CDNpontiac409guy
Banned
Tommy & Bob....
You two sure know how to make a guy feel inadequate
You two sure know how to make a guy feel inadequate
Sharing an older..."What a rush" experience.
- Thread starter RCE1962
- Start date
Bob,you must have 9 life's,good memory Thank's for sharing 
[real 61ss] I continued to field cars in the late model sportsman division until 1990. I attached a photo of me with the 65 Pontiac that was taken before the race at the old fairgrounds race track in Richmond. It was May 15th 1966, I finished 12th, David Pearson won and Richard Petty was second.
[Tommy] I just happened to be a kid that grew up near a guy who had a race car. I get scared just read'n about the stuff that Bob did!!!!
I admire your modesty Tommy, if you or anybody else on here was on the same track, at the same time with my stock car hero's Petty, Cale, Pearson, the allisons etc.......
then you my friend.....are THE MAN!!!!!!!.....
OZ: i admire your modesty too buddy, your one tough guy.
I crave action and always have. this life we get is not a test run... it's the only one. if nobody minds, i'll post a few pics of some of the different racing i've done.
[Tommy] I just happened to be a kid that grew up near a guy who had a race car. I get scared just read'n about the stuff that Bob did!!!!
I admire your modesty Tommy, if you or anybody else on here was on the same track, at the same time with my stock car hero's Petty, Cale, Pearson, the allisons etc.......
then you my friend.....are THE MAN!!!!!!!.....
OZ: i admire your modesty too buddy, your one tough guy.
I crave action and always have. this life we get is not a test run... it's the only one. if nobody minds, i'll post a few pics of some of the different racing i've done.
"I crave action and always have. this life we get is not a test run... it's the only one. if nobody minds, i'll post a few pics of some of the different racing i've done."
Please do, I for one would love see them, that's what this thread is all about.
Please do, I for one would love see them, that's what this thread is all about.
thanx Jim Kwi,
you guys are too kind. the stuff i did seemed pretty normal at the time. arent you invicible when your 16-30? i thought so. even still i'll drive anything i can get the keys to. my wife really is nervous about boat racing so i hung that up. i raced it for 8 years till i finally won the championship (1996 points) (i retired at the banquet that winter) it became a little scary when the boat started to run in the mid 7s at over 145, (with no seatbelts and a chute on your back)
I desperatly wanted to run top fuel at the dirt drags, our plan was to hook 2 750 2stroke triples together on nitro and run it. (est 450hp) i took all my parts to the machine shop and the machinist (he was also my partner) got killed. it was his twin triumph so my nitro carrer ended before it started. the triumph was 2 900 cc units side by side with hilborn injectors, a slipper clutch and a shaved truck tire. i had never felt that kinda torque before.
nowadays my action consist of babysitting, going to work, the occaisional ride in my 09 car, i have a Softail i never get to ride, and i do ride mini bikes with my son. i'm hoping my Sox & Martin 63 will cure some of the boredom.
this has turned out to be the best thread ever on the board.
you guys are too kind. the stuff i did seemed pretty normal at the time. arent you invicible when your 16-30? i thought so. even still i'll drive anything i can get the keys to. my wife really is nervous about boat racing so i hung that up. i raced it for 8 years till i finally won the championship (1996 points) (i retired at the banquet that winter) it became a little scary when the boat started to run in the mid 7s at over 145, (with no seatbelts and a chute on your back)
I desperatly wanted to run top fuel at the dirt drags, our plan was to hook 2 750 2stroke triples together on nitro and run it. (est 450hp) i took all my parts to the machine shop and the machinist (he was also my partner) got killed. it was his twin triumph so my nitro carrer ended before it started. the triumph was 2 900 cc units side by side with hilborn injectors, a slipper clutch and a shaved truck tire. i had never felt that kinda torque before.
nowadays my action consist of babysitting, going to work, the occaisional ride in my 09 car, i have a Softail i never get to ride, and i do ride mini bikes with my son. i'm hoping my Sox & Martin 63 will cure some of the boredom.
this has turned out to be the best thread ever on the board.
CDNpontiac409guy
Banned
"if you or anybody else on here was on the same track, at the same time with my stock car hero's Petty, Cale, Pearson, the allisons etc.......
then you my friend.....are THE MAN!!!!!!!..... "
And that, as they say, is that
bang
Hey.... I got ( and get ) stuck in the snow
then you my friend.....are THE MAN!!!!!!!.....
