A bad day at the race track many years ago

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Ironracer said:
I was at a Bros about 30 years ago, and a cat came in Hot on a 90° hard right turn.. I ran down the street. Checked him out, and proceeded to extract his Hog from a chain link fence. It took another person, but at least he was able to ride off
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Yikes too, when I was real young I saw what a barbed wire fence did to a person & have never been able to un-see that image.
Me personally have been about the luckiest injury wise with dirt bike & 1 near decapitation car crash, that I drove away from, lol
 
GTX JOHN said:
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.
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I was there, watching that day.
 
MOPARMAGA said:
Yikes too, when I was real young I saw what a barbed wire fence did to a person & have never been able to un-see that image.
Me personally have been about the luckiest injury wise with dirt bike & 1 near decapitation car crash, that I drove away from, lol
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Man, I've had so many near death experiences. I was shot 1.5" from My spine, layed down a Harley at 60, watching SUV's rolling at me in the oncoming lane ( one each way. They were doing 55 or so), all kinds of crazy crap.. its Through God I'm here. HE has a mission for me, at Least I hope He still does...
 
Does the freeway count? I was driving my work truck (Isuzu NPR stakebed) back in 1994-ish and I passed a newer (at the time) convertible Bentley with smoke coming out the engine cowl. I pulled over, got out and tossed him my fire extinguisher. As soon as he opened the hood, the fire blew up and he started blowing the thing down from the top and quickly ran the extinguisher out before he even hit the motor. No one else stopped and we watched this car burn for 10 minutes before the fire dept made it down the jammed up freeway. He was a late 20's arab looking guy and I'm not sure the car was his or his dads, but it was gone before they had a chance to put it out.
 
Ironracer said:
Man, I've had so many near death experiences. I was shot 1.5" from My spine, layed down a Harley at 60, watching SUV's rolling at me in the oncoming lane ( one each way. They were doing 55 or so), all kinds of crazy crap.. its Through God I'm here. HE has a mission for me, at Least I hope He still does...
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Sure he does, you're blessed dude for sure.
 
Cool pics John. From what my dad told me Nu-Be was a wild west kind of place where anything went. He campaigned an orange 70 SuperBee there in the early-mid 70s. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of that car.
The Colt in your pictures was campaigned by the Wolfgong brothers. If I remember correctly it was big block powered. They called it the “Dancing Bear” because it was so unruly it would dance all over the track and it was a real bear to control. I believe they were/are from Summerville and are huge Mopar guys. Still have a few too.
Now if you drive past that track you’d never know it was ever there except for a few of the sawed off telephone poles where the guardrails were and a little bit of concrete where the starting line was.
My cousin used to race his 4 speed Duster there in the late 70s- early 80s. He drove it to the track and one day borrowed a set of slicks from another racer. First pass he wound the 340 up tight and side stepped the clutch pedal on green and it shaved all the wheel studs off one side.
 
SSG_Karg said:
Cool pics John. From what my dad told me Nu-Be was a wild west kind of place where anything went. He campaigned an orange 70 SuperBee there in the early-mid 70s. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of that car.
The Colt in your pictures was campaigned by the Wolfgong brothers. If I remember correctly it was big block powered. They called it the “Dancing Bear” because it was so unruly it would dance all over the track and it was a real bear to control. I believe they were/are from Summerville and are huge Mopar guys. Still have a few too.
Now if you drive past that track you’d never know it was ever there except for a few of the sawed off telephone poles where the guardrails were and a little bit of concrete where the starting line was.
My cousin used to race his 4 speed Duster there in the late 70s- early 80s. He drove it to the track and one day borrowed a set of slicks from another racer. First pass he wound the 340 up tight and side stepped the clutch pedal on green and it shaved all the wheel studs off one side.
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Ohhh it was crazy alright but lots of fun. Your buddy’s dumped your water for your burnout out of a gallon jug. Lol. 6-8 time trials were common with a racers meeting every race held by a little 4’-4’ building. They could on spot from one lane so the faster car had to go to a certain lane. They would hold two day events for Labor Day and Memorial Day and at the last race of the year one of the two owners would get on the Pa and announce 4 hotdogs for 1.00. If you don’t eat them know you will be eating them next Spring. Lol
 
A couple winter pictures from one of my “memory trips” and a couple my of the car I raced there. The silver dart was the one that ended my days there. Like I said above it was going off the end of the track and I didn’t feel comfortable backing back up to get on the return road.
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Reminds me of Pocono Drag Lodge.
My close call was at Island Dragway in 1969. Kid driving his fathers brand new GTO Judge lost it at about the 300 ft mark, and didn't lift. Vaulted over the guardrail, over the chain link fence, and landed on top of my 60 Chevy "stocker". I had the hood up and was working on the engine, but heard the noise, dropped my tools and ran. My car was repairable, GTO was a total. Only injury was the GTO driver, had a cut on his arm, and a girl in the pits, got a minor injury from a piece of debris. From that day, I no longer pit near the fence.
 
