When was your first time at a dragstrip?

1968 at a funny car show at National on Long Island.
I remember a Jeep Bodied funny,a Corvair(Seaton`s Shaker?) etc.

The highlight for me was my Uncle Frankie took me to meet Jungle Jim after the races.
Pretty exciting stuff for an 11 yr old kid.

 

1969 Sears Point Raceway. It was some kind of national event maybe AHRA. It was their first event!

 

In about 74 me & a buddy went to Windy Hollow, it cost ( I think ) $3.00 to get in & I only had $2.90 "no kidding". The guys at the gate said no. So me & buddy still wanted to see the races, so we jumped the fence. I guess somebody recognized us. My buddy was heavy & I was skinny we looked like "Fat Man & Ribbon", we were probably easy to remember. I don't know how long we were there but the "COPS" nabbed us & don't remember if it was the gate guys or the owner, but they let me pay the $2.90!! I guess it's a good thing I didn't buy a hot dog ha!!

 

12 yo, 1967
fuel & gas championships @ Bakersfield

16yo, 1971
Bought a tri-power '66 GTO and went racing @ Famoso

 

First time was in 1967, Wichita International Raceway, to see the Little Red Wagon do its wheelie thing. I was 13. Next time was 1971 to race my '66 Mustang. I was 17.

 

Back in 1991 i was 18.... took my 68 camaro that i built,had never even spectated. my first run was an 18.something .LOL.......... by the end of the day i was in the low 13's with no posi,and old junk tires i bought out of a shed.
man on that first pass i just hammered it and spun em' half track !!!!!!!!!!! 406 SBC .
by the way my 68 is STILL my daily driver !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by the way it was at the coolest track in the east ..... ISLAND DRAGWAY
MAN I LOVE THAT PLACE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Paradise Mesa San Diego Calif. at about 13 years old. Wow what an experience. Will never forget the thrill.

 

26 for me. That was 1991 and I took my '64 Chevelle SS with an L-88 and 8" slicks. I ran a small 125hp shot nitrous system on it and it ran a best 12.10@131MPH while it smoked those little tires all the way down the track. I still have that car but it's set up much better now

 

1953 @ Santa Ana, CA.

 

My first time was in the back of a '65 Coronet, but it wasn't at a drag strip... oh wait, sorry-

 

1965, Edgewater Dragstrip outside Cincinnati...my dad wasn't into cars so I was 16 already. Late bloomer but I made up for it!

 

hey KENTUCKY...thanks for the question. in 1959 there was a little outlaw strip in dayton texas. for you old schoolers, it predates the in PORTER tx. we ran H. stock, and in those days we had a flagman. we had a ball...call me POP...or the old FART.

 

Mine would have been around 1968 at a dirt strip in a place called Kopu here in New Zealand
We didn't have a dedicated strip so a 'road " out the back of a coal mine was used
All I can remember was my dad and 2 uncles taking me there and then the noise of the cars. My mother was not amused. LOL sorry Mum - Dad turned me into a petrol head
This scenario stuck with me for years. Later one of the Uncles was to build the Meremere dragstrip here in New Zealand so something must have been going on back then in his mind!!!

 

Bluegrass was a nice track in its day. Are you thinking of little Jimmy Elliott & the Apricot Brandy car?

 

1964- US 60 Dragway, Hardinsburg Ky. 11 yrs old. Got to work there several yrs and met a lot of really fine folks. Travis thanks for starting this thread!! Hey Hemi Kid I think I remember some kids getting caught sneakin in at the Hollar!
Bobby D.

 

Kentuckian,
Did you ever go to Somerset back in the day? My first time at the drags was in 65 at the old Somerset Drag Strip in Somerset, Kentucky. My parents lived there before they moved to Ohio where I have lived all of my life. My dad took me there a few times when we were visiting my grandparents. The place was tiny and the track went down hill at the finish. Great memories though. I have been trying for years to find anyone who raced or spectated there so if anyone out there has, shoot me an email I would love to hear your stories, see pictures, etc.

