I've always been intrigued by days when a group would gather on some street and drag race. Yeah sure, the kids still do it with their little hondas and stuff today, but it seems like there was a whole lot more character to it back then. Unfortunately I'm not old enough to have witnessed the fun, so can anyone share some storries?
Thanks!
Street racing in the '50s or '60s? A little before my time... However, street racing in the early and mid '70s, now THAT was a party! Hooking up with the L.A. Street Racers every week at Brookhurst and La Palma (?) and test and tune and grudge racing at The County. Getting busted by LA county sherrif's at Nabisco at 1am, running every car in sight on La Palma...damn that was GREAT! In case there are some non-SoCal readers, I lived (and still live) in Orange County, California. Would I let my boys do it today? No F'in way. That was a different time. We raced for pinks occaisionally and it was rare for someone to welch on a bet. Today? Hell, they'd pull a gun because they lost!
The '68 will go to the track again, and the boys are welcome to follow in Dad's steps as long as it's on the strip (non-NHRA tracks).
More later.
BB
Although I did some street racing, most of my legitimate racing was done at Lions Drag strip in Wimington, Ca. Great times, great friends. I had a '66 Chevelle, built 327 with 4.88 gears. I couldn't drive freeways and had no trailer, so I took Alameda Ave. down for about 30 miles to get to Lions. Being from Los Angeles, my street racing was done at the Silverlake straightaway and the Glendale 2 freeway before it was completed. Riverside Drive was a great hangout as well.
Todays racers are using too many new gadgets, air shifters, electronic devices, etc. Thats why I plan to race with the Good Guys this season.
bb427stang, before my times too. You brought up the point that the times are much different, and you wouldn't allow your children to do it. That's kinda why I asked the question. I never experienced any of this, unfortunately. Man, I bet the adrenelin was rushing when you raced for pinks. :)
Ron, how many cars and people would show up for the street races back then? Race with the good guys? Details?
It would depend on when and what time. Many times, it was just me and the guyI'm racing. The big crowd would be in the Crenshaw area when Big Willy was running the street races. He'd bring out a Christmas tree for starting lights and I would guess 50-75 cars would be out there, both racing and spectating. Police would come and everyone would just take off. Unlike today, the police didn't take any action against the spectators. Today, I understand they can confiscate your vehicle just for watching!
The GoodGuys Association puts on nostalgia drag race meets and car shows. They allow only '72 and older cars. Drag racing is of the 60's and 70's, front engine dragsters, no nitrous, no electronic timing device, air shifters, etc. They conduct meets and car shows all over the country. Great association. I'd recommend attending their events when in your vicinity.
I grew up in Detroit & spent a good deal of time (early 60's) on Woodward Avenue. It wasn't uncommon to see trailered rigs show up on the weekends from Ohio, NY, NJ. and IL. The factory engineers were there too... trying out their latest stuff on the street. It would be impossible to guess the number of cars running on Woodward on A typical weekend, but I know it would be in the thousands. I've seen pretty much everything you can imagine running on the streets back then.... Remember, it was a completely different time.. urban sprawl hadn't taken over the out lying areas & "civilian" traffic was just about non-existant after 11:00 P.M. Oh, and there was hundreds of drive-in restaurants that catered to the car crowd back then, not like today.
I Grew Up in the 60's Racing on the Berlin Turnpike here in Ct. I drive a 55 Chevy Conv. with a 327 with daul quads. Just about all my buddies drove Chevys. What a time we had on Sat. night by Mcdonalds. Thats when Isky had the 5 cyle cam. My brother in law drove a 55 with a 370 Pontiac. There was I guy named paul that had a 418 pontiac with daul quads and a 5 cycle cam in a 32 ford streetrod. Man was that quick. I'm a little smarter now I don't street any more. (Well once in awhile) We had Ct. Dragway back then, it has since been turned into a consumer test track. What a bummer. I can remember sunday afternoons watching Big daddy don Garlits, Tasca ford and all Mopar Hemi's run.Quote:
Originally posted by Brent Mills
I've always been intrigued by days when a group would gather on some street and drag race. Yeah sure, the kids still do it with their little hondas and stuff today, but it seems like there was a whole lot more character to it back then. Unfortunately I'm not old enough to have witnessed the fun, so can anyone share some storries?
