pretty hairy stuff spilling out onto the streets.
I know what you are talking when you mention 150th and other such haunts as "The Hutch" and or "The Connecting" for Big Green. Talk about current day Green conscious, we were Green way before it was hip. LOL.
Participated in someway or another in those high $$$$takes runs at the tail end of its act.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 01:47 PM

"Manhattan Speed" ? If you're familiar with them, do you anything about their S/S HemiDart? It's kind of a long story & unrelated to this topic, but I'm REAL curious about it.......
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 02:36 PM

You mean the S&K Speed S/S Hemi Dart?
I know that Manhattan was into Fords and Bowties.
They had a side oiler in the basement.
Unless I missed some thing in their stories. I actually saw the Fords and the Chevies.
Posted By: Kudakidd

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/07/09 02:54 PM

Ok kiddies. Gather around Grandpa Kidd and listen to this story! OK seriously, due to nature of this thread, I'll tell ya a true story that happened 36 years ago. I was 17 when I ordered a new TX9 71 Cuda (you do the math calculating my age!). Not having much money, I ordered the baseline model with only a few options. The upgrades were 3.91 rear gears, an AM/FM stereo and a ralley dash. No road/ralley wheels, no console for the pistol grip; manual steering, brakes and windows. The base engine was an N code 383. The car cost $3,579.00. I forget what the breakdown was on the few options that were ordered. The car was ordered in Oct of 1970 and arrived at Ridgewood Plymouth (in Queens NY) in November. I picked it up at night and was it ever mean looking under the dealer lights! I drove that car every chance I could.

The 70’s were a great time to own a musclecar. Almost every guy I knew had one. We'd work on them in yards, single car garages and out in the streets. Every car had some mods; at least headers, intakes and carbs. No one went in for pretty looks. Nice rims were as far as cosmetics went. At night we'd cruise the boulevards looking for girls, cars to race and places to eat (but not in that order). At selected meeting places the heavy hitters (as today) were the blown cars, hemis and of course the ever popular tunnel rammed cars. Some that immediately come to mind were a rat powered GTO, a 800 hp race fuel burning Camaro and one badass Max wedge Fury. Names like Dino the Greek, Vinny from Atlantic Speed and the boys from S&k Speed were some of the heavy hitters I remember. There was only one Hemi powered car that we would see on a frequent basis and this was in NYC! They were rare even back then! Street racing happened every weekend at Connecting highway or Crossbay Blvd. It usually occurred after midnight. On the Connecting hwy, we had cars block the lanes at the start and finish so the racing could go on uninterrupted. Much cash was exchanged at this place. The blvd racing was just between two measured points. I raced a 70 Chevelle there, in what would be my closest and maybe last street race. I beat him by a side marker length. Afterward, winners, losers and followers would all go to a pizza joint and BS. They were great times. One of my favorite memories was raising some money to buy gas as I was running on fumes. We scraped up 75 cents and stopped at a Sunoco. It got us a little over 2 gallons of 260 (about 104 octane) and we were on our way again!
With all the money I was putting into go fast parts, I became nervous about theft. My theft deterrent? I pulled the Holley carb off the motor at night and brought it into my apartment with me! I got used to the stench of gasoline pretty quickly! My best score happened by fate. I was at a stop light one day and up next to me pulls another Cuda. The car itself was in rough shape, but it had a shaker hood with a piece of flat aluminum stock covering the hole where the shaker bubble should have been! His 70 was black as was mine, and I immediately got the idea of a swap. I rolled down the passenger window and asked if he was interested. Well, he was as crazy as I was and we went back to my place and switched hoods in the driveway! My next mission was to get all the related shaker parts to make the changeover complete. I went to S&W Dodge and got all the parts (baseplate, adaptor ring, bubble, grills, gaskets and cables) for a whopping $175.00. Life was good!
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/08/09 02:30 AM

Quote:

You mean the S&K Speed S/S Hemi Dart?
I know that Manhattan was into Fords and Bowties.
They had a side oiler in the basement.
Unless I missed some thing in their stories. I actually saw the Fords and the Chevies.




Apparently they had a Dart that was stolen or something back then & wound up (allegedly) out West somewhere. Someone had asked me if I knew anything about it as a car I once owned had a strong resemblence to it. According to the Authentication Guide, "Manhattan Speed" was one of the original purchaser's of one of these cars & I was wondering if anyone from back then could shed some light on this alleged disappearence.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/08/09 02:47 AM

I know that there was one over at Ebbets Field Dodge where a friend of mines Brother worked as the performance manager. That car ended up in either "Speed Wind" shop in Long Island or S&K Speed. One of them was campaigned on the street for sure. My memory banks are bankrupt at the moment.
Posted By: fastnos

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/08/09 11:38 AM

My 73 340 duster. I was stationed @ Vandenburg AFB, Ca, and got a 90 day TDY to Whiteman AFB, MO. Just arrived in the area and had not checked in yet. Was driving DD rd from Warrensburg to Whiteman AFB, which is a "hilly" 10 mile long road. Following another (slower) car to the back gate of the base, then a loud, white Camaro comes up on my rear, and tries to pass, but way too much traffic and too many hills. this went on for about 10 minutes.

Finally we get to one spot, long down hill, where you can see over 1 mile or so up the road and he flies around me. Well, I drop 2 gears and pull out right behind him, pull along side of him, make a big production of grabbing another gear and wind it out, pulling way ahead. Then grab 4th and pulled back in the right hand lane and let off. Brought it back down to almost 60 all the rest of the way there. He never passed me just stayed real close. Got on base and pulled into a parking lot by billeting, him still following. He pulled right behind me, so I got out, thinking "there's gonna be a fight."

First words out of his mouth were "What the h*ll you got IN that thing?" Well of course being a wise guy, I said "Slant 6, stock" and had to laugh. Then I pointed to the stripes and large 340 on the rear quarter of it .

Before I'd left California, I changed out the pumpkin in the 8.75 and had a open 2.94 for the trip in it. While I was in Missouri, I put in my 3.55's back in, and had a blast! K.C.I.R.& Noland Rd. = 1 hour away. Turns out, that was the best base I was stationed @ in 20 years. Good times, Nice area, Nice folks! Actually got stationed there for 3 years after that.

Attached picture 5592578-MyDuster340(Small)(WinCE)(Small)(Custom).jpg
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/08/09 04:30 PM

Quote:

I know that there was one over at Ebbets Field Dodge where a friend of mines Brother worked as the performance manager. That car ended up in either "Speed Wind" shop in Long Island or S&K Speed. One of them was campaigned on the street for sure. My memory banks are bankrupt at the moment.




I think the Ebbets Field one wound up as the Joe Jill's "Speedwin Automotive" car. I guess it'll remain a mystery as no one seems to know what came of "Manhattan Speed"'s car.
Anyway, another "war story"---back then, as I mentioned, I had a caged & tubbed Pinto. This was about the time the V-9 mini-cars (as they were called) were getting popular in P/S. An older, more race -experienced friend of mine had a real nice big-block Nova & was curious about these "new" cars. At my invitation I took him for a ride in mine, hopingI'd convert him as he had more than enough money to build a real nice one. Driving through Jamaica, Queens the car's real docile although there's no doubt it's carrying a V-8. I hit the Cross Island and open her up. The short wheelbase & crappy roads are a bit of a challenge but overall the car shows itself well, my buddy banging his head against the rollcage once or twice. I look over & he's has a death grip on the cage & is ghost white. Figuring this isn'r exactly a good way to convert someone to thebenefits of the new cars I back off & head back to the speed shop. Once there he jumps out screaming at me, questioning my sanity & says he'll NEVER get in one of those "things" again and how a car like that will kill someone. Well, history's kinda proven him wrong & I sometimes wonder what he drives now since a Pinto or Vega would today be considered "mid-size"
Posted By: MikeyT

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/08/09 04:50 PM

Quote:

Quote:

I know that there was one over at Ebbets Field Dodge where a friend of mines Brother worked as the performance manager. That car ended up in either "Speed Wind" shop in Long Island or S&K Speed. One of them was campaigned on the street for sure. My memory banks are bankrupt at the moment.




I think the Ebbets Field one wound up as the Joe Jill's "Speedwin Automotive" car. I guess it'll remain a mystery as no one seems to know what came of "Manhattan Speed"'s car.
Anyway, another "war story"---back then, as I mentioned, I had a caged & tubbed Pinto. This was about the time the V-9 mini-cars (as they were called) were getting popular in P/S. An older, more race -experienced friend of mine had a real nice big-block Nova & was curious about these "new" cars. At my invitation I took him for a ride in mine, hopingI'd convert him as he had more than enough money to build a real nice one. Driving through Jamaica, Queens the car's real docile although there's no doubt it's carrying a V-8. I hit the Cross Island and open her up. The short wheelbase & crappy roads are a bit of a challenge but overall the car shows itself well, my buddy banging his head against the rollcage once or twice. I look over & he's has a death grip on the cage & is ghost white. Figuring this isn'r exactly a good way to convert someone to thebenefits of the new cars I back off & head back to the speed shop. Once there he jumps out screaming at me, questioning my sanity & says he'll NEVER get in one of those "things" again and how a car like that will kill someone. Well, history's kinda proven him wrong & I sometimes wonder what he drives now since a Pinto or Vega would today be considered "mid-size"




LOL! Now that one takes the cake!

Mike
Posted By: ThermoQuad

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/09/09 02:57 AM

Is 1981 close enough??? San Jose CA
We would cruise the El Camino in SunnyVale and then hit Ringwood Ave for the real action.
Industrial area, no other traffic,
1/4 mile between roads.
The cops never showed up

When ready one car would signal and the christmas tree would light. OK we use a car parked on the grass just up the street-no lights, parking lights, headlights GO!!!. I never lost...my buddy Dave would get out of the car ahead of time to get into the crowd to bet on me. He said the crowd used to go wild when we flew by as there would be flames coming out of my short exhaust system and the car would be screaming. I can't say if the flames were real but the car really ran quick back then...My girlfreind of the time used to insist on going for the ride-she was about
100 lbs soaking wet-So I used to call her my handicap...She promised to pay if we lost.


I still have the same pos car today
Posted By: Robert1050

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/09/09 07:06 AM

Quote:

I remember when I discovered newsgroups when joining the Net, there was a good "room" with some old street racers. One of them was a guy named "Preacher" from the LA area. I think car guys who lived in LA in the 1970s were in heaven, so I'd love to hear some of the stories if anyone here fits that description.




"Preacher", I haven't heard that name in about 30 years......I used to street race in the LA area from the mid-70's until the early-80's. We used to hang out at Bob's Big Boy in Westchester and raced on Pershing Dr (at the west end of LAX's runways). Some nights there would be hundreds of people lining both sides of the Drive and big money would go down.

Some people had 'interesting' names, there was "Preacher", dirty ED, Camelot, Tarkus.....Big Willy even came down once or twice and he'd bring a pretty good sized crowd of friends with him.

I don't remember any cars being trailered to the races and a lot of tires would get switched in the parking lot (street tires for slicks). Headers would be uncorked. Fun times. Most cars were sleepers, most of the guys wouldn't pop their hoods, but you could tell by the sound of the motor what end of the C.I. spectrum the motor was.
Posted By: b54406barrel

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/09/09 04:13 PM

This was my first '69 Camaro (I painted 2 the same color scheme ). Mid- 70's it was my first time with Drag 500's & we used bleach w/the water. They still didn't bite real good on 'Feedville Road International' but they looked cool & intimidating. Street asphalt kind of tore them up.


Best race story I have was about two of my friends who decided to race on our little town's airport road. Mike had a Nova & Bob a 72 Road Runner. I don't remember who won as I wasn't there but, they got nailed by a city cop for 'conducting a speed contest' . When they went to court, the judge threw it out. At that time the center of airport road was the city limit line and the judge told the cop, 'you can't write a ticket outside the city limits & you can't prosecute one guy for 'conducting a speed contest' with himself'. He then said, 'if you'd written him up on reckless driving, I could'. I was in front of Judge Marvin many times myself & he never cut me that kind of slack! Just like Ripley's, 'Believe it, or not.'
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/09/09 05:25 PM

I always had a hard time writing guys for streetracing---kinda hard to do when you've done it yourself. . The few I did write I always got a conviction and they got the maximum penalty (8pts/ $1000 fine) as it was an aggravated situation and the Prosecutor was smart enough to bring up my racing experience to substantiate I knew just WHAT a race was.
One time 2 guys had the same Court date & one goes in to testify on behalf of the other. The first claimed his car couldn't even do the 100mph+ the report said. When presented with photos of the car the Judge didn't buy it & convicted him. The second guy goes to Court & pleads with the Prosecutor to let him go with the same penalty as the first guy,as he was looking at a license revocation. The Prosecutor asked me what I thought. Since he was doing the same thing, I thought it was only fair he got the same punishment. The Prosecutor & Judge bought into it, & like the first guy, it cost him 1k & 8pts--somehow the Judge ignored the potential revocation. The funny thing was both guys could've avoided the whole problem except when I had stopped the first guy & said "Nice street race!", figuring I'd give him a warning, he said " F#$k You! Prove it!"...I did....
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/09/09 06:42 PM

HemiC.

You might get a kick out of this one that I some how forgot. One of those rare but magical days back in the 80's at The Fount.
Two Blue and whites roll up from behind the Starting line and most people scattered like ants. There was only still a few hundred people still left with keys in hand and pants down when these two patrol cars just stopped there and smirked at each other with that look of (Wanna race?) to much delight of the crowd, me included.

I staged them for their burn outs and walked them into the gate, lined them up, gave 'em the three count and off they were with their bubbles flashing into the beautiful sunset that was so soothing against the chaos back then. I don't know who won because they were both the same colors with the lights. LOL. True story.

I think I have more stories of cops at the races, then the races themselves.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/09/09 08:32 PM

Here at least there's alot of cop "gearheads" so it's not unusual for them to be a little more tolerant of things around here. I don't know of a single cop gearhead that hasn't been involved in at least one streetrace & if he tells you he never has, he's lying! The odd/sad thing is that for us old guys who remember the old big-block Mopar cop cars the new stuff is pretty sad, although the Charger is okay, it does lack some things from a cop-car perspective.
Posted By: jagrunt551

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/09/09 09:42 PM

Not really a race story, but a real tale of the old days. Early spring in the 70's Had a '68 GTO that had some work done to it. Went to a local bar one evening and saw a girl I really liked with another guy. I had only been out of the Army a short time and wondered if she and he were seeing each other while I was in Vietnam. Lost my cool (like I ever had any)and just starting driving the GTO home. The State Police had a favorite place to hang out and if you weren't from the area you never knew they were there. Well I blew through the red light and the chase was on. I could see the red lights way back, but I stopped ,pulled over , and waited for them. This big red headed Trooper reaches in and pulles me out the drivers window, through the cuffs on, and hauled me to the local jail cell. Only one ticket about three foot long. Bailed out -had to walk back to the car and then court. Had an old judge who questioned me and found out I was a combat vet. Gave me 6 months to be real good and it went away, if i came back I'd be paying for it. I found the trooper and said I was sorry for the situation I'd put him in. The best I'm Sorry I ever said. I guess the story here is that back in the day the Police could still use their own wisdom where as today most are dictated as to how to handle everthing. Sorry about running off OK I'll go turn in my license and move to Florida.
Posted By: Edison62

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/09/09 11:37 PM

Ok.. first off... disclaimer.. It's not a Mopar!

Now, in 1980 my parents bought me a 1975 Monte Carlo, 350 auto. Nice ride.. me and a buddy Ray did some work on the engine, had a shift kit put in the turbo 350/Posi and had some fun. One night a local guy with a "NEW" 1982?? Mustang (Black on Black w/green stripes)Turbo 5 speed was laughing at some of us with bigger/older cars as he called them... needless to say one thing led to another and the challenge went out... I'd run my big/old Monte up againest his Mustang (temp tag still in the rear window and all!). He also stated... If I beat him he'd burn the car!!!!!!

Well, we lined up... for a 2 out of three on the Old Sydney Road.... I got him off the line and the first one was mine. Second one was a bit closer but I pulled away when he was around third gear..... no need for a rubber match!

We got together later that night (about 2AM) and sat out on his front step watching a flicker of light away in the distance (a huge open field)... the Mustang was no more.... it was turned into a big BBQ..LOL!!!! A few weeks later he was driving another Mustang.. again NEW.. white car w/a 302 Auto!!!

Bryan

P.S... here's a picture of me and my Monte Carlo back in the early 80's... I still have the car!

Attached picture 5595690-MonteCarlo-2.jpg
Posted By: MLR426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/12/09 06:34 PM

Quote:

1982,i was cruising in the 69 gts to the left,383,big cam 850,headers,and 4.56's...i keep seeing a black 340 dart pacing me from behind,through town. i thought to myself,i have him covered big time,so why not? finally we line up on the last light leaving town...now mind you,my dad has the biggest insurance agency in town,and is the bailbondsman,and he told me"dont EVER call me to get bailed out"...so usually i was careful,but...well you know,no punk in a 340,can get away with,that look,that smirk.so we rev'd,and i like to leave strong,so we do,and through my first,we are side by side,i powershift into 2nd at 6500,and pull on him HARD.as my eyes drift away from the tach,i look to the left,then hard to the left!....i failed to see the white,and black chevy suburban sitting at he light we just passed....opps,local sheriff dept! i let the dart pass me,and slide behind him,and like right now,the cops are pushing me to the curb,HARD! they cut me off,and blocked me,like they just busted the mob or something,and the passenger gets out,screaming at me,long story,short,RECKLESS DRIVING! so i tell dad,and all he says is fight it,it wont cost any more,so i did,and see the dart kid there to testify against me.after a hour,the clerk comes to tell me,the cop didnt show,and charges are dropped,and all dad did is smile...thanks dad! miss him bad,lost him in 1988
somehow i cant get the attach pic to come up,after i resize




Mike none of us want to see the picture of you in short
shorts blown up any larger. Good story though..

logan426
Posted By: MLR426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/12/09 06:37 PM

Quote:

I always had a hard time writing guys for streetracing---kinda hard to do when you've done it yourself. . The few I did write I always got a conviction and they got the maximum penalty (8pts/ $1000 fine) as it was an aggravated situation and the Prosecutor was smart enough to bring up my racing experience to substantiate I knew just WHAT a race was.
One time 2 guys had the same Court date & one goes in to testify on behalf of the other. The first claimed his car couldn't even do the 100mph+ the report said. When presented with photos of the car the Judge didn't buy it & convicted him. The second guy goes to Court & pleads with the Prosecutor to let him go with the same penalty as the first guy,as he was looking at a license revocation. The Prosecutor asked me what I thought. Since he was doing the same thing, I thought it was only fair he got the same punishment. The Prosecutor & Judge bought into it, & like the first guy, it cost him 1k & 8pts--somehow the Judge ignored the potential revocation. The funny thing was both guys could've avoided the whole problem except when I had stopped the first guy & said "Nice street race!", figuring I'd give him a warning, he said " F#$k You! Prove it!"...I did....




The last sentence was great, funny

logan426
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/12/09 06:40 PM

Quote:

1982,i was cruising in the 69 gts to the left,383,big cam 850,headers,and 4.56's...i keep seeing a black 340 dart pacing me from behind,through town. i thought to myself,i have him covered big time,so why not? finally we line up on the last light leaving town...now mind you,my dad has the biggest insurance agency in town,and is the bailbondsman,and he told me"dont EVER call me to get bailed out"...so usually i was careful,but...well you know,no punk in a 340,can get away with,that look,that smirk.so we rev'd,and i like to leave strong,so we do,and through my first,we are side by side,i powershift into 2nd at 6500,and pull on him HARD.as my eyes drift away from the tach,i look to the left,then hard to the left!....i failed to see the white,and black chevy suburban sitting at he light we just passed....opps,local sheriff dept! i let the dart pass me,and slide behind him,and like right now,the cops are pushing me to the curb,HARD! they cut me off,and blocked me,like they just busted the mob or something,and the passenger gets out,screaming at me,long story,short,RECKLESS DRIVING! so i tell dad,and all he says is fight it,it wont cost any more,so i did,and see the dart kid there to testify against me.after a hour,the clerk comes to tell me,the cop didnt show,and charges are dropped,and all dad did is smile...thanks dad! miss him bad,lost him in 1988
somehow i cant get the attach pic to come up,after i resize


It won't show up with the text because it is a bmp type of picture. You might want to change it to a jpg. jpg pictures also take up LOTS LESS space on your computer.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/12/09 08:46 PM

I really enjoy stories from the old days---anyone have a story of meeting the cop they outran later on & his "take" on it all?
One time I spent about about 15 mins. running through a neighborhood chasing some guy in a Camaro.The guy was always a block or two ahead of me & kept dodging me,actually doing a pretty good job. He eventually got onto a main street but was so far ahead of me it just wasn't worth it. About 3 years later I'm in my friends chassis shop & this guy starts talking about how he had to dodge the cops one night & was getting scared as he had been running out of streets to go down. Aside from the streetrace, he had been high & really didn't want to get caught, figuring the car would be impounded & he'd wind up in jail on a DUI charge along with the other traffic violations. I asked him what he'd been driving & where it all occurred. He told me & knowing the car, I told him it was me chasing him. He seemed sqeamish and all & I just laughed, complimenting him on his driving ability & how he simply got lucky that night.
Posted By: Sinitro

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/12/09 09:12 PM

In 66 I bought a Belvedere II with a streeet hemi, and I lived in So Cal. Down beside Orange County Raceway there were several 2-lane country roads lined with big orange groves. These roads were great for street racing and doing test & tunes...

I went down to Sand Canyon road on a thursday nite to dial my carburators in..
I opened my headers and was doing some kleen-out runs up/down Sand Canyon. Note at that time in Orange County it was all wide open country and no traffic, just occasional traffic to one of the ranches.

I had just done a run and was cruisin back to recork the exhaust, and sitting in a driveway was a highway patrol car saw the big star reflecting on the door. As I went by he pulled out and hit me with his red lites.. He asked what I was doing and I told I was just working on the carburators. He smiled and said he knew I wasn't racing because there were no other cars around.

No ticket, and he said he was just getting off for dinner so we went to a pizza joint in Tustin. Turned out he was also a drag racer, and loved to talk performance cars especially Mopars..

Those were the good ole days..

Just my $0.01...
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/13/09 12:31 AM

Quote:

I really enjoy stories from the old days---anyone have a story of meeting the cop they outran later on & his "take" on it all?



Here's a story which sorta fits your question. My best friend's dad seemed to know just about every cop that drove an unmarked car and had one particular cop friend that was always fixing my friends tickets, and he got a lot of them. One night we were driving down Arlington Ave. ( over the speed limit of course) when all of a sudden we saw the red flashing lights coming up on us very quickly. My buddy took a very fast right hand turn at the next street and looking back at the intersection was this cop with the brakes locked up sliding sidewards trying to make the turn right behind us. My buddy yells out "that's Plasca." I asked "whose Plasca" and my buddy replies "the cop that always fixes my tickets. Now the chase was on and we were absoultely stupid as we began pulling away from him. We were driving down very narrow streets, with cars parked on one side, no lights on and pedal to the metal. We crossed a very busy intersecting street but we never saw it, we could have been killed or killed someone else. The chase lasted for probably 10 minutes and we finally lost him. I'm sure Plasca knew who he was chasing but never said anything to my buddy's dad.

I never tried to outrun the police as I knew from my first traffic ticket incident that my mom would be driving my car again and I'd be back on a bicycle, way too embarrasing.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/21/09 11:10 PM

Street racing was and still alive in NYC,as well
as Detroit and other states across the States'.
The only difference between racers today and the
"pro's" back then, when I was younger is that
most guys knew the cars capabilities on and off
the track. And cars then, were 90% pure muscle,
with nary a power adder other than supercharger.
AS time went on it was the drivers who were
dependent on "their own power adders", and that's
when things got out of hand and dangerous. The
"pro's" were there to do business, while the
foolhardy were there for the idea of running
each other with no safety or respect of the
sport (automotive craftsmanship). By the way,
does anyone know what the outcome of a race in
NYC, on the Nassau Expressway in Queens. Back in
71', I think. A Rat-Motored 68 Camaro squared off
there with a 69 Road Runner w/HEMI. BIG MONEY was passed around that night. I believe the guy driving the Bird', is still a legendary driver with the last name of Cook. If anyone knows the
true scenario, set the record straight please.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/22/09 03:26 AM

Your memory obviously was not "emptied". The car
in question, was not too hard to notice, when you
saw it run. It was "at times" campaigned on the
street as well as the track. You would have to be
away from the crowd to see it in action.
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/22/09 08:47 AM

Let me add this .....

LOTS of cars came into the Detroit area ... from Chicago, Cleveland, NY and even Dallas. LOTS of these cars were nothing more than "plated" race cars and they were MANY TIMES way faster than the cars then the cars that they planned on racing.

But THEN there was the "cruise" ... out to Woodward, then maybe out to Telegraph in stop-and-go traffic ... then out on 96/696 for a bit.

I even saw one "parade" almost to Lansing .....60 or so miles !

This "test" of whether the challenger's car was a TRUE street-car was almost as interesting as the race itself !
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/22/09 05:49 PM

You got that right about the "plated" race cars
back then. Which in all, was a lot safer than the
hyped-up street rides with NO safety gear in
them. As I said before, the "pro's" know their cars, on and off the track. They set up quickly,
got the run on quickly, and got off the street
quickly while being SAFE AT ALL TIMES. They never
tried to draw large crowds which would hinder the
SAFETY FACTOR. That's what drew the police to
the area.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/22/09 08:57 PM

Are you confusing that with the infamous 68' Rat powered Camaro and the Mutt Bros Hemi Dart? It was a HHHHUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGE amount on the line.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/22/09 10:24 PM

There were some good stories about that race and someone on the Web has a neat story of how a parts counterman related the story to him. Rumor back then was it was for 250k. A recent interview of Ronnie Lyle's widow confirmed the amount which even today seems absurd! I only saw the "Mutt Bros" Dart twice, but it made me a big believer of Mopar power that I worked & waited 35 years to be able to play with a similiar car!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 01:04 AM

That was a heck of a race with a lot of loot.
Both cars were running, you figure 11 sec. flat or
better. Great run!. Actually, in my previous post
I mentioned about the 69' Runner and the 68' Camaro at Nassau Exp. in Queens. I misinformed the posting and will correctly recall the event
at RT 440 (West Shore Expwy)in S.I., and it was
a 68' Rat-Motored Nova squaring off against the
68' GTX, driven by Cook. Since these guys are
"veteran drivers", the race was pretty big. The other race was HUGE, but this one was for the
"bragging rights" also. Who won and by how much
cause I missed this one. The Dart and the Camaro
was at Nassau Exp.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 01:36 AM

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.
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 01:39 AM

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.
Posted By: MikeyT

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 01:40 AM

Quote:

That was a heck of a race with a lot of loot.
Both cars were running, you figure 11 sec. flat or
better. Great run!. Actually, in my previous post
I mentioned about the 69' Runner and the 68' Camaro at Nassau Exp. in Queens. I misinformed the posting and will correctly recall the event
at RT 440 (West Shore Expwy)in S.I., and it was
a 68' Rat-Motored Nova squaring off against the
68' GTX, driven by Cook. Since these guys are
"veteran drivers", the race was pretty big. The other race was HUGE, but this one was for the
"bragging rights" also. Who won and by how much
cause I missed this one. The Dart and the Camaro
was at Nassau Exp.



Isn't that last one the famous Mudd brother race that Defeo wrote about quite a few years back

Mike
Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 01:54 AM

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=280240&highlight=brooklyn
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 01:58 AM

Lots of GREAT pictures and info, thanks for posting that link.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 03:03 AM

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.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 04:08 AM

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.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 04:27 AM

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.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 04:42 AM

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.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/23/09 10:43 PM

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.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/24/09 01:31 PM

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!
Posted By: CHAPPER

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/24/09 02:17 PM

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.
Posted By: Frito

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/24/09 02:54 PM

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!!!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/26/09 05:41 AM

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).
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/26/09 05:52 AM

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.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/26/09 05:58 AM

Quote:

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.


Anybody out there have the full story
on this run?
Posted By: groundpoint6

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/26/09 06:46 AM

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.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/26/09 07:09 AM

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.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/26/09 12:48 PM

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.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/26/09 09:26 PM

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.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/27/09 12:08 AM

Ah Fountain Ave, home for so many legends. best
races were when the landfill was open at the end
by what is known now as Spring Creek Park. As
far as Columbia Street the roadway by now if it not collapsed, it is fenced off. Especially by the
waterfront inland. Great races were at both of them.
Posted By: RusTy/SE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 11/27/09 07:43 AM

Great thread I grew up in the Boro Park/Fort Hamilton Parkway area of Brooklyn before moving way down south to Montgomery in late 1973. I was too young to have been there in person but my folks used to take me to a small amusement park just down from the Big Bow Wow on Cross Bay Boulevard (iirc) summer weekends. My 'racing' was done H/O scale at Buzz-A-Rama on Church Avenue which is still in operation on weekends

In 1975 the cruising went on nightly up and down Atlanta Highway. The leos knew most of the racers and as long as the actual races took place in low traffic areas, there wasn't much hassle. The big hangout was the Krystal. The impressive rides included a sweet black Anglia and later a just as beautifully done black 65 Falcon Sprint owned by Lonnie F. and a string of cars owned by Mike C. Mike had a red, white, and blue Javelin with zoomies (anyone remember those?) followed by a white 69 Camaro running a 355 chevy with 6.13 gears For a time there were several v-8 Vegas and Pintos and even a 401 Gremlin. There were also plenty of GTOs including one Judge, Mustangs including a High Country Special and many Camaros. I don't recall too many Mopars and although i drove a 73 Rallye Challenger, I was mostly a spectator - hey, a 318-4bbl can only speak so loud My only race was against a 71 350 4-bbl Cutlass Supreme. I lost by half a car length, we were caught, and i wound up going to court for a drag-racing ticket. On sundays some of us would head to a home made dragstrip 6th street which was a dead end street with only one house on it, or to Montgomery International Raceway. MIR has been recently renovated and still holds round track races; for drag racing Montgomery Motorsports Park is the place. I've been told by that across from Gunter AFS the remains of Capitol City Dragway still remain as it was THE place to race during the sixties and early seventies but i've yet to hike over to check it out. I have some pictures from 6th street that i'll post when i find them.

During 1978 i moved away from home for the first time and lived in Birmingham where Roebuck Parkway became my cruising location, again hanging out at the Krystal in Center Point. I worked at Roebuck Chrysler-Plymouth and saw many cool Mopars come by in between the usual warranty work. There was a larger variety of vehicles including a blown hemi powered T-bucket, a sweet yellow 70 Boss 302, and a fellow i worked with who had a Black 69 Z-28 with a cross-ram. Racing would take place on I-59 heading southbound towards exit 134 (Roebuck Parkway). There were plenty of Mopars - and local dragstrips - in the Birmingham area but by 1979 i was back in Montgomery.

Russ
Posted By: gdonovan

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 11/27/09 10:19 AM

Quote:



I was there at that time with a 70 RR. Berlin Turnpike and East Hartford light to light. The fun would start usually on Thursday night and carry thru till Sunday. Was there about 4 years ago and met Kissalien and a few others at Burger king on the pike. And the Hartford drive in was closed.




I did my fair share of time on the Berlin Turnpike and more than in the Groton area when the local subbase had more than a few men with good cars.

Good times, good times.... things just sort of died around the late 80's or very early 90's for some reason..

There was always racing going on two, sometimes three nights a week back then.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/12/09 06:16 PM

Full Metal, I finally did catch up with Hemmings
article on NYC Street racing. That was the race
that I was refering to, but they may have ran
on the eastbound (new constuction at the time)
Nassau Expressway just east of the Van Wyck North
Spur (from airport). The roadway was separated
from traffic by jersey barriers for a while.
However, I still didn't find out the outcome of
the run.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/12/09 07:01 PM

I am not sure if this is connected in any way or that it was the actual guys as many races have happened with these kinds of cars in the past, A guy who lived in my building by the name of Jimmy Dimeo had a very quick Road Runner/GTX that one night raced against a Black L78 375 HP Big Block Nova for pink slips.(Real Pinks) and still has the Nova to this day as a race car. The road Runner/GTX was totaled in an accident under the FDR drive.
Posted By: RoadRunnerLuva

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/12/09 09:57 PM

Well I used to own a '69 Chrysler 300 convert.
T7 Bronze/black top-guts with a 440-727 combo,stock short block,509 d.c.cam,stock heads,aftermarket intake/carb/headers and 8 3/4 rear with 3.91's...and about 4,400 lbs!
I used to race alot in the Mt.Clemens area back in the mid-late 80's....there was an industrial section of shops off of Groesbeck/Hall Roads, and all the good muscle cars would hang out there, including a burgundy Hemi Roadrunner (which still goes by the name of Rat Poison to this day).We would race off of a two lane wide freeway on ramp to I-94 which was about a mile long it seemed. Anyway, one night I was hanging out in the parking lot with a few friends around 1am or so on a Friday night, and this guy with a nearly new '86 Buick Grand National walks up and says "what am I doing here with that "big barge" and a few other comments about my 300,saying this is no place for that kinda car!So I say if you wanna race me just say the word, or get the @#*& out of my face...he says sure lets go for it...50 bones...I say meet me at the on ramp, of course half the crowd follows us over to the spot. My friends get out of my 300 and wait on the shoulder with the other onlookers, the Buick and I line up at the start of the on-ramp and somebody from the crowd flags us...I put the column shifter into first and rev up against the converter...the Buick is up on his converter as well.The flagger motions if we are ready to go, I give a quick wave and were really revving the motors by now.
Well the flagger drops his arms and both of us leave at the exact same time,even though my tires are slipping the whole way off the start..I hit 2nd gear and we are still dead even, I'm thinking this clown might have an edge on me, but as I shift into Drive the "big barge" is passing up the black Buick about 2/3 of the way down the on-ramp! I'm in the zone and have the gas just glued to the floor doing around 95-98 mph and the Buick is by now about half a car length behind me! I get to the freeway first and win handily over the loudmouth in the Grand National. We both make our way back to the shops and he gets out walks over with my money and with a very disgusted look on his face hands me the cash and says "what the @#%* do you have under the hood"? I tell him just a basic 440 nothin fancy...he walks away, gets in his car and does a burnout in the parking lot before he disapears...my buddy's are amazed that I beat a turbo Buick, but I said it was close all the way till top end, and the 440 came through as usual for me! BTW,I took the 300 to Milan Dragway not too long after this and it ran a best of 14.19@ 99mph... All with full exhaust and street tires on a 85 degree day!
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/12/09 10:07 PM


For a time there were several v-8 Vegas and Pintos and even a 401 Gremlin.

The Gremlin you speak of was my friend's. It's pictured in the Hemming's article and for awhile had the top end off his friend's S/S AMX. John was apparently friends with Vinnie Vitar ( a local race trans shop for you non-NYers) and seemed to have unlimited access to his shop. Last I heard John bought & still has his friend's S/S AMX--don't know about the Gremlin. The nice thing for him was, he lived real close to 150th street, so running there was literally just turning the corner & setting up a race. One of the Pinto you mention could very well have been mine as my M.O. was to take my girlfriend out on a date, come home then spend the rest of the night prowling around like an idiot, just looking for trouble. . I avoided Nassau County as much as possible as the cops there had a reputation for not cutting anyone any slack.
And as for the "Detroit vs. N.Y" debate, the hard-core really didn't care where they raced, so long as the money was good enough.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/12/09 11:54 PM

Did any of you ever race the original Silver Bullet from Chicago,I think? That car seemed to have some street racing history.
Posted By: abodyman

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/13/09 12:25 AM

I remember the last time I raced and acted invincible, I took My girlfriend out to eat at the local burger joint, she had also brought her best friend Judy along. Anyway, we were eating and a guy came over and joined us.
Well, MY girlfriend started paying attention to this guy instead of Me..so I looked over at Judy and asked her, if she wanted to go for a drive.
We got up and left together.
Anyway, I had this old Dodge pickup 1971 4x4 4 speed, with a 440 in it.
Nothing really special and certainly not a race vehicle by any means, although it did have headers a Holley street dominator intake and a .509 cam, with a holley 780 carb.
Anyhow, as we left, this guy comes out with my girlfriend, and they both get into his Olds cutless, I have no idea what it had in it.
So they are going to follow us everywhere right?
Well, we head out to the freeway and this guy tries to pass us, all the while they both are pointing and laughing at Me and Judy...
I punch the throttle and take off leaving them WAY behind, as soon as they start to catch up I turn off my lights so they cant see us anymore.
There was an on-ramp coming up, where cars enter the freeway, on the right side. Instead of us going another 5 miles to the next exit, I get the idea to just go down this onramp, in the wrong direction, lights off, to lose them for good! Well, in the dark, its kind of hard to judge speed...and its going to be about a 180 degree turn. Olus I didnt want them to see any brake lights.
We took that corner sliding sideways and shot up the bank on the other side of the onramp and back down to the on-ramp heading in the direction, we wanted to go, Judy is hanging on for dear life, not saying a word!
After we knew we were all in one piece, we both looked at each other and started laughing !
We went back to the burger joint to wait for My girlfriend and that guy. Some 20 minutes later, they showed up wondering how the heck we lost them! We never told them.
The next day, I went out to look at the rubber skid marks and seen that when we took off up the bank, off the road, we went perfectly between a sign post and a steel reflector post. Like a big upside down "U" shape. We didnt even see them!
I never have turned a car or truck that hard ever again and at such a speed. Not on dry pavement anyway !
Not really a street racing story, but still they were wild times! One of many.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/13/09 12:52 AM

I'm ready for all comers right now here on 150th. Engine idling, cops paid off, vexed off and on the convertor, but broke.LOL

It's funny, remember when the bad lands and times were crazy and things were great.
Now things are bad and times are even crazier. Go figure.
Posted By: abodyman

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/13/09 01:31 AM

Those Chrysler 300's were great!
My Dad had a brand new 1970 Chrysler 300
Dark green hardtop. Theres nothing like a long open stretch of highway, with that thing humming along at 120 or so.
He would be singin "Ghost riders in the sky"
Id be in the back seat, looking up at the moon and clouds, falling asleep..
brings a tear to my eye!
Posted By: beepsalot

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/13/09 02:14 AM

went to HS in new york, had a classmate take me to all the hot spots in NYC... man those were good times. after HS and 4 yrs in service to uncle sam, i moved back to florida. had a 73 charger, 340 tunnel-ram w/ 2 660 center squirters, alot of converter and alot o rear gear(learned from my NYC days, lol). lots of stop light drags,quite a few money runs, lost a time or 2,but for the most part, way too much fun.. BTW, the charger ran 11.90's at gainesville before i parted it out. swiss cheesin and rust had taken its toll.... sad but true....
Posted By: Theorio1025

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/13/09 05:11 AM

Good stories especially the staten island stuff. Anyone from staten island remember dave english?
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/13/09 01:25 PM

Quote:

Good stories especially the staten island stuff. Anyone from staten island remember dave english?




don't remember him...what was he driving??? remember john amanaro (spelling mite be wrong), had a fuelie vette... and elliot had a kick-ass 64 lemans...
Posted By: Theorio1025

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/13/09 04:10 PM

He had a whole lot of cars, but i remember a black 1968 cuda 383 formula s and a 1967 chevelle (don't know what color it was then but it's blue now.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/13/09 05:51 PM

Quote:

He had a whole lot of cars, but i remember a black 1968 cuda 383 formula s and a 1967 chevelle (don't know what color it was then but it's blue now.




Could thay have been the "Competition Speed" chevelle? It was mostly white with red & blue stripes. It was one of those "plated" racecars that someone mentioned. It ran out of my friend's speeds shop in Queens but they raced it ALOT on the street.
I remember one night on the Van Wyck they were running the car--had the usual traffic backed-up but somehow the police were able to get through. Both cars took off & they chased the Chevelle. The driver, "Hogan" almost loses them in a neighborhood-- he parks the car, bails out of it & hides in a pile of ivy. The cops come along, find the car & impound it. Not only did it cost them the impound & fines but the guys they were running won the race. My buddy & various "backers" said the race wasn't good as they didn't stage proprerly (?) for it to go off fairly. These guys would have none of that and "persuaded" the "bag man" to hand over the cash ----proof positive these races weren't always fun-'n-games........
Posted By: Theorio1025

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/15/09 02:33 PM

The car had a siezed 396 with nitrous when he first got it, and he got it from his father who was a nyc cop. Its history before that is unknown to me. It also had a m22 iirc. Did you know anyone that hung around body masters?
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/20/09 09:26 AM

Quote:

I am not sure if this is connected in any way or that it was the actual guys as many races have happened with these kinds of cars in the past, A guy who lived in my building by the name of Jimmy Dimeo had a very quick Road Runner/GTX that one night raced against a Black L78 375 HP Big Block Nova for pink slips.(Real Pinks) and still has the Nova to this day as a race car. The road Runner/GTX was totaled in an accident under the FDR drive.




Thanks for "filling in" some of the blanks. Let me
know if you get more info on this race.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/20/09 09:33 AM

Hey, I got another "goodie" here. Any of you
remember the "Captain America" Camaro (68' I
think). It had some small blocks and a big block
in it. It ran very hard in it's
day.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/20/09 09:40 AM

Hey, that sound like Jimmy Addison's ride. I
could be wrong, I thought he was a Detroit runner.
Please correct me if I am, this is too good a bit
of history to mess up on.
A LOT of people got dusted off by that
car.
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/20/09 09:52 AM

Quote:

Hey, that sound like Jimmy Addison's ride. I
could be wrong, I thought he was a Detroit runner.
Please correct me if I am, this is too good a bit
of history to mess up on.
A LOT of people got dusted off by that
car.





The SILVER BULLET was Addison's car .. but I don't think the car was ever actually in Detroit. He had a Sunoco gas-station in Birmingham Mi... on Woodward Ave.

I owned that car for about a year ..... it was sold to me with a max-wedge motor in-parts ..in the trunk.

I sold the car to James Rose ... minus the engine, converter, trans and center section.

BTW ...I still have the J-converter.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/20/09 06:25 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Hey, that sound like Jimmy Addison's ride. I
could be wrong, I thought he was a Detroit runner.
Please correct me if I am, this is too good a bit
of history to mess up on.
A LOT of people got dusted off by that
car.





The SILVER BULLET was Addison's car .. but I don't think the car was ever actually in Detroit. He had a Sunoco gas-station in Birmingham Mi... on Woodward Ave.

I owned that car for about a year ..... it was sold to me with a max-wedge motor in-parts ..in the trunk.

I sold the car to James Rose ... minus the engine, converter, trans and center section.

BTW ...I still have the J-converter.




Another piece of history!!! That particular car
WAS VERY famous even here in NY. The mixup about
Detroit could be that he may have RAN the car there? I don't know for sure, I'll keep checking
for the true facts. You still have the J-converter
which to me, means the car was HEMI powered. Maybe
poked and stroked too. However, as you bought the
car with Max-Wedge motor in the trunk, has my
head scratching a little. Is it possible that
the motor in the trunk is not the one that burned
the competition on Woodward? I don't know. The
car is a true street brawler. Great times revisited. Thanks.
Posted By: FM3AAR

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/20/09 07:15 PM

Quote:

Did any one reading or posting on this grow up in the St.Louis, Mo. area & ever hear of or wittness the Hall St. street racing. There is a story of the owner of a "Bad Fish" taking the title of a mid 60's BB vette, not the first Pinks show I'm sure. I do know there were a lot of street races in & around the StL area on both sides of the river, this is from a little 1st hand experience.




Don't recall a "Bad Fish" but late nite action is still alive and well on Hall Street. There is some current footage on You Tube.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/20/09 11:06 PM

The Silver bullet was running a poked Hemi and it was that engine to be known for all the spankings it gave to the competition.
I have never heard of the Bullet taking a tour of duty out here to NY for some action, but I could be wrong.
I know if it did, then it would have gad to go through the "Mudd Brothers" and or "Heavy" among other greats to be legendary.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/21/09 03:55 PM

Here is an article I found and it appears the car was a Hemi car and was from Michigan, namely the Woodward Blvd. King.
http://www.myrideisme.com/Blog/the-real-silver-bullet-2007-woodward-cruise/

Sooooooo...did any of you guys ever race him on the street?
Posted By: MIKES_DUSTER

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/21/09 05:19 PM

Quote:

I didn't start my street racing until the early 70's but I was lucky that my neighborhood was full of guys a little older than I who took me with them. This crowd included big block Chevelles and Camaros plus a lot of RoadRunners and even a couple of Six Pack cars. I grew up in central Conn so we had the Berlin Turnpike where a real mean black 67 Hemi GTX hung out and the East West service roads in Hartford. It was a great time to be young. I remember one of the older guys had Tourette's syndrome pretty bad where he couldn't hardly carry on a conversation but after three beers he settled down, stopped shaking and could really row his 4 speed Chevelle with the best of them, go figure!. The streets today are too crowded to do the same stuff but it was fun then.
Joey




My dad hung out at the Berlin Turnpike back in the 70's with a 440 68 GTX. then the both of us hung out there is the 80's and 90's with a 69 Black RR and a 69 HEMI orange notchback cuda that was tubbed. We raced ALOT on rt 71,rt 72 and rt 9. The BIG hang out was Roy Rogers in the 80's-90's. We used to do our burn-outs in the parking lot or Roys and then drive out onto the pike, and race from the light, up the hill towards the Grantmore!!!

Heres the RR


Heres the cuda at a Papas Dodge Cruise.
Posted By: MIKES_DUSTER

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/22/09 04:03 PM

Posted By: Sunroofcuda

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/22/09 04:10 PM

Short story:

I was cruising Telegraph Rd. one evening around 1977 in my 1970 340 Cuda 4-speed - the car was a GOOD running 340 Cuda too. I'm cruising along & up alongside me pulls a 4-door 66 or 7 Coronet with 3 guys in it, the car sounds like it has a bad exhaust & it's ugly to boot - all banged-up & in primer - it would be beneath me to even race it. So I figger it's time to put these clowns to bed & blow them away - mainly to just get away from them. So we hit it & they absolutely WALK me! I mean, away they go like I was standing still! WTH???
Posted By: spank04

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/22/09 06:45 PM

Woodward Ave,grew up 1/2 mi off it on catalpa from 61 on,was a great time for sure
license in 68
many rides in hot cars
many races
many junkers
driveins
dealerships full of cool cars
friends with cool cars
cheap gas
cool cops
cool park at 13 & woodward 69/70
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/22/09 08:04 PM

Quote:

The Silver bullet was running a poked Hemi and it was that engine to be known for all the spankings it gave to the competition.
I have never heard of the Bullet taking a tour of duty out here to NY for some action, but I could be wrong.
I know if it did, then it would have gad to go through the "Mudd Brothers" and or "Heavy" among other greats to be legendary.




The only Hemi B-body I can ever recall seeing was this ugly, mud brown '67 or so. It had tinted widows, sat relatively low for the era & rarely ran anyone, but when it did, it ALWAYS won. The only time I saw it actually seem to have to try was against a '69 Camaro badged as a Z/28. What it actually had in it, only God knows, but the Hemi still beat it by about a car length--that was a close race for that car......
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/09 01:47 AM

Quote:

Short story:

I was cruising Telegraph Rd. one evening around 1977 in my 1970 340 Cuda 4-speed - the car was a GOOD running 340 Cuda too. I'm cruising along & up alongside me pulls a 4-door 66 or 7 Coronet with 3 guys in it, the car sounds like it has a bad exhaust & it's ugly to boot - all banged-up & in primer - it would be beneath me to even race it. So I figger it's time to put these clowns to bed & blow them away - mainly to just get away from them. So we hit it & they absolutely WALK me! I mean, away they go like I was standing still! WTH???



Sounds like a "retired" federal ride with a "hot"
383 or 440 w/ a good size Racer Brown Cam in it.
Possibly some deep gears and "thought out"
suspension tricks. A sleeper, to say the least.

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/25/09 01:55 AM

Quote:

The Silver bullet was running a poked Hemi and it was that engine to be known for all the spankings it gave to the competition.
I have never heard of the Bullet taking a tour of duty out here to NY for some action, but I could be wrong.
I know if it did, then it would have gad to go through the "Mudd Brothers" and or "Heavy" among other greats to be legendary.




I do believe that, Malcolm (God rest his soul,
great man), Ronnie, Rufus and "Mudd Brothers" did
know of Addison, but there was no East Coast run
ever done. If there was, VERY FEW knew of it.

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/09 01:57 AM

Great pics!!!

Posted By: farmboy

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/09 05:09 PM

Back in 71, I was sitting at a red light in my 65 Coronet next to a 65 Vette. I was power braken, and he was reving his engine. When the light went green, I mashed it, and my throttle cable broke. I idled up to the first parking space I could find, and the Vette blew by me. The cop that was behind us didn't take long to run the Vette down. I was lucky as hell, but the guy in the Vette still thinks I set him up.

