Anyone like racing?
- Thread starter JimT
- Start date
powderbrake
Gold $$ Contributor
Love racing, love to do it, love to watch it.
My most recent was in the mid 2000's when I built and raced a Lotus 7 Replica with a Honda S2000 engine. Did HDPE events, autocross, and cruises.
That's my yellow 7, playing with the cobras.
Autocrossing
Cruising at the Tail of the Dragon.
My most recent was in the mid 2000's when I built and raced a Lotus 7 Replica with a Honda S2000 engine. Did HDPE events, autocross, and cruises.
That's my yellow 7, playing with the cobras.
Autocrossing
Cruising at the Tail of the Dragon.
redrockranger
Silver $$ Contributor
My son in law is a geared. Followed Nascar, Jeff Gordon in particular. He knows his way around engines {Cat mechanic by trade} Him and a buddy have a Nova drag car they play with. Was talking Indy car style racing one day. I mentioned Offenhouser engines , got a blank look.
How many remember Andy Granatelli {STP} and his turbine engines race cars ? Always wished he could have won a Indy 500.
Fast14riot
Gold $$ Contributor
I raced semi-professionally for a number of years, but a young family made it difficult. Had some good times. Had some scary ones, too.
I was at this race, so I remember!!
https://www.racing-reference.info/race/1968_Rocky_Mountain_150/UO
Deleted outa08
I wonder how many guys on here,bought STP and Thrush mufflers just to get the decals for their rear window? And yes I did. Jeff
Leo Smith
Gold $$ Contributor
Used to race 1/4 mile in Mid 80's.
I was a Rubber engineer for Goodyear in the late 80's early 90's for Newman Haas racing in Chicago.
Lost my hand on a Yamaha 750 turbo Seca in 86.We were tuning waste gates for more boost on an already fast bike.. Since then I don't race. climb, or anything exciting. Except shoot and fish...
I was a Rubber engineer for Goodyear in the late 80's early 90's for Newman Haas racing in Chicago.
Lost my hand on a Yamaha 750 turbo Seca in 86.We were tuning waste gates for more boost on an already fast bike.. Since then I don't race. climb, or anything exciting. Except shoot and fish...
So much fun to be had, so little time.
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Drag strip, cars, then bikes.
I came home August of '70 from a year in RVN. Home 30 days on leave, then back for a second tour. My Father and I went car shopping. He was a Ford guy from Day One. None of the Ford dealerships had any big blocks, Mustang or Torino for sale by then, new 1971's were about six weeks out. We drive by the Plymouth dealers on the way back home, and Woo-Hoo!!!. In the front row on the used car lot was a Blood Red 1968 Road Runner coupe. We stop, and the salesman comes out. I am still in uniform. He tells my Father that I probably do not want that car, it has a huge motor, and the gas mileage is terrible. He tells us it has been sitting there for two months, no takers. We do take it for a test drive. Jump to the Interstate, and in about 30 seconds (seemed like) I got the speedometer pegged. Woo-Hoo! Part II. We get back alive, and I pop the hood. My Oh My, there's a 426 Hemi under the hood. $1650 plus tax, and I am on the road.
I think I got nine speeding, burnouts from a stop light/sign citations in that thirty days. About six weeks after I get back to Chu Lai, I get a letter from the Illinois DMV forwarded from my Father. My Drivers License is suspended. I have 72 hours to turn it in to the DMV in town or they will issue a warrant for my arrest. Ha! I send the nice man a letter letting him know I am in Chu Lai, along with detailed instructions on how to get to our AO next to the Rappelling Tower on the beach once you turn off Hwy 1.
See you all in four months, if I make it back.
The guy did have a sense of humor, two or three weeks later I get another letter. Comes to the Ranger Company. He just tells he to come to the DMV if I make it back, DO NOT DRIVE; and reapply for a license. Got back, got my license back, and thirty days later, went back for my third and final tour. I behaved, just got one ticket.
Were the early 1970's as crazy for any of the rest of you?