Thanks!
Hey Dyno Don-
I'm originally from So. Calif. But I know a couple of guys that grew up in Detroit. They told me stories similar to yours. They said that guys drove different makes of cars depending on if they lived near Chrysler, GM, Ford, etc. One of these guys is Larry Lewis, who was on one of the original Ramcharger teams.
One of these days I'm going to get up to the Woodward cruise. I hear it's really a blast.
Ron
HI Ron, I haven't made it back for a Woodward Cruise yet, but I guess there are close to 1.5 million people that show up for the week long fun. I did talk to a one of the original guys that helped put the Cruise together... he said it is getting rather commercialized now.....watch for it to be a nationally televised event soon. Unfortunately, the media people that cover the Cruise have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. They should have SpeedVision or TNN cover it instead of the local dupes.
In about 1966, I was stationed at McClellan AFB in Sacramento, CA. I had a 1959 Plymouth Sport Fury with the 361 ram induction engine. It was a mid to low 14 second car bone stock. I would sometimes like to "pick on" GTO's at the stoplight. One evening in eary fall, I got up next to a "Goat" who did not respect my Mopar. It was sprinkling at the time and the pavement was wet. Well when the light changed,I "dropped the hammer" and there was a lot of wheel spin. I glanced at my rear view mirror and saw red lights flashing. A Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy had been right behind me!! Lucky for me, he was also a hotrodder and let me go with a warning ( after I cleaned the mud from the windshield of his cruiser)Of course, I continued to hunt forChevs,Goats and Fords to beat. Now I still have the memorys of those fun times.
chevs,Fords and GT
Hmmmm! War stories!!!
Since street racing is illegal, I'm sure I never did anything like that!:p But I do remember some speed demonstrations!:eek:
I remember a visit to Las Vegas in the summer of 1967. Some kid in a 396 Chevelle (probably a 325 hp version) was raggin' on my '58 Delrey. I guess he didn't like yellow, poor boy cars. He had no clue about earlier Chev performance stuff, just that the car his daddy bought him was the neatest thing on four wheels. A brief encounter on a straight, back road showed him that Chevie's earlier big block with tri-power, a bit of an overbore, and a gnarly cam, could thump his mellon. He was fairly quiet after that :) .
Hey now, sure it is illeagle, but it was still fun. I did a lot of stop-light drag racing in the days. Not now because I no longer own anything that could " blow the doors off" of anything. But I may still have some tricks up my sleeve. It was fun back then was it not??
Ok Brent,
I couldn't drive in the 50's, but I went with older kids who could. Our races were started by a flagger standing between and in front of the racers. More than once the flagger had to be quick to get out of the way of a wild fishtail.
Cops would sometimes show up, but usually it was all over before they even got close and I don't remember anyone getting tickets. Probably, because nothing was scheduled. It was always impromptu and never at the same time or even on the same day. It usually got started when somebody showed off at a stoplight and met later at the drive in to talk about it.
Our early king of the midnight drags was an old style T bucket ,black primered metal body and all with a 53 Merc flat head with tri power. Had a LaSalle transmission and a Halibrand quick change rear end. Biggest tires he could get were the old 9.00x15 ambulance tires and he could smoke 'em through first and second.
Later on when I was old enough, we had a place south of town called "The Sludge". Had about a mile of straight road and easy to see both ends to watch for Gendarmes. At times 40 or 50 cars would show up. Mostly spectators who heard "something was going on". Maybe a dozen or so cars would actually race. No pink slips, just braggin' rights. It was an elimination race and a "run what ya brung". by then, (mid to late 60's) it was mostly muscle cars and Corvettes. If a "certain car" didn't show up, a Corvette most often won. The "certain car", was a 53 Ford tudor ht. Ugly old beast with just gray primer and no chrome, but it was REALLY quick.
