Bob thanks for telling me about this thread. I saw you out at the races many times, once you were timing my friend Pats car with that stop watch you talked about earlier in this thread. Hey Groucho tell Z -Arron Ray says hello.Well heres one of mine I was writing service @ Galpin Linc/Merc and had a Blue/White 63 Dodge it was ok headers cam 9 inch slick anyway one of are apprentices would bring his buddie over to harrase me. They would just heckle the shit out of me. One day I just said bring your car tomarrow I'll bring mine and a hundred bucks you got heads up. After i started my car the kid wanted to look at it. so we drove over to taco bell. This is on my lunch hour then he starts back tracking I say 75.00 head up he agrees he has a lowered 5.0 with what he called a b303 cam? we went to haskell just north of roscoe where it turns into 4 lanes i told him just go I'll chase you as soon as he moved I left when I hit second he was 3 cars back I let off and let him catch up. when we went back to the dealer he said he had no money so I took a check. one of the techs asked me if my car had a problem caus it sounded like it shut off I said no I just was waiting for him. he told everyone that I barely beat him I just agreed.
By the way Bob I remember Lonnie telling me about that race he said he ran out of squeeze he hated losing to anyone. it had a 426 wedge.I rember you going around collecting money for a pot race I gave you my last 20.00 buck that was the best 20 i ever spent.
One Friday night, there's nothing to do but I hear a bunch of kids meet at In'Out on Foothill Blvd in Tujunga. I drive the old '65 Chevelle up there to check out the action. I park in a lot next door to the burger stand and watch the traffic coming and going. There doesn't seem to be a lot of race type cars pulling in so I decide to get a burger. As I'm waiting in line, a kid taps me on the shoulder and asks, "Don't you have an old Chevy on Van Nuys Blvd?". I say, "Yes, do you have something to race?". The kid saids, "Oh no,,,,you're a professional!". I thought that it was the funniest thing I ever heard (sigh).
Back in 76 my best friend and me are hanging out at the Brown Derby drive-in in my 68 road runner. He and I are both in lust with a couple of the carhops and so are a couple of other guys that are always hanging around. These other guys and us are not friends by any standards, more like mortal enemies, after all we want the same women. One night they show up in one of the guy's 71 or 72 sattelite or whatever it was and I get a little pissy when "my carhop" goes out and talks to them. So I come up with a brainstorm, I go over to the guy and challenge him to a drag race, and the winner keeps the girls the loser quits hanging around. He laughs but accepts and now I'm thinking oh shit what if he wins! Anyway we go out to the spot and I put a couple of car lengths on him! And I guess the bet worked because November 2009 me and my carhop celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary!
Here a story written by my friend Joe when I owed his coupe and he had just finished his '32 roadster. The Mountain Boy vs. The Roadster Kid AAAAAHHHHH THE STORY UNFOLDS: THE OFT TOLD TALE OF TWO LADS. ONE FROM THE MOUNTIANS . ONE FROM THE FLAT LANDS. AND ONE FATEFUL DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN THE HOT ROD TALES FOREVER.......SO IT GOES....IT WAS A QUIET NIGHT. THE MOON HAD JUST PEEKED IT'S LAZY HEAD ABOVE THE HORIZON......SUDDENLY THE WONDERFUL SILENCE WAS BROKEN BY THE SOUND OF OPEN PIPES BARKING AGAINST THE COLD BLACK ASPHALT OF THE WINDING MOUNTIAN ROAD. UP THE MOUNTIAN PASS COMES THE "ROADSTER KID" AND HE'S GUNNING FOR THE FASTEST ROD ON THE MOUNTIAN. THE FLATLANDER HAS COME TO SHOW THE RIDGE RUNNER WHAT FAST MEANS. ALL AT ONCE THE FLICKER OF THE KIDS HEADLIGHTS CATCH A GLIMSE OF WHAT COULD BE THE FAMOUS "3 WINDOW".....TO THE FLOOR THE KID PUTS HIS FOOT AND THE ROADSTER RESPONDS WITH A SQUEAL OF THE HUGE WHITEWALL TIRES.......NOW THE FUN BEGINS !!! THE MOUNTIAN BOY SMILES AS HE LOOKS IN HIS PEEP MIRRORS, HE KNOWS THE KIDS ROADSTER AND HAS BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VERY MOMENT...!!!!! THE MOUNTIAN BOY SLOWLY PUSHES HIS FOOT TO THE FLOOR. THE BIG FORD ENGINE RESPONDS WITH A POWERFUL PULL THAT PUSHES THE BOY BACK IN HIS SEAT........ HIS PIPES BLATING, THE BOY SPEEDS OFF..........HARD INTO A QUICK RIGHT HAND TURN GOES THE COUPE; TIRES PROTESTING AGAINST THE PAVEMENT....HE SMILES AGAIN AS THE COUPE SLIDES SIDEWAYS ,HE SLAMS THE COUPE INTO SECOND GEAR THE TIRES SPIN AND HOWL AS HE SPEEDS OFF THE TURN..LET THE KID TRY ME NOW, HE THINKS TO HIMSELF................... THE BOY LOOKS IN HIS MIRROR AND CAN'T BELEIVE WHAT HE SEES THE KID IN THE ROADSTER IS COMPLETELY SIDEWAY WITH SMOKE COMING OFF HIS BIG TIRES. HE'S ON THE MOUNTIAN BOYS NERF BAR !!!!!!!!!!! HOLY HANNA THE BOY SHOUTS AS HE GETS NERFTED BY THE ROADSTER!!!!!!!!! AGAIN THE BOY SLAMS HIS FOOT TO THE FLOOR AND AGAIN HIS TIRES SPIN AS THE BIG FORD ENGINE COMES TO LIFE ,A SHIFT INTO HIGH GEAR AND HARD INTO THE TURN.....THE KID IN THE ROADSTER SEES THE POWERFUL FORD POWERED COUPE PULL AWAY AND DIVE SIDEWAYS INTO THE TURN. OVER THE ROAR OF HIS ENGINE THE KID HEARS THE COUPES TIRES PROTESTING THE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE SPOT THE BOY HAS PUT THE COUPE IN...HE THINKS TO HIMSELF: HE'S GONNA TELL THE MOUNTIAN BOY THAT HE REALLY KNOWS HOW TO DRIVE! MAYBE THEY'LL EVEN BECOME FRIENDS....THE KID SNAPS TO IT BECAUSE HE'S GOT A COUPE TO CATCH AND A RACE TO WIN!!!!! Both hot rods crest the mountain at break neck speed......now down the twisty mountain road together like they were performing a death ballet of sorts. Inches apart ; first one ahead by inches then the other....As luck would have it, the down side of the mountain was 3 lanes and the drivers needed them all plus some to control their powerful rods!!!!!!!!! It was as if time slowed as they approched the last hair pin turn. Seeing is believing and only the moon watched as the boys slid side by side thru the hair pin just inches apart......They shot out of the turn side by side into the gap that led on to the famous Lenox Flats and the finish line at the diner.......still side by side they roared down onto the flats hot rod headlights bouncing in the night and the roar of the open pipes could be heard for miles on that quiet night.....The noise brought the kids out of the diner. They all knew the sound of the mountain boys coupe and could tell by the sound of the other rod that there was one hell of a race going on.............400 feet before the diner was the finish line. The boys were flat out now dipping,diving just on the edge of disaster as at any second the speeding jalopys could crash and surely someone would be killed. No one had ever gone this fast as they approched the finish line and the waiting screaming crowd of teenagers. 200 feet from the finish the kid nosed ahead of the boy and his coupe. The mountain boy couldn't believe what was happening. He'd never been beat. The kid looked over and gave the boy a cocky smile. The boy felt something strange under his right foot !!!!!!! He looked down for a quick second and saw the floor mat had slid under his gas pedal not letting his powerful 4 barrel carb open all the way. The boy kicked the mat out from under his gas pedal; slammed the pedal to the floor and nosed up to the roadster only 100 feet remained as now they were wheel to wheel.......The crowd was going wild...in the last 50 feet the coupe pulled just a half a tire ahead of the roadster. The mountain boy had won! He beat the city kid and his roadster............ Hard on the brakes, he managed to slide into the diner parking lot to the cheers of all the kids. A new sound permeated the air now ....the cops were on their way to nab the hot rod racers........The kid spun his roadster around. Homeward it was pointed......He pulled up along side the boy in the coupe and smiled. He was heard to say "Ill be back" As he tore away........the mountain boy also smiled as he realized he'd made a friend for life in the kid....As he lit a cigarette he noticed his hands were shaking....He laughed to himself ... That's never happened before !!!!!!!!!!!! Joe Spairana 8/23/07
Well let me start by saying that street racing is bad news. That said: When I was 16 we had two strips layed out down a country road behind the high school. 3/10s mile and 1320 Ft. I always prefered 3/10s. Anyway there was this kid from out of town that showed up in a '56 Chebby post car said he had a 265 with a 4 barrel and a 3 on the floor. I was driving a '55 ford ranch Wagon at the time. With a stock 292 and 3 on the tree. But it did have a new clutch. Anyway he goaded me into running 3/10 with him. Needless to say he waxed me. Gave me some advice about getting s shifter and a 4bbl. I was up at a friends house whinning about it and his Mom said,"Helms take Benno out behind the barn and give him that engine out of my T Bird. I didn't know she owned a T bird. Well down behind the barn was a '57 Bird woth a big telephone pole shaped dent in the pass side. We spent the rest of the weekend dragging the 312 out of the Bird and bolting it into the wagon. We cruised to my place afterwards and there waiting was a couple of the fellas from the car club I belonged to. They looked under the hood and said what you need is tri-power. They split and showed up about 40 minutes later with not only 3 97s on a weiand intake but also a full syncro 3 speed with a Fenton shifter attached. So it was an all night affair before school on Monday. Funny thing about the whole deal was that the pieces were still warm as though they may have come off a running car. They wanted 25 bucks for them. Imagine that. I took all week for me to get a message to the kid with the five six. But he showed up on Friday. We went back down to 3/10 and needless to say I returned the favor that he delt me the week prior. He wanted to look under the hood and I swore that it was still the 292 with some dress up parts. I don't think he believed me. I've been usless ever since.
If you didn't street race in the 70's you were a wimp. I did it never got caught and never killed anyone. It's always the drunk who run into the by standers that everyone hears about...
Blowjected: That's probably the shortest - and cutest - story in this thread. A real Marshal Dillon "get out of Dodge to protect Kitty" gunslinger tupe story.
It is the absolute truth, I have some other stories I will share but none as colorful as yours, you are a great story teller and I enjoy reading them. I am really enjoying this entire thread as it brings back some great memories of a special time in mine and apparently many others lives.
How about running one off on a narrow one way street getting together somehow and taking out 6 parked cars plus the 2 that were racing. Plays hell your insurance costs for awhile since you were 18 when you did it
I dunno I imagine that there are at the very least a couple of older professionals that would disagree with you. Only thing I have against it is that everytime some dumb as cum kid in a tuner kills someone I end up getting a lecture by the local constabulary. Actually around here (just like where you are) there is a whole clandestine thing going on with folks that are real serious and talented. Gives real meaning to racing outlaw if you catch my drift. I don't know any of them guys myself.
