Street Racing Confession(s)

[Budnicks]

Part 7

Rancho Secco, still very early AM July 5th

#7
Scott H. his 70 GS stage 1
between some of the races I mentioned before
Scott gets a race
He has a guy with a nice Dark Green/Black top (IIRC)
65 442 4 speed car, I never saw the engine
we suspected it is another BBC, but it may have been a pure Olds
typical street cars of the day, bunch of bolt-ons exhaust narrowed rear & wide tires
both were on street tires
They go for $50 (I think)
they both do a dry burnout
get up to the starting line
Jim is flagging,
Jim drops his arms & off they go
keep in mind;
Scott's car/Buick is a beautiful car, he babies it usually, he loves that car
afraid to ruin anything (his dad is a Chrysler Dodge master mech.)
Scott one of my best friends, he is a diehard MoPar guy too,
he just has a Buick at the time...
Scott is a real character, a loud mouth an instigator
he's also now very nervous---
The 442 gets way out on Scott, hits second, then he misses 3rd, bad
Scott starts to gain on him, the guy in the 442 gathers it up
gets 3rd finally, Scotts right next to him & Scott barely loses,
by maybe 1/2 a car
He's all fired up when they come back
he wants to race again
the 442 guy wants nothing to do with him...
Scott goes off, sort of on a rant, everyone is laughing at him...
He goes over to pout...
& now he's 'Getting pissed'...
He wants another race now too, he's eager...
One of the locals with a Buick GN 'brand new car'
says; 'he'll run Scott'...
Buick on Buick crime

Scotts car is really a quick car...
same deal $50 race, dry burnouts
Jim lines them up
gets ready to drop his arms
Scott jumps the gun early
the guy in the GN doesn't even move, it was that early...
Scott comes back all happy 'he thinks he won'
we had to let him down, he lost again...
Sort of a comedy of errors...
Scott's all riled up now...
He paid the guy, asked to run again, now down $100
Jim drops his arms,
they're off Scott is way out on the guy like 4-5 cars
crosses the finish line...
Come back talking all kinds of ****...
We just guided him over to the side & stroked his ego a bit...
It was sort of hilarious...
(he'll race again later)


#8
Lanny (Lenny ?) a friend of Roland's old car convert. Pro-Street
68 Dart 426cid Hemi/tf727 dana-60 big rear tires, nice headers & exhaust
wants to finally run his car, he really never raced
Truck driver, good driver, just not big into street racing
more of a show scene guy

The aforementioned 442 wants to run him, he agrees to $20 (IIRC)
we all got another $20 each on Lanny (?)
The Dart has real potential, so did the 442, was no slouch...
They both do their burnouts, the Dart does an impressive burnout
the 442 does a nice smoky dry burnout too
they get up to the line
Jim drops his arms, off they go,
the Dart is freight-training the guy, like he's (442) got an anchor
out like 3 cars on him, doing very well, hauling ***
(never knew that car was fast, I thought of it as 'more of a poser')
Lanny makes it all the way down, no problems, handles it well,
wins easily...
I'd bet it was a low 12's pass, very respectable run,
especailly for a rookie...
You could imagine how happy he is/was, he's hooked now too...
He wants to race again...
Says he didn't even have it floored...
I don't know about that , the 442 guys paid everyone...
like 8 of us
He goes back & parks...

these 2 sets of events were happening between a couple of the fasters cars races
or running them back

It was an interesting time for sure
I laughed so damn hard a few times, my sides hurt...

to be continued
as I remember it...

