In '66 driving my '65 GTO at Carlsbad we did short burnouts. From partial black top, mostly gravel pits, up to the track, back up the the fence, quick spin, a couple of chirps to the line and went on the run. Never across the starting line. No rosin or bleach, redline street tires, pretty much a feather it smoke fest for the streeters.

 

I flagged the 1960 season at Dahio drag strip that was located outside of Dayton, Ohio. At the time car clubs that were member clubs of NHRA could work at the local drag strip and since tech, techinspector1, and I were in a club we volunteered and our club was assigned the starting line. Two weeks into the season the flagman didn't show, he'd joined the service, and since no one else volunteered I did. Tech helped tech the cars and worked in the timing trailer at the end of the strip. We had a lot of fun that summer though you couldn't get me out in the middle of a strip today for love nor money.
I spent part of the Nationals weekend in Detroit working in the trailer that handed out time slips and had a ball.
I never raced much, but I was a regular fixture at either Lions, Irwindale, or OCIR through the 60's

 

I went to my first race at Erie, Colorado, in the late 60's-my brother had a '57 Chevy with a 283 that he raced, and I remember watching him and his friends-lots of great memories, as his best friend had an Austin Healey Sprite with a 327-that thing would go!

Later, when I turned 16, I started with a '55 Chevy, and then a '66 GT 390 Fairlane, running at Bandimere Speedway-this was about '71 or so-with the mods I had at the time (Headers, 3 angle valve job, aluminum intake, big Holley, 4.56's), it was a reasonably fast car at that time-

Moved up to a used front engine Dragster with a 4-71 blown 327-it was a backyard deal, but it ran pretty good (high 9's, low 10's at Altitude)-back during that time Bandimere's strip had bumps on the far end (left lane), and you had to be to the right to not get into them-well, I did, and it scraped the bottom of the Frame so bad that when we loaded it on the Trailer, it sagged (the frame hit the trailer!)-end of that one!

Moved on to Motorcycles, and had a '72 Kawasaki H2 750 two-stroke that was hopped up (porting, chambers, smoothbore carbs, Wheelie Bar, etc.), and then a 1000 Kawasaki-I have some great memories there (and, some scary tales)-

One story I'll share is that I repossessed Cars in the late '70's, and we had to repossess a blue, NHRA legal Super Stock 396 '69 Nova-absolutely beautiful Car-my Brother and I went in together and bought this Car (from the Bank that I repo'd it for ), and we had some pretty good results-I miss that Car-

Had some other Street/strip Cars that I took to the Strip, but that Nova was fun-

 

My first race was the big one! The 1962 U.S. Nationals in Indy!

A friend and I were building models and reading magazines. He talked his mom into taking us to the Nationals at age 13!

I went every year after that, until I moved to the Southwest in '75. During those early years I also made trips to the Illinois tracks at Charleston, Paris, Il. and to the U.S.30 track in Alton, Illinois.

After that it was the AHRA Winternats, and also their Fuel Altered Nationals, until that track in Tucson closed.

Then it was Phoenix for the NHRA event there, and later a new NHRA... later to become IHRA... track back in Tucson.

I am going out there tomorrow for their NitroJam Southwestern Nationals... which always has a nice display of historic drag cars too!

THERE IS NO CURE FOR THIS!!!

 

My senior year of high school my dad and a few friends from Chrysler helped me Finnish my 50 ford 2 door for graduation it ran a 406 dual quad fabricated log manifold home made zoom headers and a 57 chevy diff and a 4 speed Oldsmobile Hydro built by Fairbanks and no convertor it was a Borg and Beck clutch Had Casler Recapped hard case Cheater's Slicks , and extra leafs in the rear springs and clamped kicked the front end up with and ran a straight axle from a 37 Plymouth to get the rear up we added long shackles about 18 inches long, chassis had Big Holes drilled everywhere ,even the starter housing, And as much weight as we could remove and a spare in the trunk filled with concrete. My dad drove some tune up light runs to make sure it was safe and 1 hard run! He knew how to peddle it if it broke loose or was sliding sideways (he was very experienced) So it came time for my first run!! No matter how much your coached and ride along watching or how good a driver you are on the street NOTHING PREPARES YOU FOR YOUR FIRST BLAST DOWN THE QUARTER!!! MY knees were shaking adrenalin pumping I could hardly hold the clutch the flag came down I let loose at about 5 grand and the front end came up I slipped off the clutch and pushed down the throttle because I panicked and it crossed into the other lane flagger ran for his life ( was told later) I came to a stop and almost passed out when I got out !! Everyone was standing at the starting line yelling and throwing their hands up at my Dad ! I just sat on the ground next to the car! My Dad came over and said we were banned from Detroit dragway till we paid for damages. well it ends up that when the front end came up the long spring shackle on the right dug into the track surface and threw the car into the other lane and tore a big gouge in the track ! They had to move the starting line and Finnish line forward about 50 ft. Maybe some of you guys that raced there remember that LOL! Any way it was great LOL and the talk of the town LOL It is the one thing that brings the biggest smile to my face remembering my first quarter mile run (nothing can compare to that)

