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Greg Reimer 7376 · 02-17-2024, 02:38 PM

I grew up down here in So Cal. In the '60's and through most of the '70's, we were the epicenter of the hot car culture. At about 14 or 15, my brother and a few buddies went to Irwindale one Saturday, they had brackets, and a Top Fuel/Funny Car show. I thought it was pretty interesting, to say the least. We lived in Temple City, this was within earshot of the track when they ran fuel cars on Saturday nights. They used to run fun and grudge racing on Wednesday nights, so it seemed a natural place to try this stuff out. I put together a '62 Impala SS with a dual carb 409, a 4 speed Muncie trans, Hurst shifter, an 1 inch three finger McLeod clutch, a 1 piece drive shaft, and a 12 bolt from a Chevelle with 4.56 gears. First times out were embarrassingly slow because the car wouldn't hook up. A pair of 8" slicks got the car into the mid 13's. As Irwindale went out in 1977, we flat towed the car to OCIR and got both some headers we found someplace, and some 10.5" slicks. It ran low 13's, then we tried some different driving tactics that resulted in short shifting the car from 6000 RPM shift points to 5500 then 5300 and got rewarded with 12.90's at the same MPH. By this time the addictive nature of this whole thing was apparent, and I attended the Winternationals for the first time in 1980 with my wife to watch. The Stock and Super Stock cars intrigued me because it was hard to believe how quick some of them were with an OEM intake and carb and very complete and original bodies and interiors. I drove a car one year that Tony Janes had, and decided that Stock looked like a good place to play. By then, all the local tracks were gone by about 1990 or so, except Palmdale, and it wasn't too easy to do this. My favorite race car has been my '68 Chevelles, got a couple wins at the current Irwindale, and have done this stuff as a fun sport some 40+ years and can't say I ever regretted giving it a try. I am a really bad spectator, any way. Gotta be out there doing it. The friends I've made in the mean time have been priceless.

02-17-2024, 02:38 PM	#62
Greg Reimer 7376 VIP Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Glendora,Calif. Posts: 1,130 Likes: 172 Liked 698 Times in 216 Posts	Re: How did you get started in Drag Racing? I grew up down here in So Cal. In the '60's and through most of the '70's, we were the epicenter of the hot car culture. At about 14 or 15, my brother and a few buddies went to Irwindale one Saturday, they had brackets, and a Top Fuel/Funny Car show. I thought it was pretty interesting, to say the least. We lived in Temple City, this was within earshot of the track when they ran fuel cars on Saturday nights. They used to run fun and grudge racing on Wednesday nights, so it seemed a natural place to try this stuff out. I put together a '62 Impala SS with a dual carb 409, a 4 speed Muncie trans, Hurst shifter, an 1 inch three finger McLeod clutch, a 1 piece drive shaft, and a 12 bolt from a Chevelle with 4.56 gears. First times out were embarrassingly slow because the car wouldn't hook up. A pair of 8" slicks got the car into the mid 13's. As Irwindale went out in 1977, we flat towed the car to OCIR and got both some headers we found someplace, and some 10.5" slicks. It ran low 13's, then we tried some different driving tactics that resulted in short shifting the car from 6000 RPM shift points to 5500 then 5300 and got rewarded with 12.90's at the same MPH. By this time the addictive nature of this whole thing was apparent, and I attended the Winternationals for the first time in 1980 with my wife to watch. The Stock and Super Stock cars intrigued me because it was hard to believe how quick some of them were with an OEM intake and carb and very complete and original bodies and interiors. I drove a car one year that Tony Janes had, and decided that Stock looked like a good place to play. By then, all the local tracks were gone by about 1990 or so, except Palmdale, and it wasn't too easy to do this. My favorite race car has been my '68 Chevelles, got a couple wins at the current Irwindale, and have done this stuff as a fun sport some 40+ years and can't say I ever regretted giving it a try. I am a really bad spectator, any way. Gotta be out there doing it. The friends I've made in the mean time have been priceless.