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

Ha! Definitely Doug. My dad even participated with his brand new 66 Charger 383 / 4-speed. Just incredible times that we will never have again unfortunately. Where did Tigard boys run on Friday-Saturday nights?

 

When I first started street racing we went outside our small town Alexandria NE. and raced by the cemetery because you could see both directions so we could race without any problems. I had a fairly hot 58 Chevy Bel Air 2 dr. hrdt with a 348/4 speed. Never got caught street racing, I was lucky.

 

I lived in a town just north of Oklahoma City in high school and we raced multiple places. One place out east of town just north of Route 66 near the historic round barn, north of the next town to the north (Guthrie where I live now) on a stretch of Hwy 77, on Route 66 west of OKC, further west in El Reno by the prison, in Stillwater, Ft. Worth, TX by the Miller Brewery, etc., etc. Wait...is there a statute of limitations on giving out this sort of info???

 

Not that I participated in such illegal activities but honestly I don't think there was any one particular stretch of road for that sort of thing, I do recall my pal taking his 68 Z/28 for some test and tune sessions on I-5, the only place to let that thing stretch its legs.
I know some guys went up to Alcoa in Vancouver but most of us just did the Broadway cruise thing in PDX.

 

Early on, like the first dance, Bailey in San Jo, CA. local was Day Rd, and Bloomfield.......Lot'sa good times.....

 

I raced the guy in the 56 with my 57 pickup, twice. Lost both times...no damn traction. Great highway was my Friday and Saturday night destination, circa 1975. Oh yeah, and the A & W in Daly City was the best.

 

Another street racing story. In my early 20's in the late 60's I found a really solid faded red 55 Chevy short WB pu into which we installed a 455 Olds with 400 turbo. We used to take the 75 mile trip to Lincoln to race on O street. This was way before Farm Truck. Those city boys with their 60's factory hot rods could never figure out how such a piece of shit truck would go so fast.

 

Willow Street start line going to Terminal Island

The beginning of almost 2 miles of empty road in the very late night time.

PCH Overpass start line

Heading towards the end of Lions Dragstrip. The mini tunnel accentuates the open header sounds. The start is better, but the on ramp is not good for the local police entering or waiting.

Hello,

As teenage locals in the Westside of Long Beach, we had our own speedway just behind our first house and a few blocks of the last house we had until sold in 1998. The Terminal Island Freeway was a lonely stretch of a road that was far enough away from anyone, but when the winds blew, the neighboring homes got a lot of noise. Now, it is a local school district warehouse and repair yard, plus an elementary/middle school complex and at night, it is still as lonely as it was in 1957-63.

Our two block row of old 1930's and 40's houses, including our Craftsman House were all plowed under and leveled. It made a great stretch of land for the growing student population in the Westside. If we were to walk along the freeway border, from one end to the other, it is all of the school district property including a new high school.

Terminal Island Freeway

So, we had our own high speed proving grounds, it was a short drive away that was also available to those speed shops and drag race guys took advantage of the nearness of the straight away. Joe Mailliard, Clay Smith, Mickey Thompson, all at one time or another had their shops within a half mile of the lonely freeway.

When we were studying or working on our hot rods in the backyard, we could hear some acceleration going on and we knew someone also knew who, what, and when for this desolate area. The almost two mile flat surface was perfect for midnight or later, high speed runs. These days and nights has seen an increase of traffic, especially the giant semi trucks from the harbor region, just several miles away.

In Bixby Knolls, the locals knew of the only long stretch of roadway on Cherry Avenue near a couple of cemeteries. It was a place of weekend activity, despite being on the border of two local cities. Much has been mentioned about the fast and famous from this Long Beach locale. We heard the stories, but could not wait for our turn to experience the area and what it offered in high school.

An excerpt from a memorial on Tom McEwen, who lived a few blocks away in the Bixby Knolls area.

“Tom did say it was stock, but we all said that. In reality, the stock appearing motor hid an Iskenderian Cam and almost unnoticed was a set of Hedman Headers. That whistling sound was coming from a Mc Collough blower. If someone showed up to race at our spot with a second engine hanging out of the trunk, the owner would say…”it came that way from the factory like this…”

Jnaki

After many years of waiting and getting old enough to drive, this is what we had to put up with on a daily basis. When the McEwen/Gabelich era was moving on, the next group of HS teenagers (my brother’s era) had those same types of stories and hot rods. A few years later, it was our turn and the stories and action continued on for all of us. It was a great time to be a teenager in Long Beach, especially, in the Bixby Knolls area.


The streets are still there in the same neighborhood, but our time had expired and we all moved on to the rest of our lives. But, those teenage memories last forever, especially the intense starting line antics and acceleration. “Those were the times…” In Many places in So Cal there are the streets where some action took place. This is one place that was well documented by different generations of teenagers attending the local high school. When did it stop? Does it ever?

Cherry Avenue acceleration

 

Westminster Ave. in the OC anytime. A 2 mile straight away with both sides bordering the “empty” Naval Ammunition storage facility.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...m-days-gone-by.428585/page-6521#post-13058133 Westminster Ave.


