NEW YORK STREET RACING 60'S & 70'S ~ story found

I'm sure Groucho & Jimmy White will appreciate this.


Back in the early - mid 80's i use to street race just about every weekend. Once a month i bracket raced at Riverside Drag strip (now a F#$@in shopping mall) It was a lot different then as most of the cars were pre 70's American made.
People would cruise in the downtown area where we lived ,meet up,then agree to race and pick out a location which were usually out in the orange groves.
Anyway, as i stated on one of Groucho's threads a while back, I always heard about how huge the street racing was in New York City in the 60's & 70's. I found this article below and thought some of you would appreciate it.
after you finish reading it there is a link at the bottom where there are about a dozen photo's.

Enjoy !



The following is an excerpt from the new book Muscle Car Confidential: Confessions of a Muscle Car Test Driver by noted automotive journalist and frequent Inside Line contributor Joe Oldham. Muscle Car Confidential: Confessions of a Muscle Car Test Driver is available at www.motorbooks.com.

They say the first street race between cars occurred the day the second car was built. I think there's a lot of truth to that old tale. Who of you hasn't gunned it to beat out the guy next to you at a green light at least once in your life? Some of you probably more than once if you're reading this book. It's a rite of passage that has been going on for eons.

Today, they make movies about street racing. "The Fast and the Furious" is essentially about import tuner cars street racing in Los Angeles. There have been many others over the years.

Yet, no one ever spoke about street racing out loud. Not in the muscle car era of the '60s.

So when I wrote the first article ever published on street racing, in the August 1968 issue of Cars Magazine, it was shocking, shocking, to thousands all over the country.

One of the people shocked out of their gourd was Wally Parks in Los Angeles. Parks, a former editor of Hot Rod magazine, was now the founder and president of the National Hot Rod Association. Parks always claimed that one of the reasons NHRA was founded was to get the racing off the streets of Los Angeles. Parks called me the day the issue hit newsstands.

"Joe, how could you write such an article? Why would you glorify street racing like that? You've just undone about 25 years' worth of hard work on the part of NHRA and hundreds of us all over this country," Parks said.

I did? Me? All by myself?

He went on like that for another 15 minutes. I didn't want to get into a long, argumentative, disrespectful phone discussion with Wally Parks, a guy who was almost godlike — and still is — to millions of people in this country. Out of respect, I just said I was sorry he felt that way about the article and that I was only reporting what I saw.

The fact was that NHRA had long ago become a big entertainment business, collecting huge television fees and gate receipts at tracks all over the USA and had little to do with the grassroots safety movement that had been at the core of the organization's founding. The proof of that was the continuing, growing, street racing movement that was an integral part of the whole muscle car era and, in fact, continues today with the import tuner guys.

It was a national thing. In the Los Angeles area where street racing may have originated in the first place, you could find a run on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena and Van Nuys Boulevard in L.A. Detroit had its famed Woodward Avenue but guys also raced out on I-75, I-94 and in Livonia.

In the '60s in the New York area where I grew up, there were numerous places you could go street racing on any given night of the week. Something was always happening on Cross Bay Boulevard, Connecting Highway and Nassau Expressway, all in the borough of Queens. In Brooklyn, street racers gathered in the parking lot of Mitchell's hamburger joint on 7th Avenue in Brooklyn, then went out under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, or to Second Avenue to settle it. The Bronx had its White Castle on Boston Post Road or the Adventurer's drive in. There were similar spots all over the country. At various times over the years, I flew in to most of the spots in most cities. But no place, no place, could touch the Connecting Highway.

The Connecting Highway. In New York in the '60s, this is where it was at in terms of big time street racing. The Connecting Highway is actually a short stretch of roadway that connects the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, New York. All the big money runs took place at the Connecting, as we called it.

All the real street racers knew this and so did the cops. In addition to holding the record for most street drag races in one night, the Connecting Highway also held the record for the place where the most tickets in any one night were given out and also the record for most arrests of street racers in any one place.

In fact, Fred Mackerodt, managing editor and later editor in chief of Cars magazine, was arrested at the Connecting Highway one night while spectating. He wanted to see the spectacle with his own eyes. He didn't believe it.

Even with all the police hassles, on a good night, you couldn't beat the Connecting for good racing. One of the reasons it was so good is that it was all packed into one little quarter-mile, from one underpass to the other. You could see everything. Granted, it was easier for the cops to see, too. But if you wanted to street race, it was done right at the Connecting.

