Silly Season II What was your 1st Street car &/OR race car?

[Gary Merrick]

My first street car was a 1961 Ford Country Squire - 9 passenger station wagon, with a robin's egg blue Earl Scheib paint job, chrome skirts, and yes, it did have the wood grain on the sides. This was in 1967, so my Dad bought it for me to go to college locally, I think he spent about $650.00 on it. When we test drove it before buying, it was a real slug and could barely get out of its own way (I guess he figured I couldn't screw this thing up, it was bullet proof). I was working at a gas station part time and decided it needed a tune-up, so my buddy and I took a closer look and found out it was a 390 cid, four barrel, dual exhausts, so we did the usual - plugs, dist cap, wires, air cleaner, fuel filter, it ran better, but it was still a pig. At that same time, the family car was a 1964 Ford Galaxy 500 fastback with a 352 - 4 barrel, dual exhausts and for what it was, it would haul, surprised a few people on the street. My brother, who was three years older showed me how you could manually shift the automatic by pulling it all the way into low, put it in drive and then pull it back to low and it would shift to 2nd gear and then shift it again back to drive it and it would go to high. The reason I tell the story about the 64 is that one day I was driving the wagon to work, running late, went to pass somebody, pulled it all the way to low, floored it, the front end jumped up in the air and it started to really haul, shifted the wagon like the 64, it smoked the tires when it went into second and it was like, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This thing is faster than the 64. Finally figured out that the shift linkage was messed up and it was always starting out in 2nd gear, even though though the shifter said it was in Drive, which should have been 1st gear. I did not tell my Dad until years later after the car was gone. He could not understand how the rear tires were only lasting about 8 weeks. Needless to say, I surprised a few GTO's and SS 396 Chevelles for the first 500 feet, of course then it was all over, but that thing sure was a sleeper. Oh, I did take off the chrome skirts before I drove it the first time. LOL

The first race car was a brand new 1969 Yenko Camaro, that was driven on the street to start with and then converted into a drag car over the next several years. This would be a lengthy story, but I will say the first NHRA points meet I went to in Columbus, Ohio, Marty Barrett told me to take my car home and fix about ten things before I could race, which was in 1972. The first NHRA points race I finally got to compete in was at Tri-City later that year, in Saginaw, Michigan and I raced John LIngenfelter first round (quite a story in itself) and Ron Mancini (Hemi-Dart SS/AA) the second round and then we went home, but it was a great day and needless to say the rest is history.

[John Nechiporchik]

Gary, A few years ago I had a clone Yenko Chevelle (69). As I was doing some research on the original Yenko's....If my memory is correct...of the total population of Yenko Chevelles ( I believe less than 100), 19 were sold through Marvelous Marve Minneman Chevyland in Youngstown.

the only significance to this info is Gary and I are both from the Y-town area.....

[Gary Merrick]

Hey John,

You would be correct, my Yenko did come from Marve Minneman Chevrolet in Austintown, Ohio. In fact a copy of the original window price label is currently on the parts manager's office wall, that is all I have left of that car along with some old pictures.

