Glenn"Mr.Blue"Smith

I know times are different now and it's way too crowded for this stuff, but how many remember when...?
Even as late as mid 70's, here in Daytona Beach, there was a stretch of road heading out past the landfill. We had painted a wide white line at both ends of one strecth, nicely measured off at exactly 1/4 mile. There were an awful lot of black skid marks at both ends...(wonder why?)
I'll admit to having gone out there on a couple of late evenings after crusing the local Steak & Shake and finding someone to race in my '66 427 Vette. Others would be there also. One evening I've just finished a big smokie burnout to heat the hides. As the smoke slowly drifts away from my car, guess who was sitting facing me in the other lane? Deputy Dog VCSO! (Volusia County Sheriff's Office for the unchurched). I told him as he walked up, that I was just driving along and suddenly there was this hugh cloud of smoke from where someone had just done a burnout. I told him I had stopped in the smoke because I couldn't safely see to drive thru it. Now, I don't know if he believed me or not, or was just finding it so hard to keep from laughing, but he let me go and told me not to come back.
OK, the rest of the story... I was a police officer for a local city department at the time!! Can you imagine the trouble I would have been in if I had of been charged? That was my last trip to our city's local street racing hangout. Glenn

NHvette

Funny story.
I suppose there are many meanings to "Mr Blue".
I find most police are reasonable if you are respectful.

I have a greater respect for the local police a couple towns over this past weekend.
My son's dirtbike was stolen from a friend's house - in a town that
we moved from - due to it growing to a small city.
The police called to inform us - and get the VIN (didn't ever write it down).
It turns out that we knew the officer (wife was friendly with all the dept).
It didn't look good for us recoverign the bike in good shape.
Over the course of the day, they called back a couple times to update
me that they had reports of the two stolen dirt bikes being spotted.
By that evening, they had recovered the bikes. I suggested that she
go visit the officer and bring him and the guys a dozen muffins.
(no doughnut stereotypes)

chevylit

You betcha I remember. Late 50s,early sixties,had a 59 270 horse
4 speed. Just about every Fri. and Sat. night on the North Side of
Houston there was Street Race'n goin on. Out in the country,nice long
straight road,1/4 mile marked off.Nobody ever got hurt or killed,just a
bunch of car guys have'n a good time. By the way,I CAN attest to the
fact that a TEXAS HIWAY PATROLMAN ,complete with big ole hat and
big ole gun CAN get in the passenger seat of a 59 Corvette for the ride
to the JP to pay fine for "illegal contest of speed". Ah Yes, the "Good
Ole Days"!

1Z87L8

Dr.G

When I was 16 or 17 in the early 80's my friend had a 67 pont. tempest that had a worn out 400 pont. motor and a automatic trans that would slip when you put it in gear, but the car had been a drag car at one point in its life so it had an olds 4:56 rear with a snubber, man would that boat launch. Well one night we were out at the "strip" and we were racing a 71 Z/28, supposed to have an LT1 in it, and when I dropped my arms my buddy put it to the floor and lifted the tires about 8-10 inches off the ground. He lost the race, but got alot of respect for that worn out old race car.

hwcoop

When I was growing up in the late 60's in Montreal we had a freshly paved 2 mile Section of lightly travelled back road out by the airport.

Just about every weekend there was drag racing going on, much like you saw on "Two Lane Blacktop". Being 1969 there was everything from Hemi GTX's to Rat motored Vettes running, some stock and some very hairy. Some nights the traffic would be backed up for 1/2 a mile waiting to run.
There were times the police would just park and monitor the situation without interfering and other times everyone would scatter like rats.
It was all pretty cool for a couple of wide eyed teenagers checking out the action. One night in late 1971 a guy rolled a 1972 Pro Stock Hemi Duster off the trailer and blasted a few 9-10 second runs then loaded up and went home.
It all came to a quick end when some moron came blasting back up after a run and hit a spectator...it was all shut down after that.
But it sure was a few exciting years.

vettecrazy88

Drag racing in early 70's on main drag in town. One of our finest caught us. I pulled over and the other person sped off. He let me go from my license extracting ticket and told me his buddies were already in pursuit of the guy that ran. He said that they would take my pound of flesh from him. Phew!

