Re: First Car to the Strip
 

First 1/8 mile pass in Jr. Street in 2018 with my dad's 2011 Crown Vic commuter car. First 1/4 Mile pass ever was August 2020 with an 83 Mustang GT 5sp my dad and I work on together. With the help of Billy Nees I got it to go 13.29 @ 105 in November.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

First pass was in 1967 in a car that a friend and I built together, a 1956 Chevy station wagon with a 265 cubic inch 2-4 barrel-225 hp engine. Raced it at US 131 MSP--then it was called Martin Dragway, Class was H/SA. took it to the US Nationals that year and ran the 1966 class winner in H/SA in the first round and got spanked...all at the age of 18. Sold the car a year later to run a 1965 327-250 hp Impala in L-M / Stock for a few years,,,the wagon was sold to a person in Viginia, then it went back to West Michigan again and then to Ohio. I am still racing today. This photo is right before we flat towed to the US Nationals in 1967, I met my future wife one week before this photo and we have been married for 50 years this past March.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Arfons was at the old Toledo Municipal Airport (Glass City Dragway) when I tried to race my MoPed (stalled at the 1/8 mark). They chained a junker to the tail of the Green Monster and burned it to the ground. The real experiance was 60's bikers trying to get my MoPed to run... First taste of drag strip people. That's what really hooked me.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

First pass was 1967 at BeeLine in Scottsdale Az. I had an all stock 1963 Falcon 2 dr sedan, 144 6 cyl and 3 on the tree, ran mid 18’s.
BeeLine ran AHRA and they had a jillion classes in stock. I was the only one in my class and won a trophy. They ran all the slow single class cars 4 wide in 2 lanes, a little intimidating for a beginner.
Later I did all the normal hop up stuff and a 4 speed. Won a bunch of races with the car over the next two years, eventually ran 15.90’s with the 144.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Sorry for the long post but I think we're all bored right now. In mid May 1971 shortly after getting my license I decided to make a trip out to Montauk Pt with my 63 4 dr 318 Polara. Since I was only 16, I couldn't drive out of Suffolk Co, Nassau Co was 7 miles west and Montauk was 75 miles east it would be a fun drive. 3 of my buddies came along on this nice Saturday morn and one of them had a Yamaha 100 motocycle, we removed the front wheel and it fit in the trunk. We took Sunrise Hwy as far as it went then there was a small road heading down to Old Country Rd so we continued east, a few miles ahead we saw a sign that said Suffolk County Raceway which I had heard of but never seen. It looked abandoned so we drove over the dirt road with tall grass and looked over the wire fence that was not quite upright. With my buddies pulling the fence down and standing on it, I drove over it and we were in. We then put the Yamaha together and raced the bike and car down the track at least 20 times, my buddie had a stopwatch and stood at the end of the quarter and clocked me waving his arms to start, most of the car times were 16.80 to 17.0. We got bored with that and went further back and saw there was a banked go kart track so we raced the bike and car around the track for a couple of hours and finally decided to leave for Montauk. When we got there my older buddy bought a case of Colt 45 and we drank and slept in the car right on the beach. The next morning after some breakfast to help the hangover and lack of sleep we decided to head back to the track for some more fun. When we got there the track was open and there was probably 200 cars, wow. We paid 5 bucks a piece and watched the races before heading home.
A little later in 71 I got my current 63 Sport Fury for 25 dollars with a running but sick 318. A neighbor traded me a banged up 62 Polara 500 for my 4dr 63 and I put the 361/305 in the SF and headed out to Suffolk again on a Sunday. The car ran 15.20s-15.40s at 90-91 mph spinning with vapor lock, I still have the timeslips, it was all stock right back to the tailpipes the way it came out of the 62. I'm hoping to get the Sport Fury out to the track this year for it's 50th anniversary with me.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

My 1969 Impala. 325/350 w/auto trans bone stock with dual exhaust. I don’t remember the ET it was 16 something. I do remember going down the track and looking around thinking “this track HAS to be longer than a 1/4 mile. My car was MUCH faster on the street!����! I won the 2nd time I ran it. Then I was hooked! I still own the car today! It’s faster, I am slower!��

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

My first trip down the dragstrip was Beeline Dragway in my brand new 73 VW type 1(I hate the term bug). Anyway it ran low 19's and eventually got a best of 18.37 at OCIR. I eventually tore into the motor and trans and by 1975 the car ran a best of 13.99 at like 93mph. This was my daily driver and even made trips to and from CA. The car was not gutted, just looked like any other stock VW. How things have changed!