About a year after my story #333 we had a grudge race between the Ford & Linc stores. then King of the hill. I'll show you the results I,m in the ratty mopar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg-z2JM6jms
So I can get in on this thread, I'm going to repost a reply that I made on 4/19/08 to another thread here on the H.A.M.B. - L. A. Street Racing Archive late 70's to ? __________________________________ I once had the pleasure of running against 'Bottle Bob', he was a short balding guy with a long pony tail. One of the first cars running nitrous that I had heard of at the time, his BBC engine was rumored to have had 500 cubes. I remember the body on that 'vette had stress cracks all over it from all the beating it was taking from the nitrous big block. He was looking for a race to get a few bucks for an early morning breakfast, I was the willing victim. At the time (on a Saturday night sometime in '78) I was driving a '66 bug with an 1835cc engine, it was a high 13-second daily driver and my only car at that time. I did a lot of street racing back in the late '70s, this was one of the times I was checking out the street racing action on Van Nuys Blvd behind the Bank of America. We headed out to a pretty popular spot to race on Woodley Ave just south of Roscoe Blvd, right next to the Continental Can Company. Racing was done going south on Woodley. Bob told me he wanted the inside lane close to the center of the street because his car was going to be all over the road and he needed the room. He gave me 20 car lengths, he started 10 cars behind the line and I was 10 cars in front of it. He had a set of side-exit headers with sidepipes which were pretty much standard for a hot Corvette, he pulled off the sidepipes just before we ran. We went for it and I spun the tires a bit which was unusual and didn't get a very good launch, but of course I stayed in it and gave it all 130 HP. By the time I was in 4th gear going about 90 he went past me like I was pulled over at the side of the freeway changing a flat tire. He had to have been going 140+ MPH when he went by! Just after he passed me and had the race won he let off. It looked like the sun came out of his driver's side header collector, damn was that backfire ever bright and loud! The firemen at the fire station were cheering, I'm sure they saw quite a few races going down on Woodley Ave back in those days. Best $20 I ever spent, I can remember that night 30 years ago like it was yesterday.
I saw Bob race a green/white 55 whith side pipes on woodley I think Bob should tell that story one hell of a race
GTO: I'm going to copy my response to your original story so as to archive that particular racing story in this thread. ============================================ GTO: I remember that race. Some races stick in your mind and some just blend with multiple others of the same kind. I remember that the VW & I started at the same time and I also remember that in first gear I made up just about nothing. At that point I KNEW I was going to have to put some stress on the motor. (Motors only lasted a matter of miles under max squeeze.) Anyway, in that time period I had an 850 baseplate plumbed, not a spacer plate, the throttle plate of the carb itself. I put hoses over copper tubing to disguise them. (old hard rubber tubing so someone couldn't feel the copper tubing inside the rubber by squeezing it). Anyway, in addition to the carb unit I had the manifold plumbed as well. The carb unit was operated by the shifter button, and the manifold unit was operated by the horn button. The manifold unit flowed almost double the carb unit. So back to the race, I'm in 1st gear making up zero cars, power second gear and hit the carb unit, well finally at last I'm starting to make up ground but jeeze that Vee Dub is WAAAY out there. (88 carlengths in a quarter and he's already a quarter of the way there - well not exactly since in started 10 cars out - but you get the idea.) Get off the carb unit power third, and hit the manifold unit, NOW we're rolling - the engine's screaming - flames out the sidepipes - lots of drama. The VDub is STILL probably 6-8 cars ahead and the end of the quarter is fast approaching. Shift to fourth, and hit both the carb unit AND the manifold unit. My poor engine, but it's holding together and not spitting the ring lands out the side pipes, and it's pulling as hard as it was in second gear. Man, a 10 car longer quarter and piston melting amounts of squeeze - I don't even WANT to know how fast I'm going on the stock suspension. But I'm catching the VDub, and none too soon because there's the finish line, and crap, I'm in the middle of the road kicking up a hurricane of dust and go by the VDub just in time. I'm thinking, well that race probably took half the life of the motor right there. All for 20 bucks. God I just loved to race! I also remember this, shortly thereafter I'm in the far corner of the local speed shop looking at valve covers or something and I overhear some guys at the counter saying: "Yeah that brown Vette has GOT to be in the nines giving that 13 sec. VW's 20 cars and just blowing him away". I'm thinking oh shit, I've got to do some serious damage control here or I'll never get another race I can win. So I go up to the counter and try talking about the physics of acceleration = force divided by mass with a little coefficient of street tire friction thrown in, and that it would only take a car in the high 11's to catch a high 13 VDub. I'm not sure they were buying it. But they stopped screaming 9's - at least while I was in the store. LOL ========================================
440: I think you better tell the story, since that part of my meat hard-drive seems to have been overwritten, defragmented, and reformatted.
