How old are you and how long have you raced

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pittsburghracer said:
I thought you bought another car or am I thinking of someone else. This was a beautiful car that went into the left side wall hard.
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Fortunately, mine is rebuildable (no new car bought).

I might be biased, but I think it was beautiful too:
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Wrecked photo:
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Current state of affairs, slow and steady can win bracket races at least (going to cut the bubble down, but want it to clear the dual TBs…not everyone will like the bubble, I know):
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33IMP said:
As recently as ten years ago, I raced a two different airports. Banning, ca, about 100 mi east of L.A., the other in Rialto, between pomona and San berdoo. First ever of my laps in my Cortina at Banning, but only one race date, before somebody found an excuse to shut it down.
Raced several times at Rialto, won a race there, but we had to stop too, when planes would take off or land, cause the live runway crossed our shut down.
There was a period in socal when we were desperate to race anywhere, there was only one track running on a weekly basis, and it was about 60-100 mi from the L.A. basin. Long closed now, like ten others I raced at.
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A friend that still races wrecked past the finish line at the track (airport) I raced it. It dropped off at the finish line to assist planes taking off. My friend sliced his neck wide open with the race belts and almost died. They didn’t even know he wreck. Tony Hager for any of the Keystone racers. This was the old Youngstown Ohio track.
 
pittsburghracer said:
A friend that still races wrecked past the finish line at the track (airport) I raced it. It dropped off at the finish line to assist planes taking off. My friend sliced his neck wide open with the race belts and almost died. They didn’t even know he wreck. Tony Hager for any of the Keystone racers. This was the old Youngstown Ohio track.
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Yikes!!!
 
What a bunch of "youngsters". I'm 82 and still doing this crap. In the old days started out with a flathead powered Gasser. Then went in the service and missed a couple of years. Then started running low class "stockers". Ford, Chevy, and then Mopar. Around 1976-77 started running brackets. Kind of went nuts. Back then there were four brackets. I had a 1965 Valiant slant six for street bracket (and stock eliminator)
1965 Valiant 273 for Heavy eliminator
1968 Mercury Cougar with a 440 Chrysler for Pro eliminator
front motor small block chevy powered dragster for Super Pro.
I was racing 4 and 5 races a week
I took a break between about 1985 and 2000 for reasons I won't go into right now. Then got back into the slant six racing, as I still had my car.
I have drag raced at over 50 different tracks, and would be making more races, except for my wife's medical issues.
EDIT: 15 states.
 
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I started racing 42 years ago this summer and it seems like it was just yesterday.

The track is still there, but I no longer race at the little country 1/8th since the shutdown is a little short for todays speed.

Probably had some of the best times of my life there.

Tom
 
I am 37 next month. I made my first pass at Riverdale Raceway in Toutle, WA in 2010. I ran the crap outta that pump gas 360. It took me 13 years to get back to the track. Got married, bought a house, made babies...You know the usual life stuff. Pic is from back then.

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pittsburghracer said:
Some good stories here guys. Keep them coming as we aren’t dead yet. The one thing I gotta learn is I gotta start paying guys to fix my daily vehicles. I keep telling church members I’m not a mechanic. Never was never will be. I HATE working on cars and don’t have the proper tools or training to do so. All it does is gets me frustrated and keeps me away from things I can do.
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If you do it correctly, your trained...by yourself
 
19DUSTER73 said:
I am 37 next month. I made my first pass at Riverdale Raceway in Toutle, WA in 2010. I ran the crap outta that pump gas 360. It took me 13 years to get back to the track. Got married, bought a house, made babies...You know the usual life stuff. Pic is from back then.

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Steve, I should have looked closer at the way you made that lexan frame. You have a cool car
 
MOPARMAGA said:
If you do it correctly, your trained...by yourself
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There’s a lot I can do myself but like I said I don’t have the proper tools to work on daily drivers and hate doing so. Half the problem is I’m old, bad knees, no lift, and I work in a gravel driveway. Not fun.
 
