What everr happened to the good ol' days

[bill dedman]

I started going to the races when I was a Senior in High School. 1955-'56.

Now, I'm just a "Senior."

We raced at Carlisle, Arkansas, on a deserted WW II "emergency" landing strip that was about 100 feet wide and a mile long. No shutdown problems and no guard rails. The specators pulled their cars up to the edge of the strip, sat on the front of the hood, let their legs dangle down in front of the grill and front bumper, and that was our "guard rail." Insane...

The only clocks were some home-made MPH clocks and for one lane, only. Nobody paid any attention to e.t. because there were NO e.t. clocks.

A guy stood on a folding chair (sometimes, me) at the finish line with a flag in his hand and when two cars that were racing came by, he'd lean the flag in the air toward the side that won the race.

Everything there that had anything to do with drag racing had to be hauled into that place about 5:00 a.m. and set up for the day's racing, then removed at the end of the day. I'm talking P.A. system, concession stand, all wiring for the clock (no "s") and the timing "tower." ALL portable... There were no grandstands, of course...

Stock classes ran from A to D... lol! Nobody ever heard of Super Stock.

If it wasn't a Stocker, it was a Gasser.. A through D, again...
Altereds had 25-percent setbacks and no fenders, so it was easy to tell an Altered when you saw one. I think they ran from A to C...

Dragsters were called "Open Gas" cars (go figure!) and the only "fuel" that was run there was in a twin engine Harley called "Double Trouble," and it was usually the "Top Elminator".

There was Top, Middle and Lirttle Eliminator. Top paid $100.00, Middle paid $50.00 and Little paid $25.00, IIRC.

Uh.... $100 in 1955 is equal to $797.01 in 2008, it says here...

Stockers got trophys. Four of 'em... (remember, A, B, C, and D) LOL!

It wasn't unusual for there to be 25-30 cars in A Stock... so, winning the A Stock trophy really WAS something to brag about! The fastest A Stockers of the day were almost always '55 Power Pack Chervys, which usually ran 82 to 83 MPH...

No slicks in Stock; you ran through the mufflers, with the air cleaner ON, and sticks and automatics ran together.

I remember a LOT of parts breakage back then. There were no heavy-duty ANYTHING, and those stock drivetrain pieces just disintegrated with disgusting regularity!

When the "legitimate" racing program was over, the announcer invited anyone in the crowd who wanted to grudge race his buddy, to bring their cars to the line and the flagman would start them,,,, for free.
Talk about your "grass roots" racing... Lots of people participated!

To a 17 year old kid (who was trying desperately to learn how to power-shift his folk's' POS '49 Ford flathead) it was fascinating beyond belief... Now, some fifty-three years later, IT STILL IS!!!!

I have just never gotten over standing on the starting line and listening to the gear whine of those 2.94:1 low gear '56 Chevy Power Pack 3-speeds with a 4.11 (overdrive-equipped) rear end... how ungodly FAST they'd wind up low gear!!! It was just surreal...

Some things will never change. Like my total fascination for this stuff.

I saw an enclosed trailer once, with a B Altered inside, and on the back of the trailer, a sign said, "CAUTION; THIS TRAILER CONTAINS A DISEASE FOR WHICH THERE IS NO CURE."

More truth than poetry... LOL!

Most good-running A/SA cars nowdays could win TOP ELIMINATOR at the '58 NHRA Nationals... if they could travel back in time!!! Maybe THESE are the good ol' days....

[randy wilson]

my first race was in august 1971 at bethany mo. they had hotrod, hotstock, showroom-option, and showroom. fist time i had ever been to one. sitting in the stands a friend of mine with a mustang 289 3 speed told me if i could get the car in stock i could race it. i took it over and weighed it in and they classified it in option because it had a high rise on it. he let me run iy anyway. i took second and have been hooked since. still racing there today. check it out at www.headsup-racing.com.

[randy wilson]

also we were spotted car lengths istead of .10ths and were flagged off istead of tree. two guys set at the end of the track in cars and flashed their lights for the winner. we also shut down on dirt and grass.

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by randy wilson

my first race was in august 1971 at bethany mo. they had hotrod, hotstock, showroom-option, and showroom. fist time i had ever been to one. sitting in the stands a friend of mine with a mustang 289 3 speed told me if i could get the car in stock i could race it. i took it over and weighed it in and they classified it in option because it had a high rise on it. he let me run iy anyway. i took second and have been hooked since. still racing there today. check it out at www.headsup-racing.com.

