AWESOME Video of the Day..at COMPPLUS.COM (2 Viewers)

[Tim5636sc]

Drag Racing Internet Magazine - Competition Plus.com - TODAY'S CLASSIC VIDEO MOMENT


This is awesome.... MODIFIED ELIMINATOR!!!!! I always wondered if Bobby and I shared a brain...

 

[Wild Thang]

Wow ! , that's way Cool ! , and because I was there. Just to think that's the same location were there is now a Super Walmart .

 

[twok4hd]

Nothing like a 287 inch SBC with injectors and a 80# flywheel.

Hey Glenn, I was out there too. Ahhhh, the memories. Tommy Costales and I used to run Modified eliminator for years but not the year that video was made. He could shift a 4 or 5 speed with the best of them. He probably couldn't find 2 second gear now.

 

[Wild Thang]

Nothing like a 287 inch SBC with injectors and a 80# flywheel.

Hey Glenn, I was out there too. Ahhhh, the memories. Tommy Costales and I used to run Modified eliminator for years but not the year that video was made. He could shift a 4 or 5 speed with the best of them. He probably couldn't find 2 second gear now.

Hey Glenn I may have pics. of your car ? Can't remember too many Lone Stars. lol , But Tommy is still doing good , he won the last bracket race on saturday with the dragster and then his son won on sunday in the old vette, but they almost had a father and son finals sunday ,his son got the bye to the finals and then Tommy got beat. Then Tommys son put a .005 package on the guy in the finals !

 

[twok4hd]

Hey Glenn, (geez I feel like I am typing to myself)? Was it Jay or Leslie? Both kids are great. I remember Jay and Leslie riding in my lap to the races. We started out running a 39 Studebaker that Luther owned. I can't remember what happened to that car. The old vette that Tommy won the 84 S/G championship we used to run in modified. I remember the day Luther bought it. I think he gave $2700 for it. Not sure the guy that sold it to them realized that his pristine baby was headed to be a race car or he might not of sold it. Years past we ran the old 32 Ford coupe called the Weekend Warror that the Conant bros used to run. Buddy Conant had just bought the old Frito Bandito from Jimmy Zeiger, so we ran the coupe. Then we ran another vette for Raymond Davis in C/SP and that was one badass hotrod. We kept exchanging the record with Bo Laws throughout the year. We were in the finals at Porter just about every weekend against the Martin Bros. Raymond Martin is still in Comp running a K/AA. Anyway that car is now the one that Chris LeBlanc runs in S/ST.

God, those were the days

 

[The Swegian]

Very cool videos! And featuring local boy Tom Hoover in his famed Showtime Corvette!

 

[Joker]

Very cool videos! And featuring local boy Tom Hoover in his famed Showtime Corvette!

Mark, I have a pic of Tom's vette from along time ago that my grandpa gave me that you have to see. Next year when your down remind me and I will show it to you.

And to both Glenns, it was good talking to you the other day Stepan. And Hearn, I need to send you that pic I have of that dragster. I just moved and I think I know where it is. And Stepan's right, Tommy has never lost it. I know he runnered-up at a couple div 4 super comp races either the beginning of this year or last and him and Jay had a great weekend a few weekends ago. Jay was driving the WC Vette. And Leblanc's day in the other vette you talked about ended early b/c Dad beat him I remember either first or 2nd round.

 

[twok4hd]

How many saw Lee Shepard in one of them?

 

[Toejam]

Nothing like a 287 inch SBC with injectors and a 80# flywheel.

Hey Glenn, I was out there too. Ahhhh, the memories. Tommy Costales and I used to run Modified eliminator for years but not the year that video was made. He could shift a 4 or 5 speed with the best of them. He probably couldn't find 2 second gear now.

Glenn where was that Old Track? Awesome footage, makes you wonder if any of those cars in that Footage are out running to this day?

 

[twok4hd]

Glenn where was that Old Track? Awesome footage, makes you wonder if any of those cars in that Footage are out running to this day?

The old Houston dragway was just north of FM 646 about 1/4 mile on the east side of I-45. That is the freeway that runs from Houston to Galveston. I think it was in the Dickinson city limits. I can't remeber if the Costales family owned it then or if they had already sold it to Moose Perah (sp?) which owned the Baton Rouge track (Cajun Nationals) at the time.

Ya know Joe, there is a possibility that some of those cars are running brackets somewhere. I know of 2 of the cars we ran back in the 60's are still running. One is the 84 W/C in Super Gas and another is still running Super Street that won the Houston National a couple of years back. That was also back in the day when pros ran divisional meets.

The old Porter drag strip was a family owned strip in the woods on the old Hiway 59 north. You just left Houston and then when the 59 main lanes ended it was a few miles up on the right. Man those small blocks echoed off all the trees, it was sweeeeeeet. I can remember we would tow back to the pits and the fence was lined with people betting like crazy. There was people with fists full of money.