 

[Dave6T4]

I am thinking of a night in the summer of 1968. I was driving a 1962 Dart ex-police cruiser 2-door sedan into which I had just swapped an almost new 383 4-speed out of a rolled Formula "S" Barracuda. Being a fairly light car, it was pretty "peppy". I lived near the town of Tillsonburg, in the "Tobacco Belt" area of Southern Ontario. There was a local loudmouth in town with a good working '65 Impala with 300/327 with a 4-speed. His big brag was that he had never lost a race to a 383 Mopar. This could have been true, because he called me out on a night that it was starting to rain, so I declined. He called a friend of mine that owned a new 383 two-barrel Satellite. John said he waited about a half-hour for Big Mouth to show up, with no result, so he went home.
Our local cruise route was between two drive-in burger joints on the opposite ends of town. I tended to hang out at the Glen-Mur on the North end of town, as it was owned and operated by the parents of a couple of high school friends. Many a street race was challenged in this parking lot. An acquaintance of mine in the next town about 15 miles away had bought a 1967 Hemi GTX the year before, but he rarely came to Tillsonburg with it, so it was not a well known car here. Tom came from a family of dedicated Mopar owners. His older brother bought a real deal new 413 Max Wedge in 1962. When their mother expressed an interest in the new Charger of 1966, she sent these two motorheads to London to buy her a new Charger. They came home with a bright red 383, 4-barrel, 4-speed example. She was fine with it and drove it for many years.
So, this particular night in 1968, Tom showed up at our hang-out with his Hemi GTX. This night, Big Mouth showed up with his 327 Impala as well. I went over to talk to Tom and ask him if he wanted to have some fun at Chevvie Boy's expense. The plan was to pass Tom's GTX off as a 383 Satellite and agree to race the "undefeated" Impala. At this time, in our car community, Mopars were kind of ignored by the Chev and Ford gang and not very well understood. My new friend agreed to the plan. I then went over over to Big Mouth and said, " My friend over there thinks his 383 Satellite is pretty quick, and could likely beat you in a street race.". This brought on the "I can beat any 383 Mopar Blah, Blah, Blah", as I expected it would. We agreed to let him pick the venue, and we would follow him out there. ( We didn't want him to spot the Hemi tag on the deck lid ). It was getting dark now, and a couple of other cars followed us out. Tom graciously offered Big Mouth a couple of lengths head start, because he was so sure of his 383. This offer was declined. I rode with Tom, and our competitor had one of his friends ride with him. The plan was for the GTX to get a car length out on the the Impala, and just keep that lead through 1/4 mile. One of the spectators did the arm drop, and away we went. Tom followed our ruse perfectly, actually letting the Chev claw back half a length, but still lose. It was brilliant.
We turned around, and returned to the starting line. Big Mouth had still not spotted the Hemi signs, and asked for his previously offered two car length head start. Tom "reluctantly" agreed to this. So the cars were staged up, and the arm drop happened. The Chev got away cleanly with its head start. My Hemi friend let him stretch it out to another couple of lengths before he jammed the gas pedal to the floor. I will never forget my first experience of hearing all that atmosphere getting sucked through 8 barrels! We totally blew the guys doors off, and kept on going.(LOL). On the drive back to the Glen-Mur, with him now following us, it finally sunk in, that he had been played, as he spotted the trunk lid HEMI tag. When we got back to the parking lot, Big Mouth jumped out his car and he was so pi$$ed, he was practically sputtering. We Mopar guys had a great laugh. This began a lifelong friendship with Tom and his older brother Joe who had had the Maxie. Sadly they are both gone now. It is hard to believe this all happened almost 55 years ago! Still a fun memory!

 

[Budnicks]

Part 8
Rancho Secco

#9 Carl B. the 70 Challenger "the Instigator"
440 six-pack, 4 speed, dana-60, super track pack car
Nice car white, black tailstripe, black inside
He's going to run one of the Oroville guys
a white gold/tan/red stripes 78 (?) Z28 Camaro,
on slicks like 28x9"
Really nice looking car, sounds nasty as hell,
all the Oroville guys cars are
it has a BBC in it, big N2O too
no idea how many cubes,
he's pretty tight-lipped,
He never opened the hood, we know it's got N2O
all of them have it, Mike M. is a huge N2O guy
Mike said it's nasty too...
(Me & Mike have a standing $20 side bet on all his group
against any of our group, cool dude)