By then TDI was making recap cheater slicks and this guy had the biggest he could get under the fenders. He always waited to be in the last race and after he won, he kept going and left the area for his home town 15 miles away.
In typical hod rodder fashion, nobody got a look under his hood. For almost a year he did this and all anybody knew about him or the car was that it was fast and noisey and he didn't talk much.
We eventually got him to lift the hood and have a peek. Pretty as you please, there sat a Tunnel Port 427 with Hilborn injection, backed up by a top loader 4spd.
Here we were in our stock or nearly stock muscle cars, trying to outrun a low 10 second gas class car!!!
For the record and the younger readers, 10 second cars on the street in the mid 60's was almost unheard of in the North West.
In 1971, I had a 69 SS Chevelle with L88 427 4spd 4.88 gears. Couldn't make the car leave right, so I never did better than 11.1 sec 1/4 mile, but it was fun to challenge the local vette crowd on the street, and dust their butts while their girl friends watched.
Lived in Brent's part of the world then, up in Everett, WA. Local rich kid had a "Nicky" Camaro that was pretty quick. He just couldn't drive it well and I took some of his hide a time or two.
Lotta fun in those days, but it really was a different time and people were eifferent. Especially young people. In the late late 60's and early 70's, there was either the hippie/druggy crowd or the B.Y.O.L., keg party hot rodders. Late 50's and early 60's was different again, with real rock and roll music, poodle skirts, saddle oxfords for the girls and English brogues and leather jackets for the guys. Poplin jackets for those who couldn't afford leather.....like me.
The biggesst thing I think was different, was how kids acted and thought. Yeah we did crazy stuff, but rarely did anyone ever get hurt. Seemed like everybody kind of knew when to quit, whether it was a street race or a party. We didn't have knife and gun stuff and there were no gangs to worry about up here in the NW.
Like all things though, memories do get rosier with time.
Al
Let's not forget Whittier Blvd in East L.A. That was cruisin! Then when you found someone to race, you'd just drive a block down to Telegraph Road and run there. Great times. Go Willie Gee and the Midnighters!!
Hey Ron, seem to remember in your neighborhood there was a wide, straight road that was used for such things near Forest Lawn (which, when you think about it, is one of those oxymoronic names like jumbo shrimp).
I always heard they raced at Forest Lawn in Glendale. I never got up there and hope its awhile before I do, actually.
Another place they raced was at Dodger stadium. It was Stadium Way parallel to their big parking lot.
Were you from this area at one time?
Yep, a West Valley kid in the sixties during my teen years.
Boy, that area has changed. I work out there, right on the borderline of Woodland Hills and Calabasas. Corner of Mulholland Drive and Valley Circle. High price homes, alot of retail businesses. You probably wouldn't recognize it.
Well Ron, I remember when the only thing out where you work was the old actors home and sheep herders. :D
Actually I get back there at least once a year. My mother still lives in what's now West Hills, and my brother lives in Newbury Park. I left there 30 some years ago because it looked like it was going to become what it has:eek: But that's progress!
Bob-
I can vouch for the old actors home still being there because thats where I work. Although known as that, it really is an acute hospital and a health center. We also own 4 other health centers around Los Angeles. It's actual name is the Motion Picture and Television Fund and serves only entertainment related people. But, you are right, most people still think of it as the Old Actors Home.
FYI, I believe on the borderline of Ventura and Westlake Village, they are trying to develop the Ahmanson Ranch which I believe is a complex of 300 homes or something. Alot of dissension, challenges and upset people because the utilities, traffic, etc. can't handle it. You're family out here can fill you in.
Thanks.