Attached picture 5689067-07-2009086.JPG
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/09 09:15 PM

I am reading as we speak "MOTION" tales of a muscle car builder. It is a great read strangely with many memories of the innocence of Long Island even though I was distracted in other haunts and a little to young to have noticed.
I believe that a lot of Street Champ pieces were born at Motion and ended up on the streets of New York's night life.
I will have my review of it all on a website called gotryke.com this coming week.
Posted By: BigBlockBill1951

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/26/09 04:41 AM

Talking....the baddest of the bad.....I'd guess this quick story would qualify. There was these 2 brothers, Freddie and Eddie that ran a 67 or 68 camaro, big block single 4bbl, 4 speed back in the mid to late 70's. It was orange and white... I had heard they put out an open invitation to anybody, anywhere for any amount of money with a flat hood, heads up. I heard....no takers. The driver Eddie Eyes was I thought one hell of a driver. Him and hs brother Fred made a hell of a team. I heard Fred passed a few years back. To me.... that is bad to the bone...period.
Posted By: BigBlockBill1951

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/09 04:52 AM

There was a guy I knew way back, his name was Walter...... he was a big hit at 150 st back in the mid-70's. He had a 63 Savoy (Tan) that cleaned up from the stories I heard. He was fast and good at the game you need to play. They even gave him a nick name "The Conduit Killer" At first he had no headers and street tires, then slicks, then headers, then a cage had to go into the car. Talk about a plain brown wrapper, he almost suckered me in with my nova, but just something about his car didn't sit right with me.... good thing, I saved my money, this was just when I first met him
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/09 05:05 AM

HOW many guys remember the rituals that some people would go-through to give-it-a-shot ?

They would take 5 MINUTES or more ...with their tire-prep, changing the timing and burn-outs ....etc. Guys would plug-up traffic on 96, 696 or 275 ...even as late as 3 am in the morning

And THEN - I remember a race where a guy was racing a dude from Toledo in a nicely prepped Mustang that was on-the-hose with worn-out DOT cheater tires. He hit-the-bottle WAY too early and BOUNCED OFF 6 different cars that were watching the race.

He JUST MISSED mine !
Posted By: coletrickle

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/09 06:47 AM

A ;ittle o/t but street racing related i was hanging out at nickens brothers in 1992 and a guy from new york arrives with a lot of cash 30k if i remember correctly and says build me a motor only thing he wanted was a cast single 4bbl manifold and the oil pump in the sump.I asked robert nickens what the deal was a he says oh they are stret racers from nyc a couple of guys pool their cash buy a bad engine put it in a shitty car and race for big bucks he said they would win the purchase price back in a couple of races?Apparently quite a regular occurance.GOtta say i don't think those guys are paying tax
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/09 02:08 PM

Cold Cash.
The city is in on it also.
I know some cops were.

Now since one of them got hit recently by one of those( excuse my bias)fart can idiots, the ground war is going to be ugly.
Posted By: jake4cars

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/26/09 03:57 PM

Quote:

Quote:

I didn't start my street racing until the early 70's but I was lucky that my neighborhood was full of guys a little older than I who took me with them. This crowd included big block Chevelles and Camaros plus a lot of RoadRunners and even a couple of Six Pack cars. I grew up in central Conn so we had the Berlin Turnpike where a real mean black 67 Hemi GTX hung out and the East West service roads in Hartford. It was a great time to be young. I remember one of the older guys had Tourette's syndrome pretty bad where he couldn't hardly carry on a conversation but after three beers he settled down, stopped shaking and could really row his 4 speed Chevelle with the best of them, go figure!. The streets today are too crowded to do the same stuff but it was fun then.
Joey




My dad hung out at the Berlin Turnpike back in the 70's with a 440 68 GTX. then the both of us hung out there is the 80's and 90's with a 69 Black RR and a 69 HEMI orange notchback cuda that was tubbed. We raced ALOT on rt 71,rt 72 and rt 9. The BIG hang out was Roy Rogers in the 80's-90's. We used to do our burn-outs in the parking lot or Roys and then drive out onto the pike, and race from the light, up the hill towards the Grantmore!!!

Heres the RR


Heres the cuda at a Papas Dodge Cruise.





I knew a guy from East Hartford that bought an old pro stock Vega from a guy named Jack Chin who did very well at Conn dragway along with his brother Eddie. At any rate, this guy buys Chin's Vega and proceeds to put in a blown big block Chevy, what a ride to say the least. One night I rode with him in the Vega to the Berlin Turnpike, to say we stopped traffic is an understatement, we pulled into the Roy Rogers and as he was trying to back in it a parking space a Berlin cop pulled up and told us there was no way that car was legal and we needed to get lost, knowing of course the cop was right we proceeded to motor on home, what a ball. I moved out of Conn in the late 80's and haven't been back to the turnpike since but back when I was a kid there was a whole lot of racing going on there.
Joey

BTW, your Cuda is awesome!!, reminds me of one that was for sale in East Hartford that had a Hemi in it, supposedly a Sox and Martin built engine, the car was primered and was sitting in a barn when I seen it, mid 80's maybe.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 02/08/10 02:43 AM

Quote:

Here is an article I found and it appears the car was a Hemi car and was from Michigan, namely the Woodward Blvd. King.
http://www.myrideisme.com/Blog/the-real-silver-bullet-2007-woodward-cruise/

Sooooooo...did any of you guys ever race him on the street?




Great info! Whereas the banner said "10 sec", that
would be on the street, he probably run a illegal
9.50 index in full strip trim. Would never touch
or even think about running against him. Too
quick!! One of the greatest street heroes.

Posted By: ChallengerRTSE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/08/10 05:05 AM

I was living in Dallas in the early 80's and Forest Lane was were we cruised. The racing took place at locations around town. From time to time we had some heavy hitters, I remember a group called the ghetto boys. They mostly ran race cars with headlights. But the majority were just average street cars. My ride of choice was a 70 r/t challenger that was mini tubbed and had a cage installed by Joe Smith Race Cars. I mostly ran what I called dirt engines (built at home in my garage). I won't lie and say I was unbeatable but I probably came out on top more often then not. I remember one rich kid who had a mid 70's vette that in my eyes was pretty mild. First time we raced I ate him up and took a fifty spot from him. The second time he had installed a bigger cam and a set of angle plug heads, he still saw tail lights and lost more $. The third time around he installed a tunnel ram whil dual 660's and lost worse then the first time. Those match ups gave my car a pretty good rep as Dallas was not a mopar town. Here's a pic of my steet racer which I sold it in 1987 and bought back in 2007. The guy I bought it from told me it was the first R/T challenger in Dallas. The vin only has 3 digits and was built in the first week of aug in 1969. The car is currently being redone I hope to be prowling the streets again sometime this year.

Attached picture 5790519-100_0668.jpg
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/08/10 03:41 PM

That feeling of "I'm baaaaaaaaaacck" is going to raise your neck hairs with nostalgic elation.

I get it when people here on the streets of Zoo York can't believe that an early B-body is roaming.
Posted By: shakerjoe

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/08/10 04:14 PM

Lee, I still laugh to myself when I banged the u turn on FLB in my blue and white and stopped you at the gas station...and only wanted to see what was under the hood of the Dodge. And that was before I knew you and found out you knew SK ! We moved from Elmhurst off Queens Blvd. to Middle Village right by Juniper Valley Park on the north side - summer of '69, I was 6. The north side strightaway was about 1/2 mile long , we used to sit right on the curb as cars raced each night down there and blasted within feet of us, I can still hear my mother "Don't you go up there !" Guy on my block bought a triple black 70 hemi cuda STP 4 spd. from S&W Dodge - original owner (still has it)there was an orange and white stripe Camaro on the block - big blockI think, around the corner was a red w/white stripe Olds W30, couple of blocks away was a 68 F8 GTX original owner also -he still has it. There was a huge parking lot in the park opposite my house on 77st., I'd bet that's where alot of the action took place to set up the runs of the night. The civic association eventually got the lot closed and filled, no more racing, once we started driving we had to go to Laurel Hill/Crossbay/FLB - I picked up 4 yellowbirds there one night in my 69 Charger R/T - (went up against a black 69 AMX with a blue and white sitting across the street -I stopped - he didn't- HA HA) about 2 years before I entered the ranks -LOL- only made it downto Fountain Ave.a few times, never got involved there - heavy action going on there! - This was a good reading thread !
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/08/10 11:02 PM

Well, we finally got a confession. DocFiberglass said he raced the original Silver Bullet but he didn't give any real details other than he got beat and that's okay. We all got beat from time to time. Maybe he'll provide some additional details here. Thanks Doc
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/08/10 11:41 PM

M G ..... oh - I got beat - and VERY badly !

HE hooked ... and I did not. LIKE it would have made a diff anyways !!

The THING that was the most-impressive about that car .... was it was QUIET....

...and FAST !
Posted By: dustergirl340

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/08/10 11:43 PM

I raced the original Silver Bullet at a track rental in 2005 and got whooped too!
Posted By: 440dart

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/09/10 12:13 AM

Quote:

M G ..... oh - I got beat - and VERY badly !

HE hooked ... and I did not. LIKE it would have made a diff anyways !!

The THING that was the most-impressive about that car .... was it was QUIET....

...and FAST !




No mention of Steve Lisk, come on Doc you must have some stories of that very quick Challenger.

Attached picture 5791886-hrdp_0801_03_z+top_100_hot_rods+.jpg
Posted By: peabodyracing

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/09/10 12:55 AM

1971 San Francisco Bay area, cruising El Camino Real in my 61 Lancer wagon with straight axle, 426 wedge, fender well headers, etc. (the car was Isky car of the month in 69 Rod and Custom) Anyway the car was anything but subtle.

2 kids in a 69 Chevelle 396 kept harassing me, trying to get me to race. This went on for several lights until they pulled in front of me and jumped on the brakes at the next light. I'd had enough by then and when the light changed I unloaded the Lancer, went left and around them and passed them as I went into third gear, right past a parked squad car...

Lights came on the squad and I quickly pulled over and stopped, while the Chevelle decided to make a run for it. The squad actually drove past me, realized I'd stopped, locked up the brakes, burned rubber in reverse till he was next to me, pointed and said "stay there" and burned rubber going after the Chevelle. Now I'm sitting there thinking I should just drive away, but sure as heck no one could miss my car, so I figured I better just sit and wait. A few minutes later, two squads come back escorting the Chevelle and they all park behind me.

The police have both us drivers out on the curb going over licenses, inspecting the cars, etc. All the while this is going on, the other idiot keeps mouthing off to the police. The police are getting more and more militant and writing feverishly. I finally walk over to the other driver and tell him to shut his mouth, we're in enough trouble as it is.

They were apparently getting ready to have the cars towed, but when they overheard me talking to the idiot, I guess they decided to cut me some slack. I left with an exhibition of speed ticket (75 in a 35) and a court date. They did tow his car.

I decide to play it smart and wear my dress whites to traffic court. The judge says, you're in service? "yes sir". How do you plead. "Guilty your honor". $125 fine. The courtroom gasped, as till that time the highest fine anyone had gotten was under $60. I was broke for months after paying that darn fine.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 02/18/10 11:59 PM

Quote:

There was a guy I knew way back, his name was Walter...... he was a big hit at 150 st back in the mid-70's. He had a 63 Savoy (Tan) that cleaned up from the stories I heard. He was fast and good at the game you need to play. They even gave him a nick name "The Conduit Killer" At first he had no headers and street tires, then slicks, then headers, then a cage had to go into the car. Talk about a plain brown wrapper, he almost suckered me in with my nova, but just something about his car didn't sit right with me.... good thing, I saved my money, this was just when I first met him



That my friend could have been a Max-Wedge Incognito 426 Style or even 440.
Hey do you remember the Connecting?

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/19/10 12:04 AM

Quote:

That feeling of "I'm baaaaaaaaaacck" is going to raise your neck hairs with nostalgic elation.

I get it when people here on the streets of Zoo York can't believe that an early B-body is roaming.




Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/19/10 12:23 AM

Quote:

M G ..... oh - I got beat - and VERY badly !

HE hooked ... and I did not. LIKE it would have made a diff anyways !!

The THING that was the most-impressive about that car .... was it was QUIET....

...and FAST !




Doc, at least you tried. My hat is off to you.
Had it been me, he would have burned me 60 feet
from the start. I pick my street fights well, he
would have knocked me out of the ring!!
Good thread, man.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/19/10 03:36 AM

ShakerJoe.
Put out an APB, I'm coming back out onto the streets with all cylinders blazing. LOL.
Just getting minute details done with the help of Special K for the coming warm months.

Don't sell that six barrel, I mean the car, not the OD weapon.LOL.
Posted By: hemi-itis

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/19/10 04:34 AM

Quote:

ShakerJoe.
Put out an APB, I'm coming back out onto the streets with all cylinders blazing. LOL.
Just getting minute details done with the help of Special K for the coming warm months.

Don't sell that six barrel, I mean the car, not the OD weapon.LOL.


I smell trouble,er o ahh I meam rubber Sounds like you,ll be cruzin with a wad lookin for the "NEXT VICTIM"
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 12:57 AM

Quote:

ShakerJoe.
Put out an APB, I'm coming back out onto the streets with all cylinders blazing. LOL.
Just getting minute details done with the help of Special K for the coming warm months.

Don't sell that six barrel, I mean the car, not the OD weapon.LOL.



the competition Bklyn style!!

Posted By: sixty7gtx

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 02:34 AM

this pic, from the late 80s with my son,
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 03:51 AM

What pic?
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 03:58 AM

Quote:

Quote:

M G ..... oh - I got beat - and VERY badly !

HE hooked ... and I did not. LIKE it would have made a diff anyways !!

The THING that was the most-impressive about that car .... was it was QUIET....

...and FAST !




Doc, at least you tried. My hat is off to you.
Had it been me, he would have burned me 60 feet
from the start. I pick my street fights well, he
would have knocked me out of the ring!!
Good thread, man.





H S ... TRIED ? ..... that "race" was done with a MAJOR .....
Posted By: jeffl300

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 04:51 AM

This was probably more like early,mid eighties... east side of Detroit sububurbs and I had a 73 Charger I used to run up and down Gratiot Ave in with a good running 400 and I remember this car kickin' a** and takin names....anyone remember?

Attached picture 5820125-5536024-4056599-DetroitVolare.jpg
Posted By: Hemi_Jack

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 06:27 AM

I remember the article in Car Craft Eight seconds over Detroit. Didn't that Volare have the hemi from Lisk's Challenger?
Posted By: HoosierGTX

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 02/21/10 06:43 AM

Any of you Detroit guys remember a couple of brothers named Orilkowski,if I remember right one had a savoy and the other had a fury,they were around in the 80's,I think both cars were 426 wegdes?
Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 06:58 AM

Quote:

I remember the article in Car Craft Eight seconds over Detroit. Didn't that Volare have the hemi from Lisk's Challenger?




I know Steve's Hemi wound up in a Black Volare but I hadn't heard it got a blower...
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 07:01 AM

Quote:

This was probably more like early,mid eighties... east side of Detroit sububurbs and I had a 73 Charger I used to run up and down Gratiot Ave in with a good running 400 and I remember this car kickin' a** and takin names....anyone remember?



Nice car. Shades of Judy Lillies SS ride. She was
knocking them out on the strip back in the late
70's, very early 80's with one. I think it was a
smallblock in her ride, either 340 or 360 W2 head
mill.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 07:17 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

M G ..... oh - I got beat - and VERY badly !

HE hooked ... and I did not. LIKE it would have made a diff anyways !!

The THING that was the most-impressive about that car .... was it was QUIET....

...and FAST !




Doc, at least you tried. My hat is off to you.
Had it been me, he would have burned me 60 feet
from the start. I pick my street fights well, he
would have knocked me out of the ring!!
Good thread, man.





H S ... TRIED ? ..... that "race" was done with a MAJOR .....



Doc, at least you DID line up with the "Bullet"!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 07:27 AM

FMJ, Do you remember the old Connecting strip
outside of Astoria and J-Heights in Queens? You
know about a mile, maybe two on the BQE north of
L.I.E.?
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 12:30 PM

I know it very well and got off some runs there a few times even after it's heyday.

It is now 2/3rds relatively new and smooth concrete with only the starting line left in a very mild state of black top repair.
It was the only place I felt comfortable for both the drivers and spectators.
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 12:52 PM

Quote:


It was the only place I felt comfortable for both the drivers and spectators.




guess u never ran at south ave on staten island... it was the 'premier' place to run certainly in the city, and places beyond..
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 02:10 PM

As a matter of FACT, I did RUN South Avenue. I was the lead and (not to hoot my own horn) celebrated flag man there and at Fountain Ave for about three years straight.
I ran a tight ship with organizing the competition and setting off the action in a timely and respectful manner. Sought of a Gentle mans thug dance I may say.
I was haunting the place when Tony D. was running Fords and Mopars as well as Drunk Mike and his strong Mopars and box Nova's.

I was also at 1st Avenue Brooklyn when it made it's short and celebrated come back a little further north on 45th St.
Posted By: RV2

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 03:42 PM

The bad part about south ave was when the cops blocked off both ends you were trapped.
I received many summons there.
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 02/21/10 10:39 PM

My first "real" street race was in the summer of 1972. Had my Chrysler [1959] and a '59 El Camino. Elky started life as 348/3 on the tree. I stuffed a 400 HP 409 and a 4-gear into it, along with a 61 Impala rear, with 3.70 Posi.

Was driving home from my G/F's house at about 11:30, and I got jumped by a '66 Nova at a light.

Firewalled the 409, blew past the Nova in second and in third, he was a length and a half behind - but, the next light was approaching. I stopped a the light, he blew the light. Cop in parking lot, Nova nailed. I still grin when I think of it.

Last "real" street race was in 1996, on the way to Bakersfield, CA, with wifey and kids. On I-40, just west of Santa Rosa, NM. About 2:30 AM, cruising about 65, radio on, wifey and kids snuggled up, beautiful full moon. Doesn't get any better than a BB Mopar burbling along in the moonlight.

A guy in a '63 Impala pulled alongside, stayed even for a bit. Saw him laugh in the instrument lights of his car, and he pulled away, shaking his head and waving. I probably came close to bending the steering wheel...but, wifey and kids were curled up, asleep...

About the time all that was flashing through my mind, the wifey - without opening her eyes, I think, said "just blow him off the road. You know you can and want to." I couldn't believe it!

Off we went. I passed him at about 80, rapidly gaining speed. Wifey was sitting straight up, by then, kids still curled up in the back.

Guy gave chase, wifey watched his headlights shrink out of the back window. Said "why is our car smoking?" Wasn't our car...glanced in the mirror...Impala was smoking bad. His lights dimmed, he hit the shoulder.

Wifey said "Serves him right for waking me up," and went back to sleep.
Posted By: sixty7gtx

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/21/10 11:19 PM

Quote:

this pic, from the late 80s with my son,


....

Attached picture 5821500-DSC00077.JPG
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/22/10 01:23 AM

Quote:

The bad part about south ave was when the cops blocked off both ends you were trapped.
I received many summons there.




i guess the blocking occurred after 'the accident'.. prior to that, they (not me, as i only had a 318 63 fury..but it was 2 doors ) would run all nite... never a cop in sight...
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/22/10 01:50 AM

Quote:

I know it very well and got off some runs there a few times even after it's heyday.

It is now 2/3rds relatively new and smooth concrete with only the starting line left in a very mild state of black top repair.
It was the only place I felt comfortable for both the drivers and spectators.



Been there recently myself. I was around
in 02'-05'when they were reconstructing the original surface over Northern blvd/CTX freight
line from Hell's Gate (South Bronx THE HUB)and the
East/West Spurs. A lot smoother and faster surface
there. You are right, it was always a GOOD, SAFE
place to run. As long as there was no foolhardy
knuckleheads drawing the cops, you always could
make a good run. At least the spectators were
COMPLETELY out of the way, which was good too.
Unlike the other haunts, this place was ideal for
the heavy action. Except for the flooding of the roadway, if the cops were tipped off or caught
some action going off. This WAS the first functional CITY DRAGSTRIP!!! SOUTH AVE has it's deep history and picked up the ball AFTER the
Connecting was finally shut down, but could not
generate the image of the Connecting. Still all
in all, a SUPER runner-up spot for street action!!
(NO disrespect for the fellow S.I. guys). Some pro
runs out on 440 north and south made that dropped my jaw!!!! Good vibes and great memories
man!!!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/22/10 01:59 AM

Quote:

Quote:


It was the only place I felt comfortable for both the drivers and spectators.




guess u never ran at south ave on staten island... it was the 'premier' place to run certainly in the city, and places beyond..



Was actually a good place to run!! Only two usual problems for outsiders, cops and exits. But still
a darn good haunt!! Only second to the
Connecting, where it's rapidly growing popularity
shut it down.
Posted By: 440Demon

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/22/10 02:37 AM

I ran on and remember many of these South Ave Staten Island stories. My Uncle was a local terror with a 65 Belvedere and later a 68 Dart - he'd tell tales of meeting his boys at the Wetson's on Forest Ave and heading out to South Ave, Newark, Conduit, etc... during the 70's. Me, I ran South ave in the early to late 80's with a black primer 72 Demon and a white 67 LeMans vert. The cars there on any given night - awesome. PG Performance buick ( the 225 ) the orange Charger, the box Nova, Chef's red 442, the "Sleeper" white Firebird, a certain red big block 68 Cuda (that whipped my azz) and many others. I met the gentlemen known as Silverado a few times, and once he was nice enough to not ticket me for blowing thru stop signs in reverse...
Great Times.
Great Cars.
And a miralce we're all here to point, click and type about it.
Rock on
John
72 440 4spd Demon
72 340 Auto Demon
02 WS6 T/A Vert
02 Durango R/T
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/22/10 02:49 AM

Quote:

I ran on and remember many of these South Ave Staten Island stories. My Uncle was a local terror with a 65 Belvedere and later a 68 Dart - he'd tell tales of meeting his boys at the Wetson's on Forest Ave and heading out to South Ave, Newark, Conduit, etc... during the 70's. Me, I ran South ave in the early to late 80's with a black primer 72 Demon and a white 67 LeMans vert. The cars there on any given night - awesome. PG Performance buick ( the 225 ) the orange Charger, the box Nova, Chef's red 442, the "Sleeper" white Firebird, a certain red big block 68 Cuda (that whipped my azz) and many others. I met the gentlemen known as Silverado a few times, and once he was nice enough to not ticket me for blowing thru stop signs in reverse...
Great Times.
Great Cars.
And a miralce we're all here to point, click and type about it.
Rock on
John
72 440 4spd Demon
72 340 Auto Demon
02 WS6 T/A Vert
02 Durango R/T



Amen brother. (Wetsons, a blast from the
past!!, Great big burgers!)
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/22/10 02:57 AM

That PG performance Deuce and a Quarter, if it
was a convertable, that was Scotty's ride. Super
hot ride!!
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/22/10 03:41 AM

Certain BB Cuda was probably Billy from upstate. He had that thing on kill covertly running high 11's with stock HP exhaust manifolds way before the F.A.S.T guys were in vogue. All due respect to the F.A.S.T guys.
Drunk Mike or Budweiser Mike was no joke on the go pedal and steering. The more he drank, the better he drove and cut a mean hand drop.
I DO NOT condone drinking and driving, especially racing.
For the record, Fountain lost its edge once the un-appreciates bled over from Columbia St. aka Redhook.
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/22/10 05:51 PM

Quote:

Quote:


Amen brother. (Wetsons, a blast from the
past!!, Great big burgers!)





my buddy worked at weston's on forrest in 69.. said when he wanted a burger, he'd clean the grill...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/23/10 01:48 AM

AAAAhhh, Connecting. Where Chrysler probably invented their Direct Connection logo.
I drive through those caverns almost every day during the Summer when I go fetch my Dodge from upstate Sleepy Hollow.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/23/10 03:31 PM

I'm thinking we need some more racing stories like (1) how did you entice a guy/gal to a race? (2) Did your date ever sit shotgun when you were racing? (3) Did she yell at you to either slow down or go faster? (4) Did she give you a big ole sloppy wet kiss when you won? (5) Did she smack you in the head when you lost?

We need more details for the younguns. They missed out on some pretty good times when things were a little safer and I think a lot more fun.

So go back to the archives of your brain and share some more of your street racing memories.
Posted By: RV2

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/24/10 12:19 AM

Hey Lee remember the volvo with the 340 in it and I think an old dodge van with a 340 also.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/24/10 12:53 AM

Yes I do. The Volvo belonged to a friend of mine that was known for building some out of the head cooky car combos that ate everyone for Dinner.

He had a Dodge Diplomat yellow cab with a low-low 12 second 340 in it that was wrecking havoc with all the Grand Nationals back in the mid eighties.

The motor in my car now is original 413 I bought from him way back out of a station wagon.
He is one of the fastest talking Puerto Ricans I know. Old school sweet gent that will cut your marbles off with a mean combo.
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 02/24/10 07:49 AM

I once stuffed a 340/4-gear into an Austin Healey 100/6...scary car.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/28/10 03:41 PM

Quote:

Yes I do. The Volvo belonged to a friend of mine that was known for building some out of the head cooky car combos that ate everyone for Dinner.

He had a Dodge Diplomat yellow cab with a low-low 12 second 340 in it that was wrecking havoc with all the Grand Nationals back in the mid eighties.

The motor in my car now is original 413 I bought from him way back out of a station wagon.
He is one of the fastest talking Puerto Ricans I know. Old school sweet gent that will cut your marbles off with a mean combo.




Then you also remember that wicked mid eighties
Toyota Starlet/Tercel with a hyped up RX7 rotary
engine and drivetrain. Came out of the South
Bronx, I believe. Mopped up a LOT of runners back
on the Conduit (150th), The Hutch and Cooper Av.

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/28/10 04:01 PM

Quote:

AAAAhhh, Connecting. Where Chrysler probably invented their Direct Connection logo.
I drive through those caverns almost every day during the Summer when I go fetch my Dodge from upstate Sleepy Hollow.



I just simply nicknamed it "The Queens
Track/Strip". Still a memorable favorite of mine.
Great place to .

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/28/10 04:19 PM

Quote:

Certain BB Cuda was probably Billy from upstate. He had that thing on kill covertly running high 11's with stock HP exhaust manifolds way before the F.A.S.T guys were in vogue. All due respect to the F.A.S.T guys.
Drunk Mike or Budweiser Mike was no joke on the go pedal and steering. The more he drank, the better he drove and cut a mean hand drop.
I DO NOT condone drinking and driving, especially racing.
For the record, Fountain lost its edge once the un-appreciates bled over from Columbia St. aka Redhook.



Alcohol+11sec. ride equals collateral
damages, lawsuits, hospitalization leading to the
avenue of DEATH. . AS far as the
spillage from Columbia St., the actual problem
was wannabee spectators who wanted to "create their own runs" wheras pro runners like yourself
organized it SAFELY and PROFESSIONALLY!! There is
no place on the street for the foolhardy or the
showoff. The concept is to line up, get it on
quickly/safely and DISSAPEAR!! Organization is
the KEY!!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/28/10 04:22 PM

Quote:

I'm thinking we need some more racing stories like (1) how did you entice a guy/gal to a race? (2) Did your date ever sit shotgun when you were racing? (3) Did she yell at you to either slow down or go faster? (4) Did she give you a big ole sloppy wet kiss when you won? (5) Did she smack you in the head when you lost?

We need more details for the younguns. They missed out on some pretty good times when things were a little safer and I think a lot more fun.

So go back to the archives of your brain and share some more of your street racing memories.



Just keep picking our brains.

Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/28/10 04:27 PM

Yes I do remember that Starlet. Dark Brown in color with nothing left in it but the Rotary.
The skinny Spanish kid behind the wheel could drive a mean stick shift.

I was cleaning house that day on First Ave and then they bring this thing on a small trailer and try to sic it on me, I declined with a bow and said, it's all you now, the rest of the pie is for the taking.
I was smarter than I looked.

There was also this rugged ghetto assembled white MG with a Grand National turbo motor stuffed in between the fenders, and I mean stuffed. The hair dryer stuck out the flimsy card board hood like an alien exiting out of Sigourney Weaver's stomach.
Never could get it to spool up enough.
Later after some good fine tuning hands were on it, it turned out to be a terror on 150th st.
Posted By: RV2

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 02/28/10 04:28 PM

I saw a couple of wrecks at Fountain, one was a really nice 57 chevy made a pass and hit a car on the topend, another was a vette and Grand National hit each other taking off on the starting line.
Posted By: sixty7gtx

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/03/10 04:34 PM

Quote:

Quote:

this pic, from the late 80s with my son,


....




joey,,
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/06/10 10:35 AM

Quote:

Yes I do remember that Starlet. Dark Brown in color with nothing left in it but the Rotary.
The skinny Spanish kid behind the wheel could drive a mean stick shift.

I was cleaning house that day on First Ave and then they bring this thing on a small trailer and try to sic it on me, I declined with a bow and said, it's all you now, the rest of the pie is for the taking.
I was smarter than I looked.

There was also this rugged ghetto assembled white MG with a Grand National turbo motor stuffed in between the fenders, and I mean stuffed. The hair dryer stuck out the flimsy card board hood like an alien exiting out of Sigourney Weaver's stomach.
Never could get it to spool up enough.
Later after some good fine tuning hands were on it, it turned out to be a terror on 150th st.



Yeah, that same Starlet waxed over a 78' Nova
on the Conduit (150th). The Nova was blue
and ran pretty hard on the street. The guys that
ran the car were from Ridgewood/Glendale area.
They were pretty much on their game, not that
night. That MG sounds like it's local, maybe off
of Rockaway Blvd.(near the airport). Seen it once
before the GN motor was installed. Interesting
how they made it work!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/06/10 11:08 AM

Quote:

I saw a couple of wrecks at Fountain, one was a really nice 57 chevy made a pass and hit a car on the topend, another was a vette and Grand National hit each other taking off on the starting line.



Yeah there were some brainless knuckleheads out
there. The "old site" at Fountain, used to be
really smooth back in the late 60's (pre-Starett
City). Kept up the surface before the dump closed
down. When they started racing on Vandalia St.,
it was good till more people crowded the area.
Walking around the cars during runs or stepping out in the path of the cars during runs. Just
plain stupidity!!! A guy almost lost his eyesight
due to steel cords shooting off the rear tires,
holding the rear end down on a car doing a hard,
dry, burnout. Or launching a car, only for it to
lose traction 100 feet out and plow into the crowd. Bad night for everybody!!! Flatlands wasn't
as bad but also had it's nightmares also. The bad
thing about Red Hook was that the roadway was
kinda narrow to run and if you were not careful,
you could either go into "the drink" or T-bone/
headon crash with some unsuspecting car being
nosy. Really hairy place to run, great if you
cut a race very late (few people). But one way
in and out, bad news for getting caught.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/18/10 02:12 AM

Quote:

AAAAhhh, Connecting. Where Chrysler probably invented their Direct Connection logo.
I drive through those caverns almost every day during the Summer when I go fetch my Dodge from upstate Sleepy Hollow.



Just to put it out there, the Fount is probably
off-limits by now. I might be years late with this info Lee, but you are probably w-a-y ahead
of me on this. Bad news.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/18/10 02:27 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

M G ..... oh - I got beat - and VERY badly !

HE hooked ... and I did not. LIKE it would have made a diff anyways !!

The THING that was the most-impressive about that car .... was it was QUIET....

...and FAST ! [/quote

Doc, at least you tried. My hat is off to you.
Had it been me, he would have burned me 60 feet
from the start. I pick my street fights well, he
would have knocked me out of the ring!!
Good thread, man.




Doc, I did get a chance to see the online tribute
to the Silver Bullet. The argument as far as the engine/tranny was really heated, but I don't
remember Jimmy running a Bauman-style scoop or
a tunnel ram setup on his car. He did built it to
be incognito and of the stelth nature with a
stock ramcharger hood scoop. The car that Manuel
had was a built up version of Jimmy's X. It looked
more at home on a trailer, or with slicks in the
staging lanes of Michigans dragstrips. Very interesting thread man!!

H S ... TRIED ? ..... that "race" was done with a MAJOR .....



Doc, at least you DID line up with the "Bullet"!




Posted By: pro6pakRR

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/18/10 06:05 AM

Detroit nuff said
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/18/10 11:22 AM

With all due respect,
the reason why Highways were utilized for a good run was that the cars in New York were to fast to try and race on an ordinary street.
Like I said before, I would have loved as well as the rest of the street world for that matter to have seen a run off with Detroit's Silver Bullet up against one of New York's finest.

I still love the Detroit street stories of legend with a passion.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/19/10 09:44 PM

Quote:

With all due respect,
the reason why Highways were utilized for a good run was that the cars in New York were to fast to try and race on an ordinary street.
Like I said before, I would have loved as well as the rest of the street world for that matter to have seen a run off with Detroit's Silver Bullet up against one of New York's finest.

I still love the Detroit street stories of legend with a passion.




MO-TOWN + MO-PAR = MO'BETTER GOOD TIMES.

Posted By: benny70hemibird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/20/10 01:53 AM

Wow, this post brought back a few memories for sure. I was cruising our local mall/pizza place one Saturday night around 10:00 p.m. in my 4 year old, bright red '70 Roadrunner. This local kid pulled up in a hoped up '70 Mustang and off we went to run 'em out on I-64 just east of Lexington, Kentucky. He had me off the start and I missed 2nd gear with my pistol grip (who hasn't) but I pulled him badly on top end with the speedo pointing straight down way past 150 mph indicated. That 'Bird was shaking like a tin can, man. Anyway as I slowed down I heard a bad rattling coming out of the engine bay, really bad. I limped it back to the pizza place and a crowd formed around my car with the hood opened. A good buddy of mine looked in and shouted, "heh guys, it's the alternator bolt! it's backed out and is hitting the fan, yeah, right there as he reached into the whirling fan idling at 1,000 rpm.....it about sawed his fingers off! After we got over the shock of all that blood, we all went in for more pizza......God in heaven, those were the day's man..........
Posted By: dwbiggs

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/20/10 02:56 AM

No Northern VA, DC areas stories???
Posted By: Pale_Roader

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/21/10 11:50 AM

What a thread....

I've had a lot ov fun in my life, i'm still having a lot ov fun, but nothing, not even the thing i'm currently devoting my life to, can touch street racing for sheer electrifying excitement. We'd LIVE for that weekend to roll 'round so we could cruise down to the flats and hang out. Rain on weekends was heartbreaking. I'd give up what i'm doing in a heartbeat and build a car in a month if street racing would only start up again here. As it is the car i'm putting back together now will see some, even if i have to personally be the first guy on the line and start it, just some good friends messin' around out on the flats... but even if it got going like it was a few years ago it just wouldn't be the same.

I wasn't even racing at the time. I had a stock EV2 71 Fury III 2dr with a tired 383 2bbl and hardly enough money to buy gas to get down and watch the races, let alone actually build something and run. Cool car, but it would have been lucky to run a 17. Otherwise i'd drive the hearse down there, many would remember that parked on the starting line.

This was only a few years ago, say in a 5-7 year span in the late 90's early 2000's, but it was no less exciting. We'd have upwards ov 50 cars a night racing on Fridays and Saturdays, out on some parallel road out ov town. Cars would come out from as far as Vancouver to play. The best part, as in the other stories here, was seeing what crazy [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean] people put together to race. This is primarily Chevyland, with a strong Ford contingent, but there were some cool Mopars out there running hard as well.

We had a bone stock looking 72 340 4spd Demon, pure F.A.S.T. material, though this was long before that started (with a driver just as tricky as the car...), my buddies absolutely wretched looking 'puke-green' Maverick with his own 'junk' 289 that everyone swore was bottled (it wasn't), a numbers 68 Hemi Super Bee 4spd car, with only a cam, headers and slicks for mods doing the most GLORIOUS 7000+ RPM burnouts EVER seen at the races (remember, this is not the 70,s, this is in the late 90's). The Bee only stopped coming out because after a couple years this guy had every idiot in a 5.0L coming out 'to kill the hemi' and got a little sick ov it. They'd brag if they won, though his was pretty god damn close to stock. There was a tight looking lil 69 340 Dart (bottled) that left the line harder than even the 10 second cars down there (and it was only running 11's), my boss' skanky looking 38 Chev truck with the (sadly) ubiquitous BC street-races SB Chev and a bottle in the bed, a half-crazed religious freak named 'Moses' with a 2ft long beard who was actually the leader ov his own small cult always had his scary (read: sketchy) as hell 4x4 Blazer with a 410+ SBC running in 4x4 on FOUR slicks (went as fast as 9's on STOCK diffs... hahahaha) with NOS (the latter two were the most violent starters i've ever seen, i had to start them cause nobody else in their right mind would, both 10 second trucks), a beat-to-[Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean] looking late 70's Chev 3/4 ton farm truck sleeper with 'A-plates' and hay in the back running fast (even with its 300lb + driver), a SUPER rare 68 396/375HP SD Beaumont (1 ov 2 or 4, i forget) that had been street raced and HARD since the day it was bought new by its equally infamous owner, an 11 second 65 Impala with a big block and Jericho trans, a 9 second 'Yenko' Nova, numerous other big and small block Novas running almost as quick, and later on a nutty 70's Vette with a nuttier 363 and a LOT ov nitrous running mid-9's just to name a few. That Vette also raced nearer to the city and used to take on the fastest big-bore crotch-rockets and always won. He was pretty much the only car that showed up on a hook. This wasn't a quarter ov the cool stuff that showed up, i forget the rest.

SBChevies were everywhere, mostly in G-bodies and S-10's, and only slightly more common than 5.0L Mustangs. There were some crazy 5.0L sleepers, including one that NO savvy spotter would guess could run what it did. His was a bone-stock 5.0L 5spd with only slicks (mounted on the shoulder when he got there, like many others) and a bottle that ran 11's. He'd drop the clutch at 5000 and pull the fronts i dont know how many times... never hurt the thing in 3 years. We had guys building cars to run 9's in street trim at the time it all got shut down. Remember, this is not Detroit, this is BC... no money up here. Most ov this stuff was a step up from the junkyard. Even the 9 and 10 second stuff was usually pretty sketchy.

There was little to no traffic on that road after 9, and we would hit the spot around 11. We had a perfect 1/4 marked off with reflective posts at the finish. EVERYONE but the starter stayed behind the starting line, so no one got hurt. The race would not start till this happened. You could tell who won from a 1/4 mile away in the dark by seeing which post disappeared first. Racing could go on till the next morning, sometimes till people just got bored or ran out ov gas. Heh... while i wouldn't call it the safest road to race on (NO traffic or even side roads, but some serious 20ft deep "hick ditches" on either side as some city guy once mentioned), we were pretty well self-policed and never had an incident. That uber-rare 10 second SD Beaumont once lost it shifting 3rd and had both rear tires swing deep into the ditch at speed (heh... and i mean speed...) but the madman saved it and still almost won the race. He NEVER lifted. There was only two ways into that road and at night we could see headlights coming over 3 miles away... LOTS ov time to shut everything off and enjoy our little 'midnight car-club meetings'. Cops rarely gave us grief. Only when it got so big after a few years and we had well over 300 people watching and cars lined up parked for half a mile on both sides ov the road (behind the line) did they start getting upset. Then there were a few completely unrelated incidents in the city with stupid [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean] rat-racing through downtown Vancouver in their daddy-bought imports and Porsches plowing pedestrians down, the media got involved, blew it ALLLL way out ov proportion, and suddenly we were ALL 'killers'... and the cops hassled and threatened everyone with seizures and jail till it broke up.

This was all just a few years ago, and there was still a surprising amount ov musclecars down there, even some really rare iron, all running. I can only imagine being in Detroit or NYC in the 70s'...
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/26/10 01:23 AM

Interesting thread! Seems like the cities aren't
the only places of action. Those "rain ditches"
you mention, we have them in the county, but
they're not that deep! Would make for a scary run!
There is just as much action in the plains of
Midwest as there are in the cities. Some of the
racers out there make GOOD USE of alcohol and
E85. Serious fuel for serious runners'. Much
respect to you guys!!
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/26/10 03:54 AM

There is STILL a lot of action in and around the Tampa and St Pete area....so I have been told.

That is where I am headed.
Posted By: Kowal

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/28/10 12:06 AM

Cleveland suburbs, Broadview Road. Sometime around 1975, I am in High School.

I had a B5 Blue '71 Duster 340...cam, head work, holley, intake, headers, shift kit in an automatic, 4:56 rear end (yes, 4:56...ran gas station to gas station, was given the third member already assembled by a friend!). Nice car.

Anyway. Driving down Broadview Road when a '70 Chevelle SS pulls up alongside me. I had never seen the car in the area before. There were three kids total in the Chevelle, I was by myself. This is around 7 in the evening.

It is warm out, windows are open. They are yelling across asking me if I want to give it a go. There are no lights immediately where we were, but traffic is lite so we stop in the middle of the road (a four lane road in the suburbs). They are in the curb lane. They count a three count and off we go. We are pretty even when BANG!!!! I can still hear the noise today. The Chevelle slows down and massive quantities of smoke starts coming out from around the hood and under the engine compartment.

They coast in to the entrance of a nearby K-Mart parking lot that we were just passing, I am watching in my rear view mirror.

I just kept going, no need to be part of their problem or explain to anyone what we were doing!

Looking back...we did this stuff a lot. There was a lot less traffic in those days. Still, I would absolutely kill my kids if they did this today!
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/28/10 12:50 AM

Looking back...we did this stuff a lot. There was a lot less traffic in those days. Still, I would absolutely kill my kids if they did this today!


And that is probably what your dad said to your mom about you! My dad knew what I was doing cause he did similar stuff. Like they say...the apple doesn't fall from the tree. And just this afternoon I was coming back from Cinncinnati on Interstate 74 approaching Indy and I was on one of our drag strips from the late 60's. What memories of very nice muscle cars racing on the open (and deserted) highways.
Posted By: Kowal

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/28/10 12:59 AM

My Dad was always kind of proud of the car, he used to show his friends.

As you know, it was fairly common to come home after a date, uncork the headers, change the plugs and then go back out for some action. Fairly certain my Dad had a pretty good idea what was going on, though we never talked about it.

A good man, I miss him.
Posted By: 440challenger

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/28/10 01:31 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7HV8AGypDw

Rt.21 passiac NJ

My dad used to do alot of racing up there with their club " the united street racers" still active today.

he had a 64 gto convert triple black 4spd with a nasty rat motor.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/28/10 01:34 AM

Back in the day, probably 1967, I had a '62 Dodge Dart 361 auto. We used to take our cars up to Palmer Dodge on Keystone Ave. and have their transmission guy increase the line pressure, or did something to make the auto's shift a lot harder than stock. I was also running a tall pinion snubber that was hitting the underside of the body 100% of the time. Now the engine was basically stock, other than having the heads milled for that higher compression, (cut me some slack...I was only 17) but when it hit second gear it felt like someone rear ended the car. Pretty cool I thought.

When racing, many times my girlfriend was with me and sat on the console between the bucket seats. When I wound it out in first and hit the second gear button the car lunged so hard that it thru her in the back seat. What a hoot. Incidently, it was in the back seat of that car that we conceived our first child. Well that's another story. I didn't win a lot of races with that car but it sure was a lot of fun.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/03/10 11:43 AM

Quote:

There is STILL a lot of action in and around the Tampa and St Pete area....so I have been told.

That is where I am headed.



A lot of hard runners there too Doc.
Pick your fights (runs) wisely!! Florida (Miami
for example) is the second home for tuner cars
and exotic machinery. They do it all there, top end
racing, street racing, drift/solo/rally etc. Just
be careful and don't hit the gators. That may
become a not-so-good day! Anyway, have
fun man!!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/03/10 11:59 AM

100%, What that Dylan classic, oh yeah
"These Times Are Changing", I think that's the
song. Before, when we were younger, we were fueled
by brawn and fearlessness. Now at our older ages
are fueled by wisdom and the insight of thought,
being careful of our actions and the end result
of who or what may be infleunced by them.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/14/10 03:39 AM

Quote:

I posted a thread that was directed to the 16-35 year old Mopar group and it is having a pretty good response. A few of them wanted to hear some of our (over 40?) stories from our teenage years as it related to our cars, racing, etc.

This request reminded me of the weekends hanging out at the local drive-in burger joints showing our rides off, looking for a good race for the evening and just being around a bunch of like minded gear heads. But most of all it reminded me of going from burger joint to burger joint looking for the kid from another high school that thought he had a fast car and then taking him out on the interstate and blowing his doors off.

Having said this I am in no way promoting street racing, it is dangerous and illegal, but the "Young Guns" like hearing our stories so if you have a particular memory that you would like to share please do so. I think they will enjoy hearing about our past as much as we enjoy remembering it.



100% with you MG. The stories we tell of the fast cars, burger/pizza joints and making runs
after we take our dates home is so true. However,
the action can be very dangerous if there is no control over these actions. As MG stated, I too
do not support street racing, sadly I lost two
"aquaintances" to this activity. You have to understand back in the post-WWII era till 1980's
there was a steady surge of population everywhere
there was a metro or town area. Most runs were in deserted places back then, now most roads ARE
heavily traveled which makes the accident factor
go though the roof. Words of advice "young guns",
support your local racetrack, NO ALCOHOL WHILE
DRIVING and MOST IMPORTANT, STAY LEGAL AND SAFE.
It's on you guys and gals to carry the hot rodding
tradition on after some of us are called to the
"giant track in the sky". And you will be able to tell the next generations of "young guns" your
experiences and stories. Take care!!!

Posted By: Qwik426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/08/10 12:31 PM

Quote:

As a matter of FACT, I did RUN South Avenue. I was the lead and (not to hoot my own horn) celebrated flag man there and at Fountain Ave for about three years straight.
I ran a tight ship with organizing the competition and setting off the action in a timely and respectful manner. Sought of a Gentle mans thug dance I may say.
I was haunting the place when Tony D. was running Fords and Mopars as well as Drunk Mike and his strong Mopars and box Nova's.

I was also at 1st Avenue Brooklyn when it made it's short and celebrated come back a little further north on 45th St.




Yep, I can testify to that! L.Q. was da man! I never made it out to Brooklyn but did see the races this gentleman "at large" initiated on Thursday nights in the late-1980s on Staten Island (after leaving the car show at the Masters shopping center) on the service road soon as you get off the Goethels Bridge.

Btw, L.Q. you KNOW who this is. You once sat in my F-6 green, 426 Street Hemi-powered 1968 GTX in the late 1980s at Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ as I was fueling up on some Cam 2 at the track's 'filling station.' Remember now?

Qwik 426
Posted By: Qwik426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/08/10 12:45 PM

Here's a link to a forum with a large section devoted to street racing action from daze of yore:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=322

You have to join the forum to see the page. Here's a glimpse from the East-Coast Street Racing section:

New York and New Jersey offered some of the most intense street racing the world has ever seen. The period from the mid-1960s through the early-mid-1970s was most certainly the pinnacle of the action. During this period there was something of a battle going on between New Jersey and New York street racers. This battle though, raged on during the night and into the early morning hours before sunrise. Most of the action between racers of the two neighboring states battled it out in the streets of New York - the New Jersey guys would come and take on the racers from Brooklyn, Queens and the other boroughs of New York City. Entering the late 1960s, it is said the NJ racers began making the NY racers look bad. They were winning and thus taking a lot of money off them. New York was the location of big time, high dollar, all-business street racing. During the time period there was also a heavy connection between street racing and drug dealing, as many of the successful racers funded their street racing activities (new cars, parts, tune-ups, etc.) with cash funded through the sale of drugs, notable heroin. The wave of NJ racers storming into NY and winning would not last though, as a few certain individuals from New York turned the tides and began sending the NJ boys back home - and with much thinner wallets than they arrived with. Two of the NY racers who were largely responsible for this went by the names "Super John" McFadden and Ronald Lyles, both from Brooklyn. These two, among several other New York and New Jersey racers of the time, went on to race professionally in Pro Stock - several of them becoming very successful. There were several other racers of the time who would eventually go down as legends in the history of street racing. Continue reading below to be introduced to a few of them. Also note that the racers listed on this page didn't just race from stoplight-to-stoplight for grins, they were driving real all-out race cars on the street and raced for thousands of dollars on a single run. This was big-time, serious, all-business street racing.



Lots of history and pix. Highly recommended.

Oh, here's another link to a long Van Nuys Blvd. thread on same forum that you can view without being a member:

Who cruised Van Nuys Bl in the 70's?

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133776&highlight=van+nuys+blvd

Qwik426
Posted By: Qwik426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/08/10 01:14 PM

Quote:

Street racing was and still alive in NYC,as well
as Detroit and other states across the States'.
The only difference between racers today and the
"pro's" back then, when I was younger is that
most guys knew the cars capabilities on and off
the track. And cars then, were 90% pure muscle,
with nary a power adder other than supercharger.
AS time went on it was the drivers who were
dependent on "their own power adders", and that's
when things got out of hand and dangerous. The
"pro's" were there to do business, while the
foolhardy were there for the idea of running
each other with no safety or respect of the
sport (automotive craftsmanship). By the way,
does anyone know what the outcome of a race in
NYC, on the Nassau Expressway in Queens. Back in
71', I think. A Rat-Motored 68 Camaro squared off
there with a 69 Road Runner w/HEMI. BIG MONEY was passed around that night. I believe the guy driving the Bird', is still a legendary driver with the last name of Cook. If anyone knows the
true scenario, set the record straight please.




