Silly Season II What was your 1st Street car &/OR race car?

[jnor]

My first car was a 57 Ford that my grandfather left me...312 auto...the day I got my license I took it to the dragstrip (Hyde Park)...Can't remember what class it was, but it was super slow...

First race car was a 66 Chevelle 396/375 4spd, I think it ran B/S. Stock it ran 13.30's, with 7" slick, and headers 12.20's, eventually got it to 11.80's that was all in the late 60's, early 70's.. I raced it at Hyde Park, National Trail, then moved to Miami, and raced it at Miami/Hollywood Speedway Park...

I street raced that thing a bunch in Columbus, and Miami also ( young, and dumb then, just dumb now

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Originally Posted by jnor

My first car was a 57 Ford that my grandfather left me...312 auto...the day I got my license I took it to the dragstrip (Hyde Park)...Can't remember what class it was, but it was super slow...

First race car was a 66 Chevelle 396/375 4spd, I think it ran B/S. Stock it ran 13.30's, with 7" slick, and headers 12.20's, eventually got it to 11.80's that was all in the late 60's, early 70's.. I raced it at Hyde Park, National Trail, then moved to Miami, and raced it at Miami/Hollywood Speedway Park...

I street raced that thing a bunch in Columbus, and Miami also ( young, and dumb then, just dumb now

Do you remember Jerry Ackers 65 Chevelle? It was the fastest thing we had back in that era and I know "Newark verses Zanesville" happened quite frequently. Were you a participant of the Creamery road races?

[Greg Reimer 7376]

First really fast car that I had was a '62 impla SS with a 409. I took it to the original Irwindale Raceway in 1976 and basically didn't know a thing about what to do on a drag strip,but after a little flogging of the car and a lot of learning by the driver,it went low 13's at 107 and change. A set of fenderwell headers, 4.88's and a 30 inch slick got it into the 12.60's at 109. Lots of fun to race, and an insane car to drive on the street. Never got into trouble with it,however. I had rerung the 409, did the heads at work, and installed a NOS replacement stock camshaft and new lifters in it during this time. In 1982,Tony Janes and Chuck Norton introduced me to the Stock Eliminator thing,and that's the game I've played ever since. We've had a 283 car or two, but mostly a whole bunch of red '68 Chevelles with 327 power.I guess if it wasn't fun, we wouldn't be still doing it.

[Mike Pearson]

My first street car was a 1968 Mustang. factory 302 4 bbl 4 speed car. Ran high 13's at the local dragstrip with open headers and street tires. Wish I had that one back. I sold the mustang to buy my 1968 Camaro race car. Ran C/SM when I first built the car. after some work I got it to run under the index. I then converted the car to run Super Stock. I am still running the car today as a SS/HA with a 295 hp 350. Best time to date is 9.93 at SS/IA weight.

[Dwight Southerland]

The first car I bought was a 1957 Chev 150 business coupe that I promptly tore apart to build a Stocker. It took me 2 years of grocery store money before I finally made the first pass. Eventually ran within .25 of the national record (14.42 on a 14.17 record.) 283 2-bbl with a 4-speed. I walked to work and hitched rides to be able to have the race car. I was 15 when I bought the car. Shortly after, college and the NHRA rules changes made the car unreasonable, so I bought a one-owner 55 sedan and transferred a lot of the parts to it to have a transportation car. Built a roller cammed 283 to drive on the street. Somebody stole the 57 body. My parents never understood what I was doing. Looking back, I don't either. My first street car came after my first race car.

[RonTheAnnouncer]

First car with my name on the title was a 71 Plymouth Fury III 4 door that I paid $150 in 1985. It had a 318/2bbl and a lot of rust. It would run 17.90s initially. My dad's friend ran a muffler shop, and they cobbled together a dual exhaust for me for the price of an extra large deluxe pizza. Then she ran 17.30s. Even though I've been racing for 30 years and have taken over 50 different vehicles down the track, I've neither owned or driven what could be called a "race" car. Closest to one would be my '78 Aspen with the "Super" slant six that racn low to mid 19s. When I bought my first ever new car, I decided to rip out the back seat and the non functioning AC system outta the Aspen and make it my "race car". Bam, 18.90s, baby! best of 18.73 at 72mph. It sat outside at my buddy's garage in Avon, OH all week til I would go racing, then I'd switch cars and drive to Norwalk or Dragway 42.

[Mike Gray]

1st street car, '67 mustang GT 390 fastback (I was there at Irwindale in the '70's also)
1st race car, '67 mustang coupe with a H/M 427 tunnel port that I bought from Mickey Thompson. With all stock factory parts it went 10.50's @3100lb.
last race car "69 mustang (S/G) with same tunnel port modified 9.50's
Current race car (unfinished) '67 Shelby stocker
Kind of stuck on the mustang theme.

[cicero819]

Since I'm sitting in my home office being on the phone stuck on hold or ignore, what better way to remember those cars that created such fun. I started at fourteen years old with buying a 1967 VW bug, what an education, I learned everything from engine rebuild to complete paint and body work, I must have done quite the job because a gentleman walking by one day offered me $2k(1975 price) for which I converted into a 1967 Mustang GT which became my High school transportation until a Petty Blue 70 Super Bird on cement blocks caught my eye and we we're together for four years while I was putting it back together(and driving it). This was before the restoration trend started, just imagine I used the $5k for the purchase of my first house(down payment only) considering that I profited from the sale of my first home I could evaluate my lost to a break even proposition, I've own so many muscle cars since, that I can only say that I should have not taken them for granted.lol My first real race car was a 69 Camaro Stocker and now after an absence of more than 20 yrs I bought a former Don Hardy Vega to race. I hope that I don't run out of gas physically.lol

[joe huestis]

First street and race car was a '57 Chevy 210 Wagon. My Dad bought it in 1968 as a station car to drive to work with the intent of turning it over to me for my 16th birthday. It had a 6 cyl with 3 on the tree.Well, the 6 eventually expired prior to my birthday and I replaced it with a 283- 4V with a hurst 3 speed shifter. Ran the car at Dover Drag Strip in Wingdale, NY and collected a total of 15 plus trophies with it before a blew it up on my first pass in 1973 of the new season. Sold the '57 and purchased my '69 Camaro that same year converting it into a stocker which I ran from '73 to '80 until I sold it. Built my '69 Nova which I ran in V/SA from '81 to '83, then purchased my Monza which I currently race now for the past 30 years. Time sure does fly !!

[Mike Schwartz]

My first street and race car was a 1969 Chevrolet Malibu 307/2bbl that I bought off a used car lot in Rahway NJ in 1976. I raced it in Trophy Stock and Street Eliminator at Englishtown. It was pretty much bone stock and the best time was in the 18's