L. A. Street Racing Archive late 70's to ?

So is everybody set for Wed. night at Bob's ??????

 

I'm in -May 21st around 7:00 PM. Sounds like fun!

 

Please Please PLEASE find that video and put it on You Tube.

Axle

 

its on you tube.

check the big wille picture thread for the link.

 

Groucho, Axle and Altered Pilot, come and meet with us, we would like to hear your stories and this is a good time to support CKev in his Bob's cruise night, and lets not forget his Harveys Broiler victory !!!

No matter "Who ,What or Where" we were all in it !!!!


Scott

 

May 21th it is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

God, you guys are all my hero's. If only I'd been born ten years later, and in the US! Anyway, I've looked everywhere for that video, but I'm buggered if I can find it. Could someone please, please, please post a link?

 

btw, keep the stories coming!

 

Friend of mine owned a black 65' or 66' Corvette roadster. Radius rear wheelwells, bbc with a 4 speed on nitrous. He went down to Bob's in Inglewood and got a race on Pershing. During the race, the cops were headed down the on ramp at the end of the 1/4 so he flips a u-turn and heads the other way. Heading back on Pershing, which is a "T" intersection, he sees more cops. He slams the brakes on and does a "Dukes of Hazard" turn. Only problem is hes now going backwards at a high rate of speed. Dumps the Vette into 3rd, hits the nitrous and nails it. Vette is still going backwards, smoking the tires but slowing. Finally, car slows enough to get traction and he rockets off in the opposite direction. Hides out at Bobs until the heat dies down.

Funny, haven't seen the guy in 25 years. A couple of weeks ago, I ran into him at Bobs Big Boy in Toluca Lake. He now drives a motorcycle.

 

OK, that SAME Vette was on "loan" to another friend of ours at which time I was that guy's personal mechanic for his street race cars. After I was driving that car on a test pass, it burned to the ground on the return road at LACR about 20 years ago. There were still impressions from the fire last year when they closed that track for good. I have DVD of that complete fire, from me leaving the car, to my cocky comments afterwards that WON'T play on my player for some reason. You'd enjoy GasserGarage's stories a bit more if he told you what his profession is

 

Hey John! You coming to the reunion at Bob's in Torrance?

 

Thinking about it. You?

 

If I do, it will be after 7:00. Hopefully, my wife will be home by then. I'm about a 1/2 mile away.

 

This was my car from those days. 327 with a 4 speed and 4:56's. Daily driver.

 

What time does it start?

 

People show around 5:00. Suppose to go until 8:00.

 

Gary "Bimbo" Guerrero (white Camaro) says he is in for Bobs, as is Allen (big block, blue 72 Duster) who used to take me to the street races when I was too young to drive. Randy, who used to drive School Teacher's cars, is interested and said he would mention it to Smitty.

 

What is he a cop now.

 

can you post a link to the " big willie picture thread " I did a sesarch and came back with 11 pages .. to many to search through for one link.


TIA

 

lets bring this back to the TOP ! so we can get the word out, for a big turn out!!!!

 

Ok, this is dying out. We need to livin it up a bit. Anyone have any more stories.

 

In the 70's I had little experience with Nitrous. I had an old 10,000 RPM unit that was on the shelf for a bit. When I put it on my 69 Z-28 it didn't have the punch I'd remembered. My buddy Jim said we needed to drill out the spray plate. Not having too much juice left in the bottle I decided not to test it. That night, at Roxford I got a race. With a 4 speed car the plan was to get out of 1st gear as soon as possible, and jump on the button simultaniously with grabbing 2nd gear. Well, with the design of the cowl induction hood the EXPLOSION was aimed right at me. The blast blinded me for 5 minutes, and blew the carb into the bottom of a very expensive hood.

 

In the 70's there were some pretty serious shit going on. Mike G. had one of the CLEANEST V-8 Vegas around with a "Grumpy" Jenkins small block/4-speed. But, it'd never race. One night on the 210 Fwy (before it was open to traffic) it was gonna race against one of the fast guys from over the hill in L.A. My buddy Bob's gonna drive. He was crew chief at the time for a very famous Top Fuel Funny Car. He too had some fast shit (SBC in a VW Bug, Blown SBC in a Datsun 240Z, etc). Anyway, after a series of burnouts, they stage, Bob brings the Vega to what sounds like around 7500 and dumps the clutch. The car launches like out of a cannon, but screeches to a stop in about 50 feet with Bob nowhere to be seen. We run up to the car to find him tangled up in the roll cage in the back seat area. On the launch, his seat tore from it's mountings

 

In 84', I had been out of street racing for awhile. Me and my neighbor bought Suzuki 1100E's and would go cruising on summer nights. One night, my neighbor wants to check out the street races at Statium Way and Fletcher Dr.

We watch a few races then the bug hits, I wanna race! I go upto a group of kids and ask if anyone wants to race my bike. Some of the kids say they need car lengths. I tell them to imagine how fast my bike can possibly be and how many car lengths they need to make it a fair race, the add 3!. They ask why? I tell them because I wanna race!!!

