History Places - Where did you guys Street Race when you were a kid ?..... Could be interesting

LOL

 

The 11 point river bridge on Hwy 93 at Dalton ar. The hwy just north of the 11 point bridge on Hwy 90. (there was a great swimming hole there also. The 11 point bridge on hwy 62. A few miles east of town on Hwy 304. and a marked 1/4 mile on Hwy 90 east of Ravenden Springs at the bottom of Clements hill.

 

In Southern California, the Manchester on-ramp to the 405 was about half of a mile, 2 lanes straight. Also Hawthorne Blvd in front of the A&W.

 

We hung out at the Frisch's in New Albany, Indiana. We would race across the Sherman Minton Bridge that connected New Albany and Louisville, Kentucky.

 

I raced a Chevelle SS one night and beat him but when we got out to where we were going to run we decided to run for shits and giggles.
Some of the best times and races were done for that simply because nobody had any money.
Just for shits and giggles

 

When I worked in DC in the 90s-2000s, I had a black friend with a Hayabusa. He told me all the black bikers raced on V street so I guess they were still doing and probably still are. That thing was insanely fast. When he told me he had one I said "I know you're lyin because your wife wouldn't let you have one". But he did.

 

" Not all street racing in the mid 50's was drags.
I'm wondering who in the Seattle area holds the record for one lap around Queen Anne Blvd. now.
PETE1, OCT 16, 2013. "

A lot of neat street racing stories turn up here with a search.

 

Yes sir, it was Dolen's Fairview Drive-In, on W. Union St, and Union Hill was the place to go until they opened the bypass east of Athens. We had some family friends that lived at the top of the hill, and the wife was always complaining on the weekends about the "draaaaag racers" waking her up. Get this; the New Marshfield VFW owned a '64 Galaxie, with a 427 and a 4 speed. I think it was red with a black vinyl top, but it has been many years now.

 

When a Jr in high school. 1958, I used to occasionally race my '40 flatty down 108th st in L.A. right next to the high school, usually before class. It was one block, and dead ended at a cross street. If my brakes had ever failed, I would have been parked in someone's living room. Good thing the old flattie and my usual opponents were gutless turds.

 

Santa Clara, CA. 1954: The older guys had a strip marked off in front of the old FMC corporation. "De La Cruz Blvd" was 4 lanes wide, brand new...ran alongside San Jose Municipal Airport. Early dragster pilot Hank Silva even brought his 'digger' out a coupla times...
When I started driving in '58, we raced out in the country, (where all the Silicon Valley metropolis is now) Used to be my great Grandpa's farm! Along the adjoining Kifer Rd. was a side road, heavily crowned. We raced there during the week, but get this:
The name of the dangerous avenue was "COFFIN Road!" We would roll just over a hundred, tight-knuckled, road had to be 7 degrees crown. Worse danger was farmers might tractor out into your path...so we made it a habit to 'drive it', then set up to race.
Dragged 'em out there 'til '60, or thereabouts.
One 'not-too-bright' kid, Frank Moro was the only fatality on Coffin Rd. He and some younger kids were out there in his '52 Ford 4 dr., stealing gas. Farmer called the cops, who sneaked up with no headlights...Frank and friends jumped aboard, took off, cops chased, 70+ MPH Frank straddled a bridge abutment, killed himself. Kids weren't hurt bad...but after all the racing that went on there, Frank Moro was the only one to crash.