crazywelder

Woodward Avenue, late '60's. You've seen some threads lately regarding Woodward, well I grew up less than a half mile off the boulevard. Although Friday and Saturday nights were the best cruising times, there was action 7 nights a week. I had a '64 442 but we usually cruised in my friends '66 Chevelle SS since it was much faster. He picked it up in '68 for $850 with the solid lifter 396 and a 4 speed. Between both cars we learned engine overhauls and Muncie rebuilds at least annually. At least one car always ran. The Olds could handle most of the Mustangs and Darts but the Chevelle could take care of the Road Runners, C1's and other bigger stock muscle.
There were 3 attractions on Woodward, girls cruising and looking for guys, guys looking for girls, and street racing. Woodward was a divided 8 lane highway through the suburbs north of Detroit. Wall to wall cars, people didn't really park and watch back then, gas was cheap and you drove back and forth along a 7 to 10 mile stretch all night long and stop at one of the many drive-ins along side. Go through a tank or two of Sunoco 260 per night.
Most of the cop cars in the area back then were Mopars so a keen eye could spot parking or tail lights from a distance to know if it was safe to race. Racing on the boulevard wasn't really safe and only the stock and slightly modified cars raced right on Woodward. The built cars (back then built meant 12-13 seconds) after some playing back and forth and a few rival words would go out to the X-way and everyone followed. There were some 10 second cars too, but back then a 10 second car wasn't very streetable. Racing for money was commonplace, $5 to $25 per gear was all most could afford. Now and then you would see a brand new muscle car with an older guy driving by himself (maybe late 20's or 30's) and chances are it was a toy from one of the big 3 out for some fun, and the factory guys were usually looking for a race, it was testing and marketing. If it was a new Pontiac, good chance it was from nearby Royal Pontiac and unless you had some extra ponies, best stay away. Royal Pontiac regularly had cars out cruising for promotional purposes. Even Jim Wangers himself.
On a good night we would do 3 or 4 races either on Woodward if the lights were good, or on the X-way. You really had to look the other car over good before provoking. 10 or 12 bolt? What kind of exhaust and sound? Hydraulic or solid lifters? What kind of tires? Automatic or manual? Weight? Choose the right competition, play a little but don't show it all, and bluff your way into a race. Then take home $20. Woodward was a serious strip for many years and there were a lot of serious accidents along the way. I rear ended a nice '68 Camaro one night because my 4 wheel drum brakes couldn't stop fast enough. Pretty stupid, but most gearheads have been there one time or another, it's in our blood. Woodward started dying around '73 when cars started dying. By then the average teen couldn't get insurance for anything with more than 350 cubes.
Back in 1994 the Woodward Dream Cruise was organized to help everyone relive those early days with a one day cruise. The 11th annual event will be on August 19th this year and I haven't missed a single one. It's not like the old days, but it's a lot safer. And it's kinda neat that there are so many people interested in old cars, that travel from several states and countries to make the event survive 11 years. Imagine 1.7 million people and 35,000 to 40,000 old cars on a 16 mile stretch of road.

icanfixitforyou

Astoria, Queens, NYC, I guess it was 1978 or 1979, anyone remember the summer when "The Son of Sam" was killing people in NYC??? That was a scary time, you couldn't take your girl and go parking ANYWHERE for fear of getting a few .45 rounds pumped into your heads.
We used to go to a spot called "Connecting Highways" it was a 3 lane 1/4 mile stretch of road between one highway on ramp and the next off ramp. If you did not make the off ramp there was a MAJOR 90* LEFT TURN that you had to negotiate, complete with a concrete wall some 30 or 40 feet high, there were many NASTY looking scratches, gouges and tire marks at least 3/4 of the way up that wall from several unfortunate souls. The Highway was below street level so everyone would hang over the railings above and watch the races below. We would pair up 2 or 3 cars across and stop traffic (you could hear cars skidding and crashing on the highway behind us, but WTF, it wuz NYC back in the day, Y'know?) One passenger would lean out of one of the car windows for a 3 count and off we would go, all I had was a 69 Satellite convertible (318) but it looked like a Road Runner and I could run some against some of the other lightweights. Anyway, there was this guy with a little box Nova that he had obviously stuffed a big block into, but nothing else. Everytime he would race he would go sideways (no posi rear) and hit the guys racing next to him, sometimes on both sides. Another guy had a 64 Belvedere with a Hemi, the car jumped like a FROG everytime he caught a gear, it was a sight to watch when those big slicks hooked up and that baby launched. We would race as long as we could, then Johnny Law would come by and move us all off. We would ride around for about 20 or 30 minutes, then come back and start racing again. The next time Johnny Law came back he would bring the Fire Trucks, they would hook up to the hydrants, hose down the highway real good and then we were done - NOT! After that we would cruise over to the Flushing, NY, Marina parking lot and start the races all over again!

