Cruising returns to Van Nuys Blvd

No..That is a Gotcha original...I don't think too many people had the balls to do something like that in those days...

 

Hey All.... Please bring a new, unwrapped gift to the cruise on Dec 9th...All gifts will be going to help needy and at risk kids!
Thanks!!!

 

Hey Reid,

I gather you have been very busy, I sent you a couple of emails and would like
to speak with you when you have a chance.

Email is okay too.

Thanks

 

Groucho:

So much for me trying to steer this thread away from street racing, eh.
If you can't beat'em, join'em.

Jim's bike was a turbo Kawasaki with a slick and wheelie bar. He and his girl friend and my wife and I shared a house in Sylmar in those days. I saw Jim today and he said he didn't think he ever lost a race with that bike. He was always prette careful about choosing his races.

About the 210 Freeway race, it's fuzzy now, but from what I remember Jim put such a holeshot on the Camaro that either Stewart gave up or just couldn't get near the bike. It was like giving the bike a three back rolling start. I always hated racing bikes myself, and usually tried to do it from a roll when pressed.

John Stewart was a real character all right. He had some T-Shirts made up that said "I Survived a Phone Call With John Stewart". He came over to the house a couple of times. He didn't like it too much when I laid Lazer Lips on him, but he grew into it. <G>

Stewart was close with Boo-Boo for awhile (Your chosen nickname for Mike Devaney). God he HATED that nick. LOL
Stewart put one of his big dog Nitrous units on Mike's Vette. They wanted to test it against my own Vette. At that time I believe I only had iron heads that I had ported in my garage. Stock rods and pistons (11 to 1), but I was experimenting with staged units at the time. No Juice used in first gear (street tires doncha know and 4.56 gears), one unit used in second gear (plumbed into the carburetor itself) operated by the shifter button, two units worth used in second gear (plumbed into the back of the manifold disguised as a power brake vacuum line) operated by the horn button. IIRC, the horn button also operated an MSD retard module as well as the Nitrous. I'm using the term "Unit" as Nitrous flow equivalent to a 125 HP plate Unit.

I'd take off on the motor, short shift to second hit the shifter button, wind it out - get off the button to power shift to third, get on the horn button wind it out in third, then off the button at the top of third to power fourth, then hit both the horn AND the shifter button. To use one of your favorite phrases, I'd either be IMPRESSED, or DEPRESSED - depending on if the motor survived the pass. LOL

Anyway, Stewart's Lazar Unit just didn't have the umph he thought it did. So it was back to the drawing board.

 

Pam & I spent the evening with the Van Nuys neighborhood city council, and the Councilmans planning deputy

 

Email sent....

 

Dang Bob You Must Have Been Very Tired After Making A Pass In That Vette, Sounds Like A Lot Of Work To Me.. Ha Ha. Your Cars Were Always A Blast To Watch..

</g>

 

Frick & Frack:

Why thank you.

Sometimes they were a "blast" because of the vaporized & incandescent aluminum piston material exiting the uncorked sidepipes. <G>

Ya know, I went through a period where I liked to melt glass into different shapes. But I didn't have an oxy-acetylene rig. And propane/butane or Map gas doesn't really get hot enough to melt glass, so what I did was run a line and a nozzle from a Nitrous bottle through an adjustable valve WITH the propane. THEN it got hot enough. So you can imagine what that stuff can do to your Nova's engine if you run lean. Take your heads off and you might be able to see the bottom of your piston's top ring land in spots. LOL

 

Now I Know Your Nuts..Lol. I try to make sure I run my nitrous a lil fat hoping I don't hurt anything to bad. I'm getting ready to put some good pistons and rods in it then maybe I can experiment with a little more Nitrous. It has KB pistons and I beam Scat rods in it now so I'm being careful I don't wanna hurt my nice heads if something would come apart.

</g>

 

Frick & Frack:

Heh, that's what Mike Thermos from NOS called me. Crazy Bob.

Scat rods are good ones (4330 or 4340 material IIRC). But in later years I favored aluminum rods for aluminum's shock absorbing characteristics. So I didn't beat the bearings to death. Especially in the Frankensqueeze Vette that usually flowed over 10 Units worth of Nitrous.

I think we're getting off the main topic of this thread. Are you going to the next Van Nuys cruise? I haven't seen you in a couple of decades.

 

Ok, thanx. Gary

 

The heart wants, what the heart wants. (LOL). BTW, I remember the cops showing up when Jim was gonna race the Lazar Camaro, which I believe was a mid-week arrangement. Then raced somewhere else. I wanna say the cops showed @ Roxford, and the race went off at Lumber City?
</g>. Reid, wassup with the possible new meet spot?

 

It's still Rydell Dec. 9 HOLIDAY CRUISE! Pass the word bring a new unwrapped toy, brighten a child's Christmas and feel good too! It's on the website. I'm trying to get the word spread.