I came home August of '70 from a year in RVN. Home 30 days on leave, then back for a second tour. My Father and I went car shopping. He was a Ford guy from Day One. None of the Ford dealerships had any big blocks, Mustang or Torino for sale by then, new 1971's were about six weeks out. We drive by the Plymouth dealers on the way back home, and Woo-Hoo!!!. In the front row on the used car lot was a Blood Red 1968 Road Runner coupe. We stop, and the salesman comes out. I am still in uniform. He tells my Father that I probably do not want that car, it has a huge motor, and the gas mileage is terrible. He tells us it has been sitting there for two months, no takers. We do take it for a test drive. Jump to the Interstate, and in about 30 seconds (seemed like) I got the speedometer pegged. Woo-Hoo! Part II. We get back alive, and I pop the hood. My Oh My, there's a 426 Hemi under the hood. $1650 plus tax, and I am on the road.
I think I got nine speeding, burnouts from a stop light/sign citations in that thirty days. About six weeks after I get back to Chu Lai, I get a letter from the Illinois DMV forwarded from my Father. My Drivers License is suspended. I have 72 hours to turn it in to the DMV in town or they will issue a warrant for my arrest. Ha! I send the nice man a letter letting him know I am in Chu Lai, along with detailed instructions on how to get to our AO next to the Rappelling Tower on the beach once you turn off Hwy 1.
See you all in four months, if I make it back.
The guy did have a sense of humor, two or three weeks later I get another letter. Comes to the Ranger Company. He just tells he to come to the DMV if I make it back, DO NOT DRIVE; and reapply for a license. Got back, got my license back, and thirty days later, went back for my third and final tour. I behaved, just got one ticket.
Were the early 1970's as crazy for any of the rest of you?
"Seca" That brings back memories (the old shaft drive)
redrockranger
Silver $$ Contributor
Knoxville Speedway 25 miles west of me. I think i remember the first Nationals. Weld boys from KC. Earl Wagner, Jerry Blundy so many more i can't remember. Later on there was Lil Joe Saldana, Doug Wolfgang, then the future king arrived Steve Kinser. Poor mans dirt racing hit the big time. Gaerte engine tough to beat.
Seen A J Foyt ?????? race a 1964 Ford Galaxie. Ernie Derr Pontiac, Ramo Stott. He tried NASCAR ? Had a Super Bird.
Can you imagine how many cars they could sell if they actually looked like what was on the showroom floor? Take care of any aerodynamic or engine performance advantages between manufacturers by adding weight.
Instead we have US manufacturers dropping passenger cars for trucks and SUV’s.
ttfreestyle
Silver $$ Contributor
Back in the day....
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After returning from RVN around Christmas 1969, I got reacquainted with my 1966 Chevelle SS and really enjoying it. Then the 1974 gas shortage happened and hard time being able to get enough gas to commute to work. I sold my Chevelle to a good friend and bought a brand new Mustang II . . . the worst car I've ever owned. What a joke it was!
My direct neighbor (who was an MGB freak and liked Autocross racing) and I were discussing getting performance out of small engines as well as better gas mileage. He was going to take his MGB to a well known high end race engine shop and have his engine balanced and blue printed for a good deal of money and I bet him I could get more performance out of my wife's '72 Pinto by bolting on a turbocharger kit in my home's garage for 1/4th of what he would spend. So, it was a bet.
I purchased a turbocharger kit for my wife's Pinto and proceeded to do the installation myself. My goal was to get enough turbo pressure to produce somewhere near 300 hp. I figured I needed 26 lbs of pressure and to do that I needed a free flowing exhaust system AND, so as to not blow the head gasket, I had the head 0-ringed (the only outside shop work I had done). I used the original carburetor, but made a few little modifications to be able to get more fuel flow when needed to really take advantage of the turbo. Installed a free flowing muffler, but also added cutouts just under the engine near the wheel well for easy access. The increased HP was presenting an issue with the clutch slipping some, so I had to beef up the clutch plate springs and problem solved. Mission accomplished and it was more fun to drive than my Chevelle SS was (though I much preferred the sound of my old 396). As for the bet with my neighbor, he capitulated upon taking the Pinto out for a drive and smoked a Plymouth Duster. It was hilarious to see the faces of opposing drivers when they saw what this Pinto was doing. After winning the bet, I took the money and installed some racing suspension, mag wheels and a little white paint accent on the black car.
