Us Simi Valley guys met Kevin in like 1985 , when he was just putting in his Bill Hiatt 427, I helped him get the A-1 torque converter on the splines out on the curb where him and 2 other guys were renting a condo in Canoga Park. RIP Kevin I raced him twice on the on the marked off 1/4 on 118 heading toward Moorpark twice for grins with a 440 Duster. By the way was Jose the guy with the gun metal grey 66/67 Nova? What a ef'n sleeper!!
Yeah Jose had the 66 gun metal gray nova. If I remember correctly that was his girlfriends car. I believe he wrecked it and stopped racing it. He also had a 66 big tire nova he raced. I have some old video of that car and another nova he had. I'll have to put it on DVD to upload to you tube. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The Grand National was wrecked during a race. My opinion on the whole thing is I think someone did something to the street. The last time he raced the car before that was at lacr's last open weekend. He raced some guys from San Jose on some dark street in the middle of nowhere. The car ran perfect. When we got back to the shop the car wouldn't start. And it had broke the cam sensor. I spent a lot of time trying to keep that car safe. During that last race the car left hard and straight but as soon as it got out past the start the car lost traction and got a little sideways. He let off shifted and got back on the gas and the car went sideways again but this time spun all the way around on him hitting a street sign, tree, power line and fire hydrant. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Around 1999 Kevin bought a 68 camaro to replace the 67 that he lost a few years earlier.I don't think he really liked the car because it wasn't as fast as his 67 even though he never squeezed it . He let someone hold it when they cosigned for a suburban he bought . They had worked out some crazy deal and the guy was suppose to make some payments on the suburban . Later the finance company started calling him and he never made any payments and sold the camaro or I think traded it for some Nova . Another Camaro chalked up in the books as lost . He found out who had the car and was racing it in the PSCA and was trying to get it back but the car went into hiding .
I was there. A car smashed Groucho's yellow 69 Chevelle (leaving large bondo chunks on the ground-LOL).......which then plowed into Tony B's 69 Z clone Camaro (which he got from Groucho), then the Camaro bumped into the Charger
No I never seen it, I did hear about though. Anyone remember this Valley groudpounder of yesteryear?? It had a 5.57 gear with a m-22 in which he broke. This is with a 2.20 wide ratio m-21 that's why It don't look like it leaves that well, but on a sea level street dropping the clutch Wowza. http://youtu.be/CFsjpqfLqcs
Here is Kevin's last Camaro he owned , He called it the Black Dragon lol . He bought this car while waiting for the Grand National to be finished . He saw it in the classified section of a National Dragster . He bought it unseen sent the guy a check and he shipped it to him . The car was originally a reddish orange Not my Favorite car . I always questioned him on why he bought it .
The car was stolen back in 08, It was recovered in Alabama. We got about 95% of the stuff taken back . I sold the car after Kevin passed away I have no idea where it is now but it looked nothing like it does in these pictures when we got it back . The troopers impounded it out of a paint booth .
Somebody please throw a story out.....none of mine were ever money races,and none were ever cars that would break into the 10's.... Somebody hook me up with some street race stories,stat...!!! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I've lost 3 good friends street racing, (2 in 1 race, separate cars) all I see here is false bravado and stupidity! Take it to a race track, where there is some semblance of safety equipment and all the cars are going the same direction.
Steve: Sorry to hear you lost friends,but this thread is all about stories from back in the 60's/70's/80's and guys telling stories about back in the day....nobody said we're all running out to blast off down MainStreet at noon hour tomorrow....it's just about reminiscing about crazy stuff from "the good old days". Some of the people and cars mentioned previously in this thread are the reason and inspiration for me and many others getting interested in old cars in the first place. The Hot Rod article with the 55 T Bird,the Henry J,and the red Anglia,all running in the 10's, was what got me hooked forever. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Here is one of my stories, I had a 72 nova that was a every day driver. It was just your basic small block headers, small cam, manifold, carb and electronic ignition. I bought a old NOS cheater kit from a friend and bolted it on. The car ran ok for a street car. My friend talked me into a race with a guy that worked at super shops on Hawthorne Blvd. He had a 70 or 72 chevelle with a BM mini blower. We meet up at Pershing to race, the guy wasn't sure what direction we ran and took off to line up going the opposite direction. I drove down the street to tell him we run the other way and he takes off like he is making a pass. I follow behind him at the speed limit. There is a connecter rode that merges onto Pershing going this way. As he is passing the merging lane a suburban is coming across his lane and runs the corner of his fender over. The chevelle looses control and runs up the side of the rode through the chain link fence and over a fire hydrant. Everyone was okay but the chevelle took a beating. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Back in the day, Milwaukee Wi. had a lot of street racing in the 60's-70's. I won several $10 or $20 races, w/ 57 chev,348 tri-carb,3 speed,4:11, 58 chev,348,4 bbl.3 speed,4:11, 64 chev SS 327 reworked to approx 350hp,4speed ,4:88. All cars had cheeter slicks and were pretty well set up, good 1/8 mile cars. Most my street racing I did was 1/8 stuff. I could not compete w/ the "Big Boys" $50 and $100 races, usually 1/4 mile races, car wise , but enjoyed the whole deal, very exciting, fun etc. Great times to be a car guy for sure, I left the "scene" as a player on a Judge's "advice" on what was going to happen if I got caught again. Thats whats so Kool about this HAMB, it brings back tons of great memories. John
Back in the 80's I co-owned a 67 Camaro (after I got busted I wrenched and my buddy drove) that had a hidden nitrous unit that won a lot of races. It had a full manual TH400 (didn't need a modulator) with a dummy line going to a dummy modulator. I went to a junkyard and found the hardest old rubber line I could find to hide that nitrous line in. It was kinda common for guys to hide a line in the modulator hose, so a real hard rubber hose kept foes from squeezing the rubber enough to feel the hard line within. The rubber line hugged the firewall and the hard line exited somewhere around the heater box, thru the firewall to a solenoid behind the glove box. Where I hid the fuel part of the system is another story.