Jester

 

Some great stories! My '65 GTO racing at Carlsbad, CA was after my first tour in RVN, 18 months (extended 6 months due to attending language school), I joined the Marine Corps two weeks after graduation, was sent to Okinawa for a month until I turned 18, then over to RVN. I ran the GTO against a 442 that came in on a trailer and beat him, me with street tires and a single 4 bbl, 4 speed. The following week I was working on the car on the street in front of my apartment, (stationed at MCRD San Diego, instructor, basic electronics school), and the guy with the 442 pulled up, no idea how he found me. He had a tri power setup for sale, i bought it, put it on and headed for the freeway. Hit the on-ramp hard in second, slammed third and let off to make the next exit. Problem was the motor didn't get the memo, kept revving, the key wouldn't kill it, both feet on the brake, got it stopped, found a hole in the block where I could see clear to the pan. Reenlisted and went to the old Sand Point Naval Air Station, Seattle, training reservists. 6 months later back to RVN for 13 months. Came back messed up, the Corps put me on full retirement as an E-6, and I eventually would up in Alaska working mostly in the bush. While there I raced a Vega gasser at what was then Polar Raceway, NHRA, 331 SBC, tunnel ram, 4 speed car that would stand on the bumper. Sold it and the buyer rolled it driving on the street. After several years I did run the Nova at a test n tune, they changed the name to Alaska Raceway Park and went IHRA.

Lots more stories and a few more racers. But after I quit for a while, I still made an annual trek from there to the nationals in SIR, Brainard and Indy for many years, along with two trips per year to LVMS, my lady would hit the casinos, I'd head for the strip for the nats every morning.

Probably TMI, but hard to stop when you get on a roll, ha ha. :thumbup:

 

We had a track near my home town for about 4-5 years (69-74)....It had an IHRA sanction, I believe. I bracket raced a bit there, was never much good at it.....There were a few decent events there and drew a crowd, but the locals and politicians fought it all the way. Funny car racer Dick Harrell was killed at the track in 73. That pretty much put the nail in the coffin for the track.

After it shut down, it remained idle. Around 1979, people started going on to the property to run their cars up the old track. It got to be a common thing on Sunday afternoons, until the police would show up and chase us out. Word got around and some Sundays we would have hundreds of people out there. Heres a few pics from those days.....You can see the old tower and the people lining the track...Safety first....lol

My 55 racing a 440 Coronet...yes, I won

Finally, the police and town had had enough. They brought in some bull dozers and tore ditches across the track every 100 ft or so......no more fun. Last I heard, the property still wasnt developed.

A couple of pics when the track was open legally

Me and a couple of friends at the track

 

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs. We used to go to Union Grove Dragway in Union Grove, Wisconsin. It is still there. I saw Don Garlits going through the pits holding onto his dragster on the trailer. I ran up to him just to say hello and shake hands and my buddies couldn't believe it. That was 1969. We used to go to US 30 in Dyer, Indiana. I saw an earlier post about a track in Alton, IL but it wasn't called US 30. Whatever it was called that is where Chris Karamacenes broke 200 miles an hour back in 1960. That fact has been disputed but that is where it happened. I never went there. It was way down near St. Louis. We used to go to Oshwego in Oswego, Illinois. At that time it was way out in the sticks. Now it is part of the great metropolis. That is where I first saw bleach burnouts. That was around 1969 and1970. I've got more but I'll make that another post.

 

I also had an early encounter with Garlits! In '63... at age 14... I was at the U.S. Nationals, and Garlits was there with his 426 wedge gas car, and the new Hemi fuel car with the wing on top of the motor.

I stood in front of the Wedge, and asked my buddy to take my picture! At that moment. Garlits walked around the car and said...

"Wouldn't you rather sit in it?"

Guess what I chose to do... ~

A few years ago I talked to him by phone, at his museum, about donating something, and found him to still be a humble man who will take the time for others.

He will always be my #1 drag racing hero!

