How old are you and how long have you raced

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mshred said:
Damn, I am impressed how old most of you are and how many are kicking *** at the races still!
Young at heart is really the key to it all...keep pluggin away fellas, gives me motivation to get out there!
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Your only as young as the women you feel. :)
 
I’ll be 44 next month. Spectator my whole life watching my dad race bikes as a kid. My first pass in a real car was his 70 nova and low 11’s in my late 20’s. My barracuda made a few passes but always had an inconvenient leak just suddenly occur and get me flagged. Here as of late i’m putting my 318 for my barracuda back together while re structuring my finances to get into a house. My dad is retired and his back and neck are fused so he can’t race anymore. But, he is in the process of rebuilding his small block nitrous motor and wants me in the driver’s seat and wants me to beat his best times of mid 9’s on his old bike. So, time will tell
 
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I will be 72 in August. Started racing when I was 18 in 1970 with my 68 Coronet RT then a 71 GTX. Low 14’s —high 13’s. They were my daily drivers, day two cars with headers, manifold and carburetor. Never had a real race car… Got into sports car racing, motorcycles, marriage, kids, etc.. last time I drag raced was in 1973. I retired in 2019 and bought a totaled 07 Charger RT, it had minor damage I repaired it and I’ve been bracket racing it since ….finished second in points in the street class last year at Xtreme Raceway Park south of Dallas. My Charger runs low 14s and high 13s, I call it 1970s fast. If I have done the math correctly, I took off 48 years. All of my dragracing back in the 70s was at Green Valley in Fort Worth, Kennedale just south of Fort Worth and Dallas international motor Speedway. All of those tracks are long gone. I don’t have any pictures readily available of my old cars so I posted one of my Charger…sorry.

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49. Raced from 1993 to 2015 fairly consistently. Raced mostly in the pro class and in the street legal class when that was popular. Raced mostly at Firebird raceway in Idaho with the occasional trip to a sea level track in Woodburn Oregon- that’s a fast track compared.
1969 390 AMC Amx. Full interior and through the mufflers it ran 10.80s @128 mph.

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I just turned 57. First time down a drag strip was 1990. I always wanted to race more but life got in the way. Lately it’s 4or5 TnTs a year. I really want to chase points atleast once in my life maybe next year
 
I started racing my '68 Barracuda Formula S in June 1969, when I got the car from the original owner in Long Beach, CA. I spend nearly every Wednesday night at the strip if I could and had 350 runs on the car the first two years. I am now 72 and still enjoy running my car, but Bandimere closed down so can't do that until they relocate. My 340 was incredibly fast for the time turning 13.50's at 105 at OCIR, Lions, Irwindale and the like. Those were great times. Found out the 'Cuda was the fastest car at Lakewood HS on the last day of school when I raced a '64 Nova 301 4-speed w/4.11's. We punched it off from a stop and I pulled him nicely through 1st and 2nd. He pulled up and claimed I had 4.56's and he could take me from a roll. With 3.55's and sticky street retreads, it was no contest from a roll. He drove off never to be seen again.
My Cuda has just come back from restoration and looks like now, but better paint. Upgraded a few things but kept the car mostly stock. Idles at 650 and pulls to 6000. Just like a 340 should. Not to powerful with a 274 Crane cam but runs really well and seemingly gets good fuel economy. As soon as there is a strip nearby, I will be running it.

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67 years old and raced a handful of times in nostalgic races at Bremerton and Pacific Raceways.
My first race I won in the 55 thru 57 class with my 56 Chevy sporting a 383 stroker and 671 supercharger. It would run low 12's all day. Got a little trophy and $90 check. Woo-Hoo.
Once I ran in the high 11's and got my *** handed to me.
I still have the Chevy, but then being a Mopar guy, I built a 72 Challenger with a 400 stroked to 505. I raced it a few times but never won anything which is fine. I just love lining up and hitting the gas!
My cars are not "race" cars, just fun street / show cars but I do love high performance.
I also have a 71 Dart Swinger project car that I am currently working on. It will have a small block and just be a cruiser.
I am at the point now where I don't want to beat on my cars so I'm hesitant to race much anymore. (Not saying I wouldn't, just hesitant!)

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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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I’m 56 now and made my first pass in 1984 at a High School drag race in my 1974 Dodge Charger. Last week I made a pass in a 2023 Dodge Charger that I rented for a Plan B on Power tour. So I guess that makes it 40 years.
 
TheRacerDave said:
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.View attachment 1716265913

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. View attachment 1716265915

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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I Love Arrows!!!
 
I'm 64 and started racing at the track at age 18 in a 1971 Duster with 340 and 4 speed. I've raced off and on since then but never really seriously such as getting into the points races. I haven't bracket raced since about 2014. I've been more into fixing up old cars for each of my children and one for my wife. Mutiple projects doesn't leave time and money for racing these days. Once I get all the projects caught up, I thought I might try to build a racecar out of a pretty decent parts car I got a while back and get back out there, Lord willing. I have noticed that I am slowing down some in getting things done so it might be a while.
 
Here’s my buddy Tim’s addition to the post. I’ve tried for years to get him to post on here but he’s bashful. Lol. A well know Mopar engine builder across many many states here’s his bracket toy.

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pittsburghracer said:
I was reading a post on Moparts about guys burning out on projects. Instead of asking this over there I’d rather ask it here as this is my number one Mopar website. I can’t really say I’m burned out on my blue duster because if I didn’t have my black
Duster and be able to race it would be running in less than a month. So how old are you and how long have your raced. Are you burned out or just work slower. I’m 68 now and my first trip to the drag strip with a street strip car was when I was 19 so 49 years ago. It’s harder for me to get motivated but man I love making passes and competition. You have to to do this much work and spend this much money. I Posted this in the race section as that’s the guys I’m curious about. Could you give it all up tomorrow??? I’m really curious about the age and years raced.
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I'm 65, raced for 21 years.
I quit in 1995, sold my stuff, but always had a street car.
My Son picked it up in 2006. He is still deep in to it.
I do all the maint. to The stocker & the bracket car.
I get behind the wheel every now & them, during testing.
 
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