Street Racing, your best waxing....

A fellow co-worker and I decided to get it on one Sunday returning from the drags in Epping.
I'm driving my 71 BB Chevelle SS and he's rolling in his 85 Cutlass Supreme, black, spray can paint job with twice pipes. Very quiet Olds though. Smooth idle, normal tires, looks like easy pickings.
My Chevelle is near stock. A new crate block with .030 over, moderate compression, a 650 on an Edlebrock, headers and an RV cam.
Mine has air too, it's very heavy, more like a show car Chevelle but it clicks off consistent hi 13's.
Twice we slow down on I 93 and do the rolling start thing.
Scott plays with me out of the hole both times then plants it.
First time he waxes me by 5 lengths and the second time nearer 8 lengths. Scott just wails me hard.
I'm humiliated.
Next day at lunch he walks me to his Cutlass and allows me a look under the hood.
It's a 468 BB ( he claims, I'm thinking much more... ) Dart aluminum heads that he ported, Dart single plane, 1050 Holley, huge headers, MSD, the whole package.
Yeah, stupid me. His rattle can paint job and 4 mufflers sucked me in bad. I got the proper waxing I deserved.

 

Love reading this type of thread, I was a little short on brains and long on dumb when young, still dumb, now old and slow, I always had a motorcycle and most of them, I'm told will pick up the death wobble (tank slapper) at high speed, so.....In my infinite wisdom I wanted to see if that was true with mine, Yes it was @ about 110 + or so, too scared and hanging on for dear life to look at speedo real close, was told to roll out of throttle and let go of handlebars when this happens, you couldn't have got my hands loose with a Pry bar, nearly shook me off and it did calm down pretty quick. Another time my gaurdian angel was looking out for me. I've kept that angel busy most of my life and enjoy sharing my stories with fellow car crazy's. Nothing to do with waxing, just popped into my old brain and thought I would share it, Have many stories, they pop in and out, have had an eventful life and always state, I'm a very Lucky Man !

 

fun thread. the worst "waxing" I ever witnessed was my buddy Jim's 67 442 stocker with an automatic and highway gears when he raced what we found out later was a built Hemi Roadrunner. this was when any young man with a job could buy whatever 10 (+-)year old Hemi car he wanted. a friend of a friend had a Hemi Cuda, we were all just out of high school, and when I was in school another kid from a different school had a 67 Shelby GT 500. I was in the class of '78. easily a couple hundred thousand dollars worth (in todays values) of muscle cars in the parking lots at school.

 

My girlfriend and I are spending a quiet afternoon in the parking lot of the Tic-Toc drive in in Portland, Or, lounging in my 57 Pontiac watching traffic drive by. I'd swapped out the wheezy motor for a fresh 1959, 389 with a holley carb, dual exhaust and stock 3.63 gears with a M-20 muncie. We got bored and pulled out onto Burnside, headed down the hill toward down town...stopped at the stop light when this multi colored primered 64 GTO pulls up...goosed the engine and looks over at me. I smiled and goosed back......We launched on green and I pulled him by a car and a half....stayed that way for 2 blocks when we both stopped at the next light.
"Damn, man! What you got in that thing?"..I said, "same thing you got in that thing" and idled away...

 

So post high school (98-99) here in Dubuque my buddy and I are cruising in his Nova. Built 350, stall converter, shift kit, gears, low 13 sec car. We think we're king shit. Rarely lose. Mind you, factory "hot" street cars of the time like z-28s run 15's.

This total POS 69 Chevelle shows up. I mean, no quarters, mismatched panels, primer hood. Hell yeah, its on.

I flag. So I have the #1 seat in the house. Guy waxes our asses. Probably 15 lengths in the 1/4 mile. No shit, each shift the bumper falls about 1/2 inch.

I hear several years later the car had a full roller dirt late model motor in it. Huh.

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

About the same time, I finish my first Model A. Stock 350 from a cube van loaded with chromie go-fasters. Barely runs 15.75. No one wanted to race because it was too intimidating. Could have been very embarassing for me.