19DUSTER73 said:
I can get you some pics. The previous owner built them. Thanks. Car and driver had a rough go that day lol.
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Yeah it happens, man my entire face peeled off by that next Tuesday, no fun.
Thanks for the pics
 
I'm 61 tomorrow. Street racing with a 327 I built in Auto tech in 1982 in a '73 Nova, went to Mason Dixon in 1985 ran a blistering 13.26. Currently have a 68 Barracuda FB Rb stroker, haven't been to the track with the new engine. Current best with the old 440 was 10.66@ 125. By the way it has tags and insurance. I prefer my '23 Scat Pak it's a blast. Also have a '87 Monte Carlo SS w/427 sbc. Good thread.
 
I'm 46. I have had classic cars since I was 15, but have only been racing in events since 2021. The world shutting down in 2020 motivated me to challenge myself with more than just cruising around in the old cars. I love the feeling of launching the car off the line.

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pittsburghracer said:
Pens, no score boards, and no reaction times. Heck I raced at one track that we had to hold up when an airplane wanted to land.
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"The Greeks" in Youngstown? I recall that airport. Larry and Mike Ferrell used to race their Cuda there and a blue Aspen RT. I stuck to Quaker City back then - much nicer track and no airplanes!
 
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As I put in another thread, I went to my 1st race at Thompson Drag Raceway in 1979 with a friend. Had my car (69 Charger 383-2bbl, 2.76 peg leg) there later that same year. IIRC, it went something like a smokin' 16.70 or 16.80 on that first pass as it vapor locked as soon as it hit 3rd gear. I was hooked and starting in a 5-yr college co-op program for mechanical/automotive engineering. So worked 3 months/went to school 3 months/repeat/repeat each year for 5 years. Each spring I'd budget $400 to buy parts for the car to make it faster. Intake, carb, headers, cam, ignition (had to have one of those big yellow Accell SuperCoils!), 8-3/4 pig with better gears, many sets of used slicks, etc, etc. Worked it's way down to running in the low 14's. Then after undergrad graduation, put the car in storage for a couple years while I went to grad school then got married and moved to Michigan. Hauled the car up there and started racing at Milan Dragway. Finally took the heads off it and had them "ported" (maybe a stretch...) but with some more cam got the car to run low 13's. By the late 80's, the 383 was tired as it was being shifted at 6700 rpm every pass (it slowed down if you shifted earlier). Blowby was too high to measure! So I pulled it and built a 440 for it and ran mid-12's with that until 1993 when our first child was born. 2 weeks prior to our first child's (daughter's) birth, we won the bracket down at Detroit Dragway. Pulled the car onto the trailer, went home and parked it, and it has not been started since!

Took a break from racing to raise our kids until our 2nd child graduated from college and moved out on his own in 2019. Wanted to get back into racing but figured Chargers had gone up in value too much to keep flogging it so I bought the avatar as a roller in October 2019 out of Texas (sight unseen - yikes!). Also wanted something lighter and faster than the Charger hence the avatar Demon purchase. Redid EVERYTHING in the car and built a 408 powertrain for it and have been racing it since 2021 first at Milan Dragway and now down here in Florida at Gainesville. 11.10@119+ is its personal best so far. It also sees quite a bit of use on the street as it's just a riot to drive. Loud, obnoxious, hard to climb into, terrible fuel economy....everything I always wanted to build and have when I was young but didn't have the means to do! I'm just an old-school, 63-year old foot-brakin' 1/4 mile bracket racer so while I used to run the "Heavy" class back in the day, now I'm relegated to the Sportsman class where we get WAY too many cheaters coming over from Pro and using t-brakes. For me, the fun is the competition of racing to the stripe. Love it!
 
My slowest pass ever was a 15.70 in my 1972 Cutlass Supreme tow vehicle. I switched out the 2.73 single traction gears and went with 3.73’s posi, shift kit, and a 650 Holley. It was a super fun car on the streets and towed great. It got me lots of race’s because if I lost I asked if I could go home and get my other car. Lol. Great times. My neighbor fabricated the hitch. You can see the rear of my cutlass in this picture.

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about 35 years of going to the track off and on - as a hobbyist. Never been a serious class racer.
 
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