Has anyone REALLY street raced? (pics)

Hey Axle,
We hung aroung the same place at the same time. I used to cruise Market every Friday night religiously back when I was heavy into VW's. I used to cruise this one. It was yellow. My Uncle built some serious VW engines back then. It was a 2020cc with big cam and heads. It ran 13's at OCIR and it was a stock bodied car with full interior and the spare. Those were the good ol' days!!! I used to race over on main just before Agua Mansa rd. We'd stay there all night racing until the cops showed up! The lines are still faintly visible on the road. I sure do miss that stuff!!

 

Anyone remember Art Johnsons on route 1 in Dedham/ Norwood Mass. Some great stuff until the mid 70s

 

I used to race against this car at Antelope Valley Raceway in the 80's.
I remember taking the water pump drive off of it to use on my car after it went out early one time. Was that you or a different owner?
Craig

 

That was Duke Gardella. I traded it to him around 83-84(?). He still owns the car to this day. Sits in a shop in Sun Valley. It's blue now, and i think says Witchy Woman or something like that.

 

In the 70s I mostly cruised to hot spots and watched. Didn't have a lot of power. As my cars got faster I started participating. The cars I played with were never super fast but they read like a whos who of musclecars.

69 Camaro SS350 Pace Car

69 Firebird with a 400

69 Boss 302 (the only one I miss)

70 SS Chevelle 454 (late model 454, Oem mtr long gone)

70 'Cuda 383 4spd

69 GTX 440 4spd

69 Camaro SS396-350hp...changed original motor to a RHS 468 (built for a friend) Had a 150 N2O shot on it.

72 Camaro SS The final car that ended up a bracket racer.

The story on the last one began in the early 90s. A group of racers "owned" the west side of Detroit. Many very close friends were real fast. My turn. Bought this car and had to take the guys lawnchairs out of the trunk. I bought it cuz I like the color and it had a 454 in it. 1st time out to shake it down after weeks of tuning it ran a lame best of 13.42. I was disgusted. Built a 468 out of it with 11.25: pistons, small roller, Dart/Merlins, and a Dart Dominator intake with a 1050 on it. I used a 3800 stall convertor and 4.30 gears. It ran 11.30s on motor and had good top end (118-121mph). All shook down and ready to go out racin I tested the 2 stage N2o at Det Dragway on a fri nite test n tune. I proceded to scatter the guts of the motor at about 700' and coasted to a 10.70 @111. (turns out the plate was heavily modded and I didn't know it!). Having a spare bullet on the ground it was time to get serious. 477, 14.1:1, lil bigger roller, 5000 stall, trans brake, 4.88 gears. Still a small tire full steel car. I figured if it ran 11.0s I'd be happy, but realistically probably 20s. That season ended before I finished the car and it ended by the Redford cops surrounding one of our hangs like they fuckin caught Noriega or something. People were arrested, pepper sprayed, licenses confescated, cars towed...all for havin a hot rod and hangin out at a coffee shop. I decided disgression was the better part of valor and lettered up my car and kept it on the track. It rolled off the trailer with a 10.89 and some fine tuning netted a 10.80 by 1st round. It eventually went 10.32 at 129.89 with very little change over the years. I miss the days (nights), but I sure don't want some Harry Callahan wannabe takin my shit because he didn't get none the night before. Ya see in Wayne County, they now have the authority to tow your shit away even if you're just watching. It was huge clean fun while it lasted. I've posted the pic before but here's the last incarnation.

 

ok my pic didn't post...I got a red X Here it is again (I hope)

 

During High School and College, we raced on "The Flats" outside Geneseo, NY. There was also a new bridge that crossed over the then new, under construction I-390 on the other end of town. Nice fresh pavement. There were two brothers, one with a 68 Chevy II and the other with a 60's Camaro, both running 468's with grooved Racemasters and front runners.
Later, in the Navy(Mid to late 80's), there were plenty of 3AM, 135mph runs across the Gold Star Bridge between Groton & New London, CT in a certain Charcoal Gray '70 Barracuda.
These days, Wednesday night test and tune and Friday night grudge matches at the local track suit me just fine.