I need to browse this site so I can find these threads sooner. I remember the early 60s to early 70s street racing. There were always races on Vista del Mar by the hyperion plant in El Segundo. The stop lite at Grand was the start. Only bad thing was there was only one way in and out. Most got caught, since I only had an old ford I wasn't racing then only watching. In '64 I got a new 283 Chevelle SS. Put 4:11 in it and thought it was fast. We used to race over by St Bernards High School in Playa del Rey. I think I even won some races, low level stuff. When 409s and some of the Mopars came out they used to race down on the San Diego freeway at the Manchester on ramp where the 1/4 mile was marked off. There was a bridge overpass that we all lined up to watch on. The on ramp was really long. I also remember going over to a street by TRW in Hawthorne, CA that was a big time race street for awhile. I even remember seeing a full drag bike race there one nite. I got out of the Army in '67 and my dad knew someone at Nickey Chev in Chicago, where he lived. I bought a new 67' Camero SS 396, and it wasn't the 300 hp version. Break in was drive from Chicago to LA. Once in LA I changed the gears to 4:11s, traction bars, had some head work done, and put in a Hearst Shifter (that had to make it faster right :3dSMILE:). I was working at NorthAmerican on Imperial Highway by LAX on second shift. There was a stop lite on Imperial heading to the beach that could guarantee a race every nite after work. There were lots of high horse power cars there as we were making good money. People would also come out and wait for us to get off work so they could race guys getting off work. I remember chunking at least one rear end and a couple of 4 speeds. Thats one car I wish I still had. I also stacked that car up, and think back on the racing we did. No one ever got hurt. We raced the 1/4 mile, or lite to lite, not the Fast and Furious version of the 1/4 that takes two minutes. Anyways thats some of it.
So. no one here ever street raced!! It was just as illegal then as it is now, and we all have the utmost respect for law and order on the highways as it pertains to others. My first "racer" was a '56 Ford 2dr sedan. My Uncle Roy and Dad helped me put a 312 in it out of a T-Bird that I found in the junk yard. Had a 3 speed od in it. I got numerous tickets in the car, and when it got really "hot" with the local posse, sold it to a friend of mine and let him take the heat!!!
I grew up in a small town, so it was a matter of community pride to put a whoppin' on the boys from out of town, and a double whoopin' if you could beat their cars and steal their girls!!
I don't think we were really all that bad, by today's standards we certainly weren't very fast, but we did have a lot of fun!! How about "rat races", or playing "bumper tag" with beaters? Seems kinda crazy now, but not as crazy as taking a gun to school and shooting your classmates. The "good old days" were really good, weren't they?
I spent a few nights behind nabisco and on la palma @ Brookhurst too!Quote:
Originally posted by bb427stang
Street racing in the '50s or '60s? A little before my time... However, street racing in the early and mid '70s, now THAT was a party! Hooking up with the L.A. Street Racers every week at Brookhurst and La Palma (?) and test and tune and grudge racing at The County. Getting busted by LA county sherrif's at Nabisco at 1am, running every car in sight on La Palma...damn that was GREAT! In case there are some non-SoCal readers, I lived (and still live) in Orange County, California. Would I let my boys do it today? No F'in way. That was a different time. We raced for pinks occaisionally and it was rare for someone to welch on a bet. Today? Hell, they'd pull a gun because they lost!
The '68 will go to the track again, and the boys are welcome to follow in Dad's steps as long as it's on the strip (non-NHRA tracks).
More later.
BB
I turned 16 in 68 and really didn't get involved in street racing until the early 70's. I guess I was what would be considered a "hard core" street racer (race my friends for bragging rights and strangers for money) wrench on the cars during the week and out almost every weekend looking for a race. I was involved in 2 accidents (riding shotgun both times in imprompto streetraces) thank god no injuries.
Hall Street in St Louis and the "Ones" (one way streets) in Davenport were pretty impressive, but I always managed to find find racing where ever I was stationed.
