Icky had several sidekicks. Two were Delphinium and Ajax, a third was named after a town in a neighboring state. Any guesses out there?
If you were a kid that couldn't drive yet it was really a challenge. I managed to talk my classmate 'Sniff' into a couple of trips out there on his Vespa(!). Man, the grasshoppers hittin' us felt like somebody was chunking rocks at us and that was at 40. We'd go west on Royal Ln through Field City and take the backroads out to near Grapevine-it was pretty much ALL backroads in those days. The trips to Caddo Mills felt even longer. That was the first place I remember seeing Thunderbolts and hemi-Plymouths. Good fuel car action too. It may have been a points race-just don't remember. Got caught in a hail storm coming back on one trip-I think 'Sniff' gave up on drag racing after that! After I got my license, racing trips were a breeze and with my jobs I earned enough to fly to some of the races. At least I avoided the grasshoppers. Memorable times indeed! Chuck
Very cool thread. My parents lived in Dallas (Oak Cliff) after they were married in '47-'48 (Dad was from Copperas Cove/Gatesville, Mom from south of KC). My aunt and uncle (who was a truck driver for Yellow Freight) lived on Sunnybrook Drive in Irving and in the '50s and '60s we would take our summer vacations down there (and then on down into the Hill Country for Dad's side of the family). They would take us to a burger joint close to their home, but I don't remember anything about it other than that it was really good (comparable to the Mug's Up joints here in KC, which means it was REALLY good!). I was the only gear-head in the family and when you're ten years old you don't get a vote on where to go for entertainment. I'm "in between careers" right now and investigating job opportunities in Dallas (Business Analyst); I hope to have some options in place fairly soon.
Glad to see this thread back up again! Good job Bobby! I'm going to try to contribute a little bit here to give the youngsters a little bit of flavor of drag racing in North Texas in the early 60's. Here's a true story that I lived at Green Valley Raceway : Back in 1965 I was running a Chassis Research dragster with a small block Chevy engine. Mostly I ran at Green Valley Raceway between Dallas and Ft. Worth Texas. My favorite time to run was at night because during the day we had to sit in our car, fully suited up in fire suit,fire mask and gloves,strapped in and waiting in the push start lane for our turn. Had to stay in the car. Many Sunday afternoons in Texas it was so hot sitting there that I didn't care where I won or lost. I just wanted to make my run and get out of the suit before I passed out in the heat! There was an additional sensory payoff for running at night. After a few seconds of violent noise and acceleration, after passing through the timing lights at the finish line when I flipped the magneto cutoff switch on the side of my bowtie steering wheel to "off", about 1 foot long blue and yellow flames would issue forth up from the zoomie headers and all went silent except for the sound of the slicks on both sides of me whirring on the asphalt as I cruised up the shutoff hill with my right hand pulling the brake handle and my left hand on the bowtie wheel in the cool night air. This was the anti-climax to the preceding violence and was always a refreshing and relaxing rush. Green Valley Raceway began leasing the track to the SCCA for sports car racing after some time to generate additional cash flow for the owner. The sports car circuit had the cars coming onto the main track from a loop in the pit area that had them making a hard 90 degree turn onto the main track right at the drag strip finish line area. After about a year the sports cars had began to make a small roll in the pavement in the finish line lights. This became a recipe for some unexpected excitement! Not much of an issue for the "door slammers" and the gassers but a different story for solid mounted rear end cars! One night while making an otherwise uneventful pass, as I passed through the finish line lights, I hit that rolled up bump and, my fire mask dropped about an inch which put the forehead covering part right over my eyes! In those days my fire mask (which was a legal one)was not a full head cover like today but only a chin to hairline leather shield with captive goggles and an elastic strap around the back of my head. Well there I went, shooting up the shutoff hill with both hands occupied and no forward vision!! Fortunately I had made this run enough times to pretty much guess where I was and how much room was left to get it stopped. I think I pumped the brake handle harder that night than ever before! I knew the car had enough front wheel caster that it would run pretty straight when I finally let go of the bowtie to flip my mask up! That was a different kind of rush that night with a pounding heart!! Mickey Davison
Someone asked for pic's of Keller's... One of the last places in the world where you can still get a carhop to bring you a burger and a beer on a tray to your car! This is the Northwest Highway location in Dallas.
^^^^We always stopped here to load up the cooler with beer on our way to Dallas International. Always a hassle getting the digger through the parking lot.
Thanks for the pics of Keller's. We are lucky to have that place. Memories always include the tater tots. Any pics of cars at Keller's?
I agree. My problem is , I lived over in Arlington and Downtown Ft Worth . I got some old film I need to get printed of places in the area . You look on Google maps now , everything has been replaced by new stuff. I'll see what I can scrounge up ........ scrubba
^^I work in that area, nothing is even close to the same as it was last year! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I try to stay away from my old neighborhood...Jupiter/Northwest hwy. It's a little sketchy these days...
