Thread: how to get truck into 11s

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I spent some time out there in 1971-73 until they closed it and built houses.

I had a street/strip '68 427 Biscayne that was my daily(only!) driver. Best ET with it was 13.03. Had a lot of fun cruising Dodge street, hanging out at McDs.

When were you there? we probably knew some of the same folks.

I was stationed at Offutt and worked part time at the Brandeis Tire Center on 73/75.

Pat

Pat,

I moved to Omaha in '67, and worked for Northern Natural Gas at their old building at 2223 Dodge. I lived near Burke High for a while, then moved out near the Millard airport. I used to run my GTO in the top bracket class for street driven cars. My biggest competition was a 396/395 Chevelle and a 428 Mustang Cobra Jet. Moved to Kansas City in '93, then to Virginia Beach in '02.

I also ran a 23 T roadster in super comp (injected alcohol) at the Scribner Dragway with a buddy of mine. Team name was Banzai Racing.

Here's a photo.

And another.

Hey, we used to run at Scribner some in the mid 80's. Always thought it was a neat place. Did you guys ever bring your stuff up to Thunder Valley in Marion, SD??? There was some cornhusker stuff up there that was really tough to beat. Gene Bickelmeier (excuse the spelling) ran and N/ Stock 56 chebbie, he was always a handful and usually walked off with the stock eliminator paycheck. Was another guy, maybe from Lincoln, ran a 65 Cuda in Modified Production, don't remember his name.

Naw, we never went to North Dakota. We were just casual racers in for the fun of it. We ran strictly old school. No electronics, no control boxes, just a trans brake and a go pedal. We went when we felt like it, and stayed home when we didn't.

There was a guy from Omaha that ran a car called Cuda Bear. That may have been him. He was always tough. Danged if I can remember his name. Seems like it was Floyd something . . .

Remember the combine parked just past the end of the strip? Slows you down quicker than a sandbox.

Originally posted by Dave Severson
Hey, we used to run at Scribner some in the mid 80's. Always thought it was a neat place. Did you guys ever bring your stuff up to Thunder Valley in Marion, SD??? There was some cornhusker stuff up there that was really tough to beat. Gene Bickelmeier (excuse the spelling) ran and N/ Stock 56 chebbie, he was always a handful and usually walked off with the stock eliminator paycheck. Was another guy, maybe from Lincoln, ran a 65 Cuda in Modified Production, don't remember his name.

Just B sure you get stopped B4 U get to the cliff.

Originally posted by Streets
Oh Yeah, Dats all I gotta do iz lQQk at a Super Comp "T" long enuff and I'll wanna build a "street legal" racer and go 'ave some fun on the "Boul-e-vard.. hehehe.. Cool lQQkin' car Henry...

There ya' go. It's project time....He HE he

Yeah, that Super Comp is double throw down kewl, ought to be illegal to put a pic like that in front of a bunch of ol geezers that quit drag racing.!!!!

Hey Pro, you mean the cliff at the end of the shut down at Thunder Valley??? Man, almost went off it once in the Super Gas car, chute didn't come out and I was fiddling with the handle instead of climbing on the brakes!!!! Finally did the old bounce-on-the-slicks-as-yer-slidin-sideways deal and got her stopped about ten feet short of the abyss!!! Could of been real ugly!!!

Yup, that's the 1.
That would be a downer...

My first full pass in that car was interesting. Needed my NHRA comp license, so I needed to run close to 8.90. I was just going through the first set of cones when I got tire shake and started bouncing from one slick to the other. One would grab, then flip me over to the other one. The cage was too small for me, and started smacking my helmet and shaking my glasses so I was seeing about 8 cones instead of two. My thought was that I would be OK as long as I kept the same number of cones on each side of me - regardless of whether they were imaginary or real. Amazing how your mind works at 170 mph.

I musta been right. I'm still here.

Tire shake do make for a very interesting ride, been there done that!!! Which of those 10 lanes is mine???? My most interesting ride, other that almost going over the cliff at Thunder Valley, was in Fargo, ND. Blew a tranny cooler line and oiled down the right slick about the 1000 foot mark!!! Did a 360 and a half, finally found the shifter got neutral and the brake pedal and somehow managed to stop without hitting anything. Guy in the other lane said it was a great driving job, I assured him it was just pure, dumb luck!!!!! Let's not talk about sprint car rides, the memories make my poor old busted up bones hurt too bad......gave them up in '78, went drag racing cuz it was so much safer!!!!!

Henry, I recognize that Cornfield!

I think the guys last name with the 428 Mustang was Witt. His brother had a quick 70 Z-28 also. Also knew the Patrick brothers with their big Hemi Roadrunner, and Tommy Kocanda and a few others.

I ran at Scribner from about 79-83. My car is pictured below. I did make it up to Thunder Valley for one ET Finals Race. Gene B was always tough, I think he is running Superstock now.

Here's a pic of the Car I ran at Scribner. It was a budget car, Ran in Pro/ET. I used to pass out coupons for free French Fries at the Fremont McDs.

I remember the car, Pat. Man that was a couple years ago, huh?? If my feeble memory serves me correctly in the 79 - 83 time frame we were running a white 66 Mustang with "Crazyhorse" on the side of it, sponsored by the Mobil station in Luverne, Mn. Ran ET with it, had a blast. We ran mainly at Thunder Valley, but did make the trip to Scribner a couple times every summer.

Small world eh? The Air Force sent me out to CA in 83 and I ran her a couple times out here and kinda lost interest. Getting ready for the races was becoming too much like work. Sold the car finally in about 85 and went bass fishing. Come full circle now and am back on the cars. Still have the bass boat though, for now at least.

I'm not sure if I remember the Mustang, my memory is pretty feeble too these days. But your name has been familiar too me ever since I found this site. Maybe that's the connection?

Pat

Could be, Pat. Who knows??? We won the ET finals and track championship at Thunder Valley one year, probably '82. Went to Bandimere for the Division Finals and went out 2nd round. In '84 we moved up to Super Gas with a 72 Maverick and a big block Ford, ran that car til 90, then sold it and have only been to the drags a couple times since. Like you say, car prep just got to be to much like work and it was getting that we would ignore customer stuff to get ready to race. The one thing I still intend to do some day is take something down the salt at Bonneville. Always had planned it to be a roadster, but lately kind of been thinking about the Ranchero I am in the process of building now. By the way, I have a boat, too. It's in the shed out at my cousin's for about 6 or 7 years now, should at least go look at it someday and see if there's enough of it left to sell to someone!!!

Dave & Pat
Either of you guys remember this vega. It ran at Thunder Valley in that same time period. Sorry i don't remember the guyz' name. I got talked into puttin' a paint job on it @ a party one night. Ah foolish youth. It was fun tho.