well I skipped every page. I read the title that said streetracing. I dont really do the street thing much anymore. Lost the driving privelage for an "illegal speed contest" a time or two or three. Like old hotrods on this site plenty. But Streetracing out here is not dead. And for the folks not willing to be busted on the street you can always find action at Etown and Atco regularly. This area loves money racing still. Horsepower, 10.5" tires and Laughing gas...What a fun combo.
Talk about stressed out, I ended up with Bob's Vette on a trade after the motor gave up the ghost. I had a 454 in my garage so I wheeled the motor over to his house (he lived a couple of blocks over) and got the Vette running that afternoon (Sat). I heard there was action on Old San Fernando Road so I drove the Vette out there. There were a few cars and bikes racing at the time. I approached a 900 Kawasaki and asked him if he wanted to race for $25. He agreed and we lined up. The hands dropped and we were off. The Kawasaki took off like a light and I'm feathering the clutch. When the tires hook, the Kawasaki is only 2 cars lengths ahead (oh joy!). Hit 2rd gear and I'm creeping on the bike. Find 3rd gear and now I'm motoring past the bike. In 4th gear, I notice the bike quits pulling so I back off on the gas and start looking for the finish. Ah, there she is,,,,,,,take my foot off the gas and hit the brakes. WTF,,,,,the car starts swerving from side to side. Take my foot off the brake and the car straightens out. Now its ease onto the brake and the car starts swerving all over again. It suddenly flashes through my mind, no seat belts, convertable, I'm gonna flip and die.......!!! Get off the brakes dummy!!!! Fortunately, San Fernando Road has a long shut down area so I coast. The next day, I tear into the front suspension and rebuild everything. The next week, I'm ready, but I better make a test run. I go back to San Fernando Road and hit freeway speed. Tap the brakes and I'm all over road. RATS! Take the car home and ponder my next move. Hmmmmmmm, those tires look awfully old. Matter of fact, those are the same tires that were on the car when I first met Bob years ago. 2 brand new tires later, the car handles like a dream.........
Years ago, me and Bottle Bob shared a 67 Camaro. It was right after I got busted, so Bob would drive the car on the street and I on the track (back then Bob did street race day once a month at LACR). I'd take the car to the street races, line up a race, and call Bob to come out and drive. Anyway, it had an aluminum rodded 350 with AFR ported turbo heads on it, 4.56 gear and slicks. Bob plumbed a Holley baseplate for a hidden unit. The car had a full manual TH 400, so it needed no vac. modulator. I went to a local junkyard, found an old, very hard piece of rubber hose to run the copper lines in a dummy modulator hose. The hard, aged rubber was so someone couldn't feel the copper cheaters inside (Somewhat common practice back then). With the dummy modulator line following close to the firewall, I exited the copper cheaters in about the heater box area, 1/2 ways to the dummy modulator from the carb. I used a very long drill bit Bob gave me (I still have it 25 yrs later) to drill through all the heater box area and hid the solenoids in the glove box. I also ran a normal, in view unit on the car. This was in hopes my opponent would spend less or no time looking for a hidden unit. The hidden unit was hooked to a 10 pound bottle stashed under a gutted rear seat. Even with the gutted seat, the bottle left a large, very visible bulge in the seat. Me and Bob looked at each other as if our efforts were in vain. Bob, always the thinker, goes to a corner of the shop (Bottle Works) and comes back with a thick 50 foot tow rope, and throws it, coiled up, over the bulging seat. PROBLEM SOLVED. One night, @ Lumber City, after a couple hours of negotiating, a race falls apart. I think Ray was gonna race his Nova against someone. Anyway, someone suggests Ray race my Camaro. So Lee, Ray, Frick, and Frack ALL pool money AGAINST me and bet on Ray's car. I call Bob, the Nova falls to the hidden unit, and it takes about a 1/2 hour to collect money from all the reluctant ones. Ray paid his part immediately. But the others whined pretty good about it. They all accused us of a hidden unit (the Camaro "killed" the slicks all the way to the stripe), BUT, they looked extensively BEFORE the race. So, when they wanted to look again after, I told them to pound sand
Groucho: You know, that reminds me - I believe I bought out your interest in the '67 Camaro and when I moved to Las Vegas in the late 80's I took it with me (or rather, you towed it over there for me). There was quite an active street racing sub-culture in Vegas at the time. My BottleBob nickname didn't follow me, they used to call me "ZZ" (a reference to ZZ Top - since I had a long goatee at the time). I used the "Disconnect The Phony Bottle In The Trunk" ploy in a few races that I really didn't want to lose. When I moved back to California it was to Lancaster - which also had a fairly active street racing community. I was never into small blocks that much, but that was one tough little car that survived many races with very little work on it.