I don't know the "scenario" but I do know the driver: it was 1980 Stock Eliminator world champ Ray Cook who, unfortunately, is no longer with us.

Here's a picture of Ray doing a burnout and his racing partner--both on and off the track--Artie Leong (near the right rear quarter panel) during happier times:



Here's another good link to a thread talking about the action on Connecting Highway and other NYC street racing hotspots back in the day:

http://classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=7052

Qwik426
Posted By: Qwik426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/08/10 01:37 PM

Quote:

Certain BB Cuda was probably Billy from upstate. He had that thing on kill covertly running high 11's with stock HP exhaust manifolds way before the F.A.S.T guys were in vogue. All due respect to the F.A.S.T guys.
Drunk Mike or Budweiser Mike was no joke on the go pedal and steering. The more he drank, the better he drove and cut a mean hand drop.
I DO NOT condone drinking and driving, especially racing.
For the record, Fountain lost its edge once the un-appreciates bled over from Columbia St. aka Redhook.




LQ,

Those weren't HP manifolds on Billy Bellafatto's 'Cuda--they were standard 350 hp 440 exhaust manifolds; at least on the left side from what I recall. I know because I saw them and Billy himself told me he only had to grind about an 1/4 from the left side to clear the steering column or linkage. Car ran very good, would've run a li'l quicker with special A-body/B-engine HP exhaust manifolds (very rare back then). I Billy's candy red 'Cuda on the street on "South Ave.", at Raceway Park more than once, and even in an article in one of the Mopar magz (Mopar High Performance or Mopar Action) of the day.

Qwik426
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/08/10 11:36 PM

Those New Yark and Joisey boyz ....

Nutin' but race cars with uNlegal plates on 'em !

Hey .... EVEN the Chi-Town boyz had some real DRIVERS ! ...
Posted By: THE GLASS MAN

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/09/10 03:38 AM

Quote:

Here's a link to a forum with a large section devoted to street racing action from daze of yore:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=322

You have to join the forum to see the page. Here's a glimpse from the East-Coast Street Racing section:

New York and New Jersey offered some of the most intense street racing the world has ever seen. The period from the mid-1960s through the early-mid-1970s was most certainly the pinnacle of the action. During this period there was something of a battle going on between New Jersey and New York street racers. This battle though, raged on during the night and into the early morning hours before sunrise. Most of the action between racers of the two neighboring states battled it out in the streets of New York - the New Jersey guys would come and take on the racers from Brooklyn, Queens and the other boroughs of New York City. Entering the late 1960s, it is said the NJ racers began making the NY racers look bad. They were winning and thus taking a lot of money off them. New York was the location of big time, high dollar, all-business street racing. During the time period there was also a heavy connection between street racing and drug dealing, as many of the successful racers funded their street racing activities (new cars, parts, tune-ups, etc.) with cash funded through the sale of drugs, notable heroin. The wave of NJ racers storming into NY and winning would not last though, as a few certain individuals from New York turned the tides and began sending the NJ boys back home - and with much thinner wallets than they arrived with. Two of the NY racers who were largely responsible for this went by the names "Super John" McFadden and Ronald Lyles, both from Brooklyn. These two, among several other New York and New Jersey racers of the time, went on to race professionally in Pro Stock - several of them becoming very successful. There were several other racers of the time who would eventually go down as legends in the history of street racing. Continue reading below to be introduced to a few of them. Also note that the racers listed on this page didn't just race from stoplight-to-stoplight for grins, they were driving real all-out race cars on the street and raced for thousands of dollars on a single run. This was big-time, serious, all-business street racing.



Lots of history and pix. Highly recommended.

Oh, here's another link to a long Van Nuys Blvd. thread on same forum that you can view without being a member:

Who cruised Van Nuys Bl in the 70's?

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133776&highlight=van+nuys+blvd

Qwik426


I wonder where that white Cuda is today? Should be worth a dollar or two. Any info on that car? :
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/09/10 05:22 AM

I could have sworn they were HP's on that engine.
Maybe you are right cause that thing was pretty tame and quiet, but carried a big whip.
South Ave was magic and the rides on the SI Ferry was my down time to wax the car (73' SS Hatchback 4 speed Nova)before getting there.
I remember sitting in your GeeTeX at E-town for sure.
You now know my car right?
It never made it out to South, but made many appearances on 1st Ave, The Hutch, 150th, FDR,
Fountain, Bronx meat market, and just a few on the Connecting during the mid 90's.
Posted By: WK41NUTZ !

Re:Help me Mommy ! - 06/09/10 05:32 AM

Dont race it's not worth it !

Attached picture 6027607-100_1203.JPG
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/09/10 03:41 PM

Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.) If I recall you did the arm drop for me & Mike w/box when I took him down. Man...I remember some nights (Thurs)there had to be a few hundred cars there. And I have to agree w/you...you did run a tight ship. You were probably the best. There were so many people and you were still able to get the cars thru to line up. Great memories!
Posted By: Qwik426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/10/10 06:09 PM

Quote:

I could have sworn they were HP's on that engine.
Maybe you are right cause that thing was pretty tame and quiet, but carried a big whip.
South Ave was magic and the rides on the SI Ferry was my down time to wax the car (73' SS Hatchback 4 speed Nova)before getting there.
I remember sitting in your GeeTeX at E-town for sure.
You now know my car right?
It never made it out to South, but made many appearances on 1st Ave, The Hutch, 150th, FDR,
Fountain, Bronx meat market, and just a few on the Connecting during the mid 90's.




Yes, I know your car; how can I forget? I only saw it a couple times at Englishtown--not on the street. Here's one of the times circa 1993:



In this pic you were setting the valve lash on your engine's DC (I know, Mopar Performance) 284/.528" mechanical camshaft. The guy near your car's right
front fender with his back to us is Curtis Taylor Sr.

Later,

Qwik426

P.S. Is Curtis Jr. still racing?
Posted By: John_Kunkel

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/10/10 11:34 PM

There used to be a popular street race spot (Powerline Road) along side the Sacramento Metro Airport, went by the other day and the start/finish line paint stripes are still there. Looking north. (intersection and stop sign weren't there then)

Attached picture 6030565-PowerlineRdLookingnorth.jpg
Posted By: John_Kunkel

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/10/10 11:35 PM


Looking south.

Attached picture 6030568-PowerlineRoadLookingSouth.jpg
Posted By: MIKES_DUSTER

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/11/10 12:23 AM

Quote:


Heres the RR


Heres the cuda at a Papas Dodge Cruise.





I knew a guy from East Hartford that bought an old pro stock Vega from a guy named Jack Chin who did very well at Conn dragway along with his brother Eddie. At any rate, this guy buys Chin's Vega and proceeds to put in a blown big block Chevy, what a ride to say the least. One night I rode with him in the Vega to the Berlin Turnpike, to say we stopped traffic is an understatement, we pulled into the Roy Rogers and as he was trying to back in it a parking space a Berlin cop pulled up and told us there was no way that car was legal and we needed to get lost, knowing of course the cop was right we proceeded to motor on home, what a ball. I moved out of Conn in the late 80's and haven't been back to the turnpike since but back when I was a kid there was a whole lot of racing going on there.
Joey

BTW, your Cuda is awesome!!, reminds me of one that was for sale in East Hartford that had a Hemi in it, supposedly a Sox and Martin built engine, the car was primered and was sitting in a barn when I seen it, mid 80's maybe.




Joey, We bought the cuda from a guy in East Hartford,right off of Silver Lane.. It was primered and had a HEMI with a tunnel ram and 2 dominators.When we bought it,it was at his house. Back then,my dad didnt want the HEMI cuz it was too radical for us back then so we bought it as a roller and a friend of ours dad bought the HEMI. The car went 9.90's with a 4-speed back in the early 70's when the car was put together. It only had 19,000 miles on it. It HAS too be the same car...You think??
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/11/10 12:29 AM

Wow! you sure were running the lens back then.
I was running low 12's with that cam with 10.1 compression, iron non adjustable 1.5 rockers, Holley blue pump at 3500 LBS.
I was really active on the street back then.
Changed to an ultra dyne 613 and a little more comp and dipped into the mid elevens while driving it every where.
I now have the whole fuel system tucked neatly inside the tank under neath. Still drive it everywhere in the city.
I always make echos off the Connecting Walls.
Wish I was there during its hey nights.
Posted By: megajoltman

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/11/10 05:46 AM

Quote:

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'!





So you never went to the street races in the 80's on Latimer or Harvie roads in Langley (farm country) that was two big spots for awhile? There were two mopars that were pretty fast one was a 4 spd Cuda and the other I think was a orange Superbee supposely 440 6 pack car. It got to much attention by the cops so most of the guys I hung around started going out to Abbotsford boonies to race.
Posted By: jake4cars

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/11/10 04:04 PM

Quote:

Quote:


Heres the RR


Heres the cuda at a Papas Dodge Cruise.





I knew a guy from East Hartford that bought an old pro stock Vega from a guy named Jack Chin who did very well at Conn dragway along with his brother Eddie. At any rate, this guy buys Chin's Vega and proceeds to put in a blown big block Chevy, what a ride to say the least. One night I rode with him in the Vega to the Berlin Turnpike, to say we stopped traffic is an understatement, we pulled into the Roy Rogers and as he was trying to back in it a parking space a Berlin cop pulled up and told us there was no way that car was legal and we needed to get lost, knowing of course the cop was right we proceeded to motor on home, what a ball. I moved out of Conn in the late 80's and haven't been back to the turnpike since but back when I was a kid there was a whole lot of racing going on there.
Joey

BTW, your Cuda is awesome!!, reminds me of one that was for sale in East Hartford that had a Hemi in it, supposedly a Sox and Martin built engine, the car was primered and was sitting in a barn when I seen it, mid 80's maybe.




Joey, We bought the cuda from a guy in East Hartford,right off of Silver Lane.. It was primered and had a HEMI with a tunnel ram and 2 dominators.When we bought it,it was at his house. Back then,my dad didnt want the HEMI cuz it was too radical for us back then so we bought it as a roller and a friend of ours dad bought the HEMI. The car went 9.90's with a 4-speed back in the early 70's when the car was put together. It only had 19,000 miles on it. It HAS too be the same car...You think??




HOLY CRAP!!, it has to be the same car, the one I am talking about was in a barn on Silver Lane and as you describe it is exactly the way I seen it, if I remember right, the father and son who owned it spent a ton of money on it, ran it a couple of times and parked it for whatever reason. I would be willing to bet that other than myself, there were only a handful of guys in the area that even knew it existed. They were asking $6500 for it at that time which was fortune then, today I look back and think what a deal!. I am glad you guys have it, the car looks GREAT!, it's nice to see a barn car turn out to have a happy ending.


Joey
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/11/10 06:54 PM

Quote:

There used to be a popular street race spot (Powerline Road) along side the Sacramento Metro Airport, went by the other day and the start/finish line paint stripes are still there. Looking north. (intersection and stop sign weren't there then)




Hay JK .....

"Marked" just LIKE what was on 696, 96, 275 and even on Plymouth Rd ..... in Detroit !! ..
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/12/10 04:11 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Street racing was and still alive in NYC,as well
as Detroit and other states across the States'.
The only difference between racers today and the
"pro's" back then, when I was younger is that
most guys knew the cars capabilities on and off
the track. And cars then, were 90% pure muscle,
with nary a power adder other than supercharger.
AS time went on it was the drivers who were
dependent on "their own power adders", and that's
when things got out of hand and dangerous. The
"pro's" were there to do business, while the
foolhardy were there for the idea of running
each other with no safety or respect of the
sport (automotive craftsmanship). By the way,
does anyone know what the outcome of a race in
NYC, on the Nassau Expressway in Queens. Back in
71', I think. A Rat-Motored 68 Camaro squared off
there with a 69 Road Runner w/HEMI. BIG MONEY was passed around that night. I believe the guy driving the Bird', is still a legendary driver with the last name of Cook. If anyone knows the
true scenario, set the record straight please.




I don't know the "scenario" but I do know the driver: it was 1980 Stock Eliminator world champ Ray Cook who, unfortunately, is no longer with us.

Here's a picture of Ray doing a burnout and his racing partner--both on and off the track--Artie Leong (near the right rear quarter panel) during happier times:



Here's another good link to a thread talking about the action on Connecting Highway and other NYC street racing hotspots back in the day:

http://classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=7052

Qwik426




Thanks for the link!! Found a lot of the "missing
pieces" of my search. I had forgotton about Artie also, since he and Cook were tight!!


Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/12/10 11:02 PM

Quote:

Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.




86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/12/10 11:19 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.




86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....




Which accident, if you don't mind me asking? There
were a few!!

Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/13/10 10:38 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.




86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....




Which accident, if you don't mind me asking? There
were a few!!






don't remember the year, maybe 70 or 71 a guy went thru the stop sign at the end of the service road onto forrest ave, and broadsided a car with 3 college girls..i believe he lived, they died... that was the end of open racing
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/14/10 11:41 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.




86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....




Which accident, if you don't mind me asking? There
were a few!!






don't remember the year, maybe 70 or 71 a guy went thru the stop sign at the end of the service road onto forrest ave, and broadsided a car with 3 college girls..i believe he lived, they died... that was the end of open racing




A shame. I vaguly remember that one. I was a lot
younger (and dumber) when that happened. I believe
the police went "ballistic" on most street racers
in N.Y.C. shortly after that incident and a couple
of others.
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/15/10 01:47 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.




86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....




Which accident, if you don't mind me asking? There
were a few!!






don't remember the year, maybe 70 or 71 a guy went thru the stop sign at the end of the service road onto forrest ave, and broadsided a car with 3 college girls..i believe he lived, they died... that was the end of open racing




A shame. I vaguly remember that one. I was a lot
younger (and dumber) when that happened. I believe
the police went "ballistic" on most street racers
in N.Y.C. shortly after that incident and a couple
of others.





up until that point it was open racing every nite... there would be dozens and dozens of cars lined up in two's ready to rumble... some nites the cops with coffee and donut (s) in hand would stand outside their car and watch...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/15/10 03:17 AM

Remember the highly publicized accident with the wedding couple some where out in Queens or Long Island. I think both the Bride and groom were killed when one of the cars came through and implanted itself inside their Limo. A horrible fate and sad to the up most.
I knew some of the cops who were on the sting operations both on the Conduit and Francis Lew and that Wedding horror was a contributing fuse lighter to the operations.
That is why the "Connecting" would always be the quintessential haunt in my book. No body is left in harms way but the drivers them selves and the towering walls.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/15/10 03:35 AM

For the record, I have one of the last remaining 150th Conduit street eliminator decals, Not stickers. I am going to put it on my car soon, along with some original Connecting street race winner decals as well.
Posted By: MIKES_DUSTER

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/15/10 08:47 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:


Heres the RR


Heres the cuda at a Papas Dodge Cruise.





I knew a guy from East Hartford that bought an old pro stock Vega from a guy named Jack Chin who did very well at Conn dragway along with his brother Eddie. At any rate, this guy buys Chin's Vega and proceeds to put in a blown big block Chevy, what a ride to say the least. One night I rode with him in the Vega to the Berlin Turnpike, to say we stopped traffic is an understatement, we pulled into the Roy Rogers and as he was trying to back in it a parking space a Berlin cop pulled up and told us there was no way that car was legal and we needed to get lost, knowing of course the cop was right we proceeded to motor on home, what a ball. I moved out of Conn in the late 80's and haven't been back to the turnpike since but back when I was a kid there was a whole lot of racing going on there.
Joey

BTW, your Cuda is awesome!!, reminds me of one that was for sale in East Hartford that had a Hemi in it, supposedly a Sox and Martin built engine, the car was primered and was sitting in a barn when I seen it, mid 80's maybe.




Joey, We bought the cuda from a guy in East Hartford,right off of Silver Lane.. It was primered and had a HEMI with a tunnel ram and 2 dominators.When we bought it,it was at his house. Back then,my dad didnt want the HEMI cuz it was too radical for us back then so we bought it as a roller and a friend of ours dad bought the HEMI. The car went 9.90's with a 4-speed back in the early 70's when the car was put together. It only had 19,000 miles on it. It HAS too be the same car...You think??




HOLY CRAP!!, it has to be the same car, the one I am talking about was in a barn on Silver Lane and as you describe it is exactly the way I seen it, if I remember right, the father and son who owned it spent a ton of money on it, ran it a couple of times and parked it for whatever reason. I would be willing to bet that other than myself, there were only a handful of guys in the area that even knew it existed. They were asking $6500 for it at that time which was fortune then, today I look back and think what a deal!. I am glad you guys have it, the car looks GREAT!, it's nice to see a barn car turn out to have a happy ending.


Joey




Joey,

It has to be the car!!! Do you remember a guy,well a kid back then, by the name of Billy Dahms?? He is the one who told us about the cuda and his dad was the one who bought the HEMI. It was a father and son and they were both there when we bought and picked up the cuda up.
We put in a nice 440 and then m dad sold it has a rolling chassis back in the early 90's. It has changed hands a few times and now a guy named Dennis owns it from Weathersfield. Here is what it looks like now.


Posted By: RV2

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/15/10 11:59 PM

Hey Lee wasnt that wedding accident caused by the old man pouring oil out in front of his house?
I think it was a Grand National that got into the oil and then hit the limo?
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/16/10 12:39 AM

Negative.
The oil spill incident caused a death of one of the kids speeding and making noise on Francis Lew.
The locals there had had enough of the senseless burn outs and drinking amongst the regular bench racer wannabees and this man took onto himself to be vigilant. That act landed the senior in hot oil and water. That stretch was not isolated like other points, they were racing literally in front of peoples homes. Not a welcome mat at the door.

The wedding was an unfortunate freak timing of Murphy's law in a different part of town, I believe Long Island.
They newlyweds had just finished the Wedding ceremony and were heading out to the reception to greet the Family and friends when they came onto a street race in full throttle. The Limo's driver either never saw the Monte Carlo or the Monte was just to fast at that point to do nothing other than rip the Limo apart. It was a horror scene of epic proportions.
I was enraged myself because of the stupid senseless planning and execution of such a race on a street with hidden driveways and cross streets. I've always known that street racing is highly dangerous, but if it is going to go down in earnest, than consider the safety of others that are not involved if you are not considering your own.
That is why the Connecting, 150th, and other haunts where it is a one way fair and only included the drivers and spectators is probably safe in some respect but not the safest. Who ever is there knows the fine print and hind site should be game.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/16/10 12:43 AM

RV.
I was bummed that I could not make it to the event last week, both my car was down with new set-up gremlins and I was busy at Artwork. Good to be busy these days, some thing some of us don't take into consideration.
Posted By: Qwik426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/16/10 01:51 AM

Quote:

The wedding was an unfortunate freak timing of Murphy's law in a different part of town, I believe Long Island. They newlyweds had just finished the Wedding ceremony and were heading out to the reception to greet the Family and friends when they came onto a street race in full throttle. The Limo's driver either never saw the Monte Carlo or the Monte was just to fast at that point to do nothing other than rip the Limo apart. It was a horror scene of epic proportions.
I was enraged myself because of the stupid senseless planning and execution of such a race on a street with hidden driveways and cross streets. I've always known that street racing is highly dangerous, but if it is going to go down in earnest, than consider the safety of others that are not involved if you are not considering your own.
That is why the Connecting, 150th, and other haunts where it is a one way fair and only included the drivers and spectators is probably safe in some respect but not the safest. Who ever is there knows the fine print and hind site should be game.




Lee, are you sure it was a Monte Carlo? I saw this news story on Channel 7 Eyewitness News way back when and from what sticks in my mind I could swear the car driven by the street racer (who they also showed under arrest) was a black Grand National.

Whatever car it was, it was an absolutely terrible tragedy (Murphy sucks!!) that horrified and forever scarred many lives on what began as an extremely happy and joyous day.

Qwik426
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/16/10 02:03 AM

Could be a National being that the G-bodies look alike. But I seem to remember the car being identified as Monte. It could be that the other racer which ran off was the Monte though.
The story about the oil spill on Francis showed a National performing a burn out for the big lens.
Posted By: shakerjoe

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/16/10 06:53 PM

The wedding accident was in Long Beach - on Long Beach Rd. - both the bride and groom were killed - the cars involved were a black Monte SS and a Grand National. The GN was the one that crashed the limo - the SS never was found if I remember correctly. The oil down on FLB was just north of 26th Ave on N/B FLB, white Mustang GT 5.0 - the carcass of the Mustang was on the side of the 109pct. for a couple of weeks after that one ...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/16/10 10:14 PM

Thank you Joe for bringing up the facts on such a horrific situation.
Posted By: hemi-itis

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/17/10 01:17 AM

Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/17/10 02:04 AM

Quote:

Thank you Joe for bringing up the facts on such a horrific situation.


Stories like these are exactly why us older guys and gals need to encourage the young pups to hit the drag strips and not the streets. I would be devasted if one of my children or grandchildren were injured or killed by some street racers.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/17/10 04:12 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.




86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....




Which accident, if you don't mind me asking? There
were a few!!






don't remember the year, maybe 70 or 71 a guy went thru the stop sign at the end of the service road onto forrest ave, and broadsided a car with 3 college girls..i believe he lived, they died... that was the end of open racing




A shame. I vaguly remember that one. I was a lot
younger (and dumber) when that happened. I believe
the police went "ballistic" on most street racers
in N.Y.C. shortly after that incident and a couple
of others.





up until that point it was open racing every nite... there would be dozens and dozens of cars lined up in two's ready to rumble... some nites the cops with coffee and donut (s) in hand would stand outside their car and watch...




That was the truth!! They did!!

Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/17/10 04:32 AM

True That.
Lets just hope that municipal politics don't get in the way and shut down tracks in a domino effect where as they close down and condominiums pop up, the streets become the new Coliseums again. Old subject, but true and always rearing its ugly head.
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/17/10 11:11 AM

Quote:

True That.
Lets just hope that municipal politics don't get in the way and shut down tracks in a domino effect where as they close down and condominiums pop up, the streets become the new Coliseums again. Old subject, but true and always rearing its ugly head.




unfort. as land becomes more $$$$, track owners take the cash, and condo's go up... its a sad fact of life... or the track gets closed down as new condos get built 1/2 mile away , and the people then complain about the noise...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/17/10 12:04 PM

Then as the point will reveal, they'll have to complain about the noise on the street as well because youngsters will always take it there.

Just imagine if Englishtown or Lebanon or Island closed down with all the amount of cars in the tri-state area, I would bet that a good percentage of the outlaw door slammers would chance it once in a while to get it off. It would sound like 1970 all over again and that is spooky cause cars are so much more violent and fast nowadays.
Posted By: 71cudaddict

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/17/10 04:00 PM

I guess I am lucky lived in brooklyn all my life till 2001 street raced as often as possible 150 street, fountian ave connecting hwy. every sunday spent eating bbq chicken on long dock peir, racing there was a hand full between people steeping out and stopping on wet cobble stones. Seemed like there was no racial tension when came to street racing meet a lot good people.Witch now help me to keep an open mind. Now I live in AZ we race with Arizonas fastest street cars & AZ grudge racers my son runs a low 9 sec. 67 camaro I have my dart for the 10.00 class feel just like street racing pro 4tenth tree. the track & people are great very lay back. also some fast street cars afew in the 7s. feel like best of both worlds. sorry for rambling on. Rickey
Posted By: RV2

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/17/10 09:18 PM

I was wondering when you would chime in Rickey
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/17/10 11:42 PM

Quote:

Seemed like there was no racial tension




racial tension.... in brooklyn...what's that about??
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/18/10 01:40 AM

Quote:

True That.
Lets just hope that municipal politics don't get in the way and shut down tracks in a domino effect where as they close down and condominiums pop up, the streets become the new Coliseums again. Old subject, but true and always rearing its ugly head.




with ya!! We (street racing community)
should of took over the old Floyd Bennett Airfield, but politics prevailed and what was profitable and cost conscious made more sense.
Other than to give NYC their own track, to provide
a tremendous boost to the city's economic picture,
local automotive and trade businesses flourishing,
restaurant businesses booming, tourism in NYC
on the rise. Anything would have been possible!!
Most important, today's youth would have an
constuctive outlet/hobby to be weaned on. Less
gangs, crime and more involvement of today's youth in community, would have be a result. I am now off my soapbox, thank you !!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/18/10 01:47 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Seemed like there was no racial tension




racial tension.... in brooklyn...what's that about??




Ah Fugggetttabbouttitt!! We are ALL the same behind the wheel, under the hood or on the sidelines. It's just the ignorant ones who bring the tension
on!!

Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/18/10 02:49 AM

That's right, when all is on the line and the clutch is depressed and the torque converters are tweaked, and the drive shafts are twisted, everything is silently loud and even across the board. Black,White,Rich,Poor,Pretty,Ruffed,Ford, DODGE. hehe.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/18/10 03:03 AM

I just discovered a Floyd Bennett Field alternative spot in the south Bronx.
Just as you would take the Willets Ave bridge into the Bronx and take the right right off ramp to get onto Bruckner Blvd. Well, right there to the right on the down slope off ramp on the Willets sits a semi deserted concrete strip about 3/4 mile long with plenty of room on both sides for spectators.

A Big Willie move is needed. New York City needs a track NOW!
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/18/10 11:44 AM

i like the floyd bennett idea... only problem is axcess... imagine a couple hundred cars/dualies+trailers on the belt...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/18/10 02:10 PM

Dualies/trailers are not allowed on the Belt. Besides the same traffic jams are created when a run is going off anyway.LOL.
Like Hyper80sonic said, It would create so much revenue and incentive school programs along with Summer jobs for the whole of New York's young adults.
Build and they will come.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/18/10 02:59 PM

I hope you guys could do something---years ago even when NYC was broke they couldn't make it happen.
I don't know if you guys have the same problem back there,but in the mid-90s I was approached by a group of streetracers who were looking to set-up a place. Like NHRA of a million years ago they came to local law enforcement & asked for our help. I/we (PHx PD drag Team) were more than willing to assist but the issue of actually running the "track", tech & security came up suddenly the group wanted no part of it. Their idea was to simply have a public road where they could be left alone and the City would maintain it for them. Sorry but when you're talking a semi-organized deal & a City involved "THEY" are gonna want to know the details to insure it's safe---makes sense to me. When I brought that up NO ONE would step-up & see it through. Hope you guys don't run into that.......
Posted By: RV2

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/18/10 09:09 PM

fullmetaljacket you have a pm
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/19/10 12:47 AM

Quote:

Dualies/trailers are not allowed on the Belt. Besides the same traffic jams are created when a run is going off anyway.LOL.
Like Hyper80sonic said, It would create so much revenue and incentive school programs along with Summer jobs for the whole of New York's young adults.
Build and they will come.




FMJ, remember when they did runs on Flatbush AV
extension (adjacent to Floyd Bennett Field)? They
ran both ways from the parkway up/Kings Plaza
to parkway.

Posted By: Qwik426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/19/10 01:23 AM

Quote:

Ah Fugggetttabbouttitt!! We are ALL the same behind the wheel, under the hood or on the sidelines. It's just the ignorant ones who bring the tensionon!!




Sheeeeeeeeeeeeet...some are a LOT better than others when "behind the wheel" and "under the hood."

Qwik426
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/20/10 06:04 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Ah Fugggetttabbouttitt!! We are ALL the same behind the wheel, under the hood or on the sidelines. It's just the ignorant ones who bring the tensionon!!




Sheeeeeeeeeeeeet...some are a LOT better than others when "behind the wheel" and "under the hood."

Qwik426




That may be true of driving skill, but the issue
here is the BS that keeps us from having good runs
/helping out one another to run better/good friendship and sportsmanship and keeping things
SAFE and ORDERLY. Fights, drunkeness, disagreements due to social/religious backgrounds
even RACE, is not my idea of enjoying "late night
runs" or spectating/running at the strip. A lot
of DIFFERENT folks from DIFFERENT WALKS OF LIFE
helped make this mode of sportsman/pro event very
popular all over the U.S. In short, it's bad enough to have conflict with other countries, but
to have conflict and hatred toward each other here
in the U.S., is just plain NONSENSE!! Many guys and gals paved the way in this sport for us to not
only learn technology, but to evolve from the cancer of racial tension. It is only THOSE WHO
CHOOSE TO BE IGNORANT TO OTHERS THAT CREATE THESE
PROBLEMS AMONGTS US!!! And that is just STUPID!!!


Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 06/20/10 06:14 PM

Quote:

I just discovered a Floyd Bennett Field alternative spot in the south Bronx.
Just as you would take the Willets Ave bridge into the Bronx and take the right right off ramp to get onto Bruckner Blvd. Well, right there to the right on the down slope off ramp on the Willets sits a semi deserted concrete strip about 3/4 mile long with plenty of room on both sides for spectators.

A Big Willie move is needed. New York City needs a track NOW!




Is that off of Willis Av bridge or alongside the Bruckner? I am on my "Haught Map", locating it!!
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/20/10 08:08 PM

Just under and besides the Willis avenue bridge. It runs parallel to some freight railroad tracks that go under the bridge as well. It can only be seen from the right side of the off ramp of the bridge just before coming to the traffic light at the bottom where the intersection of Bruckner Blvd is.
About a true half mile long or more concrete pad. I can't see the rest of it. I'd like to know the night watchman.LOL.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/20/10 08:12 PM

Quote:

Just under and besides the Willis avenue bridge. It runs parallel to some freight railroad tracks that go under the bridge as well. It can only be seen from the right side of the off ramp of the bridge just before coming to the traffic light at the bottom where the intersection of Bruckner Blvd is.
About a true half mile long or more concrete pad. I can't see the rest of it. I'd like to know the night watchman.LOL.




I believe I know the spot you are talking about!!
It is a good spot, especially if the concrete
can be redone and close to mirror smooth!!

Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/20/10 10:42 PM

It looks to me like the old school "China Rock" surface concrete which was the primo surface face back on 150th St hey days.

The Connecting got a new face lift about ten years back but they stopped the concrete just before the starting bridge line. The black top at the hole is warped and hurt, not ideal for what plays today.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/20/10 10:54 PM

Quote:

It looks to me like the old school "China Rock" surface concrete which was the primo surface face back on 150th St hey days.

The Connecting got a new face lift about ten years back but they stopped the concrete just before the starting bridge line. The black top at the hole is warped and hurt, not ideal for what plays today.




I think they "planned that" for when it was constructed, Lee. Maybe to discourge the heavy
hitters from making a "comeback" to the place!!
Or, it could be an occurring fault line in design
too, after all they had some oil tanker burn down
on the roadway, several years back!! FYI
I do miss that "China Rock" surface, man it gave
some good bite!!

Posted By: rth

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/21/10 12:27 AM

floyd bennet field is govt property.they aren't interested in jobs or community.hey rick i remember us being the only white guys at columbia street.we never had trouble.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/21/10 02:52 AM

Quote:

floyd bennet field is govt property.they aren't interested in jobs or community.hey rick i remember us being the only white guys at columbia street.we never had trouble.




Floyd Bennett Airfield has changed hands to the
Coast Guard, Reservists Training Area and protected land to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Preserve
and such. Yes, it is government property, but
explain to me why SCCA sanctioned events RAN
there and NOT drag racing NHRA events? Sort of
like the road couse in Suffolk County, L.I. Bridgeport or Bridgehampton (near Brookhaven Lab
Complex). I may have not gotten the name of the track right. Check on it please? By the
way, really nobody had problems at Columbia
Street. It was just a bottleneck place to run!!!
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/21/10 04:03 AM

Columbia St. was where I got my first glimpse of the infamous Deuce and a quarter's running like scolded dogs out of the hole with a shot of hidden smack.
Those Buick's were animals on smack.

Cars would roll in there with Pro-Stock style lettering on their sides and all.
Any one remember "The Chrysler Killer" 67'GTO or TNT's mean 4-speed Malibu with hundreds of stickers and decals along with spiked snow tires for traction?
How about the "Nova-caine" Chevy deuce or O'nells Maroon 67' stick shift Chevelle?
Posted By: 71cudaddict

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/21/10 04:11 PM

tnt that that guy would run that car from morning till night, with that big sunoco stickers on the doors, George with the chrysler killer was always there but never seemed to run. big Neal and Roy had that red 77 riv. that ran high 10s with the wide whites & spokes. Percys buick, Richies olds, the paper car,the brownsville killer Moms chop bbg. I loved that place made some money there lost some to. drank alot of bud nipps there, thanks for the memories
Posted By: RV2

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/21/10 08:48 PM

Anybody here old enough to have witnessed the million dollar race between the Ronald Lyles crew with their Hemidart against some guys from NJ with a rat motored camaro?
Posted By: RusTy/SE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/21/10 11:47 PM

hemicop, I wasn't as clear as I should have been in my post from page 5 of this thread, my bad. All the street racing witnessed firsthand by me happened in Montgomery after I moved here.

However, here are the several pics of the street racing going on at 6th street.

The only folks/cars I can identify are Lonnie F's Anglia in pic #1, Scott S' 1969 GTX in pics 3-5, and Charlie M's 1969 Camaro in pics 7-8.

Lonnie always ran Ford small blocks in black machines. Prior to the Anglia he owned a wicked looking 1965 Falcon with wrinkle wall slicks out back/Cragar S/S all the way around. Unfortunately I have no pics of that one.

Charlie had pulled the Camaro out of a junkyard in its original non-running green/green/307 configuration and turned it into a really sweet ride dark blue with gold stripes running a stroked chevy small block/4 speed/3.73 12 bolt riding on chromed Centerlines.

Scott's GTX was an original 440/red/black/console auto car with great top end.

















Great thread everyone
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/22/10 02:06 AM

I heard that George's reason for the "Chrysler Killer" logo was that he was constantly trying to over throw his little brothers mean 70' Cuda and could never get it together. Brotherly rivals just like my friend Curtis with his stompin' Mopars out of Brooklyn and his bitter little Brother with his sad Pontiac's that never get out of the 13teens.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/22/10 02:08 AM

I know some of the guys including the Camaro owners and where that Camaro is recently.
I just saw the J&B Automotive shop get torn down about 5 years back right here in my neighborhood.
Heavies place is still there but under new people.
Posted By: Qwik426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/22/10 08:02 PM

Quote:

hemicop, I wasn't as clear as I should have been in my post from page 5 of this thread, my bad. All the street racing witnessed firsthand by me happened in Montgomery after I moved here.

However, here are the several pics of the street racing going on at 6th street.

The only folks/cars I can identify are Lonnie F's Anglia in pic #1, Scott S' 1969 GTX in pics 3-5, and Charlie M's 1969 Camaro in pics 7-8.

Lonnie always ran Ford small blocks in black machines. Prior to the Anglia he owned a wicked looking 1965 Falcon with wrinkle wall slicks out back/Cragar S/S all the way around. Unfortunately I have no pics of that one.

Charlie had pulled the Camaro out of a junkyard in its original non-running green/green/307 configuration and turned it into a really sweet ride dark blue with gold stripes running a stroked chevy small block/4 speed/3.73 12 bolt riding on chromed Centerlines.

Scott's GTX was an original 440/red/black/console auto car with great top end.




Great pix, they remind me of the good ol' daze of street machining, cruising and hanging out with like-minded gearheads during the mid-late-1970s to the latter part of the 1980s. My friends and my cars (plus most other cars on the street at that time) were not 100% show car restored and OEM original, perfect to the max (like today) and we didn't care! We had a blast and that is what counted.

Here's my car from Friday evening June 17th, 1988 in line for tech at Raceway Park, the one and only time I drag raced it (on the strip ).



My car was an 114,000+ mile original 440 GTX w/Torqueflite trans, 3.23-geared 8 & 3/4 rear (non-Suregrip) with power steering and manual brakes that I converted to 1968 Street Hemi power during Fall-Spring 1986-87.

The HEMI's hp and torque was transferred to the ground via a 1970 Hemi 4-speed trans from a wrecked 1970 440 GTX, and a 3.54 Dana from a 440 4-speed 1968 GTX that I parted out in 1977 on out to the L60 x 15 Pro-Trac tires (hard street compound) mounted on Centerline aluminum rims.

The HEMI engine was a standard bore Hemi from an 1968 Dodge Charger R/T Hemicar that I had bored +.020" oversize with a Sig Erson .515/.505"/276 degree duration mechanical cam. In a nutshell, it was basically a stock rebuild Street Hemi engine with 2 & 1/8" dia. Hooker Headers, electronic ignition and Direct Connection aluminum water pump housing.

It was a fun car and great street cruiser. My best time through the mufflers (no H-pipe exhaust system) was 13.78 @105.50 with tons of tire spin (2.20 60 ft. times). Not too bad a performance for a mid-90s temp, very humid Friday evening and (at that time) 250 lb. driver pulling the Hurst shifter handle.

Qwik426

P.S. I forgot to add that I installed an adjustable pinion snubber on top of the Dana center section that gave me a 'bump' each time I powershifted a gear.

P.P.S. I just remembered: I also moved the battery from the engine compartment to the trunk mainly because a section of the inner fender panel area and battery tray was eaten-through by battery acid!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/23/10 04:24 AM

Quote:

Columbia St. was where I got my first glimpse of the infamous Deuce and a quarter's running like scolded dogs out of the hole with a shot of hidden smack.
Those Buick's were animals on smack.

Cars would roll in there with Pro-Stock style lettering on their sides and all.
Any one remember "The Chrysler Killer" 67'GTO or TNT's mean 4-speed Malibu with hundreds of stickers and decals along with spiked snow tires for traction?
How about the "Nova-caine" Chevy deuce or O'nells Maroon 67' stick shift Chevelle?




Lee, those Deuce-and-a-quarters were from Pee Gee
Performance. The infamous Convertable Deuce was
Scottys' own machine. He or his buddy (very cool
black dude) would alternate driving chores on it.
The car was capable of VERY LOW 11's/high 10's!!
It was definitely bottle-fed!!!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/23/10 04:33 AM

Quote:

Anybody here old enough to have witnessed the million dollar race between the Ronald Lyles crew with their Hemidart against some guys from NJ with a rat motored camaro?




I remember the stakes being in the vicinity of
nearly quarter of a million dollars. And they
raced two or three times. Check my math, on this!!


Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/23/10 05:06 AM

Yeah, I remember Scotty and his Buick's.
He had a whole clan of admirers that built fast Buick's, mostly Wildcats and 225's.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/23/10 12:16 PM

You are correct as two good friends of mine were there on different occasions for the reruns.
The Dart won best out of a couple or so because even though the Camaro was set on Kill, they never had as good a driver as the Hemi Dart.
Must have been Sox behind the Hemi's wheel.LOL.
All due respect.
They supposedly ran about three times all together.
My friend was part of the Camaro's side bets because he was good friends himself with the previous owner.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/24/10 02:44 AM

Quote:

You are correct as two good friends of mine were there on different occasions for the reruns.
The Dart won best out of a couple or so because even though the Camaro was set on Kill, they never had as good a driver as the Hemi Dart.
Must have been Sox behind the Hemi's wheel.LOL.
All due respect.
They supposedly ran about three times all together.
My friend was part of the Camaro's side bets because he was good friends himself with the previous owner.




The Dart didn't leave out of the hole with the
Camaro, one race, but once it cleared its' throat,
it sang pretty hard on the big end, walking by
the Camaro.



Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/24/10 02:47 AM

Quote:

Yeah, I remember Scotty and his Buick's.
He had a whole clan of admirers that built fast Buick's, mostly Wildcats and 225's.




Wicked Wildcats, 430's on juice!!
You were asking for trouble messin with them!!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/10/10 12:53 PM

LQ,

Whatever happed to that hard-running Gremilin,
that ran at FLB/Clearview Exp?

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/10/10 01:19 PM

If you're talking about a little yellow Gremlin, John D'Andrea is still around, still lives near 150th and has a 10-sec. AMX he plays with when he's not working for Scott Schafiroff. His AMX was posted in Car Craft's "Reader's Rides some months back. As for the Gremlin itself, years ago Iasked him about it & all he said was that it was sold sometime in the late 70s/early 80s
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/11/10 08:35 AM

Quote:

If you're talking about a little yellow Gremlin, John D'Andrea is still around, still lives near 150th and has a 10-sec. AMX he plays with when he's not working for Scott Schafiroff. His AMX was posted in Car Craft's "Reader's Rides some months back. As for the Gremlin itself, years ago Iasked him about it & all he said was that it was sold sometime in the late 70s/early 80s




The "red/white/blue" AMX, I have seen before,IF it
is the same one we're talking about. Out in L.I.
Runs darn GOOD. That Gremlin "surprised"
some people, when I saw it in action. Both are good examples of AMC muscle!!

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/12/10 12:21 AM

I thinkk we ARE talking about the same guy! John was the first guy I knew that had an auto trans for racing--made me a big believer in them.I'll be going back there in Sept., & hope to see him, it's been a long time. I know some AMC fans here & would like to get some ideas & opinions from him.
Posted By: Dave Watt

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/12/10 01:54 AM

This isn't from the '60's or '70's since I didn't graduate high school until '85, but I think it fits the thread.
I spent the summer of '87 in Huntsville Alabama working at a local fried chicken restaraunt during the evenings. Once we closed the store for the evening I would drive to a well known street racing place. It was about a mile long, then had a curve to the left, then another mile until it ended, straight as an arrow, flat as can be, brand new pavement. We drove to the end of the road, turned around and parked on the sides. The bench racing would get heated up. My red 73 340 Duster was a pretty quick street car but was new to the scene that summer. I had made friends with Charlie who had a B5 blue '70 Dart Swinger 340 4-speed, it was really fast. So just to get the action going, he and I lined up. That Dart wore me out! But within a week or two, it dropped a valve so I was left to hold up the Mopar banner that summer.
Not long after that,we were out there again. Charlie was a real talker and would egg the other guys on to get them to race. We had heard of a '67 Mustang being built which going to be fast. It finally shows up, no hood, tunnel ram and 2 4-barrels sticking out, pretty impressive looking, everyone was crowded around it for a while. Charlie knew the guy, walks up and says, "hey, is this thing fast?" The guy says "We'll see". Charlie replies "See that little Duster over there? I bet it will whip your a$$!" I think my jaw dropped to the ground as everyone whipped around to look at the "little Duster". So, the Mustang owner wasted no time in getting in and lining up. I thought "what am I doing? this will be embarrasing". Charlie dropped his arms and the Duster hooked up and proceeded to take the win. Believe it or not, the Mustang owner never slowed down to come back to the starting area, he just left, I never saw it again.
Whenever there wasn't any racing action going on, there was a Chevy Monza with a small block 400 in it. We would race just to get other people interested in racing us. If he was running his small shot of nitrous, he would win by a car length or so. If it was all motor, I'd get him by a car or so. We had a blast.
If anyone is from Huntsville and remembers this place, I'd really like to hear about it.
Dave
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/12/10 01:47 PM

Odd, I had a similiar thing happen to me (see previous post) in NYC years prior---wonder if it was your guy's Daddy? That or else it seems Mustang guys have "small man's" syndrome!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/17/10 02:03 PM

Quote:

I thinkk we ARE talking about the same guy! John was the first guy I knew that had an auto trans for racing--made me a big believer in them.I'll be going back there in Sept., & hope to see him, it's been a long time. I know some AMC fans here & would like to get some ideas & opinions from him.




When Mopar "adopted" AMC, Mopar never realized that they had such a TOUGH little step-brother running in the streets and on the strip. AMC as few fans they had then, has grown quite larger
today!!

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/17/10 03:37 PM

I think newer technology & an abundence of specialized parts have made AMCs a worthwhile build. In talking with a friend who's an AMC fanatic I learned how to build a 427 AMC with the same bore/stroke ratio as a big-block Chevy. Talk about a sleeper! Couple that shortblock with a set of Indy's AMC race heads (Hell use their alum too!), throw it in a Gremlin or Pacer & clean-up! Between the rev potential & the breathe-ability of the heads EASY 9-sec. street runs are possible.

Since it's been so long ago, anyone want to divulge the set-ups they ran in their cars back then? I think alot would be surprised how mild some of the stuff really was compared to today
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/17/10 11:11 PM

'69 AMX 390 4-spd car.

'70 390.

.047 over bore.

Stock dog leg heads, 'street ported.

9.67 compression ratio.

.272 adv. duration.

.492" lift.

Stock non ported R4B intake, or Eddy Performer intake - the stock one seems to run slightly better.

Demon 4bbl 650 double pumper, with no choke. Set up for road racing, floats, breather tubes, etc.

Attached picture 6091060-inthepits.jpg
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/18/10 04:58 AM

Quote:

I think newer technology & an abundence of specialized parts have made AMCs a worthwhile build. In talking with a friend who's an AMC fanatic I learned how to build a 427 AMC with the same bore/stroke ratio as a big-block Chevy. Talk about a sleeper! Couple that shortblock with a set of Indy's AMC race heads (Hell use their alum too!), throw it in a Gremlin or Pacer & clean-up! Between the rev potential & the breathe-ability of the heads EASY 9-sec. street runs are possible.

Since it's been so long ago, anyone want to divulge the set-ups they ran in their cars back then? I think alot would be surprised how mild some of the stuff really was compared to today




with ya H-Cop. It's the age of "old school basics" with "new school technology"!! The
concept is time proven. That 427 sleeper is just a peek at what is to come on the streets and strips. The cars back then were very hard running in their day, but take the same buildup, exploit it with today's technology and you can run a second to two faster!!

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/18/10 09:00 AM

Since we're talking about AMCs & streetracing-----one night John had his Gremlin out when I stumbled on him. We were on Utopia Parkway when I pulled alongside in my tubbed, SBC-powered Pinto. My car had a big solid lifter cam in it, quite a bit of compression, "fuelie" heads and a 40lb. flywheel hooked to an M21 trans in front of 4:30 gears. He had just gotten his new converter from Vitar Engr. and we were both anxious to see how our "mini-cars" (popular term back then) would do. When the light went green John jumped ahead, probably a car length or so as I let the clutch fly & went after him. Catching up wasn't a problem but keeping ahead, I have to admit, took a little bit of effort. We went through this ritual about three times as I recall, each run being about the same.
Though I did beat him, I have to admit he made a real believer out of me in regards to automatics for racing. His car was so much more consistent & easier on the driveline than mine I find it kind of hard to justify using a stick except they're so much fun......
Posted By: DAMOPARS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/18/10 11:47 AM

Quote:

No Northern VA, DC areas stories???




Yeah they used to meet at the bus lot off 495 @ Fort Washington/Oxen Hill and block off 295 near the DC line.
I never raced there but had a 69 Bee
and my friends cars, 68 RR, a T/A and a 69 1/2.
We used to race down at Hyde Airport in Clinton.
Ah the good old days..
Here is my Bee from the mid 70's

Attached picture 6091745-Bee.JPG
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/19/10 12:00 AM

Quote:

Since we're talking about AMCs & streetracing-----one night John had his Gremlin out when I stumbled on him. We were on Utopia Parkway when I pulled alongside in my tubbed, SBC-powered Pinto. My car had a big solid lifter cam in it, quite a bit of compression, "fuelie" heads and a 40lb. flywheel hooked to an M21 trans in front of 4:30 gears. He had just gotten his new converter from Vitar Engr. and we were both anxious to see how our "mini-cars" (popular term back then) would do. When the light went green John jumped ahead, probably a car length or so as I let the clutch fly & went after him. Catching up wasn't a problem but keeping ahead, I have to admit, took a little bit of effort. We went through this ritual about three times as I recall, each run being about the same.
Though I did beat him, I have to admit he made a real believer out of me in regards to automatics for racing. His car was so much more consistent & easier on the driveline than mine I find it kind of hard to justify using a stick except they're so much fun......




Ah, Utopia Parkway, not a bad stretch of road to run back then, still had that good concrete surface up till almost 5 years ago in some spots!
That runnin' Gremilin might have been pulling the "sandbag game" on you! If you can catch him from the light and gain a car length that quick,
but struggle to keep ahead, it's a ruse! Something is a little off, if it's just almost
every run. Chances of two cars being so closely matched is few but never impossible. So, the other
theory is that, his consistency is what kept him
at the level he was running at. Vitar Engineering
great converters and trannys, back in the day!!


Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/19/10 12:04 AM

Sharp Killer Bee!!



Posted By: Butt Ugly

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/19/10 12:14 AM

New to the thread but, gotta tell ya!!!!
Brother had a built 304 Gremlim, broke his right arm playing hockey and had me shifting his car while playing with other street racers. Had to decline the real deal because our timing was a little off.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/19/10 01:00 AM

Just spent the day today in Cunnnigham park with my ten year old and his new bicycle.
I took him over some bike trails and ended up almost under the Clear view over pass on Union Turnpike where they used to have the staging of the cars running up on the clearview back in the day. Stood there explaining it to him with my words flowing in one ear and coming out the other. Nintendo burned I guess.
Funny how every street in the area is primo smooth and straight and the only things noticed are the roaming unmarked Highway 3 Chargers.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/20/10 06:07 PM

Quote:

This isn't from the '60's or '70's since I didn't graduate high school until '85, but I think it fits the thread.
Dave


Yes, it fits the thread just fine. And I thought you have been a Hoosier your entire life. So how many tickets have you received since you bought the car?????? And for those of you that have never seen Dave's car it still looks showroom new...almost.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/20/10 08:04 PM

Quote:

Just spent the day today in Cunnnigham park with my ten year old and his new bicycle.
.