I went through a 63 Falcon Furtura 2dr HT (289 4 spd), a 62 Chevy II rag top (327 tri-power), a V8 Vega, and 2 V8 Pintos, which I pretty much paid for by racing them. There was even a short time I was street racing and running at a local strip at the same time.
I never got caught racing, but the cops knew who the racers were and I would usually get nailed for equiptment violations on a real regular basis. I got told get 1 car (my 351 powered 71 Pinto) out of Iowa, and another (my 74 302 powered Pinto) out of Wisconsin (running out of state tags both times).
I've been watching the crack downs on street racing on the news and saw a 1 hour special about street racing on TV about a year ago. Except for the cars, nothing has really changed over the years (hell, it hasn't changed since the 30's). It's something that I survived and pretty much out grew.
Ya know Streets, your story explains a lot!!:eek: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
Did some street racing in the early 80's. I had my '73 Roadrunner at the time. All the "rich" kids from the suburbs had the new 3rd gen camaro's and Z/28's running them. :HMMM:
We set up the races on the Des Moines downtown "loop" and then go down to Fluer drive at the top of the hill and race back to the "loop" downtown.
I won my fair share and lost mine as well. We raced for a little money and it mostly for bragging rights and car brand bragging as well.
We had a few that would race for "pinks". I was never in that group. Couldn't afford to loose my ride at the time.
I have done some street racing as of 3 years ago in my '71 Roadrunner with a 440 for usually around $1000.00 a run. Now I am married and have kids to think about and I sold my '71 to a kid in Minnesota.
I guess ya got to set your priorities!!!!
DCON
**)
Ah, reading about street racing on Fluer drive and the "loop" in DesMoines brings back a few memories. Was running a new 69 Torino Cobra and mostly just racing friends early on. The old ford held it's own pretty well, cept I got really tired of getting whooped by a buddies 69 Z28.
Picked up a 69 427 Vett to solve this problem. Now the Vett did well, even running it pretty much in stock form, but seemed the guys running the blowers really liked picking on me. I was getting more into racing top end on the back roads then. Found I really appreciated 4 wheel disc brakes when I got run down the exit ramp on Euclid off of the freeway at about 130mph.
By 1971 I had 3 Vetts setting in the garage all setup a little different to meet the situation. I'd go home and get the one that would give em the worst whoopen. The 67 327/350hp 4 gear coupe I had at the time was the best all around Vett I owned. I should have kept that one. Still one of my favorite cars.
Now I am building a 53 Studebaker Starliner Cpe from the ground up. How much of a switch is that?
Anyone out there old enough to remember the burnout fest at Porkies Drive-Inn in Mineapolis NSRA Street Rod Nationals? I believe it was around 1978 give or take a couple years. Seemed like thousands of specators lining the streets watching Street Rods lite-em up. Mine was the big block , chopped top 40 Chevy panel truck. If you happen to have a copy of Nov. 1978 Rod Action Magazine, Page 57 I think it was, My panel truck is in the second row w/red flames. Good 'ol American horsepower (NOT A HONDA)
Hey, when i read you want 50's and 60's stories i thought it was cool, but when you busted on todays youth about only driving hondas i knew i had to say something. I got a flamed asspen and get into most car scenes around here prety easy. And i'm afraid you guys are out of touch. Everyone my knows muscle cars are faster. Some just can't get them and in turn have to get rice. There parents are the ones paying. And as far as i've seen it's about 50/50 on the streets right now. There are vw that take beater maro's and tuned up foxes eating supras. I have lots of friends with 80's v-8 cars who are strugling to get some power for there money. I also know about 2 guys with 4-cylender cars who do work themselfs and there not realy that different. I think all you guys with real cars just need to go drive your cars and don't be afraid to burn some rubber for a 10 year old kid. That definentely sticks in a mind.