Carl has his hands full, Carl has cash too
he negotiates a $250 race, big stakes
& negotiates a next race
that the guy doesn't run N2O & it's a heads-up race the next time
Camaro guy agrees

the Camaro guy on N2O pass 1
Carl we put him put out 1 car, ahead of the starting line
& the Camaro back behind the line 1 car
so it's like a 3 car headstart, 50-60' maybe
Carl's no dummy...
Carl's Challenger for N/A 440 Six Pack is no slouch either,
great heads, good cam, highly tuned 6bbl, good headers/exhaust cut outs,
tested tuned & proven combo, a 4 speed car
it ran like 11.90s at Fremont on sticky street tires N50s, in the heat
car works well, for what it is

race #1
Jim flagging again
both do burnouts Carl does a short sweet burnout
Camaro guy sits in one spot & like 45 seconds of smoke
they pull forward
Jim gets way out so they can both see him,
'sketchy ****'
drops his arms,
Carl is out like he was launched off a rocket
the Camaro guy is coming hard, on juice,
at about 500-600ft the Camaro is reeling him in,
Carl shifts to 4th like 800-900ft
it's way to close to call from the starting line
Looks like Carl had him... can't tell for sure
The finish line guy says 'Carl by a fender'
(a bunch of people down at the finish line area now)
they both come back & say too close to call...

Race #2
double or nothing, $500 on the next pass,
'heads up no N2O for Camaro guy'
the bottle is taken out

Carl wants to go right away, he's ready
Camaro guy agrees reluctantly,
but does a big burnout again
you can smell antifreeze, his car is getting hot
one of his crew/buddies comes over with a blue bottle
& sprays N2O into/thru his radiator, thru the grill,
to cool it off some
no harm no foul
Carl waits patiently, cars sits at like 180*, no big deal
they both pull in
Jim drops his arms,
Carl gets the guy again 'bigtime out of the hole'
like 1-1/2 cars bad
the Camaro doesn't have the crutch of N2O now to make it up
still fast thou,
it is faster than Carl's Challenger,
Carl did a better job getting out/off
good street racer (should have known, his whole family is)
Camaro he's gaining on him fast,
Carl barely beats the guy
1/2 a car maybe a lil' more, Camaro guy made up like 2+ cars
they both come back, the guy paid Carl all $500,
congratulated him too, 2 great races really...

& I/we now got another 'ringer to bring along, out of town'...

Oroville/Marysville/Yuba City area guys
were ribbing the poor guy "hard"
maybe we should 'honk the horn', so you know when to leave...
Typical buddies stuff...
Really a cool group of guys...

to be continued
still more

 

[Budnicks]

I am thinking of a night in the summer of 1968. I was driving a 1962 Dart ex-police cruiser 2-door sedan into which I had just swapped an almost new 383 4-speed out of a rolled Formula "S" Barracuda. Being a fairly light car, it was pretty "peppy".

Tell us more...

 

[Dave6T4]

Yeah, I hit the Post button accidentally.

 

[Budnicks]

Part 10
Rancho Secco, now nearing daylight, 6 am-ish
we're all getting tired
still like a min. of 10 or more races to go down
more with the locals

#9
Eric B. his lil' fast Demon, 340 bad lil' motor
he gets
#11 Felisha (beautiful young lady, tall blonde, total car gal)
with the 70 Formula 400 Ram Air IV 4 speed
'N2O' plate kit (IIRC she only had 100hp jets) car to race
for shits & giggles
Nobody of the other groups would race either fo them
they were getting bored waiting
lets get something going

I do the flagging
Felisha (on N2O) gives him the back tires on the starting line,
he's N/A, still a quick car
they both do short dry burnouts,
so not to drag water up to the starting area

I get them up to the starting line
Armdrop, off they go
Eric is out on her,
Felisha reels him in almost right away
gets him by a car maybe...
Damn she can drive & shift a stick like nobody's business
Both solid 12 second cars on the street
Quick no fuss race...
No drama

they negotiate another race
Now... No N2O for Felisha

I'm thinking the Demon that nasty lil' 340 with the STR-12
(I raced with my inherited 68 Formula S 383 4 speed)
he's got this one
they do dry burnouts again
pull up,
Eric is up on the converter hard
I drop my arms, both get out good Felisha is ahead
at least to 1/2 track
can't tell who won
the finish line guys say;
'Eric & the Demon by a fender'
they go again, rubber match best out of 3
same deal dry burnout
No N2O for Felisha again...
I drop my arms, off they go
Eric (Demon) gets her bad off the line, she's reeling him in thou
nips him at the very end, really close race again
by a fender...

