Features Have you ever run a car down a drag strip or an oval track?

I've been drag racing since 1977 , went to the drags starting in 1969 , have been racing this car for the last 10 years.

 

Drag Racing, you kidding?

 

My first time on a track was the summer of 77 at Humbolt County Raceway east of Humbolt Ia. 90 miles from Mason City my home. Went down to watch but it was less money to race than watch so that’s what we did for the next 40 +years. The early years of driving down and back in the car I ran was a little nerve wracking but we always made it. Sometimes we would race after we got back to town or get ready for Sunday at Cedar Falls. Good times, good friends!

 

yes
no photos, it was a big engine VW at a VW Drag day here in Aussie

 

Ran my FE powered 57 Ford Custom down the strip at SIR a few times 50+ years ago. Had a lot of fun, broke a lot of parts and with a wife and two kids I quickly learned that I couldn't afford it...

 

The Mini was on a road course. That was fun!

The 2nd one is one of the times I took a joy ride, instead of Jim being in the car. Top 20 out of 26 or so cars! Yeah, I was always over my head driving my own car.

The 3rd picture was the first modified, the night before its maiden trip to Lebanon Valley and I was in it! Talk about sh!++!ng my driver's suit! 1st time into the 1st turn, never did it before, Jim had said, wait until just past the 2nd to last grandstand, turn in, ease on the brakes and wait for it to take a set (yeah, right, like I knew what that was going to be like), off the brakes and squeeze the accelerator pedal like there was an egg between my foot and the pedal. Be at WFO by the time I hit the back stretch.

Somehow I didn't hit anything or spin or any other condition of pure mayhem. That happened a few laps later... but it wasn't too bad. Just a bent shock and we won't talk about the seat cushion! And I have to say, injected 350s tuned correctly are so much fun!

Jim would get a guest drive in someone else's car, and I'd get to drive the 54 that night. Never told my mother, as she was the worrying kind. And the track announcer. That way we could keep up the pretense that Jim was in the car. To explain why the car finished so far back (12th or worse with me), we'd tell her that there was a problem with the steering. And then I'd have to add taking the steering out of the car and fiddling with it during the week.

My older brother knew, of course Jim did, and Gopher, a good buddy and main helper in the garage and at the track. But we never told mom. If she actually knew, she took it to the grave.

 

Reminds me of the time I was driving an f350 rollback back to San Diego from Los Angeles, It was very early Sunday morning and I stopped at the gates of OCIR which had been closed for a year or so....someone had cut the lock off the gate so I drove in. Parked at the tower and went in, the windows were all busted out but the awesome Kenny Youngblood murals were still on the walls I lined the truck up and blasted down the track tumble weeds and all. With a huge smile on my face I pointed the truck southward.

 

A little drag racing, circle track racing, hill climbs and land speed racing.

 

Sort - of... The racing bug never bit me, so I stick to pump gas and street tires. That said, one of the local events down here in N.C. has had "track time". In '19 it was at Bowman Gray Stadium ( historic local short track - also was featured on a "reality T.V." thingy. Really cool history - look it up). Recently, it was at Caraway Speedway, on a Sunday. Both times we were allowed to do as many laps as we wanted / dared to. Took the '37 to Bowman; the '33 got beat on a bit at Caraway. Yes I had fun!

 

I raced the local dirt tracks for 19 seasons. after I quit I got into vintage dirt cars. This is my latest project.

 

what 'bout the liquid 1/4 mile?

 

Yep, got into street racing back in high school. Won some, lost some, had fun. Second time I went to a drag strip I started bracket racing. It was fun, but never had much luck. That run fast but not too fast BS just wasn’t true racing to me. I was used to heads up street racing, racing a clock just wasn’t interesting. A few years after I got married, wife’s cousin married a car guy, and we hit it off right away. I had given up more than an occasional heads up grudge race, all I had was a Toyota pickup, but it was fun to beat up on stock Vegas and Pintos. Then the neighbor got serious into street racing, right down my alley. We built a couple of pretty fast cars, but know how that need for speed is once you get hooked. He had the money, I had the skills, so we partnered up. We built a multi purpose car, still capable of street racing, but good enough for some bracket racing. It progressed into a strip only car. We both liked heads up, so that’s what we concentrated on. There were several 1/8 th mile tracks within 100 miles of us, and we hit them all at one time or another. He did most of the driving, and I did the wrenching. Funny thing was, I was the better driver, but he thought he was. His car, his money, so he got his way most of the time. We never won a race, but had some good rounds just about every time we went out. But all good things come to an end, he got to chasing women more than cars, his wife found out, and he had to sell everything to pay the divorce. Lost track of him for a while, found out a few years ago he had passed away at 45. After we split, I couldn’t afford to build or race anything, so I switched to street cars.

 

This is the machine I use to convert money into parts, and parts into scrap metal. All in 660’ it’s very efficient.

 

I paid for 5 years of college with the GI bill and driving a top of the B main sprint car.
It was the most fun you could have with your clothes on.

 

Drag racing someone else's cars at Oklahoma City Fairgrounds Dragstrip in early '60s. Santa Maria, CA dragstrip with someone else's cars, mid-60s/early '70s. Spending my own money circle tracking in the mid/late '60s at Santa Maria, Atascadero and Saugus, CA. Eleven years ago, at the age of 68, I ran 179.26 MPH in one of Dale Jarrett's school cars at Talladega.

 

Fact: Half a grapefruit stuck on the top of the fuel pump will fix that.

