If you grew up in the 60s and 70s and didn't have at least one car you tried to build and race, either street or track, something was wrong w you!! Garlits started that rear engine stuff. Mongoose and Snake?? Anybody??
My baby was a '70 Challenger. Big brother had one that he let me ride around in with him and drink beer at 12, so natch, I had to have one and over build the crap out of it. Girlfriends don't take kindly to the competition. Lol. All my extra coin went into my beast.
Go down to the airport and top off the tank (after putting ten gals of Sunoco 260 in it) w cessna fuel at 160 octane or some shit. Then we headed for the straight strips of Earth City.
Perfect 1/8ths and 1/4ths (Quarters.)
Many a title changed hands there over the years!!
Uh oh. I'm doing the old man reminiscing thing again.
Better grab my meds. Lol.
Thanks to all you guys for posting and ringing my recollection bell!!
A couple of title stories. A man with a new Olds 442 and a guy with a lightly built '57 Chevy were going to race title for title. They went to one of the local measured quarter mile street spots and gave the two titles to a friend of mine to hold. My friend was on the smallish size and he realized there was gonna be one pissed off camper when the race was over. He gave the titles to somebody else to hold and got out of dodge.
A young man came into my station and noticed my old battered 57 dirt car sitting in my work stall. He asked if I wanted to race title for title. I said sure but we would have to go to the drag strip. He said listen to this and fired up his Nova SS. 283 with maybe a four barrel, factory cam, headers. I was feeling kind hearted so I took him
A little late to the 'party' but my high school yearbook ('69) was dedicated to one of our almost graduates that died in a Corvair with her boyfriend while "parking" during the winter with the engine running, both of them.
BTW: I lost my 1st street drag to a Corvair Spyder, who ever heard of turbo-charged stock American in 1969??
Another long car post. Totally off topic.
One of life's most embarrassing moments, street racing. Everybody was doing it. I had just gotten my license and was driving the family hand me down. Fairlane with a 289 and a C4 tranny. The police had cracked down on street racing, a few deaths too close together.
I am sitting at the redlight when a 283 Impala pulls up beside me. Zun, zun, the Chevy driver revs his motor. Why not? My first drag race of any kind. The light turned green and we both launched! Zun, zun, the zun, zun, zun! A cop turned left across the lanes we were in and didn't even notice we were drag racing! We shut down and went on our merry way. I had been leading but that was too embarrassing to call a race!
My little Mustang didn't have a top end when I got it built. The three to one rear gears already mentioned, and I stabilized the valves and timing chain. I was driving to the vo-tech one morning when a Chevy with a 396 wanted to race. OK, let's go! We touched off from a rolling start, about twenty. Instead of blowing his doors off I matched him side to side on the four lane in the middle of Baton Rouge.
Got up to ninety-five and that big block Chevy started to clatter. I blew the horn a few times until he looked over. When he did I shifted down in to fourth and motioned lets go! He shook his head and shut down. I could peg the speedometer in third at about 125. Shifting into high gear was just for show.
There was a side oiler overhead cam 427 Ford in town. This was the Nascar engine that shut down the factories. Nascar said enough. Chrysler had all of the parts to build a double overhead cam 426 the factory teams were monsters. If you didn't have a factory connection you couldn't run with them, they had too much better components. That 427 Ford was rated at 735 horsepower from the factory. The 427 vette was rated very low from the factory, putting out closer to 500HP depending on who's dyno you put it on. Anyway, I admittedly sidestepped the SOHC Ford. They only rolled it out of the garage for serious coin and I had serious doubts about beating it!
There was also a mystery engine Chevelle in town. FX car, it had a big big block in it a year or two before the first of the big block engines were put in cars in dealers' showrooms. Something over 427 inches, nothing known about it. Chevy released the first 396 a year or two later but those cars were nothing compared to that Chevelle. It had a cute set of lights to tell you when to shift too. They ran the Chevelle against a new 327 injected Corvette rated at 375HP. A rich kid owned the vette and his dad had to approve the race running title for title. It wasn't any contest. Cubic inches beats anything but cubic dollars!
I found one of the 427 Fords in the crate at a mechanic shop up the road from me. I offered two grand which was more than most cars cost then but no dice. The owner knew those engines were discontinued and he had his own plans for it.
The days of guts and gory, errrr, glory. I knew a guy with two big burn scars on his head, perfectly the same burns centered on his temples. He had built a 396 and went to test it. Somebody sent him to the wrong street, this one ended at a huge concrete lined canal. He was going so fast at night that he never saw the barricade and warning signs. He made like a birdie and hit the concrete wall at the far side of the canal WFO! Threw him and the engine out of the car. When they found him about fifteen minutes later his head was wedged between two header pipes cooking nicely on the canal bank. He and the engine had both been slung out of the car and somehow got together. Surprisingly he lived and had minimum brain damage.
I saw many wrecks and it was more amazing how many people lived through ridiculous crashes than those that died. When I had my wrecker service I went to pick up a LTD. I had to set the engine and transmission back in it, so many loose pieces I couldn't fit them on the wrecker and in the car, I had to call for another truck! Never found the radiator or battery, somebody grabbed them for scrap before I got there. The two boys in the car were knocked out but had woken up by the time they got to the hospital! No major dents or dings on the boys and after a good looking over they went home.
I have an immense respect for trees, they can be very strong!
Hu
