First Car to the Strip

Bret Kepner · 01-12-2021, 05:21 PM

First post here in many, many years. In July, 1976, I took my Citron Gold Metallic 1966 Plymouth Barracuda "UnCommando", (using the 180 hp 2bbl 273 and TorqueFlite), to the original St. Louis International Raceway in Madison, Illinois, to race in K/SA and won class but got my head caved in in the first round of the eliminator. That car kept Badger Pistons Company in business for a while while I got it down to the point at which, on one wonderful, cool evening, it ran within a solitary hundredth of the class record...and then the AHRA hung ten horsepower on the combination. I then starting throwing my money into a 4,000-pound, 120-inch wheelbase bonfire resembling a refrigerator-white '70 Plymouth Fury II, (with the 290 hp 2bbl 383 "Commando" engine and TorqueFlite), running in O/SA "because nobody had ever done it". I soon discovered why.

01-12-2021, 05:21 PM	#23
Bret Kepner Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA Posts: 418 Likes: 1 Liked 11 Times in 2 Posts	Re: First Car to the Strip First post here in many, many years. In July, 1976, I took my Citron Gold Metallic 1966 Plymouth Barracuda "UnCommando", (using the 180 hp 2bbl 273 and TorqueFlite), to the original St. Louis International Raceway in Madison, Illinois, to race in K/SA and won class but got my head caved in in the first round of the eliminator. That car kept Badger Pistons Company in business for a while while I got it down to the point at which, on one wonderful, cool evening, it ran within a solitary hundredth of the class record...and then the AHRA hung ten horsepower on the combination. I then starting throwing my money into a 4,000-pound, 120-inch wheelbase bonfire resembling a refrigerator-white '70 Plymouth Fury II, (with the 290 hp 2bbl 383 "Commando" engine and TorqueFlite), running in O/SA "because nobody had ever done it". I soon discovered why. __________________ Bret Kepner BRETKEPNER@Prodigy.net Saint Louis, Missouri, USA