Your old Street Racing Antics

[Dibbons]

#2 (continuing from post #20)

After high school I made a friend (Bill) at community college (Hartnell). I was riding with him around downtown Salinas one night (Main St.) the first day he had purchased a 1969 396 Chevelle automatic. We ran into a co-worker driving a 1968 or 1969 Road Runner.

We raced one another in the direction away from downtown where the agricultural fields began outside the developed area of town. Then we turned around and raced back toward downtown. I was surprised when at full throttle that Chevy (left in drive) was getting a tire chirp when it automatically shifted from first to second gear. Don't remember who was pulling who because on this return match race a patrol car popped out of no where with lights and sirens blaring. Bill and I in the Chevy took off running and our friend in the Plymouth pulled over and got busted.

I later met up with Bill at Fremont Raceway for a grudge race against my 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix (421, aluminum intake, posi-rear end). He began by spinning his tires and I jumped out in the lead. When the Pontiac shifted much too early into drive (although I had the console gear shift still in second) the 396 Chevelle passed me by before the finish line.

The Chevelle eventually had a dash or engine fire and was totalled because of it.

 

[6PKRTSE]

I was racing a 71' Road Runner. He was in the right lane I was in the left lane. A car pulled out in front of us off a side street in front of us into the Road Runners lane. He let off, I then let off not knowing what the car in front of us was going to do. Sure enough, he must have looked up & saw the road runner coming up on him and signaled & got over into my lane. The Road Runner then got back into it. I then saw & heard him get back into it so I did as well passing the car by going into the center turn lane around him & back into my lane & while doing this also caught & passed the Road Runner winning the race. However, the owner & his group of guys would not pay up & said I went out of bounds. There are no rules in street racing other than the first one to the finish line wins!!!

 

[6PKRTSE]

Some of the tricks on my car was a that the factory washer bottle up in the engine bay was actually full of VHT which sprayed in front of the rear tires out of the wheel well for a stickier burnout on the street.
Also had two kits on the car which became known but one of the kits in the trunk was a dummy kit. The second kit (bottle) was actually hidden up under the dash on the passenger side. When we would pull both bottles out of the trunk to run someone on motor only we still had a kit available if needed.
I also had the brake lights wired to switch in my center console. If someone was dumb enough to give me a car head start and was watching my brake lights to go out to react I was already on the move before they realized it & the tail brake lights would just stay on the whole pass.

 

[6PKRTSE]

My buddy has a Fox Body Mustang with a BBC in it on spray on 10-1/2" tires that he grudge races. The track finally told him, "look we know how fast you are going you need to at least put a cage in the car". He did, but it is all plastic PCV pipe glued together with roll bar padding installed on it & everything (so it looks real). The track has never inspected it & never said anything more.

 

[1967coronet]

I read a article in one of the mags this past month about how the muscle cars were built to be ran and beat on at times. LOL. Reading that took me back to the years when you could buy used muscle cars that still would haul *** { for the time, early 70s} and cost $500 to $1500 on average.
Yeh, we beat the crap out of them, ran more rpms than they should have ever seen, wrecked a few , blew up a few, had more fun than I will tell about every summer weekend.
No personal race stories from me, had my share and loved every minute.
Like most of you guys on here over 60 I would give my left gonad for just one more weekend like those summer nights we had back then. Oh hell yeh.

 

[WileE]

Sounds like L.I. and Brooklyn-Queens. Clearview was brand new back then. Went with my buddy in his 68 black Hemi Road Runner one nite and guys were pulling slingshot dragsters off trailers to race. Had a couple of guys at the entrance with flares to stop traffic to race. This was in 72-73 IIRC. Did not stop NYPD though. Also remember tearing around the walking trails at Alley Pond Park in that car. First time I was over 100Mph was in my Dads brand new 70 Charger 500 that I took without his permission,got my *** beat for that stunt. Worth every black and blue.

Spot on. Early morning, some of the heavy stuff would come out, with heavy money as well, Conduit was some good runs there.

 

[WileE]

Sounds like L.I. and Brooklyn-Queens. Clearview was brand new back then. Went with my buddy in his 68 black Hemi Road Runner one nite and guys were pulling slingshot dragsters off trailers to race. Had a couple of guys at the entrance with flares to stop traffic to race. This was in 72-73 IIRC. Did not stop NYPD though. Also remember tearing around the walking trails at Alley Pond Park in that car. First time I was over 100Mph was in my Dads brand new 70 Charger 500 that I took without his permission,got my *** beat for that stunt. Worth every black and blue.

The cops would open up the fire hydrants in some places we were racing. Everyone would then just go to another location in droves.