Hello,

In So Cal, there were lots of “home courts” in drag racing. But, it really did not matter if your car was prepped and ready to race. The dragstrips like Lions Dragstrip was handy for the all out races against the ones that showed up every Saturday. When the challenge was on the street and the cruising grounds happen to be near our home court of Cherry Avenue in Bixby Knolls, then it was really fun to keep the win streak alive for our friends. There have been many stories and long time history on the Cherry Avenue drags as remembered by the countless age groups that went to the local high school during their era.

But, cruising down to Orange County beach towns creates a different kind of scene. The air was really moist most of the nighttime driving scenes. So, the actual cities had slick roads and weren’t usually available for us. We got a tip that several miles inland was a stretch of highway that was empty and lonely. Lonely being that no one (in reality) was around to call the police on a group of teenagers racing. On both sides of the fenced off roadway were ammunition bunkers disguised as homes from the air. (Designed during the war) It was complete with streets, street lights, bumps that looked like homes and streets designed like the neighboring homes in the nearest two-three miles away location.

We were told by some historians in college that during the wars, if an aerial attack came to this region, from high above, the bunkers would look like residential streets and safe from bombing. So, it was also safe from the local police as there was nothing to “police” in the area. The actual street was a public street cutting through the military complex to look like a tract of homes. Westminster Blvd is a continuous road from 2nd Street in our second favorite cruising area, Belmont Shore, Naples, and the LB Peninsula.

The street was from Seal Beach Blvd in the West to the Valley View St. that turns into Bolsa Chica Rd. to the East. It was almost a 2.25 mile straight and empty road in our time there. But, the actual racing was done about a half mile in from both ends to keep the gatherings, low key. There was still plenty of room, 1 plus miles of racing and shut down before getting close to civilization.

Facing Belmont Shore 2nd Street toward the West, opposite of the above photo.

Jnaki

The feeling one gets when both cars line up at the starting areas brings it all back home. But, we were very cautious in the time and location of this place. There was nowhere to go if a big time raid was happening, except to drive to the other end of the highway. But, then, it never happened to us, but both ends could be blocked by the two cities’ police departments…boy, that would have been terrible.

These days, during the day and night, the road is a parallel road for local drivers to get to and from work, without having to use the busy 405 freeway. It is quite busy during normal hours.

P.S.
In the latest Season 2 EP 2 adventures of “Christina on the Coast” (recent husband, Ant Amstead/ master car craftsman) she is remodeling a home near the above street. She actually is filmed, driving on the same street from what was once the crossing intersection of Valley View St. from North OC, but now is named Bolsa Chica Rd. (just not in a hot rod, but something else.) The starting line was a ½ mile in toward Belmont Shore to the West, to stay away from prying eyes.

UPDATE: Season 2 EP 3 Also shows a smooth drive on the same Westminster Boulevard going West. Either the current episode project was near the intersection or it was a good looking driving road with little traffic and a less distracting background. The production companies do show various cuts to amplify the cool OC coastal cities' amenities.

 

We were only running 110 to 115 mph back in the day, today if you get caught going over 100 they take you to the Psych ward. Apparently you have a death wish.

 

Hello,

We were always searching for the most deserted places with the least amount of bother to other people. Of all the times at the various places, we were as safe, as if we were at a certified quarter mile dragstrip. No one to bother, no destruction of public property, plenty of time and space to slow down safely with wide lanes for each car. Plus, no one was going over 100 mph in the quarter mile measurement.

In Bixby Knolls, there were u-turn places after the slow down, to return to the starting line for a second run if no one complained. On Westminster Blvd, the entrance to the military gate had a stop light a mile away for a legal U-turn to return to the original East to West heading, start line.


At the real dragstrips, our Impala was going through the quarter mile timing lights with the speedometer pegged past 120 mph. No way we were going that fast. Spinning tires and whatever else made the speedometer pegging the views. At best, the Impala was clocked at 98.6 mph in the quarter with the speedometer needle past the 120 mph mark.


Jnaki

In all of the years doing the weekend races, no one got hurt and there were a few “getaways”, too. Our friends were safe, nothing big time broke and we are all much older with plenty of memories of those carefree teenage days in high school. That whole drive-in parking lot was not just a place to park and gab/banter. It was the teenage friendships/local groups that were protected and helped by the others hanging around. A true camaraderie if there ever was one setting.

 

On the "The 4 mile road" we had a 3/4 mile stretch with only one house that was up a long lane that marked the start - finish line of our 1/4 mile drag strip we would race east turn around and race west back towards town . It was just one mile from the high school so lunch break races were common.

 

We used to race there. We had a 1969 Vette, white with blue stripes and shark gills. Looked a lot like a Yenko car. There was a Vega, Fast Grass 2 that could have passed as a Grumpy Jenkins "Grumpy's Toy" clone. I think Gene Cooper Speed Shop had something to do with it. Another was Stone pony, a Mustang that had painted on the rear "You pay, We'll Play". I think Norris Ford sponsored it. Then there was Hillbilly in his Chevelle. The GTO with a blown big block Chevy engine in it. We used to race on the unfinished end of 695. The police turned a blind eye to us most off the time if we kept the racing to there It was a road to no where with no ramps or exits to allow traffic on as a hazard. If anyone has any pictures of Fast Grass 2 I would like to see them as I am trying to build a model from memory. At 69 years young that gets a bit foggy.

