Old Man
Hey Walt -
Never ran at Carlsbad or Lions, ran once at Irwindale and thought I'd fallen off the end of the world since the pits were gravel rather than paved like at OCIR. Did all of my drag strip running at OCIR - what a class place that was.
I used to run the '69 340 Swinger in G/Pure Stock before I did any "heavy" mods to it. Ran best of 14.28 @ 98+ mph with a non-SureGrip 3.23 gear.
Best race was against a '69 Road Runner that had some mods he'd snuck past the tech inspector. My buddy and I knew he was illegal but so were we with a carb insulator plate and some internal carb work so we couldn't holler. Anyway, this guy'd been raggin' on me all day and it came down to him and me in the final. He came up to us in the staging lanes and sneered that "it won't even be close".
Well, staged just enough to make the 'stage' light flicker, cut the best light I'd ever cut up to that point and we were dead even going through the lights. I couldn't see a 'win light' come on for either of us so didn't know what the outcome was until they handed me the 'WIN' slip at the end of the return road! Was all smiles as I came back down through the pits behind the Road Runner.
My (now 'ex) wife stepped out in front of the Road Runner and stopped him from getting to his pit spot, walked up to his window and said something to him before he drove on. I drove back into my pit and my buddy was laughing his head off - turned out my 'ex' had walked up to his window and said "You're right, it wasn't even close!"
Man, those days were the best! 3 classic dragstrips to choose from within a 30-minute drive.