Felisha 2-1...
Damn that Pontiac is strong...
She could be a great ringer...

Now the local, with the New GN guy,
wants to Run, Eric & the Demon
same deal dry burnouts
get up to the start
Eric is great on the arm drop, 'again'
off they go,
Eric (Demon) gets him by a couple of cars
he was way out of it too, wasn't even a real race...
$20 IIRC, easy money

Now
#12
Ron C. with the 69 Judge 455+ with really good ram-air IV parts,
ported heads, higher compression, decked block
homemade tunnel ram, 2 big 4 bbl Holleys
(Barrowed N2O 5,500 converter from Jim C.) TH400,
like 4.56:1 (or 4.88:1 (?) gears) big tire car, full 8 pt rollbar
Car has ran in the low 8 at the track, once, it usually breaks
before it makes a full pass...

3 kits N2O,
#1 a Top Gun plate kit under the carbs for off-the-line 250
#2 then a plumbed into the intake plenum spray bar 250+
#3 a Top Gun Fogger kit down by the bottom of the runners
he always 'run *** big jetts' in the Fogger, I assume it's 350+
(knowing Ron, it may be another 500 shot)
pointed at the intake valves, has to be like a min of 800+hp
'to maybe 1,000+ of N2O alone'

Ron, He has one of the Oroville guys lined up
a Nasty dark blue 69 Camaro RS/SS beautiful car
slammed to the ground professional build, tinned tubbed
on methanol, an Enderle FI Hat on a tunnel-ram full roller motor,
biggish CID BBC, maybe 540 (? or bigger) PG & a loose converter 6,000-ish
& N2O (Tom T.s) fogger on a separate dedicated fuel system
on 110 Sunoco lil' 5 gallon cell upfront, (I watched him pour it in)
a real tube chassis car, 25:1 spec. with a 4 link
15x33's narrowed trussed up 9"
Pro convos this car is no joke, it's a S/C 8.90 N/A car easily
without N2O

I'd be hesitant to run him in my 49 Ford 8.50 Pro-gas,
that can run into the hi 7.90s car, 499cid Blown FI on Methanol...
Ron has his hands full...
We've seen it before too, he does better on the street
than at the track
he's more in his element, he's a good mechanic & a good N2O tuner
(he was my clutch guy for a while on my Trans Am T/S car)

I think they were going to run for $200 (?)
Ron doesn't have any money, but didn't want help
his wife was putting the $$ up...
I had my bet with Mike M. $20 my guy against his guy

the Sun is sneaking up in the horizon, daylight is coming
finally the race is going down
Ron was fussing with stuff all damn night...

Jim is going to flag them (we're all tired)
they both do burnouts in VHT, both do long-rolling burnouts
get some rubber down
It's on
I'm awake now..
Jim gets them lined up heads up
no lengths BS
they both do purges, 'huge purges'
Ron's up hard on the converter/Transbrake
SC Camaro is too
Jim drops his arms,
off they go
Ron is a lil' late, but car is hooked hard
'wheels up' about a foot
carries it out to like 120' maybe, he's on the carb plate kits for launches
huge blue flames, when he shifts to 2nd it adds the plenum kit too,
3rd kit is on a button on the steering wheel, not yet
Guy in the SC Camaro, is rolling, the car barely lifted,
it just went/moved forward
guy knows how to tune suspensions,
short blue flames coming out
he's on Methanol, I don't think he is on the N2O 'yet'
I know Ron is, he's into the 2nd kit now (pour lil Pontiac engine)
at about 500-600 ft you can see his/Camaro guys N2O come on
they are side by side,
Rons doing very well
about 800-1,000 ft they both peddle it,
Ron's spins 1st & he gets back on it 'quick'
car is unsettled, starting to spin the tires now
SC Camaro guy gathers it up quick,
looks like he's not on the N2O anymore
Ron clips him at the finish line
Another really close race, easily (I assume)
another 8 second pass on the street

