A bad day at the race track many years ago

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pittsburghracer

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Some of you guys have probably raced at BAD race tracks but were they this bad??? This track was almost 50 miles from my house and on one occasion I actually broke in an engine driving there. Billy goat hilly trip with curves you swear you were heading the same direction you came from. Approximately 85 miles NE of Pittsburgh Pa it was one of the tracks I hit 3-4 times a year back in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. It was a skinny tar and chip track with telephone guardrails. Lol. On this day a car named “Dancing Bear” took the scenic trip down the track.
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Not really sure what year the place closed but it was the end of a fun and crazy place. It was always an 1/8 mile track with at the most a 1/8 mile shutdown. I started racing my 1970 four speed duster there when I ran mid 12 second quarter mile times (I forget what it ran there in the 1/8). In my second car a 1969 Dart with a .030 440 that ran 10.40’s I had to back the car up 6 feet to make the return road so I had to stop racing there. My favorite smoked meat and cheese market is 10 miles from the track so sometimes when I take a road trip to stock up I will drive over for some old memories. You can’t even tell a track was there now.
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Wow! Man, you've been doing this as long as I've been alive! Hope the driver was ok...Thanks for Sharing that. Is that people tending to the driver in the background?
 
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There is a private Facebook group that you can join if interested. Search Nu-Be drag strip

here’s a few pictures of my first black duster racing there
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Wow! Man, you've been doing this as long as I've been alive! O hope the driver was ok...Thanks for Sharing that. Is that people tending to the driver in the background?


Ya I wasn’t there that day but from what I’ve heard he was ok. He’s the guy with no shirt on in a couple of the pictures. For all I know he may have raced without a shirt. Lol. A friend that worked in a local transmission shop would let other guys race his Monte Carlo so he could race his van with a beer cup holder.
 
Dude, you've had a badass life in my opinion


I have been blessed. I worked at a gas station after graduation and I bought that duster from a customer without even driving it. I told him when he wanted to sell it I wanted it. I met some guys in the town I now live in and we raced 5-6 days on the streets and two days at the track. The red cutlass in the one picture that I towed with I bought the same way. I saw how both of them treated their cars and bought them the day they wanted to sell them. The cutlass ran 15.6 after some work.
 
what engine and drivetrain did the Colt have.
It looked like it could be a handful.
 
Talk about Bad Days: At the Winternationals about 10 years ago I broke an axle on
my National Recordholding N/SA 82 Ram Pickup. Went thru the K rail and Destroyed the Tree!!
Only good: Made the Cover of Hot Rod and entire back page PLUS Cover of Car Craft
and full two page center spread. Also ripped all the Fiber Optics out of the ground.
The could not qualify anyone and finished the Race on Tues. to empty stands = Nearly
put NHRA out of business.
 
Talk about Bad Days: At the Winternationals about 10 years ago I broke an axle on
my National Recordholding N/SA 82 Ram Pickup. Went thru the K rail and Destroyed the Tree!!
Only good: Made the Cover of Hot Rod and entire back page PLUS Cover of Car Craft
and full two page center spread. Also ripped all the Fiber Optics out of the ground.
The could not qualify anyone and finished the Race on Tues. to empty stands = Nearly
put NHRA out of business.
Man, that sucks.. BUT, You did it right!
 
THANKS!! For posting this. I love these old stories especially when there are related photos
 
My bad day was at the Monster Mopar race at Norwalk in 2010. I had run 8.40’s on Friday (5.42 in the 1/8) and on my first quick 32 qualifier (1/8 mile race) I broke an oil line on my remote oil filter as I went through the 1/8 mile traps. I almost had it saved but with the 89 inch wheelbase it slightly touched the guardrail pushing a body strut through the side of a brand new 16-32 slick. That put my Daytona sideways and onto its roof. the next 1/8 plus was spent upside down.
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My bad day was at the Monster Mopar race at Norwalk in 2010. I had run 8.40’s on Friday (5.42 in the 1/8) and on my first quick 32 qualifier (1/8 mile race) I broke an oil line on my remote oil filter as I went through the 1/8 mile traps. I almost had it saved but with the 89 inch wheelbase it slightly touched the guardrail pushing a body strut through the side of a brand new 16-32 slick. That put my Daytona slide ways and onto its roof. the next 1/8 plus was spent upside down. View attachment 1715842758View attachment 1715842759View attachment 1715842761View attachment 1715842763
Dammit Man, that's intense! Glad you made it!
 
Dammit Man, that's intense! Glad you made it!


