Has anyone REALLY street raced? (pics)

Street racing? What's that? I have no idea what you are talking about.
I had a 67 camaro that ran 11's at the track off the 250 hp hit of gas , on BFG'S radial 275 60 15's, very very quiet exhaust, looked pretty basic and stock. Was my daily driver for about 5 years.
What is a sleeper anyway?
Wil
www.sakowskimotors.com

 

Somebody ask John Force what happened to the "Beaver Hunter" altered roadster on Bandini.

 

In the 60's all the time, I mean real street racing, anyplace we could get two lanes of straight road.

We had a military base a few miles North of us with an old control tower that was maned 24/7. If you were quck enough you could blast in, get lined up and run just one off but then you had to haul ass cause the MP's were after you in a hurry but not much of a match in their 4 banger Jeeps.

I took a porch off a row house 1:30 in the morning one time and a buddy of mine hit like 7 parked cars when his Poncho got loose on him running a 65 Chevelle, he hit the Chevelle too.

I know crazy as hell , stupid and I paid for it, but dam them was some good times.

 

Seattle, Washington; late 60's-early70's at Ballard's Golden Gardens Park on the waterfront. The marina, beach, picnic benchs, walkways, and lots of parking. It came to be known as "Golden Gardens Raceway", and there were even stickers/decals proclaiming it. On weekend nights there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of kids and young people street racing and hanging out. Two cars would pair off with people virtually standing beside/against the cars. I never heard of anyone ever getting hurt, but I don't know how; it was DANGEROUS looking back. Did most of my street racing in my 70' 340 Dart/Torqueflite/3.91 car in Everett; actually between Everett and Marysvilles on the Marysville flats/bridges. After a few tickets I started taking the car to the drag strip. By then Seattle Cops had pretty much killed Golden Gardens, Everett was starting to take a hardline on cruising, and the Renton loop had already been shut down. Now there are problems with racing in industrial areas; mostly involving the import guys, and NO RACING/TRESPASSING signs are everywhere. You can even be arrested for watching. So, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL DRAG STRIP.

 

man, no guys from the Vancouver/ Portland area that used to race at "little river road" on the outskirts of vancouver or the industrial areas near where they cruised on 82nd Ave in Portland

 

i would work my ass off all week just to race on saturday night at el centro here in sac.sometimes we would go to whiterock up in rancho.this was in the late 80s early 90s i had a 70 nova that would hit low to mid 13s with a one legger!!!!those were the best fuckin times ever,for a long time the cops would sit and watch all night and not even bother us.until about 95 when the ricers and drug dealers showed up and fucked everything up!i remember guys with 9 second cars legit ones that would run along with 9 second bikes!!!on a road next to the freeway with 15 foot deep ditches on either side.now its a bunch of freakin condos and starbucks....................anyone remember this from sacramento area?????

 

Anybody from central Iowa have any street race stories? I have heard a few stories from my father about street racing in Fort Dodge and Des Moines in the 60s and early 70s. I'd love to hear more of these stories if anybody in this area was racing at that time. The ones that come immediately to mind are a near new Nova in Des Moines with a big block and a straight axle, and a '69? Camaro if Fort Dodge that looked ratty as hell but ran really hard.
J

 

One night, a guy named Brannnam was out late at the street races with a 56' Chevy Wagon. A group of guys approached him from Compton. Asked if he wanted to race. He said sure, for $25. They set the place, might have been Glenoaks and Peoria, and took off. He arrived and waited. He then hears this monster light off and sees a 68' Cuda, come around the corner, uncocked on slicks.

On the side of the Cuda is lettered "Soul Brothers Cuda". Its an all out race car with a destroked 340. Brannam gives them the money and tells them, "Why bother!". They laugh and tell him, they trailered all the way from Compton and wanna run something. Needless to say, the Cuda smoked the 56'. Those guys carried a tape record to tape the run. A destroked 340 really screams.

 

Bunker Lake road north of Anoka Mn in the mid 60's ran a lot of street races there with my 289 Stude Lark.
We would hid in Hidleburgers Auto Salvage when we thought the cops were going to show up.
Bunker lake road was full of auto salvages back then. Now they are all gone and replaced with Shopping malls and condos. What a waste of realestate.
By the way Hidleburgers Auto Salvage was at the end of the old Minnesota Drag strip wat a way to watch drag racing.

 

Cool story the stuff some guys do ...

 

fuckin sick. building a swb now. any more pics/info on this?

 

Hey..
Rt 9 W-Sta Mass? Anyone?
Went 4 rounds before get'n toast'd....1997
The street race of all times ....1998
Nailed by cops.... 2007
Pontiac Slim

 

Corner of Sepulveda and San Fernando Mission in the valley. A black 62' Plymouth Savoy with a 383 and 4 speed. A 70' Torino with a 429 with dual quads and a 4 speed line up. Its 2am and the streets are deserted. Both cars are on slicks. The engines rev, the hands drop and both cars "bark" the slicks. The Plymouth just edges out the Ford at the gate. With 4 speeds crank'in, the Plymouth wins at the end.

As both cars head back to the start, I spy a dark shape, emerging from the shadows of a closed gas station. Oh, oh, it's LAPD's finest. When both racers return to the start, LAPD lights the red and blue rotators and pulls up abreast of the racers. The passenger windows rolls down and the cops tells the Torino racer, "You shoulda left harder!". The LAPD then slowly cruises away.

I thought that was the coolest thing I ever saw........It was 1975

 

Forget back then, strret racing is huge in Chicago today. Whats the difference, four door Malibu sleepers are popular. Look like junk, got large nitrous big blocks, and run mid eights on drag radials. You also get posted on the street racing web sites!Search chicago street racing for fun.

