How did you get started in Drag Racing?

Frank Castros · 02-05-2024, 04:21 PM

A car nut since I was a little boy.
Read every car magazine I could get my hands on.
Was never shy about opening the hood of my parents cars.
Saw the NHRA World Finals on TV on a Thanksgiving Day 1967? and was hooked.
When I turned sixteen my dad was foolish enough to buy a new '69 Plymouth Road Runner.
Oh boy! Now the fun begins!
I got my drivers license and promptly it was suspended within a month.
When it was reinstated I started to casually street race.
It was a stick and I was pretty good pedal kicker.
I eventually re-jetted the Carter AVS, re-curved the distributor added Doug Thorley headers and replaced the 3.23 rear for a 3.91
Ran 13.20s at Dover Drag Strip and New York National Speedway.
Got my feet wet crewing for Jimmy Lovallo and his SS/EA '67 Corvette and Frank Lupo's SS/BA '64 Hemi Dodge.
Bought my first race car from Dave Shepard, a A/SA '64 Plymouth Belvedere and did pretty well with it and the rest is history.

02-05-2024, 04:21 PM	#20
Frank Castros VIP Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: The Lowcountry. Posts: 2,933 Likes: 2,509 Liked 2,552 Times in 934 Posts	Re: How did you get started in Drag Racing? A car nut since I was a little boy. Read every car magazine I could get my hands on. Was never shy about opening the hood of my parents cars. Saw the NHRA World Finals on TV on a Thanksgiving Day 1967? and was hooked. When I turned sixteen my dad was foolish enough to buy a new '69 Plymouth Road Runner. Oh boy! Now the fun begins! I got my drivers license and promptly it was suspended within a month. When it was reinstated I started to casually street race. It was a stick and I was pretty good pedal kicker. I eventually re-jetted the Carter AVS, re-curved the distributor added Doug Thorley headers and replaced the 3.23 rear for a 3.91 Ran 13.20s at Dover Drag Strip and New York National Speedway. Got my feet wet crewing for Jimmy Lovallo and his SS/EA '67 Corvette and Frank Lupo's SS/BA '64 Hemi Dodge. Bought my first race car from Dave Shepard, a A/SA '64 Plymouth Belvedere and did pretty well with it and the rest is history. Last edited by Frank Castros; 02-07-2024 at 06:26 PM.