Back in action ! NHRA

Janderso said:
Dave,
What/How has the technology changed in the top fuel funny car industry in the past 20 years?
The first time I experienced a top fuel event was in Fremont, CA back in 1973.
My friends and I were sitting in the stands, we had been watching all the races and then all of a sudden a very loud rocket went by.
"Did you see that?" Grinning from ear to ear, I had to remind myself to close my mouth and breathe.
HOLY Sheeeeit!!!!
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I watched drags at Fremont around the same time frame, maybe a little later. Those were good times, also raced my kart on the dirt oval there around 78 or 79.

John
 
woodchucker said:
I prefer Formula and Nascar. Even though I used to bring my car to the drag strip, I prefer turning. I like that Nascar has added road racing tracks. Better than just going in ovals.
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Just found this, what track did you go to and with what car. times???????
 
Charles scozzari said:
Just found this, what track did you go to and with what car. times???????
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I grew up in Long Island, National Speedway if I remember the name correctly, If I remember it was 11s nothing earth shattering. The car was built for road racing. A 67 Camaro SS..
350, I don't know what tranny I had at the time, I had 7 different tranny's in there before my dad said to me , why don't you build a tranny for racing. I had M21, 22, Borg Warner Super T10... Hurst, Schneider, Edelbrock, Holley , traction bars, then converted to ... I forget to control the wheel hop...

I had a machine shop out on LI do my block and heads. My cam had been eaten up on one side of the lobes, so they filled and rebored the lifters straight. Apparently our great Made in America manufactures produced SH*t back in the day that everyone thought they were so great.. I had sticker shock by the bill.. but working since I was 13 helped pay the bills.... I had a roller cam, the machine shop made some recommendations that differed from what I planned, and I followed their lead mostly.

I am trying to remember the name of the road course in LI, out by the hamptons that I used to drive out to for road racing... damn memory, when I need something I can't recall, when I don't need it , it comes up.

edit: Bridgehampton Raceway... damn.. I remembered the Hamptons, but could not remember it
 
The farthest we used to go was Englishtown and Atco . Now , we hit Maple Grove when we can , getting old sucks . :rolleyes:
 
mmcmdl said:
The farthest we used to go was Englishtown and Atco . Now , we hit Maple Grove when we can , getting old sucks . :rolleyes:
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woodchucker said:
I grew up in Long Island, National Speedway if I remember the name correctly, If I remember it was 11s nothing earth shattering. The car was built for road racing. A 67 Camaro SS..
350, I don't know what tranny I had at the time, I had 7 different tranny's in there before my dad said to me , why don't you build a tranny for racing. I had M21, 22, Borg Warner Super T10... Hurst, Schneider, Edelbrock, Holley , traction bars, then converted to ... I forget to control the wheel hop...

I had a machine shop out on LI do my block and heads. My cam had been eaten up on one side of the lobes, so they filled and rebored the lifters straight. Apparently our great Made in America manufactures produced SH*t back in the day that everyone thought they were so great.. I had sticker shock by the bill.. but working since I was 13 helped pay the bills.... I had a roller cam, the machine shop made some recommendations that differed from what I planned, and I followed their lead mostly.

I am trying to remember the name of the road course in LI, out by the hamptons that I used to drive out to for road racing... damn memory, when I need something I can't recall, when I don't need it , it comes up.

edit: Bridgehampton Raceway... damn.. I remembered the Hamptons, but could not remember it
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Your Camaro ran very well. In that time frame 11s and low 12s were the numbers we chased, most cars then were in the 13s 14s. I think with shops other then Mc Betts, Jack Merkel, S&S, Vinny at Vitar Trans and some others the work was hit and miss then, Wonder if the track in the Hamptons you raced at was the old West Hampton raceway. As a kid we ran there. New York National (ran 4 cars at once) and Englishtown are all gone. A lifelong friend of mine Bobby DiMino owns and runs Nemidia raceway in Catawissa Pa. for the last 15-16 years, thats where guys go now, But it's a 3 to 4 hour trip from here so its an overnight deal. It's a different world now, we came up in a great time.
 
Back in the day when i was 18 I had a 69 chevelle ss396 4 spd. Was in the low twelve in the quarter. If I didn't break I usually won.

I had a sticker on the back of my car trailer. It said "NHRA has determined that drags racing is contiguous and can be habit forming "

They were right. I'm building a nova and I could have stuck with the 10 bolt rear but went with a Ford 9", yukon posi, and a set of lakewood slapper bars, along with a drive shaft safely loop. Riverdale raceway is just two miles from me.

After 46 years the "addiction " still pulls at me.

Thankfully my wife doesn't know why the Ford rear, and what the slapper bars do, or the safely loop. She would probably have a cow if she did. She found out on her own what horsepower the ls3 has.
 
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