Street Racing Confession(s)

[451Mopar]

I guess I got lucky, only had to go to traffic school a few times.
Also lucky the local Drag strip was only about 3 miles from my home

 

[Budnicks]

View attachment 1429286

no N20 in the photo
View attachment 1429287
This may take a while...
Part 1

Ok here's one with
#1
my piss yella' 69 RR 446 with STR-14-6bbl/18 spline 4 speed
good Hays 11" clutch, Lakewood scatter-shield, safety loop
garage pocket ported 906s, with bigger 2.18" (?) Titanium intakes
stainless exhaust, solid camshaft, it was probably the 302*/0.590" (?)
ductile Iron Crane adj. 1.6:1 rockers ball/cup style, hot MSD 6A ignition
& coil, std D.C. CEI dist., good wires, some colder plugs etc.
600hp+/600tq+ N/A, run mid 11.60's all day on shitty 9" slicks
3" Flowmaster exhaust dumped at the axles
4.30:1 gears 29x9" Firestones,
a solid reliable build, a nice solid uncut & all steel car,
with all the reg. RR, RB, bells & whistles, my reg. street car,
full interior, 'driver'
plus*
a new 250hp shot of Top Gun N20, plate under the center 2bbl
open 1/4" spacers under the outboards

We're 'going out fishing'
loaded for bear, some truly fast cars, for the day
out to the Sacramento, J Street cruise,
nice July 4th night (IIRC Maybe later 80s)

We (Me & Jim) find a couple of guys to come up & do a group cruise...
many tow their cars the 110+ miles to my buddy Rob C.s house,
upto Rancho Cordova, known then as Rancho Cambodia
we all unload there & drive them after that...

Going out eventually to the frontage road of
Rancho Secco S.M.U.D. Nuke powerplant, street racing
(I know another freaken' powerplant)

#2
Jeff B. "the Beak" with his 70 cuda' Gran Coupe 383/727tf
you heard about his car already (from Concord)

#3)
Rob C. (my T/S racing teammate) with his streetcar
70 Duster 400bb/low-deck with a long-ram/727tf,
8pt cage tinned/tubbed, 0.030" steel not alum., really sanitary build
nice interior, he did a few shows like Car Craft @ Cal Expo
& Oakland Roadster show, the Diablo Valley MoPar show in the 'Concord park' etc.
18x33" M/T Sportsman tires, 4.88:1 (IIRC) gears, solid low 11-second car
(he's from Sac.)

#4)
Roland M. (his wife Sue) his Yellow, 32 Ford coupe
with a 0.60" over 426cid Hemi, inline 2x4bbl 750cfm Competition AFB Carter
65 Race Hemi camshaft, 2.250" headers 3" Flowmasters out the back,
Dana-60 4.10 gears, a solid 500+hp, bunch of chrome, really 'perty' car,
with a bunch of bolt-on stuff he sort of babied it at the track, low 12s,
it has/had a shitload more in it
(he was from Concord, he's dead now)


#5)
Rob. D with his 71 Datsun 510 4" stretched wheelbase
468cid BBC, Engles Stack FI sort of a strange setup, ran a mechanical FI
on an electric fuel pump, old Barry Grant style 500gph,
a full-on racecar, cage etc., with license plates, mid 9 second car on slicks
(he's from Concord)

#6)
Jim C. 67 with his Camaro
468 Iron LS7 BBC 800+ hp N/A dominator/+500 N20 shot fogger/PG 5,500 stall
12pt cage tinned tubbed now Alston Engineering back halved racecar,
14x32" Goodyears, D2s, his streetcar (a racecar), with license plates
(he's from Concord & another of my T/S race partners)

#7)
Scott H. his 70 Buick Stage 1 455/th400, bunch of go-fast goodies added
with a narrowed Dana-60 some nice meats, don't remember what...
He's the mouthpiece, he's a funny SOB & one of my best friends back in the day...
He's an instigator too...

#8)
a guy Roland M. knew, I can't remember the guy's name to save my life
(Lanny ?) had Roland's old Pro-Street 68 Dart 426cid Hemi/727tf,
had a B&M Holeshot, 3,000 stall, mostly stock-ish engine inline 2x4bbl/trans
with a few bolt-ons, it's a convertible/caged, a tribute car, really 'perty' car,
tubbed with like 18x33"s (IIRC) never really raced it...

