Your local street car celebrities

Growing up I think some of us envied a local hot rod guy that had a fast ride. It seems that, at least around where I live, these guys have disappeared. When I was in high school there was this guy that everyone in the small city that I live in couldn't beat. He used to race around town and hang out at the local teenage car gatherings and auto parts stores. I am very car racist, and pure to Mopar, but I have a weak spot for this truck. It was lowered, had a cowl hood, radical 350 with aluminum heads, muncie 4 speed, Weld Pro Star wheels with Mickey Thompson ET Streets, and ran on 110 octane. The paint was faded, and the cab corners were rotting, but this truck was nasty loud and was intimidating. You could hear and smell this truck a mile away, it was awesome. Listed below is a picture of the truck.


A few years ago he put an automatic in it, and gained almost a second in a half. He unfortunately ran nitrous and dropped a valve. Needless to say its been in the dark side of a garage due to lack of funds and a family being priority. Please shed your stories and post pictures if you have them.

Our local hotshoe had a '70 Challenger with an overbuilt 440, 2 660's on a tunnel ram and it was ludicrously fast. His dad ran a local repair shop and had a RR 'vert with a destroked 361 in it that terrorized the local bracket races. Now the son runs the shop, still has the Chally (behind the building, in the weeds) and still builds fast cars, just for other people now. Typical story, life got in the way, marriage, kids, etc. His kids do have some cool rides though!

funny you should say chevy truck in the op. In my area was a V8 powered S10 and that little truck was annoying because I don't think he was ever beat on the street that I know of.

It was primered black had the requisite cowl hood and centerlines and fast .....real fast.

Those little trucks really make for a fast combo, they don't weigh much and chevy guys have a knack to make a SBC really run. I never got into it with him but I saw him actually flatten a few known fast fox body mustangs. Guy had a rep. that's for sure. He used to run like clockwork on weekends up the main streets until we all got to be mid- 20s (three or four years ago) and he moved to Denver to look for work and I never saw him or the truck again.

We had a guy here who had an all Lexan and fiberglass '70 1/2 Camaro. 572 in big block, dual quads. He finally dipped into the 8's with it. The next weekend his garage caught fire while he was out with the wife. Came back and the car was a melted lump in the middle of a pile of embers.

The insurance picked up the tab and he replaced it with a blown Opel.

Everywhere near Y2K Pismo Beach,nitrous multiple stage/ one Rootes blower ran rampant on the streets,DONE CORRECTLY. (Don't be a dumb ***!!!). The nastiest :65 Chevelle :540 Rat/8-71 blower(4300 weighed,hundred lb. deisel piston,as ballast..Personallly watched run,9:80 @ 138 Famoso. As for Mopar : Brian Earle,Basic 340 roller cam Dart ,stock head (x) castings. Went 11:40's Famoso,wicked into the 10.20's,(,a nasty 250 hit,on a older 170" thick Arias piston deck ( 1970 slug,2618????). The one ,I loved the most: A 4400 lb. 70 Impala: running a basic 383 ,with basic 1994 OOTB? Brownfield/A
F.R. heads ,& a basic B &M blower ,overdriven (why????).
I was involved with these cars,within 10-12 gears ago. (Just amazing amount of money spent,minimal results acheived( Internet does help,as does common sense).

I grew up within 3 miles of a drag strip and about 5 miles of a 1/4 mile dirt track.
Plenty of hot cars on the street around here.

The baddest of bad was Joe Law. He had a blown SBC in a 29 ford roadster.
His car has been in hot rod magazine, and he held the Bonneville speed record for a couple of years on a open body car running over 200 mph.
This car was driven on the street alot.
I watched him at test n tune at Eldora race way preparing for Bonneville, he ran around a 4.80 in the 1/8 mile and let off way before the lights.

Anyone else? Good stories guys!