 

[Joker]

The old Houston dragway was just north of FM 646 about 1/4 mile on the east side of I-45. That is the freeway that runs from Houston to Galveston. I think it was in the Dickinson city limits. I can't remeber if the Costales family owned it then or if they had already sold it to Moose Perah (sp?) which owned the Baton Rouge track (Cajun Nationals) at the time.

Ya know Joe, there is a possibility that some of those cars are running brackets somewhere. I know of 2 of the cars we ran back in the 60's are still running. One is the 84 W/C in Super Gas and another is still running Super Street that won the Houston National a couple of years back. That was also back in the day when pros ran divisional meets.

The old Porter drag strip was a family owned strip in the woods on the old Hiway 59 north. You just left Houston and then when the 59 main lanes ended it was a few miles up on the right. Man those small blockes echoed off all the trees, it was sweeeeeeet. I can remember we would tow back to the pits and the fence was lined with people betting like crazy. There was people with fists full of money.

There's still some of them running around here. My grandpa was just showing me pictures the other day from Porter and telling me some crazy stories from way back when.

 

[twok4hd]

There's still some of them running around here. My grandpa was just showing me pictures the other day from Porter and telling me some crazy stories from way back when.

There was no love lost at that time between Raymond Davis and Leroy Martin. I can remember when a fight almost broke out in the staging lanes between RD and Leroy. I thought the guns were going to come out. I ended up firing up the vette and driving it back to our pit to get it out of there. LOL

Now that was some serious racing.

 

[twok4hd]

Hey Glenn I may have pics. of your car ? Can't remember too many Lone Stars. lol , But Tommy is still doing good , he won the last bracket race on saturday with the dragster and then his son won on sunday in the old vette, but they almost had a father and son finals sunday ,his son got the bye to the finals and then Tommy got beat. Then Tommys son put a .005 package on the guy in the finals !

Tommy can always be on his game. And, I was just kidding about finding 2nd gear. Today I believe if Tommy wanted to try, he could drive a Pro Stock car if given the seat time. Hey Mike Edwards isn't much younger than us.

Oh, I need to call him and remind him, he promised me some seat time in the digger.

 

[twok4hd]

There's still some of them running around here. My grandpa was just showing me pictures the other day from Porter and telling me some crazy stories from way back when.

Heck Grandpa was in the middle of it with us. Justin, your Grandpa is one of the finest gentlemen I ever met, until you pulled into the other lane against him, and then it serious chit until you unstrapped at the other end. Then he gave you a warm smile, a hand shake and you knew you were always friends. That was Papa League Tell him I miss those days around the League family. Oh wait wasn't it called League Family Racing.

 

[twok4hd]

Hey Timah.....

Man thanks for starting this thread. It brought back some awesome memories for me.

Hope all is well in the Rockies my friend.

 

[Kelly]

There's still some of them running around here. My grandpa was just showing me pictures the other day from Porter and telling me some crazy stories from way back when.

Damn! There was racing 9 miles from where I live now? Crap! I missed it!

 

[twok4hd]

Kelly, believe me there were some awesome times out there..Too bad you wasn't there to share in the fun

 

[go]

I think Splendora is more then 9 miles from Dickinson, but close enough for a Wednesday night or weekend event. That track had tons of history back in it's days. It was also the hot spot for where the East Coast met the West Coast for bragging rights. You can bet that anybody that was somebody had been there once, as the list is endless. There is probably a vegetable stand or cash register where there were once burnouts.

I have a few pics on my website before the Walmart construction began, I even have a few of the cinder blocks that was left from when the tower was knocked down.

I even contacted Don Gay a few years ago as he was some how tied to the track as I figured he would some photos and memoribilia for me to borrow to revive and save the history, but he told me everything he had was destroyed in one of the famed Galveston floodings or hurricanes.

This photo shoot was at Houston Stephens & Venables Dragster Restoration by Rip & Natalie Wiley

Here are the photos before the Walmart appeared Stephens & Venables Dragster Restoration by Rip & Natalie Wiley

Another Houston incident Stephens & Venables Dragster Restoration by Rip & Natalie Wiley

In this Youtube video right at the 1 minute mark and the next 8 seconds is Houston, the rest is Lufkin and a country road outside of Bastrop, this was my dads AA Gas Dragster. Go to this link and click AA Gas Dragster YouTube - go77377's Channel

 

[twok4hd]

Gary, I am sure kelly was talking about Porter

 

[Joker]

Damn! There was racing 9 miles from where I live now? Crap! I missed it!

Yep Kelly, I just thank God that I am old enough to remember the Porter track. It was quite the little outlaw race track. Stuck in the middle of a bunch of trees and since I was only 5 or so back then I remember the train well b/c it was right on the train tracks that run thru Porter. Dad and I rode by there about 5 years ago and there was an apartment building there now where the track used to be. Remind me next weekend when your at the house and I will show you pics of the old Houston track and a bunch of cars being talked about in this very thread.