Has anyone REALLY street raced? (pics)

Ever run against the Silver Bullet back then?

 

If your talkin about Howdy's shortbed chevy , well , he paid alot of mortgages off with that fucker.He had a Nova that ran 8's also on the street. He was as wicked a bench racer as ever there was .He could talk you into putting your wife up in the race and she'd go home with him. He was a smart bastard.Still is . Last I knew , he was runnin a 7 second camaro that my buddy sold him.2nd avenue was another great place and down river was even hotter. Abandoned communities all over , long ass boulevards and only security cops , since these communities could no longer afford police. Yah , Detroit ! WOW . That was a trip down memory lane .There are so many more stories .... jesus ..... swaZZie




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Dude, Jimmy Addison and the Silver Bullet, I can remember reading about how he worked at a Sunoco station and the Chrysler engineers would backdoor parts to him. I guess they would try stuff out on the silver bullet to see how it worked. I have always wanted a car like the silver bullet, I could just imagine how bad ass that car must have sounded.
Jimmy white

 

Hey Scott!
The mid 70's I was a bit young but ever make it down to Braintree at all?
The craziness that STILL goes on on Quincy ave?
That old road into the woods up by Ridge Arena near the Randolph line?
I was one of like 2 kids (under 10) "allowed" to be there.

 

HEY SCOTCH, DID YOUR PAL WITH THE RED 66 NOVA GO TO A PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOL? LA SIERRA PRIVATE...OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

Ya- that was him. His family had some cash, but he was really cool. He ran with another pal of his from school that used to bring out (and thrash upon) a real '68 Shelby Mustang (428 car I think). The Shelby wasn't too fast, but it was real. The Nova was fast.

IF SO I DO REMEMBER HIM. HIS CAR WAS CLEAN AND RAN PRETTY GOOD. HE WENT TO SCHOOL WITH A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE NAMED JAY THAT OWNED A WHITE 4 SPEED 64 GTO. WOW, YOU REMEMBER GEMCO. THAT WAS GOOD UNTIL THE MINTRUCK BOOM BOX B.S. STUFF TOOK OVER.

AND I DO REMEMBER THE GREMILN. I RACED HIM ONE NIGHT GOING OVER THE MISSION BRIDGE IN TO DOWNTOWN. MAN, I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THAT CAR UNTIL YOU MENTIONED IT. WHEN I SAW THAT CAR FOR THE FIRST TIME I THOUGHT TO MYSELF...THIS SHITBOX CANT DO MUCH...WHAM....WE GOT ON IT...AND HE HELD HIS OWN.

Gremlin guy (his name was Leroy) had a '68 AMX too- dark green with white stripes. He raced it constantly, and was a marked man around San Berdoo- he'd get pulled over on sight. So, he went to the junkyard, found that booger green Gremlin body (was a factory 304 V-8 Gremlin "X") and swapped the whole AMX drivetrain into it. It could never hook up, but it was a runner. He had a stuffed Gremlin from the movie hanging in the rear window, and he perfected the "evil Gremlin laugh" from the movie and would share this talent with anyone he beat in a street race...he ended up getting drunk and killing someone and went to jail for a long time- that was the last I heard from him.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE CHICK IN THE LEMON TWIST YELLOW 71 CHARGER? IT WAS A FAST CAR.

Because i was a Mopar guy, of course I did. I heard she was quick, and I remember her being pretty hot, too. I never saw her really run it though- just street light stuff.

THERE WAS A YELLOW 69 CHEVELLE WITH A DUAL QUAD TUNNEL RAM WITH TWO GOLD ANODIZED VELOCITY STACKS STICKIN OUT OF THE HOOD.

Man..I don't remember that one.

ANOTHER FRIEND HAD A RED 64 GTO,4 SPEED TRI POWER,AND HIS BUDDY HAD A RED 69 BUICK GS WITH A RAM AIR 400.....THOSE GUYS ALLWAYS PARKED AT GEMCO.