Oh yeah, classification in the old days! I remember my first trip to the track. You could run Trophy or Money? Money was for the REAL racecars. Trophy was the rest of us. All cars were "classed" by NHRA standards of the time, that was 1973, for me.

I had a 1967 Mustang, 289 lo-po 2bbl car. My mistake, had a Holley 500 on it. Got classed as a D/MP car. Man, I got killed. That didn't stop me from going back for more.

[Randall Klein]

Try this one:

my partner, Ron Taylor, back in the day, was flat towing his Olds stocker with an Olds Vista Cruiser on Interstate 80 in Nebraska from Kearney Dragway back to Lincoln....tow bar w/drive shaft unhooked, Vista wagon loses U joint, they hook up race car shaft & with open headers shove the wagon home

Speed limit was 75, they are doing 85+, one guy shoving, one guy in the wagon passing everyone...guy in wagon enjoying a cold one leaning back enjoying the ride...quite a sight and sound

My guy can out story your guy, except maybe the Tueton';s

[Ed Wright]

Joe or Jeff? I haven't been around Jeff much, but Joe tells the best stories I've ever heard. Probably the most entertaining guy I have ever been around.

Also, in my last post it sounded like I raced at Razorback Raceway (Fort Smith) in 1962, but I didn't race there until 1965.

You and Ron's cars are almost too nice to race. Besides being bad fast.

[Randall Klein]

'ol Joe...could listen to him for hours

the time he & lil Joe headed to Michigan, said it was long drive & lil Joe took a turn (he was about 12)

or the time they swapped cams about 5X & he told crewman to take the slow one back to vender and place it where the sun don't shine (not exact interpretation!)

or the time Dick at MoPar told them to lay down for some factory guy & he said he wouldn't lay down if they gave him Chrysler

or the time....

geez, someone should get him on tape, it'd be better than the time NASCAR had on Waltrip, Jr Johnson an others reminiscing about the old days

[Dave Goob Cook]

You haven't truly lived until you have flat towed a '67 Impala Big-Block with a '66 Deuce, 4-speed.
It gives you an appreciation of life in a hurry, after a hard stop.

[Paul Merolla]

Quoting Bill, "Everything there that had anything to do with drag racing had to be hauled into that place about 5:00 a.m. and set up for the day's racing, then removed at the end of the day. I'm talking P.A. system, concession stand, all wiring for the clock (no "s") and the timing "tower." ALL portable... There were no grandstands, of course...

Stock classes ran from A to D... lol! Nobody ever heard of Super Stock.

If it wasn't a Stocker, it was a Gasser.. A through D, again...
Altereds had 25-percent setbacks and no fenders, so it was easy to tell an Altered when you saw one. I think they ran from A to C..."

If you guys like the sound of that kind of atmosphere, you really need to make a trip to Bonneville for either World of Speed or Speedweek. There are quite a few ex- drag racers out there, for that very reason. I think what keeps it from getting out of hand is the fact that there is NO prize money! You race either for fun, or to see your name in the record book. The only award possible is a hat...set a record over 200mph, and you get a red hat. Over 300, blue hat.
Randall - I loved that story...I spent a lot of hours in the rear-facing seat at the back of a '72 Vista Cruiser as a pup.

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by Paul Merolla

Quoting Bill, "Everything there that had anything to do with drag racing had to be hauled into that place about 5:00 a.m. and set up for the day's racing, then removed at the end of the day. I'm talking P.A. system, concession stand, all wiring for the clock (no "s") and the timing "tower." ALL portable... There were no grandstands, of course...

Stock classes ran from A to D... lol! Nobody ever heard of Super Stock.

If it wasn't a Stocker, it was a Gasser.. A through D, again...
Altereds had 25-percent setbacks and no fenders, so it was easy to tell an Altered when you saw one. I think they ran from A to C..."

If you guys like the sound of that kind of atmosphere, you really need to make a trip to Bonneville for either World of Speed or Speedweek. There are quite a few ex- drag racers out there, for that very reason. I think what keeps it from getting out of hand is the fact that there is NO prize money! You race either for fun, or to see your name in the record book. The only award possible is a hat...set a record over 200mph, and you get a red hat. Over 300, blue hat.
Randall - I loved that story...I spent a lot of hours in the rear-facing seat at the back of a '72 Vista Cruiser as a pup.

Another local hero of mine, Bob Crietz (ex Top Fuel racer: Crietz & Greer, etc) builds engines for a local salt flats racer. He keeps telling me I need to go up there. Says it is very laid back, that he has more fun than when he was drag racing.