CLASS RACER FORUM - how was stock/super stock ran in the 60's and 70's?

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Re: how was stock/super stock ran in the 60's and 70's?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRyan (Post 174271)

Originally Posted by JRyan
Hey "hadto", we probably drove right by the place in the old "Rent-A-Wreck" Oldsmobile back in 1979. Couldn't beat the price for the thing either.

Jerry

.....Jerry, thats funny, I remember our trip, the 'Rent a Wreck'. We made a stop at Kil-kare Dradway in Ohio, part of the trip to Indy from South Dakota....how the heck did we ever decide to go there?

Hell, I don't know. I guess gas was cheap, and it was something to do after pissing Don Prudomme off at Cordova. We had John & Jay & pool at "Ma's Diner & Truck Stop", "Joe, the mechanic to go" with the free ice, a pretty crabby motel room in Cordova, and the "Honeymoon Suite" in Dayton. Pretty hectic trip, 'cause we also raced at Muncie. Then we both got beat and headed back to TVD to race on Sunday. Do you remember towing about 95 drafting a semi on I-29 when we passed the rest area and the HP in the hopped-up Dart almost ran us off the road in pursuit of the truck? We were drafting so close the cop didn't know we were there and damn near side-swiped us, but he pulled the truck over and we whistled away. Fun Deal!

Jerry

Had to explain to Prudomme how we do things...the truck stop, Irma was her name, '3 finger' Charlie the bartender and ya that crabby motel, my wife remembers....That was called 'Race car truck/trailer drafting' I think of those days and kind of wonder how we all survived back then, didn't know any better.....may be back to catch a race later in the year, I said hi to your Son last year at Brainerd, he was busy & did a great job....take care

Re: how was stock/super stock ran in the 60's and 70's?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dick Butler (Post 173966)

Some here discuss the excitement of running off records... Obviously many do not remember the EAST coast WEST coast Stocker record battles. We in the midwest were killed by record dial in at a 1000 ft track at 90degrees and 90% humidity. If you raced a popular combo in Ohio versus a combo not hitting records every weekend you were in the hole before the light changed. Only good part was most of us were learning and fighting the weather together....Kind of evened it up.
Index system created to make it so ALL racers could dial in and become a big Bracket race even if you had a class car you drove to the track. Good and Bad things about it.
I rarely saw any form of Class racing outside a NHRA Nationals. That made it a MUST to attend. Then with explosion of numbers OF classes the cars werent plentiful enough to populate many. classes and due to time NHRA cut the entrants which made Class bye runs ....sad...
Want to have fun again. Cut classes to 12 Stick and auto classes and see 20 cars per class EVERYWHERE to have fun and entertain spectators.Gives back the drive to run fast and still can race eliminations if 64 car fields...

It's always been interesting to see the East and West coast guys come to Bowling Green and The US Nationals in 90 degree heat and wonder why their cars slowed down 2 tenths.

Re: how was stock/super stock ran in the 60's and 70's?

Just read some of these, thanks for the cool stories!

Re: how was stock/super stock ran in the 60's and 70's?

It's always been interesting to see the East and West coast guys come to Bowling Green and The US Nationals in 90 degree heat and wonder why their cars slowed down 2 tenths.
__________________
Scott Wilcox 2193 3x National Champion
SS/A, SS/B, SS/K, SS/L, SS/AM, A/SM, C/SM, B/A, C/A, G/A, H/A

You are right about that Scott....

When we went to Indy in 1966 our car was running very slow compared to what we were used to running locally around here in NJ.......It was pretty warm out. We went to Munice dragway one night to try and make some runs and maybe get it faster but were not able to get any runs in there.....the place was jammed!

Re: how was stock/super stock ran in the 60's and 70's?

Tom, the track you refer to north of pence was called Kettlersville Dragstrip. It was owned by Ted Jones who later was with IHRA and Masters entertainment. He also built Van Wert Dragway in ohio after closing Kettlersville. Kettlersville was an 1/5th mile and and ran a lot on thursday nights as I remember , i ran a n/ps 56 chevy there when I was just 14

Re: how was stock/super stock ran in the 60's and 70's?

Found this in a post on this old thread. It really brought back memories of when I first raced my '69 GTO, in D/S, back in '73. It was describing racing with a flag start.

"...The spots were actually painted off in the center of the track. Both cars pulled to the line and the starter (flagman) would gesture to the slower car to pull forward. He'd find the appropriate line on the track and stage the slower car there. The fast car staged on the starting line.

...Since the flagman had to be ahead of both cars sometimes the fast car at the line was squinting to see the flagman way down the track..."

A guy would rent an area airstrip & hold Sunday afternoon races there. A little Pinto had won the 1st several races that season. So, they offered a $25 bounty to anyone who could beat him. Well, sure enuff, I drew the pinto. IIRC, his spot was 410 feet !

The shorter spots were marked off on the track. But there were no marks that far down track. So, the flagman sat on the front fender of the Pinto & rode off down the track. He had the Pinto driver stop where he ESTIMATED 410ft to be. Nobody, including him, knew exactly how far it was from the starting line.

Well, that word "squinting" reminded me of that day. I really didn't think I had a chance of catching the Pinto, which was starting that far down the track. So, just for spectator entertainment, I got out of my Goat, shielded my eyes, & looked off down the track, as if trying to focus in on some far away object. :D

I could just barely see the flag good enuff to tell when it was raised. Although I didn't think I could win, I went ahead & made a full pass. To my surprise, and probably to everybody else's surprise, I passed him right at the line ! I was probably going at least twice his speed.

I don't know if I won because the estimated spot was too short, or not. Anyhow, I got a standing(jumpin & hollerin) ovation as I drove back down by the spectators, & won the $25 bounty.

Yep, this is a true story. It really happened. :)

This is a pic of the car, in 1973. You can see the tow bar, & the tail end of the '68 Caddy I'd bought to tow it with. Slicks weren't allowed that year. The hard rubber street legal M&H tires I ran are on the rear. I'd removed the narrow fronts, for towing. Hey, I had to start somewhere.