I used to go there regularly to watch and to hear the stories. Got a lot of good article ideas there and you would not believe some of the stories. Like the time they towed in a Double A/Fuel Dragster up there, rolled it off the trailer, fired it up, smoked the whole length of the highway, then popped the chute as it went under the second underpass. Right there on a public highway! It was a common sight to see '55 Chevys and Willys gassers being towed into the pits at the Connecting.

The "pits" were the two elevated service roads that flank each side of the highway itself. I saw outlandish things there like transmissions being changed, slicks mounted and shifters adjusted. Tuneups were common and didn't even rate a second look, while a transmission or rear end change usually gathered a crowd, because to change a transmission or rear right out on a public street was a class move.

Spectators looked down onto the highway from the two guard rails that ran along the elevated service roads. The rails kept cars, girls and other debris from falling down onto the highway. It was common to see a bunch of guys standing on the sidewalk along the pits only to be interrupted by the screech of burning slicks and open headers bellowing up from the highway. A run! Everyone immediately ran to the rails to look down at the action taking place on the highway below.

There were always some drive-in poseurs making burnouts in the pits. But this was frowned on by the real racers because it attracted the cops and gave the cops a reckless driving excuse to bust everybody.

A lot of guys used to bring their chicks to the Connecting Highway to watch the races and make out between runs. And there was always a plethora of babes there on their own, looking to pick up guys. This was something the serious racers had to put up with. With so many people around making out, watching and cluttering the pits, it made it a hassle to work on your car. But it was a happening.

At one point, because of the popularity of the Connecting Highway with non-serious racers, the 114th Precinct of the New York City Police Department staged a drive to shut down the Connecting once and for all. The real racers moved to other less intense street racing venues, returning to the Connecting only for the most serious of money runs well after midnight. By that time of night, the hokey people had left and there was money to be made.

Before midnight on any given night, the less formal venues thrived. Sounds from the Clearview Expressway near Union Turnpike were a clear indication that this was where the action was on that night. At Clearview, the scene was a little different. The area under the bridge where the expressway passed over Union Turnpike served as the pits. The runs took place up on the Expressway itself. Runs went from Union Turnpike to the next exit.

If you passed the White Castle at Parsons Boulevard and it was empty, you knew you had hit a good night for racing at the Clearview Expressway up ahead. And when you pulled up to the bridge, if you saw two cars making a left under the sign that said "Throgs Neck Bridge," you knew you had gotten there just in time to see a run.

It was harder to watch runs at the Clearview because you had to follow the racers in a car to see what happened. There really was no viewing area, as there was at the Connecting. This was good for money racing because the cops weren't around constantly to clear out the spectators. There were no spectators.

There was one spot out in Queens that was the granddaddy of all street racing venues, save for perhaps a few blocks in downtown Los Angeles — Cross Bay Boulevard. Today, Cross Bay is totally developed with strip malls and tract housing running its entire length from Southern State Parkway all the way to Rockaway Beach. In those days, Cross Bay was a deserted strip of highway with nothing but marshland stretching for miles on each side of the roadway — and a legend.

Trouble was it got so big and so popular that the cops just shut it down. By the end of the '60s, no one raced there anymore. Oh, you'd see some dumb clams throwing powershifts around the Bay and hanging out in the pits just past the first bridge. And there was always some goon doing a burnout out of the Pizza City parking lot. But by 1970, the cops had shut down Cross Bay and it was never again to be the scene of intense street racing, as it was in the late '50s and '60s.

Then, the pits were packed every night and the racing was just about nonstop, the parking lots of Pizza City and the Big Bow-Wow packed with guys on the prowl. By the late '60s, you couldn't even breathe loud on Cross Bay without getting a ticket. The racers even staged a protest one night, complete with posters, signs and hundreds of cars slowly going the speed limit up and down Cross Bay, protesting the harsh treatment and "police brutality" being meted out to street racers.

Every so often in New York City, there was a crash and some guy died street racing his muscle car. Naturally, the New York Daily News and New York Post covered the incident in detail, with close-up shots of the crushed GTO or the splintered fiberglass remains of a Corvette. Then the politicos would decry the state of today's youth and call for harsher police crackdowns on the street racers who were threatening the life and security of all the good citizens of New York City.

But a few weeks later, I'd be back at the Connecting Highway and, inevitably, some guy would pull into the pits in a jacked-up Goat or a Hemi Road runner, roll down the window and say something like "I'll run anybody here for any amount."

And Wally Parks got mad at me.

Disclaimer
Muscle Car Confidential: Confessions of a Muscle Car Test Driver is available at www.motorbooks.com.