"And that, as they say, is that
bang Hey.... I got ( and get ) stuck in the snow
Please do, I for one would love see them, that's what this thread is all about.
I dont have many pics on my work pc. i've been meaning to csan some of the really old ones anyway. i'll post them another day. here's one captured from the news video of the boat races at Trenton NJ on the Delaware river may 1996. i'm in the right lane, the guy on my left nearly crashed, it's on the video. he got it straightened up and nearly caught me!. thats a guy on a raft working the lights between the 2 boats!
the next is of me on the kawi triple i called "Kamakazi" it went a best of 9.70 @140 obviously the wheele bars are in the stowed position. although several times i rode it that way to cruise night with open headers and slicks. one time, when the cops saw me and decided to chase, i took off and it rode on the wheelie bars till i could get it down. i lived in apartments with my mom and always parked my bike in my 65 chevy pickup. i had left the ramp down and could ride up upon arrival. i did this in a hurry this time, dropped the bike on it's side and shut the tailgate, ran in the house to the balcony.......the cops were so low in there car, they couldnt see the bike and did'nt get me....that time
I dont have many pics on my work pc. i've been meaning to csan some of the really old ones anyway. i'll post them another day. here's one captured from the news video of the boat races at Trenton NJ on the Delaware river may 1996. i'm in the right lane, the guy on my left nearly crashed, it's on the video. he got it straightened up and nearly caught me!. thats a guy on a raft working the lights between the 2 boats!
the next is of me on the kawi triple i called "Kamakazi" it went a best of 9.70 @140 obviously the wheele bars are in the stowed position. although several times i rode it that way to cruise night with open headers and slicks. one time, when the cops saw me and decided to chase, i took off and it rode on the wheelie bars till i could get it down. i lived in apartments with my mom and always parked my bike in my 65 chevy pickup. i had left the ramp down and could ride up upon arrival. i did this in a hurry this time, dropped the bike on it's side and shut the tailgate, ran in the house to the balcony.......the cops were so low in there car, they couldnt see the bike and did'nt get me....that time
While we're doing this, let me show you two more photo's that were taken that day in 1965. remember, this was the top division in NASCAR in 1965. Compare our tow rig to the big shinny 18 wheelers that the NASCAR boys use today!!!! What a change, in those days, the fan base was pretty much limited to the southeastern part of the United States, today, NASCAR is almost worldwide and most of the fans today have never seen what it evolved from. 
According to the record books, Pearson won $2050.00 for winning, I got $175.00 for finishing 12th. Man, I thought I was rich!!!! It was fun then, Today, I hardly ever even watch it on TV.
According to the record books, Pearson won $2050.00 for winning, I got $175.00 for finishing 12th. Man, I thought I was rich!!!! It was fun then, Today, I hardly ever even watch it on TV.Attachments
the NITRO pics i promised
when i'm at work, i get carried away with the posts i read and write, I enjoy telling old war stories, it's almost like reliving them again. after all, we would'nt risk our lives racing if we could'nt have something to remember. anyway, most of my close people have heard enough or were a witness. so i get excited when it seems like someone actually wants to hear "em.
for those who were'nt there, i understand that some stories don't seem true. after all, why believe someone you don't know? I already confessed to growing up as a daredevil. fortunately, alot of people gave me pictures and asked for autographs along the way. here's a few of my very short top fuel career.
this happened in Annapolis Maryland summer 1982. (probably before Larry Dixon and Tony Shumacher were born)
when i'm at work, i get carried away with the posts i read and write, I enjoy telling old war stories, it's almost like reliving them again. after all, we would'nt risk our lives racing if we could'nt have something to remember. anyway, most of my close people have heard enough or were a witness. so i get excited when it seems like someone actually wants to hear "em.
for those who were'nt there, i understand that some stories don't seem true. after all, why believe someone you don't know? I already confessed to growing up as a daredevil. fortunately, alot of people gave me pictures and asked for autographs along the way. here's a few of my very short top fuel career.
this happened in Annapolis Maryland summer 1982. (probably before Larry Dixon and Tony Shumacher were born)
Bob,I believe you,I like that rear tire I'll bet you got good traction,I also like your choice of beer 
JimKwiatkowski said:Bob,I believe you,I like that rear tire I'll bet you got good traction,I also like your choice of beer
thanx Jim, i musta had a few too many beers when i wrote all that mushy stuff last night.