#9)
Eric B. & his brother Carl B. (Danny M.'s stepbrothers I mentions before),
in his bros. white 70 Challenger 440 6-pack, Hemi 4 speed,
Dana-60 super track pack 4.10 org., 'the Instigator',
a nice car, he drove it all the way, mostly stock iron components
a big camshaft 0.590" solid Dir. Conn., headers, hot ignition etc.
but highly tuned, nice wheels Crager (IIRC) & sticky street tires,
like n50s tucked underneath, skinny front like all of them...


to be continued
#'d them #1) - #9), so we/I can keep track
not have to explain or describe who's/whose combo again
it was a long night of good racing, until sunlight the next morning
lots of them some of us 2-3-4 times
(I probably won't go that deep into it)
I'll try to keep it going, as well as I remembered it...

I have to add 5 now (maybe more still) as I remembered them
can't forget the Pontiac gang

#10)
Dan B. (& Marsha) an old roomate/renter of mine
67 Firebird 421 w/RamAir IV ported head, TH400/5,000 converter
all the normal bells & whistles, ladder-bar coilover car 4.11:1 12-Bolt
Firestone (?) 31x10.5w's he normally on slicks everywhere,
those are his street tires
He's always at
Fremont, Sears Point & Sac. Raceway most all Wed. Thurs. & Fri.s
sort of a POS ("bailing wire Firebird") car to look at,
but mechanically sound, & FAST
heavily N2O'd, 2 + kits fogger & plate
(he was org. from Benicia, and rented from me in Pleasant Hill/Concord)

#11)
Felisha (fine lady, tall, long blonde hair, voluptuous figure & total car gal)
really nice 70 Formula Firebird, nice real Ram Air IV 400/4 speed
good clutch/flywheel & scatter shield, 12 bolt/4.11:1
mainly a street car, nice car really, power windows brakes steering etc.
all the creature comforts w/a few bolt-ons, a bigger cam, headers & exhaust,
a hot coil & Ignition, sticky street tires M/Ts sportsmans, lots of N2O,
her old BF/Husband was deep into the N2O world too
"we got Felisha in the divorce"
(Concord gal)

#12)
Ron C. (Lori his wife) he was sort of the local self-proclaimed "N2O guru"
(he had originally an old 63 Tempest that looked like Arnie the Farmer Beswicks, a diehard Pontic guy)
his 69 GTO Judge 455+ with RamAir parts, ported heads, tunnel ram 2x4bbls
TH400 man. V/B lose converter, lots of begged & borrowed parts 'from everyone'
& mega N2O, 2-3 kits at any one time, always more power from N2O 'than motor'
he was a really good mechanic, just never had much $$$
willing to get dirty, a bit of an excentric type...
(from Concord too, my clutch guy for a while on my T/S race team)

#13)
Jeff E. Nice 68 Firebird Conv. 6:71 10% under Blown 'Pontiac 350'/TH400
sort of the typical show Pro-street car of the day, nice Marron metallic paint
black guts & top, not really a racer 'but honorable mention, very cool car',
a great family man, still part of the gang...
(Built custom alum. wings & Nissan Parts Mngr guys, he had moved to Fairfield,
formerly a Concord guy)

edited added, I forgot
#14
Mike M. Nice red 39 Pontiac with a 632 (?) early Big Cheif Headed,
2 BIG-dominators on a fabricated sheet metal tunnel-ram
full Chromemoly F/C & 12 pt. cage full mandrel bent 2x3" CAC chassis,
second 2x 1-3/4" 0.120" wall additional frame-rails down the center
huge 15x33" (at the time) Pro-mod slicks, fully trussed up 9" floater axles
4 link coilovers, real racecar, with a big flat wing out the back (Jeff E. built for him) etc.
this thing was impressive to say the least, badass racecar with plates
could be a high 7 second car, I **** you not...
(his gang from Oroville)

sorry;
my memory was kicking in while typing on another thread

almost all these people were reg.s at my
every Monday Night Football/Pool - BarBQ parties,
whether there was football on or not
many of them were working at the local Concord/Walnut Creek
the area car dealerships too, it's how many of Us met...

to be continued

 

[Budnicks]

