Mark: I was just in Stamford last Friday at exit 9 and I was remembering those day's. I made the mistake of getting on I-95 at West Ave. around 2M to find bumper to bumper traffic all the way to exit 9 Hard to believe traffic was that bad but it's been 26 years since I moved south. Jim
People can't believe we would actually stop and have a flag man to race on I95. Back then after 6m there was nobody on the road. The good old days!
On the subject of drag racing but a current event that so far doesn't seem to be generating much interest here for some reason that I don't quite understand. Events like this could start a whole new revival of interest in racing. I have high hopes it'll be a resounding success. I feel we need to reverse some of this old grouchy people that have their nose in everybody's business running out fun places because they don't like the noise. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...race-run-what-you-brung-sept-16-2017.1070150/
Mark: Remember racing in from of King's Department store in the south end around midnight? Sometimes there were a few hundred people watching and drag cars coming in on trailers racing for money. Jimbo
BEELINE DRAGAY tower was just removed about 2 years ago. SPEEDWORLD is still standing. I miss both of those tracks. My first drag race was at BEELINE. I still have the BEELINE DR PEPPER SIGN, in my shop. I did post in other threads. VERY COOL THREAD.
Holy Cow that looks like Southfield Village in the backround!!! I lived there from 1957 until around 1960 before we moved to Waterside. Jimbo All of you Stamford guys should remember this great old speed shop. Performance Automotive was owned by Dick Moroso before the day's of Moroso Performance back around 1965 It was just Dick and Mike in the shop and a few years later he moved to the York, Pa. area to work for Jere Stahl of Stahl Headers
yep, south field village. taken from the end Victory st. Bonjourno's [?] market was to the right if i remember. i used to work on Brownstone.
Those pics were taken 5-6yrs ago and I haven't been back over there but I would imagine it is still there. If you didn't know where it was you would drive past it in a blink, I actually did when I went searching lol. I have no clue who owns the property but I have friends that raced there in the seventies.
Well after a few minutes of searching for it on Google earth it appears that it is no longer there. So I googled Texarkana Speedbowl and found that the sign has been relocated. https://www.flickr.com/photos/100483258@N08/17042196620/in/photostream/
The first store George Bonjourno had was to the left of the building in the picture and was much smaller is size. I used to ride my bike to his store with empty soda bottles to get a few cents to buy candy with. Years later he purchased the property to the right of the building for his much larger store that he had for many years. Where did you live at the time the picture was taken? Jimbo
Drag racing signs are hot right now. my avatar is the right finish line DR PEPPER SIGN. I was offered a ton of money for the sign. I restored it and put back lighting on it. Ill send pics of it. If you google DR PEPPER BEELINE DRAGWAY SIGN. It will come up. some also put it on the HAMB under Tucson dragway reunion. Keep in touch. good to chat with you.
I think you are right old signs are a Hot item for collectors along with old oil cans and many other automobile related items. I also find the market for European high end cars is sky high right now while the market for other types of old cars and hot rods is not very hot at all! Jimbo
Riverside International https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_International_Raceway Land is now a shopping center.
Not an official track so to speak but its been used alot by those who know about it over the years. From large groups doing racing down either the kilometer or half kilometer long gravel straight or just racing the whole track. Out of sight from the authorities it was a great place to test and race. Open to the public but hidden away it is based around an irrigation pond and surrounded by trees on the lower half and embankment with lime stone boulders separating us from the river on the top half. Featuring two long straights with the longer one being about half a mile long. four single lane bridges with the top right and lower left being particularly narrow and having hard corners on either side. The top bridge also had heavy metal sluice gates. A ford that was normally ankle deep but could swell up with a decent current was to one side. Multiple hard corners along with some nice sweeping ones added to the fun. Optional paths through the trees at one side or loops near the top straight added that lil bit more of a challenge. Anyways found it on Google Maps with a few pics. Top straights: Bottom half: Add in camping spots, a pond to fish, boat or swim in and no one knowing about it… good times when you are young and out for a good time with no body to say no. The local farmers all thought it was most amusing and would come and watch or race. The times the cars went for a dip they happily would pull em out for a 6pack. This didnt happen much though as it was not that slippery a dirt track. This meant we moved from our Valiants, Fords and Holdens racing to cheap trashy jap cars for the full track often. i still try to go there every time im in that part of the country. Pic below up near sluice gates. Whilst mine is not traditional or sanctioned I guess I’m sure many of you had similar stories of drag strips and other tracks where you first put the peddle to the metal/ balls to the wall in traditional rides with or with not track rules.
The track in Byron Ga. has been getting some attention from the legends car folks recently. I think it's David Ragans father, Ken who is heading it up.
I don't know how to show a picture from Google Earth but at the North East corner of M-15 and Hill road near Goodrich, Michigan, there is a definite abandoned race track. I haven't found anyone who knows anything about it. There were some references to Flint Speedway in some old racing programs but no location given. I don't think it was a horse track, as it appears to be banked. I'm guessing it is more than a half mile. Anyone help here?
^^^ Here's a Google Earth shot. Maybe stop in and ask the folks that run the farm. They've cultivated the infield but not the track, so it must be banked as you mentioned. Definately a galvanized guard rail so likely it was a car track rather than horse track. Sure would be fun to have that track on your property to mess around on!
The Jalopy Journal