 

Drags at Marion, SD, Sioux City, IA, Omaha, NE and Kearney, NE and Ran a late model on dirt tracks plus I raced motor cycles scrambles and moto cross and on many stock car tracks in the area, at Sturgis short track and half mile and on polished concrete at Omaha Civic Auditorium. Edit: I forgot to mention running grass drags on snowmobiles, I just loved going fast..........I still do!

 

I attended Duke Southard's school,
and drove at New Smyrna Speedway, in Florida.
August 1982.

 

12 trips down the Quarter mile at 3 different HAMB drags, in 3 different cars, all slow. I did several years at street racing, I was faster, and much better, and in much better equipped cars.

I've done several exhibition or photo-opt drives on some big name tracks (Indy, Michigan mile, Chrysler Proving grounds in MI, Daytona front straight) and several at smaller tracks, both dirt and blacktop.

My driving carrier on the dirt track wasn't much better then my drag racing experience, 3 weeks. I wrecked the car week 1. Blew up the motor week 2, and destroyed the car on week 3. I discovered driving probably was not where my skill set laid. I became a car owner (in the hobby class) where I fielded a car where I started new to racing drivers in my car every year. For 15 years out of 18 years, we finished in the top 10 in points out of a 30+ car field every year, with that new driver. At one point, 6 of the guys racing at our local track late model class started their driving carrier in my cars.

One of the local junk yards I visited frequently was along the river, After the racing season was over, he invited 5 or 6 local guys to stop by the yard after closing time on Sat. After everything was secured, those that were invited, and he himself all got into junk cars and headed out of the back of the yard into the slue about a 1/4 mile behind the yard. There he had a "race track" set up, and we all raced those junk cars around in the slue until it started getting dark, when we would return to the yard with everything that could make it back. The boys went back in the slue Sunday to drag back whatever couldn't make it back to the yard the evening before. It was down right dangerous, but man was it fun. The "season" lasted until the weather turned to crap, or usually 3 or 4 weeks. We did that for 4 or 5 years before the County advised him it was time to quite doing that.

I did that parking lot cone thing a couple times. I didn't have the right car for that, too nose heavy. I did some non-sanctioned road course racing in my younger years, think I'll pass now.

 

Been having car fun ,meeting great other cars nuts* ;from Jr High and High School on ,I've made it 81+ years so far.
Hot Rods,Customs,Racecars > Drag/oval/sportscar fun n wins* in every thing.
In Car Craft mag in 63,a lot of News Papers.
In Hall Of Fame @ Hialeah Speedway & Florida City Speedways.< I still holed the track record for Mod* lap time { 9.97 sec.} @ Florida City ,as no one broke my record, before it was plowed under n gone for ever.

 

Current drag car raced the wheels off it this past summer

 

1964, 16 years old, started out as a street racer, (my avatar)started 1970 in Midget race cars, then 1987 through 1991, wing Sprint cars. Thinking, I've been to every dirt track in the midwest over those years. What a great adventure it was with a few bumps in the road ( crash house visits, Midgets crash hard) Had some success, 15 minutes of fame as a car owner when recovering from injuries, but I always got back in as I loved driving the cars, I would not trade the memories for anything and still a gear head as after racing I came back to the car hobby. A CarNut I am. Now 76 and on occasion I still get on it for that "Tickle" with my OT hobby cars as all my HAMB cars have been sold. Check my albums for my HAMB cars.

1948-1974 This was my Dads car. Komppa Chassis, Komppa engines, Ford V8-60, Studebaker 6, 215 Alum Buick, 153 Cevv II. I drove this car 1970-1974, Pic from last year it ran, under restoration by me currently, back to early 50's configuration. by wicarnut posted Jan 16, 2014 at 3:15 PM

1975-87 Dads & My Car, Edmunds Chassis,155 SESCO Chev, Drivers, John Komppa Jr, Ron Pheil, Mel Cornett, Dean Billings, Dick Bllings, Greg Nelson by wicarnut posted Jan 16, 2014 at 3:15 PM

1979 - Edmunds Chassis, 122 AutoCraft VW, Drivers, Don Boorse, Paul Clark, Stan Fox 1979 Champion Driver, 1979 Champion Car Owner, BMARA, John Komppa Jr by wicarnut posted Jan 16, 2014 at 3:15 PM

1981 - Outhouse Engineering Chassis, 140 AutoCraft VW, Owner/Driver John Komppa Jr by wicarnut posted Jan 16, 2014 at 3:05 PM

1980 - Edmunds Chassis, 122 AutoCraft VW, Drivers, Stan Fox. Paul Clark, Don Boorse, Kevin Olson. 1980 BMARA Champion Car Owner, John Komppa Jr by wicarnut posted Jan 16, 2014 at 3:15 PM

87-89 - Tognotti Chassis, Nickerson 355, Komppa 410 chev Owner/Driver John Komppa Jr by wicarnut posted Jan 16, 2014 at 3:05 PM

90-91 - Challenger Chassis, Komppa 410 chev, Owner/Driver, John Komppa Jr by wicarnut posted Jan 16, 2014 at 3:05 PM

 

Drag strip, not often but more this year!

 

Like this! Let's see more?

 

Way Off Topic Motor but runs very low 6 in the 1/8 mile and 10 flat in the 1/4

 

I used to street race with my buddies from around 1974-1980. We raced our daily rides, if it broke in Friday night, we still had to get to work on Monday. THEN... I was a regular at traffic court for some reason. I had my license suspended a couple of times... still drove.

Then I got turned onto stock cars and never looked back. I got into a whole lot less trouble and going to work on Mondays was far easier.

 

I’m actually a little amazed at the numbers coming in. I’m one of only 17% of HAMBers who have never run a drag strip. Maybe I need to do something about that. lol. More road course people than I expected. Plus all the other forms of racing that slipped my mind.