And alot of racing it was. how many times has people sat around for 2-3 our more hours waiting for one run. we get 25-30 runs in 3 hours. and its only 2 hours away from SFV. was a good time Groucho.
It was a bitchin warm Friday or Saturday night downtown Sacramento about 1984 ,as usual were cruising L and J streets. I’m in my hemi orange 65 goat. I cant remember if I had the cross ram on or not but anyways me and my buddy Tony are just cruisin Up ahead I see a 62ish vette with the no top. So I take the left lane (3 lanes, one way) and roll up next to him at the light that’s red. The vette sounds real nasty and has two fours on a tunnel ram. Just as were both just barely rolling up to the line were side by side and about 10 feet from the line, were obviously both thinking the same thing ,oh...ya it’s clutch’s in and RPM’s to the moon just as the light go’s green. So here we go, me wheels up ah little as usual and his ass is drifting over into my quarter as we run first and second gear hard to the next light. I pulled him by a fender and held him there. But the craziest part is, we ran balls out past the spot were there’s never NOT a cop on a bike and that guy was a asshole (I know). I like to think he was really there and the race was so cool, he was just diggin it. Lots of good times back then but that short street race is burned into my head like it went down yesterday. I cant even start to describe how much I miss them days and that car.
Back in the 1980's there was a Deuce coupe with a blown big-block Buick that was one of the stouter cars in the Flint,MI area. One night,at the local mall cruise scene,this rough looking '67 Camaro gets pulled in on a trailer. Now,a trailered car gets a LOT of attention,and is usually some serious hardware. This thing was half primer with some character rust spots,steel wheels front and rear,with no more than 10" slicks on the back;subtle but effective looking. My buds GG,Bones,and myself check this thing out and really don't see anything spectacular;small block,headers ain't that big,has mufflers,basic traction bars and mono-leaf springs. Hmmm...interesting. Deuce coupe guy makes some overtures about running and how fast his car is(heard it was capable of LOW 10's/high 9's),Camaro guys say "Let's just do it out here in front of the mall on the street". Heard it was for a fairly large amount of $$. They head out and kick it down. As they passed the crowd,the Camaro has the Deuce by at least three cars and never wavered. They pull back into the mall lot,Deuce guy claims this and that,but someone else held the cash. Camaro guys collect,left and we never saw them again. At that time,I had a Ruby red '64 Plymouth Fury. Everyone knew that when I pulled out,there was a race going down somewhere(I was good friends with a lot of the local hotshoes),so EVERYONE followed me. The racers would have me act as a decoy,leading 20-30 cars to the opposite side of town from where the match would actually occur,so they could get the run in without a lot of spectator interference. Pissed off a lot of people(BFD),and I missed a lot of good racing,but they(the contestants) would chip in and throw me a few bucks for my gas costs. GG and I were at one of the "venues" and ended up in the racing area. A jacked-up Camaro pulled up next to us and said let's go for 20 bucks. All this thing(my Fury) had was a 318 Y-block and a two-barrel and skinny radial tires,but it ran decent. That car had the push-button Torqueflite,and as I pushed the first gear button in the starter dude yells "He's got nitrous!!!". I said "No,dumbass;that's the shift set-up on these old Mopars"(effin' kids!). We ran the Camaro and beat him by about two car lengths(GG laughing his ass off the entire run at the "nitrous" comment),and when we pulled over so I could collect my cash,Camaro guy says "You got a bottle in that,and a big motor and,and...". I popped the hood to show him that he just got beat by a two barrel,antiquated motor with no juice,popped the trunk and the doors and hell,even my zipper to show him that there was no hidden bottle. He paid up,but when we left,Camaro guy's "friends" were seriously raggin' on him. We thought about sticking around and maybe collecting some more cash,but the local po-po knew the car and how it was always seen around the fast guys,and we decided to just split and not draw any more attention to ourselves. All in good fun,of course,and I DID do most of my racin' at the track.
diggin this post because of its authenticity. The 60's 70's 80's was the peak of street racing. I had a really stupid moment the other day, from a traffic light into a 1/8th mile heat with a 5.0 mustang. The traffic was moderate and it was on the main drag going through town. The mustang got the wholeshot on me , pulled em in second gear. The adrenaline was rushing blocking out where we were, what we were doing. Class A licence holder, cops everywhere, 8-pointer nowdays, egged on by a 5.0 ? Some things will never change......I felt really stupid
Not a matter of the shoe fitting. In his defense I gotta say that we all do some dumb things. Like racing where you know you could get popped. I've done that, you've done that, we've all done that. Just be careful.
Well, I don't want to brag. But it is a true Gasser from back in the day. I didn't build it. I merely brought it back. It was in storage for about 30 plus years. I found it one day when I got lost in San Fernando Ca.
