Lake Street (Mpls, MN) in the 60s

I believe that would have been Twin City Dragstrip. Never went there I was a Minnesota Dragways guy.

 

Twin City and North Starr were one and the same. Minnesota Dragways was located in Coon Rapids on "hwy. 242....4 miles east of Anoka". (I got that line from their old radio ads. )

 

I remember seeing the first black and gold Trans Am at The Downtown Poncho dealer. 1976 maybe. Pre Smokey and the Bandit. Thought it was about the coolest thing ever...at the time. My step dad bought oil burning Jag XJ6 there too. I love all the old drag and car show pics.
I thought that 427 SOHC Bucket T at MAS looked like a monster. That would have been a wild ride. They had a 67 Fairlane wagon that had a SOHC in it too that they drag raced. Might have been the same engine.

 

See one of the above posts, it wasn't M.A.S. 67 Fairlane Wagon. Pictured some where above is the car, it was Dick Charbineau's (I butchered that)
national record holder and I don't believe it had a SOHC motor.

 

I wonder if there are still any of theose number 1 Smith Auto t-shirts still floating around....

 

That could have been the car I'm thinking of. It seemed like I had a MAS parts catalog from around the mid 70's and there was a picture of that car. I was under the impression that the wagon was MAS's owners racecar. It's been a while ago.

 

Does anyone remember the Black sign painter who drove a red and black '64 Ford 2 Door Sedan with J.C. Whitney accessories???? I saw this car on Lake Street alot. Would love to find a picture of it.

MSRA #85

 

I was lucky enough to cruise Lake Street in the late sixties early seventies. I remember some of the cars were painted underneath and they had colored lights up in the fender wells. Thought that was pretty cool at the time. Seems like every guy at Washburn High School had a cool car and cruised Lake Street. My buddy's brother had a '60 Chevy ex-gasser, brown, straight axle, tilt steel front end, slicks and "Jumping Jack Flash" painted on the doors. Wish I could find that car today. I remember going to Grossmans Chevrolet and looking at new 1971 Nova SS's and Camaros, then going across the street to Anderson Dodge (?) and checking out a Dart 340 and Challenger...dreaming someday I could afford to buy one. So lots of bad ass cars and some cool street racing over by the airport post road. Used to stop at Smith Auto and shoot the shit with Ted. I miss Clark's and Froggies subs. In '73 I finally got a used '71 340 Duster, 4 speed 17,000 mile car for a whopping $1750.00 My payments were $71.00 a month. Wish I had that car today. And yes, I do remember the Ford with everything JC Whitney sold stuck on it. I seem to also remember some black diamond padded stuff on the outsides. Ahhh, the good old days.

 

that all you got to say Bob

Some cool car lot photo's here, was Marc Allen's lot on Park

a couple lots around Grossman Chevy, bought a Dodge coupe from Anderson Dodge $50 with a rod knock

 

The fast guys at the drags all had Headers by Ed decals on them. I remember the Beaver patrol, the Super Coon, and the Incrediable Offspring. How about the guys from the Winstad Body Shop?

 

I remember seeing a row of Allstate cars (Henry J clone) at Sears on Lake Street in 1952. You could actually buy the Allstate cars through the Sears catalog......Rich

 

I remember cruising Lake St. in 1967. We'd come in from Wayzata. I remmeber one night we (three of us) were cruisin in my buddy's Dad's Buick convertible and generally being smartasses as high school kids tend to be. His big block did move that sled! We blew away a guy in a rough looking 57 Chevy and I guess we pissed him off. He started waving a pistol at us. He chased us for about half a mile before we lost him on a couple of turns. I guess he figured we wern't worth the effort.

Crazy times!

 

Was that the guy that had the GIANT after market green tinted wind wings, and hubcaps screwed to the trunk lid, with 4 curb feelers, 4 mud flaps, multiple antenna's, windshield visor, spot lights, super fly headlights, lake pipes, outlandish hood ornament, etc? The car made you laugh when you saw it, it was soooo over the top. If anyone has a picture please post it, I will never forget that car. I remember it as being a 4 door though. Brian

MSRA 6027

 

I used to stop light race by the Sun on Central ,,, good times ,,, I bet I blew 4 or 5 t10's down there over the course of 3 years .
Brian

 

I know John cotrell ( sp) he just took a car to the salt flats a year or 2 ago and did not follow the rules very close and kinda ticked them off but he did get to run her up to speed . It is amazing how much salt gets into a car there .
Brian

 

Yeah.....I read about that. Evidently he made an old NASCAR Busch car street legal, took it to Bonneville and went 198 mph with it.