Wow, Cunningham Park! I spent many a drinking party there after basketball games at Bishop Rielly(St.Francis Prep). I ran another good streetrace right by the school there. First/only time I ever saw a Stage1 Buick beat a Z/28. Afriend had his older brother's car & asked me to ride with him. We were in the Buick & I must say, I was impressed--all that luxury & performance .
AS to thge Gremlin---John probably was trying to reel me in for a money race, but THAT didn't happen. I think him seeing how I caught & passed him made him leery about really pushing it. He may have thought I was running the same game .
I'm building another door car now & hoping to bring it back East when it's done. I'd like to see John again & see firsthand just how well his AMX runs.......
Posted By: Dave Watt

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/20/10 09:03 PM

Quote:

Quote:

This isn't from the '60's or '70's since I didn't graduate high school until '85, but I think it fits the thread.
Dave


Yes, it fits the thread just fine. And I thought you have been a Hoosier your entire life. So how many tickets have you received since you bought the car?????? And for those of you that have never seen Dave's car it still looks showroom new...almost.



Thanks John. I bought it June 1984, 0 tickets to date. I only lived in Huntsville for that summer, the rest of the time I've been a Hoosier.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/20/10 09:33 PM

Quote:

Just spent the day today in Cunnnigham park with my ten year old and his new bicycle.
I took him over some bike trails and ended up almost under the Clear view over pass on Union Turnpike where they used to have the staging of the cars running up on the clearview back in the day. Stood there explaining it to him with my words flowing in one ear and coming out the other. Nintendo burned I guess.
Funny how every street in the area is primo smooth and straight and the only things noticed are the roaming unmarked Highway 3 Chargers.




I can just imagine the the memories flowing through your head, Lee!! And you probably smelled the rubber burniing too!! Definitely a GOOD afternoon in Cunningham Park,
(Queens own Central Park!). The icing on the cake would have been if your ten year old son would have ripped a 30' long wheelie on his bike!! But
he'll have his day soon!! Those unmarked Chargers
are pretty sneaky there, since SOME OF the "next generation" import crowd likes to make high speed
passes there, on FLB and the Clearview at certain
times, with no reguards to traffic. A lot of smooth
streets there too. The locals ARE PRETTY TIGHT with the politicians in the area, so that's why they "keep up the neighborhood", hence the better
road surfaces, etc. Primo tax dollars at work, I
guess.

Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/21/10 02:30 AM

I never saw the racing on the Clear view, but have seen many photos from the haunt.
Now that we are talking street haunts in NYC. I just came upon the idea how some spots died and sprung up in others. I call them the "bleed over" spots. Though some spots may have been operational at the same time, as one of the two died off or became too hot, the other flourished.

As a disclaimer, I could be wrong on my assumptions, but please feel free to argue the point.

Lets see,
150th as we know it today is probably a bleed over from South Conduit Ave and Linden Blvd haunt which than moved over to the just finished portion of the Nassau.
As 150th gave its last performance, the new extension of the Nassau is a bleed over from 150th.

Columbia st. or Red hook on the pier is a bleed over from the First Avenue and 25th St crowd.

In the early 80's, Fountain Ave took in all the refugee crazies from Columbia St. and Kent Ave.

The "Connecting" bled over to Laurel Hill and Laurel hill bled over to the Masbeth Avenue then trickling down over to Review Ave by the other grave yard haunt.

The Gowanus Expway at 86th St. in Bay ridge bled over to 3rd Ave under the El, hence converging with the spill over of the 1st ave crowd. Two crowds in limbo I guess.

Francis Lewis by the high school and the L.I.E is a bleed over from the Clearview/Francis Lew crowd by Union Turnpike.
In the Bronx I think the "Hutch" stands alone and has no relatives.
The Hunts point market strip may be a bleed over from the Sheridan Expway.

The FDR elevated by the South St Seaport is alone and unknown to most. I saw it first hand as a kid in the early 70's.

South Ave on Staten Island is a bleed over from the 440 West shore expway.

The junkyard dogs of Shea stadium and the 21 Hump St. are the bleed overs of the elevated Marina and Grand Central Pkway racers.
My home and mind is a bleed over from all of the above. LOL.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/21/10 05:37 AM

WOW! Sounds like you covered 'most everything & looking at it thyat way it DOES seem logical. Although I know first hand the guys that hung out at the Marina would go to 150, the Van Wyck or Cross Island depending on traffic, the cars & money involved. It wasn't uncommon to lean on a guy to drive his car from the Marina to the Clearview or Cross Island just to insure (in our minds, anyway) that his car was REALLY a street car (yeah, right!) Now guys like myself or John actually lived in the middle of alot of it (I lived near Flushing Hospital, John by 150thSt.)so it didn't really make alot of difference to us. Of course some guys flat-towed (remember the NSW towing hubs?) or trailered their cars but those guys had backers, REAL strong cars, and ran for alot of money. I was just happy to get "play money" out of it all and move on....
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/21/10 11:40 AM

I know I've missed a couple here and there, but for the most part those were the main attractions.

Funny how they all flourished when the City and the people were in its worst fiscal crisis ever. Cars were cheap to set up and or buy and money was relevant to its cost of living, not like today's slave labor force.
Posted By: not_a_charger

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/21/10 12:32 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Anybody here old enough to have witnessed the million dollar race between the Ronald Lyles crew with their Hemidart against some guys from NJ with a rat motored camaro?




I remember the stakes being in the vicinity of
nearly quarter of a million dollars. And they
raced two or three times. Check my math, on this!!







Isn't that the race that Tony DeFeo wrote about in one of the Mopar mags back in the 80s?
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/21/10 01:38 PM

Yes it is the story, but a few facts have just been discovered about certain details. Great on how Tony covered it and explained like a classic camp fire telling where every one is in suspense.

I know two Gents that were there and one of them was part of the Camaro's team. He's a hermit by nature but could build killer combo Chevrolets.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/22/10 03:35 AM

I remember seeing & hearing the story every now & then. What website is it on?
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/22/10 02:02 PM

The story that Tony D. wrote was for a Street and Strip or Cars magazine back in the 80's I believe.
Tony is a member here and might come out of his lair if we shout loud enough. I forgot his handle title.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 03:20 AM

Quote:

I never saw the racing on the Clear view, but have seen many photos from the haunt.
Now that we are talking street haunts in NYC. I just came upon the idea how some spots died and sprung up in others. I call them the "bleed over" spots. Though some spots may have been operational at the same time, as one of the two died off or became too hot, the other flourished.

As a disclaimer, I could be wrong on my assumptions, but please feel free to argue the point.

Lets see,
150th as we know it today is probably a bleed over from South Conduit Ave and Linden Blvd haunt which than moved over to the just finished portion of the Nassau.
As 150th gave its last performance, the new extension of the Nassau is a bleed over from 150th.

Columbia st. or Red hook on the pier is a bleed over from the First Avenue and 25th St crowd.

In the early 80's, Fountain Ave took in all the refugee crazies from Columbia St. and Kent Ave.

The "Connecting" bled over to Laurel Hill and Laurel hill bled over to the Masbeth Avenue then trickling down over to Review Ave by the other grave yard haunt.

The Gowanus Expway at 86th St. in Bay ridge bled over to 3rd Ave under the El, hence converging with the spill over of the 1st ave crowd. Two crowds in limbo I guess.

Francis Lewis by the high school and the L.I.E is a bleed over from the Clearview/Francis Lew crowd by Union Turnpike.
In the Bronx I think the "Hutch" stands alone and has no relatives.
The Hunts point market strip may be a bleed over from the Sheridan Expway.

The FDR elevated by the South St Seaport is alone and unknown to most. I saw it first hand as a kid in the early 70's.

South Ave on Staten Island is a bleed over from the 440 West shore expway.

The junkyard dogs of Shea stadium and the 21 Hump St. are the bleed overs of the elevated Marina and Grand Central Pkway racers.
My home and mind is a bleed over from all of the above. LOL.




Lee, You are CORRECT!! 100%. You have
just listed HALF of MY MAP!! In College Point
they used to race over on 20 ave, by the old Flushing Airport in the 70's-1980. College Point
Blvd (north of Northern Blvd) in spurts 80's-90's
Might of handled the "spillover" from the Whitestone Expwy during it's REconstruction. If they were BRAVE, some ran the Interboro (now known
as "Jackie Robinson Parkway) westbound into Brooklyn, just past the Vermont St. Exit. At one
time "hyped slalom" imports used to roam the WHOLE stretch of the road into the Grand Central
Parkway/Van Wyck Expwy Junction ("Spaghetti Bowl").Their favorite part was the "Esses", or
commomly known as "Snake Road". This is where they
would put their car OR bike through a series of twisting turns and SHARP right and left-hand turns
bordered by miles of cemeteries. In it's earlier days, (times of the wooden guardrails) these curves used to be ultra sharp and kinda narrow
(speed was 20 mph or less, I think-70's), now the
curves are a lot more roomy and not nearly AS sharp. The speed is about 30-35 mph now and they redid the roadway several times since then and put up "Jersey Barriers" (concrete guardrails 4ft high). The imports and bikes speed through at about 40-50 mph and hit the straight sections at 65-75 mph. Sort of like a piece of a road course!!
Another oldie, but goodie was the "Cross Island
Parkway", particularly the section by Creedmore
Hospital, Hilllside Av to Grand Central Parkway in
early 70's. An alternate site was the Conduit (north)/Laurelton Parkway westbound to just past the LIRR bridge (early to mid 70's)


Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 03:25 AM

Quote:

WOW! Sounds like you covered 'most everything & looking at it thyat way it DOES seem logical. Although I know first hand the guys that hung out at the Marina would go to 150, the Van Wyck or Cross Island depending on traffic, the cars & money involved. It wasn't uncommon to lean on a guy to drive his car from the Marina to the Clearview or Cross Island just to insure (in our minds, anyway) that his car was REALLY a street car (yeah, right!) Now guys like myself or John actually lived in the middle of alot of it (I lived near Flushing Hospital, John by 150thSt.)so it didn't really make alot of difference to us. Of course some guys flat-towed (remember the NSW towing hubs?) or trailered their cars but those guys had backers, REAL strong cars, and ran for alot of money. I was just happy to get "play money" out of it all and move on....




I was just happy to witness SOME of the HISTORY!!
Thanks to the members/racers who made it possible!!


Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/23/10 03:40 AM

Quote:

New to the thread but, gotta tell ya!!!!
Brother had a built 304 Gremlim, broke his right arm playing hockey and had me shifting his car while playing with other street racers. Had to decline the real deal because our timing was a little off.




Welcome!! 304's are no-slouches either. In AMC,
torque and power come in many sizes!! You just have to choose the right chassis and refine it!!
Good running cars!!

Posted By: Theorio1025

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 04:48 AM

I have to say you guys are lucky to have been around back then. I was down at south ave. a few weeks ago to watch some people run. I was the only muscle car there, along with two hondas and two nissans. I decided to run and the two "built" cars lost by a few car lengths, and the other two wouldn't run me. Would have been nice to run another old car.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 04:51 AM

Import's are gaining popularity rapidly! Isn't
like the old days!! New era coming in!

Posted By: Theorio1025

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 04:53 AM

So I've seen. It helps a little bit that the new age saw my taillights as it was coming in tho.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 04:54 AM

Just to put this out there, Fountain Av, I believe
is no more due to a tragedy. Nothing else to say about it!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 05:00 AM

Quote:

So I've seen. It helps a little bit that the new age saw my taillights as it was coming in tho.




Your taillights are a reminder to them that "old school" is
NEVER SLOW OR BORING!!

Posted By: Theorio1025

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 05:12 AM

They almost cried when I told the that the longblock is stock, the carb hasn't really been tuned yet, and I was running on lt tires. Both had at least 5 grand in engine work and one was running a turbo( sr20 powered nissan 240sx). The turbo one was supposed to be running 13's, but he ran within a car and a half of a car I know runs 15.4.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 08:19 AM

Quote:

I have to say you guys are lucky to have been around back then. I was down at south ave. a few weeks ago to watch some people run. I was the only muscle car there, along with two hondas and two nissans. I decided to run and the two "built" cars lost by a few car lengths, and the other two wouldn't run me. Would have been nice to run another old car.




You have to remember the era---it wasn't all fun & games. Our cars were just our transportation for the most part & alot of guys spent almost every dime they had on their ride ( I guess that hasn't changed much) but the technology & access to good parts & guys that really knew how to put 'em together wasn't as easy to come by as it is today. Plus you had the threat of being drafted or hoping for a student deferment, among other social problems. These were just literally escape vehicles so we could have a little fun & forget about this kinda crap. A few years ago some guy wrote an article with pics about NYC streetracing & I thought it was all pretty accurate although he I'm sure he has some pics somewhere of the real "pros" of streetracing.
But on a happier note--there WERE ALOT more speed shops around & they were always a good place to hang out & get the latest rumors/info on some of the better set-ups, hang-outs & pending high-dollar races.....
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 11:59 AM

Quote:

Import's are gaining popularity rapidly! Isn't
like the old days!! New era coming in!





they sure are...and some of em are real quick...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 01:23 PM

I used to hang at Manhattan Speed with the old gangsters there that were into DOHC Fords and Fat chevies. Joe was a big Blue Oval man. Real cool and nice guy.
I loved the old grunt man that was always grumpy but knew a lot of stuff as well, I can't remember his name.
Now I hang very little at S&K Speed in Rockville center because it is busy in a new way and not that kind of place where you could bench race all day.

I respect their knowledge and ability to sell because of that same reason, knowledge.

They are very good at parts and parts in stock. Probably one of the best Speed shops in the nations East Coast.
Street action rumors run crazy there.

By the way, Fountain Ave wrote out its own death nail by virtue of the idiots that came to over run it.
That is why I stopped Arm dropping there after a few good years.
A lot of deadly accidents reflecting the pier at Columbia St.
Some peoples brains are not as advanced as the cams their cars lope to.
Posted By: Billo

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 01:53 PM

I love these stories. Well done Gramps & all contributors. I've read the thread from front to back & wished I was there!

(Aussie story)

I had a mild 351 cleveland in an XB falcon & had a run out on the backroads in Virginia SA when I was 18 & new zero (unless it came to the quality of [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean] & azz) against a 6cyl hemi charger. I thought I had him easy. Not! He pumped me in the quarter. It wasn't untill the age of the internet, or me being bothered to research the facts that I saw they ran a 14 second pass factory.
I was converted to Mopar on the spot.
Thanks again for the stories & have fun.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 02:45 PM

Quote:

I love these stories. Well done Gramps & all contributors. I've read the thread from front to back & wished I was there!

(Aussie story)

I had a mild 351 cleveland in an XB falcon & had a run out on the backroads in Virginia SA when I was 18 & new zero (unless it came to the quality of [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean] & azz) against a 6cyl hemi charger. I thought I had him easy. Not! He pumped me in the quarter. It wasn't untill the age of the internet, or me being bothered to research the facts that I saw they ran a 14 second pass factory.
I was converted to Mopar on the spot.
Thanks again for the stories & have fun.




Got a LOT of respect for those XB Falcons. They are sought after here in the U.S., since the day
those flicks "Mad Max" and the "Road Warrior" hit
the silver screen here in the U.S. Built right, those "Clevelands" are VERY hard to beat!! XB's
ARE NO JOKE modified!!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/23/10 02:51 PM

Quote:

I used to hang at Manhattan Speed with the old gangsters there that were into DOHC Fords and Fat chevies. Joe was a big Blue Oval man. Real cool and nice guy.
I loved the old grunt man that was always grumpy but knew a lot of stuff as well, I can't remember his name.
Now I hang very little at S&K Speed in Rockville center because it is busy in a new way and not that kind of place where you could bench race all day.

I respect their knowledge and ability to sell because of that same reason, knowledge.

They are very good at parts and parts in stock. Probably one of the best Speed shops in the nations East Coast.
Street action rumors run crazy there.

By the way, Fountain Ave wrote out its own death nail by virtue of the idiots that came to over run it.
That is why I stopped Arm dropping there after a few good years.
A lot of deadly accidents reflecting the pier at Columbia St.
Some peoples brains are not as advanced as the cams their cars lope to.




with ya!! The Fount was on a slow death
pace after the late 80's. Was the haught for some well-respected street-turned to class (strip) racers in it's EARLY years!! Lee, you got my update?

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/24/10 04:38 AM

For me, I usually hung out at "Competition Speed" in Jamaica, Queens. The owner, Larry Chin, didn't have a huge inventory but he was real supportive of young guys like me & hadabout 4 or 5 pretty serious streetracers running out of his shop. One of 'em had some weird connection to Pontiac as the guy had 4 or 5 RamAir IV or V engines stuffed in his garage. Larry always helped me out as much as he could & my first "serious" build of an engine came from his shop. Of course there were other shops nearby--- "Charlie's Speed Barn" on the L.I.E. service road or B&R (?) Performance on Francis Lewis Blvd. that seemd to do alot of business.
Anyone remember any of these?
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/24/10 06:10 AM

Quote:

For me, I usually hung out at "Competition Speed" in Jamaica, Queens. The owner, Larry Chin, didn't have a huge inventory but he was real supportive of young guys like me & hadabout 4 or 5 pretty serious streetracers running out of his shop. One of 'em had some weird connection to Pontiac as the guy had 4 or 5 RamAir IV or V engines stuffed in his garage. Larry always helped me out as much as he could & my first "serious" build of an engine came from his shop. Of course there were other shops nearby--- "Charlie's Speed Barn" on the L.I.E. service road or B&R (?) Performance on Francis Lewis Blvd. that seemd to do alot of business.
Anyone remember any of these?




I often went to S/K (Queens and L.I) to get my
goodies. I do remember B&R, as well as Competition
Speed.

Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/24/10 11:48 AM

for us on staten island, it was s.i. speed... and for chassis work, there was a guy with a shop on richmond terr.... his name escapes me for the moment(memory is gone from smelling too much leaded sunoco)...
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/28/10 02:35 AM

Quote:

for us on staten island, it was s.i. speed... and for chassis work, there was a guy with a shop on richmond terr.... his name escapes me for the moment(memory is gone from smelling too much leaded sunoco)...




Know those fumes all too well..err..was it 98..
99..or..101 oct. Can't remember it clearly!! Nah, maybe it was the smell of burning rubber that did
it for me!!

Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/28/10 02:12 PM

Quote:

for us on staten island, it was s.i. speed... and for chassis work, there was a guy with a shop on richmond terr.... his name escapes me for the moment(memory is gone from smelling too much leaded sunoco)...




Gotta love those fumes.
We also had New York Speed which is still open on Castleton Ave.
The chassis shop was Straightline Performance. Mikey T was the guy. He then moved a block up past Clove Rd. and the shop was called Tee's Welding.
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/28/10 02:16 PM

Quote:

for us on staten island, it was s.i. speed... and for chassis work, there was a guy with a shop on richmond terr.... his name escapes me for the moment(memory is gone from smelling too much leaded sunoco)...




The place on Richmond Terrace was called Super Stock Automotive. Back around the time I started doing Cars Illustrated and HP Mopar, I had a gas station a few doors down from them.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/28/10 09:57 PM

Quote:

I love these stories. Well done Gramps & all contributors. I've read the thread from front to back & wished I was there!





It was a different time back then, a time when most of us didn't have too many responsibilities but we sure had a lot of fun and ran a lot of pretty fast cars, fast for that day as there wasn't any nitrous or turbos running the streets back then.

When my buddies parents would leave for the evening (they leased a Marathon gas station that had an extremely large lot and we had the Hertz truck and car rental agency there) we'd race the rental cars and trucks across the parking lot just to kill time and see which car was the fastest. I remember driving a '65 or '66 Cobra Mustang, black with the gold stripes, one night and almost didn't get it stopped before running into traffic on the street. The disc brakes on that thing were terrible!

The cool thing is that his parents never caught us but I'm sure they knew about it as there were 2 other gas stations on the same corner and they knew the owners very well.

We even stole parts off the Mopar rentals for our own cars. I AM NOT PROUD of that but I couldn't afford a new set of plugs and plug wires so I found a donor car....it just had a Hertz decal on it.

How bout some more racing stories guys and gals????
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/28/10 11:38 PM



How bout some more racing stories guys and gals????




Go to "drag racing imagery"--there's a section there for some stories. I posted one there that was perhaps the closest I ever got to being caught streetracing! It's kinda long & I think I posted it here already...
Posted By: MikeyT

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/29/10 03:20 AM

Quote:


The chassis shop was Straightline Performance. Mikey T was the guy.




yes, yes I am!!

Mike
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/29/10 06:50 AM

Mikey T was a friend of mine, but he didn't come along until the later 80's after Super Stock was gone. Mikey was partners with Barry Pitard of NY Speed when he had the place on the Terrace. Barry, BTW is "Bobby" from the Quarter Million Quarter Mile story in Cars Illustrated.
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/29/10 03:06 PM

Quote:

Mikey T was a friend of mine, but he didn't come along until the later 80's after Super Stock was gone. Mikey was partners with Barry Pitard of NY Speed when he had the place on the Terrace. Barry, BTW is "Bobby" from the Quarter Million Quarter Mile story in Cars Illustrated.




Mikey T was also a friend. I probably got to know him around 87. I did not know Barry was his partner at one time. I remember walking into the speed shop for a shift kit and Barry was behind the counter back in 84. I guess Super Stock shop was before my time.
Do you remember sleepr wrote on the wall of T's shop "RULE 468...RACING IS WAR"?
Btw do you remember an 80 maroon trans am which an article was written called "LAST LAUGH"
Posted By: 71cudaddict

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/29/10 03:31 PM

I met Mike T in the late 70s when I worked for Mansur machine great guy, loved to talk always looking to help. Hey Red bird give me a call if you take a trip to AZ Frankie Fuu has my #. Rickey
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/29/10 03:52 PM

Here's something that kinda runs along this thread...
One night I'm with a friend who had a pretty nice but ordinary '65 GTO. We're over at Connecting Hwy, watching the races & true to form the cops show up. They're busy making everyone leave & shouting at us, opening fire hydrants along the service road so the water will run down & stop everyone from racing.
We start to pile back into his car when one of the cops stops us & begins asking for ID, etc. etc. He starts looking over the car then gets real concerned after looking at the VIN tag. He then pulls my friend aside & starts asking where he got the car, who sold it to him, etc., etc. My friend doesn't know any better so he answers all the questions, being real cooperative & all that.
Next thing we know he starts being accused of having a stolen car . So now we start asking about how the cop knows this, what'll happen to the car & all that. The cop explains it all, even saying we (my friend) should be planning to sue whomever sold him the car, he'll never get the parts back he added onto the car & all that. So he goes back to his patrol car & we wait. After about 30 mins. he tells us we can go.
It seems, according to him, that GM used regular round rivets on VIN tags for about the first half of the model year & then went to the octagonal ones after that. The officer saw the round rivets on my friends VIN tag & thought the tag had been switched causing him to suspect the car was stolen. All this took about an hour & a half and sitting on the service road of Connecting being held by the cops made us all feel like we were going to jail! Fortunately he let us go without so much as a loud muffler ticket.....
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/29/10 04:23 PM

Quote:



How bout some more racing stories guys and gals????




Okay, here's how a high-dollar race typically got pulled off.
My buddy that owned "Competition Speed" had lost a few grand the weekend before & needed/wanted to recoup. He put "feelers" out during the week & found a guy with a nice Modified Production Camaro willing to run. The race was slated for the Van Wyck near the World's Fair Marina on a Saturday night around 3:00 A.M. The money for the teams was allegedly 5k but side bets & all pushed it up to somewhere near 10. Those that knew showed up at the Marina but the crowd was so big the cops showed up & alot of people scattered. Knowing one of the racers, I managed to hide & stuck around while they re-negoitiated the race.
The money would be the same (5k) but they'd run on the Cross Island. My friend's flat-towing his car, while the M/P car is on a trailer. I start to follow but somehow get seperated from the group, so I'm a little late getting there. As I'm nearing the race site I see a ton of people gathering along the side of the road. I step-up the pace not far from where everyone is I see a police car on an overpass. I hustle down to the site to warn my friend the cops are nearby & to find somewhere else. I pull up to the site, park my car & just as I do both cars are warming their tires, the starter is stepping up & it looks like it's "on". Just then about 4 cop cars rush in , lights on & all that & one of them works his way through the crowd, trying to get up to the racecars. He manages to pull in front of the M/P car & as he does my friend takes off, hoping none of the other cops chase him. The M/P car gets seized, some the spectators get stopped & cited for various things (obstructing traffic, equip. violations, etc.) I rush back to my car like everyone else &as I get to my car I hear: "Hey [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean]! Next time I'll write you up for speeding!" I look around & there's a Hwy Patrol cop glaring at me. Those of you from NYC back then know their uniforms made them look like Gestapo, so I figure he's gonna screw with me awhile & see where that goes. I play dumb & ask him if that was him on the overpass. He says "Yeah" so I ask him how fast I was going. He accused me of doing 120, which I seriously doubt, but at that point I wasn't going to argue. He let me go, ticket free, and I left without doing or saying anything more.
The following Monday I went to the speed shop & learned what happened. My friend got away, the M/P car got impounded & the driver booked. All the "backers" got away and except for some tickets handed out the only real loser that night was the driver & owner of the M/P car.
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/29/10 05:00 PM

Quote:

Quote:


The chassis shop was Straightline Performance. Mikey T was the guy.




yes, yes I am!!

Mike




yo..yo mike... remember perry's chevelle??? i bought it... u did all the chassis work... and i still have the grumpy jenkins shifter...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/29/10 07:15 PM

Wonder what ever happened to that M/P Camaro.
I've seen Hwy 2 shields on the take at 150th St. Some one had the right paper to make that happen.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/29/10 11:00 PM

Quote:

Wonder what ever happened to that M/P Camaro.
I've seen Hwy 2 shields on the take at 150th St. Some one had the right paper to make that happen.




My guess was my friend had connections as one of his customers was "hooked up" with the City in an area other than police work. A simple call to a "friend-of-a-friend" or "cousin" could've straightened it all out.
This was all comon knowledge so "greasing" someone's palm was just how business was done. This was where the real criminal side of streetracing came into play. Imagine what it took to get the real big money runs to go off without a hitch. But in the end it never really mattered--we never hurt anyone, VERY rarely did a race like this result in violence & your "rep" was at stake, so to not pay-off or anything like that would result in a variety of problems for you. Most guys quit, some went back to running their businesses or the very lucky few turned it into a respectable living. That was the fun of it all. At the time anything seemd possible and you were having fun....
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/30/10 04:15 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Wonder what ever happened to that M/P Camaro.
I've seen Hwy 2 shields on the take at 150th St. Some one had the right paper to make that happen.




My guess was my friend had connections as one of his customers was "hooked up" with the City in an area other than police work. A simple call to a "friend-of-a-friend" or "cousin" could've straightened it all out.
This was all comon knowledge so "greasing" someone's palm was just how business was done. This was where the real criminal side of streetracing came into play. Imagine what it took to get the real big money runs to go off without a hitch. But in the end it never really mattered--we never hurt anyone, VERY rarely did a race like this result in violence & your "rep" was at stake, so to not pay-off or anything like that would result in a variety of problems for you. Most guys quit, some went back to running their businesses or the very lucky few turned it into a respectable living. That was the fun of it all. At the time anything seemd possible and you were having fun....




That is why the super hot cars "played"
the "one shot deal" (heat 'em up-line 'em up-RUN
then get the HECK out of dodge!). They very rarely hung around after the single run to "dust off" the local runners!! However, I DO take my hat
off to some local runners who BATTLED (repeat runs) long into the wee hours of the morning! Got
to give them their PROPS!!

Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/30/10 12:09 PM

There's no pageantry in stopping moving traffic and taking ones time to pull off a run. Like said above, get it on and get it out of there was the real artistry by the Pros.
It can almost be written into law as some sought of kidnapping because even though you may be stuck in traffic and have front row seats to the greatest show on earth, it is still a pain to wait for some stage crashers and their drama. No pun intended.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/30/10 02:34 PM

The REAL skill was in the negotiating. Unlike "pinks", there was no yelling, figet-pointing or name calling. It was more like playing Poker. You talked money, location MAYBE owned up to about 5-10% of what you really had & what the car could do & run 'em. Hopefully no data would leak out & you could win. That goes on today I know in every type of racing (just TRY to get specs on a S/S racer's set-up for example) but the serious street-rats had it down to a science which back then was rare.
Of course if you were unlucky your opponent would have access to some guys who actually worked at gathering intel on your opponent & would have car specs, perhaps pictures of your opponent that could tell you just how fast he really was or what latest modifiction he made . He may help you or you'd bribe him for the info and get an edge on negotiating the race. That stuff hasn't changed but I'm sure modern streetracers are even more secretive.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/31/10 12:59 AM

Quote:

There's no pageantry in stopping moving traffic and taking ones time to pull off a run. Like said above, get it on and get it out of there was the real artistry by the Pros.
It can almost be written into law as some sought of kidnapping because even though you may be stuck in traffic and have front row seats to the greatest show on earth, it is still a pain to wait for some stage crashers and their drama. No pun intended.




100% true fact. Hit the nail RIGHT ON the HEAD, Lee!! Couldn't be any plainer!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/31/10 01:30 AM

Quote:

The REAL skill was in the negotiating. Unlike "pinks", there was no yelling, figet-pointing or name calling. It was more like playing Poker. You talked money, location MAYBE owned up to about 5-10% of what you really had & what the car could do & run 'em. Hopefully no data would leak out & you could win. That goes on today I know in every type of racing (just TRY to get specs on a S/S racer's set-up for example) but the serious street-rats had it down to a science which back then was rare.
Of course if you were unlucky your opponent would have access to some guys who actually worked at gathering intel on your opponent & would have car specs, perhaps pictures of your opponent that could tell you just how fast he really was or what latest modifiction he made . He may help you or you'd bribe him for the info and get an edge on negotiating the race. That stuff hasn't changed but I'm sure modern streetracers are even more secretive.




Yes it is like Poker, in a sense. I often saw it as that old military card game called "pinoncle".
It is where you can trump any ones books or winnings. Same as in street racing, the better combo wins consecutively!!
Those days of having "spies" at the strip or, perhaps the "candy store" where you got your
speed fixin's for your ride, are still around. The
only ways that you can get around the problem is to effectively DO your own engine/drivetrain building (minimal but EFFECTIVE machine work excluded)or go to a 3/4 long block (no intake, exhaust, cam, intake, timing set, water pump etc.) with just heads, machined block and balanced
rotating assembly and STIR in your own RECIPE of
parts!! Then for the HARDCORE, there is the foolproof, warranteed "crate motor/drivetrain" assembilies. They don't really care who does know their combo, they just keep "turning the wick up"
as the competition gets tougher!! Bribes are still in use, but the costs has gone up as our economy has gone DOWN!! Talk about supply and the demand for racing information, H-cop! Good post!!


Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/31/10 01:52 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Wonder what ever happened to that M/P Camaro.
I've seen Hwy 2 shields on the take at 150th St. Some one had the right paper to make that happen.




My guess was my friend had connections as one of his customers was "hooked up" with the City in an area other than police work. A simple call to a "friend-of-a-friend" or "cousin" could've straightened it all out.
This was all comon knowledge so "greasing" someone's palm was just how business was done. This was where the real criminal side of streetracing came into play. Imagine what it took to get the real big money runs to go off without a hitch. But in the end it never really mattered--we never hurt anyone, VERY rarely did a race like this result in violence & your "rep" was at stake, so to not pay-off or anything like that would result in a variety of problems for you. Most guys quit, some went back to running their businesses or the very lucky few turned it into a respectable living. That was the fun of it all. At the time anything seemd possible and you were having fun....




The biggest thing about those "twinight runs" or
'submarine races", they were WELL organized and
nobody got hurt (pro runs, some local action). And speaking of organization, the atomosphere was
ALREADY set up long before the two cars/drivers met on the tarmac. Between the "two pillars" of society in the streets, order was KEPT. Through
this "natural order" some of the best runs ever seen and skilled drivers were born into history. It seem that the "less you knew" and the more you
payed attention to detail, you often would make it back to see more action.

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/31/10 08:20 AM

That is probably what made the street races & early P/S so interesting. No one knew for certain what you were running, a good match-up always ran "heads-up" and at places like E-Town you could even get in on the side-bets there, too!
It would be interesting to pair up an old, serious streetracer with what some guys nowadays claim is ther street car. I'm willing to bet there wouldn't be that huge of a difference in performance as some of those old cars were legitimate 9-second rides & while sure, alot of guys claim their "street" car is an 8 or 9 sec. car few are legitimately that fast or that street-able.
aNYHOW, anyone have any more stories?
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/31/10 01:14 PM

Quote:

aNYHOW, anyone have any more stories?




ok in 69 at westons on forrest ave on staten island, a bunch of 'brothers' from jersey cruise in looking for action... the car they wish to race against is a 64 lemans (forget the owners name), which is 'built'... the engine was done by a calif. shop, etc/etc... the car was an 'animal'... and the 'jersey boys' car... a 69 camaro pace car... so friday nite back and forth as the jersey boys want a 10car (handicap).. nothing doing, sat nite is down to 8 or 7...nothing doing, sunday nite its done to 5...nothing doing, then maybe at 11pm, when everyone is ready to call it a nite, the jersey boys say... ok we'll race u straight-up with our 69 chevelle... handshakes follow, the staten island crew are high-fivin (or whatever it was back then)each other.. and off we go to south ave... well the cops are there, so its off to arden ave... no cops... cars are jacked up, headers uncapped, slicks put on and ready to race...

now the lemans with uncapped headers woke up the dead, and the slicks could have been used on a funny car.... wide.... meantime the chevelle had small , maybe 10 1/2'' slicks, uncapped the car sounded ok... certainly nothing like the lemans...

they line up, flag goes down, and the chevelle must take close to a telephone pole lead... at the top end, the lemans comes on, but no way can it make up for that holeshot...

not sure how much $$$$ they raced for, but it was a large sum (for 69).. later come to find out the chevelle had a worked (very worked) zl1 alum. 427...
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/31/10 10:05 PM

Quote:


I don't know the "scenario" but I do know the driver: it was 1980 Stock Eliminator world champ Ray Cook who, unfortunately, is no longer with us.

Here's a picture of Ray doing a burnout and his racing partner--both on and off the track--Artie Leong (near the right rear quarter panel) during happier times:




I wonder if Art was any relation to Roland - of "The Hawaiian" fame?
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 07/31/10 11:07 PM

Quote:

Quote:

aNYHOW, anyone have any more stories?




ok in 69 at westons on forrest ave on staten island, a bunch of 'brothers' from jersey cruise in looking for action... the car they wish to race against is a 64 lemans (forget the owners name), which is 'built'... the engine was done by a calif. shop, etc/etc... the car was an 'animal'... and the 'jersey boys' car... a 69 camaro pace car... so friday nite back and forth as the jersey boys want a 10car (handicap).. nothing doing, sat nite is down to 8 or 7...nothing doing, sunday nite its done to 5...nothing doing, then maybe at 11pm, when everyone is ready to call it a nite, the jersey boys say... ok we'll race u straight-up with our 69 chevelle... handshakes follow, the staten island crew are high-fivin (or whatever it was back then)each other.. and off we go to south ave... well the cops are there, so its off to arden ave... no cops... cars are jacked up, headers uncapped, slicks put on and ready to race...

now the lemans with uncapped headers woke up the dead, and the slicks could have been used on a funny car.... wide.... meantime the chevelle had small , maybe 10 1/2'' slicks, uncapped the car sounded ok... certainly nothing like the lemans...

they line up, flag goes down, and the chevelle must take close to a telephone pole lead... at the top end, the lemans comes on, but no way can it make up for that holeshot...

not sure how much $$$$ they raced for, but it was a large sum (for 69).. later come to find out the chevelle had a worked (very worked) zl1 alum. 427...




Now THIS is the kinda stuff I'm talking about! I'd love to know what the Pontiac was runnin, as there weren't too many serious Ponchos around. Anyone want to own up to what their combo was back then?.......
ME FIRST! .before I had my Pinto (don't laugh, see previous posts), I had a '67 big-block 'vette. Forget the original engine, it's replacement was a .060 over 427, rect. port heads, Tarantula manifold (remember those?) with a ZL-1 cam(striaght from the dealership parts dept.)a 780 Holley & Hooker Trans-Am style headers. I had it hooked to an M-21 in front of 4:56 gears. One of those weird single bar traction bars held the rear-end (sort of) & Moroso "trick" springs for a small-block 'vette held up the front-end. It didn't corner worth a damn, got God-awful mileage & speed-bumps gave me fits but when it launched it looked like the whole car was going to jump off the ground. A guy by the name of Vinny Barone did the motor for about $2,500 , which was a fair amount back then. He did an outstanding job & I think he still races in Comp Elim. now.....
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/01/10 02:53 AM

okay. here's a tale of a Mopar that came to kick some tail.
Names are withheld like taxes to protect the innocent and not so innocent.
So this 5.0 LX stick Mustang is cleaning house on the Nassau and every ones aware of the drivers ability to cut good arm drops and row a mean awe.

One night I am not so innocently hanging out at the local bruise spot Burger king when they sick this thing on my Sedan.
I right away get on the horn to try and find out how fast this thing is really ticking being that it has cleaned every ones wallet up and down the five boroughs.
No answer to my quest other than that the kid can drive.
When I arrive an hour early at the staging point and fill up my tank with the good petro, they arrive right behind me and are stunned that the car is so big.
It's a boat of a mopar I say.

Fast forward to the white top.
He arrives first at the line and is already doing his burnout. Maybe about 300 people there as well. I align with him and commence my burnout.
Almost as soon as we lined up and the arms went up, his throttle pedal went down leaving me by a sucker car length.
I could see his tail lights as my car was blasting off first with a slight bog then all hell breaking loose. I ride by him at the top of 2nd gear and hold a car length ground till the finish line where he closed up by my quarter. I could hear his gear box shifting and the super charger whistling into high note. we both passed the line with him a fender behind and little did I know that both my team and his had never made it to the finish line to bare witness to the runs out come. they were stuck in the huge traffic jam back at the hole.
As we were making our U-turn to return to the staging area, he nodded in respect and said like this; "You got me Kid"
A huge argument flared up about the winnings and they never paid up.
They were in shock and denial and would not do it over for double or nothing unless they ran the laugh gas.
I drove off that night with bragging rights and no money in the bank and to top it off, no runs for a while after because of the out come.

In retro, I'd rather win and lose the money then to lose my life over an argument of money and ego.
Posted By: massdaytona

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/01/10 12:45 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:


Now THIS is the kinda stuff I'm talking about! I'd love to know what the Pontiac was runnin, as there weren't too many serious Ponchos around..




the poncho was also running a rat... a serious rat...but it was no match for the jersey boys on that nite.. maybe the poncho was slow off the line , i dunno, but on that nite he got his butt kicked.. i will eventually remember the owners name and post it up...
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/01/10 06:46 PM

around..




the poncho was also running a rat...




A rat,huh? That's kinda disappointing. Seems most guys ran big Chevys or Mopars around NYC. There was a guy in Queens that had a beautiful 69/70 or so black 4-4-2 that ran a rat also. That's what I especially enjoyed about my friends Gremlin---ALL AMC! and he did win more than his fair share. Come to think of it there actually was an old Buick in my neighborhood & a couple of Fords but they were a true minority in my neighborhood---- probably 99% were Chevys
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/03/10 12:31 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:


Now THIS is the kinda stuff I'm talking about! I'd love to know what the Pontiac was runnin, as there weren't too many serious Ponchos around..




the poncho was also running a rat... a serious rat...but it was no match for the jersey boys on that nite.. maybe the poncho was slow off the line , i dunno, but on that nite he got his butt kicked.. i will eventually remember the owners name and post it up...




To get a HARD-RUNNING Poncho back then, you HAD to
go to Nunzi's in Bay Ridge. Or, contact a couple of lesser known-at-the-time builders on the West Coast. Or, as I stand corrected, Royal
Oak Pontiac, Michigan. Locally, a Pontiac Dealer
located on Fresh Pond Road in the vicinity of
Metropolitan Ave, used to sell the goods also.
I forgotten the name of the dealer, someone
out there knows who I'm talking about? Thanks.

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/03/10 12:57 AM

Quote:

around..




the poncho was also running a rat...




A rat,huh? That's kinda disappointing. Seems most guys ran big Chevys or Mopars around NYC. There was a guy in Queens that had a beautiful 69/70 or so black 4-4-2 that ran a rat also. That's what I especially enjoyed about my friends Gremlin---ALL AMC! and he did win more than his fair share. Come to think of it there actually was an old Buick in my neighborhood & a couple of Fords but they were a true minority in my neighborhood---- probably 99% were Chevys




Where I grew up at, there were A LOT of GM Products (All were represented including Caddy!)
a FEW Fords (but were HARD running) and Mopars
(the underdog) of all sizes!! The Mopars
had fits over Buick, OLDS and the Caddys, BUT the
Rats and Mice were a commom place and easy pickin's back then. Goats were a little TOUGHER, especially
the RAIV's. They were NOTORIOUS for running hard
up top with a 383-440 motor. The Fords were a little more "sneaky" with their engine/body styles
especially when stuffed with Cleveland/FE or Lima
motor. For those not in the KNOW, it converts to
a 351C, 390-427-428 or 429-460 motors. Placed in a lightweight chassis, they will embarass about 90% of "other" makes unsuspectedly!! And you say Fords' can't run! Being a Mopar man you can't win
100% of the time, but you can TRY TO!! And have FUN doing it!!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/03/10 01:00 AM

Quote:

Quote:


I don't know the "scenario" but I do know the driver: it was 1980 Stock Eliminator world champ Ray Cook who, unfortunately, is no longer with us.

Here's a picture of Ray doing a burnout and his racing partner--both on and off the track--Artie Leong (near the right rear quarter panel) during happier times:




I wonder if Art was any relation to Roland - of "The Hawaiian" fame?




That thought often crossed my mind, but I haven't
bothered to ask. I was always concerned with who
he ran against and how well his combo worked!!


Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/03/10 02:43 AM

Quote:

around..




the poncho was also running a rat...




A rat,huh? That's kinda disappointing. Seems most guys ran big Chevys or Mopars around NYC. There was a guy in Queens that had a beautiful 69/70 or so black 4-4-2 that ran a rat also. That's what I especially enjoyed about my friends Gremlin---ALL AMC! and he did win more than his fair share. Come to think of it there actually was an old Buick in my neighborhood & a couple of Fords but they were a true minority in my neighborhood---- probably 99% were Chevys




As far as my exposure and new-found respect for
AMC was after high school. I was in West Texas at the time. I owned a 72' Poncho T-37 (400 HO auto/w s-kit/2200 rpm converter and 3.73 gears). While cruising one night, I went up against
a 70' AMC Machine (390, 4sp, 4.10's).
We both jumped out at EXACTLY the same time, through first. Hit second and he pulled up a nose.
He hit third sooner than me and started pulling
away. I held on to 57-5800 and hit third and tried to keep pace to his right side door, but he
SLOWLY pulled away in fourth from me. He me by close to a car length through the marked quarter. I believe that, if I had
a bit more gear the tide would have turned. Fact
remaining, is that a 70' Machine showed me HOW
to run on a access road on I-10 in WEST TEXAS!
Come to find out he was running the factory hi-po cam! Impressive! I WAS a believer then and still today! They run!

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/09/10 06:43 PM

The "trick" as everyone knows, is finding someone that's actually good with a motor. While all engines do basically the same thing and don't know what brand they are, each one DOES have its quirks & finding someone that knows them & can work with/around them is tough. Chevys almost everywhere are the most numerous so you'll get alot of people who know about them. The other brands, fewer in number, take a little more effort & searching. BUT if you find a good, say Ford machinist, you'll probably have a good motor. Here in Phoenix, I know of 2 seperate shops I'd take a Ford motor to,depending on the engine. There's tons of Chevy guys around here so that's not an issue. But a Mopar, B-O-P? Good Luck! Hell, I even know a good AMC guy here so even that one isn't an issue.
Back then P/S was a developing class so advancements were coming by leaps & bounds so guys guarded their "secrets" closely. Today streetracing can be won or lost at the drop of a nitrous pill or a change of a blower pulley so in some ways it's easier. Back then it actually took brains & skill to win at streetracing as the majority were N/A so you had a reason to be proud & boast! Sadly that isn't the case any more......
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/10/10 02:08 AM

Quote:

The "trick" as everyone knows, is finding someone that's actually good with a motor. While all engines do basically the same thing and don't know what brand they are, each one DOES have its quirks & finding someone that knows them & can work with/around them is tough. Chevys almost everywhere are the most numerous so you'll get alot of people who know about them. The other brands, fewer in number, take a little more effort & searching. BUT if you find a good, say Ford machinist, you'll probably have a good motor. Here in Phoenix, I know of 2 seperate shops I'd take a Ford motor to,depending on the engine. There's tons of Chevy guys around here so that's not an issue. But a Mopar, B-O-P? Good Luck! Hell, I even know a good AMC guy here so even that one isn't an issue.
Back then P/S was a developing class so advancements were coming by leaps & bounds so guys guarded their "secrets" closely. Today streetracing can be won or lost at the drop of a nitrous pill or a change of a blower pulley so in some ways it's easier. Back then it actually took brains & skill to win at streetracing as the majority were N/A so you had a reason to be proud & boast! Sadly that isn't the case any more......




As far the CHEVYS' are concerned with you CAN build a smallblock from 265 to 454 in increments
of one cubic inch at a time!! FYI, Sorry Chevy guys!! Couldn't resist!
Well said, H-Cop!! The saddest part of street racing, besides the MANY DANGERS and DISONESTY is
lack of comraderie amongst fellow racers. Back then
there was a CODE of ethics. Now it's dog eat dog!!
Nobody cares!! What used to be considered a sport,
art or a state of mind even, is now
a way of America's youth to practice automotive "self-expression". It's a
two-edged sword that can either harm or help.

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/14/10 02:50 PM

Yes, SKILL was the key back then. Drivers knew their cars inside and out, and IF they had a guy who built the combo for them, you can be SURE that they were in synch (not the group
younger set!) on it's PERFORMANCE!! Today it's mostly generic, where a single type of tune or
build ANYONE can drive!! It used to be to tune
the car according to how it felt to the driver!!
Lost art to be a good tuner!!

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/15/10 12:06 AM

There are still afew around. My chassis guy is good with alot of different types but if you talk to him at length he likes the old mid 70s style P/S or S/S type cars & around here not alot of guys are familiar with with (he's from the Mid-West). I'm a bit older so the guys I know/hang around with are all familiar withthese cars but talk to the younger guys arond here & they're all about Mustangs, Nos, or tube-chassised cars that really aren't all that unique anymore except for the panels covering the chassis.
But to get back on topic.......... c'mon now, let's hear just what you ran back "in the day" and what did the car do e.t.-wise? I started but I can't believe no one would own up to there old combos--after all it's been decades, C'MON!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 08/28/10 07:12 PM

Quote:

There are still afew around. My chassis guy is good with alot of different types but if you talk to him at length he likes the old mid 70s style P/S or S/S type cars & around here not alot of guys are familiar with with (he's from the Mid-West). I'm a bit older so the guys I know/hang around with are all familiar withthese cars but talk to the younger guys arond here & they're all about Mustangs, Nos, or tube-chassised cars that really aren't all that unique anymore except for the panels covering the chassis.
But to get back on topic.......... c'mon now, let's hear just what you ran back "in the day" and what did the car do e.t.-wise? I started but I can't believe no one would own up to there old combos--after all it's been decades, C'MON!




We are all still HARDCORE runners, and some of our
combo's STILL work today. It's sort like Macy's
NOT telling Gimbel's their sales profits. Combo's
are well-guarded, to most, unless obsolete!! Help
is one thing, since it's generic, everbody wants to run better. But to tune the SAME combo, and be
better on the run than your competitor, isn't good
especially if it's EXACTLY the same down to the innards!! And you are NOT racing partners either!!
Not Good!! In match/class racing and NASCAR, I can see it. Maybe somebody else has a different take on this!! Food for thought!!!!

Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/04/10 07:21 PM

Back in the 70s, in Tulsa, we all cruised South Peoria Avenue. It was a 3 mile loop that moved very slowly, as many have described, to check out other cars and ladies. The exception was at 41st, where there was a traffic light. When north and southbound traffic would stop, it was normally with a couple cars lined up, by jockeying around for position. Engines would rev, the light turned green, and the 1st and 2nd gear drags began.

We aggravated each other on the street, but when the serious racing was at hand, we went out on the Okmulgee Beeline, where there was that magical 1/4 mile section we'd marked off.

A memorable Saturday night I was cruising and my buddy Rick was riding, because the trans in his Torino was out until Monday - waiting for parts.

Anyhow, we chose a 396 Chevelle and went to the Beeline, followed by quite a few other cars.