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

[QUOTE=Rick Kolber;631071]My first trip down the dragstrip was Beeline Dragway in my brand new 73 VW type 1(I hate the term bug). Anyway it ran low 19's and eventually got a best of 18.37 at OCIR. I eventually tore into the motor and trans and by 1975 the car ran a best of 13.99 at like 93mph. This was my daily driver and even made trips to and from CA. The car was not gutted, just looked like any other stock VW. I've always been known to do things the hard way...LOL!

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

I-55 speedway in Missouri 1/8th mike, 71 ranchero 351, don’t remember what it ran, but remember it was fun. First trip down the track was OCIR, in a super gas Vega with my dad driving after the track closed on a milk crate 1978, now that was a hoot. Think he ran 11.50, John

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Feb 1959,Pensacola Florida. Our 1955 Chev Del Ray Cpe, 235 six with a stick shift. Car was bone stock with the exception of the Corvette floor shift I had just installed...But, since that was not allowed, I had to run F Gas.. Won class (6 inch trophy). still have it. I don't remember the times. Back to Pensacola in August, Now .060 over, shaved .060. and a Corvette cam Again, won F Gas with a 17.78. (12 inch trophy) Still have it. That was the last time the car was run (on a track). Then, in October, It was on a ship to St Johns Newfoundland, our next Air force assignment.

We were supposed to be in Newfoundland 3 years, but in June of 1960, the base was closing and we were on our way to our new assignment, at an Air Force Station just west of Winslow Arizona. After picking up the car in NY we headed west via Columbus Ohio and eventually route 66. While in Columbus, I went by Jegs (just opened) and picked up a 1960 NHRA rule book (50 cents) . Still have it. It,s been on my bucket list to make that route 66 drive to Winslow again.


Tom Gould
2706 Stock

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

At the age of 16, in 1973, 1969 Impala Sports Coupe, 350-255HP engine. Did a few changes to the engine and had Corvette 15 x 8 rear and 15 x6 front rally wheels. Ran in the 15's.

In 1974, I almost traded across to an FBI agent who had a 1969 Impala Sports Coupe SS, 427-4 speed car and was tired of shifting and paying for high octane gas and was looking forward to it. Except.... One Friday afternoon, I had washed, waxed and detailed the car, left it home and went out on a date on her car. Driving back home through town I saw some of my buddies shaking their heads and when I arrived home, I noticed the park parked on the street and sort of twisted! :eek:

Although I hid the keys of the car, my dad was going out drinking with his friends and decided he wanted to drive a cool car to impress others in lieu of driving his Vega Station Wagon. He took the car, got drunk and tried to move a concrete barrier with the front end of the car. He still drove the car home, with a bent frame and lower control arm, on a flat tire, riding on the rim producing all kinds of sparks and by some miracle, no cops around! :D

Tried to fix the car but couldn't straighten the frame so I sold it for parts.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

1964 Dodge 330 2-door, 383 4-speed. 14.0 et. 1987, at the defunct Riverside International Raceway.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

1963 Pontiac Catalina 389 OE 4 speed. 1st race ever was 4 wide @ New York National speedway.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

