tell us your street racing story!

[68custom]

while I have not done it for decades as a teen and early 20 something I used to race on the street. let me start by saying that I know that's it is both dangerous and illegal, but it was the thing to do back in the day.
my fastest car was a 68 SS350 Nova that my Grand mother had given me on my 16th birthday. it was close to pristine till I got my hands on it. almost immediatly I changed the cam to a 350HP 327 cam (also known as a 151) with lifters and stronger springs. at the same time I installed a Edelbrock C4B aluminum intake manifold and a 650 Holley also a Mallory dual point distributor. now this car ran strong stock but these mods really woke it up! in the beginning I was running the stock Powerglide tranny and 2.73 gears it would do 90 in low and god knows how fast it would go in high gear? this was a decent combo cause it would be rolling before I got into the powerband and I rarely had to worry about wheelspin. when I think how dangerous that was running on crappy bias ply tires it still makes me shudder! and lets not forget that the brakes were manual drums at all four corners! (69 was the first year a SS Nova had front Disc brake as standard equipment)man let me tell you brake fade SUCKS!
I knew this car was fast for the time when my friends 68 442 could not beat me out of the hole. needless to say my favorite victims were the rich kids whose daddy's had bought Trans Ams or Z-28s for there kids. it was not even fair how bad I would beat them! and soon enough if they knew me or the car they would not race me. this car served me well, later I installed a Muncie 4 speed and a set of 3.55 gears then it was quick and fast!
that's one of my stories what ya got?

 

[blhagstrom]

A buddy and I were the great "posers".

Late 70s. No money

I have a 70 chevy 1/2 ton (remember when pickups were cool? CB radio and all.) It is a camper special, some tall ass gears in the rear (I forget the size). Had it all dressed up including 4" chrome stacks fed by 3" straight through truck muffler off the collectors of Appliance headers (stock 4 bolt main 350). I have a Holly intake and 650 double pumper. Stuck dual points on her and added the giant coil. Lots of chrome crap.

Never could break the rears loose on the line.

She was all look.

BUT, I never found the top end. Always had to back off. I'm sure I was north of 120 a few times.

The big block boys would call me out.

They would sit and spin and I rolled away.

About the time they got rolling, I was hitting the power bands and they could not catch up.

The old man could beat me with his 454 on the open highway, but he didn't tell anyone.

Everyone thought I was the king of the street.

A fellow with a ford pickup who had money and knew how to build was the other king. We never raced but knew each other.

I knew what I had and what it could do and never got a big head as a fast truck. I never even bragged it up. Years later I heard all the rumors of how bad ass I was. :lmao:

My buddy had a 66 wagon and through his brothers got all the chrome and crap for the motor. We slapped a hood scoop on it, tucked N50-15s on baby moons under the back and everyone thought that stock 283 2-speed slush bucket was a killer.

It couldn't get out of its own way.

All attitude.

All show, no go.

No one even challenged him.

The rumors on that one were wild too.




Years later I helped restore a lot of Mopar Muscle. Some really sweet stuff. The 426 hemi has one great sound to it. I never drove it on the street. I know I would have gotten in trouble.

 

[GuyK]

I never raced regularly, but did the stoplight Grand-Prix on occasion just to show the 5.0 Mustangs in the area they weren't the be-all, end-all. I had a '69 Dart I put a mild 318 (to me) in, with a wide ratio A-833 4 speed. First gear in the trans is 3.09:1, the standard A833 has a 2.66:1 first. As a result, I could run a 3.23 Sure-Grip in back and still leave the line hard, with as much top end as I cared to use. Only real trouble was keeping motor mounts intact, even with a torque strap. It really needed more tire though. This combo would get 3rd gear rubber anytime, and if conditions were right (cool and dry) I could get 4th. The car had 4 wheel drums also, but Chrysler made 10" standard for all v-8 cars, and I think GM used 9" on the Novas. I never had much trouble with brake fade, but then again I used all the gears going up and down to try and prevent just that.

