Has anyone REALLY street raced? (pics)

When i was in high school there were a few of us guys that had either hopped up Cutlass',Gran Prix's,Monte Carlo's and or Buick Regals all early to mid 80's and an ocassinal camaro or firebird and a an ocassional 64 or 65 falcon or fox body mustang but we would all head out to the outside of town and get races together we would line up and run off to the marked out 1/4 mile and run til we couldnt run no more until the samething happened to me.I got setup.I had an 85 Olds Cutlass with a Big Block 425 Caddy between the fenders and 10 inch wide cragar s/s out back and a 4 inch wide on the front this was my daily driver when i was a senior in high school and at the time mostly everyon was running small blocks i wasn't the fastest by any means but i sure wasn't the slowest in the bunch I held my own and not bad for a 16 year old kid with no experience until like i said i was set up one night.I was at home when who i thought was my friend stopped by! He said someone was looking for me and that i would know where he would be.So i hopped in my car fired her up and off to the race i went.When i got there everyone was there waiting so i pull into the left lane heat up the tires and get ready to go grab the B&M shifter put her in first rolled up the windows and lined up me being a little green at things let the guy get out of his car next to me and pop his hatch on his mustang and heard a hiss and didnt think nothin of it (100 shot of Nitrous) i hadnt know about.We get the flagger out and bring her up to rpm and hold the brake i shoot out like a bat outta hell and he lifts the front left tire and i knew it was over hust about that time i look in my rear view and see lites like crazy here comes the long arm of johnny law.Well my other buddy is running blocker for us in a lifted jeep renegade with 44's on it and is putting police in the ditch so we can get away but to no avail the guy i'm racin (Black mustang) pulls into a corn field entrance and me n the cops shoot by i keep going tryin to out run them when i see head lights comin at me and all the sudden this white mustang slides sideways to a stop and i hit the binders.Unmarked county cop! So it takes 4 town clowns and 2 county to fianlly get me pulled over impounded my car gave me 3 tickets and made me walk home at 1 am.Only to get up the next morning to my mother screaming in my ear asking where my car is and if i had been drinking.I say no and she say well wheres ur car and i give nothin.Well later that day i finally get the balls to tell my mom and stepdad what happened and needless to say they were none to thrilled.I go pick up my car on monday mornin and my stepdad drives it home and pulls my ignition and says i will get my car back after i go to court.Go to court and find out my so called friend had alerted the police that there was an illegal street race gettin ready to take place so they hauled ass out to only catch me and they questioned me for an hour as to whome i was racing but i never gave him up but my so called friend did i was setup because he disliked the guy i was racing but instead of the cops catching him they caught me.That was 10 years ago and i still haven't talked to that s.o.b.!

 

Yep, street raced my 69 Cutlass S way too many times in both Washington and Texas.

The only organized street races I got into were at Golden Gardens in Seattle in 1969 July I think and outside of McGregor Tx in the early 70's. We had some good races there until it got too popular with local spectators. Back when the only rice boxes had 4 doors and getting 30+ mpg was their claim to fame.
The penalties are too high around here now to even consider it.

 

Ya i ended up losing my license for 6 months only cause i got court supervision and ended up paying 1000 in fines plus had to pay 500 to my lawyer and they dropped two of the three tickets and stuck me only with the drag racing ticket but the court supervision kept me from losing my license for 10 years due to the fact that drag racing is considered reckless drivin here in illinois.Plus i had to pay for the impounding of my car so at 16 I paid out the ass.

 

You bet....I was right there, in the middle of street drag racing from 1956 to 1964.

Back in 1956 there was no "law" on the books that actually defined "drag racing". We were just given a ticket for "reckless driving and speeding".

Back in "the day" there was a stretch of new blacktop hiway about 5 miles long leading out to the local lake.

On sunday afternoon a couple of cars would actually block off the hiway on each end and drag racing would go for about 1 hour (until we heard the cop car sirens heading out from town) then we would all break up. There would be 10 or so cars squaring off to race and about 50 cars lined up on each side of the hiway to watch.

My last street drag race was in 1964.

I had a '63 Vette, 340 HP, 4 speed and I had put a 64 Fuelie cam in it, and Edelbrock 2x4 manifold with a couple of AFB,s, Homemade 4 tube headers, Hurst shifter, 4.56 gears and 9:15x15 Goodyear Power Cushions on the rear.