I had a '57 Chevy 150 2 door sedan. Rick - due to where he worked - had helped me put in mini-tubs [remember, 1975], the rear had been narrowed a few inches, the 10" chrome reverse wheels were shod with Marsh's racing tires. It was a seriously built 327, backed with a 4-gear and 4.11 gears...slappers on the springs.

So, we open the headers, bump the timing, flip the air cleaner and are ready to go. the Chevelle was a pretty stock L-78 car/

When we took off, we were fairly even. I grabbed second, the front raised when the torque transferred and the '68 Chrysler 300 bucket seat [bolted to 2X4s, bolted to the floor] Rick was sitting broke the bolts through the 2X4 and Rick went to what would be the back seat, if the car had one. His feet are in the air, the Chevelle is losing ground fast - Rick is yelling to keep going.

We won the race, Rick extricated himself from the back of the car and collected our money. I drove rather sedately to Rick's house so he wouldn't flop around too much, chuckling to myself a lot about the mental and actual picture.

The big thing was winning the race, in those days.

Attached is a pic of the intersection on Brookside, from the day.



Attached picture 6177551-41standPeoria.jpg
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/04/10 07:23 PM

Another picture from back in the day, of my '57 ambulance. Was taken at Pennington's Drive in - famous for honey dipped fried chicken and Black Bottom Pie. Pennington's was a favorite on South Peoria - "Brookside" - in Tulsa, as well.

Yummy!

Attached picture 6177554-DOAatPennington's.jpg
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/04/10 08:05 PM

While not exactly street racing, here's a link to some great drag action from the 70s. Fantastic footage of Ronnie Sox back in 1971. Lots of MOPARS. Drag racing
Posted By: john e

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/05/10 04:20 AM

Anyone on here from the Tampa Bay area, early 1980's through the mid 1990's? I was out of Lakeland, Polk County back then. I ran a white 68 Coronet R/T called 'Godzilla'. I sure do miss those times.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/07/10 03:45 AM



We are all still HARDCORE runners, and some of our
combo's STILL work today. It's sort like Macy's
NOT telling Gimbel's their sales profits. Combo's
are well-guarded, to most, unless obsolete!! Help
is one thing, since it's generic, everbody wants to run better. But to tune the SAME combo, and be
better on the run than your competitor, isn't good
especially if it's EXACTLY the same down to the innards!! And you are NOT racing partners either!!
Not Good!! In match/class racing and NASCAR, I can see it. Maybe somebody else has a different take on this!! Food for thought!!!!






My take on it---the Web is SO large, the chances of running into someone who duplicated your combo EXACTLY & run into him are pretty slim. even if the engine was the same, the car, suspension, trans & driver are all variables that could make the engine combo a dud for a particular racer. Plus some of the parts that were run are so old maybe 10-20 percent actually have them anymore?
My guess is, building my "old" stuff with today's modern technoogy & building techniques, coupled with the better parts for the rest of the car would push the same car into the high 9s/low 10s? That would translate into a3/4-1 second e.t. reduction---but since I could NEVER afford another '67 'vette, it's all a moot point. That's why I have no problem bringing this od stuff up.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 04:22 AM

Quote:



We are all still HARDCORE runners, and some of our
combo's STILL work today. It's sort like Macy's
NOT telling Gimbel's their sales profits. Combo's
are well-guarded, to most, unless obsolete!! Help
is one thing, since it's generic, everbody wants to run better. But to tune the SAME combo, and be
better on the run than your competitor, isn't good
especially if it's EXACTLY the same down to the innards!! And you are NOT racing partners either!!
Not Good!! In match/class racing and NASCAR, I can see it. Maybe somebody else has a different take on this!! Food for thought!!!!






My take on it---the Web is SO large, the chances of running into someone who duplicated your combo EXACTLY & run into him are pretty slim. even if the engine was the same, the car, suspension, trans & driver are all variables that could make the engine combo a dud for a particular racer. Plus some of the parts that were run are so old maybe 10-20 percent actually have them anymore?
My guess is, building my "old" stuff with today's modern technoogy & building techniques, coupled with the better parts for the rest of the car would push the same car into the high 9s/low 10s? That would translate into a3/4-1 second e.t. reduction---but since I could NEVER afford another '67 'vette, it's all a moot point. That's why I have no problem bringing this od stuff up.




with most of your post, Hemicop as well as respect it. I was simply putting an opinion
on the post in defense of the "silent" HARDCORE
runners. Sure technology has reduced et's by maybe a full second or more compaired to "old school" standards 35-50 years ago. But some of the "tricks" back then ARE still in effect and maybe some people just do not want to "share" for
different reasons! The ones who do, great info!
The ones who don't, well you have to respect THEIR standpoint on it! That's just the way it goes, sometimes!! And as far as some cars being pushed to the low 10/high 9 sec. index, try low 9's to high 8's with the bigger displacement cars
or medium displacement cars with BOOST.

Posted By: dc426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 10:21 AM

oops!
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 02:18 PM

Quote:

This thread is worthless. What's worthless to one, is treasured by others. Opinions are like.....blah, blah, blah. If you don't like the music, turn the station....insert a CD. I look at music like this. It's the sound track to each persons life. They're all different and all have different meanings. In the 70's there were many bands playing music that give me fond memories. Some not so much. That's what it's all about.!




Worthless? I don't see it. and the fact it's 12 pages long shows many did it and still enjoy BSing about the stuff, and perhaps posting pics of their cars or how/when they ran a pparticular car.
Weekend nights at Connecting or wherever were special. Some guys got their first taste of musclecars, streetracing, perhaps they met their wife/girlfriend at these places. The fun or friends we had at that time, sometimes never left us and us old guys like to rememebr or tell the young guys how it was or should be with the hobby. I wish I had pics of some of he cars & people from back then--the clothing styles alone are worth a good laugh & some of our cars you wouldn't even cruise in, much less race. But it was all good fun, meant as an escape from work, school, etc. and NOTHING beats the sound of a healthy big-block rumbling through an overpass at 2:00 A.M.---if you never heard that, you wouldn't understand..........
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 02:36 PM

Quote:

Quote:

This thread is worthless. What's worthless to one, is treasured by others. Opinions are like.....blah, blah, blah. If you don't like the music, turn the station....insert a CD. I look at music like this. It's the sound track to each persons life. They're all different and all have different meanings. In the 70's there were many bands playing music that give me fond memories. Some not so much. That's what it's all about.!




Worthless? I don't see it. and the fact it's 12 pages long shows many did it and still enjoy BSing about the stuff, and perhaps posting pics of their cars or how/when they ran a pparticular car.
Weekend nights at Connecting or wherever were special. Some guys got their first taste of musclecars, streetracing, perhaps they met their wife/girlfriend at these places. The fun or friends we had at that time, sometimes never left us and us old guys like to rememebr or tell the young guys how it was or should be with the hobby. I wish I had pics of some of he cars & people from back then--the clothing styles alone are worth a good laugh & some of our cars you wouldn't even cruise in, much less race. But it was all good fun, meant as an escape from work, school, etc. and NOTHING beats the sound of a healthy big-block rumbling through an overpass at 2:00 A.M.---if you never heard that, you wouldn't understand..........


AMEN brother!!!!
I started this thread for a very specific reason, the younger group enjoys reading about our escapades from yesteryear just like we did when we were young. I appreciate all of the racing stories, and related posts too, as I didn't do a lot of street racing due to the fact my muscle car was a '62 Dodge Dart auto. with a 361. Not very competitive but had a great back seat...first child was conceived back there.
So keep the stories coming...we all love them and if you don't.... go read the Sunday Times.
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 04:19 PM

I don't get the Sunday Times, or any newspaper anymore - for a reason. This thread is MUCH BETTER. I didn't have half the fun others here had so it's great to read about it all.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 08:09 PM

I didn't do a lot of street racing due to the fact my muscle car was a '62 Dodge Dart auto. with a 361. Not very competitive but had a great back seat...

Actually, a 361 Dart given some careful "tweaks" & with some careful "hunting" could've been a fun, competitive ride, even in NYC--- and that's what was fun about streetracing. My Dad's 318-powered stationwagon or my buddy with the OHC 6-cyl GTO (he blew-up the 389) was all part of the scene and we had FUN. Getting suckerd in & beaten by an SD421 or detained by the cops for having a possible stolen car (see previous posts) were all part of growing up in a place like NYC. Having friends like John D'Andrea with his Gremlin or getting "schooled" in the local speedshop are things most young guys now will never know. How many kids today will get to ride in a P/S built in their Dad's garage (remember this WAS the early days of P/S) or go for a ride in one on the street? Or have a much older friend show you something he just learned in AutoShop class? (do they still have them? ).
You wanna hear stories? How about the time my friend got thrown out of Machine Shop class for building a gun instead of working on a set of heads? or bringing in your car to Auto Shop for a semester -long project of re-painting it? This was when school was actually "cool" & the teachers liked their job & the kids. My first Mopar "project" was my teacher's '68 383 Charger that needed some basic work.
No, the stories are out there and they are fun, exciting, worth re-telling & those of us from back then are happy, grateful & proud we lived in that time---actually some of us are surprised we lived through some of the stuff!
Posted By: dc426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 08:59 PM

Uh, hmm. I think I may have posted a reply on the wrong thread! oops! Street racing back in the day created many legends. Sorry for my Fo Pah.
DC
Posted By: dc426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 09:04 PM

I was stationed at MacDill in the 80's. Don't recall The green coronet. I do recall in Ft. Myers a 69 A12 Bee called "Jolly Green Giant" though. Cool car.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 10:25 PM

Quote:

Quote:

This thread is worthless. What's worthless to one, is treasured by others. Opinions are like.....blah, blah, blah. If you don't like the music, turn the station....insert a CD. I look at music like this. It's the sound track to each persons life. They're all different and all have different meanings. In the 70's there were many bands playing music that give me fond memories. Some not so much. That's what it's all about.!




Worthless? I don't see it. and the fact it's 12 pages long shows many did it and still enjoy BSing about the stuff, and perhaps posting pics of their cars or how/when they ran a pparticular car.
Weekend nights at Connecting or wherever were special. Some guys got their first taste of musclecars, streetracing, perhaps they met their wife/girlfriend at these places. The fun or friends we had at that time, sometimes never left us and us old guys like to rememebr or tell the young guys how it was or should be with the hobby. I wish I had pics of some of he cars & people from back then--the clothing styles alone are worth a good laugh & some of our cars you wouldn't even cruise in, much less race. But it was all good fun, meant as an escape from work, school, etc. and NOTHING beats the sound of a healthy big-block rumbling through an overpass at 2:00 A.M.---if you never heard that, you wouldn't understand..........




100% with ya'


Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 10:41 PM

Quote:

I didn't do a lot of street racing due to the fact my muscle car was a '62 Dodge Dart auto. with a 361. Not very competitive but had a great back seat...

Actually, a 361 Dart given some careful "tweaks" & with some careful "hunting" could've been a fun, competitive ride, even in NYC--- and that's what was fun about streetracing. My Dad's 318-powered stationwagon or my buddy with the OHC 6-cyl GTO (he blew-up the 389) was all part of the scene and we had FUN. Getting suckerd in & beaten by an SD421 or detained by the cops for having a possible stolen car (see previous posts) were all part of growing up in a place like NYC. Having friends like John D'Andrea with his Gremlin or getting "schooled" in the local speedshop are things most young guys now will never know. How many kids today will get to ride in a P/S built in their Dad's garage (remember this WAS the early days of P/S) or go for a ride in one on the street? Or have a much older friend show you something he just learned in AutoShop class? (do they still have them? ).
You wanna hear stories? How about the time my friend got thrown out of Machine Shop class for building a gun instead of working on a set of heads? or bringing in your car to Auto Shop for a semester -long project of re-painting it? This was when school was actually "cool" & the teachers liked their job & the kids. My first Mopar "project" was my teacher's '68 383 Charger that needed some basic work.
No, the stories are out there and they are fun, exciting, worth re-telling & those of us from back then are happy, grateful & proud we lived in that time---actually some of us are surprised we lived through some of the stuff!




Whoa, H-Cop a 361 in a 62' dart IS nothing to SNEER
AT!! It can and will dust off quite a bit of machinery, even today with the modern technology.
So, because it wasn't a musclecar DOES NOT omit
you from the street scene!! I seen 361 Chargers
which RAN like scalded cats!! Embarrassed some
bigger, notable motors too, with that combo!! It's
all about the RIGHT PARTS MATCHUP and Volumetic
Efficiency. One question though: Who would be silly enough to BUILD a gun in school when it was
practically dirt cheap to get one!! Never will understand human nature! Anyway, GREAT post!!

Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 10:43 PM

And I remember an acquaintance of ours that had a dark blue 4 door 66 Coronet Hemi 4 speed car that took quite a bit of money from the unsuspecting challenger. Car had steelies and small hub caps and no badging. Looked like something my Grandma would have driven. Now before some of you "purists" say it could not have been a factory built hemi 4 speed car due to it's color it really doesn't make any difference if it was or wasn't as the car was still very cool, very fast and very unsuspecting. Guy's name was Joe and if I remember correctly he worked as an engineer for Chrysler. He might have had access to some things the common street racer did not.

Speaking of Grandma, my Dad used to rebuild wrecked cars for a hobby and had 2 very good friends that owned a body shop/salvage yard. Bought my second Mopar from them; a 67 belvedere 273 car. These guys (Zores Body Shop) were also tied into the State of Indiana somehow and got all of the retired or wrecked State Police cars. In 1965 a trooper wrecked his patrol car, a 65 Plymouth, and Zores got it. Grandma was in need of a newer car so Dad bought it, did the body work and gave it to Grandma. She had no idea what she had but the car was cool and fast. Still had the side spot light, steelies and small caps. I always enjoyed the ride with Grandma even though she drove it like a little old lady but in hind sight she was a little old lady. My youngest brother ended up with the car when Grandma could no longer drive which was very frustrating to me as he wasn't, and still isn't, a car guy.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 10:43 PM

Quote:

I don't get the Sunday Times, or any newspaper anymore - for a reason. This thread is MUCH BETTER. I didn't have half the fun others here had so it's great to read about it all.




With ya!

Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 10:54 PM

Whoa, H-Cop a 361 in a 62' dart IS nothing to SNEER
AT!! It can and will dust off quite a bit of machinery, even today with the modern technology.
So, because it wasn't a musclecar DOES NOT omit
you from the street scene!! I seen 361 Chargers
which RAN like scalded cats!! Embarrassed some
bigger, notable motors too, with that combo!! It's
all about the RIGHT PARTS MATCHUP and Volumetic
Efficiency. One question though: Who would be silly enough to BUILD a gun in school when it was
practically dirt cheap to get one!! Never will understand human nature! Anyway, GREAT post!!




Actually it was me that had the dart. I was 16 years old at the time and made very little money working at a gas station after school and on the weekends. In the summer I was working 60 hours a week and was being paid $15.00 for my services. You do the math, I was working for the experience only I didn't know it. My only engine modifiation was having the heads milled, I thought that would greatly increased my compression and give me a real race car. Also installed a high pinion snubber that touched the body at all times. The 1-2 shift was very cool and oh yes I forgot about having the transmission line pressure increased. Back then I didn't have the money to do anything competitive but still had a ton of fun on the weekends.
We raced in my buddies car; a 67 R/T 440 4 speed car. Now that was extremely nice. He had all the money and cool toys. I got his leftovers.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 11:09 PM

Quote:

And I remember an acquaintance of ours that had a dark blue 4 door 66 Coronet Hemi 4 speed car that took quite a bit of money from the unsuspecting challenger. Car had steelies and small hub caps and no badging. Looked like something my Grandma would have driven. Now before some of you "purists" say it could not have been a factory built hemi 4 speed car due to it's color it really doesn't make any difference if it was or wasn't as the car was still very cool, very fast and very unsuspecting. Guy's name was Joe and if I remember correctly he worked as an engineer for Chrysler. He might have had access to some things the common street racer did not.

Speaking of Grandma, my Dad used to rebuild wrecked cars for a hobby and had 2 very good friends that owned a body shop/salvage yard. Bought my second Mopar from them; a 67 belvedere 273 car. These guys (Zores Body Shop) were also tied into the State of Indiana somehow and got all of the retired or wrecked State Police cars. In 1965 a trooper wrecked his patrol car, a 65 Plymouth, and Zores got it. Grandma was in need of a newer car so Dad bought it, did the body work and gave it to Grandma. She had no idea what she had but the car was cool and fast. Still had the side spot light, steelies and small caps. I always enjoyed the ride with Grandma even though she drove it like a little old lady but in hind sight she was a little old lady. My youngest brother ended up with the car when Grandma could no longer drive which was very frustrating to me as he wasn't, and still isn't, a car guy.




M-G, I was weaned in the Max-Wedge, Race/Street
HEMI era. I always have love for a HEMI (never owned one though), but was raised up around big blocks. My uncle OWNED two 300's (letter series).
A 59' and then a 63'. Both had the 413 motor. The
59' had the two fours as well as the 63 did. But
the ram-induction is what sold me. The sound was
awesome as the car accelerated from 50 to 100 mph. It left a big impression on an 7 year old kid, who didn't know squat about any cars. !n about 3
more years, I was collecting Mopar HOT WHEELS and
tuning into the National NHRA Circuits and and then the streets, when the musclecar wars were going on! Learned quite a bit, but still learning,
even today!! Thanks to the racers and other enthusiasts, I would not know as much about MOPARS
on my own, as I do now!! And that is what it's all about to be a MOPAR enthusiast!!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 11:11 PM

Quote:

Whoa, H-Cop a 361 in a 62' dart IS nothing to SNEER
AT!! It can and will dust off quite a bit of machinery, even today with the modern technology.
So, because it wasn't a musclecar DOES NOT omit
you from the street scene!! I seen 361 Chargers
which RAN like scalded cats!! Embarrassed some
bigger, notable motors too, with that combo!! It's
all about the RIGHT PARTS MATCHUP and Volumetic
Efficiency. One question though: Who would be silly enough to BUILD a gun in school when it was
practically dirt cheap to get one!! Never will understand human nature! Anyway, GREAT post!!




Actually it was me that had the dart. I was 16 years old at the time and made very little money working at a gas station after school and on the weekends. In the summer I was working 60 hours a week and was being paid $15.00 for my services. You do the math, I was working for the experience only I didn't know it. My only engine modifiation was having the heads milled, I thought that would greatly increased my compression and give me a real race car. Also installed a high pinion snubber that touched the body at all times. The 1-2 shift was very cool and oh yes I forgot about having the transmission line pressure increased. Back then I didn't have the money to do anything competitive but still had a ton of fun on the weekends.
We raced in my buddies car; a 67 R/T 440 4 speed car. Now that was extremely nice. He had all the money and cool toys. I got his leftovers.




Were some pretty cool leftovers!!

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/13/10 11:38 PM

The "gunsmith" wasn't the shapest tool in the drawer.
Anyway, while I did race Chevys for quite awhile I was alwys fond of Mopar stuff--- just didn't have many friends that ran 'em. I did have a friend with a 340 Dart though, and it was impressive. He'd take on most any big-block Brand-X car and I never saw him lose by more than half a length, if at all. My friends had a variety of cars, so you can't really say we were "brand-blind". Looking back I can recall chevys, a '67 Galaxie, a GTO, AMC, Dodge & Plymouth,a Mercury, even a Buick. A good friend of mine at the time even beat me (pretty badly ) in his '68 4-4-2 when I had my big-block 'vette (highly overrated, IMO). With so many diferent cars it was almost necessary to stop by my friend's speedshop just to get his "take" on what to do with a particular car. Of course like many he was partial to Chevys but he did sponsor a few other cars so it was interesting to learn the differences.
I remember him doing some engine work in his shop's backroom for his streetracer. The motor was the spare 496 for the shop's A/MP Camaro and the factory aluminum heads were hogged out to within an inch of their life. That thing, hooked up to a clutch-turbo in a '66 Chevy Impala was impressive. It was the first "sleeper" I had ever seen up close & actually it wasn't a whole lot different, mechanically, than the Camaro. They did a few tricks to it, but compared to today's Stock Eliminator cars except for the engine & trans it wasn't much different. Given this was the early 70s though you could say the car WAS pretty trick. I'd love to find one & do a repo of the car .
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/14/10 01:28 AM

Quote:

The "gunsmith" wasn't the shapest tool in the drawer.
Anyway, while I did race Chevys for quite awhile I was alwys fond of Mopar stuff--- just didn't have many friends that ran 'em. I did have a friend with a 340 Dart though, and it was impressive. He'd take on most any big-block Brand-X car and I never saw him lose by more than half a length, if at all. My friends had a variety of cars, so you can't really say we were "brand-blind". Looking back I can recall chevys, a '67 Galaxie, a GTO, AMC, Dodge & Plymouth,a Mercury, even a Buick. A good friend of mine at the time even beat me (pretty badly ) in his '68 4-4-2 when I had my big-block 'vette (highly overrated, IMO). With so many diferent cars it was almost necessary to stop by my friend's speedshop just to get his "take" on what to do with a particular car. Of course like many he was partial to Chevys but he did sponsor a few other cars so it was interesting to learn the differences.
I remember him doing some engine work in his shop's backroom for his streetracer. The motor was the spare 496 for the shop's A/MP Camaro and the factory aluminum heads were hogged out to within an inch of their life. That thing, hooked up to a clutch-turbo in a '66 Chevy Impala was impressive. It was the first "sleeper" I had ever seen up close & actually it wasn't a whole lot different, mechanically, than the Camaro. They did a few tricks to it, but compared to today's Stock Eliminator cars except for the engine & trans it wasn't much different. Given this was the early 70s though you could say the car WAS pretty trick. I'd love to find one & do a repo of the car .




I'd bet it would be AWESOME, my friend!! Today's
tech on the engine and a UPDATED clutch-turbo setup behind it!! Super street, my man!! Or a
poor-man's Comp Eliminator. Still a winning combo
in my book!!

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/14/10 02:20 PM

The Impala was just one of his shop's "sponsored" streetracers. For such a small shop he had a '66 Chevelle, a '69 Nova, A RamAir V Firebird and (I think) an A990 car--to say nothing of the customer's he helped along the way. I'm willing to bet if you actually listed all the customer's his shop actually had a hand in encouraging streetracing it would be damn extensive.
I'll be back in NYC next week & I'll think I'll try to find him. I know he's in Flushing, Ny. somewhere nt far from College Point. Anyone know/remember Larry Chin?
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/14/10 02:59 PM

Hemicop you guys wanna meet for lunch/dinner?
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/14/10 09:58 PM

FMJ, I PM'd you.
Posted By: 6PKRTSE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/15/10 12:40 PM

60's & 70's were way before my time but the 80-90's were still strong in the Motor City area. I have way too many good stories to tell. We were out crusing Telegraph & racing all over town every Friday & Saturday nights until daylight. I miss those days but our local Heads Up nights & NO E.T. Grudge nights at Milan Dragway now keep everything legal & alot safer
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/15/10 01:14 PM

Go ahead and share a few...we ain't got nottin better to do. Hey, that was poetic and I wasn't even trying.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/15/10 08:06 PM

Obviously Milan has a successful formula .
Anyhow, fire away---It'd be interesting to hear just how/if the the street scene changed that much, partiularly from the Motor City area. The mid 70s through the 80s were some pretty bleak times & I can't imagine it being quite the same. But the hardcore always find ways around such problems, so I'm guessing Detroit was no different....
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/18/10 04:54 AM

Quote:

The Impala was just one of his shop's "sponsored" streetracers. For such a small shop he had a '66 Chevelle, a '69 Nova, A RamAir V Firebird and (I think) an A990 car--to say nothing of the customer's he helped along the way. I'm willing to bet if you actually listed all the customer's his shop actually had a hand in encouraging streetracing it would be damn extensive.
I'll be back in NYC next week & I'll think I'll try to find him. I know he's in Flushing, Ny. somewhere nt far from College Point. Anyone know/remember Larry Chin?




Name is familiar. Was he from the Flushing area?
College point had a lot of garages, especially off
23rd Av. So did the west side of Flushing, from
College Point Blvd. to Linden Pl.

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/18/10 06:48 AM

Last I heard he worked at a shop around the corner from the old Flushing Motors. I can't remember the street names but I'm certain of the old business name. I think he worked for another shop near there..........
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/18/10 09:24 PM

For those that may know (knew?) him & are curious----yesterday I stumble onto a shop & here's this guy with all kinds of hot rod/Mopar stuff in his office---a really nice guy, he helped me find an address I was looking for.
While talking to him I noticed he has a N.Y. license plate with the word "Brooklyn" on it. His name is "Rob" & we started talking & it seems that a while back he had this old Caddi on nitrous that he used to streetrace. I didn't ask him any specifics about his set-up, but he had some great pics of it on his walls. We BS for about a half-hour & in that time it was like I was back home again! . He remembered the Mutt Bros., the usual haunts in Brooklyn & even some of the cars that, coincidentally we would both see running the local areas. He wasn't too familiar with Queens but did remember alot of the streets we ran on there & he even mentioned he knew a few "transplanted" NYers out here that missed the "good 'ol days" . Of course we lamented how things just aren't the same anymore but being older now we'd like to have fun like we used to.
The point is, this streetracing stuff never gets out of your blood & if you look hard enough there are STILL a few diehards from the past. BTW, he showed me some of his projects in his shop & I must say I was impressed . It's good to know there's another Mopar shop around here......
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/20/10 12:34 AM

Quote:

For those that may know (knew?) him & are curious----yesterday I stumble onto a shop & here's this guy with all kinds of hot rod/Mopar stuff in his office---a really nice guy, he helped me find an address I was looking for.
While talking to him I noticed he has a N.Y. license plate with the word "Brooklyn" on it. His name is "Rob" & we started talking & it seems that a while back he had this old Caddi on nitrous that he used to streetrace. I didn't ask him any specifics about his set-up, but he had some great pics of it on his walls. We BS for about a half-hour & in that time it was like I was back home again! . He remembered the Mutt Bros., the usual haunts in Brooklyn & even some of the cars that, coincidentally we would both see running the local areas. He wasn't too familiar with Queens but did remember alot of the streets we ran on there & he even mentioned he knew a few "transplanted" NYers out here that missed the "good 'ol days" . Of course we lamented how things just aren't the same anymore but being older now we'd like to have fun like we used to.
The point is, this streetracing stuff never gets out of your blood & if you look hard enough there are STILL a few diehards from the past. BTW, he showed me some of his projects in his shop & I must say I was impressed . It's good to know there's another Mopar shop around here......




Welcome back to N.Y.
Yes H-Cop, the diehards are still around!! Lee is one of many to this testimony!! I did some times
but DARED NOT to climb in the ring with the "heavyweights". A little too shallow in the pockets and not enough "heat" under the hood. I just "donated" (for the cause) and took notes (learned what I could). Period.
BTW, that Caddy, was it a 68-69 model (4 door)maybe teal or turquiose in color?

Posted By: 6PKRTSE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/20/10 01:25 PM

Quote:

Go ahead and share a few...we ain't got nottin better to do. Hey, that was poetic and I wasn't even trying.




One of our funniest stories is one time we were at Plymouth Rd & Outer Drive (locals will now this area). My buddy & I were running his 68 468 Pontiac with Spray against a 69 Camaro on spray. Just before they rolled up to do there burnouts I poured some VHT down for my buddies Pontiac. We used to dilute 50/50 with water to make it last longer for the same results. We mixed it & poured it in old milk jugs. While they were up doing their burnouts the cops rolls up with like 6-8 cars. Everyone splits. My buddy takes off & leaves me walking down the street with a gallon of (milk). Its like 2 A.M. Cops eventually roll up behind me & ask if I have seen any "hot rodder's around & says its alittle late for buying milk. I told them I just wanted to make sure I had some milk for breakfast in the morning. They just drove off. Several minutes later my buddy pulled back up to pick me up.
Posted By: 6PKRTSE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/20/10 02:05 PM

Another good one was I used to have a 69' Charger with 2 kits on it. I would only run at Detroit & Milan on motor so alot of people knew it was a good 11:40 car. Back then that wasn't bad for a street car. Everyone thought that I was spraying & this is what it ran on spray. I never opened my hood & never asked anyone to look under there's . We could only guess it went 10:20-10:40's on one kit & was in the 9's on both. Until one night I was having some carb flooding issues & had to open the hood then a few found out it had 2 kits & word got around quickly. So the only way to get any runs was I always seemed to have to take the bottles out of the trunk. No problem, whatever it took to get a race....One of the lines & bottles in the trunk was just a dummy it was just there for looks the I still had another bottle under the dash where the heater box & glove box used to be that was still hooked up just in case it was needed. The good ole days.
Posted By: 6PKRTSE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/20/10 04:24 PM

Also on this same car I had the brake lights wired to a toggle switch. I would never ask for "a car & the leave" but if someone would offer it I would take it. If they were watching my taillghts & waiting for the brake lights to go out as I left. It was usually too late as I was already moving before they realized it & they would have to try to play catch up.
Back to my VHT stories. I also had this car's factory washer bottle filled with VHT & the pissers plumbed to the rear tires so no-one had to get off of my car to pour the VHT down. I only a couple of old pictures of it on computer

Attached picture 6206543-Charger4.jpg
Posted By: 6PKRTSE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/20/10 04:29 PM

Some more. its the black one on the right next to my red 70 that I still have today.

Attached picture 6206559-Charger1.jpg
Posted By: 6PKRTSE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/20/10 04:30 PM

last one for now.

Attached picture 6206561-Charger3_1.jpg
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/20/10 07:06 PM

.
BTW, that Caddy, was it a 68-69 model (4 door)maybe teal or turquiose in color?






No, it was a much darker color, perhaps black or brown (old photo) with a white landau top.
Posted By: 71cudaddict

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/20/10 08:52 PM

Was the owner about 7 feet tall? if so it was a 82 caddy black with a454 chevy motor 91 style nose and spray he worked for me in the late 80s in brooklyn car ran in the 12s looked and sounded stock. Rickey
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/20/10 09:27 PM

Quote:

Was the owner about 7 feet tall? if so it was a 82 caddy black with a454 chevy motor 91 style nose and spray he worked for me in the late 80s in brooklyn car ran in the 12s looked and sounded stock. Rickey




That's him! Nice guy! As I said I sent about a half-hour BSing with him & he invited me back another day. He's got a beautiful '71 340 'Cuda with billboards & a shaker hood. He did own up to the Caddy running 12s though I didn't want to bring that up. I need to scrounge up what few pics I have from back then to bring with me on my next visit.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 02:25 AM

please bring the pics from back then so that we can look and drool over dinner. I'll bring my vintage stickers, some never before seen by most.

I may have a special guest that may join us at the table as well.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 02:39 AM

Quote:

Another good one was I used to have a 69' Charger with 2 kits on it. I would only run at Detroit & Milan on motor so alot of people knew it was a good 11:40 car. Back then that wasn't bad for a street car. Everyone thought that I was spraying & this is what it ran on spray. I never opened my hood & never asked anyone to look under there's . We could only guess it went 10:20-10:40's on one kit & was in the 9's on both. Until one night I was having some carb flooding issues & had to open the hood then a few found out it had 2 kits & word got around quickly. So the only way to get any runs was I always seemed to have to take the bottles out of the trunk. No problem, whatever it took to get a race....One of the lines & bottles in the trunk was just a dummy it was just there for looks the I still had another bottle under the dash where the heater box & glove box used to be that was still hooked up just in case it was needed. The good ole days.




Doesn't hurt at all to have Sneaky Pete ride shotgun with ya, unsuspectingly. Extra insurance for the "what if" conditions!!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 03:02 AM

Quote:

Was the owner about 7 feet tall? if so it was a 82 caddy black with a454 chevy motor 91 style nose and spray he worked for me in the late 80s in brooklyn car ran in the 12s looked and sounded stock. Rickey




I vagely remember the car. Seen it one time in action, if it's the same ride, Sounded like a
BB mid-seventies Caprice with good pipes on it!!
Didn't spend hardly any time in the 80's - early
90's, in NYC. Got married, moved to the "desert
plateau", started a family in the military scene.
But the car, I do remember now (landau top, can't forget that). I would think he was part of the "big car" competition, that Scotty's (PG PERF)
Buick and the "other" Caddy (teal-turquise) created from late-sixties thru the late seventies, early eighties. 66-68 was the Buick
Wildcat era, 430's and 455's!!(Gotta show SOME respect)

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 04:45 AM

Yeah, he mentioned some of the land yachts that were sleepers & some of the guys we knew mainly by their cars. Of course we BS'd about the hang-outs and all & lamented how it all went away & how out here there really isn't much of a street scene for what we like & remember. On the plus side, he did mention quite a few guys out here from NY that miss this kind of stuff too. I figure when I finish my latest project maybe we can get some guys together for a kind of "NYers convention" & have some fun.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 04:47 AM

Quote:

please bring the pics from back then so that we can look and drool over dinner. I'll bring my vintage stickers, some never before seen by most.

I may have a special guest that may join us at the table as well.



I'll try to see what I can find. Alot of that stuff got lost in my move 30+ years ago. I think I still have some pics of my Pinto & maybe the magizine article on it. If I can find Larry or get ahold of John I'll see if they'd like to join us.....
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 04:56 AM

Quote:



some of the land yachts that were sleepers & some of the guys we knew mainly by their cars.






SLEEPERS ? ... gotta love 'em !

I probably had MORE fun on Telegraph and Woodward with my 68 Satellite wagon than with anything I ever had. GOOD 440 ... quiet as a mouse ....a pair of OEM Imperial muffs ...and rear-end gear ranges from 3.23 to 5.57 !

IF I was real fiesty on Friday and Saturday nites ...I would strap-down 2 alum extension ladders on the roof rack and put empty boxes in the back to go really "stealth" on-'em !

At Detroit Dragway(running as many THREE times a week there) and on the street ...I made about 20k$ over the years with that car.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 12:39 PM

I never saw a wagon, although I did hear of 'em being used. I think it must've been a regional thing. Most of the sleepers I saw were the land yachts I mentioned & perhaps the best of 'em were mid/low 11-sec. cars when sprayed, although my friends Impala was quite a bit quicker than that, but that really was a racecar more than a yacht.
There was a guy herein Phx in the late 70s that had an late 60s Caddy, Caddy-powered that was good for low12s/high 11s. It was the first time I ever saw a 2 4-bbl set-up on a Caddy motor--really a pretty neat car since it wasn't "cross-bred....
Posted By: babarracuda

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 02:07 PM

In 1963 I bought Maverick's 60 Dodge Phoenix. It had a 383 with the 15" ram tube intake, headers and lots of tuning. My cousin worked for Swanson Used car lot and one weekend, he showed up with a 57 sedan delivery Chevy with a 409 in it. We went out to the road that ran along the 134 freeway near Griffith Park. We raced and I anialated him. He said that He didn't realize that a Dodge could be that fast.

Later that year my job sent me to Denver for schooling. I drove the Dodge to Denver. On Friday night while cruising downtown a new 64 Pontiac with a 421 wanted to race. I still had the 2.93's from the trip so he put a fender on me and then the ran tubes took over. I beat him so bad that I was stopping for a signal about 4 blocks down when he caught up. He was so embarrased that he ran the red light. I used to cruise around the park on Sundays. Nobody wanted to race because the Pontiac spread the word "Don't mess with the black Dodge".
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 03:16 PM

Quote:

I never saw a wagon, although I did hear of 'em being used. I think it must've been a regional thing. Most of the sleepers I saw were the land yachts I mentioned & perhaps the best of 'em were mid/low 11-sec. cars when sprayed, although my friends Impala was quite a bit quicker than that, but that really was a racecar more than a yacht.
There was a guy herein Phx in the late 70s that had an late 60s Caddy, Caddy-powered that was good for low12s/high 11s. It was the first time I ever saw a 2 4-bbl set-up on a Caddy motor--really a pretty neat car since it wasn't "cross-bred....




Cadillac started the dual quad setup in the mid 50s, on their 331 engine. El Dorado use, the engine made 270 HP IIRC. Idled at a ridiculous 400 or so RPM, again IIRC.
Posted By: 71cudaddict

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 06:40 PM

Quote:

Yeah, he mentioned some of the land yachts that were sleepers & some of the guys we knew mainly by their cars. Of course we BS'd about the hang-outs and all & lamented how it all went away & how out here there really isn't much of a street scene for what we like & remember. On the plus side, he did mention quite a few guys out here from NY that miss this kind of stuff too. I figure when I finish my latest project maybe we can get some guys together for a kind of "NYers convention" & have some fun.


THERE is some street action out here. Also street racing at the track.We race with arizonas fastest street cars heads up 4.00 pro tree.3 differnt classes.a few are in the high 7s. speed world is a lay back track so crew members are allowed on the line witch really feels like the street.Also there is AZ grudge raceing witch is similar but its 1/8 mile. still only street cars pro tree heads up. radial class 6.50 class and out law.If you come out stop by say hello I have a 69 green gts that Irun in the 10.oo class my son has a67 camaro that runs low 9s should have both cars out,for the a race this sat.night if your interested. Rickey
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/21/10 07:59 PM

Rick, thanks for the invite but I'll be back in NYC this weekend.I'm kinda familiar with the groups. I know Bill Wallace, Rick Dahmer, Gary Knight & his Dad & a few others. Right now I'm trying to get rid of my Altered so I can finish my HemiDart for one of the non-nitrous classes in those groups. I'm hoping for low 10s/high 9s which I don't THINK will be a problem. Don't aask me my set-up, though ---I ain't talkin' !
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/22/10 02:02 AM



Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/22/10 02:06 AM

Quote:

Rick, thanks for the invite but I'll be back in NYC this weekend.I'm kinda familiar with the groups. I know Bill Wallace, Rick Dahmer, Gary Knight & his Dad & a few others. Right now I'm trying to get rid of my Altered so I can finish my HemiDart for one of the non-nitrous classes in those groups. I'm hoping for low 10s/high 9s which I don't THINK will be a problem. Don't aask me my set-up, though ---I ain't talkin' !




A secret IS a secret, if you tell somebody. Otherwise it should never brought to mind!!



Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/22/10 02:17 AM

Quote:

Yeah, he mentioned some of the land yachts that were sleepers & some of the guys we knew mainly by their cars. Of course we BS'd about the hang-outs and all & lamented how it all went away & how out here there really isn't much of a street scene for what we like & remember. On the plus side, he did mention quite a few guys out here from NY that miss this kind of stuff too. I figure when I finish my latest project maybe we can get some guys together for a kind of "NYers convention" & have some fun.




FYI, a GOOD friend let me know this, Scotty's in Florida. Didn't say what he was running or into lately.
Last report of his Deuce' (Vert?), he's running
strong on the VERY LOW end of nines/high eight's
(tube chassis territory).

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/25/10 09:31 PM

For those that have been following this thread----last nht I had the privilege of meeting another memeber from here---"fullmetaljacket" here in NYC where it's been some time since I've been here---- especially in the Lower Eastside of New York.
While negotiating the Williamsburg Bridge took some skill (damn narrow lanes!) and the narrow streets, the ride was more than well worth it. "FMJ"treated me to the BEST Italian food I've had in quite some time & calamari that was worth comitting some serious felonies for! The owner, Julio also treated me like a VIP, again thanks to "FMJ" while we BS'd about Mopars, the old days, car mods and even other brands.
THANKS,LEE!
I'd suggest anyone that plans on visiting NYC to get ahold of "FMJ" as he can tell you some great stories and just where to really see NY.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/26/10 10:58 PM

Your most welcome HC.
It was a pleasure.
Good street haunt follies always go well with swell food and spirits.
Julio who owns the joint, Il Bagatto in the L.E.S is a big car fan guy and loves the street legends.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/27/10 12:45 AM

Quote:

For those that have been following this thread----last nht I had the privilege of meeting another memeber from here---"fullmetaljacket" here in NYC where it's been some time since I've been here---- especially in the Lower Eastside of New York.
While negotiating the Williamsburg Bridge took some skill (damn narrow lanes!) and the narrow streets, the ride was more than well worth it. "FMJ"treated me to the BEST Italian food I've had in quite some time & calamari that was worth comitting some serious felonies for! The owner, Julio also treated me like a VIP, again thanks to "FMJ" while we BS'd about Mopars, the old days, car mods and even other brands.
THANKS,LEE!
I'd suggest anyone that plans on visiting NYC to get ahold of "FMJ" as he can tell you some great stories and just where to really see NY.




H-Cop, you were in GOOD company around Lee. He's a
top-notch guy that pulls no punches!! If you are
of good caliber, you definitely have a good friend
or, if you BS him you never have to worry about seeing him again, he just will not deal with you!!
It is great that you have made a "visit" back to the old neighborhoods (sightseeing). A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same!! Good to
have ya back in NYC !! Lee you are a true " Hall of Famer" !!

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 09/30/10 03:35 PM

Hyper, thank you. The next trip (I hope) will be with the Dart to cruise some of the old places and while it may be too crowded or the roads too rough to run anymore it'd be fun to get some "now" pics of some old style stuff cruisin along Connecting or the Conduit. Hell I'd love to get some pics with my car & Lee's. We were talking & it sounds like he's got himself a real nice B-body..........
Posted By: SV_MOPARS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/01/10 12:43 AM

summer of 1974, i was 16 1/2 years old cruising van nuys blvd with what i thought were a couple of friends in my mom's 73 buccaneer red trans am non sd, met up with a 73 sd trans am and a 67 396 4speed chevelle on a little side street called raymer, got spanked by both of them, well they got me about 2 car lengths each, i did have 2 more bodies in the car than them and not a hole lot of experience, well sheldon descided that weekend he was going to tell my stepdad about our little adventure, needless to say i was grounded from taking that trans am to van nuys blvd for a few weeks, ahhh the good old days, gone forever, sure wish i would have bought that tran am from them when they offered it to me for $3200 in 1975, that would have ment a car payment at the ripe old age of 18 or so. still can't believe that guy ratted me out!!
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/01/10 03:43 AM

Okay, here's my Connecting story.
After a couple of weeks of bench scuffles as to who could beat who, we head out to the Connecting to do battle with a big small block Chevy S10 truck with a good shot of smack. The mopar is on pure motor. "Always have, and always will"
Like the old days, we met on top by the service road and worked out the details of the run.
Only about 30 or so people consisting of friends and bench racers were there to witness what was the first and maybe last race on Connecting since who knows when.
Any way, the cars line up under the first overpass and the traffic is already jittery and loud with their horns blowing.
A mutual friend of ours who's NYPD material waves them off with the Mopar pulling a good hole shot on the S10.
The Mopar had him strung out by a car for at least the 1000 mark line when his hit of smack entered the cylinders to save him. He passed the Mopar a hair right before the second overpass for the win.

The Mopar got its revenge the next weekend with a set of new plugs and an even better hole shot on 150th St.
He blew his motor trying to close the gap with an even bigger hit of the MOJO. The passenger side header blew completely off the flanges on the head.
Ahhhhhh, the sound of the motors during the burnouts under neath that overpass was some thing to remember for a life time at the Connecting.
People in the neighborhood must have said, Oh no! here comes that sound again.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/01/10 02:30 PM

You ddn't go into details on that one when I was there---good story though!
With all this talk about Connecting I wonder if any young guys will actually try resurrecting the old tradition of running there. I know it'd be risky AND costly for anyone getting caught but it's been done before.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/01/10 04:59 PM

It would be the only place to get the runs off with out endangering innocent people. It's only the other car, you and the Vatican walls if Murphy rears its ugly head.
The only breach point would be the high divider concrete walls that separate the South and North bounds.
When the run got off there, both directions were blocked and the start line was plagued with little goose bumps on the black top, but as soon as the 200 ft mark was reached, the smooth new concrete took hold of things. They probably stopped short right there while repaving ten or so years back because of that very same reason of it being resurrected to its old legend.
I still pass through it every time I go to pick up the thug from storage.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/02/10 06:56 PM

Quote:

It would be the only place to get the runs off with out endangering innocent people. It's only the other car, you and the Vatican walls if Murphy rears its ugly head.
The only breach point would be the high divider concrete walls that separate the South and North bounds.
When the run got off there, both directions were blocked and the start line was plagued with little goose bumps on the black top, but as soon as the 200 ft mark was reached, the smooth new concrete took hold of things. They probably stopped short right there while repaving ten or so years back because of that very same reason of it being resurrected to its old legend.
I still pass through it every time I go to pick up the thug from storage.




Truth said!! I thought of the idea
of running Q-Blvd (Queens Blvd viaduct under the LIE overpass) at one time, BUT even that would have to be a kamikaze-in and out run.

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/02/10 08:12 PM

Quote:

You ddn't go into details on that one when I was there---good story though!
With all this talk about Connecting I wonder if any young guys will actually try resurrecting the old tradition of running there. I know it'd be risky AND costly for anyone getting caught but it's been done before.




I think H-Cop, the "tuner crowd" does do some
"random" guerilla runs at the Connecting to the
LIE or Q-Blvd exits. Normally they are just high
speed slalom-type passes off the Grand Central, not the "block-em up and run type" we are used to.
It's the jackrabbit principle, same as the superbikers use on the highway/boulevards. BUT they DO get caught on occasion, usually it's the
smoking tires at the start or wheelies performed
that does it!!

Posted By: velocity2215rq

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/03/10 03:46 AM

Was around 1986 we had several areas around town we used to cruise to and hang out. Was cruising through North Towne Mall one night alone. As I idled through the parking lot in my stock lime green 70 Coronet R/T these 2 guys stopped me and asked if I would be interested in "running" my car against thiers? (I was 16 at the time and this was my first car and had never street raced a day in my life!) I said ok where? They took me out Riverside aways to a point where 4 lanes turned into 2.

They stopped in a local church parking lot and explained what to do...they said when the stop light turns red get up there and when it turns green go! So I did as they said. As we approached the red light they stopped for a second and began to power brake the car which at the time I had no idea why but assumed to warm the tires. As I watched the smoke roll off the back of the car I thought to myself oh my god that car was going to beat me very bad. Well I then thought maybe I should power brake my car and warm up the good old F70's...so I did. We got to the red light. Sitting at the red light I was nervous and had the shakes due to adreneline. Not knowing much about racing at that point I left the car in "Drive" and let it shift itself. The light turned green and we were off! I got a small jump on them...the car shifted into 2nd and I pulled a little more ahead...hit drive and was just plain leaving them behind! I won my first race...WOW!

We met back at the North Towne Mall. They asked if I would give them another chance? I agreed. The driver of the car said his friend was going to drive this time. Before we headed out again they started letting air out of the rear tires on their car. So back out to the lights by the church aagin...got up to the light...warmed up the F70's again...left the car in "Drive" again. The light turned green and it was the same thing all over again...I had won my second race in the same night! I was now hooked!!

We met back at the mall. They asked what do you have in that thing? I said a stock 440 Magnum. The one guy said to the other "I Knew It!". Could we look at it? I popped the hood and there it was...Dual snorkle air cleaner...AFB carb...cast iron intake...stock exhaust manifolds. I asked to look at theirs and kind of reluctantly they agreed. Wow it was spotless...and looked pretty with gold valve covers and gold air cleaner (MOROSO), Holley carb. I asked what motor it was...they paused and gave me a funny look. It's a 350 they told me...then paused and gave me a funny look. I said well it sure is nice and I left.

Now here comes the best part of the story. A few years later I was at a cruise night in another city with my dad in his 71 Cuda. These 2 guys approached me and said "Didn't you use to own a lime green superbee or something like that?" I said yea. They asked do you remember us? I said not right off hand. They said we raced you a few years ago...we had that Gold colored Olds 442. Then I remembered. Then they said "I guess it is ok to tell you now that it actually had a 454 in an oldsmobile" they said "We had a lot of time and money in that motor and when you beat us twice we were kinda upset at the time". "We couldnt believe you didn't know what motor it was and you were looking right at it!

I was 16 and just a kid at the time! We talked for a little bit and got a big laugh out of the whole thing!
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/03/10 04:44 AM

Quote:

Was around 1986 we had several areas around town we used to cruise to and hang out. Was cruising through North Towne Mall one night alone. As I idled through the parking lot in my stock lime green 70 Coronet R/T these 2 guys stopped me and asked if I would be interested in "running" my car against thiers? (I was 16 at the time and this was my first car and had never street raced a day in my life!) I said ok where? They took me out Riverside aways to a point where 4 lanes turned into 2.

They stopped in a local church parking lot and explained what to do...they said when the stop light turns red get up there and when it turns green go! So I did as they said. As we approached the red light they stopped for a second and began to power brake the car which at the time I had no idea why but assumed to warm the tires. As I watched the smoke roll off the back of the car I thought to myself oh my god that car was going to beat me very bad. Well I then thought maybe I should power brake my car and warm up the good old F70's...so I did. We got to the red light. Sitting at the red light I was nervous and had the shakes due to adreneline. Not knowing much about racing at that point I left the car in "Drive" and let it shift itself. The light turned green and we were off! I got a small jump on them...the car shifted into 2nd and I pulled a little more ahead...hit drive and was just plain leaving them behind! I won my first race...WOW!

We met back at the North Towne Mall. They asked if I would give them another chance? I agreed. The driver of the car said his friend was going to drive this time. Before we headed out again they started letting air out of the rear tires on their car. So back out to the lights by the church aagin...got up to the light...warmed up the F70's again...left the car in "Drive" again. The light turned green and it was the same thing all over again...I had won my second race in the same night! I was now hooked!!