 

Oswego not Oshwego or Osh Kosh

 

I knew some guys that raced a 68 Chevy II SS 396 and they turned it into a pro stock. It had a 427 with a tunnel ram and dual quads. They ran a Dana rear end out of a Mopar and a Hemi four speed. I don't know how a Hemi four speed is different from a regular Mopar four speed. Maybe that is another topic of discussion. When the racing season was over they would take the car apart and leave the shell parked under a bridge across the street from a gas station where one of the guys worked. One day the repo man showed up looking for the car. All he saw was a shell. It didn't even have wheels on it. He left.

 

Oh yeah. I went to the US nationals at Indy in 1969 and 1970. we camped out at a drive-in movie across the street from the track. Both years it rained at night and I slept in the trunk of a 69 road runner. They were different road runners first time a yellow one, the next year an orange one. Yes, it does rain in Indianapolis in the summertime. I got back there once more in 1974. At that time I remember a bunch of cars from a place called the rod shop and they were all fast and beautiful.

 

Yes, it does rain in Indianapolis in the summertime.

Rain and humid, starting out with a t-shirt one year, by the end of the day it was half way to your knees and soaked, miserable but not a deterrent.

 

"They had to move the starting line and Finnish line forward about 50 ft."

Did that bring out memories...Central Michigan Dragway/Mid Michigan Motorplex.. When it opened in the mid fifties was dirt starting/finishing line and the starting line was constantly moved.

Back in the days of Jon Lundberg..The voice of drag racing.. Made my first pass down the 1/4 mile.. 60 Studebaker with nailhead mill.. Real tire burner. Also raced at M37 dragway and an almost strip we called Lake County dragway.. Timing was done with headlight flash on a car parked next to the start line and a stopwatch at the finish

Went to college in StLouis Mo. Pacific dragstrip, MAR Mid America Raceway had a strip on one of the straights, East St Louis Ill. had 1/8 drags and good old Alton dragway,, spent many a night at the Gasser wars.. Great action..Too bad its now a trailer park Hall st. In StLouis industrial area, used to roll cars off the trailer and dragxxxstreet race..

Back to Michigan and Tri City dragway and Detroit dragway. Motor City dragway was pretty much closed by then. But we could go to Ubly or Lapeer dragway and race different days. Also a couple runs at Onandaga and the short lived Grattan.

Then I got involved with Manistee County Dragway and Central Michigan re-opening in the mid seventies.. Summer vacation ,paving a dragstrip and building bleachers,,
Tech, Classifying, timers, lights, announcing. Did it all...Learned much.. Thanks Jim and Mary Jo Ledford.

Michigan had all these great tracks plus Thunderbird in Muskegan and US 131 in Martin. I never ran at either for some reason..

Great times and great, fun times..:thumbup:

 

Started working on another Gasser after I sold the 50 ford, and it sat idle when I enlisted at 17 and went to paris isl. I broke my arm in basic and had a few months at home to almost complete the car and then finished basic at MCRD San Diego, after that went to I.T.R and shipped oversees 2 tours Nam and came home on leave and went to the track and pitted on my buddys car, man what a difference in tire sizes and compounds! in such a short time! In these videos you can see how narrow the tires are in the 50s and bigger in the 60s and big wrinkle walls in the late 60s and 70s!

In the 50s no burn outs were done and no rosin, in the late 50sI'm guessing about 58-9 A little Powdered rosin on the track still no burn outs some time in the later 60s A lot of powdered rosin and people were doing a few burnouts, Then the liquid rosins, 7 UP Dr. Pepper anything sticky and some bleach then just bleach and then gas as time progressed. And then the flame burn outs. But the tracks were not that sticky, it progressed to todays track surface TRACK ADHESIVE preps ! The track surface is like fly paper its so sticky

We older guys) in class racing ran on dry tracks and ran good times even with our 7 inch tires but if we could have sticky glued the tracks back then the times would have been much much faster:thumbup: records set by the old great drivers (gone now) were not broke by equal conditions!! ,tires, and track surface is what I'm talking about! I always wondered how those old cars would do with a race conducted with equal terms SAME TIRES SAME TRACK SURFACE! I think what would my old 406 Gasser do today with my high 10 second times I had then with Hard case 7" Casler slicks and a dry track no burn outs? what would it do with the big wrinkle walls today with burn outs and a prepped sticky track?

They compare old muscle cars with new muscle cars by 1/4 mile times conducted yrs ago It just is not fair to compare like that! Take the L88 Vette it ran the quarter with very impressive times But with stock 6 inch wide tires and 4 speed on a dry track of yesteryear !! And the young today compare it with a new corvette with all the state of the art traction devices and big Wide tires on todays track surface! LOL!!! :drunk: A truer test would be to at least have them run the same tires and rims on the same surface! or take a blue printed L88 and put it in a new Vett chassis for an eng against eng all else equal true comparison! I would really like to see that, And do the same with all the other early muscle cars too, that were tested years ago with 6 or 7 inch wide stock tires on them!! lets put todays muscle car tires on the old muscle cars then run em on todays prepped tracks and see what those old engines can really run?