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

After reading these stories, I don't feel bad about my '56 Buick, with a cam & 4 bbl. being waxed three times by the same damn '59 Pontiac Station Wagon just glad he didn't have a baby seat in the back!

 

Those 389 Pontiacs were no slouch's.

 

One more story regarding the blue Pontiac in the photo above...
One summer day 1970 I was coming north in I-5 from southern Oregon loafing along about 65 with the radio on..chillin. In my mirror I see this orange 55 chevy coming up fast! Just for the helluvit, I jambed the shifter up into 3rd and hammered it. He was close enough I could hear him with the windows down and he pulls out to pass. I heard him shift just as I shifted into 4th and he stays on my quarter panel 'till I began to pull away. Pegged the speedo at 120 and I pulled about 1/4 mile ahead before we both regained sanity and slowed to the speed limit. As I passed under an overpass I heard it....knock, knock, knock.....I loosened up a wrist pin...still ran great but made noise 'till I retired it. I waxed his ass but paid the price.
Before I installed the 389 I went racing at Madras one day after a few barley pops. The tired old 347, 2 barrel smoked and wheezed down the strip against a white 56 chevy hardtop with a 265/3 speed. He freight trained me bad! My 3 speed column shift jambed and caught when trying to speed shift it, it was pitiful! I got waxed and that's part of the reason I stepped up to the 389/4 speed.

 

In the late summer of '79, I had a '68 400 Firebird that I'd had for a couple years, at this point it had a 4bbl 400 from a 1970 full size wagon in it. A friend had recently bought a '69 Torino GT, and all of us liked to thrash on and race our old thrashed out muscle cars. We didn't really do 1/4 mile drags, more like start from a dead stop and run through the gears until we topped out. I had a plus size friend with me, so we figured the weight of the two cars was close, we went out of town to our favorite spot on the newly opened bypass. We launched and the old Firebird pulled him really well up to 120 or so, and I let up and started to slow down. I came up on an older fellow in the right lane and stayed in the left lane to pass him. Well, James wasn't ready to give up yet, and blew past the old man, passing him in the bellowing Torino on the right side, clear out on the shoulder. The ol

 

Dang phone. Anyway, James passed this guy on the shoulder and the guy jerked his car to the left into my lane, forcing me over to the left with two wheels in the grass at 90-100 mph. We pulled off on the next ramp, but the old gentleman never came past.

 

A couple months later, another friend bought a 1969 340 Dart that had cleaned a lot of clocks in town (mine included). He couldn't drive too well, and would actually take in third gear at times, shift (thinking he was upshifting) to second, and by the time he got it in first thought he was really hauling. He mowed down a couple large trees in it one night, throwing another friend out of the car in the process and killing him. Our street racing days were over.

 

Cool thread. I recall a friend in the neighborhood back in 68, had a 58 Chevy 283 powerglide while I had my 56 Ford 272 Fordo. No matter how many times we raced either from a dig or a 20/30 roll he beat me by a 1/2 car or car length. Frustrating.
Later on I put together a 63 Ford 406 2x4's 4sp. and was cruising Telegraph in Detroit watching a 396 Chevelle and a GTO go at it for a couple lights and figured I want to play too. Next light I pull up next to them and let them know I'm in. I was quite proud when I beat those two factory muscle cars with something I put together in my backyard.

 

READ SLOW i'm not to good at story typing.(it was 1969 La Mesa/San Diego area)
Me and one of my 55 chevys at an intersection of 4 STOP signs, I stopped, and at the same time a 1968 HEMI 426
stopped, to my right so i yielded to him to go first, between the both of us the store and gas station front GLASS was shaking purdy good.
Well he turned right and lined up straight in front of me and proceeded to SMOKE the tires, you know the challenge signal to invite me to a face off.
Yes i bit the invitation and caught up to him ( westbound on el cajon blvd somewhere around the 7000 block)
and so i pulled up to his right , were both doing 20/25 mph and i RESPONDED with the quick rev up to signal C'MON let's do this , so he revved back , at that time i slipped her down to 1st ,and tacked her up and SIDE stepped the clutch, that made the front end come up off the ground about 5/6 inches, WELL his passenger saw that and with hand gestures showed the driver that i just pulled a wheelie. and so the HEMI charger wanted NO part of this 55,
and turned left on a side street never to be seen again....
that's all i got for now...