I remember these cars but not these guys. I know I talked to the guy with the Buick a few times, but never enough to "know" him...

GOOD MEMORIES.[/QUOTE]

No kidding! I ran with a bunch of guys from the air base in San Berdoo (Norton). We all helped each other out.

Besides the AMC guy and me, we had a brown '67 Firebird 400, a red '66 Nova (4-speed car), a yellow '67 Nova SS (327/Powerglide), an orange '68 GTO, a yellow '74 SD 455 T/A, a light green '70 Charger R/T, a forest green '69 Super Bee (low-rise dual-quad 383 I built,w/ a 727), and a few other cars who'd only head out with the rest of us once in awhile.

My '63 was about the quickest car (12.5:1 440, 727 w/ Trans-Go 2, 3.91 8.75 posi) and it'd run low 12s at Palmdale, so it had to be in the 11s at sea level.

The Pontiac guys all worked with a local guy named GTO Bernie, who lived real close to the base. He had a white '64 GTO lettered with "Mighty Whitey" on the side and it'd run easy 12s all day with a mild 455. He helped me build my 440, and when I beat mighty whitey with it, he thanked me because now he had to build a better motor. He ended up building a new car- a red '68 or '69 Firebird that had a Doug Nash Warrior dual-quad tunnel ram on its 455, and ran 9s.

So many good times.

Do you remember a black dude named Louis who'd run a purple '55 Dodge pickup? It had a nasty Hemi and was a screamer when it hooked up, which wasn't often. I saw Louis lose $1,000 in a single race one night...

~Scotch~

 

Dude, You're Killing Me Here! I Knew "gto Bernie" . My Dad And I Hung Out In His Garage All The Time! He Ran Low 12's - High 11's At Riverside With That Thing Then Built The Firebird. He Had A Buddy With A 69 El Camino With A 455 Poncho.

My Buddy Saw The Guy With The Pruple Truck Run Someone For Big $ In The Highland Area Late One Night.

You Didn't Answer Me On Your Buddy With The Red Nova Ss. What Was His Name And What School Did He Go To?

 

You guys, don't forget Brooklyn NY on the side streets of industrial sites in the early sixty's, that was better than kool until the policccce came and hauled you in

 

I tried really hard to remember, but it was so long ago I must have lost that brain cell. It was a real simple, common name...and I remember he told me he went to a private school but I couldn't tell you what it's name was either.

Sorry!

Scotch (but I went by Sparky when I was street racin')

 

Street Racing is about to get a whole lot more exciting in Canada


"The federal government is cracking down on street racing by making it a criminal offence, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/25/streetracing.html

Mike

 

Well, it's really really wrong, but aren't all of the fun things?


Kick ass post.

 

Street racing?

No never.

That would be against the law.

 

smalltown racing is where its at,my town has about 2,500 people in it and alot of em' like to rod. Not just old rods but anything they can get cheap and make go fast. we have a good place to run,its in front of my house,2.5 miles out of town on a long semi smooth and straight hwy with no driveways other than mine for about 3/4 mile in either direction,I've got 1320ft marked out on the road with paint and flags and it gets used!best of all I've got front row seats,a second driveway with 4 acres of parking to gather up at to talk shit at and plan some pretty good backwoods,small town street racing!!!!!

 

Hell yes.

But come on...

...if you've spent lots of blood, sweat, and tears (not to mention lots of hard-earned cash and time) building some serious horsepressure under the hood of your vintage American ride, and some punk-ass pulls up next to you in some kind of slinky new jellybean thing with his stereo thumping and his trashy-looking ho-bag of a girlfriend next to him, and he starts revving his sewing machine to impress the ho-bag, and he looks over at you with that straight-up challenging stare....or worse yet CALLS YOU OUT....or EVEN worse yet...the ho-bag CALLS YOU OUT...it's your God-given responsibility to represent all that is right and good about hot rodding and dust his goofy ass off the street in a cloud of smoke and high-octane fumes...

