The First Time I .......
 

Remember the first time you ran down the strip ?
First time you trophied ?
First engine build ?
First time you failed tech ?
First "real" racecar ?
Any "first time " relevant to the topic of drag racing.

(no pit girl stories please)

Share your pics and stories with readers that can relate.

Re: The First Time I .......
 

First engine build: age 16

Engine: 396/325 big block out of friend's 1967 Chevelle SS. Stock rebuild w/hi-po (I forget the specs!) solid lifter cam added. :)

Place: Auto shop - New Brunswick Technical & Vocational High School.

M68

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Great thread. I had been a Drag Rat since I was 8 yrs old, my brother had initiated me with Jr Stocker, so I thought I was pretty smart when I attended my first race,with my 1970 Mach 1 390 cubic in. 3speed auto street car. My blood pressure was pounding through my head when I pre staged and stage all at once, I was ready, rev the engine just right, lights come down, and bang I step on the throttle, Oops I forgot to put in gear! Lucky for me the car next to me was trying to dig itself to China, so back in gear and Wamo I'm an addict for the rest of my life. CR

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Whats wrong with pit girls, Charlie??
There used to be a girl at old Puyallup Raceway Park in the early '70s that would dress up the then hand written ET slips with little smiley faces and hearts on them for me. We celebrated our 35th anniversary earlier this year! Of course, I've always told her the reason I really married her was that she made better fried chicken than my mom and could drive a stick shift,,, I had my priorities!
Danny Durham

Re: The First Time I .......
 

THAT is a great life story.

You already know I am trying to avoid an "R" rating. :)

Fried chicken better than mom's?

NO way to pass that up!!!!!

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Irvington Nebraska,1963, Stock Model A ,one other car in class , VW bug. I won a foot tall trophy. 21 seconds and change,15 years before I won another one,go figure.

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Oh boy do I remember the first engine we built in high school automotive shop class...lets just say things didn't go too good, It was a GM product anyways, lol. :confused:

Re: The First Time I .......
 

:eek::eek: The first time I won money at a Drag Race was in 1973. I had a street driven 1971 Torino 500 with a 302 and C-4. I was at Puyallup Raceway just making a few runs with my buddies (they had faster cars). That night I was approached by officials and asked if my car was stock. I told them "stock as a rock", the only mods are the Cragar S/S mags and nice tires. Well they said they needed another car for the stock super/stock combo and would I like to enter. I said "O.K. sure what do I do". Let's get your car classified and then you make a run to qualify.
Here's the fun part. My car is classified as an O/SA and the index is 14.35 (if I remember correctly). I make my run and go 17.25. First round I draw one of the big guns. He doesn't know my car and he redlights. I lose 2nd round, but win $25 for the 1st round win. I was hooked and started spending more money, but was on cloud nine that night.

Re: The First Time I .......
 

My first run was at Thunder Valley in SD in the summer of '73.... trophy stock with an O/SA classed '66 Fairlane 289 against a buddy's O/SA '68 Torino 302. I had a fender on him at the start, and that was my margin of victory. Sure wish things were that simple now!

Re: The First Time I .......
 

I worked at the dragstrip (Thunder Valley Dragways) before I ever made a pass down the track, and after all these years, i still have only made a handful of real passes, but...


Years ago, thinking I was "all that" in one of my first '69 Camaros, I pulled up into the staging lanes to make a pass. I ended up at the line against Omaha's Tom Kocanda and his little green Colt (pro stocker, if I remember correctly). I was so nervous, and in awe of the car beside me, I couldn't hear, nor even feel, my car at the line over the music his Hemi was making.

My car didn't even have a tach, so I waited for him to disappear before I even took off, because I was afraid I'd blow the thing up when I didn't shift when I should.

I think it ran a 13.75 or something like that at 104mph. I am sure I have the time slip somewhere. Again, I thought I was "all that".

Geez, that Colt was noisey.

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........

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Aw,, Charlie,,, there you go thinking about those pit girls again!
Danny Durham

Re: The First Time I .......
 

Yep....just not thinking out loud. :D