 

Not really a race, but it was pretty funny I thought. Years ago I had a Chevy Monza with a little Buick v6 in it, with a little cam and a little carb work. Nothing really very special. I was in the right lane and there was one of those little Chrysler Lebaron looking cars next to me in the left lane, totally stock looking. I think it might have had wood trim, not sure about that now though. My lane ended right after this light we were sitting at. So I figured I would just blast off the line when the light changed and hop over. Well, he heard me reving the engine some, and started revving his. And it starts whining, making a terrific whistle. Turns out it was one those turbo charged little Chryslers. It totally blasted off when the light changed. I didn't have a chance. I still laugh about that.

 

Kind of a potential waxing almost.
Last summer my wife and I are riding to Crane Beach on the North Shore. Just casually tooling along minding our own business in my El Camino.
El Camino is a 12 second car but there are others out there more deadly I know.
I hear coming up on my left for a few moments what sounds like a mid 90's possibly Mustang dieting on gears and Flowmasters.
You all know the familiar sound I'm sure. There's several in every town.
He goes by me, him and his passenger giving me the look.
But wait...........It's a Lexus ES 250, 4 door sedan maybe a 99, 2000 or 2001. dark green, kind of faded, New Hampshire plates on it with very disguised twin pipes neatly hidden underneath.
All the ES 250's I ever saw were V6 front wheel drivers.
This thing was cool, ultimate street sleeper.
I was riding with her so I politely declined so I guess that means I lost by default?

 

My son and I were on I-95 heading north in my VW one beautiful summer morning, and started pacing a 300ZX. The traffic was a bit heavy, so we stayed around 75 mph. He would glace over at me every now and again, probably both puzzled and surprised. Once we got above Portland, the traffic thinned out; he honked his horn, waved at me, and pulled away from me like I was sitting still - I knew I couldn't compete with that!

 

Came home from overseas in the army in fall of 74 . Bought an old 68 4 door Biscayne Michigan rust bucket . Pulled the 307 auto out and stuck my 427 out of my 69 Camaro and a turbo 400.
Had 30 days leave and bought a new 75 Camaro with the proceeds from street racing every night until I had to go back and play army. Of course a new Camaro with a 350 3 speed stick and dog dish hubcaps was only $3600 back then.
My worse waxing was when I was in high school and had a 62 Galaxie with a 406 and I thought it was bad news until I ran across a guy with a 54 Ford business coupe with a 427 Ford in it. He ran off and left me and when I saw him at a gas station. He opened the hood and showed me why I got waxed so bad. They had repossessed his 64 Galaxie but did not get the motor or transmission.

 

1973 I'm running a 1970 Maverick that I bought new in December 69. Year before I put in a 289 (1st motor I ever built), Ford Lemans cam, oem dual point dist, hooker headers and mufflers, edlebrock intake, 3 speed trans and 65 mustang rear w/3.00 gears. Buddy had 68 Roadrunner w/426 hemi, two 4s, 4 speed, 4.11 posi. I had gotten down to 13.86 in the quarter a month earlier and broke trans the next week. Put in 4 speed top loader and put big holley on. Buddy and I always joking about who was faster but never raced. We were both at Phenix city drag strip in Alabama one Tuesday night. The big holley wasn't working too well and I dialed in about 14.50. He said let's run. I smoked him. To be honest, his tires were going up in smoke, no traction. He said he didn't know my car was so fast. We went again and he never reached the end of the strip. His drive shaft had exited his car. I told him I would pull him home. Before the night was over (I was still trying to get the holley sorted, I shifted to second at 7k rpm and my rebuilt clutch assembly came apart, no safety bell housing, messed up headers, broke block etc. Told Buddy didn't know how he was getting home, but I was going to service station to get the wrecker for my car. Next motor was stock 69 351 Windsor w/offy 360 intake, 650 double pumper, 289/302 stock exhaust manifolds. Best was 14 flat in quarter. Was a sleeper. Never ran the hemi again, although with traction he did go low 13s.

