My mom told me a story years ago about when she was probably 11 years old, her mom had a 69' Torino Cobra Jet. She told me one time of when they were sitting at a red light when a car with a small kid pulled up next to them. The little boy waved his hand as if to race. My grandma casually glanced over and the second the light went green, she floored it and smoke went every where. Mama said she done a burn out for atleast a whole quarter mile!
All autocross related...Years ago I see an old lady hanging with a friend of mine,it was his mom. Short, hunched over with a heavy coat and scarf. Later that day I see his car ripping and drifting around the course, and I walk over and say "you're really going fast out there". Then I realize it's not him driving. It was mom, heavy coat and scarf under the helmet. After Dad p***ed away, my Mom would visit me during the winter so she could go ice racing with use. She wasn't the fastest, but she certainly wasn't the slowest. Autocross 25 years ago, my wife and half the other women driving were all pregnant that summer. While checking their times, some blow hard in a Camaro starts hooting about how fast he's running, letting all know what a stud he was. My old fart buddy walks over, checks the times, chomps his cigar, and dryly points out that every one of those pregnant ladies is kicking his ****. That hissing sound was his ego deflating, and we never saw him again.
she didnt get me into cars,but last summer i had a car stored in modesto cal.in gene winfield's sister mary's garage ,when i went to get it,itook her for aride,she was all smiles and giggles.she is about 85.
My Mom was born in Santa Clara, and attended Business School there. When she graduated, she bought a 3-year-old '29 'A' Roadster. Pete Dias, around the corner, was an Indy mechanic that had been on the Miller team... Mom asked him to hop her car up, and he installed a Winfield head, downdraft carb, and "twin pipes", along with some "other engine work". She and her crowd used to go to "Holy City", an unincorporated little town in the Santa Cruz mountains, above Lexington Dam. Nobody could catch her on the Los Gatos road, going uphill or coming back down. When she tired of all the wind coming in at speed, she traded it in on a '31 Sport Coupe, with rollup windows. Pete Dias was called on again, this time she had a whole engine built. Valve-in-Head and downdraft, dual exhaust, she said it was a house afire! She met my Dad in '37, and he 'slowed her down'. (he bought her a '37 Ford flatback, 21 stud V8, 85 H.P., Columbia axle. She told stories about winning bets when she could unwind it to 85 in second! (overdrive, natch) When my Dad was killed in an accident, she bought Mr. Langendorf's (Langendorf bread) '48 Cad, had dual exhaust installed, and the heads milled. Louvered the hood, lowered it front and rear, and installed new '56 Olds Starfire caps. There was a lanky guy around town with a '50 Olds Tudor sedan, raised up in the rear (?) with whitewalls and Moon discs. On the side was scrawled: "SLIPPERY ED". She came home one day, parked in the driveway, and told my hot rod bud Ramsay and me how she was at the light on Washington St., and up drives this Olds...and the name on it...She finalized the story with the light changing, and how she "waxed Slippery Ed"! We loved it. She traded the Caddy in on a '56 T-Bird, but she had been diagnosed with cancer of the bone...couldn't use the clutch, so she traded the 'Bird in on a '56 Ford convertible. (seating was more upright, so she could use clutch easier) That was a fast car, (after it got 'super-tuned') but even it, with its hanging swing pedals was hard for her to clutch, so she preferred my '36 Five Window. My pals used to LOVE seeing her drive the '36. It had a shortened stick, (276 flattie) big-n-littles, low rake...when she'd shift, reaching down for the stick, her foot would slide off the clutch, and she'd get a big second gear 'chirp'. ("Second Gear Meat") I lost her in '59, what a drag. But her '56 Ford was a popular entry every Sunday at Fremont Drags..."Wow, Mike's Mom's Ford's raisin' hell with those chevys again!"
This thread made me think of these photos. The first was someone's relative on here but I fail to remember the name... This next group is from Life magazine I believe... Now for my own personal story. Word is, my great-grandmother on my father's side used to be a Dirt Track Racer in the '50s & '60s and there are pictures somewhere but I've never seen them...and the relatives that have them won't show them. The same went for my grandfather on my mother's side, he was a wrestler/boxer. Only one picture has ever surfaced of him "dressed" as a wrestler...though others are supposed to exist. The ones of him boxing are supposedly lost.
I can definitely say that my Grandma helped get me into cars and racing. My brother and I called her "Hot-Rod Granny". She wasn't a demon, but she knew what an accelerator was for. Drove Oldsmobiles and then Pontiacs - my favorite was the '65 Catalina with the 389... She was an indulgent grandmother and knowing I loved cars, took it upon herself to teach me to drive - at age 11!!! My dad never forgave her. Here she is heading out to do a little ice-racing on some frozen lake in central Wisconson back in the 70's:
Starliner, Granny must've had some hands to hustle that wagon around an ice racing track. I ice raced for years and it's alot harder than you think, and as it looks like she wasn't running studs, even harder! If you ever want to test your car control skills, the ice is a great (and humbling) challenge. Cheers
The Jalopy Journal