Part 3
Rancho Secco event still Sat July 5th very early AM

#2 Jeff 70 'cuda, 383/tf727 5.13:1 some old 29x9s
(my gears & old slicks) all the bells & whistles
Jeff gets a race with a car that is completely out of his league
a tubbed 429 (who knows how many cids) super cobra jet Mustang,
it's easily a 750+hp N/A combo narrowed 9", 14x32', full cage, Lexan windows,
a beautiful build & car (for a Ford)
He's a guy I know (2 bros. from Chico) & personally saw run 9s,
after a Car Craft event, the prior year...
The guy was going to give Jeff, the rear tires on the line
(we didn't want to put Jeff out farther no rubber yet)
& IIRC Mustang set back from the line about a car length,
so it was like 'a car & 1/2' advantage 25'-30'
$50 race, not real high stakes

Jeff is sort of a cocky guy, he thinks he can win, he's a pretty good driver
who gets out off the line 'very quick' (esp. with the 5.13:1 gear I loaned him)

Jim lines them up after some smoky burnouts
Jeff did his in VHT,
the Mustang did a dry rolling burnout, impressive too
Jim drops his arms
Jeff really got off fast, like another car length fast
hits 2nd gear really quick, the Mustang is spinning a bit, not too bad,
about a bit past 1/2 track like 700'-ish the Mustang almost made up like 3 cars
he was on Jeff's door, they cross the finish line & nobody knows who won
way too close to call, the guy watching at the other end/finish
he didn't know 100% either
but said; 'he thought Jeff was ahead, barely',
but the Mustang guy swears he won
they drive back & still arguing, when they get out

so we negotiate the same race run it back
Mustang guy was having none of it
We argued sort of, I said; (to paraphrase)
"it's too close to call, that is a perfect race, wtf
you know damn well your car is way faster than his streetcar is"
Mustang dude agrees
we let them cool down a bit, but Jeff wants to go right now
he guilts the guy into running

They do their burnouts, Jeff does the short VHT burnout again
the other guy borrowed our VHT rolled thru
& did a F/C style smoky burnout, like out 150ft, backed up
(remember his car is still hot) wasn't the best move on his part
Jim lines them up, drops his arms
Jeff does almost the exact same deal
he's out on the guy really quick
Mustang pulls the front end up, hard & has to peddle, it gets it down
& back on it again
This time Jeff has the guy buy 2 cars still at like 800'
nudges him out by a fender at the end, everyone agreed
the Mustang lost
or better yet Jeff & the 'cuda won...


to be continued

 

[Budnicks]

Part 4
while my mind is still on the subject

#3 Rob C. 70 Duster, 400/tf727 true street car, fast
all steel, even the tubs tunnel hood doors decklid bumpers etc.
He gets a race with a nice 69 Camaro SS396 big single 4bbl
(It was a rec. port 454)
looks to be a fair match for both similar styles of build
The guy in the Camaro said;
"he had 3.73:1 in a 12 Bolt narrowed",
but a bit shorter & narrower 15x31" M/T Sportsman tires
then Rob's
all in all a good matchup, both about the same weight
Rob gets the Camaro guy to go $100

They do the dry burnouts both on soft street tires
nothing special, just some heat into them
Jim pulls them in the guy in the Camaro is pulling in really slow
Rob is on the converter already a bit early
the Camaro finally pulls in
& Jim immediately drops his arms
pretty even start
the Camaro actually, 'I don't think' ever stopped rolling
when Jim dropped his arms, anyhoo

Camaro is out on him a bit by the 300' mark
Rob's car has a long ram, a torquey MoFo, just starts pulling hard
after about 100', makes up a tone of the ground by the 1/2 track
gets ahead by what looks like a fender or so, from where we are
another really close race,
'again too close to call'
(this was way before cell phones & nobody had a VHS at the finish line
but Rob's wife 'Dee' [Dianne] has one at the starting line, filming the whole deal)
she says to all of us;
he [Camaro guy] never staged right, he was still rolling
we don't have any way of proving it, no view screen on the VHS camera
we need a TV...
Some random lady from the crowd, had a TV in her car,
like a lil' B&W Sony 5" (with rabbit ears) ran off the cigarette lighter
it did have the RCA jacks to add a video player
also hard to see, but the guy did roll thru the start
but Rob beat him anyway on the track, but you couldn't tell by the tape
too dark too far away...
Rob wouldn't say he won if he didn't
Rob being the nice guy he is, he says;
"no big deal we'll run em' back"
& then he said;
"he will stage last/2nd this time so no hanky panky"