Sorry, long story.

 

Same Maverick, still 289, 3 speed, went up against 72 Chevelle one night on Schomberg Road, Columbus, Georgia. Thought he was 396, but it was 454 w/worked over heads, 4 speed, posi, slicks. We ran marked off quarter 3 times, he got me by about a car length each time. He got out of his car complaing about his clutch, I said you beat me, but not by much he said.

Another night, went up against 64 Falcon sprint, same place. Ran a couple of times and I beat him pretty good. He told the guy with him to take Kenny (my best friend) and drive the Falcon back to Shoneys. He wanted to ride in my Maverick. His friend asked Kenny if I had a cam in my engine. Kenny says he didn't know, he wasn't much on that sort of stuff.

One night, I was trying to teach Kenny how to drive the Maverick and a 70s GTO pulls up and wants to run. Kenny tried but didn't know what to do, so he pulled over to let me drive. I caught up with the GTO and dusted him.

These sort of threads are good, they cause us to remember things we might otherwise forget. The good old times. More later.

 

1968. All through high school I had been working on a 1929 model A pickup. 327, camel humps, isky Z cam, two AFB's on a cross ram manifold, Muncie 4 speed, 4.56 Olds rear with 7" cheaters. Finished it just after graduation. First night out with it at Custer's, the local drive in. A guy I went to school with cruises through in a new GTO. Blue with Cragars. Beautiful. IIRC it had Pontiac's new 400 in it. He was pretty proud of it. He stops in front of my truck. "Come on , let's go", he says. "Naw, I'm still just shakin' it down." I said. I had never raced anything before. Then the smack talk starts, and I end up lined up with him out on Miller avenue. I knew that ol' truck was pretty fast, but it absolutely ate that Goat. Just as we go past the last pole/ finish line the 2 bolts holding the radiator in must not have been tight enough because at 100+ the radiator leaned back just enough to hit the fan. That old radiator had enough stop leak in it to plug anything up. That old milky white stuff. All over the windshield. Couldn't see anything. Scared the hell out of me. The next week the Goat had a for sale sign in the window, and the guy is lining up races for my ol' truck. I won a lot of races that summer.
After racing it on the street all summer, I wanted to try it out at the Bunker Hill dragstrip. I put a new 11" clutch in it and took it out to test with a buddy. We lived on a circle in an addition just out of town. Drove about a mile from home and turned around. I let it have it, rowing the gears. Crested a hill and the sheriff is coming the other way at me. OH SHIT!! I took off and turned into our addition before he could get turned around. Drove through the addition, about took out the back wall of the garage and pulled the garage door down. We are peaking out the garage windows and here comes the sheriff driving real slow around our circle. He keeps right on going. Holy Shit! I got away with it. We took it to Bunker Hill that weekend. Best time, 11.34. That ol' truck would run.
About three week later, I had gone away to college, the hot rod in Dad's garage. While I was away at school Mom and Dad's house got broken into. I happened to be home on a Sunday when the sheriff came to investigate the burglary. Dad showed him through the house. Then led him out to the garage. I was right behind the sheriff. He saw that truck in the garage. He turned around to me and said real low so my Dad wouldn't hear it, "It's a good thing I didn't know where you lived that day." My heart went into my throat, but that's all that was said.
1968. I don't think you would get away with that nowadays

 

Lions 1959
Hello,

Of course, when we were in high school, whenever we saw anyone in their cars at a stop light, a race across the intersection was the thing to do. But, we always looked in all directions for the police. One Spring Break, (Easter Vacation back then) we had just witnessed a friend in a Henry J race a SBC powered XKE Jag. Yes, the purists hated that XKE, but it was so fast. It needed that power and sound to match that smooth body style. 2 wins out of 3 races for the Henry J. The Jag guy also lost $25, woo hoo, today, but back then, it was a lot of money. Our friend had to borrow all of the money to race, saying he would pay us back if he lost. But, he was so confident that it did not matter. This was Easter Break and the status was on the line.

