The Samurai Warrior I believe was owned by a guy from washington named Terry Hoard (sp) 70 Ci 2 rotor motor With special ports.
It was a slow night only a few of us were still there I was talking to aguy named van with a 64 Impala I met at florence & main. used to go there with a guy they called cuda man. Anyway this guy who was always out there with a 67-68 Firebird was blue had blue late model valour seats in it. that car was fast and on the bottle after about 20 minutes they worked out a heads up race. I told Van that firebird was fast. We lost twice to him. Van asked me to watch his tool box to take out some weight. I said ok. I was about half track and they were making alot of steam I never saw that firebird pushed that hard. Van ended up losing by a 1/2 or 3/4 of a car. that was the fastest & narliest sounding Impala I ever saw.
Late one evening when everyone else had gone home me and a couple buddies were standin around shootin the shit, one friend in a foxbody was making some test passes... Pretty mellow night. Well my friends decide i should race this little eclipse. Fairly clean looking car and a buddy of mine owns it; so i agree. He says he won't race from a dig because it's a fwd car and it won't hook at all on low profile street tires. He catches some flack from the group for not running a lowly station wagon. So i say "let's go from a 10 roll, my car won't hook either." He agrees; he gets to honk (like i have a horn anyway!). So we're rollin slowly in 1st gear and right as he's about to honk i see the brake lights on... At this point i start to realize i'm probably going to get waxed; he knows enough to brake-boost his car (building boost) he probably has done this a few times. But as said before it's friendly competition so he honks, i hammer on the throttle; secondaries gulping down air and fuel, listening to the turbo spinning next to me... we go door to door through first, into 2nd i grab a little scratch of the tires and drop back to probably his rear bumper; by 3rd he's out a car and a half on me and at that point the road is quickly getting shorter so i let off realizing i'm not going to drive around him in the short distance we have (or at all for that matter!). He gets the win, we all go back to shootin the shit and eventually disperse. Low profile night but still a good time
Wow, you use to go to Florence and Main too. I drove my '65 Chevelle down there looking for a race, from the valley. It was around '77. Suddenly LAPD shows up and blocks all the driveways. There I am with my hands on my head. One LAPD officer pulls me aside and saids, "You don't belong here!". I say, "Yes sir!". Meanwhile, an old dude sitting on the tailgate of an '69 El Camino saids, "Let the brotha go!!!". LAPD cuts me loose, I hop into the Chevelle and head down the freeway..........only till Manchester, then I head back. Didn't get any races that night.
I would go down there with Curtis (cuda man) we would take his freinds Dave 70 cuda white with a snorkel scoop. it came to the valley a couple of times. Once with Big Willie and Andy's 73-76 black taxi cab nova. Once I was down there and some one was kidding that the cuda was holding down the lotand a voice from behind us said hell no. The haggling started and about 1 1/2 later Dave was lining up with this black camaro someone went home to get. set dave out 4and the go Cuda man also raced the car. The headlights on the camaro pointed towards the sky and beat the cuda by about two lengths. Cuda popped a head gasket middle of 3rd gear.
Mid 70's I remember a different(?) "Cuda Man". A pale yellow 67-9 body style that came to the "Valley" on a trailer only once that I recall to the Hugh's Market that I believe was at Balboa & Devonshire
Your correct he still has that car the white 70 cuda was Daves car. Not as fast as Curtis's car.Curtis did have a blue 70 340 duster with a smashed in 1/4 panel. His buddie Gerald hit a parked car while they were racing and ran into Curtis. You might remember gerald he drove another guys 70-72 yellow camaro to the valley a couple of times once they came to tommies on roscoe with Vans yellow 64 Impala. I rember you walking up to Vans car and saying something to the effect of chunks of asphalt are coming up or something like that. It had a sze large camshaft.
Cool dude Van. Van had a rockin 64 Impala, in an era of lighter cars being the "norm", at the street races that ran very hard. I still see him once and a while. I remember a yellow 2nd gen Camaro that ran pretty good a long time ago. For some reason, I remember some callin them the Cadillac Boys
Thank you for sharing your stories guys. I have my own, my car was a little smaller caliber than your's, but they make me smile when I remember them. I'm sure plenty of guys here have their own. Just part of being a Gearhead I guess. This is my favorite thread here. Josh. PS I'll try and get one or two of mine "together" enough to share.
I don't think Gerald was part of the Cadillac boy's. Not sure. Van told me that was his lowrider, then switched it to his street race car.