The challenger to me for the fasted car in town was a 63 Galaxie 500, 427 with Dual Quads.

I beat him rather easily and retained my crown as the fastest street car in the area. THAT WAS THE DAY, MY FRIENDS.

PS: Just remembered.....
While I still had my corvette (mentioned above) a guy in town bought a 1963 aluminum front end 426 ramcharger. We wanted to race but didnt want a big crowd and get caught....so....we met at midnite at the local hot dog drivein stand and headed out the the Lake road.

We came to a stop and agreed to leave when I honked the horn on the 3rd time....

Hate to say it, but after I stayed with the big 426 in first and second, he literally blew away from me from midrange to top end.....

6 MONTHS LATER I TOOK DELIVERY OF MY OWN 1963 PLYMOUTH ALUMINUM FRONT END RAMCHARGER....PICTURED BELOW.

 

Street racing? Oh hell yeah. Ryan's wife took this photo from Ryan's 38 ford coupe [424 cu in Reher Morrison smallblock with muncie 4 speed] while I was pulling away in my flathead/5 speed 33 ford PU...Had Jangleguy and T-man with me...
Ehhh, well.....maybe Ryan wasn't really trying too hard.

 

I've been there, like in 64, 65, 66 before vietnam, I'll tell you , you better be faster than the cops and a better driver. Did it out of town, where we could really let it eat , like 140 on the top end , if some body wanted to try to catch us, raced 1/4 mile and kept going to see who had the fastest on the top end, or the biggest balls! Loved all of it, love to do it again, lucky to be here today. Dan

 

I miss these, won a few with em. Back in the Front Street days

 

That's Rout 21. it runs from Passaic to Newark then turn into Route 22

 

Shit Groucho, those are some mean lookin' street cars you had there.

 

I used too in the 90's when i was in High School....till the ricers came out and fucked it all up....

 

We still get it on in the street.This is Buster Brown.

 

Groucho,what a killer thread.Well I was lucky enough that I caught some of the very last of the streetracing that Jimmy White was talking about in the early to mid 90's.I wasnt even old enough to drive yet but my friends older brother would take us to Beach& Imperial on sunday nights.I thought it was the most amazing thing EVER,hear I am 13& 14 years old and feeling the rush of being there and hauling ass when the cops got there.When I started going though the imports were getting to be more and more present.I was able to catch some of the races out in Ontario(the ones Axle was talking about) also.There was even a couple of times when I got my dad to take us,since he was a streetracer in the 70's he wanted to see what was going on during this time.When I finally got my license I bought a 67 chevelle but the streetracing that I knew was pretty much done(thanks to the hondas). At least I got to enjoy the second version of Terminal Island in the mid 90s,I was there every weekend running my car and had the best times,I miss those days.

 

There used to be a ton of street racing going on around Toronto. Harveys on Jane was before my time but Warden & Sheppard and Weston & Finch certainly come to mind. This was all "pre ricer". I personally think the cell phone had a lot to do with the demise of street racing as I remember it, seems regular people would "stumble upon" a large group of cars parked on the shoulders of the road and phone it in thinking there was an accident.

Sure it was dangerous/foolish but damn was it fun. Never (that I ever saw) any fights or guns or anything like that. Sure, some egos got hurt when they got "pumped" but I never saw a fist thrown.

Good times.

Thoroughly enjoyed this thread, brought back a LOT of memories.

 

Still Running hard here in NYC we have quite a few low 9sec cars street racing all over NY, LI and NJ I will try to get some pic's up for you this week

 

Cool thread I had forgotten about and now it is back to life. And yeah, I did a few stupid things including street racing in this old convertible back during high school 30 years ago.

Drove the same car 24 hours straight through to Florida Spring Break more than once, but those are different stories.

The red car was from the same era and was my girlfriends at that time (married 25 years this year...)

 

Va around manassass, and tysons in the late 80s were big. No tuner crowd yet. Back then the 5.0 mustang folks would try to talk big and challenge 60s camaros and 70s cudas. It was a blast. Remember a friend of mine and his 67 polara convertible running a 440 Dual tunnel ram setup . Racing for pinks was not that common but did happen. Racing in dc back then you had behind the va hospital and the teenage kids pulling up in new vets( drug dealing kids mostly). I drove a 72 dart swinger back then. Built Maltese cross 340 bored 30 over. 2.02 heads. It was great except I had the watch it because the car had a tendency to destroy Lakewood u joints. Miss those times just not the tickets nor being followed and often times harassed by the cops everywhere I went.