A group of kids with a 67' Camaro say they need 18 and the go. I tell them to line it up and we will race. The Camaro leaves, then I leave. I pass the Camaro in third gear. Man, did they cry like babies. I gave them every chance and did they whine...........they paid, but they whined.

Oh, the bike was stock with a pipe. Ran 11:20's at LACR........

 

I had a '65 Olds 442 - The White Knight - White car with the words "The White Knight" black pinstripe lettering on the rear quarter.
We were out horsing around in Hawthorne one night in about 1973 and got to running a couple of guys with Dodge Chargers. I liked running stock Dodges. They lost good. We moved around a bit to keep the cops guessing. I wasn't paying too close attention to WHERE we were. We were running off the lights and just harassing the one that lost. Next thing I know I look down and the engine is getting hot. I wheel into a gas station to get some water and realize I'm in COMPTON at 11:00 on a Saturday night in the WHITE Knight. I was certain I was gonna get my butt kicked for being where I shouldn't have been. I've never done a radiator refill so fast in all my days. Burned my hand on the steam coming form the cap. Got back to our side of town and after that I paid MUCH better attention to WHERE I was.
I miss them days too..
Glenn

 

Me and a friend named Randy decide to drive down to South Central from the valley. We hear they have street racing at Winchells Donuts at Florence and Main. Randy has a red 68' Firebird with a 402 bbc.

At Winchells, we meet a guy named Tony. Tony has a 76' Camaro with a sbc, air, auto and a ton of chrome. He wants 10 and the go. Tony wants to see the motor in the Firebird. Rats, its parked under a street lamp. Pop the hood, Tony sees the bbc and drops his offer to 7 cars. Huh!!!!

They direct us to an industrial area where we wait for Tony. 2 hours later he shows. I figured he went home to hook up the nitrous, oh well, at least its a race. The Camaro leaves with the Firebird in hot pursuit. It looks like the Firebird didn't make up any cars. We pay Tony and now he offers us 7 and the go. Randy goes for it.

The Firebird leaves but at the top of 1st gear, Tony is on the Firebirds bumper. On the top end, the Firebird pulls away from the Camaro. Back at the start, a guy with a silver Camaro offers the same race. The Firebird leaves but the Camaro is on the Firebirds bumper at the top of 1st gear. From then on, the Firebird pulls away. Now the guy with the silver Camaro offers 4 cars with the same results, the Firebird wins. After that, we head back to the valley.

Later, I heard that Tony had 2 identical cars...........

Randy admitted in the first race, since he couldn't catch the Camaro in 1st gear, he just sandbagged the rest of the race.

 

What became of "Racing by appointment only" J. Boone ?

 

Now that's more like it. Alot of good stories. I'm just wondering where i was during all this. I hung around Tarkus alot, and I don't remember any of these races.
I do remember borrowing one of Tarkus's plates and bottle. Put it on my 66 stand with a 351C, stocker. Ran over to Doolittle behind TRW. I took off and when I hit second, I hit the switch, to just get the rear end lifting as the tires broke loose. I backed off the bottle, and hit third hit it again, and the same result. A bit slower this time, and no sideways driving. Came to the stop sign, and noticed a very rough running loppey idle. Got it home, ran a check, and number 5&6 cylinders had no compression. Oh well, that was my experience with the bottle. Gave that plate back to tark and he put it back on his BBC where it belonged..

 

Amen to that brother. The street racing scene will never be like it was back in the day. The unwritten law deal is all true. I can tell you from experience, in all the years my brother and I participated in illegal street racing, we never had an accident, and no one ever got hurt or arrested. We always took our races to places where if anyone did get hurt, it would be the guy driving the car and no one else. These tuners piss me off as well. I see them in the North bay doing crazy shit on the freeways and busy intersections, with regard to personal safety for themselves or anyone around them. Damn shame. Anyways great post........NIP

 

One Sat night, behind the BofA on Van Nuys Blvd, a 67' Chrysler 4 dr Newport pulled in. As he drove by, I could smell the AvGas coming from his tailpipe. I walked over and asked him if he raced that thing. He said yes. I asked him if he wanted to race a 65' Malibu with a bbc. He asked what size motor and gears. I told him it was a 396 with 4:11's. (Actually a 454 with 4:56's). The kid said he needed car lengths. I thought, here we go, he's gonna want 10 or so. I asked the kid what he wanted. He said, gasp! 3 cars........I couldn't believe it. I said sure.

We went to Oxnard and Sepulveda. As I was taking the fan belt off (it always threw the fan belt), I told the kid my girlfriend would be riding with me. He said, Why?. I told him I didn't want to have to go back and pick her up.

We lined up with him 3 cars out. We left and I passed him in first gear (I was on slicks, he wasn't). After that, I just gave it enough gas to stay a car ahead. At the end of the race, I pulled over to put the fan belt back on. The kid with the Newport came out all excited. He said, "You must be the fast thing in the valley cuz I'm the fast car in Burbank!!!". I told the kid, "Sorry, but your car is really slow. Maybe if you put that motor in something lighter". It was a built 440. The kid said his car was a sleeper. I told him to put nitrous on it.

A month later, I saw the kid. He had put nitrous on it and got it to run low 12's. Not bad for the late 70's in a 4 dr boat.