We met back at the mall. They asked what do you have in that thing? I said a stock 440 Magnum. The one guy said to the other "I Knew It!". Could we look at it? I popped the hood and there it was...Dual snorkle air cleaner...AFB carb...cast iron intake...stock exhaust manifolds. I asked to look at theirs and kind of reluctantly they agreed. Wow it was spotless...and looked pretty with gold valve covers and gold air cleaner (MOROSO), Holley carb. I asked what motor it was...they paused and gave me a funny look. It's a 350 they told me...then paused and gave me a funny look. I said well it sure is nice and I left.

Now here comes the best part of the story. A few years later I was at a cruise night in another city with my dad in his 71 Cuda. These 2 guys approached me and said "Didn't you use to own a lime green superbee or something like that?" I said yea. They asked do you remember us? I said not right off hand. They said we raced you a few years ago...we had that Gold colored Olds 442. Then I remembered. Then they said "I guess it is ok to tell you now that it actually had a 454 in an oldsmobile" they said "We had a lot of time and money in that motor and when you beat us twice we were kinda upset at the time". "We couldnt believe you didn't know what motor it was and you were looking right at it!

I was 16 and just a kid at the time! We talked for a little bit and got a big laugh out of the whole thing!




The innocence of youth...way to go!! Great tale.
Posted By: daveakre

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/12/10 10:49 PM

Kinda off topic, but this stuff still goes on in a big way. 1800hp cars on the street?! Wish I had the scratch to participate!

http://www.theturboforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=142841.0

-dave
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/12/10 11:44 PM

Couldn't get on the site, but if yu're taling about 18oohp cars, these are the things that , sorry, IMO, ruined streetracing. Those are great, impressive cars to see--on the track. With that much hp, the car is hardly inexpensive or your "average" car. Even the most serious of streetracers had MAYBE a 1000hp, worked a 60-hour week and didn't need an engineer to tune his car. PLUS (for the most part) the guys were honest. There's no way a 19 year-old mechanic, making 20-30 dollars an hour can afford an 1800hp racecar HONESTLY. Now we weren't all "saints" back then either, and yes, many "high-end" racers made their money in "other" ways, but the AVERAGE guys worked hard, lived for the week-end and raced what they could honestly afford.
Nowadays the cars are too expensive, too high-tech, and the penalties too severe to rationalize running a 6-second streetcar the way we did our 9-second or slower cars---and you know what? I'l bet we had just as much fun with a 11 or 12-second car as these guys are having with their quicker machinery.
Sorry, a tube-chassised, carbon-fibre bodied, mountain-motor ride that looks like a ProMod doesn't impress me.......
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/12/10 11:54 PM

Sorry, a tube-chassised, carbon-fibre bodied, mountain-motor ride that looks like a ProMod doesn't impress me.......


Amen Brother, me neither. Take those cars to the track where they belong.......oh my....I've become my father.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/13/10 12:01 AM

To try to stay on topic, here's a story that, while a bit newer than the 60s, is on-topic & some guys may even relate to it.
Up until the early 80s, Central Ave in Phoenix, Az. was the place to be. When I was a rookie, I was sitting on a side street one Saturday night, just waiting for some guys to "light 'em off".
Sure enough, inside of 20 minutes 2 guys square off at an intersection about 4 blocks from me. Since this was nighttime they couldn't see me, but I could hear their engines revving, each one trying to coax the other into jumping first. When the light went green both cars took off, the '66 Goat pulling the Camaro by a fair amount. As they passed me, I followed in, going after the Goat. The driver tried swerving a bit in & out of the traffic he had caught up to, but now that he was forced to slow down I easily stayed with him. He finally pulled into a parking lot, jumps out of the car & starts screaming: "Honest, Officer my brakes failed & I couldn't slow the car down!"
Yeah, right....
I went up to his car, stepped on the brake pedal numerous times & as expected his brakes were fine-he was screwed up! I told him he was flat-out he was lying & that I saw his whole "race" from the start. He kind of apologized and after receiving about 5 tickets he was allowed to go.
Being an old-time streetracer in a place where it was a daily occurence has its advantages. While I never wrote alot of "drag racing" tickets in my day, when I retired I was looking over some old paperwork & realized I had a 100% conviction rate--bad for the racers,but I think it did show I knew a race when I saw one........
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/13/10 12:18 AM

That must have been difficult giving out tickets for the very thing you did in your younger years but your job was to uphold the law so you were doing your job.
My first ticket was in my newly purchased 62 Dodge Dart, I bought it on a Friday and drove it to school on Monday. After school I was stopped within a quarter mile of the grounds and issued a ticket for loud pipes, 50mph in a school zone, reckless driving and drag racing. Only thing that held up in court was the reckless driving which was 6 points. Judge gave my license to my mom for 3 months. I think I already posted this story.....sorry.....I'm old and forgetful. Now what was I saying?
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/13/10 12:55 AM

Quote:

Sorry, a tube-chassised, carbon-fibre bodied, mountain-motor ride that looks like a ProMod doesn't impress me.......




i agree, but seeing some of these rice-burners, running a 2.2/or 2.5 or whatever, in the 9'00 or less.... pretty impressive...

thats why if i'm at a lite, next to one and he's revving, i let him go... it would be pretty embarrasing to have him waiting for me at the next traffic lite... him with a 2.2L, and me with a 440 30over... (dont know how many liters that is)...
Posted By: MRVCODE

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/13/10 02:44 AM

Quote:

Certain BB Cuda was probably Billy from upstate. He had that thing on kill covertly running high 11's with stock HP exhaust manifolds way before the F.A.S.T guys were in vogue. All due respect to the F.A.S.T guys.
Drunk Mike or Budweiser Mike was no joke on the go pedal and steering. The more he drank, the better he drove and cut a mean hand drop.
I DO NOT condone drinking and driving, especially racing.
For the record, Fountain lost its edge once the un-appreciates bled over from Columbia St. aka Redhook.



Lee,
Mike is still around, I was with him last week, still crazy but has calmed down quite a bit. South ave was a blast, we would stay there for hours at a time with no interuption. Remember "UFOOLU" Jimmy Peters with a mean Black 69 Charger R/T, "Bart7" 67 olds 442 running 10.0's in street trim...Good times. I have some awesome pics from when we would block off the entire West shore expressway and race!
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/13/10 02:19 PM

there was great street racing in all the boros (ex man.), but for sheer volume of continious racing, nothing came close to south ave... before the accident...
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/13/10 07:23 PM

Quote:

That must have been difficult giving out tickets for the very thing you did in your younger years but your job was to uphold the law so you were doing your job.

It wasn't fun & yes, that topic came up quite a bit. The thing was, (at least) I didn't lie to the cops when I got stopped & as far as I could "see" we never did it around places where people could get hurt.
This past Sat. a local group did a "Cruise on Central" night with the City's approval & with all the thousands (literally!) of spectators & hundreds of cars, I think something like only a dozen tickets were issued.
I can't recall ever seeing anything like that in the 60s, although most every night was a car show, if you knew where to look. it was being "connected" to the really fast guys that got exciting & alot of guys were fast (for the time) back then.....
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/14/10 09:36 PM

Mr V.
Would you send a PM to me when you can?
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/14/10 10:13 PM

Quote:

Couldn't get on the site, but if yu're taling about 18oohp cars, these are the things that , sorry, IMO, ruined streetracing. Those are great, impressive cars to see--on the track. With that much hp, the car is hardly inexpensive or your "average" car. Even the most serious of streetracers had MAYBE a 1000hp, worked a 60-hour week and didn't need an engineer to tune his car. PLUS (for the most part) the guys were honest. There's no way a 19 year-old mechanic, making 20-30 dollars an hour can afford an 1800hp racecar HONESTLY. Now we weren't all "saints" back then either, and yes, many "high-end" racers made their money in "other" ways, but the AVERAGE guys worked hard, lived for the week-end and raced what they could honestly afford.
Nowadays the cars are too expensive, too high-tech, and the penalties too severe to rationalize running a 6-second streetcar the way we did our 9-second or slower cars---and you know what? I'l bet we had just as much fun with a 11 or 12-second car as these guys are having with their quicker machinery.
Sorry, a tube-chassised, carbon-fibre bodied, mountain-motor ride that looks like a ProMod doesn't impress me.......




period. Back then 10-11 sec rides (and a few 9-sec pieces) that were street tagged and driven most of the time (to anywhere) was exciting. Think about it!
Get off work Friday afternoon/night, cash in pocket, maybe a HOT date planned, early dinner, go
out in your ride, later on look for action or try
to create some with your girlfriend/wife. Best of all, your ride is the focal point in your social scene. Can't do all that in a tube chassis, 1800 hp, ride. Roll bars were cool back then! And I really don't think your girlfriend/wife would like a fully caged tube-chassis car. Uncomfortable for her, if you know what I mean.
They DO belong on the track!! However, that PASS
the rail job did at the Connecting, I would have
PAID to see that!!

Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/14/10 11:10 PM

i dont ever remember a rail at south ave.... but can def confirm numerous... and i mean numerous cars being trailered to south ave to run... there were nites when there were 50 or more cars in two's awaiting their run on the other side of the stop sign on the service road... who needed e-town, or national speedway... we had south ave...
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 12:30 AM

Did any of you street race with your girl friend in the car? If so how did she respond? or or or or ????????
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 03:41 AM

FWIW, I was the official flagman at South for a few strong years going in the eighties.
I had the arm drop down to a science and some of the drivers like Drunk Mike had me timed like a clock. Pinks All out had nothing on me! LOL.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 03:42 PM

Quote:

Did any of you street race with your girl friend in the car? If so how did she respond? or or or or ????????




Nope! First rule: NO PASSENGERS!
"FMJ" any pcs you'd like to post for the unknowing masses or some "war stories" about flagging off a few races?
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 03:48 PM

Quote:

i dont ever remember a rail at south ave.... but can def confirm numerous... and i mean numerous cars being trailered to south ave to run... there were nites when there were 50 or more cars in two's awaiting their run on the other side of the stop sign on the service road... who needed e-town, or national speedway... we had south ave...




Connecting DID have a rail out one night--a friend just bought a used one & insisted on taking it out there. Truth was, it was kind of a PITA. Anyway, the trailered cars were alaways exciting but even some of them were disappointing as they simply couldn't hook very well at times. The best trailered-car race I ever saw was a by JFK involving two factory Mopar cars...still don't know how they kept the cops away on that one, but I have my suspicions ......
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 04:55 PM

Trust me on this one, they were in the mix if you know what I mean.
Many a trailer car ran on the China Rock concrete by JFK and most if all usually hooked and clawed for the heavens.
On another note, keeping a passenger for a ride down the quarter is just another way to find a ride to the slammer for another quarter century after a bad accident.
That is why the Connecting had its shine for the smarter cats. If Murphy was to rear its ugly head it would only involve the towering Walls of China, both cars, both drivers and their one word of bond.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 04:58 PM

The only flics were in Cars magazine or street/strip cars or some thing like that showing me on the Fount, but I don't recall any flashes going off on South.
Tony Defeo here can testify on the organized madness back then.
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 05:26 PM

Quote:

FWIW, I was the official flagman at South for a few strong years going in the eighties.
I had the arm drop down to a science and some of the drivers like Drunk Mike had me timed like a clock. Pinks All out had nothing on me! LOL.




wasn;t there in the 80's.. but after the accident i think that was in 70, everything changed... i got my lic. in 68, but for those 2 years it was wild...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 05:40 PM

Yeah, from the early to mid late eighties it was crazy packed at times, usually on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings till the mid morning hours. I wasn't even aware of any bad accident happening there at all, at least when I was running the staging and start area.
There was an aging Highway cop with silver hair and a silver unmarked grand fury that would harass us with no slack.
I only found out about the West shore runs one night when a race was staged to happen there between a Money no object Pontiac and a Chevrolet, but never materialized. Nice stretch of concrete.
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 06:12 PM

Quote:

I wasn't even aware of any bad accident happening there at all, at least when I was running the staging and start area.





one nite (i think in 70) 2 guys were racing, at the end of the 1/4 mile one guy slowed, the other continued and went thru the stop sign at the end of the service road which is forrest ave... 3 college girls in a car where broadsided and killed... that put an end to the e-town type, one after another, no police interference racing... up to that point any nite, any time u pulled up and parked and was treated to non-stop racing..
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 07:10 PM

Sorry, my bad. The street that I am talking about which is some times referred to as South Avenue is actually Gulf Avenue. It runs along as a service road to the south bound(Outer-bridge direction)West shore expressway.
During the Summer racing season, it would be covered by tall elephant type grass weed and infested with mosquito's. At the very end was a stable of horse carriage houses or a farm of some type.
The tarmac was like concrete, it gripped pretty good with some (High tech DOT sticky)crappy tires of the day.
South Avenue which was on the other side Northbound was also long and smooth, but eerily deserted. Maybe remnants of that horrible night.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/15/10 07:29 PM

Quote:

Trust me on this one, they were in the mix if you know what I mean.

I don't think it was much of a secret even back then by guys who knew what was going on. My friend's speed shop always had the latest info(it seemed) on big-block Chevy headwork & somehow always had one customer who had Pontiac RamAir engines availible to him. My guess is this guy worked for GM or had a relative who did.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/20/10 02:05 AM

Quote:

FWIW, I was the official flagman at South for a few strong years going in the eighties.
I had the arm drop down to a science and some of the drivers like Drunk Mike had me timed like a clock. Pinks All out had nothing on me! LOL.




Umm, Lee maybe Rich C. (Pinks) "snuck" up incognito to NYC to "unsuspectecly aqiure" some of your techniques. Still not as good as
"original" NYC street action!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/20/10 02:10 AM

Quote:

Trust me on this one, they were in the mix if you know what I mean.
Many a trailer car ran on the China Rock concrete by JFK and most if all usually hooked and clawed for the heavens.
On another note, keeping a passenger for a ride down the quarter is just another way to find a ride to the slammer for another quarter century after a bad accident.
That is why the Connecting had its shine for the smarter cats. If Murphy was to rear its ugly head it would only involve the towering Walls of China, both cars, both drivers and their one word of bond.




Back then, guys were TRUE to their word, as said
on the streets "Word is bond and a handshake seals
the deal".

Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/20/10 01:44 PM

Okay, so far we have stories from 30 +/- U.S. states, our Canadian friends and our Aussey friends. We are missing stories from New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming. If you live in one of these states you are not being a good representative of your state so get on the ball and share some stories.

Right now we have had more stories from the New York & New Jersey guys than anyone else. Very few stories have come from California and they have 1/3 of the entire population of the U.S. ? What are you guys and girls doing out there, smoking that medical MJ????????

And you MI. guys......surely there are many more stories from your state. Being the muscle car capital of the world in the 60's & 70's and you don't have any more stories than that? Just shameful.

And you FL. boys....you've got the sunshine year round, there had to have been 12 months of street racing back then. Where were you? Down at alligator alley petting the gators?

And here in Indy, the racing capital of the world, and just a handful of stories. You guys are pathetic!

I can't believe we are going to let two little bitty east coast states like NY & NJ out do the rest of us. The challenge is on.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/20/10 03:50 PM

I hate to sound "high-handed", but despite Detroit being THE "motor city", and SoCal the birthplace of hotrodding, NYC was THE place to be back then. If the cars didn't draw you in, the sheer number of cars & frequency of streetracing would & the personalities involved could get strange.
Somehow though, I suspect the guys down South have some stories they don't wanna own up to. Seeing how it was the birthplace of matchracing, some their rides & races have to be interesting. BUT in true streetracer fashion they don't want to "give up" anything---which is our loss..
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 10/30/10 04:23 AM

Quote:

I hate to sound "high-handed", but despite Detroit being THE "motor city", and SoCal the birthplace of hotrodding, NYC was THE place to be back then. If the cars didn't draw you in, the sheer number of cars & frequency of streetracing would & the personalities involved could get strange.
Somehow though, I suspect the guys down South have some stories they don't wanna own up to. Seeing how it was the birthplace of matchracing, some their rides & races have to be interesting. BUT in true streetracer fashion they don't want to "give up" anything---which is our loss..




Hemicop, yes as TRUE streetracers they DO NOT want to "give up" the "meat" of their stories.
They may "tease" your appettite with giving you a
couple of side dishes (good matches weekly with "slightly" modified "street" rides), but the "main course" or "meat" would be a "heavy" race with either a local (neighborhood) vs. visitor (out of towner) type run, "super street" cars, one shot deal-heads up. Or, a inter borough
rivalry of "multiple runs", in "hot" street cars, running for bragging rites. The "heavy" (no pun
intended - God bless and R.I.P. Rufus) runners,
moved off the street, went to the track and stayed
there, or passed on, or gotten away from it as they aged!! There may be a FEW still doing their thing but in incognito, due to crowds and police factors. Also the major changes in routes, highways and expressways, narrowed the chances of
having good "escape routes". All in all, TRUE streetracing HAS gone underground!!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/05/11 11:59 PM

Some of your "heavy hitters" DO stay away from the
video crowd. Nothing personal, just their way of being super incognito.

Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/06/11 05:55 AM

I sure would stay clear of videos with super tricks to keep 'em thinking cause every one now has a camera.
The streets will never be the same.
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/06/11 08:15 AM

I had a 1968 Fleetwood Brougham back in the mideighties. I bought it from the original owner with about 60K miles on it. Loved the car.

Drove it for a year or so when the cam gear plastic teeth exited the gear at about 75 mph. Valves hit pistons when the chain slipped and pretty much made a mess out of the sweet factory 472 engine.

A buddy had a slew of late 60s and early 70s Cadillacs. I contacted him and told him of my dilemma. He said he had just the thing to cure my problem and showed me a wrecked '70 ElDorado with - as I recall - about 18K miles.

In 1970, Cadillac's ElDorado debuted its only HP version of their 500 CID engine [that's 8.2 liter, for those who speak metric]. It made 400 HP with 550 Ft Lbs torque. Had 10: 1 compression and a 4.3 X 4.3 bore X stroke. It was a beast. It went in my Fleetwood.

My best friend had a 68 Buick GS 400. He and I wound up side by side, one day shortly after the engine swap, as I was headed home. We were first at a traffic light. I rolled the window down and said "let's see what they'll do!" When the light turned green, that Caddy really surprised both of us. I, thereafter, had lots of fun with it. 'Nuff said.

Attached picture 6513131-1968Fleetwood.jpg
Posted By: sthemi

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/06/11 07:32 PM

Windy city, early 80s...

Back of the yards.. The "stock" pick up handled the Big Chrysler..

Attached picture 6513899-Scan10380.JPG
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/07/11 02:41 PM

". All in all, TRUE streetracing HAS gone underground!!






I'm glad this thread hasn't died. Has anyone resurrected their old strretracer? I'd love to find my Pinto from back then but my guess is it's long-gone by now. That car would actually be a pretty good one, still, as it had alot of work in it. Couple it with a stroker smallblock & I'd be back in action! .
I remember when I brought it to New Mexico when I moved. My Lt. called me into the office, said he saw me cruising the main street in it & thought it wasn't "inappropriate" for a police officer to be involved in such "criminal" activity. There were 3 or 4 good cars in the town at the time, but no one really wanted to run me . Truth was (I thought) they actually had a good chance of beating me. Last I heard, years ago, the car was in Carlsbad, N.M........
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/25/11 06:17 PM

From time to time I will do a dealer trade run for one of the local Chrysler dealers here in Indy. Last week they asked if I could go to Cincinnati on a trade. Sure, no problem as I wasn't real busy. Since my wife is now retired I asked her to ride along and of course she said okay.

We're heading out Interstate 74 towards Cincinnati and as we go under the Franklin Road overpass I point to the bridge and say "there it is". She said "there what is?" I said the finish line. "The finish line? What are you talking about?." By that time we were 1/4 mile down the road and I pointed to the Intersate sign on the other side of the road and said "there it is". She says "there what is?" I told her that was the starting line. "The starting line?" So I explained to her that back in the late 60's this is where we did most of our street racing. She wasn't in my life at that point in time. So she looks over and says...oh.

So we do the vehicle trade and are heading back on the same interstate. As we are approaching the "race track from yesteryear" she says " if the conditions were right you'd do it again wouldn't you?" All I could do was look at her and smile.

A lot of great memories on Interstate 74.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/26/11 04:19 PM

Going to the old places somehow seems a little sad. Last year I had the privilege of meeting "fullmetaljacket" in NY & we BS'd about some old places & cars. The next day I wandered over to Connecting, Utopia Pkwy, Francis Lewis Blvd, among other places & although I could distinctly rememebr the cars, the BSing we did there, even some of the old speed shops nearby I couldn't imagine doing the same things nowadays-and that seemed a shame. Today's gearheads will never know the speed shop stories, the cruising & streetracing we did,alot of times just for fun, or the affordibility (compared to now) of it all.
Still, as I told "FMJ", when my Dart's done I'm taking it back to Connecting for one final pass...........
Posted By: mike s

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/26/11 11:38 PM

Quote:

I hate to sound "high-handed", but despite Detroit being THE "motor city", and SoCal the birthplace of hotrodding, NYC was THE place to be back then. If the cars didn't draw you in, the sheer number of cars & frequency of streetracing would & the personalities involved could get strange.
Somehow though, I suspect the guys down South have some stories they don't wanna own up to. Seeing how it was the birthplace of matchracing, some their rides & races have to be interesting. BUT in true streetracer fashion they don't want to "give up" anything---which is our loss..




I would have to disagree.Detroit easily had more cars street racing back in the day then any two places combined.Every drive restaurant in was packed with performance cars, street rods and plated race cars.The area of the city alone is huge for those who don't know,how big? The northern border (8 mile) is 19 miles long.Add Boston and Manhattan together with a little left over.Then there was the Burbs.Woodward got the pub but the cars were everywhere.Of course we didn't have a magazine featuring it nation wide like N.Y.There are so many people here with cars that you wouldn't believe it.That's why the Woodward cruise is so huge.People who come here for the cruise are shocked when they see the mass of cars.

I would agree that the hardcore N.Y scene may have lasted longer but never was better.
Posted By: Two Lane

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/27/11 02:17 AM

Well I graduated in '83 - had my 1st car a '70 SuperBee 383 4spd, N96,B5- nice car for $200 (seized orig eng) anyway- I screwed together a 68 383 with a Hemi grind cam, headers and 391's. Growing up in semi rural Pennsylvania (Harrisburg/Hershey/Reading) there was always cruising going on. Favorate in HBG was "The Circuit" along the Susquehanna river. 3 lanes of nothing but fun chicks,smathering of fast car and beaters.
One evening in July- I see a few of my motor head buddies. My car has NEVER been driven all through high school due to limited funds. So, naturally all my buddies "rag" me that it's a boat amchor and will never see the st. This was revenge night.
My foster brother was with me and always enjoyed cruising but usually to try to pickup chicks. So, we see my buddy Bill who is into anything BUT Mopar. He hops in the back and off we go. We drive around and theres some hot iron out. A wicked sounding 70 Torino Convertible, Yellow 70 442, A gorgeous 69 B5 SuperBee w/ 440.

So,Bill as usual is shooting his mouth off and is railing on me to race the guy in the Bee. After about 1/2Hr we see another friend who has a NICE 69 SS 396 4spd Chevelle. He can't believe how nice my Bee looks and sounds. We take off again and get next to the Bee again. I finally say to Bill-"If I race this guy ,are you gonna SHUT UP?!"
Me and the guy exchange - of all things - pleasantries about each others cars instead of the usual "chest beating" We agree to race across the Harvey Taylor bridge. This spans about 1 mile across the river.
We couldn't line up next to one another due to a late model Nova was in his lane. The Nova turns off and now we decide to do a 10MPH "kickdown" as we called it. I'm in 1st and doin 10. We take off and I'm ripping gears, I'm at the top of 3rd winding out and I see in the corner of my eye a fender coming up. I keep it floored and nail forth gear. I gain a little but he top ends me. We let up and roll down our windows ad both yell- "That was a hell of a race!" I look up and see red and blues behind me... My brother mutters " I'm gonna kick your *** if we get busted. Bill yells "Take OFF!!" So ,I nail 2nd gear and floor it. The other Bee nails it too.
I hve no clue where I'm going 'cause we usually never go across the river for much of anything. Bill says- "take the cloverleaf." I look down were doing 65 on the brakes, the sign says 35 for the curve - you do the math.. We MADE it around the curve no problem..except I always worn 3" racing lap belts, my bother however wasn't. He's basically in my lap with me squished up against the door trying to steer around the curve! We go over the overpass, shut off the lights,push in the clutch and coast. The Cop ( IN THE UNDERCOVER NOVA!) stops the other guy n the curve. Bro tells me " He's coming after us" I hit the lights ,grab second and off we go...
We're flying down this road that I've never been on except 2 months ago for our Prom. I see a sign that has a large T on in and tell the guys to hold on. Now anyone that ever owned a B-body with manual drum brakes knows what that's like. I lock up the brakes and am already consigned to the fact that theres NO WAY we're stopping in time. I steer to the left, the engine stalls, -no power steering now, Everything was in slo mo at that point, a red Eldorado is barrelling from the right, I put it into 2nd and pop the clutch, it catches and all I hear is horn and squealing.
We never got hit.
I take the 1st road to the right and the caddy follows me. I get to another intersection- I put my right turn signal on fake right and go left- he turns right.
We park. I'm shaking. We start walking back to get Bill's truck. He see some guy that he raced in a sweet 70 SS Nova. We finally convince the guy to give us a ride (he already had 4 people in). We get back in Bill's truck and driver the same exact route back to the car. At the clover leaf there's 2 state police in the grass with their light on. We get to the T. Well, there's a gas station there. He stops for gas and I get out. I ask the guys that work there if they've seen any cops. They all look at each other and then at me and say "Were you the guy that just went through the stop sign?" Yes. Man, I don't know how you made it! Yeah, neither do we. We get directions back home, pick the car up and neversaw a cop. M
My brother never told out parents about that night. I finally spilled the beans about 14 years later.
I went bacck the following Summer when I was home on leave from the Army. EVERYONE was checking me and the Bee out- including the police.
I never went back since with the Bee. I found out years later from Bill that the other guy lost his license for a year,and a $500 fine.
The reason that everyone was checking me out was the reputation of a Blue Super Bee- street racing and out running the police....Never even knew it.
Looking back- I should have died that night and my two friends with me. I feel very Blessed that I was spared. Do I condone it- Absolutely not. Will kids still do stupid things...always.
All my buddies had nothing to say after that.
We still talk about that night almost 30 years later...
Thanks for letting we waste 15 minutes of your life!
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/27/11 01:53 PM

Actually it was more like 30 minutes of my time....I'm a slow reader. Just kidding and great racing story other than the part that could have been fatal. Had a couple of those myself and also feel blessed to be alive.
I now live out on a county road and have no idea if or where the kids are racing today but I'm sure they're doing it somewhere other than the track.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/27/11 05:45 PM

Quote:

I sure would stay clear of videos with super tricks to keep 'em thinking cause every one now has a camera.
The streets will never be the same.




with ya, FMJ! The streets are the same, but it's more about notoriety (cars in videos) and the secondary revenue (money made OUTSIDE the races) these days. Again, organization and discipline were part of the "rules" of street racing of yesteryear.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/27/11 05:59 PM

Quote:

Going to the old places somehow seems a little sad. Last year I had the privilege of meeting "fullmetaljacket" in NY & we BS'd about some old places & cars. The next day I wandered over to Connecting, Utopia Pkwy, Francis Lewis Blvd, among other places & although I could distinctly rememebr the cars, the BSing we did there, even some of the old speed shops nearby I couldn't imagine doing the same things nowadays-and that seemed a shame. Today's gearheads will never know the speed shop stories, the cruising & streetracing we did,alot of times just for fun, or the affordibility (compared to now) of it all.
Still, as I told "FMJ", when my Dart's done I'm taking it back to Connecting for one final pass...........




You are right!! Back then it was a "hobby" or to
some a "sport". Something to do, not only to express yourself through your brand or taste in vehicles, but also to learn an "extensive" and very lucrative craft. Automotive Performance Technology. For some it was/is a way of life
and for others it was/or still a business . For the distinct, it was and still is, a GROWING concept that will NEVER cease to exist!! BTW, pm me
before the Dart test drive.


Posted By: nutso suave

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/27/11 09:16 PM

two lane -

thanks for sharing that story. it's good to see this thread back on page 1.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/28/11 12:25 AM

Now we just need some more stories. Too bad some of the guys over on Unlawfls Race Only don't contribute. I'm sure some of them have some pretty good tales to tell.
Posted By: Two Lane

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 03/28/11 06:36 AM

I have another "quick " one to tell..
Back in '88 I still had my '70 Bee as my only ride. I just got married in June and my new bride didn't dig my Bee. Said it scared her, yeah, whatever. She comes up with an idea to buy another car for me as a late wedding present from her. We end up driving home in a 72 340 4spd Lemon twist Demon for $1600. we moved into our own place in rural Hamburg PA and settle in. I make friend's with the next door neighbor who bleeds Chevy. You guys/ gals know how friendships go like that..
Here's the story of ONE particular evening.
New wife and I are coming home from visiting my Mom in town. I'm on 12th street in Reading which is 2 lanes running one way. Pull up to a stop sign and hear this roar and tires screech waaay behind us. I look up and see a 68/69 Chevelle and a 69 Camaro coming up sideways (burning rubber) toward me. The Camaro lines up- I look over and see 396 on the fender..I think "we're dead." I look at my wife and she says "go for it!" I rev it up and Nail it. I have 323's in it so I know that I only need to make one shift to the next stop sign and I can red line at 65 MPH or so. I LEAVE this guy spinning his wheels and wait for him at the stop sign. He has a hot looking blonde with him (but so did I) and she's looking uncomfortable. He rev's it up even higher (noticeably surprised and p*ssed) I let her rip again- same game plan/ same result. Now when he lines up I thought he was gonna throw a rod for how high hes reving it..His girls shaking her head no at this ...I floor it and take off and let him seeing taillights again. he turned off and never saw him again. Camaro #1 down for the night.
Later that night me and my Chevy buddies (can you say that in the same sentence?) go out for some cruising on 5th st highway outside of Temple PA. 2 lane in - 2 lane out. FUN. Pat (my neighbor ) has a very nice 68 Camaro- original 327 w/ turbo 350 and 410 gears, Rallye green white stripe. he tells me that he's gonna dust me. OK....
We line up heading out of town. It's 2 lanes at the traffic light and roughly a bit more than 1/4 mile turns into 1 lane- whoever wins GETS the lane. he yells 1.2.3. Floor it! I nail it and grab 3 gears ahead. I got 3/4 of a car on him as I shift into 4th. I barely hold him off as the lane ends. he can't believe it. We're running again. No problem Bro. Pack your lunch. we do it again and the same thing. I beat him TWICE!! camaro #2 for the evening. and the excuses come out later... Gotta hit the hay for now. I have one more for the night to tell...
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/26/11 09:53 PM

In the intrswt of hoping to revive this thread....

I recall once in the 70s being over by JFK airport to watch a high-dollar race. Landy's transporter was there with, I beleive his Colt to run someone for BIG dollars-anyone remember who he was running against? I thought it was "Brooklyn Heavy" but not really sure.
I was fortunate last Nov. to be at the PRI show in Orlando & spoke to a well-known P/S driver of that era. When asked about HIS involvment with that sort of stuff, he hesitated, grinned & said:"oh, I'm sure some of us (professionals) got involved in some of that stuff. _I_ sure don't know much about it!" Kind of hard to believe when I've seen his name on cars back then........
Posted By: JonC

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/27/11 12:48 AM

Quote:

Going to the old places somehow seems a little sad. Last year I had the privilege of meeting "fullmetaljacket" in NY & we BS'd about some old places & cars. The next day I wandered over to Connecting, Utopia Pkwy, Francis Lewis Blvd, among other places & although I could distinctly rememebr the cars, the BSing we did there, even some of the old speed shops nearby I couldn't imagine doing the same things nowadays-and that seemed a shame. Today's gearheads will never know the speed shop stories, the cruising & streetracing we did,alot of times just for fun, or the affordibility (compared to now) of it all.
Still, as I told "FMJ", when my Dart's done I'm taking it back to Connecting for one final pass...........




I here ya for one last pass, I trailered my Cuda to Glastonbury CT where my daughter lives a couple of years ago and took a cruise around Glastonbury, East Hartford and Manchester. A lot has changed but I might do it again for probably one more time, but it just isn't the same anymore. I also remember really blowing away a 70 GTO with my 340 Duster in Springfield Mass. from a stoplight in 71. Those WERE the good old days!!!
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/27/11 01:52 AM

.....and I thought this thread was dead. Thanks for contributing more stories.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/27/11 04:13 AM

Looking through all 14 ( !)pages of this thread got me to thinking----- I can reall on time (sorry if it's a re-post, I didn't see it) I had built a 396-powered '65 Goat for a friend. The car was complete but I told him he HAD TO havve a scattershield before he actually raced. Anyway, after a couple of weeks he calls me & says he put the finishing touches on the car & would I like to go for a test-drive with him. I meet him at his house, we go up to Francis Lewis Blvd. & proceed to beat on the car a bit. OOOOOOOOOOH it ran well--too well actually, as on the 3rd launch there's this huge "bang" & my feet get catapaulted off the floorboards. He pulls the car over, crawls under it & starts cursing over blowing the clutch & breaking U-joints. Then he gats REAL worked up as he now says his bellhousing is in 3 pieces! I jump out, crawl underneath & sure enough, he had never installed a scattershield! . I start cursing & swearing at him over it, asking him WHY he didn't bother getting one.
"My Dad wouldn't give me the money!" was his (lame) excuse so while waiting for his Dad to flat-tow us home, I continued "lecturing" him on his stupidity.
In the end, Dad anted up the money for not just the shield but better headers & a tunnelram ! That was a cool car but coming from money he eventually got himself a gorgeous LS6 Chevelle. THAT was a special car!
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/28/11 04:14 PM

I guess I'm the only one that wants to keep this going???
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/29/11 02:05 AM

I'd post some more of my street racing stories from back in the day but I'm out. I guess I could make something up that sounds interesting....like racing my dad's '57 Plymouth 318 c.i. station wagon against a '69 Hemi Road Runner and only getting beat by a fender. However, I had a 1,000 foot head start.

Too bad some of the guys from Unlawfls Race don't post some of their stories but I guess they are above posting stories in the General section. Or maybe they aren't old enough to have raced back then.
Posted By: Demon340GSS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/29/11 03:07 AM

I have a whole bunch of memories doing street racing "back in the day"... and this is my favorite.
In 1978 I was still in high school and just got my first mopar, A B3 blue, 4 speed factory dodge demon 340 gss.
It had a few problems and my dad helped me rebuild the stock thermoquad and he helped me do a tune up.
I was one of only a few mopars that cruised on the weekends in greeley , colorado back then and I drove it as my second car, and still drove my demon to school sometimes also, and had my 70 cuda 440 as well that was a stock 440 with 3.23's for gears.
But I mostly rode to school with a friend that had a 72' gran torino sport gt with a 351 4 barrel cleveland motor.
I had alot of crap given to me about my car being a mopar and looking like it was faster then it actually went because my car had the hood scoop and hood tach, etc..
The main culprit was a guy named bill martinez that had a 70's nova ss with a small blocs.
I knew that he had headers and traction bars and that he always taunted me to race him sometime..
His best freind has a chevelle super sport with a 454 and as luck would have it I ended up sitting next to bill and his buddy at a stop light..
I had my window down and he teased me and his buddy rev'ed his engine, and the other's behind us where watching.. So it was put up or shut up you could say.
I had raced my demon a few times by myself so far, Just getting used to it as I had stock 3.91's for gears and headers and a pinion stubber and was running on new bf goodrich belted t/a's ( non radial) I had learned not to just dump the clutch at wot, as I would just spin the tires easy, but if I dumped it at say only 3500 to 4000 and then stomped on it, my car launched better.
the light changed and I gave it hell and surprisingly I was side my side with the chevelle going thru 1st and about halfway thru second gear I started pulling on him by a fender and going into third I was about a car length ahead of him and as I shifted into 4th gear I just kept pulling.
It started on 23rd avenue and the next stoplight at 11th turned red and I was the first to it and was sitting at it idleing when they pulled up next to me and bill suddenly did not have much to say, but this was the street most of us used to turn around and go back to the strip and as he followed me I knew he wanted to go at it again from a 30mph punch.
I anticipated it and even though my rpms where up because of my having 3.91's in my rear I ignored the temptation to out it into second.
Side by side we was as it was two lanes going both ways and I told him to just nail it and I would just go also..
He nailed his throttle and I floored it and started shifting and right away I was back out in front again and pulling hard from him.
We got stopped at the light again at 23rd and he refused to pull up next to me now.. I went down to the K Mart parking lot and pulled in and several others that had watched the race followed and I heard then that "at the track the chevelle was running 12.90's"
I thought it was a nice looking chevelle and could'nt believe I had just beat it two times in a row.
As the night went by I seen bill martinez in his own car now and he pulled in and some of his buddies wanted us to race now.
I siimply asked "Was he any faster than the chevelle ?"
I heard his car was not faster or quicker and after that bill never teased about racing my mopar again.
When I got back home from being in the army I took my old demon back out on the town and ran into bill once again and found out he had sold the nova, to by a 1978 pontiac trans am that he was driving now and he asked me "What I had done to make my car go so fast that night?"
I ended up telling him about who "Mr Norm" was and showing the blower to him under the hood of my gss demon, and he just looked at my car in amazement and said he had never seen another one like it and thought I had switched the motors and just had left the 340 badges on it to fool everyone!
I told him that the entire car was stock as it had left the dealership and he just shook his head and I closed my hood and put the pins back in..
Later that summer I ended up going out to the drag strip and entered it in the friday nite 'test and tune" and seen the same chevelle racing also and he was running 12.40's now.
He watched me run and I watched him..
My first pass with the demon rolling on a used set of 28"x9.00x15's, I ran a 12.03 at 104 mph
My buddies told me he just shook his head in disbelief and most of the guys there knew that we had raced each other and that he was pissed off that his big block 70 chevelle couldnt beat me !!
Out on the street in town he never would pull up next to me again and always just watched me when I cruised by him and his buddies...
Grant Eaton 386-561-1181
Posted By: SRT6776

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/29/11 03:15 AM

From my Dad and buddies Dads that raced on the street back then, I assume anything that ran 12's (that could hook) was deemed the best.

My buddies dad had a 70 396SS Nova with a worked 427 in it that ran 12.40's at the track. he said the man to beat was a "Red 413 cube push button Dodge" and IIRC he did to claim the title.

The Dodge was stock though..maybe headers or something.
Posted By: Demon340GSS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/29/11 03:44 AM

I have another true account of street racing in my cuda 440 also.
I had parked my demon 340 gss in my dad's back yard because I needed a new clutch, and was mostly driving my 70'cuda 440 around as my daily driver.
It has a stock 440 four barrel with 3.23 gears and 727.
It is a true cuda 440, and I had been getting into a few street races and it ran respectable for having 3.23's in the rear.
I had let my dad drive it all the way from Ann Arbor to Lansing, Mi and back once and he came home with a big grin on his face and simply said that my car ran really strong and left it at that!

I was out on a saturday morning with my brother (he has an original 68' hemi charger, then and now) And we had the window's down the get some air as my cuda did not have a/c.
I was in the right lane at a stoplight just off of the U of M campus and a dark blue 71 gto 455 pulled up next to us.
As we went thru the downtown stoplights and was each heading west I heard him shift and realized he was a 4 speed.
At the main street stoplight and jackson rd. interchange he made it known he wanted to race me and as my brother and I checked and seen no cop's I told my brother I was going for it.
The light changed and I was gone and the gto was with me all thru 1st, but as I bumped my shifter into second and I started to pull a fender and then slapping my car into third I was still ahead and he was a ways behind me.
We got caught at the light before the interstate and he gave me a thumbs up and turned away and we went the opposite direction and when we got home was still talking about it as we walked in the house.
My dad asked who did we race and we told him about the "dark blue 71 gto with the white 455 decals on it"
Dad laughed and described the car better than we had, and then he told us about the day he borrowed my car to go to Lansing and back...
I recalled how he said on the way back he meet this "dark blue gto 455" on the interstate and that they both got into some "really spirited driving" and dad described how the gto was trying to keep up with dad in my cuda and he was tired of seeing the gto in his mirrors, so he stomped on it and opened my 440 up and let it build speed and he remembered going thru 120 mph with ease and that dad soon had my cuda's speedometer pegged and was figuring he was really going about 155 mph or so..
He said that several times the gto would try to pass him up when dad slowed down, But that the gto just did not have the motor to be doing this speed and my cuda did.
So in his eyes he was impressed with how my cuda handled at speed up high and that he had just beat this gto several times at freeway speeds..
We was each certain it was the same car as we never seen another in the area that looked the same as this one.
I seen it at the A&W getting a rootbeer with my girlfriend, and noticed his was as stock as my cuda was and he asked ,"if it was me on the interstate driving that day?" and I had to tell him that it was my dad that day.
Grant Eaton 386-561-1181
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/29/11 01:22 PM

Great stuff! I especily like hearing about young guys gettin' beat by the older guys. Amazing they somehow equate "older" with being lexx capable when somehow 40+ or so really ain't that old for a car guy.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 12:44 AM

Quote:

Great stuff! I especily like hearing about young guys gettin' beat by the older guys. Amazing they somehow equate "older" with being lexx capable when somehow 40+ or so really ain't that old for a car guy.


Well I'm 61, actually 25 but stuck in a 61 year old body and this is my cruisin car....and yes it has a HEMI. What a rush to drive and it turns heads where ever it goes, both the young and the old.

Attached picture 6705960-EPV0325.jpg
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 12:46 AM

Wanna meet me some late evening on the street of your choice? BTW...bring lots of money..at least $50.00

Attached picture 6705968-114-1426_IMG.JPG
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 03:10 AM

Quote:

I guess I'm the only one that wants to keep this going???



I street raced in the 70's and the 80's...then street raced bikes in the 90's and 00's...now I'm building cars again and fully intend on street racing into the teens and beyond.
So, on that count, I'm fine with this thread drying up and blowing away. Let's here some war stories from the here and now!
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 03:14 AM

Quote:

Wanna meet me some late evening on the street of your choice? BTW...bring lots of money..at least $50.00




That's a real nice fish Pops...think it'll hook on public asphalt? I'm seeing a 13 second car pull that thing by ten cars while it slips and slides.
Posted By: dodge1978

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 04:33 AM

Back in the day (early 70's for you young people!!!) I had a '68 RR with a 383 w/440 heads, and 4 spd (early model w/Hurst shifter). Lots of street racing in it....until insurance renewal...O.K. said the salesman, "it's a RR, 4 spd, you're young, single, so you pay the max premium" Crap says I, too much $, can't afford it, so along comes my bud, and said..."I'll trade you for my '64 Plymouth Savoy, I'm tired of it now, my wife wants a newer car, and insurance is cheap". It was a 2 dr sedan, V-8, autobox, at least that's what I told the insurance company! I reality it was a 440cu in, balanced & blueprinted, an Art Carr autotrans, w/4.11 gears.
What a car! Way faster than the RR, even on a bad day!!!!! Lots of good steet racing after the swap! So, there's my old street racing story.
Posted By: peabodyracing

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 03:57 PM

Mid 70's, Rochester, MN and I take young # 1 son out for a ride through town in my 56 Chevy with a hot 331 and 4 speed. He's probably 4 years old at the time. The 331 was out of the front engine dragster I'd run for a couple years so it was healthy enough.

Minding my own business, stopped at a red light and 2 kids in a Camaro pull up next to me and immediately start revving the engine, hollering at me to race. I'm trying to be a responsible parent and ignore them. #1 son yells 'race them Dad!' as the light changes. I unload the 56 and am making short work of beating them as we roar by two city squad cars parked in a 7-11 lot.

Before the cops are even out of the lot I've made a quick right turn, turned off the lights and made another turn into an alley heading back in the direction we'd come from. I managed to make it home driving alleys all the way back. Son kept asking me what I was doing. I kept saying "you can't tell Mom". Of course once we did get home you can imagine what the 1st thing that came out his mouth was. I got 'the look' and 'the lecture'.

Son talked about the experience for many months. I let him drive the same car for his high school prom when he was old enough. When he brought it back it was missing a front baby moon hubcap. Of course he had no idea how that happened.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 04:10 PM

I'm fine with this thread drying up and blowing away. Let's here some war stories from the here and now!




Sit back & learn, young 'un-----
Last Summer a friend of mine (66 yrs old) takes out his '55 Chevy "just because".
Now this '55 is like millions of others--multi-colored primer, ripped up bench seat, some interior panels missing, really not much to look at------- EXCEPT----------- he's running a an all-aluminum Donovan 434 cu.in smallblock, AFR heads, 15:1 compression & a roller camthat "OH, about .700 or so." he says.
So some young kid pullls alonside him & statrs playing with him in his 80s Mustang. My friend tries to ignmore him & does a pretty good job until they get stuck at the same light. The young guy has all he can stand & flat-out challanges him right there. My friend, being an "A"-type personality, figures enough is enough and proceeds to school him in a little respect for old cars & old guys---it wasn't even a race! The kid pulls up alongside him, asks him what he has & all he would say was: "A smallblock." The kid turnede off the street & I'm sure is trying to figure out just what kind of small block, in a "brick" of a car with an old geezer driving could spank him that hard.
The point is, don't assuming just 'cause it's old, it's worthless.........
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 06:31 PM

Quote:

I'm fine with this thread drying up and blowing away. Let's here some war stories from the here and now!




Sit back & learn, young 'un-----
Last Summer a friend of mine (66 yrs old) takes out his '55 Chevy "just because".
Now this '55 is like millions of others--multi-colored primer, ripped up bench seat, some interior panels missing, really not much to look at------- EXCEPT----------- he's running a an all-aluminum Donovan 434 cu.in smallblock, AFR heads, 15:1 compression & a roller camthat "OH, about .700 or so." he says.
So some young kid pullls alonside him & statrs playing with him in his 80s Mustang. My friend tries to ignmore him & does a pretty good job until they get stuck at the same light. The young guy has all he can stand & flat-out challanges him right there. My friend, being an "A"-type personality, figures enough is enough and proceeds to school him in a little respect for old cars & old guys---it wasn't even a race! The kid pulls up alongside him, asks him what he has & all he would say was: "A smallblock." The kid turnede off the street & I'm sure is trying to figure out just what kind of small block, in a "brick" of a car with an old geezer driving could spank him that hard.
The point is, don't assuming just 'cause it's old, it's worthless.........




Wish I was a "young un", but I'm 49. Hemicop, your bud FullMetaljacket knows me very well, and sleepers have always been my thing. For a few months back in the early 80's I owned The Fount with a 66 Coronet that had rust holes big eough to stick your head through, studded snow tires, and a drive train specifically designed for that place.
What I was trying to say, is that we're all still alive, our cars are all still here and functional, and the earth is still dashed with flat, straight and wide strips of pavement...why the hell are we talking about stuff that happened 30 plus years ago!!!
Racing...Street Racing...any racing, is a way of life. You stop racing, you stop dreaming about racing and you begin to die. Screw that!
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 07:38 PM

Okay, so 49 ain't exactly "young" and I aplogize.
I think the point of the thread was to re-tell (again & again & again ) the things that made us just what we are & produced our oultlook on things automotive.
But you have to admit things are alot different now. Streetracing nowadays is more expensive all the way around, too risky and the punishments too great to warrant it. Not that we're too affraid to race a 4-figure (or more) musclecar but nowadays there's just too much to lose. Also for many, these stories are the closest thing some will ever come to strrtracing as it was & some would say, should be.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 11:37 PM

100%. But if you go back to the OP the thread is about sharing our stories with the young pups that weren't even a twinkle in the eye of their father when this street racing was going on back in the 60's & 70's. I loved to listen to my dad's stories of being chased by the police thru a golf course in their model T and many more stories followed along the same line. Those mental pictures are great and if some of the young folks can have a smile on their face our stories are well worth our memories.
My oldest daughter still remembers watering the street in front of our house so I could do a burnout in my friends '62 Nova, 454 with 538 gears. She smiles every time it's discussed and of course so do I.
If you have some stories to share please do so as life is short and we all need to smile and remember those fun days of "letting it all hang out".
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 11:43 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Wanna meet me some late evening on the street of your choice? BTW...bring lots of money..at least $50.00




That's a real nice fish Pops...think it'll hook on public asphalt? I'm seeing a 13 second car pull that thing by ten cars while it slips and slides.