 

I was a small player in the Route 2 crowd and Richards' at Wellington Circle here in Eastern Mass.
We'd also venture up to Lowell, the Lynn Marsh Road, the Fellsway, South Boarder Road (which was very dangerous) and anywhere else there was action on a Wednesday or Friday night. The other nights were for studying or for dating.
This was all during the 60's and early 70's

My cars moved well but my best friend Peter had a stable of Chevy hardtops and 2 convertibles that were outrageous street race cars.
We rarely got beat piloting one of his Chevy's.
Peter and I during our college years did a lot of late night drills while living in Jackson Heights, N.Y. Some serious shit over there.
I lost interest by the mid seventy's while raising a family and having no money. Peter got killed and that took the wind out of my sails for a long time. When another buddy street racer, Bob, crashed and lost his eyesight that pointed me toward doing it legally at New England Dragway.

It's nice now to leave the line and not have to look in my mirror for the law.

 

I just spent the last two hours reading this entire thread;two of the best and least-wasted hours I've spent. I may have even crossed pathes with a few of the Michigan crew at various races in the Detroit area back in '74=5.

Grew up in Flint;heard 'em run on I-475 before it was open from my bedroom window late on Friday and Saturday nights in the early 70's. Was involved in it(in various aspects) from '72-83 in both Flint and the Telegraph Rd. area near Detroit. Back then we rolled around from The shopping center at Schoolcraft(I worked at Uncle Sam's at the time) south to almost Monroe(the city). Lots of really fast stuff,but you knew that even faster stuff lurked on Gratiot. Only the most hard-core West-siders would venture east.

I also remember the black guys hung around at the White Castle at the corner of Livernois and Warren. A few really fast cars,and a few sleeper Mopars;supposedly there was a '71(?) Plymouth Fury mo-door running around with a built(but quiet) Hemi under the hood that one of those cats owned. Good,good times.

They still run around the Flint area with some very serious late-model American hardware;unfortunately,as mentioned often here,the gangs and ass-clowns have screwed much of it up.

 

I was one of the Inland Empire guys from 68 to 71 and then when I got back from playing in the military from 77 to 81 when they closed "E" st in San Berdoo. We had a bunch of really fast Motorcycles, cars and Mouths LOL. Had a '64 f-100 with a blown cammer in it, several Mustangs, some fast VW's, a really fast Kawi built by Vance and Hines when they worked for Russ Collins, and blown and injected Kawi that I rode on the street, and a 50 Austin pickup with a BBC, etc. etc. We had Lynn Roberts, who taught auto shop at Valley College, building us HUGE custom Nitrous systems when nobody knew about them. We raced at North Main in Riverside, Cajon Blvd north of Berdoo, 6th street in Ontario (remember being over a 2000 people there one night), Van Nuys Blvd., anywhere we could get a race. Good times. Here is a couple of videos from the Drags in '82 at the old Riverside International Raceway where we would race back up the rear straight-a-way. and a couple of pics to entertain ya, one of my blower bike, a couple of Garlits from down in SanDiego taken by a friends brother in '63, and I just found this old truck sitting in the weeds LOL.

The Austin ran a 11.96 with no high gear in the glide LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgt4ziwljzw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR5EcN7fzEw

 

When I was in high school we had a quarter mile marked just outside of town. We would meet at the 7-11, decide who races and head out to the road. The lady who lived at the end of the road (the start line) would call the cops as soon as she saw cars line up. We would race to the end and head back to 7-11 to talk about it. Usually we would meet the cops about halfway back. In those days the cops were more easy going. We knew them by their first names. I don't think they tried very hard to catch us.

 

This is one of the coolest threads on the HAMB in my opinion!!! The beginning of the movie "Two Lane Blacktop" comes to mind with this thread. The early 70's street race theme has influenced my '56 Chevy build. Thanks for bringing up this topic Groucho and KiwiKev your '56 was real badass!

