When was your first time at a dragstrip?

1964. I was 12. I always hung out in the drug store checking the pictures of the drag cars in the hot rod magazines on the rack. But in the summer of 64 I got to go to SUNDAYYY NIAGARA for the first time. Hooked for life.
Here's a link to Dean Johnsons new Niagara website--I'm sure he would appreciate any historical input he could get

http://www.sundayniagaradeanjohnson.com/Sunday_Niagara/Welcome.html

 

I was 16 years old and ran my boyfriends '72 Chevelle. My Dad didn't want me to go... not because he thought it was dangerous but because he didn't want me getting hooked and spending all my money on drag racing and that lifestyle. I didn't go again till I was in my 30's and racing my newer Vette.

 

1972,9 years old.Great Lakes Dragaway Union Grove WI

 

Well my first time wasnt at a dragstrip....but I wish it was.

Bakersfield around 2000 or so. Woulda made be about 18yo. Mom and Dad werent into cars and as a result we didnt go to racing events. Got out on my own with my own paycheck and headed out one weekend with my friends.

 

My dad's parts mangager, Larry Mills, took me to Lions in 1965. I was about thirteen years old. Saw Hugh Tucker race Stone-Woods-Cook best of five. Also saw the Winged Express and lots of other cool cars. Haven't been the same since.

 

1960, I was 10 years old. My dad took me to Caddo Mills and I got to see Bobby Lanley the Scorpion run.

 

1950 at Santa Ana drags by the WWII blimp hangars----I was 18----Don

 

Bandimere(sp?) speedway just outside Denver has "High School Drags" twice a year. First time I went to the strip I bracket raced my OT V6 Mustang at the age of 16, think it was 2002. The car was sooo slow, think my best time was 18.5 at 80ish mph, but I'll tell ya what, I sure thought I was too cool.

 

1959, or '60, can't remember which, at Dunkirk NY. Air tubes to start/stop timers. Didn't go again 'til Niagara opened June 18 1961. Been hooked ever since.

Mark

 

I was there too. Doesn't matter which Sunday, I was there every week running my black '56 Chevy gasser.

 

1981, way late, I was 20 by then. I took my folks and family to Orlando Speedway, saw a jet car, mind was blown.

 

not to long after i was born or was that hachted(58). dad start draging in 54. and mom said she went while she was carring me. wrenches was my toys.
i guess you can call me a drag brat.
charles

 

About 1971. I was 8 years old and my older brother Bob took me along to Midstate Dragway in Havana ILL. He was racing his 57 Chevy 4 dr. hardtop. This pic was taken there, at about that time. By the way, Bob still owns his 57, and his best ET's, (many years later) were in the low - mid 12's in the 1/4.

 

I was yet to breathe oxygen the first season I spent at the dragstrip

Birthday is October.

 

'71 or '72 my future brother in law took me to Cecil County. Saw Richie Zul in a white pro stock Camaro match race a car called the Dixie Sport Duster. Rosin burnouts, dry hops, all the good stuff. I'd always read Hot Rod and followed drag racing, just didn't know anybody else old enough to get me to a track.

 

1963ish but I can't remember her name.

 

1982 - raceway park - englishtown , nj
summernationals - 17 years old

 

love the name CADDO MILLS

 

1958, I was 7, San Gabriel Drag Strip, just east of where the Irwindale oval is today...I was tired so I sat on a cactus..my dad spent the next ten minutes plucking stickers out of my Levis

 

Maybe 9-10 years old.
Ohio - Thompson Dragway, early to mid 70's
Dyno Don, The Mopar Missle, Grumpy Jenkins, Sox and Martin
Wheelie Standers and Jet Cars.
Some things ya never forget.
Thanks Dad!

 

MY 1ST TIME ............ Orange Airport, Orange Mass.

It was the early summer of 1966 and school had let out.
This girl in my English, French and drama class invited me over to her house that weekend while her parents were away.
I was more interested in going to the drags than satisfying her wild needs so I dragged her up the road to the old airport.
It was in Orange Mass., real genuine quarter mile airport drags!
We had a blast. Even she drove my car ( badly though).
I had a fuelie '57 BelAir 4 door hardtop.
A real sleeper except for the telltale front fender emblems and the ticky thumpy idle.
By 2:00 her hormones were red lining and we had to bolt early.
We got back to her place, she fed my some home made cherry pie then dropped down to her knees ............and her parents walked in.
We quickly composed ourselves, did the introduction thing, then back out to the Chevy and I was outta there.
Headed back to the eliminations.
She never invited me over again. WTF.

 

It was around 1966 or 67. My older brother took me to Lions! We went almost every weekend. I loved it!
I remember a FED with red and white stripes,Little Red Wagon,Anglia called King Kong,Back-up Pick-up,Ramchargers,Fuel Alterds,Gassers,it was great! Then it closed and I wasn't old enough to drive yet,so I just lost touch with Drag Racing. Until I met my buddy Mike LeNarz who's stepmom was married to Dwayne Lidke who had a Top Fuel car and we started going to his races.
I've always wanted a Gasser to race for fun and maybe I will someday...

 

First trip to a dragstrip was around 1964. Island Dragway was advertising on the radio that Don Garlits in his swamp rat was going to try for 200mph. Made the two hour trip with some friends to see him make history. I guess it was worth it since I still can remember all the excitement on that trip.

 

Where it all started: Carlsbad Raceway, San Diego. 1966 Hey Bad Bob, I remember all those guys on the Southern California circle. Orange County, Pomona. The Winter Nationals Whooo yA

 

As a 15 y.o. the 75 US Nationals sealed the deal for me. I'd been to some
of the local tracks before but somehow talked my parents into letting me go
to Indy with the guys from a local speed shop where I'd been hanging out.
Camped out in the Lions Park,snuck into the drive-in,and got really hammered
on tequila. All before we even made it through tech with a SS AMX. A real
crew shirt and white Levi's, Man, I was somebody!
The image that has really stuck with me though was a Top Fueler pitching
a blower on the top end while I was walking back toward the track. It nailed
one of those big ass TV cameras set way up on scaffolding killing the
cameraman.
The next year I was at opening day of our local track(Quaker City Dragway)
with a new drivers license and my 57 Chevy sedan delivery.

 

Early fifties, A drag strip in Livonia MI, Art Arfons, with his first aircraft powered dragster, not a jet.
Not many dragstrips in those days.
Thanks, Uncle Paul.

 

1968 or 1969 can't rember Cordova Il World Series of drag Racing

 

1960, My dad took me to the inaugural weekend at Pacific Raceways. They did a thing where they ran drags for a couple of hours, than a bit of car and then bike road racing.
We hit it fairly often on "visitation weekends" when the drags were running for the next two years until my mom and then stepfather moved back on this side of the mountains.
I was 13 or 14 at the time.
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My Dad took me and my brother to Famoso in 1982. I hate to say this but, I grew up at race tracks, so it was just another race track to me at the time. When I go there now it reminds me of him and I wish he could be here so we could enjoy it together.

 

I was at Carlsbad Raceway they day they opened (1964) and the day they closed (2004).