they go over & let them cool off for a while still
like an hr has gone by now, after all the video deal,
(couple other races go down, get to that later)

they finally line back up, do the same burnouts...
Camaro dude get up on the converter at the line 'hard', like 4,000
Rob still rolling in, Rob gets time to get up on his converter too
Jim drops his arms
Off they go,
Rob's car pulls the left front wheel off the ground
& he's running it way harder than normal...
The Camaro spins/smokes the tires, for like 400+ft
Rob wins 'by Bus lengths' & a $100

we're doing really well for the night
still some really hard hitters to run, it's like Sat. 3:00am now

wow my 2 typing fingers are getting tired

to be continued

 

[Budnicks]

I have to tell you all, I've been up late remembering
(as I remembered them, I even made some notes, as to not forget)
& relive (it in my mind ) a lot of this stuff...
Strange how waves of some select memories come over you,
like it was just a few days ago...
Thanks;
for the walk down memory lane, putting up with me
& the long descriptions, that possibly have been embellished a bit,
but it's as I remembered it, to my best knowledge...
(sorry I don't know any other way to write it)

 

[WS23U1]

What years were this.

 

[HawkRod]

I have to tell you all, I've been up late remembering
(as I remembered them, I even made some notes, as to not forget)
& relive (it in my mind ) a lot of this stuff...
Strange how waves of some select memories come over you,
like it was just a few days ago...
Thanks;
for the walk down memory lane, putting up with me
& the long descriptions, that possibly have been embellished a bit,
but it's as I remembered it, to my best knowledge...
(sorry I don't know any other way to write it)

Thanks for taking the time to write them down - they are fun to read!

 

[copper67sat]

Not me, I never had a car worth racing. My uncle told me this story from his hot rodding days in mid 60's.

He had a buddy that ran a dragster - Super Gas I think. After working on the car, they took it out on the street late at night for a quick test run. Their "test track" was a section of Grand Ave in St. Louis . It's about a 1/2 mile stretch from the I-70 underpass down toward Hall St along the Mississippi river through an industrial area.

The car was running with the driver in it when the cops rolled up. My uncle and the other crew member walked over to talk to one of the cops. The other cop approached the driver who couldn't hear him with his helmet on and the engine running through open headers so the cop leans in and taps him on the helmet to get his attention. The driver took that as the "go" sign and hit the gas. Fortunately the cop was able to jump out of the way as the car took off down the road. As my uncle tells it the cops were pretty cool and let them off with a warning.

 

[padam]

Not me, I never had a car worth racing. My uncle told me this story from his hot rodding days in mid 60's.

He had a buddy that ran a dragster - Super Gas I think. After working on the car, they took it out on the street late at night for a quick test run. Their "test track" was a section of Grand Ave in St. Louis . It's about a 1/2 mile stretch from the I-70 underpass down toward Hall St along the Mississippi river through an industrial area.

The car was running with the driver in it when the cops rolled up. My uncle and the other crew member walked over to talk to one of the cops. The other cop approached the driver who couldn't hear him with his helmet on and the engine running through open headers so the cop leans in and taps him on the helmet to get his attention. The driver took that as the "go" sign and hit the gas. Fortunately the cop was able to jump out of the way as the car took off down the road. As my uncle tells it the cops were pretty cool and let them off with a warning.

That sounds like what would happen if you tried big time street racing around here. Except Ohio State Patrol is not known for letting anyone off with a warning.

 

[biomedtechguy]

Here's some map pix for those not familiar with New Orleans. Getting to the Lakefront from just about anywhere in New Orleans wouldn't take longer than about 25 minutes. I lived about 15 minutes away, and my High School was about 8 minutes away.
I highlighted the main area on the Lakefront where cars would cruise, bumper to bumper, and park all along Lakeshore Drive on the Lake side and the south side as well. There's a "green space" between Lakeshore Drive and the levee just to the south of the road, and that made a lot of space to play Frisbee, let your dogs run around, football, BBQ, etc etc..
The stretch of Wisner Blvd we used to race at was really ideal. NO CROSS STREET traffic to worry about, and it was close to the main cruising area. We didn't have to "drive out of town" to some remote area to race.
Incredibly, people would park all along the Bayou St. John and pull out folding chairs, etc and just hang out and wait for and watch the races.
It was WONDERFUL!!