No one was into photos those days but it was a true silver '70 Chevelle LS-6 with a 4 speed. Max rarely drove it except to race. One Friday night, I cruised the boulevard until the wee hours. I was driving a '68 Vette with bbc, 4 speed and 4:88. I pulled into Winchells on Sepulveda and Plummer to grab a cup of coffee. No one was there until a '64 Chevelle and a '65 Mustang pulled in. The Chevelle had a roll bar so I shouted out, "Anyone wanna race?". The guy in the Mustang yells back, "We need car lengths!". I ask how many they want, either car. They ask what will I give. I offer 8 cars to either car. They say, "No!'. Then I tell them I'll sweeten the pot. 8 car lengths to either car, but the bet will be that I'll pass them by 3rd gear. Now they really don't wanna race. Disgusted, I leave. The next night at the street races, I run into both of those guys. They come running over and say, "What do you got in that thing? It shook the ground when you were leaving!". I say, "That's why I'm giving up cars". I smile then walk away............
A friend of mine had a 63 ford falcon sprint, with a 302 in it. He asked me to help him put a trans in it at his grandmothers house. We get an early start, and finished in the early afternoon. We take it out for a road test, he gets on it on his grandmothers street. we go down one more block then turn around. From the stop sign he romps on it then lets off, we see this guy waving his hands he's about 6-10 houses down from his grandma's house. He stops the car and but who walks up, Groucho asking us to race a black camaro in the driveway, giving a storie on how his alternator went out and he missed racing last night. I looked at Steve and said you don't want any of that thing. Sorry Groucho
My neighbor, who is a firemen, asks me about street racing one day. We get to talking and he wants to go to the street races. We end up on Old San Fernando Road where there are a bunch of kids and their cars. One kid has an old MG running a sbc. The hood is up and there's a big NOS sticker there. My neighbor runs over and asks if they want to run the car against a Vette heads up. The kids agree and my neighbor runs back and says, "Lets go get the Vette!". I tell my neighbor that the MG is a lot lighter than my car and I don't have nitrous. He says, "Thats OK, I just want to see a race! I'll put up the money!". We run home and I get the Vette out. When we arrive, the MG starts and the motor sounds pretty mild. We line 'em up and the hands drop. Its a pretty even start but the MG has an auto and I have a 4 speed. I figure he's gonna hit the "juice" and I'll have to really work the car. Hit second gear and I'm half a fender in front still waiting for him to hit the "juice". I shift to third gear and figure I better put some cars on him before he hits the "juice". At the top of third gear, I figure I have a full three cars on him and shift to fourth. If need be, I can floor it and maybe hold him off if he ever hits the nitrous. I'm watching my rear view mirror but I'm keeping the same car lengths. The finish flashes by and I'm thinking, "What happened?". I go back to the start and the kid pays off right away. My neighbor is tickled pink as he gives me half the money. I told him it was not a car I would have picked on, but oh well...... The next few weeks, my neighbor is looking for a car of his own. He ends up with a '72 Vega which runs 12:20's on the motor and 10:90's on nitrous.......
We were out at Plumber & Sepulveda and a trailered 67-68 brown primered mustang on a trailer parks across the street. After some back & forth my freind tells me the mustang has a race, they are going to Lumber city. we park and watch them unload the mustang across the street. We see a orange turbo Kawasaki no names neccasary roll out on the street. They start doing their burnouts, and line up. I think it was heads up. The bike leaves on the mustang, but about 1/2 track the mustang comes on hard. The mustang was going so fast he could'nt stop, and went up the on ramp past renaldi. When the bike got back & everyone from the finiish line, no one could tell who won it was that close. So they agree to go again. they both start doing their burnouts and all of a sudden LAPD out of no where. I still wonder who would have won
Back in the late 80's and early 90's, a quick car in Chicago ran low 12's, I think 10 second cars were still fairly rare. Later than that I did see some mid 9 second cars here and there race on the street for money but anything quicker than low 10's usually had a tough time hooking on the street. I'd see a mid 9 second car leave a lot easier on the street... like leave on motor and spray 4-5 car lengths out. I've had a 9.4@145mph car and even on 28W's it was very hard to hook that car leaving off the trans brake.
Yeah. It was originally a big block show car. The motor was a 10:1 327 with a LOT of porting to the heads and an NOS stage II set up. We went to the LACR to run his car and my Nova. The Nova was a roller cammed sb. The Vega on motor only ran 12:20. I ran 11:70. Then he hit the nitrous on the line. The car pulled the front tires and ran 10:90.......... He paid $4000 for the Vega,,,,,,,times sure have changed.