 

A little stretch of Fm831, about a mile outside of the town we lived in. It was a few miles of good straight road, and We didn’t have a local cop... I still use it for “testing” purposes from time to time. Most of our old junk was lucky to hit 100 lol, the record was 130 by yours truly.

Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Shitty picture but you get the idea.



Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

An easy one for us was to head to Kurnell , it’s Australia’s “Plymouth Rock” except instead of making it a national monument , the Aussie government made it an oil refinery,,, easy pickings for cash races as shire boys surfed more than raced, you had to get in and out quick though, not for cops but once you beat em they’d rain rocks all over your car,,,,lucky I never liked v8s or shiny paint, it was easy to sucker punch a shire boy with mum and dadsV8 in a hot 6 cylinder 52 Holden Ute,,, they rarely came across the bridge to challenge us,,, all the wog boys had the big HP cars in the 80s in Bankstown ,, so as Aussies we had to run old looking 6 cylinder sleepers,, old fast, light and cheap,,,

 

......

 

Bowling Green,ky.
Neal Howell rd. This was in the 80s. It's a subdivision now.

 

All over the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix Arizona in the '60's....Central Avenue was just like you saw in
American Graffiti...won lots of races, had one serious clutch explosion. Fortunately, no one ever got
hurt. Not the same luck with some of my motors. Picture of me and my good friend in his new
1968 Z28 with real, polished Halibrands.

 

rankin road in houston texas, fm1314 porter texas and fm1485 new caney texas. sorry no good stories or pics.

 

How about the Lebanon loop. That place was like American Graffiti. Red light to red light. Or out on 422 outside the city. The one ways and 2 lanes made it easy. Car Village to sell High Performance cars to 18 yr. old wanna be's.

 

Just went and checked Google maps to find evidence that where I used to race is still being used... But, I already knew that too.

 

My oldest Brother was stationed at Miramar Naval Base in San Diego in the late 50's-early 60's. He came home with some stories about Hourglass Field, an auxiliary landing field, near the base. It's now a community park.

 

When I was 18 years old in 1985, in Wichita Ks I was going to college. My uncle Roger had built a 1969 Mach 1 Mustang that had a Ford 427 side oiler engine in it. I bought that thing from him and then proceeded to street race out on West Street and some on K42 in Wichita. A standard weekend night meant buying a 6 pack of the cheapest beer I could find and putting 10 dollars of gas in that thing(had no spending money) I would head down to the car wash on south Seneca. That is were the street racers would find a race. Driving a Ford I was definitely in the minority. I can remember leaving from the car wash with a whole line of cars, some racers some spectators to head out to west street. One night my wife and I managed to get the old Mach 1 backwards at 70 MPH going down the Canal Route trying to weave in and out of traffic racing. Really stupid stuff that we should not have lived though. I feel doubly ashamed that I could have killed her. Kids are stupid. I used to take that Mach 1 up to 100 MPH just going to WSU every morning on 135 north between 13th and the 21st street exit cause there was no place for the cops to set and catch me. Kids are stupid. I sold that car after my daughter was born. Always wondered what happened to it. Doubt I will ever own another 427 Ford. Did I mention kids are stupid?

 

Yea. I spent a lot of time on the Lebanon circuit. Lots of racing. I bought my 69 Nova I had in high school from Car Village.

 

I 95 was under construction in Boca Raton . Every sat night , hundreds of kids , dozens of cars and great memories. I had / have a 1923 T bucket with a crate 350 LT-1 , holley 950 3 barrel , yes 3 barrel , tarantula intake ,turbo 400 . 1400 lbs , 3000 rpm , neutral drop and go .
Best track time was 10.86 , no roll bar or safety equipment, last run till I passed tech
1973 1974 .
Car now has a 283 , solid 30-30 cam and a lucky old man driving appropriately!

 

Monmouth St ., in Newport , Ky . At that time Newport was the Sin City . You wanted it , it was there for the taking . Monmouth St , continues south , and changes names to Alexandria Pk . . Alexandria Pk , is where the famous Beverly Hills Night Club once stood . This is the site , where the largest night club deadly fire occurred . I watched , this event on 17th birthday . So sad , 165 people died because of locked exit doors . I suspect a mob , involved fire also .

 

Route 7 south out of Grayson Ky, towards Grayson lake state park. Area called Buck's straight stretch, the road went through the middle of old man Buck's farm. We raced from his mailbox to the bridge. Man those were the best days back then. Cops would come out and watch.

 

We were pretty nuts when I think about it now, 45 years later. Ran down this one a few times racing Mopar guys. Broke the Z bar in the Ford and quit because it was starting to eat into what little money I had. Thank goodness.


Later found a nice long stretch that ran through a wooded area outside of town, still racing Mopar guys.

Joe

 

Forest Lane in Dallas. Had a 10 second balls out 2200 pound 65 Nova that was NOT the fastest car there. Cops were ignored so city came up with having water trucks keep the street wet---killed anything with slicks.