Thread: Anyone from Danville, Illinois?

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That was a great article on Keith,He's been blessed with a will of iron to face what happened and come back.No moving back to Illinois for me,snow,ice storms,humidity,No thanks! At least I can get PBR in Phoenix! Check this out on Google 1963 AHRA Nationals.These guys were 2 years ahead of me in High School. Farnsworth,Hepler&Chinn they ran a A/fuel Dragster called "The Fugitive" after you read up on it let me know,I'll tell you a neat story! Jeff

Jay is that you? Terry Nourie

Terry, I didn't know you were on here! I'll send you my email address so we can stay in touch. Jay

Jay: Just happened to run in to this forum while goofing off.Was pretty sure that was you.Not much going on here.Just waiting for the car shows to start.Still have a lot of nice cars in this town.Quit drag racing last year,just to much trouble and cost way to much.Put plates and mufflers on the car and driving it on the street.The mustang boys sure dont like to see it.HEE HEE.Address (tncn2@insightbb.com) Later. TERRY

Terry, Good to hear from you. From this message, I assume you're still a Chevy guy! I didn't know you'd gone racing.......on a race track that is! :-) I'll send you an email.

Originally Posted by Jeff B

That was a great article on Keith,He's been blessed with a will of iron to face what happened and come back.No moving back to Illinois for me,snow,ice storms,humidity,No thanks! At least I can get PBR in Phoenix! Check this out on Google 1963 AHRA Nationals.These guys were 2 years ahead of me in High School. Farnsworth,Hepler&Chinn they ran a A/fuel Dragster called "The Fugitive" after you read up on it let me know,I'll tell you a neat story! Jeff

Jeff, Can you give me a address for that article, I couldn't find it. I do remember a Fugitive dragster from Champaign, Illinois. It was red, full bodied, and I think had early hemi power.

Yeah,thats the one.Candy Apple Red 392 blown Hemi,anyway Chuck Hepler lived about a block south of Champaign High School he was 2 years ahead of me in school,University ave. was a one way in front of the school,a lot of us would cruise around the school then nail it down University.Well,they sent a cop down to keep an eye on us,"Bunker" Jones was usually on patrol with a Harley 3 wheeler but in '63 the city got him a '63 Bel Air 230 6 W/powerglide and a radar gun.Chuck and the gang decided to scare the crap out of him,so we blocked off the streets the around sides of the school and Chuck made a full-bore pass down University right past him and made the first turn and back into his garage.Between the sound of that Hemi and his gun going off the peg it had him shaking in his boots! Ol' Bunker worked for my ex-father in-law at Western Bowl and he never forgot that day!

Jeff, After high school we spent a lot of weekends at the local 1/8th mile tracks, like Charleston and Paris, Illinois, and of course we went to Indy for the points meet and the US Nationals. You?

Friends included Wayne Danner and John Carey, both who ran Austins in B/Gas.

I never made it to any of the 1/8 mile tracks,when I got out of the Army in 67 I got into Stock car racing, my home track was Farmer City 1/4 mile dirt also ran at Champaign on the 1/2 mile during the Fair.Went thru divorce#1 in '69 and headed to Phoenix in early '70.I did make it up to US 30 a few times,a buddy ran B/SA 413 Dodge w/ Longrams held a track record there,he sold it and bought a '66 427 Comet he was a regular at Steak& Shake the car was powder blue.You may have seen it there,he loved the chili & burgers too!

If you went to US30......"drag racing capitol of Chicagolaaaaand!".... do you remember the starter who rode a motorcycle the length of the track....doing a wheelie....standing on the seat?

...or how about the local legend, "Shake Rattle and Run"?

I googled US 30 Dragstrip and there is a site with 100 pics,one of them is Shake,Rattle&Roll .Also check this outwww.wpsracing.com/dvd2dvdseus3.html) now all you need is a big screen,surround sound,a Chicago Dog and some Old Style buried in ice and you could almost go back in time. Jeff

Thanks, JeffB. Here is a page I found on the net about the restoration of the car:

http://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature/garage/0657chev/

The shots they showed on a couple of the US30 sites reminded me of our own Tucson Dragway. The last time I checked it out, it was just the asphalt and weeds left. A lot of history there too.

I went to the website for Danville, and found they have redone the site. If you are interested, look around for links to the "old allarounddanville archives". A lot of pictures of the buildings and area, even going back to the early part of the last century.

Jay, I lived in Lodi,California for several years and managed a Uniroyal tire store there, they shut down the Lodi strip too and it layed empty for over 30 years and the weeds took over,last year it came back to life.They had an event last year that drew a huge crowd and it will be back very soon this year.A lot of the cars are built the old school way,might be a good site for West Coast H.A.M.B. Drags,there are some good pics on the net,check it out!

1981 AHRA Winternationals. I thought you night wanna stroll a bit thru memory lane.