2 comments | Read all comments

Article Comments - Street Racing in New York City - KarenS May 11, 2007
Check out an excerpt of Inside Line's frequent contributer Joe Oldham's new book, Muscle Car Confidential: Confessions of a Muscle Car Test Driver . Post your comments here. Street...
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For photo's of the New York street racing scene in the 60's & 70's go to:

www.edmunds.com , then click on "inside line" ,then type "street racing in New York City" in the seacrh .

 

I recall racing my 427 ford powered 57 into a solid crowd of people who would move out of the way as the cars got there. Not too bright is it? The whole deal finally ended when a guy lost a new 396 Camaro into a crowd killing 3 people. I built an NHRA stocker after that and retired from street racing. It was a fun crazy time though for a few years

 

Thanks for posting.....I used to street race alot as well......

My brother currently lives over there and is freinds with an old NY street racer (still does it on occasion).......the stories he's told me of racing, even in the '80's-90's are CRAZY.....9 sec. cars common...
Street racing on the East Coast is taken alot more seriously than the West.......

 

Hard to think of NY street racing without mentioning the lot at Shoppers Paradise in Spring Valley NY. Tons of cars . They would race on the NY State Thruway just as it exited from Jersey. Lines of cars on both sides. They would STOP traffic on the Thruway so the cars could race. Crazy

 

I believe that too. Cars magazine (I think?) ran another article on the NY City street race scene in the mid '80s. Big buck cars running for big money with huge crowds.... This is exactly the sort of street scene I posted my remembrences of in a much smaller way in Youngstown Oh in the early '60s awhile back.. Street racing is definitely wrong, but it sure was fun back then!

Jan

 

Well cool, definitely born too late!

 

the brothers still do it underground in north jersey,,,big bucks 9 and 10 sec cars...been going on forever

 

i remember many many nights at the connecting hyway , the cops finally got it under control in the early 70's by going after the spectators writing tickets and impounding cars , by that time it had gotten so crowded that at 2AM there were hotdog and icecream vendors setting up// around 71-72Carcraft did a big article on it and out on the island RT231(deerpark ave)// back then i had a tcoupe with bigblock edsel power

 

Wow, I never knew Joe Oldham was a real byline. I used to love reading his articles in High Performance Cars, as well as the crazy joke articles by Seymour Balz.

Oldham, wherever you are, great description of Connecting Highway. I raise a Coca-Cola in your honor.

 

thanks axle

 

Yikes! Long story. I was always big on pics and their captions instead. BUT, yes it was huge. If it wasn't already covered, since i didn't read it.....I believe they raced in Brooklyn on 1st Ave, under the "ell" (elevated railway), and i could here them on hot summer nights when i slept(?) with my window open (10 yrs old). The big guys bought retired race cars from Sox & Martin, and Don Nicholson for 2 examples. BIG business.

 

Thanks for posting this article. It really brought back alot of memories of growing up in NYC. As I was reading about the Connecting Highway, I was thinking about hanging out at the White Castle waiting for the right time to take off for the Clearview, or waiting around at the Big Bow Wow for the action to start over on the Conduit. The racing scene in Queens in '68 -'70 or so was really intense. He wasn't kidding about the trailered cars either! Or the cops. As I recall, it was one of life's great adventures.

 

I don,t mean to step on any toes or be disrespectful in any way but I heard stories about a rather large African American back in the day from Jersey,New York or Detroit who was a legend.Big Willie ring a bell? I think he raced a hemi car.....

 

I'm pretty sure all his doings started on the west coast (Los Angeles). I'm a member of his Street Racers, and i can remember reading about his accomplishments when i lived in New York as a kid, and how happy i was to move to Los Angeles in '69. As i remember he was highly publicized around then. I thought (and still do) think the Street Racers to be the absolute epitome of car clubs. Just say it.....Street Racers! DON'T associate it with the vehicular STUPIDITY they call street racing today. We were well organized and stuck to some pretty strict rules

 

Great story! Got me very nostalgic, even though we did'nt have a "scene" like that in NZ.