Charrlie_S said:
Reminds me of Pocono Drag Lodge.
My close call was at Island Dragway in 1969. Kid driving his fathers brand new GTO Judge lost it at about the 300 ft mark, and didn't lift. Vaulted over the guardrail, over the chain link fence, and landed on top of my 60 Chevy "stocker". I had the hood up and was working on the engine, but heard the noise, dropped my tools and ran. My car was repairable, GTO was a total. Only injury was the GTO driver, had a cut on his arm, and a girl in the pits, got a minor injury from a piece of debris. From that day, I no longer pit near the fence.
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Charlie.. do you remember the late great Jimmy Harrington driving Angelos Econoline at Island.. losing control off the line in the right lane.. taking out the tree and ending up in the fence in front of the refreshment stand? Racing at Island for close to forty years I have seen some bizarre things including a few months ago when the entire rear end assembly ripped itself out from under a Camaro upon launch , springs and all... many years ago a motorcycle racer falling off his bike top end at full speed .. he had to be air lifted out but recovered and I don't believe he ever raced again.
 
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BVoelzke said:
Charlie.. do you remember the late great Jimmy Harrington driving Angelos Econoline at Island.. losing control off the line in the right lane.. taking out the tree and ending up in the fence in front of the refreshment stand?
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I knew Jimmy well. I was not up at Island when Jim took out the tree. Angie was a really good friend. We worked on our cars together at his house/shop. Do you remember the altered wheelbase 68 Merc Cougar (Mousetrap)? Angie and I built that together (not the car) but the drivetrain. Would go 10.80's with a junkyard 440 Mopar engine. I ran that car, and two 65 Valiants, one with a 170 slant six, the other with a 273.
You know Angie died a few years, ago. I talk to his wife once in a while, on the phone.
PS: Last I knew (about 3 years ago) Angies Econoline pickup was in a auto museum in Las Vegas, renamed the "Draggin Wagon"
 
Charrlie_S said:
I knew Jimmy well. I was not up at Island when Jim took out the tree. Angie was a really good friend. We worked on our cars together at his house/shop. Do you remember the altered wheelbase 68 Merc Cougar (Mousetrap)? Angie and I built that together (not the car) but the drivetrain. Would go 10.80's with a junkyard 440 Mopar engine. I ran that car, and two 65 Valiants, one with a 170 slant six, the other with a 273.
You know Angie died a few years, ago. I talk to his wife once in a while, on the phone.
PS: Last I knew (about 3 years ago) Angies Econoline pickup was in a auto museum in Las Vegas, renamed the "Draggin Wagon"
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I don't remember the Cougar but I do remember your Valiants and his Econolines and the Mazda pickup he built for his wife , he was such a talented guy and his builds were always done well. I used to date a girl that lived around the corner from his house in Randolph that had to be around 1979 or so
 
Bad day at race track version 1

After getting out of the Air Force on January 5, 1979, I found this 73 340 challenger for sale for 800 dollars. It had a 340 with a blown head gasket, the heads were off the car....Cleaned everything up and put it back together, had it running good and was going to flip it. On a test drive with a buyer it broke a rocker shaft....and started missing well...it did not get sold. So I head out to the Old Las Vegas Speedrome to watch some racing and end up running the challenger to a very fast 16.50s spinning the tires....Well...working of the car...i get it to run in the 12s. On the wonderful day April 28, 1982 , a day before my birthday I head out to the track flat towing behind a 70 340 Duster. Had a brand new TA fiberglass hood on it that I had saved a money from my Air Force Reserve drills. Dont remember what round it was but was racing a 64 Nova called Underdog as we get near the traps he comes across from the right lane into my lane and I tbone him going thru the traps. We slide up on to a berm as there is no guardrail pass the finish line and come back down to stop on the track.....my hood had a ******* crack in the corner of it....Anyway as you can see the car is totaled .....strip the car of parts...and have it towed to the wrecking yard.

