How did you get started in Drag Racing?

Larry Hill · 02-05-2024, 08:19 AM

I always liked the feeling of the seat pressing against my back in a car and I’ve never outgrown that feeling. First real track I went to was Lakeland just outside of Memphis. That nite in 1967, I think, was a Funny Car match race between “Brutus”, 65 GTO and “LimeFire” 67 Barracuda . Also there was a real clean 67 GTX with “Mr 4 Speed” on the doors, Herb McCandles.

Halls Tn was a great place to see class racing in 1966. 62 Bubble tops, 413’s, 406,427 Ford and Chevy, 59 Fi cars. It was a flag track at the start and the finish line. All handicap spots were a car length between classes. The A/S would have to spot the B/S one car length. The B/S would have to spot the B/SA a half a car length. So racers being racers a couple of racers figured out a way to use the rules to their advantage. The two of them both local fellows bought Art Graham's 61 Dodge wagon. they ran it as a 6 passenger or 9 passenger 383 w/ two four barrels, or one four barrel. Could have run it as a 361. Because the car was slow and ran way down on the class scale it received a big spot every round. The spot was so big that they just geared the car for the 1/8 mile. One of the team was a transmission specialist, and was one of the few people to have a 2.77 low gear and a 069J converter the other guy was a well dressed car salesman. Y'all may have seen the car it was brown and double ugly, the trans guy was Ronnie Veatch RIP, a really good racing mind, and the other wrench and driver was Jerry Bennett

02-05-2024, 08:19 AM	#11
Larry Hill Live Reporter Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hickory, Ky Posts: 10,677 Likes: 1,992 Liked 10,969 Times in 2,261 Posts	Re: How did you get started in Drag Racing? I always liked the feeling of the seat pressing against my back in a car and I’ve never outgrown that feeling. First real track I went to was Lakeland just outside of Memphis. That nite in 1967, I think, was a Funny Car match race between “Brutus”, 65 GTO and “LimeFire” 67 Barracuda . Also there was a real clean 67 GTX with “Mr 4 Speed” on the doors, Herb McCandles. Halls Tn was a great place to see class racing in 1966. 62 Bubble tops, 413’s, 406,427 Ford and Chevy, 59 Fi cars. It was a flag track at the start and the finish line. All handicap spots were a car length between classes. The A/S would have to spot the B/S one car length. The B/S would have to spot the B/SA a half a car length. So racers being racers a couple of racers figured out a way to use the rules to their advantage. The two of them both local fellows bought Art Graham's 61 Dodge wagon. they ran it as a 6 passenger or 9 passenger 383 w/ two four barrels, or one four barrel. Could have run it as a 361. Because the car was slow and ran way down on the class scale it received a big spot every round. The spot was so big that they just geared the car for the 1/8 mile. One of the team was a transmission specialist, and was one of the few people to have a 2.77 low gear and a 069J converter the other guy was a well dressed car salesman. Y'all may have seen the car it was brown and double ugly, the trans guy was Ronnie Veatch RIP, a really good racing mind, and the other wrench and driver was Jerry Bennett __________________ IHM Used Parts https://ihmusedparts.com 888-821-1817 Last edited by Larry Hill; 02-05-2024 at 04:31 PM.