I'm going back quite a few years now in my youth . There was a "few" spots were everybody ran there cars . There was one spot that was about three towns away from me but it was the biggest street get together on the south shore . Any given Friday / Saturday night there would be Hundred's of hot rods in this one Mall parking lot were everybody got together and set up the races on the road that ran right next to the lot . People would come from all over New England to run at this one spot on Rt.27 and take the title of "King of the hill" . There was this one local guy named "Wild Bill" , who always looked like he just did the dirtiest engine swap in the history of man kind and his car didn't look much better then he did . lol He drove an orange 69 440 Runner that was built to the hilt and totally striped down to save weight . He even removed all the glass out of this car . Even the windshield for a little while . He would wear a pair of welders goggles with clear lens's . lol The only time you saw the Runner is when he had a race set up and then it would disappear again . He mostly went after all the brand X guys and seem to leave us Mopar guy's alone for some reason though . The next three cars that were regulars there that would handle the week to week crowd and hold the title was an Orange Charger , a White Runner and a white Dodge Dart ( ex race car ) all running 440's . The Dart would always battle it out for third with someone and the Charger and the Runner would battle it out for first from week to week . The three of them were friends in the off time and would help each other out making each other faster and faster . I know for a fact that the Charger ran high 9's in the quarter sideways without using his NOS . I don't have any old pictures of Wild Bill's Runner but here's an old picture of the other three ....... Thanks for bringing up this thread . It brought back some good memories .

Back in the mid 80's... I was pretty selective about what I picked fights with, or responded to challenges from. You have to do that when you're running a stock 318 in a 66 B body. I used to love going after brand new or nearly new monte carlo ss models. Never lost to one. Some of them must have remembered me because I had quite a few of them turn off to avoid lining up at the stop light with me. Don't know it that counts, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

WAY back in the mid 80's when we used to cruise Ft. Lauderdale strip I had a 340 4speed Duster. The pro street thing was going strong and there were a few pro streeters that looked the part but didn't run at all. There were however two Mopar buddies that had a couple runners. One was a big silver 69 Coronet that said ORCA on the side, BB powered. The other was a 67 Belvedere, dark red also big block powered. They weren't all pro streeted out, just narrowed rears and fat tires tucked underneath. They always cruised together. They were legit hard running cars.

I had a 57 chev shorty wagon in the mid 80s. built 307, 11lb aluminum flywheel, and 4 speed... the only race I lost was to a bike (Honda 750). I went up against a 68 cougar once.. he couldn't believe it when the flatbed trailer I was towing passed him... next light, he was still in denial because we went at it again... he was really pissed when my trailer passed him again! LOL... I wish I still had that car, but when we started having kids, there was no where to put them and I sold it and ended up with a 1950 DeSoto.

YY1 said:

Back i the mid 80's...I was pretty selective about what I picked fights with, or responded to challenges from.You have to do that when you're running a stock 318 in a 66 B body.I used to love going after brand new or nearly new monte carlo ss models.Never lost to one.Some of them must have remembered me because I had quite a few of them turn off to avoid lining up at the stop light with me.Don't know it that counts, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

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There aint nothing wrong with a 318 . The first Mopar I ever owned was a plain Jane 70 Fury with a 318 . Funny story about that car . I was about 17 and I was working for a garage that was owned by a family that was into drag racing . That's also about the time that I realized that I had a knack for making cars go fast , really fast , and the bug caught . I had only owned the Fury about two or three days when the timing chain had let go without any warning . I had every intentioned on just throwing another chain in it and be done with it . Just as I had the front of the motor torn down , one of our customers came in and seen what I was doing and told me that he had a bunch of performance parts for one of those motors and that I could have then . Of course I said "hell yah" . Just some of the things were , headers , intake and carb , cam and lifters , 360 swirl port heads ( all done ) , etc. etc. So I got the parts and started building making sure that everything was painted and looking as stock as day one . I even hand made a fresh air set up that was totally hidden , if you weren't looking for it . Fast forward about a month or so . It was a late weekend summer night and I was just out cruising the streets when I pull up to a red light . There was a little bit of the locals just hanging out at the corner and just then a 69 Camaro pulls up next to me with big tires , big hood scoop , etc. This thing idled like a pro stock and shook the ground . He look's over at the people and tapped the gas peddle a few times and then gave a quick spin of his tires . I looked over and gave a couple of taps on my go peddle . He looked over at me and just gave me that look like "yah right" . He see's the other light go yellow and then his idle come's up . I did the same thing , bringing the fury down into first gear. The light turned green and off we went . I dusted him . We come up to another set of lights and then the same thing . The third set of lights , the same thing . The big ole fury winning every time . Now the guy's following me around , signaling me to pull over . I finally did and we get out of our cars and he's insisting on seeing what's under my hood . I just keep telling him that's it's just a stock lil 318 . He's say's "no bleep'in way !" , You know what I have in that motor ! I open the hood and it looked as stock as can be . He just stood there scratching his head and just to rub salt in his wounds I say , the next time I should at least shut off my AC . lol He then just walked back to his car and drove off in discust . The next time I saw that car it had a "big" for sale sign in the back window . lol

Mine was kept in good tune with a back yard "low restriction" muffler (hollowed out), some timing tweaks (springs stretched), kickdown adjusted, rear tire pressure set to favor the right wheel, and other zero dollar mods. My biggest two problems were-

1- It was a poly, so everyone that got beat and just had to see it always claimed it was a big block.

2- It was a Coronet 440 model, so again, everyone that wanted to see it said "you've got 440 emblems right there".

No one seemed to notice the dinky 2 barrel carb.

I wonder if the guys with 1500 series trucks got accused of having a 1500 CID engine?

YY1 said:

I wonder if the guys with 1500 series trucks got accused of having a 1500 CID engine?

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The guy in the Mustang GT 5-speed I toasted a few weeks ago probably thought that.

A little recollection of some fun...
That night we raced the Bass Boat Trans AM

The Bass Boat Trans AM was a 455 street machine in heavy silver metal flake (hence the name) that prowled the streets almost every weekend back in the day.
Not everyone knew he had nitrous but we did. Pat and I had arranged for a get together south of town after running into the T/A on Polk street.
I was first up with a 440+6 in a 69 Dart HT auto with 3.23s. I had just installed some Holley 6425 outboard carbs on the stetup and it felt really good but had no time to shake it out.
Both cars heated the tires, as I recall I was running some recap slicks on Dunlop cores. We lined up by the Affiliated warehouse and were waiting for the flag to drop. Bam! Off with a little pull on the T/A carbs are sreaming! Cirp into second pulled him just a smidge. Third gear and he sprays, all of the sudden the Dart tips lean, pop sputter .... Crap! He got me by half a fender. There goes $20.
Pat is up next to save some Mopar honor. The white 70 Challenger with a 426 hemi, 4 speed with Dana 60 roared to life. Pat pulled onto the highway backed up and lit the tires.
The bass boat heats his tires and the two machines pull forward. Benny drops the flag and SCREECH! The T/A pulls forward and the Challenger spins the bias ply tires about a fender behind. The nose dips on the Chally as the hemi sucks enormous amounts of air through the twin AFB carbs between gears. The tires never stop spinning but the Challenger is starting to pull on the T/A. WAAA WAHAAAA, Pat speedshifts into 3rd and they are even. Blue fire comes from the Tran Am as he sprays and everyone is jumping up and down. Pat short shifts the hemi into 4th and it finally bites. The white of the Challenger almost blends into the sparkle of the massive metal flake but the sparkle is only visible on the rear half of the screaming mass as they pass the finish line. The HEMI WINS! Pat threw and alternator belt on that pass and after winning the twenty bucks, wouldn't you know it. Gary Glitter (the T/A driver's nickname) had a belt that would fit.... For the bargain price of, you guessed it. Twenty bucks.

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