Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland
Even coming to Arkansas? That must be bad!!
How about this: My first race car was a '57 Chevy. I did not have anything to tow it with nor did any of my friends. I went to the junkyard and bought a thrid member out of a '58 Brookwood SW and would swap it into the race car to drive to the race track. At the track, I would swap in the 4.56s and open the headers and go race! At the end of the day, swap everything back and drive home! (about 50 miles)
Ed, you may remember the dragstrip at Ft. Smith. That is where I got started. A senior in high school with a O/S '57 Chev but walking to school and work!
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Yep, Arkansas too.
I had 4.56 gears in my first Chevy, 1st year out of high school (1962) it was a '56. Drove it everywhere. OKC, MoKan, Fort Smith. 3000 RPM was 50 mph if I remember correctly. Fort Smith and Tulsa (North Air Port. Private air port. Had to stop the races to let planes take off & land), only had flag men then, and 25' per class spot, up to 250'. I got the same spot from a D/S as an A/S. With the tires we had then, no track prep, and dust tracked on the starting line, I could out run most of those higher class cars heads up past 'till about the 1/8th mile. I got to leave on clean pavement with my spot, they were on dust, and used the fastest (early) part of my runs. Won a lot of races there. Lord, I must have broken a train load of Chevy 3 speeds and rear ends. First christmas tree I remember seeing was at the new track here. (same one as now) Think it opened in '64, but seems like we had a flagman here for a while. Don't remember what year the tree showed up. Always loved seeing Jim Hale's Hemi cars at Fort Smith. He had the first one I remember getting to look at up close.
Also, got to visit with one of my long time heros, Don Grotheer, at the Noble race a couple weeks back. He is putting another car together. Nothing sounds like a Hemi! I love 'em.