Your observation would be dead on if I matted the pedal and if I did I would be going in circles. However, from years of racing and practical street experience I have learned how to bring it out of the hole where the is minimal tire spin. Don't ever underestimate the abilities of the older generation....we can often times make you take a step back.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/30/11 11:56 PM

Well, this may be a little long, and not exactly a "race" story, but typical, I think< of what most teenagers went through.
I was 16 at the time & prior to that my Dad let me "fix up" (a verrrrry loose term) his '62 Savoy SW. I posted one of my exploits in that, but at 16 my Dad thought I had earned enough money & the "right" to buy my own car. At the time I was looking REAL hard at a '61 Falcon with a 392 Hemi. This was my dream car---smallcar, big motor, classic Gasser look (including a straight front axle)all for $800. My Dad would have none of it though and since hewould have the Bill of Sale (I was under 18,remember) he kinda called the shots. What he & my Uncle found was a '55 Chevy 2-dr post car, 327/4spd, with "fuelie"heads, a Duntov "30-30"cam, overall a nice car. "Take it or leave it!", he said, so I bought it. All for $500.
Now I still had visions of "Gasser" in my head so the poor car got gutted, its quarters opened up & the nice, glasspack muffler system discarded for "Purple Hornies" hooked straight to the headers. The car ran no better, was loud as Hell & just not as "complete" as when I had picked it up. My Dad was madder than Hell & refused to help with any car project I had after that. Looking back, he had actually done me a favor and if I knew then what I know now I would have NEVER parted with that car. I eventually traded it off for a proper (?) '55 Chevy Gasser that, with its straight axle, went everywhere BUT straight...........
Posted By: skep419

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/20/12 09:18 PM

I love reading these stories. I got a book a few years ago as a gift called muscle car confidential. My favorite parts were the stories about the connecting. I have a 1969 Dart GT that my pops bought for me in 96 (I was 12). Its been a work in progress ever since. Had a stock 318/904/7 1/4. when I was 18 I maxed out 4 credit cards and built a 360/727/ 8 3/4. Love reading these stories and would like to say there's no better motivation! Thanks

Video of the dart doing a burnout before street racing a 6.1 hemi 300c. (got him by 4 car lengths)
1969 Dart GT warming up the tires
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/21/12 12:18 PM

I've been in NYC the past week & it's far different than back in the day. There's no way I'd run a car where we once did and, sadly, I didn't see a single classic musclecar roaming the streets, even during the weekend.
Stretracing had its own protocol, as mostmknew & even prepping too out just for a night of watching/betting on the cars meant you had a wad of bills in your pocket, usually you left your girlfriend at home & with any luck you knew where the "good" cars were running. That was part of the purpose of the locsal speed shop. All the neighborhoods had them & they were the "town square" when it came to learning new stuff, who had the latest set-ups & where guys were running. Sadly places like Jeg's & Summit have pretty much eliminated these shops.
Here in NYC I was happy to see there were still a handful of places still around. I didn't have a chance to stop in but I'd like to think they still do what they always did.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/21/12 12:33 PM

S&K in Rockville Center still simmers with street chat. I always over hear the gossip.
The Garages are still simmering, but with empty talk of when how....
Posted By: jose jones

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/25/12 04:25 AM

I have a older brother who is 10 years older than me, We grew up in a Chrysler Plymouth dealership in Utah. in 1970 he took my grandfathers demonstrator ( new car that we would eventually sell)Barracuda to Bonneville Raceway in Salt Lake City, Utah to the races without permission, the "legend" is that he beat 13 Ford Mustangs and won the championship trophy that night,This was discovered later that summer when our mother was cleaning his bedroom and found a huge trophy hidden under the bed from the track! as you can imagine he screwed the rest of his little brothers over from that stunt as we never got to drive a new car from the dealership when we were finally old enough to drive
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 06/25/12 07:55 AM

Quote:

Mid 70's, Rochester, MN and I take young # 1 son out for a ride through town in my 56 Chevy with a hot 331 and 4 speed. He's probably 4 years old at the time. The 331 was out of the front engine dragster I'd run for a couple years so it was healthy enough.

Minding my own business, stopped at a red light and 2 kids in a Camaro pull up next to me and immediately start revving the engine, hollering at me to race. I'm trying to be a responsible parent and ignore them. #1 son yells 'race them Dad!' as the light changes. I unload the 56 and am making short work of beating them as we roar by two city squad cars parked in a 7-11 lot.

Before the cops are even out of the lot I've made a quick right turn, turned off the lights and made another turn into an alley heading back in the direction we'd come from. I managed to make it home driving alleys all the way back. Son kept asking me what I was doing. I kept saying "you can't tell Mom". Of course once we did get home you can imagine what the 1st thing that came out his mouth was. I got 'the look' and 'the lecture'.

Son talked about the experience for many months. I let him drive the same car for his high school prom when he was old enough. When he brought it back it was missing a front baby moon hubcap. Of course he had no idea how that happened.




I love stories like these. In '76, my daughter was barely a year old in the fall. She rode with her mom - who was a tomboy/gearhead - and me in a carseat strapped to the middle spot of the bench seat in front. There was no back seat in the car - a 1957 Chevy 150 2-door sedan, AKA business coupe. It had an uprated 327, a 4-speed and 4:11 gears.

So, we're all at a light on Brookside, one Saturday night, the light turns green, the guy in the next lane punches his '65 Malibu and the tires chirp. Little girl Jackie says her first complete sentence - "Go, Daddy, go!" First time I ever got "the look" from her mom.

I hopped on the '57, but was laughing so hard at her antics [the child's] that I missed 2nd gear and just let back out of it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Good times.

Attached picture 7264642-41standPeoria.jpg
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/31/12 07:54 PM

Quote:

if u street raced in the 60's/early 70's in nyc, it started and ended on south ave. in staten island...




You're forgetting "The Connecting", was the home of N.Y.C.'s premier "street racing" drag strip. And
lot of "old school" class/bracket racers in the NYC/west LI,NJ and CT, got their start at "The Fount" and 150th St (Conduit). Nothing against South Ave, since A LOT of "hard running" cars were
on the scene there!! But "The Fount" and 150th, were a drag racers "haven" a decade before the first Roadrunner was
built.


Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/31/12 09:25 PM

Quote:

Quote:

if u street raced in the 60's/early 70's in nyc, it started and ended on south ave. in staten island...




You're forgetting "The Connecting", was the home of N.Y.C.'s premier "street racing" drag strip. And
lot of "old school" class/bracket racers in the NYC/west LI,NJ and CT, got their start at "The Fount" and 150th St (Conduit). Nothing against South Ave, since A LOT of "hard running" cars were
on the scene there!! But "The Fount" and 150th, were a drag racers "haven" a decade before the first Roadrunner was
built.




well i got my license in dec 68, so 'the fount' mite have been the place earlier, but for sheer volume of cars being driven/towed/flatbedded, nuthin touched south ave.. we used to cruise for big races to bkyln and queens and into bayonne/newark , and no doubt there were lots of em, but none of these spots had em lined up 30/40 cars in 2's awaiting their turn.. it was national speedway/e-town ...only better... and what do we have today... a 2.2L honda doing 8seconds with a fart pipe...
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 07/31/12 11:59 PM

What year are you talking when it comes to South Ave? Maybe we passed ships during those nights if it was the 80's.
I used to be the head Flagman/Human Christmas tree over at South during the 80's. Not to boast, but yours truly would get applauded when entering that theater of operations. They all knew that I just wanted to keep it sane, safe movin' and fun. Yes it was crowded then and some times too crowded, but like mentioned above, nothing touched the Connecting and 150th St. for serious races. Nothing short of Pure Pro-stocks laid there rubber signatures on 150th. I saw it and heard it with my very own heart.
A certain Mopar got off on a few last races at Connecting not too long ago.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 08/01/12 12:05 AM

By the way, if rumors are begging to be true and Englishtown closes its gates, The economy at its current state, the rebellion in the air and funny money changing hands may just be the perfect storm to bring it all back.
I hope I am wrong, because a functioning facility like Englishtown being closed or the prospects of a new track like Long Island Motorsports raceway being shot down by Red tape will make for a certain songs title to ring true. "Here comes that sound again"
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 08/01/12 08:02 PM

And I thought this thread had died. Thanks guys and gals for sharing your stories and keep them coming.
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 08/23/12 01:11 AM

Quote:

By the way, if rumors are begging to be true and Englishtown closes its gates, The economy at its current state, the rebellion in the air and funny money changing hands may just be the perfect storm to bring it all back.
I hope I am wrong, because a functioning facility like Englishtown being closed or the prospects of a new track like Long Island Motorsports raceway being shot down by Red tape will make for a certain songs title to ring true. "Here comes that sound again"




Englishtown closing down - now there's a rumor set to shake up the East Coast. Personally, I don't see it happening, but the red tape "buero
cracy" on the old Calverton Naval airbase is killing the sport out on the Island. Truly, that site could have been the NEW Long Island National Dragstrip. But unfortunately we have to rely on innovation and old school savvy. Have to be a bit smarter (location wise), and pick runs without the panache and glamour. Sort the run out, line up, safe run, then DISSAPPER! Run smarter to race another day (night)! The days of giving breaks are over and the "gray bar" hotel (unlike Motel 6)does NOT keep the light on for you either!

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 08/23/12 01:27 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

if u street raced in the 60's/early 70's in nyc, it started and ended on south ave. in staten island...




You're forgetting "The Connecting", was the home of N.Y.C.'s premier "street racing" drag strip. And
lot of "old school" class/bracket racers in the NYC/west LI,NJ and CT, got their start at "The Fount" and 150th St (Conduit). Nothing against South Ave, since A LOT of "hard running" cars were
on the scene there!! But "The Fount" and 150th, were a drag racers "haven" a decade before the first Roadrunner was
built.




well i got my license in dec 68, so 'the fount' mite have been the place earlier, but for sheer volume of cars being driven/towed/flatbedded, nuthin touched south ave.. we used to cruise for big races to bkyln and queens and into bayonne/newark , and no doubt there were lots of em, but none of these spots had em lined up 30/40 cars in 2's awaiting their turn.. it was national speedway/e-town ...only better... and what do we have today... a 2.2L honda doing 8seconds with a fart pipe...




Not knocking South Ave, since a lot of legendary class racers did run there. It was quite a show. But for the sheer "dragstrip" effect, "The Connecting" beats it hands down. The difference between the two spots is that South Ave had nearly ZERO population back then. The Connecting is a (major now, bypass back then) artery that was "controlled" for staged runs. When was the last time a fuel dragster made a pass on a "limited access public roadway"? So far, only on "The Connecting". The place has so much noteriety now, you can't stand on the streets above the site, ticketing is the norm now.

Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 08/23/12 12:41 PM

Quote:

What year are you talking when it comes to South Ave? Maybe we passed ships during those nights if it was the 80's.
I used to be the head Flagman/Human Christmas tree over at South during the 80's. Not to boast, but yours truly would get applauded when entering that theater of operations. They all knew that I just wanted to keep it sane, safe movin' and fun. Yes it was crowded then and some times too crowded, but like mentioned above, nothing touched the Connecting and 150th St. for serious races. Nothing short of Pure Pro-stocks laid there rubber signatures on 150th. I saw it and heard it with my very own heart.
A certain Mopar got off on a few last races at Connecting not too long ago.




south ave was over after 71 (or thereabout)- the accident that killed those young girls at the end of the road (forrest ave) ended racing.. i think if u were there in the 80's, compared to 68/69/70, we are talkin apples and oranges... in 68/69/70... i'd pull up , park, and sit all nite on my beach chair watchin non-stop racing.. it was a glorius time
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 08/25/12 04:41 AM

Quote:

Quote:

What year are you talking when it comes to South Ave? Maybe we passed ships during those nights if it was the 80's.
I used to be the head Flagman/Human Christmas tree over at South during the 80's. Not to boast, but yours truly would get applauded when entering that theater of operations. They all knew that I just wanted to keep it sane, safe movin' and fun. Yes it was crowded then and some times too crowded, but like mentioned above, nothing touched the Connecting and 150th St. for serious races. Nothing short of Pure Pro-stocks laid there rubber signatures on 150th. I saw it and heard it with my very own heart.
A certain Mopar got off on a few last races at Connecting not too long ago.




south ave was over after 71 (or thereabout)- the accident that killed those young girls at the end of the road (forrest ave) ended racing.. i think if u were there in the 80's, compared to 68/69/70, we are talkin apples and oranges... in 68/69/70... i'd pull up , park, and sit all nite on my beach chair watchin non-stop racing.. it was a glorius time





FMJ, as I mentioned awhile back, is legendary. Back in the "late sixties/early seventies, South
Ave had NIL population so the police "ignored" the ongoings there due to being away from hi-volume interstate traffic at those times. It, indeed, was FUN times back then to run "freely", and NOT get stopped or hassled. The 80's, things
were a little different, where the "bold and brave" ran with persitence and scrutiny. That's due to the slightly more "serious" runners who put their worth where their mouths are, for bragging rights! And were willing to risk the chance of running on a major artery, for both the sheer enjoyment/bragging rights and for the winners, an "insured purse".

Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/02/12 11:40 PM

I figured I'd post this here as it relates to my old streetracing Pinto---- I located the car. After some footwork & calling around I was able to speak to the gentleman that now has my car. While it's a far cry from when I had it, he was good enough to send me some pics while it was under construction & he even offerd to sell it back to me! Unfortunately I don't have the cash but he he also sent some pics of the car as it sits now. As I said, it's a far cry from when I had it & he did a super job ungrading it. From what he tells me, it's a 10-sec. ride (not much quicker than when I had it) but would make a GREAT nostalgia P/S car. The point is--it's still around, still racing & still giving its owner a rush. I guess old hot rods really do serve a purpose..................
Posted By: jcc

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/03/12 12:55 AM

In the late 60's we had almost mile stretch of road NE 12th Ave in Ft Lauderdale in an unbuilt industrial area that was bordered by a canal (remember this)and railroad tracks. It also formed the boundary between Tt Lauderdale and Oakland Park, so it was kinda of a no man's land for enforcement. Don't know how or who, but someone put a white stripe starting line at the northend (remember this also) and finish line a 1/4mile south.

So sometime in late 69 when I was senior in HS, a dufus classmate's parents took a trip, leaving him alone, with their late model Lincoln suicide door multi ton monster, that likely took nearly a 1/4 mile to stop (last main point to remember .

While parents were gone he got a little drunk to say the least, took the parents car, lined up on the finish line heading north, and proceeded like a good boy to blow the carbon out in all 3 gears on the 1/4 mile. Well stopping was out of the question, car and him ended up in the canal after getting airborne probably for awhile at the finish line. He was lucky to swim ashore. The cops soon came upon the scene, found the submerged car, towed it out, but no body. So they proceeded to drag the canal for hours. The hungover duffus finally sobered up, returned to the scene and asked the cops if they found his car. They were more then annoyed. I don't remember him returning to school.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/03/12 01:24 AM

I don't rememeber any guys I knew getting in that much trouble except for one guy that got booked into jail after being caught running on the Van Wyck Expwy. Even when we ( myself & a friend) ran his brother's Stage 1 Buick right past our H.S as it was letting out we never got caught as the car wasn't seen much since it was his brother's car. Funny thing about that was, the Buick impressed the Hell outta me & made me a believer in automatic trannys for musclecars. BTW, the car he ran against, and beat, was a brand new '71 Z/28. It's owner WAS pi@@#d!
Of course NYC was falling apart back then & the cops had better things to do than chase hotrodders around. Good thing too, as one of the better (?) streetracers I knew was a Housing Authority cop.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 04:10 AM

The "South" was jumpin' in the 80's.
Columbia St. was for those suicidal maniacs and their audience.
150th was the Vegas style Money pit.
The "Fount" was the recreational relapse arena for those seeking youth.
The "Hutch" was the hush hush 150th wanna-B.
The list goes on and on till the break of dawn.....
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 05:05 PM

I'm sure every streetracing locale has a similiar story, but did anyone ever actually SEE the girl, usually at Connecting, who allegedly had on the back of her car : "If you can beat me, you can eat me!" and what this ficticious car actually was or ran? My sister's friend allegedly knew her but I never got any details.
It's funny how stories exist over time & how certain characters are rememebred. I was talking to a friend from back East last week & he rememebred a group of black guys coming to his local track up in Schenectady NY & how they had this beat up Dart that guys kept betting on or against & how the guy kept winning. Judging from the description of the car & guys it sounded like the Mutt Bros which was actually Ronnie Lyles & Co. that eventaully became a very well-known P/S race team. I found it all interesting as while my friend had heard of Ronnie, even back then, he had no idea what he was seeing.
That was the fun part of streetracing--there were some VERY good (eventually Pro) drivers back then that "cut their teeth" streetracing---they just won't admit it..........
Posted By: jagrunt551

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 05:28 PM

I saw a girl driving a Corvette in Lake George, NY back in the mid to late 60s with that saying on her plates. Never did race her but sure did see her. Oh the good old days!!!!
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 06:06 PM

I've heard it was a 'vette, Chevelle, Camaro, almost everything. You're the first guy that ever actually gave a car description. NOW-----how about the girl?
Posted By: jagrunt551

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 06:15 PM

Hey I'm 63 years old!! I think I paid more attention to the car, but I'd almost have to say she had lighter hair. Back then Lake George was a car show every night and some great street racing. Girls were everywhere and the cars I guess interested me a little more until I came back from Vietnam, then I was always trying to make up for lost time. Had a 68 GTO which went quite well!! Saw a small sports type car in my rearview and thought I'd have some fun. Well he not only beat my butt, he was nice enough to stop and let me see the 427 COBRA up close.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 06:40 PM

63? Maybe it's me, but a girl in a fast car with a sign like that & perhaps not too bad looking, I'd rememebr. I still remember my sister's friend who turned me onto cars. Given what I recall, if I had been her age, I'd have been going after her. Locally, back then my neighborhood had perhaps 8-10 cars that seriiously streetreced & as I recall ALL were 11-seconds or better. I recently found out (on another website) one of my favorite cars of the era was actually a COPO (ZL-1) Camaro badged as a Z/28. I could never figure out how that thing could beat a Hemi---now I know! I still rememeber the cars---'70 Hemi 'cuda, an A990 car, an L-88 'vette, my buddy's 390 Gremlin, several 396/375 Camaros & Novas & an aluminum-nosed Max-wedge car its owner always seemed to smash up every weekend--- and those were all within walking distance of my home. Like many here, I could go on about the neighborhood cars & how my friends ran our cars. But we were kind of the "lower level" of performance cars. Small-blocks, Pontiacs & the occassional Ford were more in our budget range. It wasn't until I droppeed out of college & got a job along with the gas crisis that I started playing with more serious stuff.
My first effort, a '67 427/435hp 'vette was alot of fun but expensive & when I replaced the engine with a ZL-1 spec'd big-block it was real easy to get & win races. Money races? Oh sure, there were a few but amongst our crowd it was mainly bragging rights. The Pinto was the real eye-catcher & did fairly well, as I mentioned, & it WOULD be fun to buy buy it back & go back to NY with it just to get some pics of the car & areas now versus back then. I think it'd probably be the only car that has survived.
Posted By: Daty Rogers

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 07:01 PM

There were a couple memorable cars around here, a 327 Vega that belonged to a friend of mine, a really nasty 289 Maverick, but the best was Wilke's 440 black Cuda, it pretty much owned the street around here. Every Friday and Saturday after cruising Forest Lane we'd all head over to Manyana road in Dallas's warehouse district and street race, good times. Wilke would take on trailer cars and whoup them! Every couple hours the pokes would show up and shoo us away, meet back in 15 minutes and have at it. They never handed out tickets though, just show up, turn on the lights and we scatter.

-Daty
Posted By: RoadRunnerJD

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 07:04 PM

No pro stock street story but In 1970/71, I used to cruise Commonwealth Ave in front of Boston University every night till all hours in the morning. The lights turned flashing yellow after 11:00 pm. We would line up three abreast and race. I had a Y3 yellow 4 speed RoadRunner w/4.30 rear, 440 AVS carb, recurved distributor and headers. I literally burned up a couple of clutches perfecting my hole shot the first year I had the car. One night there were 2 Chevy SS's and a new TransAm 455SD firebird lined up at the BU bridge. It goes from 4 lanes to three at the other side of the intersection. I pulled up beside them just before the light changed and squeezed one of the Chevelles out and beat them all in the 1/4. Rather than being mad at me, the 2 Chevy guys flagged me over and wanted to know what I had in it and asked me to follow them to Watertown and treated me to an early breakfast. I had guys come down from the upper stories of the 23 story dorm and follow me more than once just to see what I had in it. They would watch the street squirrels race from their dorms. It also had glass packs and you could hear me coming or taking off as the case may be for quite a ways!
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 07:11 PM

Quote:

The "South" was jumpin' in the 80's.
Columbia St. was for those suicidal maniacs and their audience.
150th was the Vegas style Money pit.
The "Fount" was the recreational relapse arena for those seeking youth.
The "Hutch" was the hush hush 150th wanna-B.
The list goes on and on till the break of dawn.....




So true, FMJ!! And list does go on:

Francis Lewis Blvd (73rd Ave-Union Turnpike) was the "watered down" 150th street.
Cross Bay Boulevard was Queens version of South Ave.
Kent Ave, Brooklyn, was a "little known" spot to run, basically a truck route.
Clearview Expressway was similar to the Bayonne Bridge approach (S.I.). Bordered around the Cunningham Park area(Union Turnpike-73rd Ave-GCP-LIE) annexed to Francis Lewis Blvd and Union turnpike sites.
Utopia Parkway
Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn (floyd bennett field-kings plaza)
Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn (Grand Army Plaza-Empire Boulevard)
Union Turnpike (Douglaston Parkway-Stronghurst Ave)
Just a "few" ex-racing haunts!


Posted By: RSNOMO

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/09/12 09:04 PM

Jimmy, and Steve Lisk left their mark, without a doubt...

BUT, the east-side Mopar guys were cowboys...

I seem to recall leaving the 'gentlemen's club' on Mound and Davison a little 'fortified'...

Driving a 340 A-body...

And running a guy who was wanting to go on that bomb-cratered street at 2:00 AM...

And running an orange Dart on Gratiot-right in front of the Roseville Police Station...


'Rat Poison'

'Aggravated Assault'

'The Hit Man'

You know who you are...

And yeah, we know Orlo...
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/10/12 05:24 AM

Quote:

Jimmy, and Steve Lisk left their mark, without a doubt...

BUT, the east-side Mopar guys were cowboys...

I seem to recall leaving the 'gentlemen's club' on Mound and Davison a little 'fortified'...

Driving a 340 A-body...

And running a guy who was wanting to go on that bomb-cratered street at 2:00 AM...

And running an orange Dart on Gratiot-right in front of the Roseville Police Station...


'Rat Poison'

'Aggravated Assault'

'The Hit Man'

You know who you are...

And yeah, we know Orlo...





Well said!! Just wondering.. Was "The Hit Man" a ex-gasser ride? Or a doorslammer?

Posted By: RSNOMO

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/10/12 05:47 AM

Black Hemi RR...

'68, I believe...
Posted By: OhioMopar

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/10/12 08:35 AM

Quote:

Jimmy, and Steve Lisk left their mark, without a doubt...

BUT, the east-side Mopar guys were cowboys...

I seem to recall leaving the 'gentlemen's club' on Mound and Davison a little 'fortified'...

Driving a 340 A-body...

And running a guy who was wanting to go on that bomb-cratered street at 2:00 AM...

And running an orange Dart on Gratiot-right in front of the Roseville Police Station...


'Rat Poison'

'Aggravated Assault'

'The Hit Man'

You know who you are...

And yeah, we know Orlo...



I've seen videos of Rat Poison. Never heard of the others. That car is pretty dern bad a$$, though.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/10/12 04:22 PM

Quote:

Quote:

The "South" was jumpin' in the 80's.
Columbia St. was for those suicidal maniacs and their audience.
150th was the Vegas style Money pit.
The "Fount" was the recreational relapse arena for those seeking youth.
The "Hutch" was the hush hush 150th wanna-B.
The list goes on and on till the break of dawn.....




So true, FMJ!! And list does go on:

Francis Lewis Blvd (73rd Ave-Union Turnpike) was the "watered down" 150th street.
Cross Bay Boulevard was Queens version of South Ave.
Kent Ave, Brooklyn, was a "little known" spot to run, basically a truck route.
Clearview Expressway was similar to the Bayonne Bridge approach (S.I.). Bordered around the Cunningham Park area(Union Turnpike-73rd Ave-GCP-LIE) annexed to Francis Lewis Blvd and Union turnpike sites.
Utopia Parkway
Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn (floyd bennett field-kings plaza)
Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn (Grand Army Plaza-Empire Boulevard)
Union Turnpike (Douglaston Parkway-Stronghurst Ave)
Just a "few" ex-racing haunts!






Ran all the ones in Queens at least once, though I preffered Francis Lewis & the Clearview for some reason. Had a great run near St. Francis Prep (Bishop Reilly H.S back then) one night against a '69 Chevelle. After 3 passes the cops come down from the opposite direction, bounce over the median to go after us & I'm thinking I'm screwed now! The Chevelle tries to outrun them while I pulled over, my buddy caught up to me, put the car on a tow strap while the cops blew by us looking for the Chevelle. They caught him as we towed by as they were cuffing the driver. He was shouting we were the guys he was racing & that we should be booked also. The cops ignored him & we just crawled on by grateful they were more angry for him running than wanting to get both drivers
Posted By: shakerjoe

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/10/12 05:13 PM

hemicop - what were some of the shops that were selling parts back then...when I started cruising FLB in 1982 in my 69 Superbee there was B&R on FLB between 35 and 34 ave's - Gabby and Mike behind the counter - there was also Speedworld on Queens Blvd. closer to my house - think there was a pretty good place in Richmond Hill but I can't remember the name...picked up 4 yellowbirds when I got pulled over by the 111pct. one time...then when I joined the ranks and got assigned to the 109, loved hanging out on FLB on Fri/Sat nights checking out the rides...was kind of fun being in uniform and talking to the rodders - met FullMetalJacket that way! That was pretty funny Lee! btw - did the girl on Connecting with the bumper sticker drive a vette? Somehow that pops into my head - there was a real hot blonde who drove a blown bigblock orange camaro around 108st. and the LIE when I worked at a service station there back in 81-83...
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/11/12 04:53 AM

The place you're talking about in Richmond Hill is S&S Speed over on Atlantic Ave (not far from Jamaica Station). Did business there MANY years ago.

Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/11/12 05:26 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

The "South" was jumpin' in the 80's.
Columbia St. was for those suicidal maniacs and their audience.
150th was the Vegas style Money pit.
The "Fount" was the recreational relapse arena for those seeking youth.
The "Hutch" was the hush hush 150th wanna-B.
The list goes on and on till the break of dawn.....




So true, FMJ!! And list does go on:

Francis Lewis Blvd (73rd Ave-Union Turnpike) was the "watered down" 150th street.
Cross Bay Boulevard was Queens version of South Ave.
Kent Ave, Brooklyn, was a "little known" spot to run, basically a truck route.
Clearview Expressway was similar to the Bayonne Bridge approach (S.I.). Bordered around the Cunningham Park area(Union Turnpike-73rd Ave-GCP-LIE) annexed to Francis Lewis Blvd and Union turnpike sites.
Utopia Parkway
Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn (floyd bennett field-kings plaza)
Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn (Grand Army Plaza-Empire Boulevard)
Union Turnpike (Douglaston Parkway-Stronghurst Ave)
Just a "few" ex-racing haunts!






Ran all the ones in Queens at least once, though I preffered Francis Lewis & the Clearview for some reason. Had a great run near St. Francis Prep (Bishop Reilly H.S back then) one night against a '69 Chevelle. After 3 passes the cops come down from the opposite direction, bounce over the median to go after us & I'm thinking I'm screwed now! The Chevelle tries to outrun them while I pulled over, my buddy caught up to me, put the car on a tow strap while the cops blew by us looking for the Chevelle. They caught him as we towed by as they were cuffing the driver. He was shouting we were the guys he was racing & that we should be booked also. The cops ignored him & we just crawled on by grateful they were more angry for him running than wanting to get both drivers




Francis Lewis Blvd had great bite, even after they replaced the "china rock concrete" with asphalt. Same with Union Turnpike. Smooth most of the time, cause it's kept paved.


Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/11/12 03:54 PM

Back then we had " Charlei's Speed Barn" that oddly, was on the access road of the LIE around 220th St. if recall correctly. Of course B&R was around then, "Competition Speed", my friend's shop in Jamaica was where I usually went-----and there was a tiny speed shop on Northern Blvd (can't rememebr the name) that had a handful of cars that ran pretty well. Thinking back, "Charlie's" sponsored Scott Shafiroff when he had his GT-1 Camaro, my friend's shop sponsored several cars---an A990 Mopar, A/MP Camaro, 2 Chevelles & Nova & he also had a really cool sleeper '66 Impala with the Camaro's spare engine (496 cu in.) hooked to a clutch-turbo that did prety well on the street.
Somehow I recall the shops in Brooklyn & the Bronx having better cars & of courseplaces like "Speedwin", "Motion" & a feew others on L.I. seemed to have more professional set-ups to me. I DO recall a REALLY cool Anglia from S&S Speed shop (Bronx?) that ran a killer small-block Chevy.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/11/12 09:32 PM

Manhattan Speed on Down towns Worth st. and West Broadway had a few hard running cars both on the street and the strip.

House of Speed had a short stint in Astoria for a hot NY minute.
I use to go to J&R's in New Jersey off of RT 46 just to be out of the loop of information and sneak back into the city with all my under hood goodies.
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/15/12 07:11 AM

It seems there are a lot of NYers remembering the good old days, here. Well, just for y'all, here's a video. Hope you like it...even some racing in the snow!!

Drag racing on Long Island
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/15/12 12:07 PM

In the Indy area we had Washington Auto Parts, American Auto Parts, Gunderman's Speed Shop and Speedway Speed Shop. We have a drag racer from back in the day that still wears the Gunderman Speed Shop logo on his car and the same paint from back in the 70's. And I thought I had a problem getting into the 21st century.
Posted By: RSNOMO

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/15/12 06:02 PM

On the east side here, we had Custom Speed, Lee's High Performance, and Gratiot Auto...

Redford Speed on the west side...
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/16/12 07:01 PM

Quote:

It seems there are a lot of NYers remembering the good old days, here. Well, just for y'all, here's a video. Hope you like it...even some racing in the snow!!

Drag racing on Long Island




I got that DVD! Never really knew what went on on LI, seems few guys travelled "into the City" . SOOOOOO many guys had shops or worked in gas stations, they just did theirown work. What surprises me, is how fast the cars were for so simple a modifications compared to now. Grant it, some of the stuff wasn't exactly for the street but living so close to the action in a densely populated area simply meant you could walk to a parts store, fix the car & drive home . One of my '55s was so unreliable I regularly threw in a toolbox in the back figuring WHEN it broke I'd be prepared. One friend of mine kept blowing up his GTO so many times I think we put every type of Pontiac motor, even an OHC 6, in it---had to say the best one was a 421 he got from somewhere--seeemed to have even more torque than his 455! For all the crap we played with, I'd have to say the most reliable was my friend's Dart & John's Gremlin!
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/16/12 08:03 PM

"Shakerjoe", what gas station did you work at? I worked at the one on Utopia & the LIE for awhile. Mrs. Piagantini (spl?) owned it. Her sons were on the job & were killed on duty. We always had cops coming in & saying "Hi!" just to check on her---real nice lady. Used to have alot of guys come by there for some Sunoco 260, obviously heading to Connecting. They'd show up around 7 & I'd still be working around 2 or 3 AM as they were heading home & had to re-fill. One guy in a 2nd Gen Charger, always stopped in. He'd never open the hood while I stood around. When I'd go to get his change he'd open the hood, check the fluids real quick, then slam the hood shut before I could get back.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/17/12 01:22 AM

Got to give it to'em New York boyz with the tricks in plain sight some times. Some hidden. Some prohibited. Some timid.
Posted By: 2Red2LoudDodge

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/17/12 06:03 AM

The best part of street racing in NY In the 70s was the spontaneity of it, could be any light or intersection. I grew up in College Point Queens (went to HS with Hemicop). Four roads in and out and cutoff from the world after a bad rain. We'd have to leave town to cruise Francis Lewis Blvd. If we had to settle up with any guy in town, we'd race on the southbound service road of the Whitestone Expwy from 14th to 20th Avenues. You could go again from the light of 20th avenue to 23 ave but have to get out of it before the old Adventures Inn because the rolling dips in the roadway could launch you like the Dukes of Hazard.

I remember guys also raced down by the Worlds Fair marina and Review Ave when major roads were closed down by police.

And after racing on a Saturday night you could go for fine dining and a show at the White Castle on Bell and Northern Blvd in Bayside.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 09/17/12 07:36 PM



And after racing on a Saturday night you could go for fine dining and a show at the White Castle on Bell and Northern Blvd in Bayside.




You forgot Wetson's on Northern Blvd in Flushing & out by the Nassau County line. Of course there wewere the "baby bars" on Bell Blvd where alot of us went---but that's another topic ..
"The Marina" was a great spot--not just 'cause of the racing it offered, but it was close enough that guys from the Bronx would come down & occassionally guys from Brooklyn, it was all good.
There used to be some Croatians that would tow in from Brooklyn with a white Corvette on a trailer & would occassionally get a money run. They were way out of my league but one night when they tried callin' me out, I told 'em if they took the car off the trailer & drove it over to the Cross Island Pkwy (about 6-8 miles) I'd run 'em. They squacked & cried, saying thay were there to race, not cruise. My take on it was it was a STREET race with STREET cars, Trailering in was BS--- we never ran, but that was the sort of thing that went on. You had to know your opponent as well as your own car, which, as closely as they guarded any info on streetracers, was often hard to find out.
Posted By: RoadRunnerJD

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/20/12 02:44 AM

How many street Mopars that were not trailered in were bonafide 12 second cars back then?
Posted By: Daty Rogers

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/20/12 03:07 AM

Wilke's Cuda was a bonafied 10 sec car. He put trailered cars back on the trailer many many times.

-Daty
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/20/12 04:55 PM

Quote:

How many street Mopars that were not trailered in were bonafide 12 second cars back then?


In reality...probably very few but in some peoples memory there were a lot of them, or at least they thought they should have been 12 second cars.

And I always enjoy the stories that a B body 6 pack car, with bias ply tires and a stock stock drive train could pull the front tires 2 feet in the air out on the city streets. Those streets must have really been sticky back in the day.
Posted By: bobby66

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/20/12 07:50 PM

Well, there was the time the LF brake caliper failed on my Hemi Road Runner while racing on Emerald Lane over in Dallas. Not much of a shut down area and things got pretty hairy.
Posted By: snuggles

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/26/13 11:21 PM

Found this on what I believe is the last page about to be lost and I haven't read it yet.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/26/13 11:33 PM

Quote:

Found this on what I believe is the last page about to be lost and I haven't read it yet.


Thanks for viewing as there are a lot of good stories about our ventures from the past.
Posted By: hemi-itis

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 01:36 AM

You guys from College Point remember Pudlin Auto Parts??

Peter was a mopar guy
Posted By: RSNOMO

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 01:52 AM

You dudes from the east-side of Murder City...

Al from Lee's High Performance is still out there...
Posted By: That AMC Guy

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 02:55 AM

The sad fact of it all is if you got caught doing anything like this now, you get treated like a terrorist. 30 Days Jail, License Suspended, in some cases, vehicle gets destroyed....

All in the name of a little light-hearted fun.


And they wonder why there's a juvenile delinquency problem today when these poor kids aren't allowed to do anything.
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 03:02 AM

That's so true.

Back in '72 on one fine fall evening I was racing a friend. I beat him so the officer came after me. While talking to the cop he said that he HAD to call it in because the plates were out of state, I hadn't registered the car in that state yet, but had the state's driver's license. Anyway, instead of a drag racing etc ticket, he gave me one for 'exceeding the speed limit' = $29.
Posted By: Daty Rogers

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 03:29 AM

Most of my "racing experiences" in the last few years with the R/T have been against imports, just the way it is. Some have been pretty stout, still took them down.

-Daty
Posted By: 6PAX

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 03:45 AM

Quote:

You dudes from the east-side of Murder City...
Al from Lee's High Performance is still out there...





I used to buy parts at Lee's High Performance quite a bit, along with Custom Speed Enterprises and Gratiot Auto Supply.
Posted By: crazyjjk

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 01:38 PM

Well I had this Boss 429 that was just the baddest thing on the street. The Hemi guys would park their cars in the garage when they heard it coming.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 02:02 PM

Ronnie Sox had "The Boss" as well, and all the other Bosses would fly up on the trailers also. LOL.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 02:53 PM

Quote:

Well I had this Boss 429 that was just the baddest thing on the street. The Hemi guys would park their cars in the garage when they heard it coming.


what is the flavor of Kool aid you are drinking?
Posted By: twodoorpost

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 03:35 PM

This car only saw the track for testing. The rest of the time it could be found on New York City and Long Island streets.

Attached picture 7642905-BigRichie.jpg
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 05:12 PM

Quote:

Well I had this Boss 429 that was just the baddest thing on the street. The Hemi guys would park their cars in the garage when they heard it coming.


This belongs in the 'myth' thread.


Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 05:25 PM

Thank you twodoor.

Now there was a firm and confirmed street car that was loitering on the streets back when. Hemi all the way. Not a 9 to be heard or seen for miles. I forgot about this Cuda after hearing it from Two door.
Two door post knows the know.
Posted By: crazyjjk

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 08:12 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Well I had this Boss 429 that was just the baddest thing on the street. The Hemi guys would park their cars in the garage when they heard it coming.


what is the flavor of Kool aid you are drinking?





SARCASM!
Posted By: crazyjjk

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 08:16 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Well I had this Boss 429 that was just the baddest thing on the street. The Hemi guys would park their cars in the garage when they heard it coming.


This belongs in the 'myth' thread







That's why I put it here. You, Blue Beast and a few others aren't the only ones that carry a big stirring ladle for the pot.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/27/13 09:50 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Well I had this Boss 429 that was just the baddest thing on the street. The Hemi guys would park their cars in the garage when they heard it coming.


what is the flavor of Kool aid you are drinking?





SARCASM!


Yup, I knew that.
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/28/13 12:10 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Well I had this Boss 429 that was just the baddest thing on the street. The Hemi guys would park their cars in the garage when they heard it coming.


This belongs in the 'myth' thread







That's why I put it here. You, Blue Beast and a few others aren't the only ones that carry a big stirring ladle for the pot.


Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 03/28/13 12:24 AM

Strangely, I can recall seeing only 2, MAYBE 4 boss '9s back in the day. Generally they weren't anything to write home about, Hell even the P/S guys couldn't make 'em work back then, but I do recall one fairly nice one at N.Y. Nat'l back then. I don't know what he did to it, but he made a couple of good high 12/low 13 passes in it then on his 3rd or 4th attempt the clutch let go in grand style---parts everywhere! My guess is it was gone through but the idiot didn't use a quality clutch in the re-build & that's why it let go like it did.........
Posted By: TheBlueBeast

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/26/13 03:39 AM

Posted By: Hailtheleaf538

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/26/13 04:53 AM

Quote:






Thanks for the bump
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/26/13 07:42 AM



Just got up from my nap.
Posted By: Chris'sBarracuda

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/26/13 09:26 AM

Man there were so many back then..

We used to hang with Big Willie back in those days.. ( May he R.I.P 1 year ago May 19th 2012) Fairly organized when he was around..

Now we're on the side of trying to help control it. www.westcoastsupercops.com But NO tracks..

We went from this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BHes8Pprzw

To this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJfGRrhC2Tg&feature=endscreen&NR=1

But now there's this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Nq6IFFcVN6A

Not Good, and Thanks to "Fast N Furious" stupidity..

Here is a real cool documentary of West Coast Street Racing..

Watch Trailer http://www.1320movie.com/

Only $20. for the flick..


Chris..

Attached picture 7719256-TM_Police-Firemen-car.jpg
Posted By: Chris'sBarracuda

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/26/13 10:25 AM

Here's a video of him (Big Willie) and his rig just a year before he died.. Actually out here in Phoenix area.

That Daytona/Barracuda sure got beaten down by life, just as he did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=72-ugqolIxk

Here is some more stuff..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjMiCg2LDRk

http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=240105


Chris..

Attached picture 7719262-BigWillieDaytonaBarracuda.jpg
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/27/13 03:23 AM

Well I hope some of the new guys and gals post some of their stories. Our new Avenger R/T is pretty quick but it will never be street raced, especially since I just got a ticket in Gibson, TN. doing 52 in a 35. First ticket since I was 17, 46 years ago.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/27/13 04:08 AM

LOVED the video. Where was it taken? I met Big Willie some years ago with my rcae team & his "blessing" alone went a long ways with my bosses at the PD. The team lasted for about 5 years before politics (naturally) ) took over.
I'm happy & find it real intersting that someone tried to start another thread about this very topic----proof that these stories never get tiring & that there's still plenty of interest in this stuff. It's been a very long time since I posted here---anyone know if "fullmetaljacket" is still around?
Posted By: Chris'sBarracuda

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/27/13 07:33 AM

Quote:

LOVED the video. Where was it taken? I met Big Willie some years ago with my race team & his "blessing" alone went a long ways with my bosses at the PD. The team lasted for about 5 years before politics (naturally) ) took over.
I'm happy & find it real interesting that someone tried to start another thread about this very topic----proof that these stories never get tiring & that there's still plenty of interest in this stuff. It's been a very long time since I posted here---anyone know if "fullmetaljacket" is still around?





I believe it was taken in Chandler/Gilbert area..

Willie had clout. No doubt about it.

I believe a movie is in the works, and it is rumored that Denzel Washington will play Willie.

I would be cool.. His stuff is worth a whole bunch now that he has passed. I think his brother has all of it.

From what I've heard, they were restoring stuff for the movie..

I would definitely go buy a ticket for that one..



Chris..
Posted By: Chris'sBarracuda

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/31/13 01:40 AM

Coming to Discovery Channel June 10th..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Aj-0swc6CQg



Chris..
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/31/13 03:41 AM

Still around Buddy, and so is street racing apparently.
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 05/31/13 03:52 AM

Quote:

Coming to Discovery Channel June 10th..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Aj-0swc6CQg



Chris..




1derful ... this will put the on any street action left
Posted By: DemonDuster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/23/13 07:38 PM

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1086876/1/index.htm
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/23/13 11:27 PM

Glad to see someone rememebred this thread & didn't let it die.
With SpeedWorld gone & Wildhorse MS Park still under construction, I'm willing to bet streetracing here will pick-up.
Anyway, I was looking through some websites & magizine articles & saw some guys have resurrected some of Ronnie Lyles P/S cars. Now for those that rememebr, Ronnie ran for a long time & in quite a few really good cars on the street. Anyone have any pics of him and/or his cars on the street?
How about some pics that really perssonifies streetracing from back in the day?
Posted By: Triple Threat

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/24/13 01:26 AM

Cool story in that article. Well before my time, but i enjoy reading about the good old days.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/24/13 07:01 PM

SInce no one seems to remember a story, here's one from my rookie cop days.
Central Ave.in Phoenix used to be big cruising spot--- North of McDowell Rd., the street machines cruised, South of there,you had the lowriders. One night I'm sitting near the intersection & the usual array of cars are driving past until there's a large gap in the traffic. I hear two motors revving so I look up the street & see two cars at a stoplight getting ready to go at it. The Pontiac easily jumps his opponent & wins but gets caught at the light I'm sitting at. When the light turns green for him I pull him over. The driver immediately jumps out of the car & starts shouting about how he had no brakes & couldn't control the car. I walk over, step on the brake pedal & naturally, it's just fine. I explain to him what I saw & heard & issued the appropriate citations. Another officer sitting South of my location was able to catch the other car so both received the same citations.
Now in all honesty I wouldn't have had too much of a problem with their antics but to run a race on a crowded Froday night in central Phoenixwas pushing the enverlope just a little too far. This is where tht cop discretion "thing" comes in & even the drivers didn't gripe too much about the tickets........
Posted By: savoyracer

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/24/13 08:06 PM

Sat night in the 60's, the usual stoplight to the bridge story, well just before the bridge the roads splits to go into the park, or over the bridge, the cop was sitting in the split when we came past him, somewhere north of 70 mph, he [cop] hits the curb in his haste to catch us, gets the other guy, I head out of town with my girlfriend beside me, laughing. we stay away for an hour or so, then back into town to cruise the drag, got surrounded by police cars and pulled over, got a $100.00 speed ticket,. walked the girlfriend up to her front door, as a matter of fact, got to walk the girlfriend all the way from where I was pulled over at, to her front door!
Posted By: Wagonmaster

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/13 01:39 AM

I'd like to hear the story behind this...

Attached picture 7970256-hrdp_0709_01_zwhere_it_began_motora.jpg
Posted By: peabodyracing

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/13 02:41 AM

Quote:

I'd like to hear the story behind this...




I've a similar one from 1974 or so, Menomonie, WI. The car club at UW Stout (then called Stout State) put on a car show on campus. Had cars parked down both sides of a narrow street. Local guy had a blown 392 front engine dragster and was something of a hero to us all. His name was Chuck Demaree but it's been so long I'm not sure about the spelling of his last name anymore.

He brought the dragster to the show. One thing led to another and pretty soon Chuck had the dragster sitting in the center of the street. People everywhere. He fires up the dragster and makes a smokey burnout pass right down the center. The crowd loved it; campus police not so much.
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/13 02:49 AM

FUNNY this topic shows up now ....with a fresh Monkey OUTlaws topic here tooooo.....

The FARM TRUCK was on a trailer in the last show

Now I can see this being the case when they all went to Texas .. but to a local race. .... STREET stuff were real STREETERS back then. FOR SURE slower than this NOS aided stuff of 2013 .... but real drivers.

My HATS OFF to this guy though .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GQxXT0BpB4
Posted By: peabodyracing

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/13 03:07 AM

Was glad to see this post come alive again. Fun reading.

Made me recall one more story from the 70's. Lived right out the outskirts of Rochester, MN and had a nice, new 4 lane road at the end of the block which worked out good for trying out changes made to my 61 Lancer wagon. I'd low profile it down the street (neighbors didn't care for the open headers), get on the 4 lane, check for traffic and make a pass. I'd then quickly drive back home, into the garage and shut the door. I'd do this once or twice a month probably during the summer when we'd hit the drag strip every chance we got.

One day late summer I stopped to talk with a neighbor I'd not met before, who lived on the 4 lane. He was working on a 55 Chevy so I'd stopped to visit.

While we're talking a red Porsche goes by at high speed. Leo says, "damn it there goes another one" I asked what he meant.

"There's a weird looking green wagon that shows up out here and acts like this road is a drag strip. My brother is a county sheriff and they keep trying to catch the guy. No one knows who it is" I just said "oh"
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/13 04:04 PM

Quote:

I'd like to hear the story behind this...




IIRC it was during the opening of thePetersen Museum or the opening of their new offices.
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/13 07:35 PM

I'm happy to see this thread is still going. Since I sold both of my classic cars I don't get on Moparts that often. Keep the stories going.
Posted By: yella71

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/25/13 09:18 PM

The story I recall the most is a night a bunch of friends and I took a ride to seaside at the jersey shore. 5 guys all around 180#s each in a 70 cuda 383 pretty much stock with just headers as far as I know. I was riding in the back seat we had just gotten off the garden state parkway and were heading east in rt 35 in toms river. Lots of traffic lights along that road. at one light a Camaro pulls up in the other lane with a large hood scoop with 350 on the scoop. my friend in the passenger seat started to let the guy and girl in the chev know that that rat was a rat and could never beat our mopar. the light went green and my friend driving nailed it. the chev got out first but after second we got out about a car lenth and he could not catch us. we then did it to him 4 more times at the next 4 lights before he learned about mopars.
Posted By: DAYCLONA

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/25/13 10:16 PM

Quote:

SInce no one seems to remember a story, here's one from my rookie cop days.
Central Ave.in Phoenix used to be big cruising spot--- North of McDowell Rd., the street machines cruised, South of there,you had the lowriders. One night I'm sitting near the intersection & the usual array of cars are driving past until there's a large gap in the traffic. I hear two motors revving so I look up the street & see two cars at a stoplight getting ready to go at it. The Pontiac easily jumps his opponent & wins but gets caught at the light I'm sitting at. When the light turns green for him I pull him over. The driver immediately jumps out of the car & starts shouting about how he had no brakes & couldn't control the car. I walk over, step on the brake pedal & naturally, it's just fine. I explain to him what I saw & heard & issued the appropriate citations. Another officer sitting South of my location was able to catch the other car so both received the same citations.
Now in all honesty I wouldn't have had too much of a problem with their antics but to run a race on a crowded Froday night in central Phoenixwas pushing the enverlope just a little too far. This is where tht cop discretion "thing" comes in & even the drivers didn't gripe too much about the tickets........






I usually just read these threads for laughs, but your story reminded me back in the day (70's) of one of my many run ins with the local LEO's...we had several areas where street racing was "tolerated" in the wee hours by LEO, after a regular nite out street racing with my Challenger T/A, my bud and I decided to head back to our part of town, while sitting at a light, headed towards the highway, my bud said "don't look now, but this guy on the side wants to race you BIG TIME!"...so I brought the RPM's up as the light was nearing green, dumped the clutch, nice launch, rowed through the gears, never saw a fender approaching my passenger window,...but did see a red gumball light me up! in the rear view mirror, now I wondered where that cop came from?, as I scanned the traffic behind me at the light,...so I pulled over, looked at my Bud, who was white as a ghost, and he said "Man! that was a cop on the side of you, I was just kidding you! Holy Sh1t"...I will say the cop was jerked, but after he calmed down, he said I had some big stones doing that with a marked cruiser on my passenger side at a light...if he only knew , I only got a warning, and actually a laugh out of the cop after things settled down, his partner however wasn't amused,...but I guess he was outranked?
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/25/13 10:23 PM

Non racing but a Cop story a few short years ago;

On a one way 4-lane street at a light where the two right lanes turned right only and the left 2 lanes turned left only, no thru lanes/'deadend', and major intersection in Renton, Wa. I was in the leftish lane of those 2 right turn only lanes, and a cop car was in the right lane.


