Long Island drag racing in the 60's

zzz

 

nice. thanks

 

Thanks refried confusion. I lived a few miles from Islip speedway. Do you remember Bobby Zorn and his 32 coupe.

 

I raced at all 3 tracks,national was the best it had 4 lanes ,islip was 1/8 mile track,shame there all gone now

 

bobby Zorn ran a 409 in it recall,,,i met him recently

 

refried, thanks for posting. Those videos brought back lots of memories. We used to run the East Islip 1/8 mile on Friday nights and the Westhampton 1/4 mile on the weekend. I'll never forget my Grampa saying "you kids are crazy, you spend hundreds of dollars to win a 59 cent trophy". For me the early sixties on L.I. was truly the height of hot rodding. Cruising, street racing and looking for hide. It was just like American Graffiti. The young guys of today will never have the same experience as we did. To bad they missed it.

 

Cool thread

 

I think he is still doing carburetors. Do you remember the twin turbos he had on his Nova.

 

Hah! That wood crate MG TD smoked the Corvette. I had a TD and I wouldn't have gotten in if it had a SBC and suicide doors.

 

thank for posting those were good old days,blew the rear on my F/G 46 merc at Westhampton and flat towed it home to queens with a rope tied to the bumper,cant remember how many times the rope broke,gas was 25 cents a gallon then

 

don't remember the nova but have a small mag with his black 32 coupe w/409, he is 75 y/o now and has a carb shop ..

 

zzz

 

Kool old video's!

 

Names WOW. Saberstine , Chazombac, Teddy Friend, Mc Donalds in Bay Shore. I don''t know about the spelling of the names but they were the BIG Guys in my book.

 

Nice Pictures.!
brings back memerories , I seen quite a few cars that I knew
I raced mostly National with my 64 Chevelle
them were the Days
if any of you Guys remember the eleagal race track
at the Connecting Hwyg, in Queens that was the
Place to be on the Weekends
just my 3.5 cents

 

Thanks for the flicks, looks like some really fun times !!!

 

super cool thanks for the post....

 

part of my youth was growing up in Islip (Brentwood) left in '81. Where was this track? I am a bit younger to have been racing out there.

 

if I remember correctly it was off of brentwood road just north of sunrise hwy,i think there is a mall there now

 

Wow brentwood rd and Sunrise huh? Wonder if that is were South Shore mall sits.. when did the track close? I lived a stones throw from Jack n' the Box. My dad had a deli on Wicks road. Great footage!

 

If you've ever been to the Connecting Highway you would never forget it. Never saw actual drag cars street racing anywhere else. Can't tell you how many times we cruised to Cross Bay Boulevard and to the Big Bow Wow. Thats where the big dogs hung out. If that wasn't American Graffiti nothing was. Also remember cruising to Schorrs Drive Inn on Sunrise Highway and street racing on the Jones Beach Causeway. Lets keep this thread going by those who where there.

 

I remember the bow wow on crossbay blvd got a few b/s tickets there... connecting hwy was unreal guys would block traffic and race.mind you this was a major road how about the north conduit aka belt parkway service road..

 

Thanks for the footage of 60's racing showing the whites on the front as I like...............................

It seems most have forgotten.

 

eee

 

It was off Islip ave and Spur Drive south that area, Silver lake cookies took over i don't know if they are still there or not.

 

I was there from the late 60's on and it was just like Grafitti,there were plenty of places to hit Burger King on Hempstead,Burger King on231,Jack in the Box in Centereach,Mcdonalds on 110 in Huntington Mcdonalds on West Babylon,etc etc.Was a great place to be in the 50's 60' 70's and some of the 80's, but now the politicians have sucked the life out of it.

 

It was just off of Islip Ave. above Sunrise Hwy.

 

Thanks for the videos - I grew up on LI and I remember one of our HS seniors getting killed while racing one weekend. Many of the guys in my HS graduation class actually ran at some/all of the drag strips int eh late 60s.

Marty Himes acquired much of the Islip Speedway signs, lights, some of the cars when the track closed and I remember my Dad would follow the racing action in the papers. Marty was especially fond of midgets and had 2-3 of them and raced them in many NE nostalgia racing events. He actually had a "museum" of old LI racing memorabilia, cars, track bits and pieces, etc. He has sadly passed on and I'm not sure what has happened to all of the items he collected

 

I left LI in 2005 and Bob Zorn was still rebuilding carburetors of any brand but he is very good with Rochesters, one of my guys took a lot of wins with one of his 4 bbl's.

He was working out of his house in Nesconset just south of 347.

 

a50Merc
Dale Moreau here in Oregon. I lived on Long Island in the mid 60s and had a buddy in Queens with a '58 Ford. We would head for the White Castle on Queens Blvd. to see where the action was. It usually lead to the street drag strip I believe you were mentioning. I believe it was under neath another highway. I remember a guy from NJ showing up with a junk '52 Ford with a Poncho 389 try-power. Heh Heh Da Flash