there are several people now down at the finish line
talking over my Motorola hand held job/coms
yell/screaming actually back;
"The GTO WON', the GTO WON"
nobody, including me, thought he would win...
Total underdog...
Ron's done, 1 run & done, never used the 3rd kit...

we agree to meet everyone back Saturday evening here 11:00pm-ish
(it's early Sat. morning) we all load up &/or leave
Our Bunch & a couple more like 13-14 people & cars
Go back the Rob C. & Dee's place, in Rancho Cordova/Cambodia
1st thing I did was strip down to my boxers & jumped in their pool
poor-mans bath, I felt much better, I fell asleep in a lounge chair poolside
we had like 8 people sleeping on the floor of Rob & Dee's
patio room
everyone is up about noon-ish,
everyone is checking out their cars
it's like 2:00pm-ish
Jim & I went to the store & bought a shitload of groceries
Dee makes a killer BBQ, Chicken, Burgers & Ribs, some potato salad
chips dips, cokes & a few beers nothing crazy...

getting fueled up for the next night

to be continued; until the next installment

sorry guys,
I know it's getting long-winded
I have a hard time explaining it otherwise thou...
Hope you are enjoying it...

 

[biomedtechguy]

maybe we should 'honk the horn', so you know when to leave.

 

[Darter6]

How many of you have "Run from a roll" start ?

 

[biomedtechguy]

Budnicks,
That last story drew me in so much I could almost feel the cooler, dryer California air. (I'm guessing?) What was the weather like in these race spots, humidity, temperature...Did it vary much?
I know spring and fall here, some winter days are the BEST for cutting a good time, compared with the "damp hot towel" weather.
I spent 2 weeks on vacation in San Juan Valley, CA, when I was around 10 years old. I went swimming just about every day. I don't know if it was the weather or the pool, but it was a very healthy experience.
Makes me sad to see what has become of CA, you know what I mean.

 

[Dave6T4]

In my last memory, I introduced followers to my friends, Tom and Joe. These were the eldest of six brothers, and all were members of the local stock car racing scene. A generation earlier, their father, Harvey, and his cousin Jim (?) were pillars of this racing community. They actually campaigned a new 1956 Dodge D-500 at that year's Daytona 500. This model of car used the larger Chrysler 354 Hemi, rather than the Dodge 315 Red Ram. As purchased, It came with solid lifters and a single 4-barrel. By the time they arrived in Florida, Chrysler had released a dual 4-barrel option for this car, and all their Dodge competitors had this system on their cars. Chrysler was so impressed that these privateers had towed their Dodge all the way to Daytona to race, that they donated the newer and more competitive dual carb setup to them to level the playing field. Records show that their '56 Dodge qualified one place higher than Lee Petty's (Richard's dad) entry for the race. Unfortunately, early in the race, the car was involved in some kind of kerfuffle, and ended up on its roof in the middle of the track, and was eliminated. Back home, son Joe bought the car, put a new roof on it, and drove it as his everyday car, with the original single carb back on it. His wife remembers this car as the one they went on their honeymoon with. The last time I was at his shop, which his son now owns, the donated dual four setup was still on a shelf. Father, Harvey, owned an excavating/construction business and did all the site work on the construction of Sparta Dragstrip, near St. Thomas, Ontario.

 

[padam]

sorry guys,
I know it's getting long-winded
I have a hard time explaining it otherwise thou...
Hope you are enjoying it...

Keep them coming Budnicks, your stories are awesome!

 

[Budnicks]

How many of you have "Run from a roll" start ?

