Re: The First Time I .......
 

Lewistown Raceway, June 1995. Ran high school class, 1982 Buick regal with a 472 Caddy motor shoved in. Made my first passes and my first win that day, dialed at a 16.00. I won twice more that summer, lost the championship by 1 round, and blew up the 472 after getting it into the 15.40's, albeit with the 2.41 gears still in back. Built a 300hp or so 350 in spring 1996, added 3.73's, went about the same speed, didn't know I could stay in high school class so moved up to sportsman and won 1 race. Went to dirt and demo derbies after that Have yet to fail tech, working on the first real racecar that's not a dirt or derby car (been, there, done that, got the concussions to prove it). I can only imagine where I'd be at had I just stuck to the quarter mile...still as broke, but probably have some good memories to show for it, probably would already be running a Stocker!

Re: The First Time I .......
 

I took Mom's '73 Torino to Atco in about '76 or '77. She didn't know about the racing it part. I had just gone to watch. ;-)
Bracket raced some street cars.
Only real race car was only half mine. I partnered with Mike Smith in the mid 90's on a '71 Road Runner for a couple years.

Re: The First Time I .......
 

My first drag strip pass was at Charleston Rhode Island Naval Auxiliary Landing Field, 1964, still in high school, I had a 1961 Ford, 375 horse 390 (Bought used $895 with no oil pressure& rebuilt the engine)3 speed on the tree. Had a screw in the return lever (trick of the week to get the vacuum secondary’s to open sooner) on the Holley four barrel and the throttle hung up. I had to shut the key off to kill it. I was too embarrassed to go again. Have no idea what it ran, dedicated to street after that. Lot’s of more stories about that car after that. That Charleston track (1958) was the beginning of a lifelong addiction to DRAG RACING!!!! Love this site, I find it hard to stay away-need to get up in AM and drag these old bones to work a few more times to make up for all the money I should have saved for retirement instead of spending it on DRAG RACING!
Steve Neal, 1387 G/SA Mustang HP289/271, Indy 69 (&others)

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Hmm, lets see enjoyed going to track and remember watching this '69 340 Dart make a pass, smoke everywhere...walked over to take a look back in the pits, well it seems that the Fram oil filter he was using looked like someone blew it up because it looked like a balloon.

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Hi Dave, was that the Mike Smith that wrote articles for High Performance Mopar mag with Tom DeMauro as editor. I wrote 3-4 tech articles for HPM with Mike putting all the pieces together back in the 90s.

Re: The First Time I .......
 

My first engine rebuild was done in the front yard with the motor supported by a block of wood under the back of the block and two jackstands under the thru bolts in the mounts. That motor ran great and I wailed the snot out of it for a couple years.

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Flightland in Blair, NE (mid-60's), seeing Judy Lilly in the 'vette and legs that did't quit, then Cornhusker Raceway off I-80 seeing Hagen's MoPars, Reher&Cross Maverick and the first car I saw tubbed (gray Vega); also at Cornhusker Vern Moats (late '60's)AA/SP Cheetah & I thought he was old then, Howdy Williams fueler with push truck to start....and the 5 yellow Christmas tree...those were the day http://classracer.com/classforum/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: The First Time I .......
 

It was my second time at Atco, I had a 1964 Valiant, slant six with a factory 4 sp, bone stock.

I was one car back from the starting line, the car in front of me was a young kid in a new 1965 Impala convertible with the new 396/425 and a 4 sp. When he left the line the car made a big jump to the left, he hit second gear and the car jumped right into the guard rail, hit the ditch, went through the chain link fence and into the stands upside down. I saw some clothes fall out of the car when it was still in the air, later I found out it was the driver, he landed on someone's hood which broke his fall.

The end result was he totaled his dad's new car yet he was the only one hurt.

Since he wasn't on the track they went ahead and raced me and my opponent and once I let out the clutch I didn't have another thought about the crash, just banging gears...................I lost!

JimR

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Hi Paul: Lol, yeah, there's just a couple Mike Smith's, huh? No, this Mike Smith was from the Phila. area. Besides our car, he raced a couple of other six-pack cars, the U/SA that Clayton Wright now owns (at least he owned it the last I heard), and several other cars. He's passed away now, victim of an accident where a driver ran him off the road. I had many good times with Mike.

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Thought of a couple of other "first times" but they really are not on topic. :)

Lot's of members here still to contribute........