Hell, 12.20 with a 327's pretty stout. That car was really clean. Nice guy too. He didn't drive when it raced though. I think his buddy Bart did. The Fireman later had a nice black 82 Camaro with a 406 that Bottle Bob ended up buying
SHORT STORY Age 22 I came home from service. Saved up a bunch of while in bought a cheap car 79 malibu and lots of go fast goodies. Went out one weekend looking for some street races and found some. Racing down a 2 lane long straight shot I was up by like 7 lengths as I was letting off . I was probally around 75mph . When a Police k-9 unit came launching out onto the road. He came through some grass at a golf course and launched out into the road smacking my front passenger side.There was a high speed chase headed my way in the on coming lanes about 5 miles up the road. This cop mistakened my speeding ass for it. The impact sent me spinning. I broke the inside mirror off with my mouth and face planted the windshield . Some how my shoe laces got tied around the brake pedal and kept me from exitting the car. My car then slid side ways. The car I was racing avoided the tahoe k-9 unit and t boned me. Sending my head through my drivers door window. A week later I was written a ticket off my statement for 50mph in a 45 zone. Which was later dropped right along with my case because my lawyer didnt want to rep me while I was deployed over seas. Liability insurance meant I got nothing BUT A LESSONED LEARNED.
I remember when he got the Camaro. We went to Hollywood, going w/b on Sunset. He got into a roadrace with a 280Z, heading for deadmans curve. I thought he was gonna get us killed (LOL). Then he had the 406 installed and American daisy mags. I figured he'd have trouble getting it smogged......
It was a Saturday night when word comes down that there's a big race going down at Sepulveda and Plummer. Now, in those days, there was nothing passed Sepulveda, passed Plummer, until they built a bunch of condos along Plummer. Anyway, everyone shows up from the BofA and is standing around waiting. Word travels that the racers don't want to race because of the crowd so everyone starts leaving. A buddy of mind (I don't remember who) says that the race is on, they just wanted everyone to leave. Suddenly, I hear the roar of an uncorked big block and see Linderholms silver '70 Z28 pulling into the street from the muffler shop on the corner. Another big block fires up and a blue '67 Chevelle pulls into the street. I believe the Chevelle belong to Chuck and Dennis, if I remember correctly. Both cars uncorked on slicks, I'm in heaven. The Camaro has the #1 lane and the blue Chevelle is in the #3 lane. The hands drop and you hear the bark of slicks grabbing for traction. The cars seem evenly matched as they disappear into the distance. Everyone runs for their cars and heads to finish at Kinney Shoes. When I arrive, both racers are in handcuffs being placed into B&W cruisers. To this day, I don't know who won............
Haha. I talk to Bob (Linderholm) all the time. We've become really good friends in the last 10 or so yrs, even though I didn't know him in the 70's. I knew who he was, and seen him race..... Anyway, I'll ask if he remembers. Here's a pic of him racing Frank's Willys @ that same infamous Sepulveda & Plummer around 1976
I just talked to Bob. He remembers the race. He said the Police helicopter lit up the street just before the finish, and no-body won
The guys with the Chevelle lived next to my X-wife. It was an aluminum head roller cammed 427. By then, they had tubbed the car and it was running 10:40's. Almost bought it as a roller but my credit card was max'd out (LOL). Bottle Bob went with me to look at it.
Concerning helicopters, I remember this one time while racing someone that a helicopter showed up while we were at the big end of Saticoy and Woodman. I'm thinking oh crap - not ANOTHER speed contest ticket. The helicopter has his search light on us, but we keep driving fast until we get near Woodman. I'm considering my ever decreasing limited options, then my race opponent turns left so I turn right. The helicopter's searchlight is on me for awhile then it leaves to cover the other racer, in a short while it comes back to me. The helicopter is, obviously, trying to keep track of both of us until the black and whites can arrive and take over. Well I wait until the time interval of the light being on me gets pretty long and when the search light next leaves me to go to the other racer, I turn at the next street and turn off my lights. I drive for awhile and look for something to hide under. I see this huge weeping willow tree and park under it, get out, run up the street and hide beside a house. Peeking around the corner keeping my car in sight. I hear the droning of the helicopter coming back my way, and the searchlight lights up the very street I'm on. I get one of those stomach fear-balls, figuring I'm toast.... But the light goes away. And entirely misses seeing my car parked under the tree. I assume he's still looking for me driving and hasn't figured out that I've stopped. About a half hour later a black and white drives up the street toward my car - another fear-ball attack. I figure I'm not just toast but BURNT toast. Since this is no longer just a speed contest ticket but has escalated into an evading arrest situation. But the cop is going pretty fast and KEEPS RIGHT ON GOING. Whew, THAT was CLOSE! I wait a couple of more hours shivering in the bushes just for good measure, then creep over to my car (all stiff from the cold), trying to see if it's been staked out or anything. Don't see anybody, so I get in kinda half waiting to be pounced on by a swat team or something, I start it up and drive home without mishap. Score, Bottlebob 1 - helicopter 0. Yay for the GOOD GUYS! Well, depending on your point of view, I suppose.
The Jalopy Journal