When I put the cheater kit on my car I didn't tell anyone . I hid the arming switch and made the button so I could connect it or disconnect in about two seconds . No button no squeeze right lol . Another thing is I never left to the races without having the bottle already turned on . I figured if they don't see you going into the truck or lifting the hood they wont ask questions . I had a friend who was always working on his car to make it faster . He would judge his improvements on if he could beat me or stay close to me . It seemed like every Friday night we would race each other to see what changes he made made a difference in the out come of our race . motor to motor my car was faster in the beginning but as he worked on his car it was getting harder and harder to beat him . So now my little cheater kit comes into play . So as his car started getting faster I would just tap the button here and there to just stay ahead of him . This must of went on for about a year . I had him scratching his head every time we raced .It was funny to hear him say I almost had you at the vary end knowing I was just a push of the button away from beating him . After about a year of this I couldn't keep it a secret anymore . I finally told him what was up and we both laughed about it . Kripple Kevin gave me the nickname Honest after that . A lot of people at the races only knew me as Honest thinking that was my real name lol.
I got to say a this point (34 pages deep)I don't understand people going on to a thread entitled street race stories and complaining about 30 year old street race stories.after all this forum is about hot rods and jalopys there may just be ,wait for it....some street racing in our past.
Agreed. Like it or not, street racing/moonshine running etc are pretty much the building blocks of most sanctioned racing today
Gary broke more than one , I know of 2 maybe more, welded Carrier from blowing up spider gears. it ran pretty good for almost 30 years ago. I think it went a best of11:54? at LACR at 120 mph, im sure it ran better on Conoga and Nordoff LOL. Heres some pics and im gonna write the best race I seen it run.
In early 1980 a buddy and I were cruising 82nd in Portland, Oregon in my '70 440 6 Pak Road Runner. It was a 4 speed with a vertical gate and had Dana 60 w/4.56 gears. I had pulled the 6 pak off and was running an Edelbrock STR crossram with Hemi carbs and a Direct Connection .590 lift cam. It had run a best of 11.90 at Woodburn. I had just gone to Super Shops and had a new set of slicks mounted. I was watching a '69 Vette in my rear view mirror trying to get through traffic to catch up to us, which he eventually did. It was metallic brown with no hood, big block and a blower. He pulled up beside us at the light and hit the throttle a couple times. I looked over and nodded. We went hard off the light and I pulled him a little and banged 2nd at about 7200 rpm's. When I hit 2nd, the car did this weird ass walk like it had a flat tire. I let out of it and watched the Vette disappear down the street. I pulled over and told my buddy the check the slick on his side. He said the door wouldn't open, I told him to unlock it and tried to open mine which was also stuck, so we did a Dukes of Hazzard out the windows. The body had twisted enough that you could see the ripples in the roof and the doors were jammed. It cost me $75 and a case of beer to have the body pulled at a body shop so we could put subframe connectors in it. Lesson learned- do the chassis, then the motor! I still miss that car.
Ah, 440 6pk..A friend had a Cuda with one, maybe a 70'..Cammed, headers, auto trans, 4.10 Dana....Some one fixed a race up with a 340 duster, built 340 but don't remember how much it was built..Me and a friend, his girlfriend and her sister went to watch [in a pick up, little cramped!] and as we walked up the bank to the finish line I kept telling every one that we were walking through posion ivy..I got told I was full of shit and to keep walking as posion ivy doesn't grow that tall, its weeds..Got up to the highway just to see the Cuda lose by two cars, no traction but a hundred more feet and the Duster would have been toast...Every one got posion ivy except me, go figure.
Okay here is another story, it's super Chevy Sunday in Bakersfield 1989. I get lined up against another LA street racer. Its a yellow nova with name wild thing on the back. I do my burn out and the whole time I'm thinking I can't loose to a girl lol. My plan is to squeeze it right of the line. But I'm a little worried about my street tires not hooking up. I was on some pro trac tires. The light turns green I hit the button as I leave and the car hooks right up. And I beat her. I believe she spun when she left and beat her by about 3 or 4 cars. When I get back to the pits Gary (aka bimbo) who was helping Cheryl the owner of the yellow nova at the time. Comes over and looks at my rear tires. I think he thought I was on a cheater slick. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Pretty sure Mike got it in the divorce. I haven't seen her in years. Cool chick, well except for the marital stuff.. She did end up with something after a while.....possibly another Chevelle. It's been so long
The Jalopy Journal