 

Nope, years ago I heard about a dragstrip near Somerset but never was there. You might try contacting Red Cornett at Cornett Machine Shop in Somerset. Here's an article from 2006 in their local newspaper about him.

http://www.somerset-kentucky.com/features/local_story_249093841.html

I raced at Cedar Creek, Ohio Valley, US 60, Bluegrass, Beech Bend, Harrison Co, and even Maryville TN. That was back in the 60's. I started teching Stock and S/Ser's in 1969. Been at it ever since. In fact this is my 41st racing season as a techman. My first year teching cars was 1969 at an outlaw track and the rest have been with NHRA.

 

You may have tech'd me at some point then. I raced a Super Stock GT/GA Camaro in Division 3 in the late '90's. Stock & S/S will always be my first love.

 

1983 6 months old Edgewater Raceway Park Cincinnati Ohio. It was the first time my grandpa had his 1969 Chevelle to the track. I was the pit crew for that car the whole time I was growing up. Last year was the first year he allowed me to drive the car the whole UMTR racing season. I love that car. I love PaPa, my uncles wife thinks he willed it to them and last year at thanks giving she said something about how they are going to restore it when its thiers. Papa piped up and said," No way in Hell, That car is going to Patrick (me). He's knows what that car is ment to be used for!"

 

I remember the first time I saw a drag strip. I was out with a friend, we drove to his friend's house, we got out......I heard this noise coming out of the woods not far from his friend's house, maybe 100' or so. I went through the woods and saw these cars all lined up, noisy and I was hooked. I went to my friend and asked him what that was.... he told me drag race cars. I was at the same track to watch stock cars and heard about drag cars but never saw one. But, I was hooked...then and there, hook, line and sinker, I was 17 about 1968 or so.

I asked another friend about it, he told me about it and said let's go friday night. We got there, by the return road.... there was this guy with a 30's coupe with a 409 in it, broke down. He was pushing it back by himself. My friend and I offered to push him, we wound up pushing him through the gate and into the pits......for free. I thought I died and went to heaven. The next year I was working there full time till it closed at the end of the 1972 season. Imagine that..... getting paid to be where I would have paid to be...... life was good

 

In the 70's my friends brother raced a 67 or 68 Camaro at National or Hampton speedway on Long Island.We were kids but I was hooked.We flat towed the car from Freeport with a 69 Roadrunner with a 440 four speed.The car ran in the ten's which was fast back then.I think the only other car running in the tens was a Model A coupe from Ted's Transmissions which I think they still have today.I wonder if anyone out there has any pics of the Camaro.It was owned by a guy named Frank and he had a speed shop in Merrick on LI and it was painted black with three candy stripes that started at the fender and went to the quarters and then over the trunk lid.

 

Summer of '75 Edinburg Speedway, Edinburg Texas. Went to watch a buddy of mine run his '69 Road Runner in the brackets.
I remember the guy who ran the show had a Daytona Charger and always parked it next to the ticket gate. Was the first time I had ever seen one.

 

8 or 9 Beach Bend Park, Bowling Green? with all my cousins.

 

I was in one of these in 1958:

 

In the summer of '62 I was 12 and went with my brother inlaw.Capitol City dragstrip,Montgomery,Al. We went in his '55 210 four door.When we got there he jacked it up, got the slicks out of the trunk along with a four speed and swapped them out under a pecan tree. I was hooked. That was drag racing! Bill

 

First time was when I was 12 years old. Went with a friend and his older brother.

 

as a kid in high school, traveled across state, texas to new mexico, to hobbs, about 50 miles away, wow saw dick harrell, kelly chadwick, gene snow, don hardy, jim butler, mr tomato, pink panther corvette, lots of willys, anglias, a class called super stock, a few dragsters, bunches of 55, 57's, thats been a few years ago, got hooked, still am

 

i was 10 years old
it was 1981
my grandfather took me to dragway 42
the little red wagon wheelstander was there
it blew my little mind
it was super wicked awesome!

 

1964.....Dragway 42...West Salem Ohio

 

My first visit to a dragstrip was Connecticut Dragway in 1978(13 years old).As a youngster prior to 1978 used to get dragged to church every sunday in Colchester,CT and after church would alway's see all the cars going to the track.My older cousin would sometimes go to the drags after church and take my older brother and cousin with him.I alway's wanted to go and my father would say someday when your older you'll go.When that day finally came it felt like Christmas,and what made it even better we drove there in my cousins 1933-34 coupe.That is were it all started for me.I want to thank those drag cars for spreading the disease to me