 

Afraid I have no pics of my favorite street racer,; my 1955 Chevy 150 business coupe. All gassered out, with a extremly well built 283 that ran 12:1 compression, and dual Carter AFB's, with a Muncie M22, straight axle, and 4 ft. white ladder bars. Loved that car to death, and she'd pull the front wheels at launch! Unfortunately some a'hole loved it more and stole it one night, never to be seen again!
Wasn't going to post a picture of the replacement vehicle, as it's not HAMB friendly, but since I see a lot of them in this post I'll go ahead.
This is my '71 SS 427 Camaro that I purchased in 1973 after the loss of my '55 Chevy. Spent a lot of time at the drags back then, but also spent a lot of time street racing in industrial areas at night, or weekends. Won more money with the '55, but then we raced a lot more in the late 60's than we did in the 70's!

 

Man this thread brought back some memories! In the mid '70s I was in the Navy, stationed in Norfolk, VA. I had a '70 Chevelle SS with the 375 hp 402. ($1600) Ran good stock, better after I rebuilt it and stuck a Crane cam in it. The place to race then was near Virginia Beach, forget the name of the road, or on Va. Beach Boulevard. There were some pretty fast cars down there. Later, in Portsmouth VA I ran a hot 1970 340 Duster with a 4 speed. The Burger King in Churchland was the local hangout and we'd race on US 17.
One of the funny things I saw in Portsmouth; my buddy Dale had a green '68 Roadrunner with a hot 383. It also had fenderwell headers that had cracked and the car sounded like shit at idle or in slow traffic. One night some loudmouth (wonder if he's on here?) in a blue Camaro started talking shit about the Roadrunner so Dale told him to put up $100 or shut up. The guys' buddies were all laughing when we were standing at the finish line, but they got real quiet when the Roadrunner came by, sounding like a Pro Stocker, 4 lengths ahead of the Camaro. The guy really got his panties in a wad and we almost got into a fight getting the money because the pussy didn't want to give it up. Good times those!

 

you should consider lowering this truck some


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Forgot about racing on Augua Monza and Greenspot Rd LOL

 

Dont have any pics after the divorce, lucky to get out alive, but back in the early 70s I had a 55 Chevy with a built 327 4 speed that would turn in the mid 12s in Albuquerque at 6500 ft altitude. Lived in Grants NM and used to race on Lobo Canyon Rd, sometimes there would be over 200 cars out there racing till 3-4 in the morning, I wasnt the fastest most of the time but the old 55 was well known around those parts, those were the best times...

 

I took it serious, my car wasn't so serious.
84' Monte carlo CL LOOKED tough with front runners and meats, cop caps on rallys, hood pins & stance, but the stock 3.8 V6 wasnt a monster at all. Basically I talked my way in good matches and out of ever opening the hood.
Woodward & all over detroit

 

I laughed when I read this. A few weeks ago I was working night shift at Pearl Harbor and got off at 1 AM. Coming up onto the H-1 I saw about a half dozen of these clowns coming down the highway at what I guess was wide open, but they weren't going anywhere! I believe I could have outrun them in my service truck. Got a real good laugh that night!

 

I ran my trans-am a few times, looked stock,but with a 150 shot and street tires and a very small town, word got around quick! By the mid 80's -semi-organized street racing was dead and the street racing laws were brutal.

 

rixrex funny thing was I raced in San Antonio in the mid 90's and Edgar Boecks 57 was still big news. We use to meet at the sonic on nacodoges just down from oconner rd. Then all head over to the wal-mart off naco and 1604.Would set up races there then go down the acess rd to the "turn around" It was the acess rd off 1604 heading back up to the wal-mart. We even had starting lines painted and it was a 1/4 mil to where the two lanes merged. Man that was fun, Hell there use to be a group of eagle tallons that would come down from Austin and kill alot of cars. All this was back when everyone was running those 5.slows. I did state inspections at a shop and had a stang lx come in that was dark blue and had a supercharger on it, and some dark ass tented windows. I went to fail the car for the tent, then the guy showed me his badge and told me it was a bait car.I was glad to get the inside scoop and stayed away from him and the other one ( a moron lx )
No pixs, but the cars I ran were a 70 chevelle ss with a 350 dule carbs toped with a 3 ring scoop. Also ran my stang killer 79 z28 with a small block auto,man that car would squat and get. Never lost a race and even brought home the trophy one night from alamo dragway during one of the school nights.(do not remember what it was called, was when you ran for your school).