you can see in the action foto, not only the traction advantage...but what happens against the average single engine 125 inch shovelhead on nitro. it was quite a handful to drive the monster, it could keep the front end up the whole hundred yards, and take 200 yards to stop it. to launch it, you dug a 30 ft long gulley with a hoe and then backfilled with your foot. put the front wheel in the gulley, wait for green and blast off, first it would throw all the backfill, then lift the front wheel while still burning the back tire. sort of a balancing act. my idea of a twin 2 stroke on fuel woulda smoked everything at the track. looking back, the dirt drags were the most fun i ever had, i just took it for granted at the time. my dad and uncles had a fuel funny car, so what was so odd about this? i thought. like Tommy "the man" said......"i wouldn't take a million for the memory". my own bike competed in the 651-750 class. i raced against triumph 650s, they got me out of the gate from my high wheelspin, then i blew by about half track. my bike went 9.70s@140 on asphalt. try to get a trumpet to do that. if i raced a bigger bike, he had to give one bike per 100cc head start. i accidentally wound up with the KILLER combination.
I was usually drinking and racing in thoses days, who knows, i may have gotten scared if sober. the bikes went everywhere but straight. it was not unusual to for get the chinstrap or even where i had left my bike. i was all the way drunk when i won the first championship.....at the end of the return road, everybody was cheering and coming over, i forgot to put my feet down from laughing....splat! we all had a good laugh then. a team had brought a highly feared alcohol burning triumph up from the south, they had a fancy setup, and big mouths, people i had never met came to the pits to tell me to dust his A$$. they had a fancy roller starter, hilborn injectors and all billet stuff. the bets and tensions were high and so was I.
my brothers pushed my bike to the starting line and prepared the groove for the final round while i got set, i had forgotten to strap my helmet and did'nt notice till i was staged. meanwhile they had started this big alky burner and pulled along side......the light went off, i left when i smelt power in the green bulb (i was never caught sleeping)so i was with him out of the gate, my helmet started to fall off, so i sat up, reached behind my head and caught the thing, pulled it back on, and had to hold it there while getting gears with the air shifter button, the bike was almost sideways at the half point and i could see him gaining, I NEVER LIFT as i crossed the finish ahead of him, i'm crossed the other way, but closer to straight. it was quite an insult for him to get beat "single handedly" by a 2stroke "weedwacker" and he was so mad, he dumped his grill full of chicken packed up and left.
Bob,I'm looking foward to seeing your Sox's & Martin Project compleated Will you have it done in time for the next Convention and if so will you be attending?
Will you have it done in time for the next Convention and if so will you be attending?
JimKwiatkowski said:Bob,I'm looking foward to seeing your Sox's & Martin Project compleated
You, my wife and me too!!!!!!!!! just came in from a few hours on the project. trying to finish all the floor skins. cage has been done for a while. making good progress. need to have it at York US30 reunion in Penn. this july. they are having a Sox & Martin tribute and want the car. i will try to take it even if it doesnt run and still has the tunnel ram and twin dominators. when and where is your convention? and shouldnt i bring my "W" powered car? this is also the final season for 75-80 dragway. the car needs to be there too. pretty sure i can get Ronnie to drive it on the last race at the track he put on the map. (I might cry that day) another historical landmark falls to the development of McMansions. probably a Volvo in every driveway. i wanna puke at that thought.
more pics of my story
I feel i should show the rest of the pics of the motorcycle race stories i've told. hope i'm not pressing my luck here, i just get carried away telling old stories and feel that pics help. End of motorcycle story. hope some of you enjoy.
PS notice the harley has the exhaust on the left side. quite rare. the dirt racing got me a sponsorship from the local harley dealer, it was quite a shock to go so slow at the races. i was the first to put a "stocker" in the 7s in the 8th mile.
I feel i should show the rest of the pics of the motorcycle race stories i've told. hope i'm not pressing my luck here, i just get carried away telling old stories and feel that pics help. End of motorcycle story. hope some of you enjoy.