 

[Budnicks]

What years were this.

asking me ?

mainly like 1975-late 80s, NorCal mostly before or around 1985

the Rancho Secco/rural Sacramento area (above) events were after 1985 (?)
I was in Alaska for 2 years prior, I was/got back in later April of 87' (?)
IIRC it was that summer of 87-ish

 

[Budnicks]

Part 5
Rancho Secco

#4
Roland M. (& wife Sue) proprietor of 'Club Merm' in Concord
(inside joke you had to be their & know them, always parting,
he was a real wheeler-dealer)
their bright Yellow 32 5-window Ford coupe ('Hemi Kid' on his plate)
with a 0.060" over 426cid Hemi/tf727 Dana 60

between races
Roland (Sue actually) got him a race with a guy for $100
in a really nice Like Oxblood red & white 66/67 (?) Buick GS 400,
narrowed rear, rough idle, loud exhaust, the guy never opened the hood
looked like a BBC pan underneath
nice car really, probably a 12 second car
guy out of Oakland (IIRC)
He sort of sat back away from everyone
he was sort of cherrypicking on the slower guys,
raced a few times that night
it sounded really good, I suspected a Mark IV BBC of some sorts
427/454 or bigger
it was the flavor of the month back then, in GMs

heads up deal
they do their burnouts Roland does a lil' short quick burnout in VHT
he has sticky street tires
the GS does a smokey big burnout, it has slicks tucked under nicely
no white leters etc.
Jim again flags,
drops his arms & off they go
the Buick has him 'bad out of the hole',
but Rolands' gaining on him fast
catches up about 1/2 track, & they stay there side by side most the way
Roland know how to play the game, he nudges him at the end
on & off the gas, showing off...
(Roland & his wife Sue were both Jetcar pilots, professional show-offs
Charlie Hand built cars)
anyway they come back the guys bitching & moaning about Rolands' antics
they get into a scuffle 'of sorts', doesn't last long
we break it up Roland has a short fuse, shortman complex too...
The Buick guy goes back to his group...
Rolands got a shiner/raspberry above his eye
I don't know why it went so bad...
The Buick guy had won like 4 races that night 'cherrypicking' slower cars
he didn't like getting beat that way...
& I knew that Coupe had more than a mid-12 in it too

#5
Rob D. a younger guy in our group
a really talented fabricator builder, lived with his parents still
going to school taking Machine Tech. at DVC JC in Concord
he has a beautiful medium blue metallic extended front/wheelbase
71 Datsun 510, with an Inj. 468 BBC/PG, full cage 9" rear 14x32s
true mid 9 sec. car, ran in Nostalgia stuff & Super Chevy Sunday fastest street car stuff
or Goodguys events, after shows

he has some guy with a primer'd red-oxide, tubbed, tinned, the whole shebang
a 68 (69?) Chevelle with a blown BBC/th400 racecar
2x4bbls like 750 DP Holleys on top, it really surged like a MoFo when idling
sounded like it was loaded for bear

Rob doesn't have much $$, shy, but he's a great kid, everyone likes him
so we helped him negotiate, the Chevelle wants to go for $200
me & Jim both know Rob's car very well, he has most the same ****
as Jims car (Iron LS7 rec port heads roller 13:1/PG 5500 stall 9" )
except for no N2O, & it's FI (ran off a BG 500gpm pump) not carbureted
the guy keep wanting to run for more $$
we agree on $250 finally IIRC,
me, Jim, Scott, Roland/Sue, Rob C./Dee all put up $50 each
I got another side bet of $50 with the guys' buddy
we tell Robie if he loses, he has to do some fab work for US
he agrees to the terms