 

[Darter6]

Back in the 60's in Pa they used to race on Interstate 70.There was 2 burger joints about a 1/2 mile apart and 1/8th mile from 70. They would cruise the joints till about mid nite.Not much traffic on the interstate back then. Get on the entrance ramp,enter the highway,back up a bit and race to the next exit.On the hot summer nites with the windows open I could hear them race.Our house was about 3 miles from where they raced.

 

[Shorthorse]

Late 1968. I had a 56 chevy wagon, 283, 4 speed, Duntov cam. The usual low buck mods. I was leaving for boot camp the next day so I was out with some friends. On my way home I stopped at a light and a 66 Chevelle pulled up. I had a tall gear and needed a roll to do any good. Well, we left normally and about half way through first gear I heard him get on it. Excellent for me so I obliged and when I hit second (had him by a fender) I glanced to the right and there was a paddy wagon (we had those back then) setting on the side street with its parking lights on. Not good for me. I couldn't miss boot camp so I just stayed in it. As I looked in my rear view mirror I saw the Chevelle slow up and pull into a donut shop parking lot with the paddy wagon right behind him. I took the closest side street and made it home the back way with my heart pounding the whole time. Dodged one there.

 

[chtampa]

Street racing in Fort Worth in the early 80's. I had a 69 RR 383 4speed with adjustable rockers. We took a hack saw blade and marked around the balancer in 4 places to help rotate the crank to run the valves. I heated the cheater slicks in VHT and pulled to the line and we both left. Grabbed 2nd gear and pushed the throttle hard into the N2O switch and when the tires hooked again there was this loud boom and the oil pressure dropped to zero and oil was pouring under the car. The car was my daily driver so I was freaking out and coasted the car under a street light and opened the hood. There was a huge dent on top of the k-frame and the oil filter had the end ripped off. Then I noticed a piece of balancer laying on the frame and half it it was missing. Balancer came apart right on the marks and sheared off the end of the filter. Slapped the tow bar back on it and took it home.

Also when we were first installing the N2O, it was all hidden because that was when the term "Cheating" came to be and you could get hurt if you were caught running it. I had the solenoids hidden in a gutted cast aluminum case with a "Sears Spark Enhancer" decal on the front. That part on its own got me lots of races and lots of car-lengths. They would chuckle and ask me about it and would say "I found that in a wrecking yard and boy does it make the car fast". I had the switch under the gas pedal and under the carpet and the trunk had a fake panel behind the spare tire. In the little dead space under the package tray was a 10# bottle with a speaker grill right above the valve of the bottle so you could turn on the nitrous from inside the car. We chased a gremlin in the system for weeks. When the car would hook up in first gear the N2O would cut off and so we rewired and redid all the connections and still didn't fix it. Finally realized that my foot was coming off the gas pedal when it hooked and shoved me back in the seat. The fix was to move the seat forward one notch. One of my more stupid moments.

 

[pwDave]

Maybe someone has posted on this before; but thought it would be interesting for the older crew to share some of their street racing experiences from back in the muscle car era, what they were driving and their competition, who won and any interesting side notes. I have a few so will share one as a start: One hot summer night 1971, was congregating with some car buddies shooting the chit outside our cars. A young guy from our nearby big city with his girlfriend in the car came up to us challenging one of us to run him in a brand new Challenger 440. Beautiful Winchester gray with the window sticker still on it. He held up a 20 dollar bill for the bet. (Good cash back then.) It was agreed best of three runs. A buddy with his '69 GTO chimed up first so off we went on a 4-lane street heading out of town. First run the Challenger beat him; but was painfully evident my bud had limited speed shifting experience (his 1st 4-speed car) so said let me try the 2nd run (I had a '67 GTO then). 2nd run the GTO edged him. 3rd run off we went and looking close until the kid suddenly pulled off the road. Made a U turn coming back behind him noticing BBQ smoke from his pipes. As I walked up to his window I peered in seeing his oil gauge near zero with hard clacking engine. He had driven that Dodge right off the dealer lot to our group with under 20 miles on it! Sad as I asked him if he ever knew about new car break in. He had a rich dad, owner of the dealer, who let his son take it out for a date promising to be careful...I liked that car prompting me to get my 1st mopar '70 Cuda.

The racing is a fixin to start again. the old local track is going to have a trial saturday, has not been open in about 12 yrs, track was rough but is now ready for some no prep street style racing, flag drop start, no clocks, guy at the other end to call the winner!! should be a hellava good time, I don't even think theres going to be a water box to warm the tires in. NO prep, wow!! if all goes well and enough people show up and show some interest, they may try to run a short schedule next summer, it will be the closest track to me at about 20mi. going to charge 15.00 to get in. four classes big tire na,small tire na , big tire power adder, and small tire power adder, should be a fun day. Dave.