We both started to turn right and he almost ran over a pedestrain in the crosswalk, but stopped in time. He was paying more attention to my car, I was driving the AMX. Then we both waited for the ped to get on across the street.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/13 02:27 AM

You would be surprised how many cops are closet gearheads, especially the older ones. I guess 'cause we were all so used to the old big-block cop cars we just didn't wanna quit!
On a related (and somewhat boastful) note I can remember the first Hemi Dart I ever saw--- it was the Mutt Bros. streetracing their Dart in a rare appearence in Queens. It was the dead of Winter, bitterly cold, but that Hemi fired up while under an overpass & I never forgot it! Never heard anything like it, either. So after years of messin around, I FINALLY completed my 3rd Hemi Dart just this month! The other 2 all lacked something, but THIS one--I think it'd do those boys proud! Unfortunately I don't know how to post pics!
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/13 02:33 AM

Quote:

You would be surprised how many cops are closet gearheads, especially the older ones. I guess 'cause we were all so used to the old big-block cop cars we just didn't wanna quit!
On a related (and somewhat boastful) note I can remember the first Hemi Dart I ever saw--- it was the Mutt Bros. streetracing their Dart in a rare appearence in Queens. It was the dead of Winter, bitterly cold, but that Hemi fired up while under an overpass & I never forgot it! Never heard anything like it, either. So after years of messin around, I FINALLY completed my 3rd Hemi Dart just this month! The other 2 all lacked something, but THIS one--I think it'd do those boys proud! Unfortunately I don't know how to post pics!


Ya been here FIVE years and you don't know how to post pictures YET?! Come on man, post pictures.

There is a thread by Wild Bill saved in the archives on how to post pictures, look it up and give it a try or 3 or 6.
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/13 02:37 AM

In 'Tech archive and Best of Moparts' here;

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=5544248&Main=5539002
Posted By: Daty Rogers

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/26/13 03:39 AM

Quote:

Well, there was the time the LF brake caliper failed on my Hemi Road Runner while racing on Emerald Lane over in Dallas. Not much of a shut down area and things got pretty hairy.




Emerald Ln, haven't thought about it for years, used to watch the big hitters down there. Wilke would shut them down, then drive away. He did not have a trailer, he only lived a few blocks away from me. Emerald sucked for street racing. Good times.

-Daty
Posted By: HYPER8oSoNic

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/26/13 06:44 AM

Quote:

I'd like to hear the story behind this...




Maybe this was mentioned earlier in this thread...
There was the pass made by a dragster on the famed Connecting Highway (truck route bypass now known as the BQE)
back in the late 60's/early 70's. Can't remember if it was a fuel or gasser job though. Place was one of a FEW MAJOR hot-spots for street racing in the NYC/NJ/CT area!!

Posted By: RSNOMO

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/13 09:37 PM

Quote:

I can remember the first Hemi Dart I ever saw.... streetracing




You never forget your first...

Attached picture 7972107-hrdp-9807-18-o+outlaw-street-cars-then-and-now+.jpg
Posted By: Polarapete

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/13 11:42 PM

I know exactly where that street is in Renton(hint it runs West to East and is a numbered street). I never raced there (too short a shut down area) I did my racing in "...Snoose Junction..." on Holman Road and at Golden Gardens International Raceway Park. You had to be there...
Posted By: amxautox

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/26/13 11:44 PM

Quote:

I know exactly where that street is in Renton(hint it runs West to East and is a numbered street). I never raced there (too short a shut down area) I did my racing in "...Snoose Junction..." on Holman Road and at Golden Gardens International Raceway Park. You had to be there...


Acually it runs from East to West. In that one way direction up to Rainer Ave. Past the High school.

And 1st is the East bound one way street.
Posted By: polara426

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/27/13 12:06 AM

Early seventies I am racing my 1960 Falcon with a 327 Chevy pretty much a full race drag car against a buddies 57 L88 powered chevy. He wins the first race and I take the second on the third race I brake an axle in the nine inch ford rear-end and we hook a chain to tow the car away when the cops show up as we are towing on the Eastside of Cleveland on the marginal road of the shoreway (everyone raced there).The cop stops us and asks if we have been drag racing I say no as steam pours out from under the fiberglass front-end the cop looks at me and says if I ever see you guys down here again your going to jail.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/27/13 03:10 AM

Well, I hope this works. Here's a shot of my latest Dart (more to follow?) My thought was: "What if someone came into Mr.Norm's & wanted an LO23 car for the street?" Aside from paint& hubcaps what would the car look like?
I have alot of aftermarket parts in this thing so while it looks "stock" (?) it's basically a 1970 P/S with an automatic......
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 12/27/13 03:18 AM

And here's the engine. I'm still trying to figure out the re-sizing thing.......
Posted By: RoadRunnerLuva

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/27/13 03:19 AM

Quote:

Quote:

You dudes from the east-side of Murder City...
Al from Lee's High Performance is still out there...





I used to buy parts at Lee's High Performance quite a bit, along with Custom Speed Enterprises and Gratiot Auto Supply.




same here!
Posted By: moparx

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/27/13 02:33 PM

hemicop, your resizing seems to be working, but what's up with the upper radiator hose ?
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/28/13 09:53 PM

That upperradiator hose split that day. . I was happy to post ANY picture, so even one with busted parts makes me happy!
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/28/13 10:22 PM

BACK TO THE STORIES----------
SO one night I'm sitting at the World's Fair Marina and a guy comes in with a BEAUTIFUL triple black '70 Hemi 'cuda on a trailer. This is a big-tire car & looked like it could easily be a nice S/S car. A real young guy (17 or so) gets out of the tow car & simply walks away & melts into the crowd. People start crawling all over the car----still no one owns up to owning the car. After a short time the cops show up & start chasing everyone out until there's just this 'cuda & a handful of cars. The cop starts yelling: "Who owns this car, gentlemen?!?! I'll tow it off, I really don't care!" he's shouting like this several times, then finally this kid shows up doesn't say anything & gets in the tow car & drives off.
Now what strikes weird about all this is, as far as I know, no one set up a race, the cop didn't do or say anything more to the owner & I never saw the car again either there or at any of the surrounding NY/NJ tracks. Rumor had it the kid's big brother built the car so maybe the brother took it & actualy used it somewhere.
Posted By: Pacnorthcuda

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/28/13 10:36 PM

Not racing, more an "exhibition of speed". 1979 me and a buddy head up in the hills for some target shooting and little beer drinking. On the way back I am driving his 1969 Chevy 396 wagon on I-90 in Issaquah (known speed trap) and got it up to 109. I then slowed down and about a mile down the road I am pulled over.

State bull said he was on the eastbound on ramp watching for speeders in the other direction. Said he had to drive 115 to catch up with me.

He was not impressèd with the guns on the back seat. Another reckless driving ticket. I was pretty good at getting them back in the day.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/28/13 11:42 PM

Kind of a streetracing story...........
An older friend of mine back then had a real nice '69 Nova big-block car. For its time it was a nice street/strip car somewhere in the 11-second range.
Now back then many of us didn't know as much as we thought (or should have) so it was unuasl for the engine mods to far outpower the rest of the car. My friend had partially welded his axle tubes to the centersection & thought a rosette weld & some beads along the ouside would suffice---WRONG! he's running slicks & a 4-spd, goes to launch it one time & the car looks like its doing everything it's supposed to---slicks wrinkle, front-end lifts, then-------- BANG! we go running to see what's up. Well it seems the car squatted a bit too much , the welds broke & he spun the centersection putting right through the floorboards! . Sadly, after that the car was pretty much a street-only car & he built a milder motor for it......
Posted By: rth

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/29/13 07:13 PM

Cross Bay Blvd in Queens, '81. Had my 440 Dart it was slow night, nobody racing just hanging. Decide to make a solo pass, make U-turn and while waiting for traffic to clear some truck stops behind me. Thinking he wants to watch, I do a 1st and 2nd gear burnout. He pulls next to me and throws on his lights, yes NYPD EMS truck. I shutdown and get balled out by him for being a wisea##. Meanwhile a group of bikes stop in front to blast and wheelie. Cop throws papers back in my car and warned me to go home. Which I did.

Attached picture 7975700-002(5).jpg
Posted By: I_bleed_MOPAR

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/29/13 08:10 PM

Very nice, hemicop.
Too many to list but one I backed away from. Friend of mine with a pretty hot '68 Firebird and I (I'm in my '65 Valiant 340/727) were headed to a local cruise spot (circa '71-2). We jump on I-285 (3 lanes wide at that time) and my friend spots a '71 RR in the middle lane. He catches the guy and I ease up on the other side. As I'm coming alongside I notice the callouts on the hood- "HEMI". I slowed down and I'm guessing my buddy noticed the callouts also as he slowed back down also.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/30/13 05:06 PM

A Hemi was about the only car I'd readily back-down from ----- I just figured them as unbeatable, pretty much.
I remember one night driving my '67 big-block 'vette & a white '69 or so 'vette pulls up beside me. I'm out on Long Island somewhere & the roads are kind of twisty so I wasn't too sure about all this. The light goes green, he gets the jump on my & I go after him. Reeling him in wasn't tough at all but as the road starts getting curvy he stays in it & I'll be damned if if I'm gonna lose (yeah, stupid, I know. WEll, I guess he wasn't as sure of the whole thing either as we got to the apex of the first turn in a small series of "S"s, he backs waaaaay off. I stay in it, lose sight of him until the next light, a mile or two down the road. He looks over at me & just turns off the road sheepishly idling away. Truth be told, I'm sure he could've beaten me, but it was one of those things where the driver, not the car got beaten.....
Posted By: RSNOMO

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/30/13 08:56 PM

Quote:

I notice the callouts on the hood- "HEMI".




That was out there, but there was a lot of 'stealth' in these parts...

Saw many a '383' tagged Elephant out runnin'...

(One bad one was a '66 Belvy...Plain-Jane brown, bench-seat column automatic...

The proverbial 'Grandma go to church car'...

Made some money until the word got out)...


Similar to this but no tags...

Attached picture 7977011-1966bel1.jpg
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/30/13 10:01 PM

I know the general consensus is they only made 4 or so '66 Hemi Belvedere, but I beg to differ as Suffolk County N.Y had more than that themselves. I wonder whatever became of those cars as I've seen plenty of 440 ex-police cars. My guess is they either went back to the factory due to the specialized engine. or some well-connected people were able to get them at auction.
Posted By: swapman

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/30/13 10:43 PM

Every Thursday night, at 12 midnight we would run like heck out of Belvidere Assembly Plant with our paychecks in our hands.

Since most of us were young (twenty something) we would get in our R/T's, Bees, Dusters and E-bodys of every color and Engine combination.

Burn rubber to get to downtown Belvidere (Worf's Tap).
Cash our checks and drink as much beer in the hour till closing,(1:00 AM) that we could.

Then race to somebody's apartment or mobile home and play euchre or Dirty Clubs till sunup.

Not to smart or legal, but we were young and dumb.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 12:09 AM

The end-of-the-night rituals always seemed fun. If we were at the Marina or Connecting we'd stop by a "Dunkin Donuts" on the way home. Of course some of us were drunk (yeah, it was stupid) so we'd mess with the waitress or other drunk customers then go to my friends house (his parents would be gone for the Summer!) and raise Hell, spend time (ahem!) with our girlfriends or simply pass out.
Now on more sober occassions we'd head out Northewrn Blvd (it ran almost the length of L.I.) and cruise through some of the smaller towns 'til the local cops either chased us off or simply followed us out of town. One night a Nassau County cop pulls me & my friend over, figuring we were casing businesses. After awhile he starts to loosen upp & starts asking us about our cars. He was maybe 10-15years older than we were, so with a new family he just kept saying how he wished he could have cars like we did.
Posted By: I_bleed_MOPAR

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 12:26 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I notice the callouts on the hood- "HEMI".




That was out there, but there was a lot of 'stealth' in these parts...

Saw many a '383' tagged Elephant out runnin'...

(One bad one was a '66 Belvy...Plain-Jane brown, bench-seat column automatic...

The proverbial 'Grandma go to church car'...

Made some money until the word got out)...


Similar to this but no tags...





At 16 in 1971, a Hemi was the King of the Road and not to be taken lightly. Nothing else scared me- 396 Camaros, 427-454 'vettes, 429 Mustangs, etc. I would take on anything.
Other than my car, there weren't too many sleepers running around in our neck of the woods. I never went into downtown Atlanta back then but it was my understanding that the heavy-hitters could be found at the Varsity Drive-In. Guy that was several years ahead of me in HS was racing his '69 Super Bee down there and had a clutch explosion. Lost part of his rt. foot.


Tim
Posted By: dIc dOc Deity !

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 12:41 AM

Quote:




Saw many a '383' tagged Elephant out runnin'...







..... and 318-tagged station wagons with healthy 440's and 5.57 gears that would hook-and-book with 7" cheater slicks and would be "done" at 70 mph !!
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 02:29 AM

This isn't a racing story per'se but back in 1966 a guy I knew who worked at a Chrysler plant here in Indy purchased a new HEMI Coronet, very sweet car. I lost contact with him somewhere around 1968. This spring a friend asked if I could help him load a 72 challenger on my trailer along with many, many extra parts that he bought from a guy on the east side of town. When we got there I saw the guy walking out to meet us and it was the same guy that had the Coronet. He still has it and it looks almost as good as it did back in 1966. Original drivetrain, interior, paint, etc. It was like being back in 1966. I was hoping that he might be ready to part with it but he said "I don't think so." Joe did quite a bit of street racing back in the day, just wish I could have ridden with him.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 05:08 PM

Funny you should bring that up. I sometimes wonder whatever became of the old streetracers we held in such high esteem back then. A friend of mine kept his '65 GTO for years in a barn then finally gave it to his nephew who supposedly re-did it. Don't know whatever became of the car but if he still had it, I'd love to re-do it for him.....
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 08:34 PM

the baddest car I remember in the nyc/nj area was a 64 LeMans owned by a guy named 'elliot'... the car was an animal...until... he raced some brothers from jersey on a sunday nite who trailered in a 69 chevelle... he got spanked real bad that nite on arden ave on staten island.. couldn't race on south ave that nite as the cops where patrolling..

the rumour was the chevelle had a transplanted 'worked' all alum. 427.. the race wasn't even close...
Posted By: steve70

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 10:06 PM

Growing up we used to head down to the "A+M" on Sundays. It was called that because of the business at the end of the road. The road led into an industrial park with the A+M being the only building on the road. The pavement was new so the street was marked off at a 1/4 mile. Back then everything was closed on Sundays so there was never any traffic. On a good day there could be 200+ people there and a lot of fast cars from miles around. Eventually it ended around 1986 because of a few accidents that prompted the police to constantly patrol the street. Once in a while I can still hear a car there on a Sunday but the road is really beat up now and the street is home to 6 or 7 busunesses now. Great memories

here is a facebook link https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-raced-at-the-AM-The-unofficial-Marlboro-drag-strip/314663969429

Attached picture 7978531-523777_10151169083189430_1357750059_n.jpg
Posted By: B Dartman

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 10:34 PM

While not a Mopar, this Chevelle was up to the task of many a street race back in the early 70's around Delaware County PA and carried a tuff reputation. Car was also frequently raced at Atco and Cecil County. Driving around PA with slicks on had its own risks back then... I recall the cops haveing eagle eyes for the slightest infractions.





Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 10:50 PM

I just stopped in today at the original Mutt Brothers service station here in my neighborhood. Home of the Quarter Million, Quarter mile winning Hemi Dart.
Thinking that it was raised a few years ago, after doing research on the actual address, I found that it still exist and the cinder block garage building and all is still there except for the original signs which I believe was a Texaco station back when. I get the willies when ever I pass by it. Infamous haunt indeed and a stone throw away from Rufus Boyd's cave where the "Heavy" cars ran out from.
Posted By: B Dartman

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 11:18 PM



Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 12/31/13 11:32 PM

Oh yeah. It must have been an Amoco station.
Wish I knew where that Dart is nowadays. I can still hear the concrete vibrating on the Conduit from its headers even though I was not there during that exact time.
Posted By: GTX MATT

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 12:24 AM

Quote:

While not a Mopar, this Chevelle was up to the task of many a street race back in the early 70's around Delaware County PA and carried a tuff reputation. Car was also frequently raced at Atco and Cecil County. Driving around PA with slicks on had its own risks back then... I recall the cops haveing eagle eyes for the slightest infractions.










Thats my favorite Chevrolet and one of my favorite cars of all time, and that example is right up my alley. Bad ass!
Posted By: 72N96RR

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 01:38 AM

A member here has photos of his fathers 66 Belvie Hemi 4 door 4 speed car for those that think they did not exist...
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 02:38 AM

Quote:

Oh yeah. It must have been an Amoco station.
Wish I knew where that Dart is nowadays. I can still hear the concrete vibrating on the Conduit from its headers even though I was not there during that exact time.




Wasn't that the old "S&K" Dart which eventually became the "Speedwin" Dart or vice-versa? If so, I believe it eventually went to Charlie Castaldo, then to a few other guys, then was re-done some years ago by a guy, the last name Hennessey, in NY & was eventually sold to some other collector.If you're REALLY curious, Joe Jillhas a machine shop in Sant Ana, Ca.. He might be able to tell you....
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 03:17 AM

Yes, it's the S&K Dart, but the Speedwin Hemi Dart was a totally different Dart that originally came from Ebbets Feild Dodge here in Brooklyn. I know the original owner who was a performance counter man there and sold it back to the dealership after only owning it for a week or so because it was a showroom floor left over. I'll keep his reasons for releasing it back to Mother Mopar to myself at the moment, but can you believe that?

The S&K Dart was from another Dealership (I believe Rockville Center Dodge) where my friend also worked as a performance parts man and where Bryan from S&K bought it. I know him also, so I can ask him again when I see him next week.
Posted By: hemi-itis

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 06:23 AM

Back the it was a way of life.I lived 1/2 mile off Hempstead Tnpk and could hear the cars crizin the pike.It was like the call of the wild

Hot Rod Burger King was the place to go

Attached picture 7979567-IMG_1151.JPG
Posted By: Mopar Grandpa

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 06:41 AM

Love the tow hooks on the Chevelle. That's how we did it back in the day!
Posted By: B Dartman

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 07:37 AM

Quote:

Love the tow hooks on the Chevelle. That's how we did it back in the day!




Quote:

Thats my favorite Chevrolet and one of my favorite cars of all time, and that example is right up my alley. Bad ass!




The SS was a 396 / 4 Speed and the owner would let that thing wind out for all it's worth with some of the fastest shifting I'd ever seen. I can still vividly see the posi track s-shaped burnouts on the street and the small gaps between each gear (1st, 2nd, and 3rd). He also went on to built a very high winding 4-speed small block Camaro with tunnel ram that was targeting the 10 second range. Back then a 10 second car was a big deal
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 08:05 PM

I don't know why I haven't got in on this thread before but so it doesn't die here goes:

I raced Fountain Ave every Fri-Sat. night in 78-83 time frame.
Lot's of action.
Used to hit 150th street form time to time and Laural Hill in Queens a time or two also.

One car that always stood out was a 69 Road Runner with a husband wife team.
I think it was Green and the wife was the driver, Long red hair.
She would rule the Fount whenever they showed up.
In fact it was so bad I remember one night they took on a Early [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean]. bike because no none would race them anymore!
Anyone remember them??
Ron
Posted By: johnmilner

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 08:38 PM

mid 70s, used muscle cars everywhere and cheap. palm beach county florida, lake worth beach every night hangout.
street racing almost every night, then all day on sunday way out west of town.
my cousin bought a 68 hemi road runner for a thousand cash, several hemi cars in the area, big block chevys, fords, pontiacs.
good friend had a hemi sattelite very fast but almost stock, 69 dart 340 solid cam and more compression beat him easily.
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 09:01 PM

One night at Fountain about 1980 I was riding shotgun in my buddy's 440 6pack Auto w/4.10 Dana 71 Charger we didn't know back then it was one of 98 made .
Well Mikey Petito (drunk Mike) was there with a 68 Cuda that was definitely more race than street, he may of had a slick on it too.
Mike had a habit of if he got in front of you he would take your lane so as to insure his win.
I think we bet 50 or 100 and then with all the side bets we heard it was pretty GREEN.

The race comes off and of course Mike has us out of the box, when the charger hit second gear those carb's were pulling us past Mike's quarter panel.
Mikey start pushing us over to the left and my buddy isn't going to give up so his foot stays through the radiator and his white letter tires are scuffing the left divider.
Mike made it so bad that we had to stay just behind him till the end.

We come back around to the start and my friend is pissed and Mikey wants his money, gets in our faces, one of our good friend's that was well know as a guy to not screw with ( not to mention his own Black Chevelle that I'll get to later) pulls Mike aside and sets him straight. We offered to even run again with our radial tired Yellow Submarine but Mikey declined knowing the outcome.
That was the only time I ever saw any tension down there.
Ron
Posted By: RV2

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/01/14 09:09 PM

Drunk Mike got into it with several people, he's had a gun or two pointed in his face!
Posted By: 2Red2LoudDodge

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/03/14 07:11 PM

Best "cheater" street racing story I recently heard:

NY National Speedway record holder with a black '66 Coronet and a worked 361 also did well money racing with the car on Clearview Expressway in the late sixties on LI. At the end of a good night he loses big money to a newcomer with a big block Chevy. So, they ask for a chance to win it back if the Chevy guy will let them put slicks on the Coronet. Chevy guy agrees. They return with an identical '66 black Coronet complete with slicks, one of the first street hemi motors and the license plates from the 361. They win, collect and disappear for awhile because that sh*t could get them killed. Supposedly they only did this twice and no one ever ratted them out.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/03/14 07:50 PM

Many a copy cat of copy cat cars as I've heard. I heard of a similar switch with a warm 65' Goat to a Hot 65' Goat on Staten island one night.
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/03/14 08:34 PM

OK here's a Staten Island story, I moved there in 78 but all my friends and activities were still in Brooklyn. Since I worked at Murino Bros. Auto Parts on SI I met a few guys.

Whenever my friend's came to the Island and we cruised I tried to get my Boys and the new guys get along. Well so much for that.
My buddy Jimmy worked for Nunzi and got to know his way around a Pontiac cylinder head really well.
He had a 72 T/A with a mild sounding low compression 462 with the best head and all the Nunzi tricks. He came out to the Island on Sunday night and mouths start flapping and one thing leads to another.
A race is set up with Jimmy's T/A against a Brown Olds 442 that is supposed to be real fast. Mind you the 442 guy isn't even there.

The SI guys go get him but the motor is out of the car so they decide that Danny's Nova with a 454 and all the goodies will do the trick.
They drag this guy Danny out of a bar and them him what he's about to do but he says only with slicks! They want a money race and between their 4 guys they come up with $1200 but we had $1500 so we push them to find more dough.

Jimmy was good at the game and says no problem but I'm going to put a little pair of 9" sneakers on myself.

They put these monster tires on the back of this beautiful custom painted Nova and say they are ready.
Jimmy's brother shows up with the little 9" puppies and they decide the Richmond Pkwy entrance from Richmond ave toward Arden is the place due to concrete.

Both cars are driven there and they are laughing at this mild T/A since the Nova has all the goodies with it's ZL1 cam and sounding like the s&*t!


We stop what ever traffic shows up which in 1979-80 isn't much and both cars do a burnout with the Nova first and it sound awesome!
Jimmy does his and it looks just as impressive!

They start to look at each other like what da???

The race comes off and the Nova gets the jump but as the T/A's T400 hits second it's make up ground time, in fact they almost hit each other at one point.
The T/A past that mighty Nova so hard the kids father probably felt the rush!!

The burnout marks were on that pavement for like 2 years.

Afterwards they pay up but the Nova guy can't believe what happened and is ranting like crazy.

So the night finally ends but Ricky isn't done putting salt in the wound so the next day he stops at the Mobil station that Danny (Nova owner) works at and fills up his tank with regular on his way to school at Devry in NJ.

Hey no one was informed enough to find the Nitrous setup on the T/A when they looked at that little docile motor they were laughing at!!
As time went on I became good friend with most of the SI guys and fessed up about that night, they all were laughing like crazy but this time at themselves...
Ron
Posted By: 71cudaddict

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/03/14 09:56 PM

Quote:

I don't know why I haven't got in on this thread before but so it doesn't die here goes:

I raced Fountain Ave every Fri-Sat. night in 78-83 time frame.
Lot's of action.
Used to hit 150th street form time to time and Laural Hill in Queens a time or two also.

One car that always stood out was a 69 Road Runner with a husband wife team.
I think it was Green and the wife was the driver, Long red hair.
She would rule the Fount whenever they showed up.
In fact it was so bad I remember one night they took on a Early [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean]. bike because no none would race them anymore!
Anyone remember them??
Ron


Husbands name was Keith her name was Margret he has a brother Roy how still works for Eddie Ryan next to farks on 66 street Happy New Year Ronnie.
Posted By: I_bleed_MOPAR

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/03/14 10:46 PM

Kind of a street race involving my first car. My dad drove a '65 Valiant 2 dr. sedan w/ a 170 /6 and a 3 on the three for several years. His plan was to give me the car when I turned 16 (in '71). Many mornings on his way to work, a guy in a Ford Cortina would follow Dad down the on-ramp onto the expressway then blow by Dad in the other lane. After we did the 340/727 transplant, Dad was just itching to catch the guy one morning. Day came that the guy followed Dad down the ramp. Dad waited until the guy pulled into the other lane then hammered it. He held it to about 120 then slowed way down and waited on the guy. Dad said when the guy caught up to him, he wouldn't pass.


Tim
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/03/14 11:30 PM

Quote:

Quote:

I don't know why I haven't got in on this thread before but so it doesn't die here goes:

I raced Fountain Ave every Fri-Sat. night in 78-83 time frame.
Lot's of action.
Used to hit 150th street form time to time and Laural Hill in Queens a time or two also.

One car that always stood out was a 69 Road Runner with a husband wife team.
I think it was Green and the wife was the driver, Long red hair.
She would rule the Fount whenever they showed up.
In fact it was so bad I remember one night they took on a Early [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean]. bike because no none would race them anymore!
Anyone remember them??
Ron


Husbands name was Keith her name was Margret he has a brother Roy how still works for Eddie Ryan next to farks on 66 street Happy New Year Ronnie.




Hey Ricky, What's going on.How's the wife and family? Never heard from you again after I sold my Viper??
Thought maybe it was a Exotic Car shunning or something.
Never knew that was Roy's brother and sister inlaw.
Also saw a post early on where you spoke of 7'Rob, didn't know he was out your way either.
Ronnie
Posted By: XS29L9B4Speed

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/03/14 11:35 PM

How about the 80s?
87 Turbo GN vs. 70 440 R/T vs. 69 Mustang
Fall of 1987: Milwaukee’s best cruising strip: HWY 100
I’m Driving my rusty (but trusty) ‘70 Coronet R/T 440-4 / 4-speed / 4.10 Dana northbound, midnight.
Hwy 100 is three lanes wide. The three of us went stop light to stop light about four or more times. Every time the automatic mustang (not sure of the engine) got the jump. The R/T’s 4.10s soon took over and I was out in front … what is that whistle in my ear? The Turbo GN always a fender behind until just over 100 mph. At about 110 I’d have to let off knowing I cannot do much more than 115 having 4.10s – I would let off as the GN passed capable of well over my 115 mph max. The mustang? Still a few car lengths behind. I still remember the vanity plate on the GN: “87 MUSCLE” . I only remember that the Mustang was blue. My passenger would buy a 87 GN two years later.

Attached picture 7983706-1987coronet.gif
Posted By: twinscrew698

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 01/04/14 05:18 PM

Quote:

Early seventies I am racing my 1960 Falcon with a 327 Chevy pretty much a full race drag car against a buddies 57 L88 powered chevy. He wins the first race and I take the second on the third race I brake an axle in the nine inch ford rear-end and we hook a chain to tow the car away when the cops show up as we are towing on the Eastside of Cleveland on the marginal road of the shoreway (everyone raced there).The cop stops us and asks if we have been drag racing I say no as steam pours out from under the fiberglass front-end the cop looks at me and says if I ever see you guys down here again your going to jail.



Do You remember any of the filming for a Movie they was going to make for the Cleveland Oh street racing?
Was made down on Quiqley.
Was going to be named Fultons Point but never made it.
Short clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuEYW5hh9lc
Full 52 Min Clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZQ7vmqsafE&feature=youtu.be
Posted By: rth

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 01/04/14 06:34 PM

Ronnie, Pettio was always trouble. One night he couldn't believe my buddies small block '66 nova went around him upstairs at 8,000 rpms. Accused him of using juice and started a fight.
Posted By: hemicop

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 01/04/14 07:29 PM

Heard they were going to make a movie called "Franny Lew" after Francis Lewis Blvd. Supposedly kind of a streetracing/American Graffitti/ Hollywood Knights sorta movie. Anyone know anything about it?
Posted By: babarracuda

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 01/04/14 08:26 PM

I was in school in Denver in 1963 with ny 60 Dodge 383 RAM that I bought from Maverick. Crusing downtown a 64 421 Pontiac signaled to race. I still had the 2.94 gears from driving from LA. The light turned and he got about a half car on me. When the engine got into the power curve, I pulled him so much that I was slowing down when he caught up. No one ever wanted to race that black Maverick Dodge during the six months I was there.
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/04/14 08:52 PM

Quote:

OK here's a Staten Island story, I moved there in 78 but all my friends and activities were still in Brooklyn. Since I worked at Murino Bros. Auto Parts on SI I met a few guys.

Whenever my friend's came to the Island and we cruised I tried to get my Boys and the new guys get along. Well so much for that.
My buddy Jimmy worked for Nunzi and got to know his way around a Pontiac cylinder head really well.
He had a 72 T/A with a mild sounding low compression 462 with the best head and all the Nunzi tricks. He came out to the Island on Sunday night and mouths start flapping and one thing leads to another.
A race is set up with Jimmy's T/A against a Brown Olds 442 that is supposed to be real fast. Mind you the 442 guy isn't even there.

The SI guys go get him but the motor is out of the car so they decide that Danny's Nova with a 454 and all the goodies will do the trick.
They drag this guy Danny out of a bar and them him what he's about to do but he says only with slicks! They want a money race and between their 4 guys they come up with $1200 but we had $1500 so we push them to find more dough.

Jimmy was good at the game and says no problem but I'm going to put a little pair of 9" sneakers on myself.

They put these monster tires on the back of this beautiful custom painted Nova and say they are ready.
Jimmy's brother shows up with the little 9" puppies and they decide the Richmond Pkwy entrance from Richmond ave toward Arden is the place due to concrete.

Both cars are driven there and they are laughing at this mild T/A since the Nova has all the goodies with it's ZL1 cam and sounding like the s&*t!


We stop what ever traffic shows up which in 1979-80 isn't much and both cars do a burnout with the Nova first and it sound awesome!
Jimmy does his and it looks just as impressive!

They start to look at each other like what da???

The race comes off and the Nova gets the jump but as the T/A's T400 hits second it's make up ground time, in fact they almost hit each other at one point.
The T/A past that mighty Nova so hard the kids father probably felt the rush!!

The burnout marks were on that pavement for like 2 years.

Afterwards they pay up but the Nova guy can't believe what happened and is ranting like crazy.

So the night finally ends but Ricky isn't done putting salt in the wound so the next day he stops at the Mobil station that Danny (Nova owner) works at and fills up his tank with regular on his way to school at Devry in NJ.

Hey no one was informed enough to find the Nitrous setup on the T/A when they looked at that little docile motor they were laughing at!!
As time went on I became good friend with most of the SI guys and fessed up about that night, they all were laughing like crazy but this time at themselves...
Ron




u should have been on the rock (staten island) in the late 60's (b4 the accident).. there would be 100cars lined up in two's on south ave... there were trailers parked on south ave under the overpass...racing all nite long...then to westons for a burger n fries... those were the days...
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/04/14 10:27 PM

Quote:

Quote:

OK here's a Staten Island story, I moved there in 78 but all my friends and activities were still in Brooklyn. Since I worked at Murino Bros. Auto Parts on SI I met a few guys.

Whenever my friend's came to the Island and we cruised I tried to get my Boys and the new guys get along. Well so much for that.
My buddy Jimmy worked for Nunzi and got to know his way around a Pontiac cylinder head really well.
He had a 72 T/A with a mild sounding low compression 462 with the best head and all the Nunzi tricks. He came out to the Island on Sunday night and mouths start flapping and one thing leads to another.
A race is set up with Jimmy's T/A against a Brown Olds 442 that is supposed to be real fast. Mind you the 442 guy isn't even there.

The SI guys go get him but the motor is out of the car so they decide that Danny's Nova with a 454 and all the goodies will do the trick.
They drag this guy Danny out of a bar and them him what he's about to do but he says only with slicks! They want a money race and between their 4 guys they come up with $1200 but we had $1500 so we push them to find more dough.

Jimmy was good at the game and says no problem but I'm going to put a little pair of 9" sneakers on myself.

They put these monster tires on the back of this beautiful custom painted Nova and say they are ready.
Jimmy's brother shows up with the little 9" puppies and they decide the Richmond Pkwy entrance from Richmond ave toward Arden is the place due to concrete.

Both cars are driven there and they are laughing at this mild T/A since the Nova has all the goodies with it's ZL1 cam and sounding like the s&*t!


We stop what ever traffic shows up which in 1979-80 isn't much and both cars do a burnout with the Nova first and it sound awesome!
Jimmy does his and it looks just as impressive!

They start to look at each other like what da???

The race comes off and the Nova gets the jump but as the T/A's T400 hits second it's make up ground time, in fact they almost hit each other at one point.
The T/A past that mighty Nova so hard the kids father probably felt the rush!!

The burnout marks were on that pavement for like 2 years.

Afterwards they pay up but the Nova guy can't believe what happened and is ranting like crazy.

So the night finally ends but Ricky isn't done putting salt in the wound so the next day he stops at the Mobil station that Danny (Nova owner) works at and fills up his tank with regular on his way to school at Devry in NJ.

Hey no one was informed enough to find the Nitrous setup on the T/A when they looked at that little docile motor they were laughing at!!
As time went on I became good friend with most of the SI guys and fessed up about that night, they all were laughing like crazy but this time at themselves...
Ron




u should have been on the rock (staten island) in the late 60's (b4 the accident).. there would be 100cars lined up in two's on south ave... there were trailers parked on south ave under the overpass...racing all nite long...then to westons for a burger n fries... those were the days...




Heard all the stories but I would have been 10 in the late 60's and my Bike was heavy!!!
Ron
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 01/04/14 10:28 PM

Quote:

Ronnie, Pettio was always trouble. One night he couldn't believe my buddies small block '66 nova went around him upstairs at 8,000 rpms. Accused him of using juice and started a fight.




Harry Danny's Nova was a screamer!!!
Ronnie
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 01/04/14 10:31 PM

Quote:

Heard they were going to make a movie called "Franny Lew" after Francis Lewis Blvd. Supposedly kind of a streetracing/American Graffitti/ Hollywood Knights sorta movie. Anyone know anything about it?




About 15 years ago some friends of mine had their Camaro's filmed on the street but the racing shots were at Raceway Park and the film never happened.
Don't know if that's the one your speaking of?
Ron
Posted By: shakerjoe

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 01/04/14 11:30 PM

Franny Lew (Francis Lewis Blvd.) is where I first met my friend fullmetaljacket LOL
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your s - 01/05/14 03:44 AM

What up Shaker.
Posted By: That AMC Guy

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 01/05/14 03:48 AM

Quote:

Best "cheater" street racing story I recently heard:

NY National Speedway record holder with a black '66 Coronet and a worked 361 also did well money racing with the car on Clearview Expressway in the late sixties on LI. At the end of a good night he loses big money to a newcomer with a big block Chevy. So, they ask for a chance to win it back if the Chevy guy will let them put slicks on the Coronet. Chevy guy agrees. They return with an identical '66 black Coronet complete with slicks, one of the first street hemi motors and the license plates from the 361. They win, collect and disappear for awhile because that sh*t could get them killed. Supposedly they only did this twice and no one ever ratted them out.




That's hilarious!! There were a couple guys that did that way out west in Cranbrook, BC. Except their cars were twin '54 Plymouths. One was a stock six banger, the other had a Hemi transplanted from a Chrysler 300. The story goes they would roll into Cranbrook from nearby Creston, cruise around and set up a bunch of races (and usually get laughed at). Their schtick was they'd say "Ok, we're gonna go get some fuel in case we gotta run from the cops" (or something along that line, get the Hemi-equipped car and clean house all night.

Maybe Canadians out this-a-way are pretty dim, but apparently, these boys had a reputation of having the quickest flathead six Plymouth in the world. Apparently, few questioned them about showing the goods.
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/29/14 03:50 AM

Back in the mid 80's Mike Petito had a primed duster that he drove from Brooklyn to Staten Island. Just about every Thurs night he showed up @ Masters Shopping Plaza w/his sidekick John looking for action. Mike would run anyone. The duo would put some show on intimidating & instigating anyone that paid attention. Most of the crowd were just bench racers. But he did manage to get races off w/a select few. Seeing the car in action was pretty impressive as he had regular worn out street tires w/no suspension work other than the little mopar tricks. Rumor has it ran 10's. Not sure I believe that because I seen him @ Etown one Sunday morning w/No Time on the window & watched him make a clean pass & by accident his time flashed 12.68 After he sold the duster, he had a box nova w/a small block which others have referenced in this thread. This car was no where near as fast as the duster. I remember my 1st dealings w/him on South Ave(really Gulf Ave). He looked @ my car a stock looking 80 T/A w/4.9 liter shaker & said for all I know there could be a big block in this car. My reply...You'll have to find that out after the race. We agreed no juice. He bit. After the run we pulled over just me & him. I wanted my money but he wasn't willing to pay me for he accused me of using nos. He said let me see under the hood. I said to him if u don't find any juice you'll pay right? He said yeah I'll pay. I popped the hood & he was pissed, (I thought I was going to have a problem w/him) there sat an LS6 under the shaker.
Through the years I gained respect for Mike as he did what ever it took to get races off. He was there for one reason....and that was to race. I never witnessed his bad driving tactics that others referenced, but I did witness his bad attitude.
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/29/14 05:06 AM

Yo "Birdman" what's up?
Ronnie
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 02:02 AM

WAZZUP Ronald.
Posted By: johnmilner

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 02:17 AM

street race in fl, made the guy take out nitous bottle, guy does a huge burnout nobody can see anything.
during the confusion and all the smoke his pal jumps into the trunk with bottle hooks it back up, stays in trunk and they win race.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 02:53 AM

What up T.
Lee here.
I sure do remember Drunk Mike and his primered Duster on Fountain as well. If I remember correctly he had the motor nestled deep down in the chassis with a small tunnel ram under the hood. Fr$$king thing was fast. never saw it foul a race. His friend with the two red Cuda's, one was driven by his then Girlfriend was also pretty quick, but not like that Duster.
I remember both his Nova's also. One was a small block and the other, which became a full tilt track piece ended up with a huge cube big block. Killers on South and Fountain with the occasional 150th st. trot.

Be well my friend.
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 03:04 AM

I raced (and usually lost to) Drunk Mike many times. He was a miserable f*ck to be around, but probably the sharpest most dedicated street racer I ever met. His Duster was pure bad. If you saw 12.60's pop up on a scoreboard I guarantee he was just strokin in. I ran that Duster a couple of times with cars I knew were faster than that and he picked my pockets hard.
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 03:05 AM

Man..you pull a magic act like that & get caught in this area, some of these boys will make sure that guy never leaves the trunk....
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 03:39 AM

What up Lee...As far as the small block nova Mike had. He'll admit in the beginning he had to find his way around the sbc. He came from messing w/poncho's & mopars. Once he figured it out, the car ran pretty good. Then one night when he had the car parked outside a Bay Ridge watering hole where he was marinating some ice cubes. He came out and the car was gone. The big tire big block nova he built afterwards housed a 632 which he also drove around.
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 03:44 AM

The Duster you guy's speak of was a good friend of mine's car till he had to go on vacation. Mike bought it and doubt he changed much but not really sure. It was a Yellow with black side stripe 340 auto. My friend had a ported set of heads and 11.1 pistons with if I remember right a Cam Dynamics 585 solid . The trans was a Manual VB done by Vitar and later Select. 8 3/4 T/A convertor and 5,13 gears.
In it's day pre Mikey it went 11.70's. My buddy used to stack carb. spacers to make a home brew tunnel ram under the Six Pack scoop.

It cleaned it's share of clocks when Ronnie owned it...

Mike bought it and primer'd it to protect the innocent.

I forgot how Mikey used to double park the Nova on 3rd ave. and then come out after quenching his thirst and repave the Avenue.
Ron
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 03:57 AM

Yep, he did buy the car from your friend for cheap due to the situation.
Posted By: Pale_Roader

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 09:53 AM

Quote:

street race in fl, made the guy take out nitous bottle, guy does a huge burnout nobody can see anything.
during the confusion and all the smoke his pal jumps into the trunk with bottle hooks it back up, stays in trunk and they win race.




HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Pure awesome. I love (REAL) street racing. The personalities, the incredibly varied cars and ideas, the sheer testosterone floating around the starting line/pits (the same where we raced). Things you would NEVER see on a track...
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 11:04 PM

Quote:

Back in the mid 80's Mike Petito had a primed duster that he drove from Brooklyn to Staten Island. Just about every Thurs night he showed up @ Masters Shopping Plaza w/his sidekick John looking for action.




mid 80's... south ave was long over by then...
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 11:23 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Back in the mid 80's Mike Petito had a primed duster that he drove from Brooklyn to Staten Island. Just about every Thurs night he showed up @ Masters Shopping Plaza w/his sidekick John looking for action.




mid 80's... south ave was long over by then...




South Ave. itself was over, but the service road along the West Shore Expressway was hot all through the mid 80s. Thursday nights were good for 100 plus cars.
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 11:25 PM

True that.
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 04/30/14 11:57 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Back in the mid 80's Mike Petito had a primed duster that he drove from Brooklyn to Staten Island. Just about every Thurs night he showed up @ Masters Shopping Plaza w/his sidekick John looking for action.




mid 80's... south ave was long over by then...




Nope may not have been the actual street but that's what us locals called it.
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/01/14 01:39 AM

mid 80's... south ave was long over by then...




From the mid 80's on, Gulf Ave was the proving grounds which was referred to as South Ave like the 3 fellas said above. We lived it.........
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/01/14 03:15 AM

Quote:

mid 80's... south ave was long over by then...




From the mid 80's on, Gulf Ave was the proving grounds which was referred to as South Ave like the 3 fellas said above. We lived it.........




Gulf was n AWESOME place to run...I made probably a thousand passes there in at least a dozen different cars over the years. It was great UNLESS you happened to be wheeling a really fast car, then it could get pretty hairy. Not the marked quarter itself (actually just over 1000 feet) but the shut down area could really get your attention. Right after the finish line, there was an increasing radius curve, and then a field where some guys kept horses and trailers. The pavement was all choppy and usually covered with horse sh*t and mud. I remember one night we were alone out there and I was trying to get the bugs worked out of my friend Stan's Hemi Challenger. It had a full house Mansau 426 in it, 4 speed, 14x32's and 5.13's in the Dana.
So I finally get this thing to where it gets past it's second gear stumble, and it's flat out haulin bananas up through 3rd...felt too good to not grab a handful of 4th, so I went for it. I should have known better! I go blazing past the stripe, just a blur in the night...all smiles and then I realize I gotta get this thing stopped...HA! The 10 inch drums go instant fade. I'm standing on the brake pedal, it's barely slowing down, and I'm into the bad part of that curve at probably 75 MPH. Cars's bouncing up and down on the slicks, front wheels are sliding across the muck and I'm seeing nothing but death and dismember-ship through the windshield. To this day I have no idea how I managed to not roll that damn thing, but I got through curve and the only damage were the holes I bit through my tongue. I never drove that car again without a helmet and belts.
Man I miss those days!
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/01/14 03:53 AM

I remember when Mike with his Box nova finally met his match with a Black 68'-9' Charger that had been hunting for him for weeks between gulf and Fountain.
When they finally met at Gulf, I flagged the race with my bias leaning with the Charger of course, this even being that I was good friends with Mike over the years and had a Chevy myself. That's one of the reasons I knew I had Mopar blood in my veins.
I knew Mike would take the hole shot based on his launch tactic of leaving at the top of my down drop, the Charger charged and caught him while negotiating a sideways dance. They neatly tucked their victory into everyone's memory banks, including mine and disappeared into the night, never to be seen again.
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/01/14 04:57 AM

I remember when the shaft came out of the challenger on Gulf.
Posted By: Qbird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/01/14 07:26 AM

Quote:

I remember when the shaft came out of the challenger on Gulf.




Ha, which time? We split at least three yokes and twisted two shafts that I can remember..one of them tried to get in the car with me. Went through a couple of 833's too. My name for that car was "El Destructo".
Posted By: fullmetaljacket

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/01/14 01:27 PM

must have been when we were all shade tree mechanics. LOL
Posted By: paris401

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/01/14 02:38 PM

Quote:

mid 80's... south ave was long over by then...




From the mid 80's on, Gulf Ave was the proving grounds which was referred to as South Ave like the 3 fellas said above. We lived it.........




wow didn't realize that gulf ave was the new south ave... guess on gulf ave like south, u could park your car, pull out a beach chair, and watch em racing all nite, and never a cop in sight...
Posted By: rth

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/01/14 08:25 PM

Quote:

The Duster you guy's speak of was a good friend of mine's car till he had to go on vacation. Mike bought it and doubt he changed much but not really sure. It was a Yellow with black side stripe 340 auto. My friend had a ported set of heads and 11.1 pistons with if I remember right a Cam Dynamics 585 solid . The trans was a Manual VB done by Vitar and later Select. 8 3/4 T/A convertor and 5,13 gears.
In it's day pre Mikey it went 11.70's. My buddy used to stack carb. spacers to make a home brew tunnel ram under the Six Pack scoop.

It cleaned it's share of clocks when Ronnie owned it...

Mike bought it and primer'd it to protect the innocent.

I forgot how Mikey used to double park the Nova on 3rd ave. and then come out after quenching his thirst and repave the Avenue.
Ron


Hey I didn't know that was Big Ronnie's car.
Posted By: RJS

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/01/14 09:20 PM

Quote:

Quote:

The Duster you guy's speak of was a good friend of mine's car till he had to go on vacation. Mike bought it and doubt he changed much but not really sure. It was a Yellow with black side stripe 340 auto. My friend had a ported set of heads and 11.1 pistons with if I remember right a Cam Dynamics 585 solid . The trans was a Manual VB done by Vitar and later Select. 8 3/4 T/A convertor and 5,13 gears.
In it's day pre Mikey it went 11.70's. My buddy used to stack carb. spacers to make a home brew tunnel ram under the Six Pack scoop.

It cleaned it's share of clocks when Ronnie owned it...

Mike bought it and primer'd it to protect the innocent.

I forgot how Mikey used to double park the Nova on 3rd ave. and then come out after quenching his thirst and repave the Avenue.
Ron


Hey I didn't know that was Big Ronnie's car.



Amazing what primer will do!!
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/02/14 02:54 AM

Quote:

I remember when Mike with his Box nova finally met his match with a Black 68'-9' Charger that had been hunting for him for weeks between gulf and Fountain.
When they finally met at Gulf, I flagged the race with my bias leaning with the Charger of course, this even being that I was good friends with Mike over the years and had a Chevy myself. That's one of the reasons I knew I had Mopar blood in my veins.
I knew Mike would take the hole shot based on his launch tactic of leaving at the top of my down drop, the Charger charged and caught him while negotiating a sideways dance. They neatly tucked their victory into everyone's memory banks, including mine and disappeared into the night, never to be seen again.



That sounds like Jimmy's car aka "UFOOLU" NY plate read. Beautiful stock looking black 69 charger 440 w/spray.
Posted By: Red Bird

Re: Street Racing in the 60's & 70's - Tell them your story - 05/02/14 03:25 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I remember when the shaft came out of the challenger on Gulf.




Ha, which time? We split at least three yokes and twisted two shafts that I can remember..one of them tried to get in the car with me. Went through a couple of 833's too. My name for that car was "El Destructo".



LOL.....I remember coming down to Gulf one off night if I recall and seeing the challenger in full race trim...open headers (sounding like a top fueler) doing some nasty holeshots. The big boots were no match for the power. The wheel hop was incredible until there lies some tubing on the Gulf. It was sick!
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