I did when I was 16-ish HS days stuff
when guys didn't any $$ or have gears or good tires to get off quick
when my 68 Charger R/T had the 3.55:1s it was great from a roll
that didn't last too long thou...
I was a gear junky, always trying something

I got a bunch of gears sets & carriers (like 9 of them)
mostly 742 & 489 cases, stored in a shed
given to me when I cleaned out a property, the shed outbuildings
in Auburn Ca, for a guy my dad did a bunch of work for
back when I worked for my dad, for near min. wage...

 

[Budnicks]

Budnicks,
That last story drew me in so much I could almost feel the cooler, dryer California air. (I'm guessing?) What was the weather like in these race spots, humidity, temperature...Did it vary much?
I know spring and fall here, some winter days are the BEST for cutting a good time, compared with the "damp hot towel" weather.
I spent 2 weeks on vacation in San Juan Valley, CA, when I was around 10 years old. I went swimming just about every day. I don't know if it was the weather or the pool, but it was a very healthy experience.
Makes me sad to see what has become of CA, you know what I mean.

I do know what you mean... It is a shame, such a nice place...

It was hot summer nights, that race/event was July 4th started at the cruise night
& into the 5th very early am & then about 11:00-ish PM
into the late evening of the 5th, (next installments) on the 6th into very early am
humidity was like maybe like as high (?) 'maybe' it was 45%
it's not really bad here, it wasn't that weekend either, not that I remember anyway
(possibly much lower) it was still warm like 90* at midnight,
(July 4th weekend)
it was 100*+ during daylight, like 11:00am-ish to 8:00pm-ish
(sometimes earlier or later) in summer for several months
sort of normal for the area is 80*+ to 90*+, into the nights occasionally,
near 85* early min.- 90*+ is the norm, into -100*+ days,
(for a couple of weeks July to Aug. usually)
then cooled down to like 75*-78*-ish at 6:00am
normal valley temps, unless the wind comes in from the west
(up here in the mountains, it cools off quite a bit more after sundown)
we don't get really bad humidity in NorCal, even in the valley

unless weather or the wind (Marine Layer) is coming in,
from the bay up I80 (or hwy-50) corridor,
up thru Fairfield, Valejo & Vacaville to Sacramento area
to about 125+ to 135+ miles inland 'at a min.'
or much deeper/farther into the lower foothills,
but that's usually later in the Summer here

In normal years up here it's like 25%-35%, without cloud cover
the cloud cover adds humidity by about 10%-15%
real cloud cover is relatively rare in Summers here,
unless you're in higher elevations
in our average in Summer like June to Early Sept. at least

great air for N2O combo or N/A combos

Low humidity. is why we get fires so damn bad, lack of rain for 4-5 months
& very low humidity most like into 10 months, some years 11 months
classic car driving weather

SoCal is a whole different story

 

[Matt B.]

I love these stories! I loved talking with my Dad about his fun cruising in Mnpls/St. Paul. He would sometimes talk about his acceleration contests. And he would have such a big grin telling some of his stories. He never gave date, but he a 59’ or 60’ impala with a 348. Then bought a brand new 69’ RR.
MattB

 

[Budnicks]

In my last memory, I introduced followers to my friends, Tom and Joe. These were the eldest of six brothers, and all were members of the local stock car racing scene. A generation earlier, their father, Harvey, and his cousin Jim (?) were pillars of this racing community. They actually campaigned a new 1956 Dodge D-500 at that year's Daytona 500. This model of car used the larger Chrysler 354 Hemi, rather than the Dodge 315 Red Ram. As purchased, It came with solid lifters and a single 4-barrel. By the time they arrived in Florida, Chrysler had released a dual 4-barrel option for this car, and all their Dodge competitors had this system on their cars. Chrysler was so impressed that these privateers had towed their Dodge all the way to Daytona to race, that they donated the newer and more competitive dual carb setup to them to level the playing field. Records show that their '56 Dodge qualified one place higher than Lee Petty's (Richard's dad) entry for the race. Unfortunately, early in the race, the car was involved in some kind of kerfuffle, and ended up on its roof in the middle of the track, and was eliminated. Back home, son Joe bought the car, put a new roof on it, and drove it as his everyday car, with the original single carb back on it. His wife remembers this car as the one they went on their honeymoon with. The last time I was at his shop, which his son now owns, the donated dual four setup was still on a shelf. Father, Harvey, owned an excavating/construction business and did all the site work on the construction of Sparta Dragstrip, near St. Thomas, Ontario.