well being that im 19, i never got to see street races in the "old days" but i will say i have done my share of street racing. my first car was a 65 comet caliente witha 351w, c6, 4:62's. I would run around whoppin up on the hondas non-stop, and most domestics too. I got my ass aced by a dude driving a tubbed chevelle on nitrous. we would meet up and usually have around 200 people but by the time we got to the track it was only like a hundred. I dont really do much racing anymore because i got rid of the car(horrible gas mileage-8mpg) and the police are really cracking down. my dad has some old pictures of him with his 53 stude racing. i wish i could have seen racing in the 60s.
i have a story my dad told me alot, my dad and all the teenagers used to drag race on a beach in the bay area my dad was racing his wihte 34 ford coup it had some kind of merc flathead all hoped up with part he custom mad u could'nt buy them like u can now, but any way i gess he was pretty fast with that old 34 ford ,guys would come from l.a. and some from nv. to race him. my dad said he would all ways blow ther door off. but one time back at the beach some old guy would apper out of no where with a flat black vett, bumpers and all. and that old man left my dads 34 in the dust. and vanish . they called him the phatom i gess he made the newspapers in the bay area , but never found out who it was
Just for some perspective I can retell a situation where prior to 1950 the cars on the street were nowhere near as quick as today and in fact in the next village just over the hill from my boyhood home there was a guy who would sucker-bait some rodder into betting that he could beat his car in a one block race ON FOOT! His usual bet was $50 which was a lot of money in those days and I believe he collected three times before the word got around that he was fast. I also saw him run a kickoff back for a touchdown against our team so he was pretty quick. Of course a human dash runner is not that fast, but can reach top speed in only a few feet while while a car is just getting up to speed in a one block length. I never had access to really fast cars in the '50s. I had a few fast rides in my cousin's '50 Merc which seemed awesome and I rode to work at age 15 with a crazy driver whose job was to pick up waitresses and busboys like me from all over and take them to/from from a Howard Johnson restaurant. He wanted to drag that GMC van against everything so over lunch hour one day he stopped into a machine shop and had the head milled 0.080" and put back together in a little over an hour. It wasn't fast but he ran it ragged after he delivered most of the folks and the van was empty except for him and me. Believe me it was a real shock when I first encountered a new '55 Chevy 265 V8 alongside my '47 Ford with just a 0.030" overbore and it was clear that the OHV engine revolution had begun!
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
my uncle tom used to street race a 65 black corvette on some road on the end of a air port in detroit i like listenind to him talk bout the good old days i wish i was born back then....
Here in Tacoma area we did a lot of street racing.........I used to tear up 6th Avenue in my Vette and a 66 GTO and a 68 GTO......right in front of Busch's Drive In......but times were different then.........when we raced there were maybe 20 cars out and about after midnight on a friday or saturday........now if ya tried it .......it would be like racing during rush hour.........it was a simpler time and lots less traffic. Had some interesting races against some 409 Chevys and one cool Studebaker with a 409 and wheel well exit headers and 6 Webers.....wow those were the days.:3dSMILE: :3dSMILE: :CRY:
Its times like this i miss the cutlass. As per a referance to "80s V8 cars just trying to get more power" Ive been there. 82 Olds cutlass supreme. Went 260,307,403. All great motors in their own respect. the 260 will rev to the moon if you can keep it oiled, bump the compression on a 307 and put in a decent cam and itll shock you, and the 403 will easily pass 300HP with minimal investment. Like exhaust, 72 350 heads, and a good 4 barrel. thats it. Met many a rice with that car. However, street racing is more dangerous now than when you were going back in the 50s. Cars are more powerfull, kids are stupider and driving with power steering and brakes has made us less aware of the car. A lot of kids buy cars like camaros, Cutlasses and GS and dont even try the car out before they go racing. a simple turn on the steering box can make the vehicle respond so much better. And as for the police, cops are not hot rodders anymore. Most of them drive accords when the job is done. So good luck getting sympathy from them!
From the sixties- we used to race on a service rd. that ran parallel with the x-way. In the Cadillac area it was the Boone rd. Or up in Manton.
