Thread: 60's Street racer from Chicago
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05-24-2011 02:47 PM #1
60's Street racer from Chicago
I'm a 60's/70's racer from Chicago, grew up in the city, went to
Waller High ( Now Lincoln Park High ) and raced every weekend
during the summer.
Watched most all the indoor races at the Amphitheater during
the winters they raced, you could see Mr Norm, Nickey,Beswick
and other big names race the 440 ft track and then see them
run thru those small doors at the end of the building, they had
the B###'s back then, a few missed the door.
You could walk into a dealership and buy about any type of a
muscle car with any hi-po option on the spot, two days at the
most for special installations.And they didn't care if you
hung around and BS for awhile and checked out what was HOT.
Then about every Friday/Saturday night you could watch street
racing with cars like Streetcleaner, Preperation H, Wooly Bully,
Shake-Rattle & Run, Time Machine, Killer Korvair (15 sec car)
Wild Thing and more. There were alot of popular locations back
then, like Elston Ave, Clyborne, 51st & Expressway, Foster Ave,
Forrest Preserve, Dotty Rd, to name a few.
There was nothing to see 25/50 hot cars racing for $50/300 per
race on any given night with 100/200 people watching the races.
There were very few tickets written back then, ( money behind
drivers lic trick )The cops would usually turn on the fire
hydrants and flood the street, we then would just move to some
other location.
Sundays, everyone would end up at one of the strips like U S 30
Da Grove or Rockford ( most popular ) and race legal. We ran a
C/Gas car ( tough class ) and sometimes they would let us win
some $$ and put us in C/MP
Just wish ya could have spent a couple weeks in that time frame
to get the rush( no drugs needed ) pure speed high.
At present, I restore muscle cars and classics as a full time
hobby and still enjoy racing like it was in the 60's .
Chicago Guy
John's ride to the cemetery, his beloved Billings OK bus, The Baby Elephant!! Traveling in style!! As his service was starting I couldn't figure out what the music was, heavy on a flute in a jaunty...
John Norton aka johnboy