Attn. DRAG RACERS: When was your first time and do you still do it?

Any one going to Beaver springs this year?

 

63 now and started in 1965 at Irwindale. First car was a stock 53 Hardtop Chevy with a 6 cylinder and powerglide. It was so slow the Chevelle I raced was turning off the track when I got to the 60 ft mark. Still play once in a while with an off topic El Camino ( You got me tossed for posting it on the Hamb) My reactions stinks., either .490's red or a.590-.620 green. Gotta blame the car because I am consitently early or late. LOL. For some reason once you start playing with this stuff it's hard to get out of your system. Supposed to be going to Vegas this week end to test a off topic 54 Vette (Pro Mod)

 

I am 68 I was 17 my first trip down the strip was at Dover NY.Car was a 40 ford gasser with a 389 pontiac,tri power ,olds rear.Think it ran 14s. Had not raced for years, then I built a gasser ,now I go to the outlaw drags once a month .My reaction times suck most times ,but the car launchs hard and I love it.

 

For those of you who don't know this is Fred Bear of the S&S Race Team and you had better believe he's still got it.
Gasser Girl

 

first time at the track 1999 I ran a 71' chevelle malibu (I sucked at cuttin a light) I dont even remember what the R.T. was... but it had a worn out 350/350 turbo trans and a single trac rear 9.36 ET @ 82mph the car didnt stay that way long at all I guess I was about the age of 23 then I'm still doing it now at 35 although last year I only had the wagon out to the track once and brutally tore the drive shaft out the car prolly only went twenty feet...so I still suck! Lol! And my cuttin lights are still horrible!

 

My first real pass.........my 60th birthday present from my wife

 

Spring of 1961 @ Island Dragway in Great Meadows, NJ in a stock 1959 Chevy with a sorry 6 cylinder.

 

1963 at Caddo Mills, Texas in a 1962 Pontiac. I was 14 at the time. Flagman starter. Ran four cars at a time. Changed my life forever.

 

First street race ( marked 3/10) was a '55 Ford ranch wagon.

First time on the strip '55 Ford Victoria.

Both would have been in around '69, street race Forest Grove, Oregon, drag strip Portland, Oregon.

3 on the tree then 3 on the floor. I don't remember my reaction time, low 13s until I finally got dialed in then it was a 12 second car.

I still race when I get the chance, the last few years have been just tuning, a lot of my life has been spent tuning someone else's car.

Only bikes I have ever really raced were flat trackers, Nortons (mostly) and a Harley. Nope don't do that any more, old(er) and flat track in the same sentence = oxy-moron.

 

How old (young) are you and in what year did you make your first pass down a dragstrip?
58 and first time on a strip, which was actually a runway, was 2006

What was the first car or bike you ran?
1980 camaro with 455 olds and stock tires. Just left it in drive, floored it and hung on for the ride cause we sure weren't going straight with that combo!

Do you still race?
Yes

If so, what's your reaction time?
.150 give or take

What transmission (stick, automatic, type)?
4 speed auto 200-4R

Do you use any launch device (tranny brake, 2 step, etc.)
Nope

 

Wouldn't you have had to make some slower passes to get past licensing?

Funny (no pun intended) most people don't walk in from ther street and step into a funny car.

I would be way more embarrassed about my reaction times than I am about my ETs. I am just not a driver.

Last vehicle I raced was this 4,000 lb brick low 13s on street tires and my reaction times were in the .006-.008 neighborhood. I was leaving on the first light.

13s is embarrassing enough, but to cut a .006 light is just about as bad as it gets.

I really don't remember what my reaction times from 40 years ago are.

I have never used an electrinic box or any type of helper or holder to get me off the line. I do race automatics any more though.

 

First drag race was in april of 1962 at Aquasco speedway in southern md. I was 18 yrs old. Had a 61 chevy with a 348 3 spd on floor Hurst shifter and ran E/Stock. I'm now 70 and have downsized to a 56 Chevy 210 post that has a Inline 6 that would run H/Gas back in the day. Still run in Nostaliga drag races and love it. I see the S&S boys several times a year.
Let the good times roll.....JT

 

would have been 89....had a 64 chevy II wagon with a goofed up 350 in it...it sputtered and coughed on its only pass that night (we thought we goofed it up and went home...) still race , didn't get to as much as usually last year , but did manage to get out a dozen or so times...as far as reaction times , when i'm on , they are usually teens / twenties pretty consistently...00's happen , but usually you'll follow those up with -.90's I run my model a in footbrake and nobox....no reaction enhancers on board..