...as long as it's safe and all that...

~Scotch~

 

Groucho I ran across this older post today. I used to have a Falcon Gasser back in the 70's and ran out of Camarillo, before I got it, it belonged to a friend of mines brother who died his last name was Kudla. He put it together in and around 74-75, in Thousand Oaks it was green did you ever see it or run against it? It had a 327 vet motor and 4 speed with an International staright axle?

 

DAMN, this is a long thread! Haven't had time to read it all yet, but 20+ years ago Rankin road in Houston was the place to go. About 15 years ago I went with a group of people out by Hobby Airport, all the streets for a new neighborhood had been put in, but no houses yet. When I saw a couple cars coming of trailers, I thought, this is a little crazy. Hundreds of people right on the edge of the road, VERY fast cars, and idiot crotch rocket bikes doing 100mph wheelies. Then the cop cars and helicopters came, and everybody split. I didn't stick around to see if anybody got arrested, but at least nobody got hurt. They sure could have!

 

Yeah, it's all fun 'n games till the shit hits the fan.
Check this out http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/15940038.htm

Be careful out there.

 

i grew up in la habra and was at the la habra races every weekend in the 56 chevy. another race spot was on 1st street over off lambert. i remember there was a guy in a black blown nova that just about ruled that place from 85-87. we also used to go over the hill to the industery races as well. we would hang out at the carls jr or tommys burgers and bench race before heading over there. its kinda sad those days are over.

 

Rip-Rap rd. Dayton, OH if your from dayton and raced you will know.

 

Street racing may be fun, but nowadays it puts a black eye on hotrodders. Joe Public thinks streetracer=import tuner. Do you really want to be lumped in with these characters? I sure don't.

 

thats the area i used to race in the late 80's early 90's
....,,,we'd meet up at Spoons restuarunt or this old grocery store ,,,then the matches would be set up.,,,then head over to industrial areas later on,,lots of crazy shit,,,full on tube frame cars,,rollgaged narrowed cars and alot of sleepers,plenty of VW bugs smoking camaros too!

 

Streetin'...

When I finally came of age, the Woodward Wars of the 60's had *killed* any and all action on the Street - you showed up with chrome wheels and you got pulled over, told to gitthehellouttatown.

We ran Gratiot and Telegraph instead.

Pics? No. No evidence, just a pocket of 20's and a place to go.

I ran a 350 Nova with an engine that had been 'prepped' by chevy engineering - bought it off of the son of one of the senior Chevy engineers. Youse guys know all the tricks - it looked bone stock, but it ran out like a full-house mill. I never took it apart to see what they'd done to it, but it put the hurt on a lotta guys runnin' rumpety cams, ladder bars, etc. Even though there were faster cars out there, it was great fun reelin' in the guys that thought my poor little maroon Nova was easy pickin'.

As for doin' it today -

The risks are waay higher - the cops have gotten much smarter about it. Like the Nova, the daily driver looks stock (even with the hood open) and runs into the 12's; it has seen many hard passes on the asphalt.

To Sctoch's point re: the fart tip crowd...they do indeed need educatin' now and then, along with the 'off-the-shelf' current crop of musclecars - you know, the buy a 400 HP musclecar and spew the my-car-does xx.xx according to this magazine and it's faster than your car bullshit. I like seein' the little round 'o' their mouths make as
they fade in the rearview...It's better than sex...

Or so I've heard.

No pix, tho. I've gotten tired of being 'escorted' each time I dip below a certain mile road on a certain street. Last thing I need to do is advertise.