Never made it down to LA for any of the races down there....wasn't old enough yet but started in the action in Northern California in the late 80's. Industrial ave in Santa Rosa was good back then.....The guy I'll never forget was Ratso!!! He had a Black and Yellow 56 chevy that hauled ass!!! Another buddy of his named Mike had a 66 GTO with a blown big block and a straight axle in it. This baby was high and ran awesome. The License plate said eyeburner on it. He still has the car. We live in Lakeport so our strip was out of town in bewtween the pear orchards. The road is called Scotts Valley and still is pretty bumpy but we had some good races out there for a long time. I don't think anyone has been out there for long time. My favorite memory of that place was a friend of mine put a 427 in his 68 firebird and never really had anything fast, so he staged it at the line and took off and man the car was squirlly all the way down..... he made it back ok but when we seen him pull up he had about 3 feet worth of weeds stuck in the grillle......I guess he got off the shoulder a little bit. Cool thread!! JOKER JASON.
18 and stupid. 69 4-speed 3.90 posi GTO Judge. a dangerous combination. racing a xxxxxxxx on a 4 lane divided road. up ahead a car pulls into the turn lane so I lay on the brakes and slow down. xxxxxxxx keeps his foot in it and the other car makes a U-turn in front of us and the xxxxxxx smacks the shit out of him. no one got hurt.
Haha, yes, me and Elliot towed it to Vegas once you got settled (read-found street race activity), and dropped it on your front lawn EARLY in the morning, hid the keys for you and left without waking you. Oh yeah, we also left "something" else under the back seat, remember? The "envelope" (private joke, NOT drugs)
On Fountain ave one night, watching the races when two rice burner motorcycles decide to pull off a run during a break in the action, they pull up to the line and some clown in a mopar late 60's -70 coronet road runner style car don't remember what exactly decides he's going to race them from behind. now fountain ave is pretty much an oversized side street with two lanes in each direction and a divider but a lot of turn arounds and streets coming in, anyway the bikes were only running to the first turn around not the full quarter mile when they slowed to turn the mopar didn't and ran up on top of the one bike. everybody ran down lifted the car off the guy and the bike pulled him out I have no idea how bad he was never went back
Bob It was a green/white 55 black sidepipes 9 or 10 inch tire. Lic plate frame said on the bottle. They would never open the hood and everyone associated with that car wore service center jackets.I think you set him out 4 or 5 cars you took the center lane. you might have gave him the go. you guys left hard it was like watching a video that was on fast forward. It look like you caught him or was very close I was at the starting line about 3/4 track there was a pop and flame from you car but if I remember correctly it did'nt sound like you let off. the 55 returned and you did a few minutes after that. I think you did hurt the motor but not sure that was many years & coctails ago. I remember thinking after that race thinking damn I just saw the race of the year. thanks alot no matter weather they agree or not with what we did in the valley you were the man taking names and kicking ass!!! stay tuned got a couple of groucho stories coming
The Jalopy Journal