What's up with this picture? The rear axle looks to be turned side to side and if it was an accident, it should have been opened up to extract the driver. Assuming they were still in it. I'm guessing it was in a hurricane or tornado?
drivers education propaganda trick is my guess.......the previous post about it being shop owners son ,was the story I heard too. Only God knows
Sorry, this picture is old news. I was going through this thread, got sidelined and forgot what page I was on.
I think that picture was the result of a hurricane too. If there was a body in there the Forensics team would have to cut it apart and do whatever they had to do to get the body out. So I don't think the shop owners son was in that car. Think full C.S.I. kinda shit.
This is for real- back in the early 80's,the town had cruising and racing. I call it the last of the glory days b-4 the imports came. Anyways- Besides looking for fresh meat= some new car in town,the locals would race one another.Here's the story- Caveman(everybody had a nickname),was a wheeler dealer,and always had something. This time it was a 65 Chevelle w/ a 327.350.4.11 & slicks.It had a 3k converter in it and left the line like a striped assed ape. 3 teens at the time (3 amigos) bought it together,and were gonna be the "shit'. They didn't know squat,but they were cool as all get out. Enter John and his semi-stocker 71 Chevelle. Intake,cam,carb,hedders.... a peg leg that had those N-50's on the back. Classic stuff here. Fast forward to race night- Well- They line up,and John gets in the back seat of his car and lays down(for traction purposes of course) And there off. Well,here's the interesting part- I'm parked at the finnish line(actually marked 1/4 mi.) on the side of the road. I'm in my 64 Chevy II,and my cuz is right behind me in a 66 Chevy PU. Were standing in the bed watching them get closer. We all knew the 65 would win,but it was for fun. About the 1200 foot mark,-Giant explosion with fire,shit going everywhere,65 coasts by silent. Turns out,the tailshaft somehow lets go,the car does not pole vault,and the driveline is spinning like a helicopter blade comming right for the front of my car. We shit and duck,and at the last second,the driveline sticks in the pavement and shoots for the middle of the road. Scary=you bet! But,here come's John's car.,With him in the back seat! Needless to say,it runs the driveline over,and blows a rear tire.It was loud as hell! The driver kept it on the road and straight.I think John might have touched cloth that night. We all were lucky. I will never,and never have watched from the finnish line after that,and never will.
Do you have any side pics of it? I like its stance and the radius of the wheelwells. I am building a 55' wagon right now.
This was a '69 Camaro, and currently sits atop Mosteller's Wrecker Service in Chattanooga, Tennessee. As the story goes, this car was owned by the father of some kid who took it out street racing. The kid hit a "dip", lost control and found himself - along with the 3 friends he had in the car - wrapped tightly around a telephone pole. This apparently happened in the late 1970s. This is the story I was given, but who knows - people tend to make up stories for all kinds of nonsensical reasons.. it may have just been a tornado . There are more photos of this car at the "Old School Street Racing" group (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=322). __________________
just recently installed these M&H "street tires" and headlamps on this old clunker......street race ? Who me ?
This wreck happened on 7/7/78 in Chattanooga, TN and was a result of street racing. There were two boys together in the car both died instantly and they are burried side by side at Hamilton Memorial Gardens in Hixon, Tn. The father of the 16 year old driver knew the owner of the wrecker service and had the car put on top of the building (where it remains today) as a sign to others to not be morons and street race. Feel free to google this story. The date provided should help authenticate the story. I assure you, this was not the result of a hurricane or tornado. The driver of this car was my brother.
don't have too many street racing stories as my ole man made sure I had a proper speed outlet on the racetrack, but I do have an amusing story about "Organizing a street race" The town I lived in had an industrial park with one warehouse in it and a perfectly straight stretch of unused road that led to a "future development" the place had impromptu races going on constantly. when I got my license the cops decided it was time to crack down on the races there. They were looking for anything that looked like a race about to happen. I was a poor high school kid in 1997 saving cash for his 32 ford driving around a ten year old chevy cavelier I picked up for a song and put a junkyard nose on it. I was coming home one day and saw my buddy driving his equally anemic brand new pontiac sunfire driving around the rotary in the center of town and flagged him down. He pulled a second lap around the rotary to meet up next to me at the next light. We talked at the light and decided to head to my house I turned one way and he turned the other as he was in a turn only lane. turns out a cop saw us talking at the light and pulled him over for having his factory fog lights on when it wasn't foggy, then tried to find out where we were going to race lol. I sat at my house for about half an hour before my buddy showed up with the ticket for the lights. I was laughing my ass off at that cop for thinking we'd line up against each other with a sunfire and a beat up cavelier lol
Sis, thanks for the input, sorry for loss of your brother. i do not in any way promote street racing nor do I glorify it. I am simply a moron myself, just a lucky one so far God Bless, Haney
I assure you, this was not the result of a hurricane or tornado. The driver of this car was my brother.[/QUOTE] I am sorry to hear this. I did not mean any disrespect. I was merely pointing out that the bodies are not inside the car still. Street Racing is stupid. Let's hope that somebody learns from this.
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