My son (Wild Bill) got me me into this last year. I was 57 years old. I don't know if that makes me the oldest rookie but it's got to be close. Even my granddaughter Taylor (Wild Thing) was driving two years before I started.

My sister's friend...Back in the 60s it was rare to see a girl streetrace, much less work on her own car. My sister's friend lived down the street from us & raced a '59 Chevy. With space at a premium in NYC she was forced to always work on her car in the street so we'd always see her & her boyfriend prepping it for Friday night or on Saturdays. We'd hang around watching her & when asked, she'd explain what she was doing & why. I still remember hearing her drive up the street late at night after a night at Connecting Hwy

I guess hanging around my Dad working on the Family car.Dad HATED Dragracing which is probably what attracted me even more !
Chryco

My Dad got me into cars when I was a kid. He wasn't into performance stuff, but he did as much work as he could himself. He had 2 or 3 VW Bugs. When I was 2, my uncle bought a brand new '73 340 cuda. So I knew what a cuda was at an early age, lol. His son now owns the cuda and is the one who told me about Moparts.

As far as racing, a friend of mine in high school told me about the local track, and that he knew people who raced there. And the street scene was huge in the 80's around here. So hanging out at those places got me into racing.

My father. Some of my earliest childhood memories consist of me running around the pits at Dragway 42 playing around my dad's homebuilt open trailer. He also taught me that you could race and win with ANY vehicle. He won a lot rounds and a little money racing slow rusty heaps.

Dave Mosley was my neighbor and when he started this car, the sound gave me chill bumps. I had to go to Riverside Drag Strip to see what it was all about! An orginal A 990 car,

Dave in his Georgia shop several years ago!!

Dad ( Chris3) got me into this crazy thing we call Drag Racing

John Barleycorn,once we parted ways i had to do somthing else crazy with my time and money.

In a roundabout way I guess it was a neighbour. There were a couple of American factories local to where I live, Cummins and Torrington bearings (Cummins engines is still here and within 1/4 mile of my house, Torringtons has sadly closed).The US workers used to bring cars over and a neighbour who worked at torringtons used to buy them. To me, a kid growing up on a council estate, they were the greatest vehicles ever compared to the british cars of the day. Huge, finned and with the greatest sounding motors I'd ever heard. Mach 1 mustangs, Big 60's Buicks, Fairlanes, Caprices. Awesome.
Fast forward 20 years to my first trip to a RWYB meet Wow! muscle cars, rods, rails and v8 engines and I got to go down the track in my daily driver!.
Man I was hooked and I've never looked back. This year will be our 24th season.

addiction to speed came from my father as a HD mechanic/flat track racer/tuner. I started flat tracking motorcycles across the field from Milan dragway at Victory park around 1975-6. spent the next 12 years racing flat track motorcycles, a few professionally. unfortunately my father had no interest in cars and I was on my own for my next speed addiction. He wasn't a highly educated guy but when it cam to HD engines he was one of the best and built some of the fastest XR750's in the country. Then had a stroke in 1994 and was disabled and never saw me drag race before he died in 2008.

Mopars? originally have to blame it on my next door neighbor's son who was a couple years older and had a couple 69 Dart street cars. We had another neighbor who had a 71 Duster out back that I finally talked into selling me for my first car. Messed around with the leaning tower of power for a year or so, headers, shift kit, 8 3/4, etc. Swapped it out for a 340/727/3.91 and started bracket racing while in college at US131. Had a "friend" wreck it and switched the drivetrain into a 67 vert Barracuda. The track didn't like the lack of roll bar/cage with it running low 13's and respecting it's worth as an original sold it to a friend to "build" a race car. There were a few more Mopar street cars in there along the way but nothing of significance.

Well the first attempt at a home built chassis car never got finished, 83 Charger with Alston kit. Then bought a 65 Dart, tubbed it, added a 12 point, had it pretty much rolling but ended up selling it because of the next opportunity.

Opportunity? coworker and fellow SC/SG racer "Captain BS" and board member SC304 helped get me in over my head with my sig car. Steady progress down to 8.0 resulted in the quest for 7's "on a budget" and the parting out and selling off of that engine to build a Predator engine. Being stubborn and old school it has to be NA, and has been two years in the build so far....


blah blah blah...

Me. Street racing in NYC was getting (always was) dangerous.

my high school auto shop teacher, mr.vanny. he was into mopars as well.

As a kid I put a REO engine on a tricycle, I then put a 5 hp briggs on a radio flyer, steering with the tongue(Man that hurt) It went down hill from there. 100 hodaka on a mini bike frame. Gokarts Mac 101s. In high school, Kawasaki 750 2 stroke triple, Ported, chambers, left the line at 12500 rpm. Back tire screwed to rim. Ran it at kcir grudge night in the mid 70s. Bought a new Harley in 76, had it 2 weeks tore it down. Got a little carried away,So much compression dad had to tow me down the street to start it, but when it ran it ran good!! got tired of hearing the 900 kawasaki guys bragging. Moved to Albuquerque, built a 67gtx 440 4speed. Cant remember the name of the dragstrip down there(old age). If it had an engine I raced it. Cops watched me, neighbors hated me. I was born that way. Now that the kids are grown I am back. Is this normal or is something bad wrong with me?

in the early 80s down the block where two brothers frank and steve

my first ride was franks 71 roadrunner


left a immpression on me for the rest of my life

we drive plymouths not dodges



seen him 10 years ago drove by the the duster to my old neigthber hood

the look on his face was priceless

Click here for my story.

http://diegotedracing.com

At 15 I was intriqued with speed but had never experienced it until I got a ride in my dads friends completely stock 67 Z28 302" car with 4:88's. The car was such a sleeper- even had plain black steel wheels with 70 series redlines and seemed so tame - until he unloaded it in 2'nd gear and pinned me in the seat and held me there- the sound of him rowing that 4'speed at 7800 has lit a fire that I don't think will ever go out.
It was a truely awesome experience that has caused me to spend my money to keep reliving that excitement.
1 month later I had my 70' 383 Cuda and it all began...

My dad did (76dart) he was into old mopars and that was all it took. thanks dad!!!!!

Dad got my Brother and Myself into cars at a very youg age. Got pics at York US 30 with Ronnie Sox and his colt. Actually our parents got our first cars for us when we were 10 years old and we still have them today. Here they are recently, just wish we had some in earlier years side by side. Would have been really cool.