 

It's because his Dad Dale ran funny car for years, He had the Good Vibrations Vega Funny Car before the Trans Am.
I got the Vega from him right after he bought the Trans Am. Dale was a good guy.

Not everyone started out with a slower car.
I had my first Dragster when I was 16.

Dale ran in a Funny Car Curcuit, doing match races and doing several multi car shows at tracks around the midwest, It wasn't as hard to get a license back then as it is today, if you could show other licensed drivers that you could drive the car safely the other drivers and track manager could sign you off.

 

48 club cpe,50or51 Santa Anna stick,flathead.

 

Well that explains it. Thanks

I have never owned a fast car, 11s are about as fast as any of my cars have ever run. I did drive a 9 second J the sumer that I was 17. It didn't make a 9 second pass with my ass in the seat. But it was a genuine 9 second car and it was a blast to try and keep on the track.

I just had to face up to the fact that I am better with a wrench in my hand than a steering wheel I guess.

I figured that a lot more fellas would be on here bragging, we have a lot of guys with high dollar door slammers on the board.

 

True!

Where are all those Gasser guys? I know that some of them actually race.

As far as bragging goes, well they know they can't do too much of that on this thread. As I mentioned in my original post, there are people that may have seen them run so B.S.'ing probably wouldn't fly.

Another group that hasn't been heard from yet are the 409 guys. I know that there's a large number of those guy that race, I also know that most of them are stick cars too.

 

car 315, I need to buy one of those practice tree thingies

 

Actually that does not explain it Dale Buckman is the guy I purchased the car from, his son Steve did drive it one time when he owned it. Just to let you know Dale’s son Steve was severely injured in a motor-cross race the year after we got the car, please keep him in your prayers as he never fully recovered from it.

I purchased the car ready to run in 1991 and picked it up from Dale, Feb. of 1992. The 14.31 second was my first pass and the only time I was ever at the dragstrip before that was to watch. My home track was KilKare, Dale and his son ran at Quaker City. I always loved watching the funnys and wanted to drive one, so instead of a street car, I got the funny. Actually because of getting the funny I ended up with a business building drag cars and hot rods.

If you would have been at the track the very first time I got in it you would have seen how scared I really was. It took a while to get to the numbers the car ran later, the fastest time of 6.73 is actually faster then the fastest time Dale ever ran it.

I did not build that car but did build several more for other people, at my race car shop, “The Race Car Trauma Center” but never got around to replacing that one.

About licensing, it was in 1992 and actually I did have to have professional drivers sign off on my license, Pat Dakin (Top Fuel), Steve Schmidt (Pro Stock) and Ray Franks (Pro Stock). My license passes were at Indy, you don’t just walk in at Indy and expect to drive a car like this without going through the complete licensing requirements.

I hope this explains it better.

 

My first pass was at Byron Dragway Byron Ill. I was 21 and that was in 1995.
The car was a 1965 Buick Skylark that went a best of 12.53 @ 108
( I know you didn't ask for an e.t., but your getting it anyway)
Yes I still race, but like when I started it was just for fun no class racing.
Reaction times I would bet go from bad to terrible, but I don't keep track.
I have always ran foot braked automatics, but the new car I'm building is a stick and I'm sure I will be inconsistent as I've never ran a stick at the strip.



www.meltdowndrags.com

 

I am understanding better than before I think. I can't imagine a liscensed driver signing off on someone that they had not seen drive but it is really none of my affair.

Yes strapping into a rocket would be a scary thing and there is a very large learning curve, the more zot the bigger the curve.

 

Division 3 allowed me to get use to driving the car at KilKare as long as it was not quicker then 10.00, I did about 15 passes there. I went to Indy for a better / longer track for my license passes, and the drivers were there watching.

Believe me I know what you are saying, I know a friend who made his passes in a TA/FC and then sent the form to the drivers to sign it. I would never sign a application without seeing the driver drive.

 

Yep putting some in a funny without knowing their abilities ranks right up there with giving a loaded pistol to a manic depressive.