 

I agree 100%. We had a whole different regiment in my day. Wee hours of the morning, remote industrial areas, etc. NO racing if some dickhead parked on the side of the street we were to race on. No intersecting side streets, etc. We'd send a few people ahead to the race location (negotiations NOT done at the race place)to mark the finish, mark out car lengths (if there was a handicap start), and a "starter" would be in place. This assured us not to be too long in getting the race off after everyone got parked. Afterwards, we'd go back to point of origin for further negotiations (new races)

 

Shoppers Paradise parking lot in Spring Valley NY........UNREAL. Sat night cars trailering in from NJ and CT and also NY City. Ran on the NY State Thruway exiting from NJ ( Garden State Pkw ) What a show. Ran my 1970 Novs SS there

 

Nice to have the bucks, etc. to do hi-powered racing. One of the best for me was with my '56 GMC 1/2 ton which had a factory installed Pontiac motor and 4-speed hydro. Late at nite, pull up to a stop sign and '57 Chevy does like wise. Check out each others rides, rev the mototors and launch. Oops-did not check rear view mirror, cop car with lights going. The other guy pulled over with cop behind him. I took off and hit the first alley with no lights. The good 'ol days.

 

Northeast Philly in the mid '60s to early '70s on Decatur Road - nice straight stretch in a new industrial area next to the Northeast Airport. You could also pick up lots of light to light runs on "The Boulevard" - Route 1 - Roosevelt Blvd. Another short lived spot was an abandoned WWII airstrip behind the Budd plant on Red Lion Rd. Huge crowds on a Sat. or Sun. afternoon. The cops started showing up with city busses to haul off the participants. Wasn't long until it was dug up for houses. I know there was a big scene in south Philly but I never ran there.

 

Out in my hometown of Hereford, TX, all it took was three words to get a race going..... "Holly Sugar Road"


Personally, I refused to race on it. The road quality was terrible and you'd have to be driving a Ford to not notice (i.e., be running incredibly slow).

What I did was pick n' choose as carefully as I could.... but what was awkward was my dad, the shop teacher, managed to overhear an awful lot of conversations in class about who "that '55 that looks like a hearse" had managed to shut down the last weekend.

We get a good laugh out of it now, but when I do think back on how easily it all could have gone wrong in the blink of an eye... <shudder>.

 

In Baytown Tx in the late 70s the place to be was Tri City Beach Road. I was never really serious about it. I had a 70 Charger with a 383 that ran 13.90s through the mufflers on (get this) Daytona Sport Sixties. Everyone would meet on Texas Ave races were arranged and then out to Tri city beach. Not much action on Friday night other than loud mouthed high school kids, but on Saturday nights it got pretty serious. The later it got the faster the cars got. Looking back on it now some of these cars were pretty scary. After a close call having a spectator pull in front of me from the shoulder. attending a couple of funerals, a move to Austin and discovering sanctioned racing I gave up on street racing all together. It sure was fun at the time though. I cannot claim that I was ever smart, just lucky.

 

Street racing in toronto has pretty much dried up with the new law. Getting caught = serious jail time now.

Before the first Fast and Furious came out, the cops would just roll through and shue us all away. Then the ricers started hitting the race spots and ruined it for everyone with their crap.

We used to race on Snow road, Hong Kong, Altona, Steeles, Markham Bypass, Crown Steele, 14th, Crockford, Coronation, or at the Bottom. No side streets, no goofs on the road, and never saw an accident. Used to meet up at Millies, the Texas Pit, Woodbine & 16th, or a couple of Tim Hortons. Almost always racing for bragging rights or a little gas money. Occasionally a couple of the heavy hitters would have a big money run to settle a grudge, or you would have a chucklehead with a big mouth and a fat wallet that would try to intimidate everyone by wanting a $1000 race. Until the cash was taken from him by one of the many sleepers.

Good times! Noone was hurt, we were not drinking, or fighting, or anything bad. But that is all gone now.

 

And you know what sucks is it's kind of hard to tell anyone to "take it to the track" when tracks all over the place are closing down to make room for strip malls and apartment buildings.

 

Rick......I guess you are a bit young to remember the Harveys at Jane and 400/401..................Used to pull out of there and race up the ramp onto the 400...................That was about 1972-73....

Gawd..I hate getting old