On the west side it was "Lake County Dragway". An informal gathering on Sundays. Timed with a stopwatch and headlights on the finish line. An old rd. back in the Michigan woods.
When I was in college it was Hall st. In StLouis Mo. They used to run full blown drag cars down there. This was late sixties.
We got busted in a C/Gas 57 Corvette on a closed (unopened new x-way) rd. in Missouri. It was February and no tracks were open. Cops let us go!
Back in Michigan, In the Flint area it was (and still is) St. John street. Then the famous gatherings at the Small Mall in the eighties, Car Craft even had an article about it. Racing on the North End, up by Ternsteadt plant.
Then there was Sunday street racing up near M-13 and the Saginaw county line. Cops used to bust it up about every other week. Their famous line was " We know you haven't been racing here because we don't see any tire marks on the pavement". (actually the road looked like the staging lanes at any strip!).
:rolleyes: Yes...........Quote:
Originally posted by Brent Mills
Thanks! [/B]
Humm ... Street Racing?? I'm much too young to have been doing that in the 50's or 60's. even the 70's I wasnt old enough to drive till the late 80's. And I DIDNT race my supra on the not yet opened hwy 3127 just south of D'ville or on hwy 30 north of Gonzales. My dad wouldnt let me get a muscle car cauze he knew what i'd do with it. Probably the same thing he did with his 65 mustang. RACE !!!! Not saying that i did street race the supera, but supposing i did, (wink) it was fast enough to take some bragging rights and SUPRAize a few unsuspecting guys. My best friend had a 79 trans am that was really quick. his "baby" was an old pontiac catalina 2+2 w/ a 421. it was primer grey and was one of the fastest cars around at that time. oh ... and we didnt street race those either .... he,he,he ... if we would have ... it would have been just for bragging rights or to see who was buying the beer for the next party. even so ... things are still different from that short time ago. We never had to worry much about guns or anyone even thinking stupid things like that. not long ago I was talking to my friend and the last time he was out street racing a couple guys got into an argument and out came the guns.... next thing ... bullets were flying. luckily they both sucked at shooting and noone was hit. He hasnt gone back since.... much safer at the track.... after that... the police really cracked down on them after that. before ... it wasnt a big deal ... small town ... and they figured ... we werent bothering anyone... and staying out of REAL trouble.... the road was in the middle of nowhere and led further into the middle of nowhere, so there was no traffic at all... so they would harass us only when they were bored.... and even then, noone ever got ticketed... they would even race aginst us in their cruiser every once in a while... and well ... thats my story of umm ... NOT street racing....
Here the cruise was The Esplanade, from the old Arctic Circle on the north end (or the Dairy Queen if the AC manager had called the cops about the turn-arounds in the lot), to the Chevron on the south end, after Esplanade turned into Broadway. Left, left, and head back up on Main until it turned back into Esplanade by the college.
The lights were set for 28 MPH, and they were right on at that. If you held 28, you could make the round trip without a stop except at the ends. Or at 56 MPH.
Downtown is old buildings 3-4 stories, and three lanes of traffic - one way streets. The cars, particularly if you had turn-down pipes underneath, just echoed off the buildings and it sounded like thunder.
Downtown there's a light every block, so it was mostly show off, burnouts, and get set up for the run north on the Esplanade, where it's two long blocks between lights. That's where the racing was really done.
My friend with the Camaro and the '56 Chevy pickup was somewhat notorious, since he didn't seem to be afraid of getting stopped at all. He'd pick his mark, and off they'd go. Usually for bragging rights between guys who knew each other, as said earlier. $20 or so for a grudge race. More if the other guy was a pain. The Camaro was pretty vicious. He couldn't quite beat the Shelby, but I had 101 ci on him, and pretty similar otherwise (headers, jetted up Holley, etc.). He had a bigger cam for the engine, and the Edelbrock Torker manifold, but the CJ cast iron intake wasn't bad.
