First Car to the Strip

[The Hawk]

My first pass was during a $2 per run session during a jet car event in the mid 80's. Had my parent's '80 Olds Omega fwd 4 cyl turd. Ran a 21.96@62. Not much different from future projects I raced et wise! Planted the seed for my near future for sure!

[gcasey]

First strip run was at Onondaga 1965 Sunday afternoon. Drove my first car - 1957 BelAir 2dr HT. which was getting me back and forth to Michigan State. The "new" wrecking yard 327 w/cam, headers, 4-spd, etc. dumped me in C/MP against real MP cars, with predictable results.

Losing didn't lessen the joy of later cruising downtown Lansing with the class shoe polish still on the windows and, if lucky, a class trophy displayed in back window tray. Less enjoyable was taking the girlfriend back to her dorm in a wrecker when I just had to show her how to hammer it off the stoplight (broke a lot of parts back then).

Dorm mate was Jon Callendar (Chevairs Racing Team) who won Stock at Indy with his twin to Dave Boertman's K/S. He got me interested in Stock Eliminator and the challenge of making a low HP combo work. (RIP Jon)

Ah, The GOOD OL' DAYS!!!

The '57 is in the shop slowly becoming a FI combo for Stock/SuperStockAssn. racing.

[MR DERBY CITY]

Yes, you read it correctly .....my first time EVER at the track was riding along with good ole Captain Jack. I remember it like yesterday. The Captain asked me if I wanted to go to the track with him on Sunday, the Harrison County Dragway located just outside of Elizabeth, Indiana. We were flat towing and I remember the ride vividly as we were traveling right next to the Ohio River. And then, a hill, a big fricken hill .... what a relief to get to the top .....About thirty minutes later we arrived at the track. Even though I grew up in Kentucky, I had never seen an outhouse before , or the optional rain gutters lining the wall. Fortunately, Jacks older brother recommended that I hold my breath upon entering. Jacks race car was a 66 Chevelle, 283 4 bbl with a stick. Walking through the pits I noticed a yellow 66 nova in line to make a run. It’s hard to believe but after 44 years that same nova is still being campaigned by my good friend Buddy Hughes .....I don’t remember how many rounds the Captain won that day but I do remember a few things. It was a whole lot easier coming down that hill on the way home, UNLESS you were the brake pads on the tow vehicle. The ham sandwich that I purchased at the concession stand was delicious. Styrofoam coolers don’t have a long lifespan at the drag strip .....

[Pete Lanciers]

My first pass... Oh my not sure remembering this won't haunt me tonight!

A 51 Henry J, 3spd on the column, 300ci Ford straight six, J/Gas 1968 E-Town...LMAO!

[63corvette]

My first race car to the strip was a 66 SS Chevelle I had bought which had been acid dipped to lighten in California in 1969.
I purchased it in Mclean TX from the Chevy dealer who had bought it off of route 66 from a racer who needed money to get back home.
Not sure what he gave for it but I remember paying $600 for it with supposed to be a running 327 with double hump heads and that is all I know about it. No bell housing, trans shifter or drive train in the rear end. It did have a nice full interior including bucket seats and console and a fairly nice paint job. First thing I did was pull the 327 and sold it to take the car back to a true SS 396.
The body was really light as you could push on the sheet metal about anywhere and it would flex with using a finger or two.
Over the next few months I, with the help of several friends put a 396/375 hp engine with a saginaw 4speed and a 4.56 rear 12 bolt posi unit in the rear end. I used the saginaw due to it having a 2.56 first gear ratio vs the muncie at 2.20
I built a tow bar and free wheeling hubs to tow it flat.
Put some M&H slicks on some steel wheels and kept them in the trunk and towed it to the strip at Amarillo Dragway. With the help of some of the friends we set it up and it was classed to run B/S.
We were weighed at the tech area as entering and it was light even with the two tow tires in the trunk so we used the tool box for a weight box to make weight with tools in it. Could not get away with that today.
If I remember correctly the car ran 12 second quarter miles at about 120 at Amarillo TX 3400 ft altitudes. I have the et cards which were like business cards with only one cars et and ads and the race schedule on them. I searched for them and could not find them. I put them up for safe keeping and now can not find them. It happens when you get old.
We won class that day and again later in the year and that was well before they were Wally's.
To be clear we had street raced it a number of times prior to taking it to the drag strip to work out the bugs and be ready to really race it.
In the late 60's in a small town in TX you could get away with driving it with open headers and doing a little racing as long as the traffic out on the highway was not bothered and it was not late at night.
If fact one evening we even had a TX Highway Patrol car stop to watch one of the races.
Those were the days.
Rick Cates
Canyon, TX