1. 62 Impala SS,409,2X4's,4speed,Irwindale,Orange County.
2. 69 Plymouth Roadrunner,383,4 speed, Irwindale
3. 62 Bel Air bubble top, 409,4 speed,OCIR, Riverside, Firebird
4. 61 Bel Air 2 door, 283, OCIR, Pomona. Tony Janes Stock Eliminator car
5. 66 Bel Air 2 door post Stock Eliminator car, Riverside,Palmdale,Bakersfield,Pomona,
6. 63 Bel Air 2 door post, 409,425 horse, OCIR, Riverside, Palmdale,Terminal Island
7. 71 Monte Carlo,Riverside, Irwindale
8. 68 Chevelle Malibu 2 door hardtop,Stock Eliminator car,Palmdale,Vegas,Pomona,Speedworld,Bakersfield
9. 68 Chevelle wagon,Stock Eliminator car,Palmdale,Pomona,Fontana,Irwindale
10. 63 Nova,OCIR,
11. 68 Chevelle 300 deluxe,Stock Eliminator car, 2 door hardtop,Bakersfield, Fontana,Pomona,Speedworld,
Irwindale, Las Vegas,
12. 66 Chevelle wagon, ex Cal Method Stock Eliminator car,Pomona.
Guess that's about it. That spans July 1976 to fall of 2019.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

1978...67 Mustang FB 390 Auto..started in the low 15s and finished in the low 14s. Swapped the 390 for a 427 Med Riser and picked up a little..lol.
Midway Drag Strip Western CO. where the DA is typically around 7-8k ft. on a good day. Home track of Jim Hughes and several other noteable S/SS racers.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

damn .......

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

I remember Cal and Mary Ann from D-6 races in the '80s at Woodburn...

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

You can't find better people anywhere, too.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

1974 Cuda in 89 at Firebird Raceway...errr...Wild Horse Pass place or whatever it's called now.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

1973 Ford Pinto, Miami-Hollywood Speedway Park, 20: something seconds.

1976 race date.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

My '64 Plymouth, ex state police car, 383 4 bl. Ran my first run at Onondaga dragway, Michigan circa 1972 in G/SA R/U. Don't remember the times, I believe in the 15's.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

I was 26 yo in 1979, shortly after I quit stock car racing (oval track). I had a rusted out '65 LeMans with a straight six, 2-speed auto and the ugliest green respray you've ever seen. My older brother called the car "The Green Latrine" and I must admit it deserved the name.

Anyway I couldn't stay away from unmuffled V8s so I grabbed a tired 389 that had been in a stock car, a stock engine plus a decent cam, got a set of headers and a Vega torque converter. Threw that junk together along with a pair of stiff and too-tall coil springs for the rear. The car looked like a bloodhound sniffing the pavement.

I took that out with street tires (flat-towed I think) to the Westhampton Dragstrip on Long Island (not sure what its name was at that point in time) and ran in the 15s with it. Broke out in round one but the hook was set.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

in 1974 I took my 1969 Plymouth GTX to Empire Dragway outside of Rochester, NY. I ran best of a 13.22. That was when it was a 5 bulb amber tree. When it changed to 3 bulbs it was a whole different race.

Paul Haszlauer

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.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

I was a senior high school 1984, went to Moroso Motorsports Park Palm Beach, FL. We had just restored a 1970 Shelby GT500. I talked my dad into letting me take it to the track, he says to this day he still can't believe he let me do it.LOL. It was an automatic A/C car, completely stock down to the goodyear eagles, fastest run was 13.98 at 101. I thought I ran 200MPH it felt so fast. LOL. Drove it on the the scales and it weighed 3600lbs. Car ran great. Very lucky to have that be the first car to run down the track.





Bret Velde
2003 ??/SA

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

My first car that I owned and also first car I raced was a 1968 mustang coupe. It was a factory 302 4 barrel engine and top loader 4 speed. I think I ran some high14s bone stock with it. That was a fun car to drive on the street. I was 16 years old. Wasn't long after that I bought the Camaro that I still race today.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

My first car was a 62 chevy conv 283 . In Pierre S.D. How time flys

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

That must have been a heck of a bone stock 230hp 302. In 1968, Motor Trend was only able to wring a 15.20 at 94 mph out of a manual trans 335hp 390 Mustang. They ran a 14.57 at 99.55 mph in a 428-powered Shelby GT500KR, and a 14.75 at 98 mph out of another 360hp 428-powered Shelby Mustang.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

You have to remember back in '68 they tested those cars on the 7 inch bias plys tires, terrible tires for quick ET's.