We were all happy driving back from the Westminster Ave. drag strip back to Bixby Knolls, but we had to make one last stop in Lakewood at Oscar’s Drive in. The Henry J was overheating, so he went straight home. We kept going to Oscar’s in my 58 Impala. No races for us out of Merle’s Drive In in Newport Beach, but hopefully at Oscars, we might get a chance.

The place had the usual suspects in the hot rods and cruisers. As we cruised through the place, it seemed no one wanted to race. Besides, we were outsiders here, just wanting something to eat. But, as we left the parking lot, a black 55 Chevy followed us for several blocks. At each signal light, he slowly came up on the other lane just as the green light came on. He did not race or do anything else. Finally at Carson and Lakewood, the last empty stretch of road was coming up near the Lakewood Country Club. This being very late at night and there was little traffic at this normally busy intersection. We thought it was the last chance to race, tonight. The 55 came up and was right next to us, giving a pointing finger to the road ahead. No, not that finger. His motion meant “let’s race.” The light, the empty street, only two cars waiting for the green, is was show time. The scene looked like a movie action ready to happen.

My Impala just had the C&O Stick Hydro installed, matched up to the Racer Brown Cam and 4:56 gears, I was ready. Because it looked like I was shifting at the previous lights, he thought a race against a 3 speed stick was easy pickings. Yes, that C&O had some hard shifts through the gears. Finally, we were nervous and at the green light, (actually when the yellow went dark) there was a split second before the 55 saw the green. By the time the green was actually on, it took about 2 sec to him to step on the gas. So, I immediately took off with a car length lead and through all of the gears and left that black 55 Chevy in the dust. (At least two car lengths behind.) By the time we hit the beginning of the golf course, the ¼ was over, but we kept going. The Racer Brown Cam always pulled well after the ½ way mark, so now it was cranking. As the golf course went by, it became a ½ mile race past the Douglas Aircraft Surplus Yard and empty buildings.

Finally, at the next light, the 55 turned around and went back towards Oscar’s Drive In to be with his friends. We just drove home happy for the chance to finally race that night. Easter vacation was a success. Undefeated street rating, still in tact. Boy, did that C&O make the Impala come off of the line so much quicker.

Jnaki

After the word spread about how fast my Impala was with the new cam and C&O Stick Hydro, not too many locals wanted to race again for quite some time. But, there was an race against a hot, modified 56 Chevy that had some repercussions for the Impala. (Vacuum vs progressive manual )

 

Someone should find and bring your old Impala back to life. On E%@y this past weekend someone had the twin listed for auction. Black, 348, modified hydromatic trans, all stock body and in very original condition the listing stated. I think it was somewhere in the So. California area.

 

Story/Memory popped in this AM, 1964, had my 57 Chev, had installed junkyard 348, tri-carb, 3 speed, 4:11, Street slicks, fairly fast 1/8 mile Street race car. Cruisin Wisconsin ave Saturday night and was told a guy was looking for me for a $ race, finally met up at bank parking lot off wi. ave, he had a 62 Ford 406, tri-carb, 4 speed car, Street slicks, sounded healthy, have a coversation, told him, his car was out of my league, no point of racing, OK, now he's chirping away about me beating some of his friends, taking their $$$, calling me chicken$hit etc, we all have met this type guy, So........Finally my ego overloaded my butt and said let's race $25, I get 4 car lengths, he agrees and we went to an area that was marked off 1/8 mile, we had a girl starter and someone at finish line in case it was close. It's on, I bring R's up , dump clutch, never saw him, he missed a 1-2 shift, could not make that up in 1/8, go back to bank for payoff and he's still pissed, now wants to fight because he lost and wanted a rematch, full 1/4 mile, I said No, beat you once, that's enough, the group that I hung out and did this Street racing had a code, not paying up and fighting was not tolerated, So..... Got my $25 and he left quietly, (sort of) I waxed him, only because he was idiot, my friends told me he went up in smoke on launch and missed 1-2 shift which is pretty hard to do with a 4 speed trans. Had a neighbor w/ Red 62 Impala SS, 409, 2x4, 4 speed car, Street slicks, King of Street racing in our area for few years and his #100 wife drove it when $$$ on line, he always missed shifts, believe the car was named "Night Train" or "Locomotion" Any Milwaukee Wisconsin guys remember this car ?