That was back in the days when we were young and crazy, when the police did not take your cars away if you got busted. When helicopter air pursuit was practically unheard of, and you could get away with that kind of stupidity. Now - I go to the track if I want to race or see races. You hear of too many catastrophes in the unsupervised races. I am older now, I have to be a lot more careful. When I was 19 I was INVINCIBLE! Not any more!

rihwoods

Memories..heck yeah...here is a picture from the 1960 drag protest on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego...yeah...I'm old...



Note they are busting two gals in a Corvair...all the fast guys had split...
City had shut down a local 1/4 mile strip...all heck broke out and illegal street racing got out of control for the next several years..

hunt4cleanair

In the late 60's, I had a 67 Chevy II 327/350+ and ran around town with 8 inch slicks. Our favorite race place was on Manheim next to the runways at O'Hara Airport outside of Chicago. We would stop traffic, run the race and than at the clover leaf could go any one of eight different ways in case cops were chasing us. Crazy stuff.

Our favorite hang out was Skips on North Ave...kind of like a sonic today...it was all about cars and girls. The group I hung with drove Corvettes, roadsters (Model T), 57 Chevy's, big block camaro's, etc.

I usually found races against big block cars...some I won, some I lost...great memories. But I wouldn't do any of it today.

Jughead

That would have been poetic justice, a cop getting busted.

HDIronman

Ahhhhh yes, I do remember a closed section of Northline Rd behind Detroit Metro Airport back in the '60s......

Glenn"Mr.Blue"Smith

Wow, Loved those stories guys. I noticed no women chimmed in with their stories...even as passengers. That says a lot about Mars & Venus!


Police Officer & his '66 Vette...many many years ago. Glenn

Ganey

I have a friend w/ a painted white line in front of his house & another line 1/4 away. One of his cars was a street legal former early funny car box Nova w/ a spoiler on front w/ "Deuce's Wild".

I started building hot rods at an early age & had several 57s which were old at the time.
My race 57 427 bored, 2 4s, tunnel ram, solid lifter cam, magneto, 4 speed Hurst, slicks, etc. & street legal. Only have a few pics.- too busy racing etc....

mpett1

Thats a great pic...I see you still have the same tast in vettes...OH and keep the big motor...

VetteNut72

It was the early 70's and I was a High School senior at Chatsworth HS in the San Fernando Valley, Southern California. At the time, I had a 69 Chevelle 350/350 that ran mid 13's. In SoCal, the place to cruise was Van Nuys Blvd on a Wednesday night. There were movies and tv shows made about those times and that place. The street would be lined with hundreds, if not thousands of people watching the endless parade of cars passing by. The real fun, however, happened on Friday nights when everyone that wanted to race or watch, met in the BofA parking lot. Hours would go by talking and looking at cars till about 2am when the first racers would take off. Everyone that wanted to watch, or participate, would follow to one of the three or four places that we always went to race. It seems like we would always get a couple of races off before the police would come and break it up. We would all go to another street where we would get off a few more before being chased off again. This would go on till first light of the morning. The whole thing came to a stop when the city of Van Nuys passed laws to make it illegal to park or loiter on the Blvd.

Thanks for bringing back these memories for me! Those were great times!!

Craig

Glenn"Mr.Blue"Smith

Man, know what you mean. A few years ago I looked for all my old drag racing photos and realized I had only taken a few at the time! They are forever burned in my mind...even if I can't remember where I laid something down today! Glenn

rihwoods

Met a forum member (C5 section) who participated in the 1960 drag strip protest on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego...(we did not know each other back then),but he remembers how we got tear gassed by police when we ran for our cars....mine was a 49 Olds Coupe,B&M, 56 Olds engine...we would cruise from La Mesa to Lemon Grove then over to Oscar's on El Cajon Blvd..the night of the "protest",we shut down 6 or so blocks of El Cajon Blvd,and were running pairs of cars racing until police showed up and broke it up..
What was neat several gals participated in support by putting signs on thier cars..

Scottys78

The Front St. Races in Philly used to be cool now its all those damn ricers