Later, the new North Santa Clara business park opened, and the best street digs I ever raced on. Montegue Expressway had a stop light intersection and a measured and marked finish line in white paint, (courtesy of Monnastes and me!) then a good 1/3 mile shutoff, with an on ramp to 101 toward San Francisco! Never got caught there, worked our way up to Monnastes' 427 Ford '63-1/2 Les Ritchey tuned, Jack Belick's '63 Plym. 426 (Eddie Perdue's fact. ordered race car for his business) and my previously blown up 426 Dodge 330 I bought from the repo guys at Morris Plan! LOL
We were in constant battle with the guys from Sunnyvale A&W, (they had a Chinese kid with a Biscayne and 427 'Mystery Motor') He blew Monnastes' 427 Ford doors off... He was fast...
That was in '63-'64, 2 years after that the cops nabbed a couple of guys, arrested 'em, impounded their cars. Wrote tickets to everybody on the scene, even chasing down cars suspected of holding 'spectators'...It got crazy. First time we saw this, so cooled it for awhile. But not long...
We also used to race in front of IBM in South San Jose...and 7th St, and 10th St.
We were always cutting up on the street with hot rods, a different group than all of us with the Super Stocks. Guess 'some of us' graduated into those, but I just morphed into whatever looked fast, and I could get a race...so it was always hot rods, really...
but all mixed up.
The 'gassers' were it in the early '60s, but lots of the 'D' gassers were street driven during the week. Fast '55 Chevys with tiny 6.70 X 15s all around were I.D.'d by their black wheels and blackwalls, traction masters and increased curb height...
They'd center at R.J. drive in, Santa Clara...and John's Drive in, San Jose. The racers parked in usually 12 car spaces, carhop designated. San Jose cops parked across the street in 'plainclothes' ('Felony') cars.
Fords, with Police package. Fat tires, 'heavy' stance, wide wheels, dog dish caps...
Racers would leave in a line...cops would follow. Racers would notice felony car(s) following, change course and split up, go downtown to the main.
One night (and many to follow!) I pull up to a stoplight, a '55 Chevy pulls alongside, looks familiar: no front bumper, raised up, pair of Bucrons on rear...two college-age guys, polished nylon stuffed jackets...I could just see the S.J.P.D. shoulder patch barely above the door sill... the shotgun guy says, "Wanna run it?" I had to say something cool, so: "Against that old dog? I'd beat you jaywalking."
Drove off real slow when the light turned. Many guys fell for the police entrapment, but they asked Schwartz and he said, "Sure..." Light turned green, he blasted off, they turned on the headliner fold down heatlamp, and Schwartz shifted up and ran clear to Chinatown. Lost 'em. Didn't go downtown for a week...Schwartz drove a light blue '55 Chev tudor, 301" 4spd., fastest SBC I can remember. Clean car, he opened it up on 10th St. one night, just waxed a new 396" 'Boo. Impressive, he got away that night, too...we were in my channeled 'A' Coupe, newly installed 283. We also split, just as 4 or more SJPD blue-and-whites came.
"Cops and Rodders"... used to be my favorite game. I was nearly 'incorrigible'! Well, completely.

 

Some of the same spots I do now. Just kidding, or am I?

 

There's a lesson here somewhere, I think it would be hard to enjoy the car after all this.

 

One and the same my friend. ALCOA was on Lower River Rd.

 

Everyone would show up for the midnight drags every Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights on Wisconsin Ave along the Red Cedar River in Rice Lake, WI. How the fuzz weren't on to it we could never figure out, course, it wasn't built out like now.

 

Flanders Flats on Rt. 206 Flanders,NJ. Unfinished Rt. 80 Netcong/Bud Lake area. The popular Rt.10 after pitting at the Sip N Sup. Legally at Maguire AFB while stationed at Ft. Dix. Met a lot of other street racers there from the NJ/NY area. We'd tell lies all night about our exploits. (not just racing)

 

in the Bay area, it was the great hiway, or Brotherhood way in Daly City, late 50's early 60's........................

 

I grew up in Bethel, Ct. We raced on Rt53 from the railroad bridge by the dump entrance to in front of Village auto body

 

RACE! We didn't even think of doing anything dangerous like that. Compared to riding in the back of a pick up truck and other dangerous stunts that we did and didn't get killed or hurt. Except for on US 40 that had an isolated straight two lane section, along with State Route 21, or I-79 when that was built with a two mile straight stretch. Oh there were a lot of them and a lot of cops too. One night I had my OT 1966 Impala ready to paint and was finishing masking it when an equally hot red 1965 GTO chided me into going to US 40. I won two when he said he blew his shift then lost one. Next day a Trooper pulled in behind me and asked if I knew who had a blue and primered car like my black one. I replied, off hand I couldn't think of a local one but there was one from out of state and I didn't know his name. I was sure glad that I went home that Saturday night and finished painting the car for school Monday.

 

When I was in high school we raced or met up at fa

 

Quigley and W 3rd in Cleveland, Ohio. Got a cops gun put in my face and spent the night in 2nd precinct. Got to keep my license but it cost me every penny I had. Never did that again!

 

In the early/mid 60's the Missouri Highway Department replaced a section of old and narrow MO-179 just south of the (very) small town of Sandy Hook in central Missouri in the Missouri River bottoms. The "new" road was built just like two lanes of an Interstate highway. There is a place about 1.5 - 1.75 miles long that's straight as a string and probably doesn't have more than 6" of difference in elevation. About as straight and flat as can be built. It's about 15 miles from any metropolis with more than 5 or so houses. The locals (Columbia, Boonville, Jefferson City, California, etc.) all knew it as Sandy Hook International Raceway. This is where all the serious races were held. If someone had called the po po it would have taken them several minutes to get there. By then all racers and spectators would be well away from the area.

In the ensuing years I've met many gearheads from these surrounding towns and I believe that every one of them knows about SHIR.



There were at least 4 (that I can remember) 1/4 mile straightaways within 3 - 4 miles of California, Missouri where I lived. We normally would just meet at one of them, make one run, and head back to town. I never raced for money or anything, just for fun.

After I moved to Columbia, MO I had a weekend job at a Shell station on the NW corner of town. Right where I-70 runs and where old US-40 came into town from the west. One night some dude I didn't know kept after me to race so I went to the station and used the lift to uncork the headers. We then went out old 40 about a mile to a straight place in a small creek bottom. We lined up, ran, turned around, and headed back to town. About half way to the station there were a set of headlights coming at me, so just before we met I put the clutch in and idled past the car. Turned out to be a CPD car with a bubblegum machine on top. I nailed it and scooted back to town. I could see him doing a 3 point turn around in my mirror. When I got to town I drove around the back of the station, parked in the dark, killed the engine, and ran inside. Seconds later the cop comes screaming up the outer road (old 40). I stayed there for an hour or so and the cop cruised back and forth for a good amount of time before finally giving up. Eventually I pulled back into the bay with the lift and capped the headers. That was the closest I ever came to getting caught. IIRC that would have been about 1970.

 

A google maps pic of V St NE, DC (2007) just to show you how insane it was. There were usually tractor trailers and dozens of spectators parked along the curb on both sides. Two lanes with no margin for error. The Police and Fire Dept. would hose down the street after they cleared everyone out to stop any further racing. At one point they put up concrete barriers every ten-twenty yards to stop the racing. Looked like a slalom course. I was not a player with my little 289 but enjoyed the show in the 70s/80s.

 

see my closed thread:
L. A. Street Racing Archive late 70's to ?

 

Right there...Old Hwy.37 just south of Purdy, MO. I could tell you some stories!

Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

SFV -Parthenia, Wentworth, River road, Forest Lawn Dr.

 

Yep, nothing like racing with an ocean view. Not that I would ever do such a thing.

 

Ol ZZ hiway, south of town (Dexter,Mo) 4 telephone poles was exactly a 1/4 mile, nothing but farm fields all around.
It was the spot !

 

Son, I'm gonna have to write you up!

 

Mid to late 70's (probably longer but was out of the area)...Modesto...Finch Road...that was a go to weekend daytime place to race...big wide long road, before it became Industrialized.

Oakdale...26 mile road along the old box factory, or Patterson Road.

Escalon/Valley Home area...Henry Road.

And just about any stop light in any town we'd go through