Thread: Am I the only teen who envies.....

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Im 17 and I've been thinking about how cool it would have been to grow up in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, when drag racing was really drag racing (to me atleast). I watch and looks at tons of pics and videos of old school fuel altereds, gassers, and every other kind of race car from the early days of racing. I truly envy the those of you who got to grow up around the old school drag racing. Everything nowadays seems to be done by computers and very little of the outcome of the race is determined by the skill of the driver.

I cant be the only one that feels this way...?

Piece', I am on the opposite end of this deal. I grew up with it, and watched it change from what I loved, to a sport where enthusiasts cannot afford to run the top classes, and the "dream" went away.

The things I miss the most are tire smoke to the finish line, guardrail-to-guardrail four speed race cars, and cars that featured lots of chrome, and stunning paint WITHOUT VINYL COMMERCIAL LOGOS! I always considered the gassers special, because they were a real car with a dragster engine. I also miss the most beautiful dragsters of all....the 200 inch, full bodied, front motor "slingshots". No other type of racing had a car like THAT!

The good news is that we are not alone. There are nostalgia events all over the country, driven by fans and racers who refuse to let that style of racing die!!! :-)

Look in my gallery, and you'll see pictures from an event about two weeks ago. I couldn't stay long, but got a good infusion of nitro fumes!

I've posted on this before, so I won't bore anyone with all the details again, except to say I did grow up in those times, and wouldn't trade it for the world.

Not only were the cars cool, but the times were just so simple. Gas was like a quarter or less a gallon, you could take your sweetie to a drive in for either a buck a car-load, or sometimes a buck a head (These were the first run movies). Every year we waited anxiously for the new model cars to arrive, and we knew each brand and model like we knew our own names.

I don't remember anyone getting shot, the worst that could happen to you was someone could beat you up. Drugs weren't a problem until the Hippie era in the late '60's, and we didn't have to lock our doors. You could actually let your kids out to play until dark and not worry about some pervert getting his hands on them.

As for the drag races, you are right there. I remember seeing TV Tommy Ivo come into town with his trailer truck with the glass sides in it, so you could see two stacked fuel rails in it, and also his corvette chase car. Watched tons of Hemi Cuda's, RamChargers, 427 Vettes, Ford SIde Oiler 427's, etc run.

For me, two things changed us from what we were to what we are: President Kennedy being assinated, and the Viet Nam war. We became a lot less innocent after those events, in my opinion.

But yeah, the '50's and the early '60's were some of the best times to be alive, IMHO.

Don

Talk about crazy indoor drags International Ampitheater Chicago You couldn't get out of first gear. Corvairs and Dodges were the ones to beat. Don't remember the length of the track but you would shut down after going through overhead door and in the parking lot. Yes those WE'ER the days.

Itoldyouso---Growing up in the sixties was completely magic. There are no other words for it. It is a time that the world will never see again. The cars, the music, the girls. It doesn't matter if it was in California or in central Ontario where I grew up----magic!!!. We felt the Americans pain when Kennedy was assasinated. We understood the frustrations of the Vietnam war, and the terrible effect it had on so many young men and families.
I was an engineering apprentice between 1965 and 1970, away from home for the first time in a "big" city. I belonged to the Road Angels car club, and we campaigned a rail dragster on the weekends---Sunday was "race day".
We ran at the old Desoronto airstrip near Belleville Ontario, and it was the most exciting thing to have happened in my life at the tender age of 19 to 22 years old.
I got a phone call this winter---the Road Angels are having their 50th anniversary this summer, and although Belleville is about 200 miles from where I live now, they want me to come and bring the roadster pickup!!!
I kinda feel sorry for todays 17 year old motor heads---they'll never experience anything like it.

(QUOTE) Talk about crazy indoor drags International Ampitheater Chicago You couldn't get out of first gear. Corvairs and Dodges were the ones to beat. Don't remember the length of the track but you would shut down after going through overhead door and in the parking lot. Yes those WE'ER the days.


Like this?

YES
where did you find those pictures?
Charlie

I never knew these indoor drags existed !!! Can you imagine this happening today with insurance premiums and all. Never would happen.


And Brian, if you don't go to the reunion you would be crazy. You will have a blast.


Don

I was surfing here a while ago and found a site about 50s/60s drags. The cars had no roll cages and few safety devices. I know a guy who lost 3 toes on his right foot when he blew his clutch. I was standing on the side of the rtrack at Oswago IL when a blowen somthing went by and exploded blower parts were raining down all over. Insurance would be a big deal today along with all the people who don't like the noise. I used to race at a oval dirt track outside Chi. Santa Fe Speedway It was surounded by corn fields. Then people started building houses NO more race track Same thing happened to US 30 in Indiana. I feel sorry for todays gearheads They will never know the excitement of racing somthing that on one else has tried. Not saying its all been done just we've seen a lot in our time.

Yup, they were good. but.... Lets not forget some of the other things like the draft, anyone with long hair was guilty until proven innocent, segregated schools, apartheid, the riots in Watts and Detroit, the Democratic Convention in Chicago (66?), Vietnam.

It was fun, but it wasn't all good. Still a heck of a lot better then today's yuppie, politically correct, money is everything crap we have to put up with... No way I'd want to go back to being 18, I'd wind up under the jail so far they'd have to pump sunshine to me!!!!!

Originally Posted by cffisher

YES
where did you find those pictures?
Charlie

I pirated them from someone on the net. :-) Was it you?

This is real beauty!!!

Alton, IL. Hayden Profitt, Don Nicholson in the stockers. Garlits, Karamisines and the Speed Sport Roadster in top eliminator. I was there running my 52 Chevy with a Corvette six. Small town Illinois - going to Springfield and cruising North Grand. Stopping in at the Icy Rootbeer drive in. Sitting at a stoplight on 6th street in Springfield, revving my 56 Olds next to a 60 Impala. I saw the cop behind him, he didn't. He left hard. I didn't. Still remember the look on his face.

Then there were the race riots in the 60's - pretty much everywhere. Big one in Peoria when I was in college. Another one in Omaha in the late 60's where I was working.

It wasn't all good - but it was a lot simpler.

HOTRODPAINT no I wish I could say you got them from me.
I lived in Chi during the riots No body was right back then but as it is today the media showed what would sell paper tv time and the rest. There weren't any inteligent people that wanted riots. I grew up on the south side of Chi. where it all took place. My dad was from Salma AL. where they had a march. It was a shame the people had to fight for there natural born rights. I don't know what its like in schools today I can only hope its better than it was in the late 50s.

Originally Posted by cffisher

HOTRODPAINT no I wish I could say you got them from me.
I lived in Chi during the riots No body was right back then but as it is today the media showed what would sell paper tv time and the rest. There weren't any inteligent people that wanted riots. I grew up on the south side of Chi. where it all took place. My dad was from Salma AL. where they had a march. It was a shame the people had to fight for there natural born rights. I don't know what its like in schools today I can only hope its better than it was in the late 50s.

I grew up in Danville, about 100 miles south of ChiTown. We didn't have major problems in the '60s, but my wife is from Detroit, and her dad sold the family restaurant after the riots, and moved west.

Things are different in Tucson. I noticed it when I started working here. Much more diversity, and generally (other than the normal human discomfort with anyone different) we get along pretty good. We have asian, black, Indian, white and hispanic in my "hood", and are all friendly.