The Camaro was noticeable for its header spit - the loud tick-tick-tick of the exhaust being pulled into the tubes. It also had nearly useless turbo mufflers and turn-downs in front of the back axle. It was deafening inside, and sounded great anywhere around. The Shelby had the big-block rumble, but that 327 snarled.
The pickup was the really funny one, though. He had a 'Vette 350 in front of a car three-speed. Light and overpowered. A four speed would have been nice, but the three-speed was cheap, and the truck was still fast. Another local guy had a green '68 Camaro with the spoiler and a name painted on the back of the spoiler. The guy with the pickup baited him into a race on the Esplanade, and just smoked him. This was while the truck was two-tone calf manure yellow and primer red. Nobody expected it to be fast.
After the truck was painted and looked like a hot rod, he'd go bait the Euro- and early Japanese crowd (this was about 1978). He raced a couple of guys in a VW Sirocco, which they thought was fast. They wanted to race for some money, but could only scrape up about five bucks between them. We went out by the airport to a marked quarter, he ran off and left them, and we took their money, bought a couple of six-packs of beer, and all of us sat and drank 'em and talked. More placid times.
We had a Mexican friend named Luis. He had a '70 Z28. A couple of other Mexican kids in a '67 Impala with a 427 tormented Luis into a race in his Z, an he just left 'em. **) Next night we were out in the Shelby. Same kids, same Impala, pulled up alongside and tried to get us to race. Luis yelled over, reminded them of the Camaro, and told them the Shelby was quite a bit faster. They turned of at the next opportunity.
We had the trailered cars, too, and they were interesting. We'd also uncap the headers and try to avoid the cops for a few laps. That could be interesting.
Lots of stories. Lately, if I have the Shelby out, it's just to go to a show-and-shine at Big Al's or some such. I'll get the rice rocket boys wanting to race, but I just let them go. It's their turn. Some of the current cars are pretty good, but even the guys with the lesser cars should have some fun. Still, you don't see the numbers. We'd have a hundred or more cars out on Friday and Saturday nights. Could have been nearer 200 - it's a long cruise. Now you'll see a couple of dozen on a good night. They race further out of town, to avoid the cops, but still get raided. Probably just as well. The road is a narrow one between rice fields (poetic on the nights the Acuras and Toyotas are out in force), and it looks like a disaster waiting to happen.
What I miss are the organized bracket races. The airport at Oroville used to have races one Sunday afternoon a month, and it was cheap. Safer than drag racing in front of the hospital, and nursing homes, and college housing. Nothing like that now. I heard Lion's Drag Strip in SoCal mentioned earlier. I grew up near that, and the engines on weekend nights were like music. All gone. Fremont Drag Strip gone. Not much place to race but on the streets, and that's a shame.
Keep 'em safe!
While not exactly street racing, this thread jogged my memory of a funny story during a sad time....
I used to work after high school at a service station to pay for gas money, date money, condoms, etc;)
When I used to go home (in my '61 Stude Hawk) about 10pm, I had a stop sign about 4 blocks from my street that I had to turn at. Seemed natural enough that a 4 block hammer down run was just what I needed to clean off the spark plugs before putting it to bed:rolleyes: .
Never thought to much about it...
Fast forward about 15 years.....
A very close friend of mine was a paramedic/intructor at a local volunteer fire department. He was tragically burned in a training accident and died after a couple weeks. Awful.
So, I was attending the funeral services, and there were a gazillion firefighters, and police departments there. Since I was part of the proceedings I was up there with the local department and stood next to one of my hometown's police officers.
We were making some small talk about this or that....
He casually mentions to me....
"So, do you still have that red Studebaker?"
My hair stood on end... I barely knew this guy (name recognition only)..
I said "Well, yes I do"
He laughs and said "We used to set our watches by when you came home... You'd run 'er through the gears, and go home...every night at the same time"....:D
Nuthin' happens in a small town that the police guys don't knw about:LOL:
Jeff:toocool: