Hot Rods Do You Drag Race Your Hot Rod?

If so, how often?

I was big into drag racing in the 70's. Had a couple 10 second door slammers back then. Time and money always prevented me from getting back into it. That, and a lot of drag strips got closed down so no where to race. There is a drag strip about an hour from me now and have been thinking about going to have some fun.

I plan on taking my '34 on a long around the country road trip next summer so prepping the car for that. It is a glass car with a little Buick 231, T-350 and a Corvette rear. It's got a/c and a fancy stereo. Four bar front with disk brakes. Your standard street rod type car that was built in 1988 by probably a pro shop as everything is done pretty nicely but in that 80's/90's smoothy style. It gets decent gas mileage and is pretty comfortable for what it is. Perfect for the road trip.

But.....it's a glass car and (other than Corvettes) the only glass car I've ever owned. To me, it's not really an old car and is really a 1988 car that looks like an old car. I know it will be fun driving it on the trip but I feel like I'm cheating a bit. I am building my '63&1/2 Galaxie with a 390 / T-10 and am thinking I'd like to use that car for future road trips. Full size car with tons of room and a nice smooth ride. I'll swap out the T-10 for a 5 or 6 speed for better gas mileage. Taking that car will let me get a true old car road trip experience.

So what to do with my '34? Make a drag car (well, more like a street / strip car) out of it! Yank the fenders, ditch the 231, T350 and Vette rear and all the billet street roddy stuff and drop in a big inch blower motor and a 9" or maybe even a quick change. I'd really like a 392 or a 425/401 NailHead or maybe even an FE so I can share parts with the Galaxie (like the T-10). Blower would be cool but budget might dictate a tunnel ram or something less wild. The car would be fairly light so wouldn't need a ton of power and that helps keep breakage down too. I know a crate SBC would be the cheapest and easiest way to go but sure would like to run something different.

Let's see your drag racing hot rods! How has it been for you? How often do you get out there? Brake a lot of parts? How fast do you go?

 

Mid 70's, driven to and from the track.Not much engine, SBF 289 10% set back with 4spd top loader and 9" with 5.14 gear/detroit locker. 7" drop beam axle. [email protected] on street tires, 13.4@102 on slicks. Broke couple narrowed 31 spline axles but could still drive home (little hairy) because of the Locker, replaced with Strange axles. Still have car, drive it any wheres.

 

I was racing the Henry J just about every other week, when not racing it was street driven regularly.
Since you've been a member for 14 yrs I'm sure you've seen the threads on Dragweek and the HAMB drags, there's a few here racing their cars.

 

I didn't build my 34 to drag race. It's a street car but I wanted to see what it'd do on the strip. Once I got it to pass tech I drove it to Joplin this last summer and was able to make 3 runs with it at the HAMB drags. This year's rains meant we were only able to run the 1/8th
mile but maybe next year we'll able to run a full 1/4 mile.
'till then, we have a couple 1/8th mile strips locally and one of them may open up to 1/4 mile.

 

I did a little drag racing in the 70's.
I'm better now!

 

Nope, hard enough to keep them running sometimes without trying to drag race them. Old iron though.

 

Yes, make it a Street/Strip Car. Mild FE, beefed automatic, some safety gear and have at it. Change the look from Street Rod to Old School. Would be way more fun than the 231. I am gonna race the 27 in my avatar.

 

Keep the 231 and upgrade it like Buick did it with a turbo charger. Should be able to find some of those in the scrap yard by now.
Not traditional ,but neither is a glass car. That way you can still drive it and race it.

 

This year makes 20 years that I have driven the old truck to the strip, made passes, and then drove it home. I am probably the only one locally that still drives to the strip, except when The HAMB Drags are here. My best pass ever was a 13.1. Now days it usually runs about 13.6. My only change in 20 years was the removal of the Pete Jackson gear drive and changing the camshaft when a lobe when flat. I just enjoy making a pass. It feels good.

 

Raced this one at nostalgia drags,flag start, 1/8 mile, heads up, no times.
Not really racing I suppose, but we were out there and having fun!

 

I would sell that one if it's nice, and build one that is better suited for the drags.
Stripping fenders, changing suspension,engine,trans,rear, interior there will be nothing left.
Start from scratch and build it correctly for what you want

 

I'M faster than a VW.

 

Not anymore. Never forget what my Grandpa said when I was a teenager "you kids are crazy, you spend hundreds of dollars to win a 59 cent trophy". He was right, now it would be thousands of dollars. Attached is a picture of a 36 Ford drag car we built in my Grandpas garage as 16-17 year old teenagers that we raced at the Westhampton 1/4 mile drag strip. It was originally flathead powered that was swapped out for a 327 SBC. I'm the skinny guy in the middle.

 

If all you get out of racing is a 59 cent trophy, then yeah, you shouldn't even bother.

Some guys get more out of it than that.

 

True, entering a race for the trophy is pretty much the same as entering a show for one. I haven’t raced in several years, but did it for the adrenaline rush more than anything if I am honest. Just something about it that can be addicting (which is also why I don’t frequent the track anymore). I’m not a very good spectator...

I have a 15 year old son that is getting real interested in going fast so I may be back in it again sometime in the future at least with him. I figure I can take the approach that my dad did and hate that I was interested or be a part of it and make some great memories with my son making sure he isn’t doing some of the stupid and unsafe things I used to do along the way.

 

Well sort of! My wife calls this 40 Pontiac hers. I raced it a couple times this year but it is really not geared for racing. It is a 1963 421 super duty and a Muncie 4 speed. It has a torsion Gleason in the rear end with 3:00 gears. You barely need 3rd gear on the quarter mile at just over 100mph. I need to get my Gasser done!!! Gary

 

If you think you get nothing from a 1/8 mile drag,,,
Try Land Speed Racing, all we can hope for is colored hats,,,
What did your Red Hat cost JD??????

 

I have my "private" dragstrip south of Harlan, saw my first dragrace ther in 1955, between a full-race model A v8 flathead and the thhen new power pack '55 chevy. Flathead won, and i was hooked. I still go bown ther and "run it through" the 1/4, just to see what it will do in the 1/4 mile. but no one will race anymore, too old or too afraid of getting beat! by my '55 T-Bird. I do plan on going to Onawa, Iowa next summer. They have a nice 1/4 miles track there now. Maybe the Hamb should have a meet there sometime. would be nice .

 

My hot rod is a drag car, not sure I can trust myself the drive it on the street.

 

Reminds me of the saying "How to make a small fortune in drag racing, first, start with a large fortune".

 

Drag racing is the part I most enjoy without a doubt, building them comes in a close second, cruising third, cruise-ins forth, car shows limited to local charity events a distance 5th. Retired from street racing when my daughter was born. Took it to the drag strip for a few years bracket racing. Cars got too fast and expensive for me to keep up. But, I missed the adrenalin rush that racing gave me. This overpowered 40 Chevy is going to set new levels for my adrenalin rush!

 

Drag racing is lots of fun and God knows I've done my share in my younger days. Other then the enjoyment of it theres not much sense in spending money to impress people you don't even know while trying to win a worthless trophy. If your trying to win $40 to 50K like on Street Outlaws thats a different story. Watching Nostalgia drag racing is my most enjoyable car activity.

 

I would love to take my car to the track, but fixing broken parts is not in my budget...

 

Somebody forgot to tell John Force!!

 

My hot rod is a drag car. If you are not breaking parts ,you are not running it hard enough.

 

My 33 ford pickup was once a dual street/drag rig when my grandfather first built it in the early 90's. Ran in what was called "Street Heavy" at Portland International Raceway doing 1/8th mile. It was the oldest and smallest displacement rig in the field that was full of big block Camaro's, Chevelle's and Nova's, 440/Hemi mopars, and late 60's big block Fords. Truck ran hard but wasn't very consistent for a bracket class. Stopped drag racing the truck when it started touching the line of needing more safety requirements, so it was retired. I am planning on going over the truck this spring to run it at the Meltdown drags in Washington next summer before tearing the truck down to redo it into a full show truck.

 

Did a little drag racing a life time ago.

 

Please tell more about the Meltdown drags in Washington next summer. I haven't heard anything about this and am interested.

 

I race my stuff when I'm not too busy working on other peoples stuff . I've thrashed the little pink Lark a couple of time's at barona , and when the 57 is out of paint jail I will run the crap out of it..I didn't spend a bunch of money building a blown small block to show it.

 

Not meltdown, my mistake the Hot Rod Eruption Drags. I was watching old Meltdown videos on YouTube right before I hopped on here, lol. There is no info yet on next years event, hope it happens. Just heard about right before the event and already had plans for that weekend.