 

[ponderwilu]

For my fellow AK'ers that can't remember life without a computer, cellphone or CD here's a drag racing story for ya'. Let me set the stage. It's the late sixties ... the height of the muscle car era. Pick any Saturday night and the streets were packed full of young gunslingers eager to add another notch on their pistol. Only the "weapons of choice" carried names such as Cobra Jet & Judge, Charger & "Goat" (aka GTO), Cuda' & Chevelle, Demon & Duster and in my case ... Road Runner. One night a young kid out in his mom's grocery getter (a satellite) dared to rev the engine as he pulled up next to me at a red light. I laughed in his face. Suddenly the light changed and he blew off ... as did I. He kept his 3/4 car length lead straight to the next light. Where I angrily challenged him to follow me back to the last red light for a second "run".
As we left the light this time we were closer but to my amazement he was slowly "walking" away when I heard the unmistakable sound no drag racer ever wants to hear ... a police siren on my butt. I pulled over and the kid in the "sleeper" kept going. The cop gets out and walks over to my rolled down window. He says "Here I am enjoying a cup of coffee sitting on the overpass and you decide to drag race. I think ... what the hell I'm gonna let this one go and finish my coffee. And what happens? You come right back less than five minutes later to the same exact spot AND RACE AGAIN! If I catch you out here one more time I'll throw you in jail ... now get out of here!" I did with a big lump in my throat.

 

[RamblinE]

I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the Seven-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money got no strings attached
We shut 'em up and then we shut 'em down

Tonight, tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em off in my first heat
Summer's here and the time is right
For racing in the street

We take all the action we can meet
And we cover all the north east state
When the strip shuts down we run 'em in the street
From the fire roads to the interstate
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up
And go racing in the street

Tonight, tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em all out of their seats
Calling out around the world, we're going racing in the street

I met her on the strip three years ago
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there's wrinkles around my baby's eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs "Baby did you make it all right"
She sits on the porch of her daddy's house
But all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born
For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands

Tonight tonight the highway's bright
Out of our way mister you best keep
'Cause summer's here and the time is right
For racing in the street

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[rjw1678]

Back in 1975 I had a 1974 Pontiac Grand Prix with a 400 cubic inch, 4 barrel carb and dual exhaust. On a Sunday afternoon in 1975 I lined up next to a first gen Dodge Charger 383. We were even until my speedometer pegged at 110 and then I started pulling away from the Charger and I stopped looking at the speedometer.

I haven't street raced in the last 35 years.

 

[68custom]

I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the Seven-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money got no strings attached
We shut 'em up and then we shut 'em down

Tonight, tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em off in my first heat
Summer's here and the time is right
For racing in the street

We take all the action we can meet
And we cover all the north east state
When the strip shuts down we run 'em in the street
From the fire roads to the interstate
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up
And go racing in the street

Tonight, tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em all out of their seats
Calling out around the world, we're going racing in the street

I met her on the strip three years ago
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there's wrinkles around my baby's eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs "Baby did you make it all right"
She sits on the porch of her daddy's house
But all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born
For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands

Tonight tonight the highway's bright
Out of our way mister you best keep
'Cause summer's here and the time is right
For racing in the street

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

always loved that song, but Bruce don't know much about big and small block chevy motors. a 396 is a big block and no set of "fuelie" heads will ever fit this motor as they are a small block head. usually 461 or 461x castings.

 

[gadget73]

The one and only time I 'raced' anyone I blew the heater core. Dude didn't pass me until I let off though.

This was a couple years ago, I was heading up 176 outside of Reading, PA in my '86 Towncar. The Townie has an HO motor, ported heads, duals, etc. its not a hot rod, but it rolls down the road quite effectively for being 2 tons of brick moved with a 302. It runs a 16.01 second quarter mile, which is decent for what it is but fairly pathetic if you're talking performance cars.