That's a cool story, & a cool part of racing history
That is one hell of a haul down to Daytona from up there,
especially in the later 50s, not many creature comforts...
&
I'll bet he/they have some great stories too...

 

[Darter6]

gears or good tires

Running from a roll .Thanks for that. It was common for us because of using bias street tires.
And/or too much gear. I had a 340 4 speed 70 Duster with 5.13's as my daily driver. But when you are 17 what the heck did we know.
Even from a roll my car would light the tires till I got to 3rd gear, by then the race was lost. Many guys I street raced would say I'd have them if I could only hook.
Now my story.
Speaking of the 340 Duster,the king of the street was a 64 Chevelle 427 4 speed 4.10 gear car.
We lined up one night (both cars had full exhaust) from a roll with my brother driving(He was like Ronnie Sox with a stick in his hand).
My car was outfitted with a 71 Thermoquad. We lost that one due to not being able to hook.BUT the Chevelle owner said
"What the hell, that Damn Thermobubble is so loud I couldn't even hear my engine!! Thank god I had a tach."
Now remember Thermoquads came out in 71 so they were new to everyone. Brand X guys had no idea.
A buddy of mine worked at a Plymouth dealer and hooked me up with a carb and manifold from a guy buying a new 71 Challenger that wanted a Edelbrock manifold and a Holley 780. I've been a Carter carb guy ever since.

 

[Dave6T4]

My friend, Joe, bought one of the few 1962 Dart 413 Maximum Performance S/S cars that came into Canada. It was a white 2-door sedan, with the L.C. 11 : 1 Max Wedge and a TorqueFlight. He planned for it to be a dual purpose race and family car, but he quickly learned this car did not like winter. He had to order the complete heater package from the Dodge parts department and install it. In the late fall, he would pull the 413 and 4.56 gears, and exchange them for a 383 and 3.23's. In the spring, this process was reversed, much like I now change from summer tires to winter ones, and back.
Joe was a pretty good tuner, and soon had his Dart turning respectable times at Sparta Dragway, a 1/4 mile local track that his Dad's construction company helped build. Some of the Detroit racers used to compete here, since the track was only about 125 miles away. One weekend, among other noteworthy racers, the RamChargers were in town. They noticed Joe's 413 Dart running times not a whole lot slower than their famous car. They came over to check out his car, and were surprised to find Joe's racer still using the factory heavy cast iron manifolds and dump pipes, while they had lightweight custom fender well headers.
As I said, Joe was a good tuner, and had a keen sense of humour. If he sensed someone was paying too much attention to his tuning tricks, he would pretend to set his points with blades of grass he picked. He would also check his plug gaps with twigs he picked up off the ground. Funny guy.

 

[Darter6]

59’ or 60’ impala with a 348.

Matt, My brother had a 61 Impala 348 tri power 4 speed. He sold it to a guy and a few days later the guy drove it thru a HOUSE !!

 

[Darter6]

like I now change from summer tires to winter ones, and back.

I used to drive my 340 Duster from Pittsburgh Pa. to Denver Colorado while in school.
I would install 2.94 for the trip and carry a 3.91 pig and swap it out when I got to Denver.
Back then swapping gears was like changing socks.

 

[Dfr360cuda]

I used to drive my 340 Duster from Pittsburgh Pa. to Denver Colorado while in school.
I would install 2.94 for the trip and carry a 3.91 pig and swap it out when I got to Denver.
Back then swapping gears was like changing socks.

I posted this on FABO years back