Yesterday I pulled up an old newspaper article that showed Mr. Howard winning SS, in a Camaro, at our local track, near Monroe, LA. Didn't know he ever ran there.
I suppose the 1st race I ever attended there was in either 1966 or '67. Didn't have a any drag racing friends. & I didn't have a race car. I remember that they had booked in some front engine dragsters. Back then, they smoked the tires pretty much the entire quarter. I went to that race by myself, in our family car, which was a '66 Dodge Coronet 500, 383 4-barrel, dual exhaust, with a 3.23? posi. It was silver, with a black vinyl top & black interior.
When we needed a new car, I tried to talk my Dad into a 426 Street Hemi, with a 4-speed. But, he said that since my Mom & sister would be driving it, we'd better go with the 383/auto. And, obviously that was a good decision.
I was actually surprised that he let me get by with choosing the color, plus bucket seats & a console shifter. I suppose he knew that he couldn't afford to buy me my own car, so that was the best he could do for me. I thought that was real cool of him.