Anyway, I was heading up the road, doing maybe 65 and some guy in a late 80s Honda Quaalude runs up behind me and jerks over at the last second, making me think he was going to take my bumper off. For some reason I was in a mood, so I put the pedal down. It was funny, I was running along with one hand on the wheel listening to the Beach Boys, and he was in racer crouch over the wheel. He kept looking over, and I kept being there. That kept on till we got to maybe 95, then I just pulled away and kept going. I have no idea how fast I was really going, the last number on the speedometer is 85, and the needle was past that and hanging against the shift indicator. I did the math based on RPM and gearing later and figured I was probably doing north of 120. Then the window got foggy and the car started to have that sweet reek inside. I let up and some minutes later the dude flew by me. Ended up doing a 6 hour heater core swap that weekend. I guess in the long run, the other guy won.

 

[trhee]

Back in 2005, I bought a 2006 Subaru WRX Limited Edition in Aspen White with two tone leather interior. Even a stock one is fast with a 0-60 time of 5.6s but I had a bunch of work done to it and shaved 1.5s off of that time, making it faster than a stock STI.

During the time I had the car, for whatever reason, I had so many kids wanting to race me, mostly Honda Civics. Never lost, but then again, most of these Civics were all show and no go.

 

[elcoholic]

When I was in high school '72-'74 I had a '58 VW Baja bug so didn't races jack. I had friends that did. I was a lot boy at George Chevrolet in Bellflower. One of the line mechanics financed their rear-engine side-winder top fuel rail street racing an insane Challenger. They'd race for at least $500 and trailer it to Whittier and run on the deserted freeway at 03:00. Another good friend had a blown big block '68 Cougar with M&H wrinkle walls. This was a 3 mpg car. His dad was the most senior traffic officer in Long Beach. He couldn't get a ticket in LB. We had a lot of fun.

10 years later I had a nice '62 356B Porsche that was originally my Grandpa's with a nicely built engine. 1760 cc, Webers, lots of head work, about 100 hp on avgas. At a light a bug wanted to run, so we went for it. Of course he had me off the line. At about 65 in second (also 6500 rpm) I had him and speed-shifted into third. Missed 3rd, found 1st thanks to those wonderful ZF synchro's and grenaded that motor all over the pavement. All 4 exhaust valves met their pistons and the 2 of the lifters opened holes in the case. It was ugly and expensive. After that I stuck to winding it out in the twisties. About a zillion times more satisfying.

 

[JBL GUY]

"I know that's it is both dangerous and illegal, but it was the thing to do back in the day."

My story is 8 of my classmates did not graduate with me. I attended the funerals of all of them.

There were 4 in each car, no one knows who lost control first.

There was a flat stretch of highway about 3 miles long just outside of town with a couple of groves of trees about a quarter of a mile apart. They would go out there to race for the quarter mile and top end.

Law enforce said that they must have been going over 100 miles per hour when it happened.

That is my story.

All of you that have lived to tell your stories, be thankful.

 

[TrrR]

OK, way back when, in my generally misspent youth, I had a '68 Pontiac Beaumont (basically a Chevelle) with a 350 hp 327 and mid ratio (2.54:1) first gear 4-speed and 12 bolt rear end with 3:31 posi gears in the back. A nice combination when you could hook it up without wheel hop. One morning coming home from work, I meet a guy in a big Dodge Polara at a red light.

Well, gotta go, you know! And so we do.

Racing away from the light, he's starting to pull away so I figure it was probably a retired squad car with a 440 in it because Grampa's Polara doesn't run like that.

Suddenly, there's red and blue lights and a siren behind us so I figure we're done here and I coast it down and pull over. Cop pulls in behind me. Polara is receding in the distance.

I get the usual "Do you know why I pulled you over?" "Why yes Officer, I was clearly speeding". And he says "...and for that, you're going to get a ticket. Your friend in the the other car who kept going however, is going to get a summons as I managed to get his plate."

I happily signed for my ticket and cruised home at a respectable speed, lesson learned, smiling all the way.


As JBL GUY says, we should all be thankful we lived to tell the tale.




My current daily driver generally does not encourage people to challenge me at a red light.