 

[BBishere2]

Back in '73 I had a '68 Coronet R/T - the dark forest green color - dual exhaust ending at short Thrush mufflers - couldn't hear yourself think....
Anyway, it's Friday night, my buddy and I are cruising the lap when we pull up to a stoplight and I hear someone yell - it was the carload of kids next to us in
a 4 door Impala - mom and dad's car wanting to race - luckily, when I turned my head to see what they yelled, I saw the lights of a cop car sitting 3rd car back.
I looked at my buddy and told him not to turn around there was a cop car behind them.

I yelled back at the kid I'd give him the intersection and beat him by the 4th house down. He thought he had a race - I brake torqued the R/T up and when the light turned green, I pushed it up into neutral and stomped the gas - the carload of kids next to us took off and the cop instantly hit his siren and lights - the guy behind the carload of kids had no clue there was a cop behind him and he just about sh*t his pants! LOL - He pulled over in front of us and let the cop go by. We started off and got into the inside lane - about 6 blocks down the road the cop had the carload of kids pulled over and was walking up to the car as we drove passed - every kid in the car yelled 'F*ck You!' and flipped us off out of every open window - the cop just about fell down in the street laughing..... We went on down to McDonald's, the south end of the lap and pulled in to get a coke. All of the regular cruisers that had seen what had happened followed us down to McDonald's and proceeded to give us high 5's, honk their horns, laughing all the way around the parking lot. We never saw the kids or their mom and dad's gold Impala again.... We were that week's heroes for faking them out on the strip and setting them up....

 

[dual fours]

This thread is so cool. York US 30 drag strip in Thomasville closed down in '79, they had rules like in school. On the street, school was out, no rules. I started racing in the streets with my '70 Charger SE in '77 on up to '87. There would be two cars challenging each other on any given night sometimes at every red light, some times from a running start. The race could be over in two seconds or both cars would not let up till one driver (male or female) decided they had enough. I think I have some story's posted here in FBBO some in DC.com and '70 charger register. I'll try to dig them out so I won't have to type them again. If not found, I'll get back to ya. I can remember things that happen 41 years ago but don't ask me what I did last week.
Hey here's a quick joke...why did the Chebby owner have a life size image of a Charger grill on his back window...so he could tell his bowtie buddies he had a Mopar that could not pass him in his rearview mirror last night.

I would love to go back in time and for one month of Summer, stand on a corner with a camera and see it from another view. Please do not be offended but ... Dame you's, I'm starting to get teary eyed thinkin of the good times even if it was the most stupid thing I did.
I'm going to go sit in the back seat of the Charger with a warm bottle (hell the bottles of today are smaller then in the old days) of Jack Daniel's and think back. Good night Friends.

 

[rumblefish360]

My weekend nights were spent at Review Ave, Laurel Hill, Connecting highway, Clearview, Long dock, Conduit, Cross bay, Fountain avenue, and some others. I could write a book.

R U Still in town?

Sounds like L.I. and Brooklyn-Queens. Clearview was brand new back then. Went with my buddy in his 68 black Hemi Road Runner one nite and guys were pulling slingshot dragsters off trailers to race. Had a couple of guys at the entrance with flares to stop traffic to race. This was in 72-73 IIRC. Did not stop NYPD though. Also remember tearing around the walking trails at Alley Pond Park in that car. First time I was over 100Mph was in my Dads brand new 70 Charger 500 that I took without his permission,got my *** beat for that stunt. Worth every black and blue.

I don’t recognize any LI spots there. Being on 52, I do not know all the old spots. When I was a wee kid, most of those names ring for me. By driving age, they were to hot to try. I was super hassled in a dented up semi rusted 4 door straight six ‘67 Impala.

Form me it was Hempstead Turnpike, Deer Park ave. And later on when I could actually participate, the back alley ways of industrial parks were best. Out of sight, ears and minds.

The best time I had was pasting a 455 convertible Olds over and over again up and down route 110. Only the very long light distances I’d loose on. (Over a 1/4 mile)

 

[Ron H]

Yeah I have memories from back when - nothing to be concerned about (other than the poleease and my town PD had my number as they started with my older brother. They'd pull me over just to give me ****, some deserved, and sometimes not. One night in my '70 Cuda hanging around in a local parking lot with car buds an officer came over staring down my car stopping to look at the fog lights. He says "those aren't legal". I reply "they are a factory item sir...you can check it". He shook his head and decided to walk away. I was banned from our local Mac's for a while after doing a slight burn out; back when the car guys routine was backing in to park and chat for awhile and next thing ya know signs were posted "No backing in - 15 minute parking limit". The renta cops were relentless on that rule. Fun while it lasted. Hot summer nights, dates, later a race or two, and cheap beer...what a time it was!

