Just turned 69, but age is only a number! I'm thankful to have health and finances to be able to do this. I'll admit to some street racing in my late teens, but after losing too many friends I went straight... to the drag strip that is. First race ever was at Thompson Drag Raceway with a buddy that had a '68 Chevelle that ran low 12s. But I was a Mopar man at heart, so on to my own cars. The first car I ever won anything with was a 340 4-speed '72 'Cuda that I bought from a friend who had painted it like the fabled Sonic 'Cuda. It wasn't terribly fast, but a lot of fun. Behind the car sits my 64-1/2 Barracuda, and in the garage was my '70 'Cuda.
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The '70 first hit the strip in rough form running 12s, but later got some fancy paint and more power. While the 'Cuda was getting finished I partnered with a guy and we built a '69 Camaro chassis car in my garage. We started with an already welded kit chassis and built it from the ground up. What a great learning experience! That would be the fastest car I drove for quite a while, and it eventually ran deep in the 9s. The 'Cuda was another 340 4-speed car, seen here leaving the line at Norwalk some time in the mid 1980s. I ran this car almost weekly through the mid 1990s until moving to the west coast, with the best runs being in the 11.00s at about 120mph.
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After about a 15 year hiatus I bought this '77 Plymouth Arrow 440/ 727 car in 2011, shortly thereafter replaced with my current ride, a 1980 Arrow 440/ Powerglide combo. The photo is from 2019 at Fontana, but it has been raced regularly since 2016, with the last time out being April of this year. The 440 is pretty mild and best has been 9.40s at around 140. Kind of focused on getting my son's '73 Dart Sport finished and racing right now, but I love racing and God willing I'll keep at it until I can't.
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