PS notice the harley has the exhaust on the left side. quite rare. the dirt racing got me a sponsorship from the local harley dealer, it was quite a shock to go so slow at the races. i was the first to put a "stocker" in the 7s in the 8th mile.
not sure how to title this
Bob, have you ever had a sanity check, or are you afraid to?????????? You sure did live on the edge. It's my understanding that drag boat racing is or was the most dangerous sport for drivers ever. I see they have canopys now, so might be a little safer. Heard a story you might be familiar with. Forget who it was, but might have been Elmer Trent ( SP ). Tried to work out a parachute deal for the motorcycles. Tried it like the boat racers. Back pack. Pulled the chute, and was immediately removed from the cycle. Not a good idea. New idea, attach the chute to the cycle. Pulled the chute, and left the cycle over the front end. No more chutes on cycles. Saw Karen Stoufer break a front disc after crossing the finish line last year or the year before. Locked the front wheel, and she left the bike at high speed. Got up, and went to the bike to see if it was hurt!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure she was bruised, but seemed to be no really bad injuries. I've had a bike to 120 MPH before, but never thought about something like that happening. Or the engine locking up. Have seen that, too.
Well, maybe you are not the only one that needs a sanity check.
Fred
Bob, have you ever had a sanity check, or are you afraid to?????????? You sure did live on the edge. It's my understanding that drag boat racing is or was the most dangerous sport for drivers ever. I see they have canopys now, so might be a little safer. Heard a story you might be familiar with. Forget who it was, but might have been Elmer Trent ( SP ). Tried to work out a parachute deal for the motorcycles. Tried it like the boat racers. Back pack. Pulled the chute, and was immediately removed from the cycle. Not a good idea. New idea, attach the chute to the cycle. Pulled the chute, and left the cycle over the front end. No more chutes on cycles. Saw Karen Stoufer break a front disc after crossing the finish line last year or the year before. Locked the front wheel, and she left the bike at high speed. Got up, and went to the bike to see if it was hurt!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure she was bruised, but seemed to be no really bad injuries. I've had a bike to 120 MPH before, but never thought about something like that happening. Or the engine locking up. Have seen that, too. Well, maybe you are not the only one that needs a sanity check.
Fred
I had been questioned at the time if i were crazy or not, heck, nobody wants to get hurt or killed.....but i figured "you cant get much done if your sittin around the house worryin about die'in" (my motto at the time)
these days, i drive a cavalier, and get uncomfortable if i get outta shape on my harley on the gravel driveway! funny how people change.
I manged to survive boat racing with only a few lumps. theres' 2 ways out of the boat drags....quit or die.
I dont know why but i never felt fear from cars or motorcycles. and would take the fuel burning version of each out this afternoon if possible. I do however have a scary respect for boats. i have seen video's of some close calls i've had. i've had friends, other racers and strangers ask me in the pits if i was nuts.......i didnt even know why till i saw some footage replay. my wife saw it too. and that put a stop to that. I've said before, i was getting nervous in the thing when it started going mid 7s and over 145. I managed to finally win the championship and retired on top.
I've witnessed several deaths at the boat drags and bike fatality at 75-80. recently another friend of mine John Hipwell was killed in a top fuel hydro driving for Ron Braaksma (madness TFH)
i cant let that stop me......see you at the races.
these days, i drive a cavalier, and get uncomfortable if i get outta shape on my harley on the gravel driveway! funny how people change.
I manged to survive boat racing with only a few lumps. theres' 2 ways out of the boat drags....quit or die.
I dont know why but i never felt fear from cars or motorcycles. and would take the fuel burning version of each out this afternoon if possible. I do however have a scary respect for boats. i have seen video's of some close calls i've had. i've had friends, other racers and strangers ask me in the pits if i was nuts.......i didnt even know why till i saw some footage replay. my wife saw it too. and that put a stop to that. I've said before, i was getting nervous in the thing when it started going mid 7s and over 145. I managed to finally win the championship and retired on top.
I've witnessed several deaths at the boat drags and bike fatality at 75-80. recently another friend of mine John Hipwell was killed in a top fuel hydro driving for Ron Braaksma (madness TFH)
i cant let that stop me......see you at the races.
whatta awesome thread this one is, think it needs started back up..........sooooooo........I've always been around cars, been going to the drag races since I was in diapers but the car that got me going was a 1968 SS Chevelle 396 Dad bought it new, traded a 62 bubble top and a 56 chevy for it, and still owed a little, but he used to take me to baseball practice in it, after practice one day, Dad was teasing the guys, he had a reputation for street racing and we lived in a little town population around 7000, so anyway after practice dad gets to a spot where the road is straight and everyone is watching, I said dad everyone is expecting something, bout that time pushed the clutch in....... gas pedal all the way to the floor, popped the clutch car squatted back tires felt like they were digging holes in the road grabbed second then third, I think that was the end for me I've been hooked ever since........
.........................
......................and.. I ....still own that car
......................... ......................and.. I ....still own that car