 

i remember back when i was high school in the late 80's....those chi town guys would put on the show at super chevy indy.....fast stuff even back then....brandon

 

Now, there's a bright idea.................Those big old dumb policemen are not bright enough to look at the internet......................

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking

 

A freind of mine tells me stories of racin' Golden Gardens.......last name Sherman....he and his brother ran Mopars....a '63 Dodge 330, '68 GTX, and a couple of other's...FAST cars.....
I've heard rumors that some racin' still goes down in Everett....I never went, as it's a long drive for me....
And I suspect racing still goes on a little in Tukwila/Kent. There was a short time that if you were caught there, the Kent police would give ya a free pass to run yer car at SIR, but I never witnessed anyone actually get one.....cause when cops showed up, cars SCATTERED!

But I quit going once the cops started impounding cars and not givin' 'em back.....

 

here are a few of mine I raced back in the early to late 80's.....never for serious stakes, just for bragging rights...


64 Dodge Polara cammed up 383-4 speed-391 posi (still setting in my buddys garage along side his 37 ply coupe, the 37 has been on blocks since around 1978 and the polara has been setting mostly since 1984 when he got the car from me)

63 Ford Fairlane 500 Sport Coupe 289, auto

66 Dodge Coronet 440, tunnel ram, 3500 stall, reverse shift 727, 430 posi

I currently own the truck, it is an 81 Ford F100 with a 71 Chrysler 440, .030 over, KB pistons, balanced, twin edelbrock carbs, 509 cam, 3500 stall, 727 trans, 411 tru trac posi

 

the late 1960's,Newark NJ,route 21 north by the Dreamboat Lounge.Or same hiway by Rutt's Hut in Passiac.Grady's(I believe) in Patterson NJ,a black hangout.I ran a 69 Dodge,did ok,pick your opponent carefully.

 

Did alot of street racing in my YOUNGER days. My fastest ride at the time was a 1965 Nova SS with a 350 LT1 and a 4 speed and dual carbs on an old Edelbrock STR. It was a common occurance for me to get woke up on an early morning for some HOT SHOT that wanted to race the top dog in town. Although the Nova was fast my 41 Willys that I sold last July probably could of blown its doors off.

 

No Milwaukee guys with stories to tell?
My parents met street racing on Villard Ave in the 70's, dad had a red 70 Road Runner with a worked 440 4 speed, my mom had a green 69 Charger that my grandpa left her when he passed away, she worked at 'Fast Gas' back then, lots of local legends hung out there. When they got married they bought a house on Villard, one of my earliest memories is of a guy pulling a tube chassis 55 T-Bird off a trailer in front of our house late at night, so loud all the windows in the house rattled, scared the shit outta me, I ran and hid!
I raced up at Tower Road in the 90's, 85 Mustang GT with a 351W with a big hit, 67 Comet post with a little 289 and a 4 gear, then a stroked small block S10. Things changed real fast up there, went up there to spectate a few years ago, not my scene any more, thats for sure. I know a few people who still get down in the area, get there, do what you came to do, and go home, no more hanging out until 5 a.m. like it used to be, which was always 1/2 the fun for me.
Ah, the 'good old days', I sound like an old man....

 

Oh yes I remember it like yesterday......back and forth on Telegraph rd. just goofin around until it got late/early, then we would all meet at that spot, I still drive thru there now and then, Schoolcraft from Telegraph all the way to Outer drive.......man I miss just drinkin beer and watchin.....some times in the summer when my windows are open, around two or three in the morning I can hear um out there, or maybe its just in my head, a remenent from the late 70s I dont know, but I like it.

 

Anyone from San Antonio remember a 67 GS-400 from the Air Force Base?
Would have been between '87-'89.
Sky blue Metallic with a blacked out hood and vinyl top.
Sat low to the ground with flaired fenders covering a pair of N-50's.
He particularly enjoyed racing 5.0's

 

Thought I'd add this picture for WilliesDaytona..........

 

It was images like this I'd see in 60's magazines when I was a kid in New York. I thought it was the baddest car club on the planet. Big Willie himself made me a proud member around 15 years ago. I talked to him on the phone Christmas Day, and he tells me he's still fighting to open Terminal Island. A drag strip he's built TWICE in about 25 years. Good luck "Big". Kev, got more?

 

I used to run my '65 Fairlane occasionally at a place down towards the shore called Weatherbee Rd.
A big stretch of nothing in the wilderness. On Sat. night, there would be cars unloaded from trailers, quads coming out of the woods, bikes, fires lit, trunks full of beer, hundreds of people!
The last time we were there, the po-lice came from one end, we shot out the other, and made a run for home with a few other cars...
we got away only because there were som many people that were on the road that by the time the cops got through them, we were gone! It was luck that we were parked on the other side.

I was going to take my last Fairlane to Front street, once it was completed, but, this was about the time I grew up, and discovered reason and sense, so...I never went.

 

In the early 60s we had a unique situation. We lived in a town of about 65,000 next to a military base full of GIs who would buy used cars with their reinlistment bonuses. Naturally they thought they were the world's fastest cars and were easy pickings for us locals. Hanging out at the local drive-in we would arrange late night trips to the local drag strip which happened to be owned by the biggest moonshiner in 5 counties.

We could get in about 5 races before the deputy sheriffs showed up to run us off. When we did get caught no tickets were issued. I suppose it was because we had sense enough not to do it on the streets.

 

They still try and race on Weatherbee lol

 

mexican racing, from another site:

http://www.1320video.com/Dec1Mexico.php