 

I was 16, ran my 1971 Duster down Spencer Speedway. It was 1993. I do still race, but it's evolved quite a bit. I started at 16 in the street class, ran that for a couple years. The winnings from that car funded my next car, a Camaro. Ran that in the street class while we put together a 72 Chevelle. It was street driven but I ran Super Pro in it for years. I'd drive in, open the exhaust, raise the idle, bolt on a set of slicks, and plug in the 2 step and delay box. Kicked ass in that car for years, now I'm running a 8.00 rear engine dragster. The Chevelle is still in the shop. I've ran chassis cars, different dragsters, different super pro cars. Won a bunch of money over the years, lost a bunch too. My lights are consistent 5.0's to 5 teens. I do run a trans brake, air shifter, delay box, launch control, etc. It's injected on meth and runs very consistent. It's a family affair for use, my dad runs a dragster and a chassis door slammer, brother runs a dragster, uncle runs a 63 Nova and occasionally runs with the gasser gang. My other uncle runs a 71 Monte Carlo foot brake car. We run Empire, Lancaster, Esta, etc. No more Spencer though, place is a dump.

 

I'm 54 years old now, my first pass down a dragstrip was in 1977 when I was 19 years old in a 1970 Plymouth GTX with a 440 6-pak and a 4-speed. I last race regularly in 1997. I ran my truck in my avatar in 2011 at the H.A.M.B. drags and at Salina the past two years.My best reaction time from back in the '80's was a .005. I'm currently building a front engine dragster with two friends to run at nostalgia races. I ran a trans brake for a year or so in the late '80's in a dragster, the new dragster won't have one.

 

Havent run at the track for about ten years, but I still regularly work out on a practice tree to TRY to stay sharp. Boring as hell. I use the practice tree to try to stay consistant, I really strive to maintain a .010 spread on the practice tree, thats the entire focus of my practice sessions. I try to pick a spot to "react" to, if I am anticipating, my consistancy goes to hell in a hand basket real fast. I rely on the position of the car in the beams to tweak the actual number. When I am actively racing (like ten years ago) I try to get as many time trails as I can, stage as shallow as I can, then "bump" the car on successive passes till I go red. Our track has a friday night street racer program that usually gives you LOTS of hits, so I will go out on Friday night if I am planning to race on sunday, and get a handle on where I need to be. I used to regulary go to a parking lot with a piece of chalk and practice "bumping" the car till I could consistantly move it an 1" at a time. That is how I have approached it anyway. I'm not one of those guys that is just naturally talented, so I just try to control the variables as much as possible. I'm sure that when I go back again after a ten year lay-off, it'll take a while...

Oh, and two-steps ect? The next car I will be running at the track is traction limited, I'm setting the car up to footbrake off a two-step. Its integral to making the combo work the way I expect it to.

 

Forgot the questions

1st time at darg stip 1967
car: new 67 Pontiac Sprint
trans: 4 speed
reaction time: ?
heads up class race. I won even
raced the coupe off & till I was 61 ish
Have health issues at this time but if resolved love to do the nostaglia race'n

 

first pass 1973, 17 year old. 69 Mustang Mach I, 351 stick, they put me in N stock I think, I sucked. 10 years later I raced more regular in a 37 Chevy coupe with a 396/auto, had decent results since I could get good reaction times in that car, usally 04 to 08 usally foot braking. Quit when the electronics came into play. Haven't raced for years other then an ocasional pass in someone else car but plan to change that soon, will NEVER go to electronics so I'll be wherever they arn't allowed.

 

Wow a lot of diversity here. There's everything from Funny Car drivers to stockers and odd balls like a '40 Ford with a Pontiac engine to a Camaro with an Olds engine to a 6 cylinder Pontiac Sprint. Unlike today where everyone runs Ford and Chevy V8's in the usual cars, there really was a great mix back then. Hell there's even some MoPars and AMC's!

And so far it looks like the older crowd could definitely teach the young bucks a thing or two about cutting a light.

But I still don't see many past or present Gasser guys and NONE of the 409 crowd. What's up with that? You guys that embarrassed??? Or is it, talk is cheap on a keyboard!?!?

 

I first ran in 1968 with mt '67 Corvette Coupe. Stop going to drags when racers began applying brakes before end of 1/4 mile.