 

oh man where do i start!!! unni, the loop, the three bears, porky's, white castle, harkin's pool hall, yada, yada yada!!!!! first trip to st. paul was in my friends '55merc monclair, red & white merc interior, molded everything with a can of bondo and painted it hondurs maroon with his mom's kirby. 312/3spd, long ass stick on the foxcraft conversion with a grainbelt beer tapper handle on it. couldn't use the rear veiw mirror 'cause it hit the tap handle....lol

built my first '55 cheby to run lights on unni. bright yellow 2dr. got beat bad one night by a '64 pontiac, when back to stillwater and got dad's '59, 348 kingswood went back and wooped up on that indian.

remember ted smith selling part out of his '56 chevy sedan deliv at minnesota dragways? anyone a member of gsta remember john foster shouting at the meetings, "i catch anyone from gsta running at twin cities and they will be banned for life from minnesota dragways!"

if ya want more, just say so ... i got a million of 'em!!

Ron

 

Oh yeah! I remember John Frostplug threatening anyone caught running at Twin City that belonged to a GSTA club would be severely reprimanded. I never belonged to a GSTA club so I ran cars at Twin City dragstrip starting in 1956. To this day I still hold that against GSTA for that idiotic ruling......Rich

 

Always wondered how he was going to catch me if he wasn't there? I used to go during the week to "tune" the '55 and run at Minnesota on Sunday. Always tried to grab 2nd gear in the "dip" in front of the tower. I was there the day Lutz hit it in the Anglia. Not a pretty sight. That was in '64 or '65 wasn't it?

Ron

 

Great thread! I remember Porky's West, and a Putt-Putt mini-golf behind it, lots of used car lots on Lake Street and #1 Smith Auto being a two different locations, the first on Lake street, the second a few steps off of Lake Street.

The "If you can beat me..." deal, I do call bullshit on that one however. Every city had that story, it was either a Nova, a Corvette, a Hemi Road Runner, a Camaro or fill in the blank, depending on where you grew up. And the normal version is her rich father bought her the car. Yeah right, it was painted on the back, pure folklore, the "rich father" would never have allowed it, period.

Fun thread, there was a Purple "Street Pro" Duster with 440/6 and fiberglass bumpers, six-pack scoop hood, fiberglass front fenders, I think it was originally from Michigan and owned by Mopar's Tom Hoover, it cruised the Burger King in Hopkins.

 

I graduated in 79 from wayzata, we used to cruise central, hopkins, brooklyn blvd. etc. Lots of v8 vegas and the like. Any one remember the "Car Craft" cruise at brooklyn Blvd.? Car Craft was doing a cruising story, they would pick different citys and show up on a friday or saturday night and check out the action. There were so many cars showing up. Drag cars on trailers were coming in. It was crazy. Then they started doing burnouts and racing on the main blvd. Cops started showing up , in the end they called out the riot police. We sat about 4 blocks away in the Burger King parking lot and watched it all happen. It made the news that night. When it was all over it was a mess, from all the people that were there. Fun to watch, glad we didnt get arested. Did alot of cruising in my buddies v8 vega, a 327 , 4speed car with a crazy sounding "moon" cam. Everytime he raced it, the doors wouldnt shut right because of all the body twisting. g

 

And who can forget "Hart's Cafe" and Lou Fegers.

 

I started working for Lou when I was 15. Changing tires, selling at the tracks. I lived 2 blocks up the hill from Harts. Right across from Widsten school. We had the Ice business at the house. Have lots of memories of Lou Fegers and the store. The attic was piled high with tons of van stuff which was on the way out in 78-79. Tons of old speed equipment was all over the basement. Fun times.

 

I went to Widsten, two years older than you. It used to be the ultimate cool to sneak out at lunch to Lou's for STP stickers.
btw, Mr. Weeks is alive and well.