It can never happen but I sure would like to see it!!!:thumbup:

Finally finished the B Gasser (A 38 Plymouth) though and ran it at different tracks on my leave time and R.R. and after discharge I campaigned it , and a J Gasser and an A modefied class camaro and a G optional Stang as much as I could for a few years but after marriage and kids and collage and work it became hard to get the time to race very often! And then the Bracket racers took over the tracks and class racing was FINISHED and I quit the tracks except for a little raceing here and there to keep a hand in it for enjoyment:mwink: Sold my cars little by little but kept the gasser and ended up putting it on the street and just sold it a few years ago to pay hospital bills!! I sure wish I never sold it ! It was part of me:mwink:


Great storys guys:thumbup:
Jester


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtB_UFUVQ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9jJkohJaM8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbrdImfvFmQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYhbb3gYB9Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3P6P7sOu0

 

"Sold my cars little by little but kept the gasser and ended up putting it on the street and just sold it a few years ago to pay hospital bills!! I sure wish I never sold it ! It was part of me"

Yes sir, been there. Suffered a broken back in the mid eighties and had to sell.. Including a COPO Nova with 17000 miles on it. Couldn't get $2200.00 for it.. Nobody wanted an old gass guzzler.. a later owner, after muscle cars got popular again, sold it at auction for $45000.00...Did keep my Anglia and various Studebakers..:thumbup:

That J gasser didn't happen to be a Henry J with a big six cylinder did it???

 

"

That J gasser didn't happen to be a Henry J with a big six cylinder did it???

Yes:thumbup: It was a bluish gray! Remember KING RD, I took it to get some pay back with some loud mouths in a new GTO at Bardons ( a burger joint on Jefferson) By the steel mill A lot of racers went there to tune and test when the strip wasn't open, When I nailed second gear it rolled ain: Like a rubber ball!!!then sold it to Chet Elkins and he ran it for a few years after that I also ran a Lark in A/G class it was candy red with big Gold flake and on the sides it had a big Mosquito and was lettered in gold leaf "I Would Rather Be Injected Then Blown " It had a Hilborn Injected 392 Hemi Every one made fun of the Lark LOL till I blew their doors OFF :thumbup: Do you remember that car ?

Jester

 

Tell us a COPO story, Dad.

Tell us about the COPO Nova. Was it a Fred Gibb car?

 

Quite a story in itself.. short version.. Deposit and ordered the car in late 69. From a dealer in Cadillac Mi. Thru zone office in GrBlanc Mi. Silver SS 396 (402) 375 hp. Black interior. all the hd. engine, suspension and drivetrain options. 3:73 rear. No carpets, no radio, dog dish hubcaps.. Car arrived,,,It took me one week to get to the dealer, I was working down state..Dealer sold it to one of his buddies.. My ordered car is gone.

I then ordered the same car, different color, from another dealer. It came in after Christmas and the second day of January 1970 I picked it up from the dealer, very early in the morning.. Fueled it up and drove it the 137 miles to work. All I could hear was the undamped seven blade fan and solid lifters, oh, and that whiney Muncie 4-speed. Car had two small mufflers in front of the axle, one transverse behind the axle and two more resonators in the tail pipes..

First thing I did was change the fan, then the shifter, then removed the complete exhaust system. Changed to M/T system with Corvair mufflers, later changed to Hemi mufflers . In March I ordered a 454 crate motor from Berger Chevrolet and along with Booth/Aarons built a killer big block for it.. Kept all the removed parts from the car...Stored it in 73.. Sold it and all the original parts in 85.

Side note.. The original car,, silver one.. The guy the dealer sold it was a squirrel and managed to break the rear u-joint under power, Drive shaft destroyed the rear floor area.. I heard the car was then shipped to Wisconsin..

Another thing about my car... It was terrible as far as assembly quality was concerned.. Paint was terrible..I had to re-hang the doors, there was a terrible buzzing sound that developed in the interior, Turned out to be a plastic film between the interior panel and body. Poking a hole in it cured the problem. Every time it was left out in the rain the passenger floor would have water on it.. Came from the firewall.
First hard quarter mile pass with slicks and the body cracked at the roof/quarter panel line. So in went sub frame connectors.