 

[John James]

Late 60s I had two friends that both had '64 Falcon Sprints, both the same red paint, both with Keystone Mags. The two cars looked exactly alike. One guy worked for Holman and Moody, grinding cams. His Falcon had the popular 289ci. that he had built extensively. That car would pull the front wheels in 1st and 2nd. It was a four speed. He built quite a reputation on the streets of Charlotte. The other guy's Falcon had the smaller 260ci., a two barrel carb. and three on the tree. Nice car but not all that fast. We would go out early in the evening and play around in the slower car and get beat almost every time. Later in the evening we would switch to the other car and usually find a couple of the cars we had raced earlier and challenge them again. That built Falcon was very hard to beat! Some people saw the humor in it, some didn't.

They looked a lot like this, but with different wheels.

 

[jerrymrc]

Before I switched to Pontiac's my last Chevrolet was a 66 corvair with a crown kit, 327, 30-30 solid cam and ran low 12's.

On the street it hooked like nothing else.

 

[Yamaki]

This is more of a road racing story but I believe it fits...

I drive a 2006 300C SRT8. Bought it new and have just a bit over 49K miles on it now. Great car, very comfortable, handles great (with the mods I've done to the suspension) and it has phenomenal power from the 6.1L HEMI.

Anyway, I went for a drive through the countryside one afternoon this summer. I made a big loop, from my home out West of Portland, on to Hwy 30 and then I headed south on Hwy 47, eventually to find my way home. Highway 47 is a nice 2 lane country road through the rolling hills. It gave me an opportunity to open the windows for that wonderful smell of fresh cut hay that permeates the air here in late Summer. Above it all, I was enjoying the sound my SRT8 makes and how great the shifter paddles work as I travelled through the twisty back roads.

I was well into my leisurely drive through the country when suddenly, buzzing up behind me, comes a tricked out Civic.

You know, the one that's sponsored by Folgers? Big can sticking out the back was the giveaway.

Anyway, Ricky Ricer flips on his fogs, shifts down a gear, pulls up next to me (this is a curvy 2 lane road, remember, Ricky?) pointedly stares at me, drops another gear and winds it out. I'm thinking, "Is this guy for real?" and, "I'm enjoying my drive. Do I need this?" At this point, Ricky Ricer pulls ahead, probably snickering to himself. Or so I imagined…

I decide Ricky needs a lesson. I kick it down out of OD to 3rd with the paddles and push on the go pedal. I quickly catch up with him, shift into 4th and stick to his rear bumper. I can see him working the gears, throwing the car into the corners (Why don't owners of front wheel drive cars get it? It just won't do what you want it to, Ricky.) and he really begins to push hard. All the while I'm still on him like a bumper sticker.

Finally, I back off a bit, hit the lights, shift down to 2nd and let the Six Point One sing it's song. I swing out, give the pedal a sound push to the floor and blast by.

I slow down, letting him play bumper sticker for a while then I steadily increase speed. It's obvious Ricky hasn't spent too much time on a road track and that he was struggling with the poor handling. I keep increasing my speed, widening the gap, clipping apexes, running straights, up and over and around the farmlands and hills until Ricky is just a speck in the mirror.

I get to Hwy 26 and head back towards town at a sedate pace. Pretty soon, here comes Ricky! We are now on a 4 lane freeway but he's done playing...he comes up beside me, gives the car a long look and a thumbs up gesture and motors on.

At least he was a good sport.

 

[usedto]

I graduated from high school in 1968, and we had our fair share of guys around town with hot cars. 66 Chevelle SS396's, 440 GTX, 63 1/2 ford with a REAL 427 w/2-4s, 58 Chevy Biscayne with a 425 hp 409 and on. Almost every weekend during the summer, somebody went racing.

I had a '55 Chevy 210 sedan with a 235 6 cyl, powerglide. One of the older guys had a '54 Chevy 4-door with a 216 w/3 on the tree. We were all bored to death one night, and someone suggested that the two of us race. Off we went to the road that had the 1/4 mile marked. Half the town followed us out there to watch. We went twice - once from a dead stop, once from a roll. Bill's 3 speed jumped me a fender out of the hole, then we stayed even through the "traps". We turned around, paired up about 10mph, and hammered it. I pulled him about a fender, and again we stayed even. When we got to the start/finish line, half the guys were rolling on the ground laughing. Everyone piled in their cars, and we meandered back to the grocery store parking lot. I parked next to Bill off to the side, and we walked back over to the group.

