From the early 1960s through the mid 1970s there were an array of well known gentlemen who raced for big cash on the streets of New York and New Jersey. Does anyone know where any of these fellows are now? Does anyone have any information on these guys (i.e: their history, etc.)? A list of just some of the guys I'm looking for more information on: - Ronald Lyles, Eugene Coard, Benny Dunham, Jessie Johnson (a.k.a. the "Mutt Brothers") (Brooklyn, NY) - Rufus "Brooklyn Heavy" Boyd (Brooklyn, NY) - Levi Holmes (Newark, NJ) - Tab Talmadge (Brooklyn, NY) - "Super John" McFadden (NY?) - "Fast Earl" Mitchell (Paterson, NJ) - James and Wilbert "Wicked Willie" Smallwood (Brooklyn, NY) - Willie "Cam Rod" Campbell (is that his correct name?) (Brooklyn, NY) I've scoured the information already posted on RonaldLyles.com, HAMB, Yenko.net, DetroitHorsepower, and on and on. Does anyone have any information about any East-Coast street racers from the 1960s and 1970s? The smallest bit of information can end up being a big help. __________________
"Fast Earl" Mitchell (Paterson, NJ), lives in the next town over. bumped into him about ...mmmm I want to say 3 years ago at E-Town Super Nationals. He ia still the same,, still looks the same ,,of course until he takes his hat off
Unfortunately, I've found out Ronald Lyles (2000), Tab Talmadge (December, 2007), Benny Dunham and Jessie Johnson have passed on. __________________
I remember racing, marked out on the road 1/4 mile, on the Sprain Bk PKW, from Jackson Ave down, thats where it ended before I went into the Air Force. The good old days!!!
Tony I was about to add your name to that list when I read your post. There are very, very, few people in this world I hold in high regard you are one of them. I understand and respect various circumstances and personal reasons, but you should know your disappearance left a harsh void of reality in the industry I fear will never be filled. I hope lifes treated you well through the years, and does so for many years to come. I can only imagine your view of the current state of the high performance and racing world. Keep telling it like it is and know there are many like myself who grew up wanting to be just like you! Jeff
I'd like to talk to Brooklyn Heavy if you find him. I'm trying to trace a car he had at one time. Interesting thread!!
Hey Jeff, thanks for the really nice words...you have no idea how much I appreciate that, but honestly man, I was/am just a backyard gearhead with a passion for shit that goes fast...You DID grow up to be like me! The magazine thing was fun, but I never did fit it.... every day, every move was like fighting a war. It's funny, but even today, the magazine guys tend to keep a good distance from me, and y'know, I'm very cool with that. I live in Tennessee now, I've got a bunch of various projects in the works...own a coffehouse, deal in Mopar parts, and I'm looking for a T/F or Funnycar deal to latch onto for a season or two while I finish up on my own car. Life for me is really good at this point. Send me a PM, and I'll shoot you my cell number. I'm at the coffeehouse till 2 AM every night, and so car convo is always welcome. I'm kinda half looking for a set of Long Rams to use on a 68 Fury I'm working on.
In 64 I was in the navy had a real fast 64 plymouth savoy 426 wedge, one of the guys I hung with talks me into going to broklyn to street race. We get there and these guys want to race for big money they had a dodge on a trailer slicks open hedders ect. I said no thanks. I believe that was the crew you were taking about. I did alot of racing on sprain brook in yonkers I lived right there on mountaindale rd. Me on some buds painted the 1/4 mile lines once.
The Connecting Highway in Queens was a Great Place to run! Upper Laurel Hill was for Fast Cars & Lower was for Slower Cars In front of Shea Stadium was for Money Runs 1/4 mile marked off on the Highway 3k & Up for Runs when I had my Speed Shop I used to do Burnouts in the Parkings Lots along the Connecting Highway I could not Race there Not enough Shut down area plus My Car was fully Lettered but I raced other Cars there if you see anybody from that era tell the Dynodom from Astoria said High
A LOT of Sat night racing on the NY State Thruway as it came from NJ to NY. Cars would line the road for a half mile. Wish I could help you on the names you mentioned but thoses late nights are something I will always remember ( early 70's )
Wasnt steve lisk and richie six pack part of that deal .I know they were around detroit also . and who had the sox & martin 68 road runner .c
You know, I've heard someone around NY/NJ had a S&M Road Runner and was doing the big-money street races, but I don't know either. Seems there were more than a few ex-Sox & Martin cars racing on the NY/NJ streets. I know the Mutt Bros had a S&M '68 BO29 SS/B Hemi Barracuda for a while as well. __________________
the petosa brothers had a 68 sox and martin roadrunner tony defeo freakin rules - have fun in the hookah bar
I crushed that car one night with a really mild 440 6 Pack Charger. That thing looked bad, sounded bad, but was like a crippled pooch when it came time to go.