 

Hello 2MANY,
I wish it were my old Impala. Do you have the link for that ad? There are many Impalas on Ebay ranging from 30k to100k. But so far the ones I have found are not my old Impala. Back in August, 1958 IMPALA (ANDY) here on the HAMB thought he once owned a black Impala that he bought from an old guy in Santa Monica,CA in his late 60's. This is the conversation I had with him.
Hey Andy,

Sorry, but your Impala has black plates and ours had yellow plates. one of the owners could have switched the plates. Sometimes, new owners do not want the plates that came with the car and ask the DMV to issue new ones. So, if the guy I sold it to in 1965, sold the car to someone else up to the year 1970, the new owner could have requested new black plates. (to match the black car) After 1970, the plates were blue and yellow.

Also, the new owners could have switched out the air cleaner top from chrome to black, and the valve covers. I had chrome covers and Moon aluminum breathers on them. I remember that in 1960, we had a Racer Brown Cam and solid lifters installed which gave us more than 280 hp. I was responsible for adjusting the solid lifters every week, so I was very familiar with those chrome valve covers. One of the Moon breathers leaked as I installed it incorrectly. I cut out one large hole instead of drilling small holes for breathing. The other one was perfect as I drilled small holes and left a larger space near the bottom of the pattern… no oil leaks there.

One other thing I remember, I had an antenna installed on the right side passenger front fender. Since I had the original angled one removed from the right rear corner. (I also had the hole fixed with lead, not bondo) The rear curve of the car panel was damaged by a huge military truck. I had it repaired with lead in 1960. Over the years, the black re spray on this repair started to fade more than the stock paint. It was noticeable to me, but the overall black paint was still immaculate with weekly wax and cleaning.

Somewhere in my memory, when you mentioned a reverb system in the trunk, I did experiment with a reverb for the radio and speakers. It was an inexpensive set up. But, that is a jogged memory. The rear 3 red stock lights on each side were also wired to come on all together when the brakes were applied. So, they should have been wired as such. I installed an extra red light on the white back up light socket.

But, if you found the C&O hydro bill in the glove box, it should have my name on it. There was only one 58 Impala with a C&O hydro installed, but that company was growing fast and maybe this is another one. Mine was a column shifter, too. It did shift very hard on each automatic shift. Manually, it seemed like it was smoother, but the shift was instant. The C&O was less expensive than a B&M, so I opted to get the C&O. But, if you did inspect the floor board from underneath, there should have been a patched area for a floor shifter, I installed a floor shifter for the original 3 speed, but it was too awkward, so I took it out. Then I had the hydro installed.

I sold it with black rims and Buick bolt pattern lugs on the front. I had Henry’s Axle Co. make new axles with Buick bolt patterns on the rear. The Buick pattern was so I could mount the Buick Skylark wire wheels on my car. I had purchased 5 pristine wire wheels for $125.00 and 4 got stolen within two months. I sold the single spare rim and tire for $150 a few months later.

So, was your Impala once mine? It could be, as there are too many variables to overlook. Maybe one of the owners did not like the red interior, so he converted it to black. Trying to make it all black for that stock look resale value. But the rims would be a dead giveaway. No one purposely alters the bolt pattern to a Buick pattern unless it is for a different wheel. A C&O hydro? Too close for comfort…

Hopefully, you can find the copy of the C&O hydro bill and the name of the person you bought the car from way back then.