 

I go to work in Oakland at 11:30 at night and after the last big quake(89) they redid the offramp for 7th st. with a 4 lane,with center turning lane and side lanes....about a mile long with an uphill at the end and in an industrial area.....anyway thats my exit ...more than once I have seen guys unloading their trailers but I never have time to stop and watch...great rubber stripes are all thats left when I get off in the morning!
I have a relative that is still into it ...building a later model mustang with some crazy motor...should run 9's.

 

No pics...1973...'65 vette rag top, '69 427-425, M21, Lakewood on NMW single traction bar, 4.56 gear, Rally wheels 6 on the front 8 on the back, Silver with physchedelic panels...raced in 6 different locations around town. Different nites and places for security.
Bill

 

LOTS-A-STREETRACIN. factory LS-6 450 horse fourfiftymuthafukinfour! pretty much all original #s matching with an automatic. except headers & a L-78 intake, & the 200-S wheels that were put on it when it was new. 4000 lbs. 11:80s
police chases, street racin, A COUPLE TONS OF FUN! i still got her since 1981 i still turn this bitch loose. (when i get it out that is) - (which isnt near enough)
this the way i bought it in 81. thats the paint that was on it, wheels, everything. i just bought back tires once in awhile. - maybe some teeny minor changes but its still the same.
blew alot of doors off too. ------- i could write a book on episodes with this car as i just about lived in it for years! it sure didnt sit still long when i was younger & i had tires smokin way into the wee mornings.

 

Heres my baby. 61 olds rocket, lt1, muncie 4 speed and 4.11s in a ford 8.8".
raced it 87 times, lost once to an LS6 chevelle with a 4 speed. I ran 12.90s in street dress until I got plowed at an intersection on the way home from work.

 

good idea for a thread! i usred to drag race for real. at midnight every sturday we would all meet up then roll together out around riverside california.there would be like 100 or more cars sometimes. then we would race till the cops showed up. that was about 12 years ago.sorry no pics.evidence ya know?

 

Anyone from the Portland/Vancouver area back in the 80's will know about 'Lower River Road' on the outskirts of Vancouver Wa. plus there was racing in the industrial areas of Portland. Used to run a 67 Camaro (all my buddies ran 67-70 camaros) and all the street racing that was done. Back then 10's were fast as hell (high 11's and low 12's were considered a strong car, nitrous was not the main stay but a few of the fast cars ran them. . (nothing like todays 8 and lower ET's brutally fast cars the mags talk about.) It was a fun time. Still have the urge to build a 10 sec street car..

Need to scan a pic of that car.

 

he said "evidence".

 

EXACTLY! Nowadays these guys are spending rediculous money. It just CAN'T be as much fun. Too serious. We'd race for $5 sometimes, just for the thrill of a last ditch effort to "get one off" before calling it a nite at 5-6AM.

 

Amen to that last post. Done the $10 race many times, just to shut someone up, or have breakfast money.

 

Don't have any pics on the computer. But I was pretty heavy in street racing back in highschool and a few yrs after, around 1994-1999ish. Got out of the racing thing back in Houston in '00. I was tired of the asian gangster kids randomly firing off a pistol into the air at the street races. The dorky kids with the fartcan muffler 4-door auto cars trying to race everyone and usually wrecking, the tubbed out drag cars coming out of their trailers to get their asses handed to them, and the cops were cracking down really hard on the everyone and having frequent raids on all the gathering places and racing spots.

I had an '86 Mustang GT 5.0. Ran high 11's on motor and 10" tires with a 306, AOD, & 8.8", lots of fun on those country backroads at 3am.

Had an '87 RX-7 Turbo II, 12pt cage, monster turbo, 476rwhp. It was built for autocross racing, but I ended up going balls out with the motor. Too much power for the street but managed to click off an 11.74 spinning into 4th.

I know they aren't hot rods, but fuck it, run what you brung.