Bret Velde
2003 ??/SA

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Yes, I remember 1968, to include the tires.

He said it was bone stock, and it was back when he was 16- he doesn't sound like he was 16 recently... ;)

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Made my first pass at 75-80 Dragway in June / 1962, had my drivers license two weeks, took my moms '62 Dodge Polara 361 4 barrel car and ran 16.70's @85 mph, spun like mad. The car felt faster on the street. Won C/SA trophy, only one other car entered, hid the trophy, many years later, maybe 20 or so I told her about racing her Dodge, she wasn't thrilled about it after all that time. Can't understand it! Oh, had the trophy for years, ex tossed it back in the '80's I guess.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Turned 16 Oct. 9, ‘71 and had my drivers’ license by Nov.14 a little over a Month later. That weekend drove my wagon to Dover to spectate before track shut down for the winter. ‘57 Chevy 210 wagon, 283-4v, 3 speed. Dover Drag Strip, Wingdale, N.Y. 1972. Ran 16.49 @ 83 mph. Had JCPenny slicks with no posi. Have 8mm film with smoke coming off RR slick leaving line. Forever hooked ! By springtime 1974 was running stock eliminator with my ‘69 Camaro, “Annie’s Song I”.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Bone stock 1979 Trans Am 403 automatic sometime in the late eighties at Moroso. Memory says it ran mid 15's.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

I remember racing against stock 1979 Trans Ams with the RPO L80 Oldsmobile 403 engine and the required automatic transmission. They weighed about 3,700 pounds, and with the 175hp small block engine wheezing through a single pellet converter, a 3-speed automatic, and 3.23 rear gears, it should come as no surprise that they were no quicker than mid-17s.

Car & Driver tested the more powerful 200hp Pontiac 400 "T/A 6.6" Trans Am 2 years earlier, and it ran a best of 16.9 at 82 mph.

I think all of our cars her faster in our memory, if we don't keep the time slips.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Bought my 71 Chevelle new in Aug 71. Put about 600 miles on it at home in the DC area then drove to Boston to visit cousins. They were going to NED so I naturally went along. Car ran mid 15's on E-78 Uniroyals. I still have the time cards and the car. Thinking about trying to figure out a way to go back to Epping for a 50 year "reunion" this Sept if the Covid thing doesn't screw things up.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Stationed at Ft. Benning, bought a 1967 Fairlane GT 390 4 sp in 1971 went to the drag strip across the river in Alabama seems like it ran 14.7 leaving in 1st or 2nd. As they say the hook was set.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

The engine and trans was stock. The car did have some G-60 tires on the back and traction bars so that probably helped the suspension. It did hook good. 16 was a long time ago.

After I blew up the 302 I put a 289 in the car. At that time it had headers. 650 holley, dual point distributor bigger camshaft and an edelbrock intake. Also had a 410 gear in the rear. If I remember correctly it ran 12.90 with those mods. Broke the 8 inch rear that day and put a 9 inch in it after that.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Since we are limited to “strip” outings (the 1966 unofficial outings on Husbands Road in Paducah Ky probably don’t qualify) my first track excursion was with a 68 SS Chevelle (bone stock 396/325) in 1980 at Bremerton. Ran 15.20’s and won $20, we had to catch the Bremerton ferry to get back home and have a pic of my four year old son sleeping while sharing the back seat with one of the cheater slicks. Good memories.

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

Makes more sense...

Re: First Car to the Strip
 

The car definitely ran in the 15's. I was bummed that it was that slow. I find it interesting that you chose to take issue with this.

There was a 1989 T/A there running high twelves on one occasion too. Why not Google up some stuff on that one......