Some one told me later that they had seen him drinking prior to the race....oh well...

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Back day at the track No. 2

April 21, 1992, almost 10 yrs to the day. Racing 69 Barracuda. Quarter finals, racing a guy from Bakersfield in a 64 Nova, he is in left lane. Again as we approach the traps i see in the corner of my eye in his fender well flames and crap as his engine is blowing up. he gets in his own oil and hit me just behind the drivers door. Again no guardrail pass the end of track and i go sliding out into the dirt which was good thing as i did not hit anything else. He car starts rolling and ends up several hundred feet down the track from me......climbs out thru the front windshield has to be taken to hospital with glass in his eyes.....Some said I had ran over to him and punched him...nope i was walking around my car looking at the damage...blood pressure probably 300 psi.....So the track manager says I can not race for the rest of the year due to swing at the other guy....I said If i swung and missed 3 times like they said...I should not be allowed to race either..lol... I was 39 yrs old still in pretty good shape...LOL.....plus looking at my car I was not going to be back in a week or two....As it took me over a year to repair the car...BTW I still have that old Barracuda.....Car was light...I probably could run a 10s with a 318 with unported 302 heads....lol

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September 15, 2021, not so long ago. Freeze plug blew out and put me in the wall well into second gear. I sure am glad I declined to race anyone on either pass but that's always been my practice when turning a new combo. Test and tune turned into crash and smash!
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I've been very fortunate in my racing experiences and never had a crash, yet. Have seen several, including the last time I was at the track a few years ago when a motorcycle racer went airborne at the finish line. He was transported by ground ambulance but I never heard how he fared. Hopefully he was ok.
 
missing linc said:
I've been very fortunate in my racing experiences and never had a crash, yet. Have seen several, including the last time I was at the track a few years ago when a motorcycle racer went airborne at the finish line. He was transported by ground ambulance but I never heard how he fared. Hopefully he was ok.
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It’s kinda like rolling dice and odds that comes into play. Some guys race once a month (or maybe less) others race three times a week. Some guys are happy running 11’s@112mph and others want to run low 8’s@160 plus. Then you enter light weight short wheel base cars and you enter another factor. Then enter maintenance and what you should do and what you can afford to do. It all comes into play.
 
70aarcuda said:
Back day at the track No. 2

April 21, 1992, almost 10 yrs to the day. Racing 69 Barracuda. Quarter finals, racing a guy from Bakersfield in a 64 Nova, he is in left lane. Again as we approach the traps i see in the corner of my eye in his fender well flames and crap as his engine is blowing up. he gets in his own oil and hit me just behind the drivers door. Again no guardrail pass the end of track and i go sliding out into the dirt which was good thing as i did not hit anything else. He car starts rolling and ends up several hundred feet down the track from me......climbs out thru the front windshield has to be taken to hospital with glass in his eyes.....Some said I had ran over to him and punched him...nope i was walking around my car looking at the damage...blood pressure probably 300 psi.....So the track manager says I can not race for the rest of the year due to swing at the other guy....I said If i swung and missed 3 times like they said...I should not be allowed to race either..lol... I was 39 yrs old still in pretty good shape...LOL.....plus looking at my car I was not going to be back in a week or two....As it took me over a year to repair the car...BTW I still have that old Barracuda.....Car was light...I probably could run a 10s with a 318 with unported 302 heads....lol
and saw
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I was there and saw the whole Deal!

You definitely were a pretty good size healthy and intimidating guy in those
day and if you had connected with him = He would probably
still be in the Hospital or worse 30 years later.

Even now = There is not anyone I know at the Track that would be eager to
take you on even at your advanced age today!!

As I recall the Nova was kind of a rough deal with a straight axle and struggling
to go 11's.
 
GTX JOHN said:
I was there and saw the whole Deal!

You definitely were a pretty good size healthy and intimidating guy in those
day and if you had connected with him = He would probably
still be in the Hospital or worse 30 years later.

Even now = There is not anyone I know at the Track that would be eager to
take you on even at your advanced age today!!

As I recall the Nova was kind of a rough deal with a straight axle and struggling
to go 11's.
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John....I am not a fighter....I am a lover.....lol
 
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