 

EXACTLY. Sometimes just beating that certain someone in front of his friends was everything. Hell, i put up some money against a guys tach one nite because he was just one of those guys I really wanted to shut up and he had no money. When i beat him, he thought i was just kidding til i took the fucking thing off his rollcage

 

Back in the mid '70's I had a '66 Plymouth Satellite, Built a 413 for it, ran mid to high 11's through the mufflers. Used to street race around the Iowa City area. Generally we'd just head out of town to a spot where somebody'd measured off a 1/4 mile on a highway. Never lost while I owned it, made enough money to pay for upkeep on it, had tons of fun until I painted it so it didn't look like a piece of crap. Once it looked good nobody wanted to race.

 

Everything used to be a lot of fun before the screws were put to every facet of life....

I think everyone seriously into cars in the 60's & 70's spent their share of late nights/early mornings on the outskirts of town.

 

This thing ran pretty good too. Best of 11:97 (355 small block, through the muffs, no nitrous-10:70's with i think a 125HP unit) at LACR (about 4000 feet above sea level i believe). I'm sure it would've gone mid 11's at sea level (everything i ever had went 3 1/2 tenths slower at LACR), i just NEVER ran this through at any other strips. PS-the slicks on this car were "takeoffs" from a friends 180MPH turbocharged drag bike. For safety reasons, he'd take them off after very few passes and sell them to me 1/2 price, one at a time

 

any of you california guys....( i think the guy was from LA area) ever see a early 80's toyota supra.....red with stock steel wheels....or so they appeared....a buddy ended up with this ride.....some rocket scientist type built it to run the canyons and mess around on the streets.....had a twin turbo keith black built 512 stroker big block mopar.....with a intercooler.....stealth doesn't even discribe this thing......would have been in the late 80's early 90's......the guy that ended up with it ...sans the turbos...swapped intakes and used a 850 on it.....said it was the scariest ride he'd ever taken ....and had a low 11 second 68 camaro street car at the time.....wish i'd taken a picture of it......still hard to believe to this day ....brandon

 

End of the Garden State parkway (NJ )as it turned into the NY State Thruway. AWESOME. Every weekend in the late 60's early 70's. Many would meet at Shoppers Paradise in Spring Valley NY set up the races and off everyone would go....

 

Philadelphia had a real strong street scene just a few years ago, quite a few 8 second cars running on the streets in Philly, its an exhilarating scene to see cars run that fast on the street, not safe but exhilarating to say the least.

 

Daren Nelson had 2 of the baddest El-Cos in high school...we used to roll out to chatworth and hook up races and Tommy's in Van Nuys....I spent many nights standing between him and some other poor shmuck who he was about to ake money from....

There was also a bad ass Camero that ran chatsworth with a plate that said 1fine69....that thing was bad....

We went down to Compton or some place down there and saw what "those guys" were running....full trailered race cars on the street...big money races....people strapped and flying colors....some scary shit....I also saw my first 9 sec. honda civic (85).....blew me away.....

Now days these "kids" race without even looking to see if the street is clear...they have no respect for the street or the hoods they run in....hell we heard a couple race in my old neighborhood down a residential street....

 

i remember the tommy's nights like shiftymutt said.the big dogs always race cold water.after that scene got broken up we turned to camirillo industrial area with the few canoga st races.good times gone bad with all the aisan bs.

 

forgot to throw out the sun valley races and turbo track.all under the junction of the 14, 5, 210 fwys. was anybody there???

 

Hey, if you were running around Houston back then, I probably saw/raced you. I had a white '92 Beretta 5speed/3.1 with some tricks-ran '14's on street tires-ate cv joints like they were going out of style. Spikewood,Telephone, Upper Westheimer and Rankin, in Houston, Center Street in Deer Park, Cherry Hill in Galveston. God, gas was cheap back then...

 

Roxford (under the freeway), and Yarnell (right ON the freeway before it was completed). VERY fast races at the latter. A buddy of mine, Bob Brandt, who was "Snakes" crew chief back then drove a Vega that belonged to another dude with a "Grumpy" Jenkins small block is a good one. But i can go on for hours