 

[Dibbons]

Two or three in the morning, met a buddy at Jack-in-the-Crack for some tacos. We both go by way of the drive thru to place our orders, and I jumped in his car to eat and chat with him.

Security guard comes over and tells me customer parking only. I tell him I am a customer. Relentless, he threatens to call police/tow truck if I don't move my car out onto the street. He would not listen to reason, so I moved my car so he would get out of our hair and leave us alone to finish our meal.

 

[Dibbons]

Cruising Main St. Friday night in my bracket racer, I am running in second gear at about 15 MPH. I push in the clutch. rev the motor while second gear is still disengaged, then pop the clutch back out. Of course, the rear tires spin for a second, making a loud but brief chirp sound.

A white unmarked city police car stop me and write me up for "exhibition of speed." I go over to the court house and find the D.A. and explain it was just a simple chirp of the tires. He lowered the charges to something less significant.

Later, I found out that in California at the time (circa 1975) it was unlawful for unmarked patrol cars to perform traffic enforcement duties.

I began to hate city cops so much that in 1982 I was hired as a State Traffic Officer (California Highway Patrol I.D. #10481). I planned on replacing those ******** with someone better--like me!. But then I hated my field training officers so much that some personality conflicts soon cropped up. After that, they began to ding me on my evaluations to the point that I was washed out of the department and had to resign or I was going to be fired.

After that I was hired as a Border Patrol Agent (1985) and everything went fine during my training with that agency--was promoted three years in a row.

 

[miller]

No racing, until later.
But, got a real eye-opener, with my first car and cruise, on the local strip. Think it was 64, 65, California, in the Bay area. Lived in Hayward, and at the strip, think it was San Leandro Drive, five different cities, Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward, King City, and one more.
Anyway, Friday, maybe Saturday evening, hit the strip for some cruise time. The road was six lane, if I remember right, and flat out wall to wall, everyone doing the same thing...inching from light to light. Behind me, a 64 Goat, and a 62-63 Chebby wagon, with two teens in it. Next time we inched forward, the wagon 'bumped' into the rear of the GTO.
Goat driver gets out, mad as hell, walks back to the wagon, demanding they get out! Instead, the two rolled up the windows, and locked the doors. Goat driver goes back to his car, gets a tire-knocker, back to the wagon, and broke every window out of it.
By that time, traffic started moving, so I went on, in my 63 ragtop Sport Fury, laughing my *** off. California, in those days, rule #1 was, you don't mess with someone's ride. Had always heard that, and saw it for real.

 

[Ron H]

Car cruising in my old hometown was banned soon after I decided to go back to (tech) school. My aimless cruising days were over by then anyway. There was some rule that you couldn't be caught driving through town more than twice in an hour or something like this. I mentioned in my earlier post our Mac's banned "back-in" parking. Our old Dog 'n Suds was torn down as was our A&W drive in a few years before. Our two outdoor movie theaters closed (had some fun there). I watched the demise of an era and remember how sad it was to see this even back when. The energy crisis helped and was a bitch trying to find gas and wait in line for half an hour. My 1st more economical car was a new '73 340 Challenger trading in my beloved Cuda drop top! These memories though are priceless as I occasionally drive through my old town and remember what once was...Star Light drive-in is a Woodman's now, a muffler shop is where Dog 'n Suds was, a school bus parking lot replaced A&W...

 

[wagonman]

R U Still in town?

I don’t recognize any LI spots there. Being on 52, I do not know all the old spots. When I was a wee kid, most of those names ring for me. By driving age, they were to hot to try. I was super hassled in a dented up semi rusted 4 door straight six ‘67 Impala.

Form me it was Hempstead Turnpike, Deer Park ave. And later on when I could actually participate, the back alley ways of industrial parks were best. Out of sight, ears and minds.

The best time I had was pasting a 455 convertible Olds over and over again up and down route 110. Only the very long light distances I’d loose on. (Over a 1/4 mile)

The last time I was on the Island was about 3-4 years ago. The only street racing I saw was about 100 guys on Crotch Rockets tearing down the Southern State well over the speed limit. At about the Hempstead Lake area a couple bikes crashed and backed up traffic ( what else is new ). What I heard is they do a loop from Cross Island to Northern State to 110 to SS Parkway. Total A-holes with no regard for themselves or others. At least We waited till late night for empty roads.