Scarier for my son at the starting line that had to watch it. He hopped on a quad with someone and raced down the track. Track personal ordered him off the track but he said that my dad I know how this car comes apart. Meanwhile my hand was on the halon system knowing if there was a fire I had to pull the system but also knowing Halon removes the oxygen from the air. I couldn’t get out till they got the door off as it was sitting on the top of the door.
 
My bad day was a bad night. It was night time test and tune at Irwindale raceway in 1977. I was sitting in the staging lanes when a guy on an older Harley with extended forks was returning from his latest run. He split the lane of cars next me on the right. He was standing on the brake trying to get the bike to stop. He left the lanes and ran into the chain link fence that was on the other side of the lanes used to get to the staging area. The fence slid up the front wheel and forks and wiped him off of the bike. He was tangled up under the fence while his bike fell over on the other side with the throttle stuck wide open!
Just after we extracted him from being pinned and gouged by the fence, three Fordboys two lanes over from me had their hood up on their Mustang with the motor running. One guy said that he could smell it but that he couldn’t see it. A second guy said that he could see it dripping under the car. The third guy said that he could find it and flicked his lighter. He instantly found the fuel leak as the entire engine compartment erupted into a ball of fire! They started shouting for help because they didn’t have a fire extinguisher. There was pandemonium for a couple of minutes as guys were trying to clear their cars from the burning Mustang. Finally someone showed up with a fire extinguisher and put it out.
I just laughed in amazement at what I just witnessed. I didn’t laugh too long because on my very next pass a freeze plug popped out and I proceeded to dump water down the entire track!
 
Scarier for my son at the starting line that had to watch it. He hopped on a quad with someone and raced down the track. Track personal ordered him off the track but he said that my dad I know how this car comes apart. Meanwhile my hand was on the halon system knowing if there was a fire I had to pull the system but also knowing Halon removes the oxygen from the air. I couldn’t get out till they got the door off as it was sitting on the top of the door.
Unreal! That's a HELL Of a Ride, Sir!
 
Unreal! That's a HELL Of a Ride, Sir!

hey no one got hurt and the car is now being raced by a good friend. They checked me out in the ambulance and she told me my blood pressure was a little high. When I told her I had a heart attack in 2000 and hadn’t taken my blood pressure pills yet she didn’t know what to say but did mumble something like gets to my trailer and take your damn pills. I did and watched my son race till 3am when he lost in the semifinals.
 
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hey no one got hurt and the car is now being raced by a good friend. They checked me out in the ambulance and she told me my blood pressure was a little high. When I told here I had a heart attack in 2000 and hadn’t taken my blood pressure pills yet she didn’t know what to say but did mumble something like gets to my trailer and take your damn pills. I did and watched my son race till 3am when he lost in the semifinals.
Haha, take yer damn pills !
 
hey no one got hurt and the car is now being raced by a good friend. They checked me out in the ambulance and she told me my blood pressure was a little high. When I told here I had a heart attack in 2000 and hadn’t taken my blood pressure pills yet she didn’t know what to say but did mumble something like gets to my trailer and take your damn pills. I did and watched my son race till 3am when he lost in the semifinals.
That's crazy... Ya would THINK they would have an on-board BP med to stabilize people temporarily. BEFORE there were devastating issues. I started having issues a work about 12 years ago.. seeing spots, feeling like The Devil was attacking me. I
called an ER nurse I did a kitchen for, she said " go the the er, go to the new one, it was many miles Away. 180/120. Glad the car is Racin' W/ A a Friend, sucks your Son lost. He was probably Rattled up from Your Upside-down Slide
 
My bad day was a bad night. It was night time test and tune at Irwindale raceway in 1977. I was sitting in the staging lanes when a guy on an older Harley with extended forks was returning from his latest run. He split the lane of cars next me on the right. He was standing on the brake trying to get the bike to stop. He left the lanes and ran into the chain link fence that was on the other side of the lanes used to get to the staging area. The fence slid up the front wheel and forks and wiped him off of the bike. He was tangled up under the fence while his bike fell over on the other side with the throttle stuck wide open!
Just after we extracted him from being pinned and gouged by the fence, three Fordboys two lanes over from me had their hood up on their Mustang with the motor running. One guy said that he could smell it but that he couldn’t see it. A second guy said that he could see it dripping under the car. The third guy said that he could find it and flicked his lighter. He instantly found the fuel leak as the entire engine compartment erupted into a ball of fire! They started shouting for help because they didn’t have a fire extinguisher. There was pandemonium for a couple of minutes as guys were trying to clear their cars from the burning Mustang. Finally someone showed up with a fire extinguisher and put it out.
I just laughed in amazement at what I just witnessed. I didn’t laugh too long because on my very next pass a freeze plug popped out and I proceeded to dump water down the entire track!
Yikes
 
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