 

I thought 375HP was RPO. I know a guy restored a '68 Chevy II SS396 Turbo 400 car within last 10 years or so. It was a Fred Gibb COPO car, 1 of 50. First car with solid lifter motor and automatic. I saw it restored at a show along with another one like it owned by Mrs. Gibb. I know a guy ordered a '70 Nova 375HP w/Turbo 400. Said he'd have to wait 5 months. He got the car in 5 months. Were they still COPO or RPO by then? I remember 69 Camaro w/bow ties sounding like big block chambered exhaust, ZL1? We had a dealer in a well to do suburb 'across the tracks' sold a lot of Corvettes, SS's, and took some of the ZL1's Gibb couldn't sell himself. That could have been one of them.

 

The COPO came from the combination of other parts. Yes the 375 hp was still RPO in 70. COPO can be anything not on the standard order form.. Like a commercial order or a Taxi for example

Back then there were several "east coast" magazines that were publishing all the "forbidden" non RPO part numbers.. On the second ordered car. The salesman was an seventy year old guy and he was amazed that I had more info and order numbers than he knew were available.

The cars only took eight weeks because of the order directly from the zone office and the cars were assembled in Michigan.. :thumbup:
Berger Chevrolet had the plain body Camaro. 427 in both iron and aluminum block versions in 69.. I drove one.

 

I also ran a Lark in A/G class it was candy red with big Gold flake and on the sides it had a big Mosquito and was lettered in gold leaf "I Would Rather Be Injected Then Blown " It had a Hilborn Injected 392 Hemi Every one made fun of the Lark LOL till I blew their doors OFF Do you remember that car ?

Yes. Because of the 60 Lark I had in high school.. They always catch my eye.. Also the reason I'm building the 59 Lark gasser.. Tho it is closer to the Flintstone Flyer in looks. :thumbup:

 

I got in the biz late 70's and first heard of COPO's from the fleet guys. I never thought of COPO cars until I got back to the hobby in late 80's. Then heard of the COPO connection and ZL1 and other 427 Camaros Chevelles and Novas and all the different sports car packages. First one was Yenko Corvair.

 

Yeah, Superstock and drag illustrated. Those were the East Coast magazines right? And a few others that just weren't hot rod and car craft or a Peterson mag. Outlaw publications.

 

 

Possibly.. But as I remember these were cheap paper every other month types.. Outlaw street racing features on the New York expressways and the like.


'"In the 50s no burn outs were done and no rosin, in the late 50sI'm guessing about 58-9 A little Powdered rosin on the track still no burn outs some time in the later 60s A lot of powdered rosin and people were doing a few burnouts, Then the liquid rosins, 7 UP Dr. Pepper anything sticky and some bleach then just bleach and then gas as time progressed. And then the flame burn outs. But the tracks were not that sticky, it progressed to todays track surface TRACK ADHESIVE preps ! The track surface is like fly paper its so sticky ""

YES.. Man can I relate to that..

Race at a track, in the day, that lets sportsman classes qualify early.. Then runs a big funny car/dragster show.. Down goes the rosin and VHT trak bite.. You get to race between show rounds and the car gets really quicker fast. Murder on the ET racers..

When Central Michigan re-opened I helped spread a lot of 55 gallon containers of VHT . Jim liked to see bite and was proud when the driveline parts started breaking..:thumbup:

 

I knew what a ZL1 was back when being built and I was reading those East Coast outlaw car magazines. I just don't remember anybody talking about a COPO back then.

 

You could order just the car no radio,no heater, no drive train, no glass or interior from COPO and even tith no running gear or engine pull everything out of your old drag car and throw a new one together !! Some guys with the Money did that !!! I think there was a class in NHRA that you could not run a car more then 3 yrs old or something like that( Can't remember now?) What class was that Those guys in that class ordered new production bodies every few years from COPO I do remember that! Some sponsored teams received bare bones Bodys free!!! Some people think that you buy a new car and strip it all the way down and build a drag car LOL it was the little guys that did that LOL The smart money guys bought stripped to bare bones bodys and then built the car:thumbup: Chrysler and ford and AMC did the same thing! When I was with the Ramchargers we got em BARE bone.

Jester

 

Called "bodies in white" all the manufacturers had them.. Back in the nineties Warhoops junkyard had several Ford that the factory disposed of.. My ex-boss had a crated 71 Challanger body in white.:thumbup:

 

When I was with Ramchargers at Lions we blew the 3rd member and a helicopter brought us one drum to drum ready for installation and it was installed in a flash, LOL But the poor non sponsored racer would be running around trying to find parts and working his but off all night while we were drinking beers at the motel :thumbup:

Jester