I had started working at General Motors in the fall of 1968, so I figured it was time to sell the 67 Mustang and go with a GM car. I actually wanted to buy a new 69 Corvette 427-435, but my Dad would not co-sign for the loan for a "PLASTIC" car as he put it. I was at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in basic training and we would usually talk on the weekends and Pops said he found me a Camaro and asked if I ever heard of a Yenko? Of course I had, in fact I even had looked at the one he was talking about before I left for basic. Since I knew, the Corvette deal was not going to happen, I told him go ahead and make the deal on the Yenko. He got the loan for me and bought it, I called him the next weekend, had him start it up in the garage and had my Mom drag the phone as far as the wire would let her so I could hear it run, of course he nailed the throttle a couple times and it was music to the ear. I was done with basic in a couple weeks and got to go home and drive my new car. There are a lot of stories that go with that car, more than I could write here, but probably the best one was in 1972, when it was only drag raced and ran low 11's, high 10's. I had just put a new race clutch in and my 53 year old Dad (who was a lot stronger than I was at 23) saw me struggling for an hour to get the Muncie back in asked if I wanted some help. The car was up on jack stands (that is a story in itself), he crawled under the car, picked the tranny up like it was a 5 pound stick and with one motion it was seated against the bell housing, crawled out and said there ya go, you can finish it. So I finished putting everything back together and asked him if he wanted to go for a short ride to test out the clutch, he said OK. We lived in a "VERY" residential neighborhood on a circle one way in, one way out and I told him I was just going to go around the circle. At that time, the car had slicks and open headers, no exhaust and was running it as a SS/D car. When I started driving, I turned to go out of the neighborhood instead of around the circle and he looked at me and yelled, "Where are you going?" I yelled back just up the street so I can make sure it goes in all four gears. I was use to the look he gave me, the one that said, you better not get a ticket. I went up to the next street which was a much better road (more traction), but I took it easy. We were probably a half mile from home and he yelled at me to turn it around and take it home. I pulled in a driveway, started backing out and he yelled, you better get going, cars are coming. That was all I needed to hear, stopped, reved it up to 6000, dropped the clutch and started pounding gears, got it in high gear, well over a 100 MPH, and started backing it down to make the turn to get back to our street, took it easy up the circle to our driveway, coasted in shut it off, looked over at him, he had this big "GRIN" on his face, his hands shaking and he could not talk much. I thanked him for helping me and said I think it works pretty good, what do you think? All he could say was "WOW", still shaking and I will never forget that big smile on his face. That was over 40 years ago, and he has been gone for almost 10 years, but it was times like that I will never forget. He was a hell of a guy, and more than once he would drag me and one of my cars home in the middle of the night and never complain. I was so Lucky to have a DAD like him. He took me to my first drag races in the late 1950's, and as they say the "Rest is History".....

[John Nechiporchik]

Gary,
First trip to the dragstrip was in 1963....Skyline Dragstrip ...just over the Ohio/Penn line towards New Castle on Rt.422. My dad would drop me off in the morning and I would sit there all day . Had a flagman at that time. $2 bucks to get in.

[cal]

Originally Posted by John Nechiporchik

Gary,
First trip to the dragstrip was in 1963....Skyline Dragstrip ...just over the Ohio/Penn line towards New Castle on Rt.422. My dad would drop me off in the morning and I would sit there all day . Had a flagman at that time. $2 bucks to get in.

WOW
$2 bucks was a lot of money back then.
My dad was a Marine during that time 1960 to like 1970
He only made like $64 bucks a month in the early years.

Cal
S/ST HR 1177

[Curt Rees]

1st street car titled in my name was a '54 Olds 88 2 dr hardtop, 1963. 1st trip down the race track was at Marion, SD in a 1960 Valiant with a trans planted 250 hp 327 Chevy, 1967.

1st "real" race car was '66 Chevy 4 dr Bel Air SS/OA, 1988. Then a '66 2 dr Bel Air, SS/NA. Current ride is a '88 Olds Cutlass that had been run in GT/MA. The car is being converted to a SS/NA with Jerry Ryan 307 Olds power.

The other project is my purchased new '69 340 'Cuda that I re-acquired in 2013. It will be a street car with an occasional pass down the strip. It just goes to show that you never outgrow this crazy sport we participate in!

#5457

Curt Rees

[Mike Carr]

Originally Posted by John Nechiporchik

Gary,
First trip to the dragstrip was in 1963....Skyline Dragstrip ...just over the Ohio/Penn line towards New Castle on Rt.422. My dad would drop me off in the morning and I would sit there all day . Had a flagman at that time. $2 bucks to get in.

My father's uncle helped build Skyline. My dad from was from New Castle, and if it were still around today, Skyline would have been my home track.

[John Nechiporchik]

Mike, I believe they ran there into the early 70's. I went there in 72 or 73 with my 69 Chevelle 396/375. I was from Struthers, Ohio and that was were all the locals raced.
Later migrated to Quaker, Sunset and Meander (Ohio Drag City).
I hope to attend your race(s) at Quaker this year.

[Mike Carr]

We'll be glad to have you John!

Gone to Struthers many times for karaoke and bands (90% of my friends live in and go out in Ohio, Boardman area a lot.

We live not far from New Castle now. Northern Enon Valley, farm country near the PA-OH line just outside Besemer. Quaker is my home track now. Unfortunately, at age thirty-three, I'm too young to have raced/gone to many local tracks (PID, Sunset, Skyline, Meander)