we get them finally to the water box
Rob does a short but smoky VHT burnout
sounds great
the guy in the Chevelle, does a shot 'water' burnout too
they both take their sweet *** time rolling in,
the Chevelle only has like a 5 gal cell up front,
I don't know if he had a cell in back or not...
Jim gets them staged, no games, he drops his arms
Rob D. is out on the guy bigtime, like a car & 1/2 bigtime
they both hook up relatively well
Rob is in second by like 150' maybe
the Chevelle is in second way earlier, it's a 3-speed th400/like 5500+ stall
he's catching Rob, Chevelle makes up like a 1/2 a car by like 800ft
& gaining on him fast, the Chevelle starts to spin the tires like 1,000ft
almost goes into Robs lane, then sort of off in the gravel shoulder
gathers it back up quick, Rob D. wins by a fender maybe less
it was really close, that Chevelle is freaken' fast

they come back to the staging area,
the driver jumps out of the Chevelle says;
'Jim was burning him down, staging
getting the guy too much heat in the motor, trans/converter'
we all called BS, he was slow rolling it in bigtime
the guy won't pay off, wants to run it back/race again
now he wants to go for double or nothing
we said;
"no fucken way, you put up the cash we'll let someone else hold it
all $500 worth" we will do the same
finally after arguing for like 20-30 min.s, he agrees,
get cash from his buddies
he didn't have it...
We wait for the both to cool down some, it's still like 90*s out
at 3:30am Sat

A couple other races, slower cars go down in the mean time
a nice like light yellow notchback 'cuda, a friend of Jeff E. (Nissan parts guy)
from Fairfield area, we all know, his buddy wins 2 races, 13-second cars

Finally we get back to Rob D. (Robbie)
& The Chevelle guys' 2nd race
everyone is on edge, tensions are high,
there's $500 at stake that's huge $$
especially for Rob, he has none, he worried he'll lose ours
we tell him don't sweat it, whatever happens, happens...
It's racing
(by the way the guy I had the side bet with, he paid me, my $50s)
they both do short burnouts & stage almost immediately
Jim drops his arms,
Rob D. gets out on him again
the guy in the Chevelle is gaining on him, starts to spin the tires
& in & out of it, peddling & it pops/backfires-bangs the blower
it's old style sping-loaded pop-off valve in the intake,
no harm really, but too late now
he lost, tense moments for damn sure...
The guy didn't have any choice this time, his money was ours
we each took/kept $75s
& each of Us gave Robbie $25s he got $125 total
he has total confidence in his car, on the street now too...

it will pay off later

to be continued
as I remember it

 

[Budnicks]

Part 6
Rancho Secco

#6
Jim C. 67 Camaro (one of my T/S racing partners),
in the photo of my RR back a few posts, you can see his Camaro back end
Rect port BBC 13:1 468cid LS7 N2O 500 shot fogger, PG, 14x32" slicks
run 8's all day long (at the track)
there was a few heavy hitters, some big open trailers (mostly),
not real streetcars, more track cars, but they were there to race,
'at least' all of US drove from Rob C.s place
in Rancho Cordova/Cambodia down to the J st. cruise & then out to race
We had a group of guys that came to race either me
(with my 49 Ford Pro-gas, 8.50 car) but I didn't bring/drive that car,
I didn't know these guys were even coming,
I drove my yella' 69 RR instead
& Jim C. 67 Camaro N2O,
#10) Dan B. (67 "bailing wire" Firebird N2O)
& Rob D. in his Datsun 510 (no N2O)
the group comprised of a couple of Camaros Mustangs Chevelles Novas,
& Mike M.'s 39 Pontiac coupe, fully caged tubbed etc. 9" Ford all trussed up
with like a 632cid (? IIRC, may have been smaller) Pontiac Big Chief headed
on N20, one badass ride
like 9 (?) guys/cars
I was completely outgunned, but I was gonna make it a race
with one or more of the losers
between Jim C., Dan B. or Rob D.
most of them (6-7) will go down the next day-night Sat. late into Sun. early AM
1st
is a badass beautiful 66-67 (?) Nova/ChevyII #1 a plate kit & a fogger kit (500+hp shot)
& Against Jim C.
& a badass menacing looking really low 70-71 Nova #2 easily 350-500hp shot of juice/fogger
& against Dan B.
all are Super-gas or Comp cars at a min., all of them had slicks, cages tinned & tubbed
most all of the 9 cars had N2O too
(they don't use it, track racing or rarely, in 9.90 S/G or 8.90 S/C classes)
but so do Jim & Dan...
None of these guys are slouches...
these are all negotiated $100 each race

