First Car to the Strip

Dennis Petras · 01-05-2021, 12:36 PM

It was spring of 1971 and me and two of my high school buddies went to Raceway Park, Englishtown on a Wednesday night to collectively loose our drag racing virginity. I had a 1970 Nova SS 350 / 300 HP, 4-speed (factory stock). My buddy Nick has a 63 split window corvette, 327 (that turned out to be a 283), 4 speed and buddy John had a 60 Falcon, 6 cylinder auto.
I can remember like it was yesterday my left foot shaking as I inched into the beams to stage the car. Smoked off the line like Jungle Jim and powershifted to a mid 15 second run. As I was making my way down the return road to the time slip booth with a big smile on my face, Bobby Doerr, the track announcer, was relentlessly busting on John during his run culminating with him announcing his blistering 24 second ET.
John and I still laugh about it today as he has been my dear friend for 50 plus years. He now has a 60 Falcon gasser, small block Ford with hilborn injection on alcohol that he fields with his son in law. Lost track of Nick. For me, I have never made a pass down a drag strip in anything but a three pedal car.

01-05-2021, 12:36 PM	#11
Dennis Petras Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Bloomsbury, New Jersey Posts: 7 Likes: 0 Liked 15 Times in 3 Posts	Re: First Car to the Strip It was spring of 1971 and me and two of my high school buddies went to Raceway Park, Englishtown on a Wednesday night to collectively loose our drag racing virginity. I had a 1970 Nova SS 350 / 300 HP, 4-speed (factory stock). My buddy Nick has a 63 split window corvette, 327 (that turned out to be a 283), 4 speed and buddy John had a 60 Falcon, 6 cylinder auto. I can remember like it was yesterday my left foot shaking as I inched into the beams to stage the car. Smoked off the line like Jungle Jim and powershifted to a mid 15 second run. As I was making my way down the return road to the time slip booth with a big smile on my face, Bobby Doerr, the track announcer, was relentlessly busting on John during his run culminating with him announcing his blistering 24 second ET. John and I still laugh about it today as he has been my dear friend for 50 plus years. He now has a 60 Falcon gasser, small block Ford with hilborn injection on alcohol that he fields with his son in law. Lost track of Nick. For me, I have never made a pass down a drag strip in anything but a three pedal car. __________________ Dennis Petras 1369 G/ Stock