Fantastic story! Have a similar-minded dad . . . 1st buried needle I ever saw was riding shotgun with him in mom's '69 Roadrunner. Of course, Mom never knew.
The photo's take me back to my "mis-spent youth" as a "Hall Street Hooligan". Fleecing unsuspecting victims of their pocket change and pink slips in my L-88, Chevelle. I felt like "Kid Shellee" in the movie Cat Bellew!!
What i would GIVE to have lived back then and see all the 'leadsleds' dragging down the ol' racetrack, down the back street we call "Hunter Road" here where i live....or anywhere for that fact. When my Dad and i get to talking about the cars he used to have or listening all his funny stories about racing when he was kid--we will joke about wishing we had a 'time machine' to go back when he was a kid, buying a bunch of old cars and bring them back with us to the future! lol it soundeded good to me, if only it was feasable?
In 1979, my dad, who was not into cars at all (and actually raised Arabian horses instead) needed to borrow my '53 F-100 (with 350-horse 327 Chevy power and Turbo 400 with 3.92 rear gears) while I did a tune-up on his '73 Chevy pickup (with one of those low-horse smog 454s) About an hour later, Dad pulls up to the curb in my F-100, gets out and walks over to me, hands me my keys, and says, "I just left some punk in a Mustang sitting at a light. Boy, was he surprised." And then he went into the house, never mentioned it again.
My street racing antics ended quite a bit differently when I din't quite make it home before the helicopters and motorcycle cops one night... Just a flat run out of luck and skill that had seen me through many, many nights of the same for a few years before with basic impunity. I was also much older - way more than enough to know better, and business and homeowner. Absolutely no coincendince that my home is still only 9 doors from Central Ave in Phoenix, though! I have to hand it to your father for one of the most brilliant parenting moments I have ever heard of! And ya, even in the past of twenty some odd years mothers still have a tendancy to lose their minds when tales of fun days past come to light. Best to keep it under your hat. Probably best not to tell the wife either as they always seem to side with the mom, I have suffereed "that look" before. I happen to have that LIFE magazine in my collction, and first hand on paper those pictures are awsome.
Great story! I was a 5liter guy though. I can remember taking Mom to the store when a Grand National pulled up next to us. She new what was about to happen as she rode around with my dad in his roadrunner. Best street race ever. And we won.
I hear you man,,that's my ring tone! HRP <iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/x6ajxN2SAGY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
A 300ZX still couldn't beat a lame Mustang LX even on NOS? Surprised the LX stood up to more than a handful of NOS hits.
Ha ha ha I was that guy in the Lame fox body shutting them down. Now I'm much more mature. I'm the guy in the Crown Vic chasing them down.
Great story Ryan!! Thank you for sharing, I really enjoyed the read. We all have our stories, I'll share one of mine. Just outside of Philadelphia Pa. in a little town called North Hills, we all hung out at Kenyons Diner. We had a reputation of fast cars and guys from other towns would cruise in and challenge us to a race. This one Saturday night I pulled into Kenyons after a date in my 52 Chevy beater. My buddies ran up to me and said that this guy pulled in and put up twenty dollars to race the fastest car from Kenyons. They of course elected me to race him, and put up the twenty for me. So I had to go home and tow my not so legal car up to Kenyons so that I could race. This guy had a 57 Chevy 2dr sdn, all jacked up, scoop on the hood, ladder bars, and slicks. No one knew what engine he had, and we didn't care. So I went home and towed my car to the Sunoco station just up the hill from the diner. I rolled it down the hill popped the clutch and fired it up and drove it on the street and stopped in front of Kenyons to wait for the 57 chevy. The guy in the 57 started his car, looked over at my 1937 sprint car converted into a dragster with a nailhead Buick engine with six carbs, and he drove away leaving the twenty bucks behind. So I staged, brought up the R's, and let 'er rip down the hill to my house. I guess he should not have asked to race the fastest car out of kENYONS DINER.
Thanks Ryan for another great story. Love the pictures, especially the Stude content. Never seen a picture of a Golden Hawk doing a burn out before. The guy must have been having a blast with that big old Packard engine under the hood.
Great stories, The funny thing is that in high school I drove my Dad's '68 GTO and almost never ever raced! I feared my Father's wrath! Now my son in high school had a '66 Nova Sport coupe...small block, turbo 350, decent set of gears, and I know he street raced! I could tell by the smirk on his face when he came home at night. He still has the Nova, it has a much more potent small block in it, and of this month he's had it for 23 years it was our 16th Birthday present to him. Once a Hot Rodder always a Hot Rodder, it runs in the Family! KK
I blew up the motor in my 86 Mazda b-2000 lowrider, and a buddy and I crammed a 302 out of a 60 something cougar in it. I blew the doors off of numerous vehicles when we would hit Brooks AFB on Sunday nights back in the mid to late nineties. I dont know how I survived in that thing as it was about as rigged up as it could be...still drew a huge crowd everywhere we went though, good times..... Awesome story, thanks...
One of the best stories i've read ANYWHERE. Technically it is a great memory but for the rest of us a great read. Thanks for sharing
That has to be in the top 5 of the best stories i ever heard of a father and son never mind the race some dads are so cool..
Like some have said we all have our stories. You know I did my share of street racing as well. Dad knew what I was doing. You don't just build a muscle car with some of the crap I used to cruise around. With that said he never tried to preach to me but never helped go faster either. I wasn't into the early iron at the time like my old man was. I remember going to a car show with him and a guy mentioning that they still remembered an old '34 ford roadster he use to have. I never really paid attention to it. Stories about old cars weren't uncommon with pops. It wasn't until after he died that the stories started coming out. I was out in his old coupe when someone comes up and starts talking about how fast dads old roadster was. I asked my mother about the car. Only now when he was gone that I had an interest. My mother began to tell me about his early days of racing and acting a fool on the street. She told me that he stayed in trouble with my grandmother because the cops could never catch him. They would just go to his house and wait for him to come home.....lol Anyway it was funny that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. I understand now why he never preached to me and As a father myself understand why he didn't help to go faster. If you still have your dads around enjoy every moment and pay attention to some of the old stories.
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