About two minutes after we all arrived back, the local weekend cop came driving up. He had seen the caravan coming back into town, and knew where we'd been. He hopped out of his car, then asked who had been racing. A few snickered, but nobody said anything. About then, Bill's radiator cap let loose and blew the overflow on the ground. The cop looked over, and saw that along with my 55 burning the rear-main-leak oil off the exhaust pipe.

Everybody started laughing, the cop shook his head, got in his car, and drove off.

FYI - At 1/4 mile, both of these cars were just barely approaching the speed limit!!

 

[ponderwilu]

One More

I would be remiss to not relay my most memorable street racing tale. I was what ... 17 maybe? In our small town, in Southern Maryland they finally installed a McDonald's. The local drag racing crowd immediately began gathering in the parking lot particularly on Saturday nights. Me included in my '69 Plymouth Road Runner. The lot was full of what today would fetch nearly hundreds of thousands dollars worth of American steel. I kid you not.
Fred Boswell had a '69 428 Ford Cobra Jet mustang that literally chirped wheels without trying from a light. If you can name it ... that car passed thru our gathering spot at one time or another. One Saturday night some "boys" from Allentown (the area next to us) drove in with a full blown "drag-strip" Chevy Nova on a flatbed trailer. They even had a mirror mounted underneath the chassis to show off the detail. Slicks and all.
In our "gang" was one ... Sam Samuels. His Dad was into drag racing. They had a beautiful red '67 street legal GTO that Sam was allowed to drive but his Dad's drag strip car was a blue "66" GTO fully "tubbed" with slicks and radical cam with open headers. When Sam heard the challenge from our neighboring street racers he told them to wait here. He drove home and in a few minutes returned in his Dad's "un-tagged" drag strip beast .. slicks, open headers and wild cam choking out the night noise in a symphony of beautiful American heart pounding noise. I wish I could relay the outcome but in a mind of better judgement I split before the Law arrived. From what I heard the next day they both ran on a small strip of road and Sam won. Glory days. Gone forever.

 

[grillebilly]

Growing up, our area had more than its share of fast cars. Driving around looking for a race was pretty much all many of us did. This was before everything was tubbed, so getting the power to the ground was everything. We often went from a roll. I could write a book on street racing in the mid 70's.
My favorite races were on my Harley. It was a '72 Sportster that was bored, stroked, and built for drag racing. It was stupid quick, but laid down about 100 MPH. I would go looking for the Jap superbikes and torch their ass off the line, but as soon as I hit high gear I knew they would be coming by me fast, probably shifting into second gear about then. Did this all the way through the 90's. It finally blew up in '01. The rear cylinder "gave up" and blew to pieces in high gear at WOT. Broke the frame in two places, parts went through the gas tank, pitched the rear head, carb was swinging by the fuel line. Huge mess, I was lucky to survive the explosion, fire, and skidding sideways with the tire locked up...until I pulled the clutch in and got it to the side of the road.

 

[TheX]

I've been riding sportbikes for over 30 years. This is my current ride, I have too many stories. I win a lot.

 

[BillyBatts]

I spent summers in Upstate NY. At the time, they were building a new highway, Interstate 88 that now runs from Binghamton to Albany. There were stretches of 2 to 5 miles that were done, but not open to traffic because the highway was not completed.

My Cousin (whom I stayed with in the summer) and I would hand out on this highway at night long after the work crews went home and a bunch of us would drag race. I blew a perfectly good 426 Hemi in a 70 Dodge Charger doing this. But the fun we had. The fastest car was a 70 Dart that some gear head had hopped up with a hemi and god knows what else. It was unbeatable. We'd race 1/4 mile stretches on one the northbound lanes , and drive back on the south.

I always was amazed we never saw law enforcement. Perhaps it was because it was a bit out in the country at the time, and the Sheriff could not be bothered, or no one heard us, although that's a far stretch. With Thrush mufflers and ASP's, our cars were pretty damn loud.

Memories. Luckily, no one was hurt, and it was all in fun.