 

Hey all you VNC people and participants...

I just wanted to remind you that I will be holding my annual HAMB Meet&Greet after the Mooneyes show on Dec 12th. starting right after the show about 3pm till later.

More info here:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=421167

 

Yeah I'll be there at the next cruise night, I guess I missed seeing you by a few minutes at one of the nights, I did see Jim Grant. Look foreword to seeing you.

 

Do you still have that ticket? I hope you don't mind me asking.

Thanks

 

I think you're gonna have to start passing out T-shirts to some of us that have contributed to your book. One each in a Large here. You can bring them next Wednesday. This info's a bargain to you at ANY price (another). Don't forget please

 

Ha ha, I wish I was rich and could do that. There is a fantastic, almost unbelievable story here, if all the pieces could be put together. Likely a book all by itself. To cover this ten year span between 1970-80 I think is very important. Anyway, I can't get it out of my head.

I wish there was a great deal of money in writing books, but, everybody I know who does them gets screwed, while the book companies become media giants. Most of the best writers I know make a pittance, and do them more because they love what they are doing, or are moved by the idea.

I can't really claim to be a writer though, I'm just another sick car nut that thinks this kinda stuff is an important piece of hot rod history, so I sat down my brushes and decided I would write a book about something that has burned in my memory, like a million other guys, Van Nuys Boulevard!

I do appreciate the fact that you guys have shared some pretty private stuff with me, and I really do think this is an important piece of history that should be recorded.

 

Actually, I am not sure if I still have that ticket. I will have to look around for it. I had another around that time for "Flagman in drag race" from the LAPD near the LA/Glendale borders. They are things that I very well would have saved. One thing that I do remember, is that, depending on how the ticket was written, the fine was affected. Mine was about $15 at the time. Some others that I had talked to, were charged from $20 - $100.

 

Very cool, if you find it can you take a digital photo of it, I would very much like to see it. Definately, a treasure, and piece of history.

If you like you can email me at:
kentbash@earthlink.net

Thanks

 

Hey Reid, can I quote you on some of this?

Thanks,

Kent

 

Bash:

I'm sure everyone would probably view things differently, but if *I* had to pick a decade that would typify Valley street racing in it's hey-day I'd say the decade between '78 & '88 is what would do it for me.

In the middle to late 80's seems to be when the largest volume and variety of racing was done. People came from all around to watch & race in the Valley. They came from Compton, Whittier, Westchester, Orange County, Lancaster, Simi, Thousand Oaks, heck even from Las Vegas.

It was definitely the time period when I had the most fun racing. Not to get too nostalgic, but it was a time whose like will never be repeated, or seen again.

 

Yea, but you should really get the full straight scoop from Dave....

 

Bottle Bob:
Or, we could get very specific, like the summer of 1982 at Glenoaks & Peoria. Cars didn't show up until about 2AM Sunday and stayed until about 6AM. Admittedly, many nights there hosted a much larger crowd than we are now seeing at the Van Nuys cruises. Back to back runs for 3-4 hours straight.

In all honesty, I prefer smaller crowds of about 10-15 cars. More effective when trying to get off races. That summer was so over that top though, that it still boggles my mind today. The police units had to have been looking the other way. There is no other reasonable explanation.

That reminds me of another time at Lumber City on Sepulveda. There was a police car watching races go off, when someone spotted it and yelled "Cop!". The front end of the police car was sticking out from behind a building. The police car started up, backed up out of site with it's headlights off, turned on it's headlights, pulled forward, and told everyone to leave.

 

Reid:

Are we going to have a back-up date for the Van Nuys cruise? I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, buuuuuuuuuuuuuut, rain is predicted for most of next week!

 

Bash:

I will check on it. As far is history is concerned, that would be a stretch, to say the least. I do have some historical things tucked away but they have nothing to do with automobiles, racing or cruising.

 

Glenoaks and Peoria.. That place was hot for a while.. There was a young lady named Mary with a pretty quick Nova.. I remember a wicked fast Camaro.. He stacked it up on video..

I used to race Riverside drive.. We used to hang out in the "lot" off of Fletcher drive.. This was around '72 / 73..

 

Thanks, that would be great. I don't know, I think if I got a ticket for watching a drag race on the FWY, I'd frame it because I don't think anybody would believe it. It's great to have evidence of something so crazy.

Speaking of cops, here's a place I used to cruise by just to loose 'em.
Wenchells was kinda like cop flypaper.

 

EASILY worth 2, Large T-shirts

 

Cruising returns to V.N. Blvd.
Just prior to 78 were some great times too. I remember going to Burbank and Balboa for hours, while one pair of slicks would end up on 4-5 cars throughout the night.
Cruising returns to V.N. Blvd