When was your first time at a dragstrip?

San Gabriel in 62 just before it closed (I was 6)
Then Irwindale in 65 when it opened
First drove at Irwindale in 71 when I was 15 (no one thought to ask if i had a drivers license) Ran a high 13 in a friends 55 Chevy

 

Hot Rod Reunion 5 years ago.

 

1963 at Forest Hill Dragstrip in Texas. Took my old 55 Chevy out & turned 18 flat

 

Since I started this thread I guess its my turn.

My first time attending a dragstrip was at Cedar Creek Dragstrip, south of Louisville KY in 1960. I was 12 years old. My boy scout troop was on a camping trip at our scoutmaster’s farm. On Sunday morning we could hear the distant roar of engines. We talked our scoutmaster into letting us hike down to the dragstrip after we put away the camping gear. A friend and I were first to leave. As soon as we got out of sight we decided to stick out our thumbs. We caught a ride with a guy and his girlfriend in a ’58 Chevy conv who happened to be headed for the dragstrip. I had seen drag racing covered in car magazines but this was live action. Even though it was just a local outlaw track, the sound of the engines had me hooked. After I got my license I raced there and at several other tracks.

In 1969 I got a job there teching Stock and S/S cars. The next year I went to work at the local NHRA track. In 1973 I was invited to work the Summernationals at Englishtown NJ and have worked for NHRA since. This is my 41<SUP>st</SUP> year teching Stock and S/S racecars and I&#8217;ve loved every minute of it.

 

1970 I was 13... Green Valley Raceway

 

6 years old.....1969, at the Oswego IL 1/4 mile drag strip. My older brother was going to the track and racing his 1956 Bel Air. That was 1965 and I would always ask if I could go with him. He left for Viet Nam later that year and he promised me that he would take me to the track when he got back. He made good on his promisewhen he got home; we went to the track in 1969 in his '68 Chevelle SS.

 

1960, 13 yrs. old, Green Valley raceway AHRA Nationals and was hooked on dragsters from that day on. Built my first of many dragsters and floppers before the decade was over. I continued racing through the 70's and finally hung it up in the late 80's. Somehow, the back motor diggers just never gave me the same thrill as the old FED's.

408 AA/D

 

I grew up just 4½ miles from Fremont Raceway ... kinda remember going with my dad to the drags in late 1966 (when I was just 5) ... but have vivid & fond memories of going to the dragstrip in '67 and '68 (checkout my Davis ~ Ingram Jewel "T" AA / Altered ... Lotsa Pics!!! thread).

 

1972. I was 11 years old. My uncle promised to take me to New England Dragway if I raked the leaves in his yard. It was just a test and tune day but man, there was no place in the world that I would have rather been. I remember the corvettes of Dick Clark and Al Winsor running in the 9's, Junior's Auto Racing corvette, Vic Santos and Bob Broadbent's tri-5 cars and a straight axle, stack injected Chevy II called "Deuces Wild". Just before we were about to leave for the day, this car was push started from the finish line towards the starting line. When it fired I was in awe. It was a Top fuel dragster called the "Freedom Machine". I've been hooked since.

 

San Fernando, 1965.

 

King Kong was the Kohler Bros A/GS. This car has been restored and is in Lockport NY.

Mark

 

Minnesota Dragways in 64 or 65. Tom Hoover was there running his fuel dragster and Lutz and Lundberg put on quite a show with their A/G Anglia.

 

Correction, the "camera" incident was at the '79 Nationals. The same event where the T/F bike lost it's front wheel in the traps and the rider was killed.

 

i was around 18 and ruapuna, new zealand was my first meet. back then, you could stand next to the start line with cars no more than 4 or 5 feet away. the noise and smell is something ill never forget. now days you cant get that close but its still one of my fav places. willowbank raceway in australia is another one of my favs as well.

 

REALLY? That's so cool! There was also another one called "Goldfinger".

 

Jeez, Gas Ronda, Hayden Proffitt, Sox & Martin, Arnie Beswick, Dandy Dick Landy, Big John Mazmanian vs. Stone, Woods and Cook, Johnny Loper's "Lil' Hoss" Anglia, TV Tommy Ivo, and tons of others.......
the Carlsbad memories are, unfortunately, just that now, memories.

 

Probably about 15 or 16. 1962 or so. I do remember they had a flag man to start the races. Island Dragway, NJ

 

Loved them then and still dreaming about them today. It's was Lions or Pomona for me back in the mid 60's.
Loved those Anglia's

 

1953 santa ana calif my birthday gift from my father. talker

 

1955, I was 14 years old and had taken a train from my home in Lebanon MO to my Uncle's in Ft. Worth TX. We went to Caddo Mills (I think) and it was the first time I had ever seen a drag strip. The baddest street car, like would have been A Stock, or Super Stock, was a '55 Buick Century. Don't remember the gassers, just the Buick mostly because my Uncle had a '55 Buick Super.

 

First visit to a dragstrip was around 1975 or so. Bandemere, in Morrison, CO

First run down the track was at Mesa Dragstrip in Grand Junction, CO. It was in a 1972 Datsun 510 sedan - don't laugh, I won the trophy and the $$$ that day! - in 1977, with a whopping 22.21 ET @ 67 mph. Bracket raced everything that day, it seemed! My brother had his '68 Barracuda Formula S 340 4-speed car there, and my bro-in-law had his '69 Dart Swinger 340 there that day. They took second and third, from a field that started out with over 120 cars.

 

In 1972 I was 8 and we happened to live right next door to Bob Ladford,the pace car driver for the Charlotte Motor Speedway. He drove the pace car home every day and had a daughter who was my age. I went to a lot of races, stock car qualifing, motorcycle stunt shows, motorcross racing and what I remember the most was DRAG RACING! I remember looking in the slingshot cars in the pits and seeing how the driver was crammed in there with his behind right on the pumpkin! Today I found some pix of Petty and others at speed on the track. Too bad it was after the winged cars were banned. The whole thing, along with the 70's angel hair car shows at the Charlotte Colosseum ruined me for life!! My own son is 7 and he's well on his way now. We're going to 'flake paint his mini bike this winter.

 

i dont remember as i was still crapping my pants in 1960 or so , and in about 30 years from now i will more than likely re-visit that situation!

 

1963-64 Connecticut Dragway

 

about when I was 10 so three- four years ago

 

North Hudson Dragway,about 3 miles from my house.My Dad took me there when I was 8 or 9. For a small town local track,it was a pretty going place.One guy in our town (pop. 276) had a '65 B/FX Comet Cyclone. My buddies and I would pass out time slips to the drivers coming up the return road. The strip closed in 1969 when I was 12 years old.

 

kool story... sucks about the strip closing though...

 

Damn it! There goes my mind...Must be right,I remember the bike run too and how strangely quiet it was right after that accident.Sorry for the
confusion its already all starting to run together...Arrgghh! I haven't been
back to Indy since the early 80's.

 

Green valley ft worth 1977 won first time out .
The car was a 383 68 road runner 4 speed .
13.52 still have my time slips .
I was 18.

 

Life always gives us something to look forward to...