Anybody remember Prince and Charco's on Garland Rd.? This was the favorite teen age hangout in the early 60's. This was a good place to pick up a drag racing match, which would end up at "3M" (a street in an industrial district) about 5 miles east on Santa Anna St. by the 3M Company.
^^^^Kenny Minor and I used to cruise Charco's. We would drive into one,and cruise right through into the other. Charco's and Prince were next door to each other. Go screaming south to Lakeland, and the DQ at Lakeland and Ferguson. I lived about a mile from 3M, and I could hear the "activities" at night. I was blessed, my late wife went to Lake Highlands, and my Tempest, with the Bryan Adams decal in the back window, was one of the few cars from south of northwest hwy. that was safe in Lake Highlands.
The place to be in Oak Cliff in the late '50s was Sivils Drive in located where Ft. Worth Ave. & Davis came together. I spent most of my high school weekend evenings there, after movies and stuff. There was room for a couple hundred cars on that semi-circle lot. Tons of cruising & street drags. I was mostly driving a black '55 Chevy and sometimes a blue '32 Ford coupe (if it was running). If you are from that period, tell us some stories. MB
There is some good stuff earlier in this thread about these popular hangouts. The Dairy Queen sign reminded me of some beautiful Lake Highlands girls who happened to be models at Neimans. Thanks for those memories. Another cruising happening was downtown during Texas/OU weekend. Seem to remember it as Pep Rally or something like that. There were some pretty bad-ass cars from Irving and I was lucky enough to be in a few of these cruising thru those giant crowds. We quit going after someone thru a king-sized mattress out of a high rise hotel. I had inquired earlier if anyone remembered a very popular burger/cruise place in SOC. It was north of a giant park and was a great place to come up with a race. We surprised a few people with a 52 Pontiac hiding a real Mickey Thompson thumper. At speed the scoop would pull the back of the hood up. HAMB friendly for sure.
north of Keist park - you could drive around it - or park....was a Griff's burgers at Hampton and Illionois....Jack N Box came later....one place to race from there was by Mountain Veiw College....they raced from the entry as it was a dead end street at the time....also Westmoreland - south of Loop 12(also called Ledbetter) was also a dead end street/strip @ what is now the corner of Red Bird/Westmorland....
Keist Park, that's it Stillrunner. Thanks. Sounds like the drive-in I was asking about too, on the west side of probably Hampton. Drive around or park. Don't think it was a Griff's, food was too good. I drove my 48 coupe w/flathead there one night, maybe after running at the Circle, and pulled out the choke so it sounded like it had a hot cam. It would lope, smoke, lope, smoke. Anyone know of a black 48 Ford Super Deluxe that had a 303 Olds and hydro almost installed? One that got away.
oh....forgot about Austin's BBQ....on the corner of Hampton/Illinois....they had car hops at one time....they also the little small "juke box" in the booth....Jack-N-Box was across the street by the Polar Bear ice cream place....that parking lot would fill up late at night....
Well it's not a dinner and it's not very fancy but one of my favorite places to eat in Dallas is Kel's in north Dallas. Been there since the early 60's I am in Dallas a few times a year and you have to eat somewhere. Jimbo
Has the Market Diner (by Market Hall) ever been a hangout? Talk about good food. I remember car hops there YEARS ago.
Market Diner is still good place to eat -not sure if they close early -like after 3pm ? There was a Kel's burger on Harry Hines - north -was it ?....that was fer sure a car guy place - has since been bought out and moved down the street closer to 635....still good burgers... lwf
ok....to the little bit older guys - do you remember a club-hang out - lounge etc.....maybe called "The Ranch"...? picked up a large frame with 9 pictures in it that has Bobbie's "Scropian II ? and Bob's "Red Hoss" which was Bobbie's first car....there are two roadsters....one Bob new and the other not so sure....and a sports car that looks like a Devin body with a blower out of the hood - it's covered up so not sure.... three pics have fallen behind so I will need to get them all out....the pics supposedly hung in "The Ranch" - that's what I got at the estate sale(no other car stuff)....but Bob doesn't remember the place.... lawrence
I remember the "Cellar", downtown. I spent my last night before I was drafted there. And I worked at the "Blue Room" once in awhile. I don't remember "The Ranch". Could it have been a Ft. Worth hangout?
The "Cellar" I remembered was in downtown Ft. Worth. Spent my 18th birthday there until I was physically urged to leave.
Been 45 years Bob.....but I've never made a mistake..... The bar I went to that night was down near KLIF in downtown Dallas. I remember it was downstairs below street level. Not the first time I got my bars mixed up.....
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