we get Jim & Nova #1 up ready to go
I'm going to flag/start the races Jim runs in...
They get up & do burnouts everyone in VHT
Jim does our group's patented short burnout
the Nova does a big smoky burnout & rolls out a bit
they both get 10 or so feet back & purge their N2O
pull upto the line we get them staged, both guys up on the converters
it's freaken' loud as hell, Jim's car had cutouts theirs had open headers
I drop my arms & away they go
Jim gets out well, but the Nova is ahead of him
to about 300', both on the juice, big blue flames come from under both
Jim has the guy reeled in by 1/2 track-ish, a good race,
the Nova starts shooting ducks bad
Jim freighttrains him pulls the chute in his face, he knows he beat bad
Nova guy come back & say yeah he lost...
Come to find out, Nova burned off a few plug tips/ground straps...
Lean deal
These guys are pretty cool track racers, just having fun...
A bunch of them from Oroville/east of Marysville area
(talk about that in a different thread, Mike M.s bunch)

Next up Dan B. "bailing wire Firebird" (Dan has 2 kits a plate & a fogger kit)
& the 70-71 low Nova #2, big fogger kit, this thing is on like 15x33" slicks
they both do their burnouts, Dan does a rolling burnout
they back & & get ready to stage big purges from both cars
they pull upto the line both get up on their converters,
like 5,000 Dan (Pontiac) - 5,500 the Nova
I do the arm drop, I kind of quick dropped, I didn't give them much time
but no complaints
Dan gets the guy out of the hole, 1/2 car (?)
the Nova pulls the front wheels about a foot & carries it to at least 100' out
Dan's trucking he's going thru Flowmaster, not open,
& he hasn't hit the second kit yet
the Nova is open headers, huge 4' flames, lighting it up down track
about 1/2 track the Nova is pulling away,
now Dan hits the high gear & the second kit come on,
now like 3' blue flames out his pipes/turndowns
(remember this is a real Pontiac, not meant to RPM)
he's reeling the Nova in fast, Dan gets him by a solid car maybe more
it was a real 8 sec. pass on the street, the Nova dumps the chute
they come back & Nova guy agreed Dan got him...

Now these two losers (but very fast cars)
are way more than my RR can handle
(maybe now 10.80-90s with N2O, 250 shot 2bbl plate, it's a solid 11.60s without,
on 9" slicks, I'm not sure it'd take anymore either)
I'm waiting to see what the other guys do 1st

it's like 4:30-ish (?) Am now Sat. the 5th of July, 1st night still

too be continued
I hope I'm not boring youz guyz

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Keep em coming

 

[Darter6]

Damn,you are good at this Budnick. !!

 

[Budnicks]

Keep em coming

glad some are enjoying it, not wasting my time
a lot of typing

I will keep em' coming
& I got 3 pages of notes now
I even called a couple ol' buddies & asked them 'for sure'
what it was they did or had, I'm pretty well spot on so far...
Not much if any embellishment, the actual times or order possibly...

My old buddy Jim C. remembers it well too
we talked for like 2 1/2 hrs laughing, reminiscing about it
I had forgotten a few people & made the list bigger
& Mike M.'s gang from Oroville, our buddy Jeff E. (he made custom wings)
knew & introduced us...

he reminded me of a few others that weekend too

like I need more

suprisingly my memory is doing well

 

[Budnicks]

Damn,you are good at this Budnick. !!

Thanks for the kind words

I'm enjoying it too...
walk down memory lane, the pinnacle of my youth, doing **** I loved

 

[biomedtechguy]

Some stories, especially like these, take this "old guy" back to the days it happened..
It's almost a time machine.
Feels good. Doesn't seem like that long ago...

 

[Darter6]

Lately I was thinking about a 32 Ford in the year 1963.We thought they were "OLD" cars.
Now some of us have and are working on cars that are damn near 60 years old. Our stories are in their 50's !!!

 

[Dave6T4]

Lately I was thinking about a 32 Ford in the year 1963.We thought they were "OLD" cars.
Now some of us have and are working on cars that are damn near 60 years old. Our stories are in their 50's !!!

I bought my first car in 1963 at the age of 16. It was a 1939 Buick coupe, and was considered an old car at the age of 24 years. So, that would be today's equivalent of having a 1999 vehicle. I think there are a lot of everyday drivers on the road of that vintage, and nobody thinks anything of it. Times have sure changed.