First Car you ever raced. Lets tell it all.

[Iowa 409 Guy]

My first race'n car was a 51 Plymouth, with a SICK 6 cylinder and 3 on the tree. It was in primer and ugly as homemade soap. Sooooo, I put in a 54 Chrysler Spitfire 6, bored .125 over (that's right full 1/8"), 3/4 grind cam, Jahn's racing pistons, large Caddy valves and springs, three 2-barrel Fjord carbs on the log manifold, and a split exhaust manifold. I had to cut the front cross member to clear the front pulley, because the Spitfire was about 6" longer. With the exhaust pipes off, I fired it up over a grease pit and the flames caught the floor of the pit on fire from 3 feet above. Holy shit! Push it back! Push it back! Dump sand to put out the fire. Whew!!

With everything tweaked, it would not idle under 1,100 RPM, ever! The stock clutch blew out immediately, followed rapidly by the 3-speed. So, I installed a HD Dodge truck clutch and tranny. Next was an exploded drive shaft through the floor pan. Then came both twisted axles and an exploded diffy. Ok, enough is enough; I installed a Dodge station wagon drive shaft and rear end with big tires. I built homemade traction bars for the rear.

I had no idea what I was doing. I don't remember the horse power, CI, CR, trans ratios or rear end ratio or 1/4 mile times/speeds. Just trying different things that would not break. But, I was never beaten by any stock-bodied 283 and beat many 327's. The engine had enough torque to drive a train. This was one tough car that came out of the hole like a demon. It's name was PEPE. Those were fun days, a long time ago!!!! Chuckl

Quite the journey. Lots of trips to junkyards and trying things until they fit/worked. We're so lucky today to have all the aftermarket parts available. I bet the V8 guys were humbled.

 

[Greg Reimer]

Out of all the drag strips that existed in So Cal from about 1965 on, these are the ones that used to be here that I never raced on:
1. San Fernando
2. Lions Drag Strip
3. Original Fontana on Route 66
4. Colton
5. Carlsbad
6. San Gabriel ( The new Irwindale speedway and drag strip is right across the 605 freeway from the original site of this one.)
7. Ontario Motor Speedway
Most of these tracks were before my time, as far as racing was concerned.
As far as the old tracks that are gone now that I raced on,that list consists of:
1. Original Irwindale
2. Orange County
3. Palmdale
4. Riverside
5. Terminal Island
Whatever goal you have to ever build something, go racing, go on a vacation trip, do it now rather than later. If you wait, it might never happen.

 

[k9hotrodder409]

I started racing in 1974 right after I bought the 'JOINT VENTURE " at National Speedway ,Islip ,and Westhampton My last race was at Westhampton
I lost my 1st engine at Westhampton. My BAD ( I overreved it )
My last race was in 1990. As you know the "JOINT VENTURE " is now on the road with a "W" engine and a TH-350

 

[1964SuperStocker]

Kind of a loaded question. The first car I raced was my dads jeep 4.0 jeep back in 92' Pretty quick for the day but I was soon given a 1986 chevy Sprint. 3 cylinder (48hp/57lbs torque) automatic, front wheel drive car that would corner like it was on rails. Car was 1500lbs and would take a corner without having to lift off the gas (Granted it was 48hp). Anyway it was like my very own Rally Car. I even bought some aggressive front tires for it for better grip when shooting the gravel roads. Turns out my parents still have the car and I do plan on restoring it back to its original glory. Not much to do because it literally looks the same. Not rusted out because it didn't spend many years outside. Been in storage now for over 25 years. There happens to be a guy down the road from me who is restoring one right now. I flipped when I seen his project, he was pretty excited that I even knew what it was. LOL!
Officially my first run down a real drag strip was in my wagon last year. I have street raced and run on circle tracks modified for fun runs but never actually raced down a real track until last summer in the 64' Belair wagon know as "Space Shuttle". Thanks again to everyone that pitched in to make that happen at the track! Such an amazing weekend!

FORGOT TO MENTION I lost my license 2 times in this car with less than 50hp. Apparently the cops didn't like rally racing. That is 6 moving violations. . First one was 90 days. Next one was 6 months with a warning from a judge. LOL. Good times! Dumb kid! I actually became a better driver after I became a pilot. Haven't had a ticket in over 20 years now.

 

[rstreet]

Nice picture Robert, we all were a little younger then, RIP to those who are no longer with us.

Tom:
Found another pair of photos from that weekend. Quite a team they(Taylor & Russell) were. What I remember about Gerry's 61 was his tow truck!
Robert

 

[425/409ER]

The first engine powered thing I ever raced was my Fox mini-bike. I was the first to figure out that if you got rid of the gov. spring the little 4hp Tecumseh engine would spin to the moon and it beat many of the locals quite easy. The first car I raced was My old '63 409 Biscayne that had a 348 tri-power engine in it and that car at the time would kick butt. My son now owns the car but I always remember those late summer nights racing it in the mid 70's, sure was fun.

 

[mr348-409]

My first race car that was my daily driver which I owned for 25 years and drove it to work. The car had power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, cruise control, 409 400 horse 4 speed, went 12.99 on street tires. Great times at MAR Wentzville. Only downfall twisted an axle off and had to repair it to drive the car home.

 

[Cayneman]

56 BelAir 2 door post car that had a 283 which repaced the original 265. Three speed on the column. At the same time we built a 36 Ford drag car in my Grandpa's garage. It was originally flathead powered that was later replaced by a 327. I'm the skinny kid in the middle.