 

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/4602/brotherhood.html

"As the Sixties drew to a close, the social upheaval seen in other spheres of society influenced drag racing as well. In the wake of the 1968 Watts riots, legendary street racer Big Willie Robinson figured out a way to use drag racing to change society. An imposing, muscular 6'6" Vietnam vet with a badass Hemi Daytona Charger and trademark bowler hat, Big Willie was the undisputed king of the late '60s- '70s East L.A. street racing scene. In response to the growing influence of drugs and street gangs, Big Willie and his wife Tomiko organized the 'Brotherhood of Street Racers' as a way to channel the energy of South Central youth away from crime and violence -- "peace through racing," as he put it. Working with local officials and police, Big Willie was the driving force behind the building of Brotherhood Raceway Park on L.A. harbor's Terminal Island. "

 

I grew up in Yonkers NY & street raced a 66 mustang! But also raced Legit at Dover, National & Islip.
I made many trip to the connecting and the white castle on arlington ave in the Bronx.
I westchester we used the "Sprain brook Parkway" The street scene there was also intense, we would drive up down the parkway racing whoever we could.
also central ave in yonkers across from cross county shopping center was another good place, But the cops woul come along & open the fire hydrants & that was it!!lol
I miss those days!! I still like to blow off a 5.0 mustang now & then, do it whenever i can!!
JimV

 

Thats the guy! Thanks for the trip back in time.....

 

Axle, You are right I do love it!! Me and Skinny Jeff were talking today about how cool it would be to have a street race style car again. The memories come flooding back..
Jimmy White

 

ratmotor...Maybe Brooklyn Heavy you are talking about??

 

freakishly enough, i was at my brothers house last week and we got a peek in the neighbors garage for the first time in 13 years they'd lived there. Inside was a 1966 GTO with a 6-71 blower...street freak. Been a race car since day one. 6000 miles on it and still in original paint. Hasn't seen the light of day in years. Only black family in the neighborhood and never says a word about cars or racing. I'd love to talk to him but he's not interested. Very nice guy just won't talk cars. Dunno what's up there. I'd sure like to see that car back on the road too. He raced it on the streets of chicago in the 60's.

 

Great article. As I grew up on Long Island during the period you referenced and participated at the 1/4 mile West Hampton and 1/8 mile East Islip drag strips. One hang out you failed to mention was Schorr's Drive In on Sunrise Hwy in Rockville Center and subsequent Street Races on the Jones Beach Causeway. The Big Bow Wow was definetly the place to go. Your article sure brought back memories.

 

Thanks Axle. Good read. I only spectated at the digs behind the old GM plant in South Gate. I'd like to hear some stories of back then. Or the Orange County scene based out of the Carls Jr on Glassell/Kramer… Fun times

 

Awesome read. I was born about 25 years too late.

 

I'll probably make enemies here but i still don't see a problem with a handful of motorheads taking their cars out to the orange groves,outskirts of town near an industrial park, or deserted old hwy and runnin a couple of cars. As long as there aren't a few hundred spectator's standing along the roadside watching.

Someone said Ice cream & Hot Dog carts !?!?!? Thats the beginning of the end.



When i was born my Uncle bought a brand new 66 GTO. The following year my parents went to the dealership and bought a 67 GTO with a 400 HO,Dual Gate Automatic,and posi rear with 3.55 gears.They bought this right off the showroom floor.
The following year my other Uncle bought a 68 GTO 400 HO,Muncie 4 speed, posi rear with 3.90 gears.
so, imagine three brothers running around northern Virginia in brand new GTO's. Thats why i grew up with Pontiacs & Pontiac powered cars.

My dad still says insurance premiums were at an all time high back then due to the extensive street racing that was so popular .

 

I put this newspaper clipping in my scrapbook back in 1962. There were 400 kids and 42 tickets handed out, 24 less than the week before.

 

for you north jersey guys, don't forget the "action" on McCarter Highway(Route 21) in Newark - a ton of cars every Fri. and Sat. night 'til the wee hours or the cops came, whichever came first! - a lot of "local legends" like Brooklyn Heavy, Levi Holmes, etc. - i used to leave my girls house (now my wife)at 11-12 o'clock because i was "tired" and go over to 21 and stay 'til whenever - never got caught until my parents met her paents, when my mom asked why i got home so late, and my future mother - in - law said he doesn't stay here late! - a number of cars that were capable of running deep into the 10's in the late 60's and early 70's - great memories, shame some younger guys will never get to experience it

 

Ya cant have much fonder memories than the old street racing days....I remember meeting Big Willie from the L.A.Street Racers at irwindale one day and being invited to the "races" that night in a warehouse district...what a night..Im sure this was repeated all over the country ......thank god for police radio monitors!!!

 

watch close at the begining of Two Lane Blacktop...its Big Willie that starts the cars during a street race.....he's been a hero of mine for many years......

 

This?


http://www.geocities.com/mopar_440_dave/Urban.htm