A few years ago, Drag Racing Underground and I were invited to a block party/car show hosted by the "HEAD HUNTERS" car club of Brooklyn, New York... The HEAD HUNTERS had their clubhouse on location where the block party was... There was a big car show consisting of "street racin' type vehicles, although there were also "legal" drag cars and assorted street rods/hot rods on display-- They even held a raucous burnout contest... They also had a large scale barbecue thing happening-- It was packed with cars and people... There was a funky "bodega" on the corner where I was lead by one of the HEAD HUNTERS' honchos to meet and do an on-camera interview with the man affectionately referred to as "Brooklyn Heavy"-- It was a real honor to meet "Brooklyn Heavy"-- His heyday was before my time and he definitely appeared and sounded like he was certainly gettin' on in years (we all eventually get old)... With the video camera rolling, he shared some memories of his old street racing and Pro Stock days-- "Brooklyn Heavy" became a bit emotional and even teared up a little while reminiscing about his golden days of racing... It was a pleasure to meet him and to have him share some of his colorful history with me-- I was impressed, because even though he was obviously "old skool" (H*ck, he's the definition of "old skool"!!), he was a real gentleman to me and didn't mind talking shop with a woman behind the microphone... People like "Brooklyn Heavy" are fast becoming an extinct breed--And that's a d*rn shame... "The Doc" (Celebrity Drag Racing Authority & Visionary)...
Holy s-t, you have a recent video interview of the Rufus "Brooklyn Heavy" Boyd? Oh man I need to get my hands on that badly! __________________
Yeah the "TWINS" Jessie & Johnnie and my uncle Mike Cruz who had the Gulf Station on Broad & Broadway ... Mike had a 68 Road Runner Hemi Silver Grey, started on the streets with a 63 Chevy SS 409 4 Speed Dual 4's in the 60's. eventually when business got better he picked up an original 67 GTX Green in color with a Hemi that wouldn't fire up it turns out the the ex owner was changing the mains and installed them backwards so the engine wouldn't turn. My uncle hired and old Cuban guy and the dude turned the mains and the engine fired up!!! It was a monster, had open headers. Eventually that engine wound up at Rogers Speed Shop and was rebuilt for the pro-stock that was being built for him 70 Cuda by Kovalick Engineering. Unfortunately they used heavy wall tubing on the chassis and the car could not get out of it's own way. Car was shipped out to Val-Chem in Ohio for acid dipping and while there the bad tubing was discovered and they built a whole new chassis for the car. It ran well a few times but unfortunately my uncle wasn't too cool on specs or tuning a real race car so he blew a rod out of the side of the hemi. I was about 16 years old at that time. Remember I stayed up all night assembling the car at the Gulf Station. Man was I hurt when he blew that motor. After that he didn't want to keep pouring money into the car he stored it for a few years and then sold it. I wound up with the distributor from that car and used it in my Duster after a few MSD mods.
Pro1718, would these "twins" have been from Newark? What was their last name? Do you know if this "Jessie" was the same one who owned an ex-Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins 2nd-gen Camaro Pro Stocker which he then turned into a tube-chassis car and ran on the street? I came across the following post on DetroitHorsepower a while back and maybe you can help connect some dots: "Another interesting tidbit is that aside from the Toy Number 8 which Mike G. owns, there is a possible line on Toy Number 7. It seems that a notorious street racer named Jesse from Newark, New Jersey owned a 2nd-gen Camaro that was an ex-Jenkins car and was made into a tube chassis car by the street racers themselves, which makes it different from Mike's car which was modifed while Richie Zul owned it. I don't know where that car is today, but I think it was cut up in the mid '90s. If it is the car that was left to rot under the bridge in Jersey city back in about 1995 (which I pulled the lexan windshield out of and some parts off of) there wasn't much left of the original car when it was scrapped." (http://www.detroithorsepower.com/forum/index.php?topic=1976.0) Would this be the same fellow?
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