One day, I think in '76, when my brother was visiting, we went out to the local drag strip on a grudge race night to have some fun. Because my Pinto was just not set up for drag racing, my brother got in the trunk to provide traction with more weight on the back. We laugh a lot about that these days. As I were getting ready to stage at the staring line I was matched up with a '69 Road Runner that had a high-rise dual quad installed. As we sat there for the green light, he revved his engine (whap-pa-te-whap-whap) torquing his front end and me sitting there going (zzzznnnn, zzzzzznnnn) with my exhaust cutout uncorked. I didn't really think I was going to be competitive, just wanting to have some fun, given the street tires and racing suspension I had. Sure enough, on green the Road Runner jumps off the line out ahead and I'm just getting started and the turbo boost lag doesn't do well until there's some continued rpms (a lot of turbo lag in tubo's back then). So, I'm behind . . . until I hit second gear and off I go and caught up to him, then 3rd gear I actually pulled ahead for a moment but by the time we got to the 1/4 mile mark he edged me out. I don't remember the time now, except it was in the low 13's at well over 100 mph, and as I pulled off the track my opponent came over curious as to what I had under to hood. I stepped on the throttle a couple time (zzzznnnn, zzzzzznnnn) and told him it was the 4 cylinder that the car came with. When I popped the hood to take a look, the turbo was still glowing red hot in the dim night lighting. Oh . . . and got my brother out of the trunk and haven't we stopped laughing about that ever since.
On another occasion (one of many) late one night on a pretty empty freeway, I saw some headlights rapidly coming up from behind. As it started to go by me I saw that it was a Porch 911S and doing high speed. So, I thought I'd have some fun again. So, I floored it and we both kept going faster and faster (virtually, side by side). Eventually, the Porch didn't keep up. I don't know if he just couldn't keep up or what. I do know my Pinto's speedometer went up to 120 mph and I had it pegged all the way for a while as we went faster. Often, I would've liked to see more faces, iike on this and other drivers as they saw how a lowly Pinto was keeping up with their high priced high performance cars.
That Pinto was so much fun for a long time. Before I finally sold it, it would sit around and I just didn't drive it much as life got busy and it would get dirty sitting out. I'd clean it up to sell it, but then would drive it to make sure it ran properly and that would keep me from selling it earlier. Eventually I sold it, and now it's a distant memory of what a fun car it was.
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Use to love drag racing. Not anymore it got too commercialized. The 60's and the 70's were the best times for the sport. I was lucky to be a gopher on Jim Wemett's nitro Mustang II and his later Corvette funny car in the summer of 76 and a few races in 77. That's when they use to have match races all the time and 32 funny car shows. There were something like 571 licensed nitro funny car drivers in the 70's and there were a ton of guy's mostly weekend warrior's who use to work all week at their regular job to get money to run their funny cars during the weekend or sometimes match races usually on a Wednesday night. All that is long gone. Some of these guy's were my hero's and here I am seeing them all the time like TV Tommy Ivo, Pee Wee Wallace, and Bruce Larson. We raced against Jungle Jim Liberman and his girlfriend Jungle Pam Hardy all the time and Jim was a wild man and such a great guy. Pam well she was HOT. Those halter tops and those hot pants and cut off jean shorts and sometimes those lace up high boots were a site to behold and she was 22 years old and I was 19 in 76. It was really sad when I heard that Jim got killed when his street Corvette plowed into a city bus in his hometown of West Chester, PA. in September of 77. Another driver that I was close too was the late Paul "Dodger" Glenn who drove the Frantic Ford Mustang II. He got killed in 78 when the car went off the end of the track at Maple Grove Raceway in PA and he crashed into some trees. I mean some of these guy's were nuts. Ivo especially when he was racing. I remember one time him and his crew members went inside of Al Segrini's trailer and took the body off his funny car and put it in the pool at the Hotel. OMG that was too funny. Al didn't think so. I found a few pictures of my Funny Car summer. First and 2nd pictures shows me on the left torqueing the right head at New England Dragway in Epping, NH in 76. 3rd picture is me seated in his Vette bodied car at Lebanon Valley Dragway in NY in 77 waiting to have the motor started to check it for leaks and to seat the clutch. Last picture is his Vette and my name at the bottom of the car which I thought was cool at the time. I'll tell you what. It was hard work, not what I expected, but I got to meet a lot of famous drag racers and it was worth it. View attachment 1172982 View attachment 1172982View attachment 1172982
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