Thanks for your help,

Junji Nakamura
Jnaki on the HAMB
One different thing (that could have been removed) was a very sturdy, solid, trailer hitch just below the license plate. That has saved many rear bumps by other careless people over the years. We used it to tow our 40 Willys to the drags at Lions Dragstrip.

 

The heydays of street racing was O/T cars so the names are kept out, clearly NOT to protect the innocent. 1st one, I tried and tried to get the new car to run me for a good sum of $$$, but no. Seeing his girl under the parking lot light showing off "the promised land" was pay enough (not a really suitable story for here). We lined up and I smoked that thing 6 ways to Sunday. Another, a dear friend to this day, he was known to sneak a shot of 'juice' to the unsuspecting and there was a couple races where we didn't get paid because of it. I simply called him out and he gave a car length without asking if I wanted anything. Sure, I took it, AND he gave me the "leave" too. I must have put 8 cars on him. I didn't tell him I put a 150 shot on the car and he made assumptions. "We had to show you what you were doing to others bro." He didn't like it much. The last one was my bracket racer. There were 5 of us to start, we were supposed to put a $100 bill in a kitty on race day, winner take all. By the race day there was just 2 of us, he too is a dear friend still today, and having stuck with it was IHRA Mod Champion in '14. We raced just to race and I got him pretty good at the track. No harm, no foul, I ran an 11.40 to his 11.80-something I think. Like an asshole I'm at the top end and rolling my window down to raise a fist as I cross, the realized at a bit over 120 that would be stupid so I rolled it back up. "What was with the window, did you roll it down and up?" "Yeah so I could do this as I cross the stripe!" raising a fist. We hugged it out, I was done with street racing that very night. Do I miss it? All of it, track and street. I'd love to post a pic or 2 but won't for respect of the board.

 

One of my best buddies in High school was Jim. He kept getting beat in his 50 ford-had a merc flathead so he stepped up to a 56 Pontiac 2 door hardtop. It ran.....ok with it's stock 316 and slant-pan 4 speed hydro but after he swapped the 2 barrel to a 4 barrel and ran dual exhaust, it perked up pretty good.
When my car, also a 50 ford with 53 merc motor was down for repairs, I'd borrow my mom's 55 olds super 88. It was all stock with the 324, 4 barrel and it also had the GM slant-pan 4 speed hydro trans. Jim's pontiac and our olds both had 3.23 gears. Jim and I used to race the Olds against the Pontiac occasionally and the Pontiac would always win. He'd wind that thing 200-300 rpms more than my Olds in every gear and slowly creep past me every damn time! It was maddening.
One night we met up on the straight road next to the ball field in our little farm town in Oregon. We lined 'em up and Jim would raise his hand and drop it 3 times...on the 3rd drop we'd go. I timed it just perfect and did a neutral-drop with mom's olds while Jim power braked his pontiac and we busted 'em off at precisely the same time. That heavy old olds never spun a tire [dad just put new snows on earlier that week] .....just lifted the headlights and lunged off the line. I got Jim by 1/2 a car and I was able to keep ahead of him the entire race...I was jazzed and that's when the red lights came on.....I pulled over and Jim flashed past me and kept going. The cop hollered at me to stay put, he'd be right back and he was, with Jim in front of him, driving slow. He ticketed both of us for street racing....$105 ticket and we could argue it out in court or pay the fine.
I had a job, making $1 an hour washing dishes at a resturaunt after school so I paid my fine but Jim was unemployed. Jobs were tough to find so to pay his fine, Jim began "borrowing" other peoples stuff and got busted...did a year in prison.
All this happened back in 1965 and Jim and I still keep in touch. Jim's got a 66 big block chevelle now.
The photo of my parents Olds was taken in '68 after I bought it and put chrome reverse wheels on it.
Total tally of busted parts with that Olds was 2 transmissions, 1 axle and I flat spotted a new snow tire..don't ask.