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Grew up in SoCal and my first drag race was the '65 Winternats. After that, I started going to Irwindale and OCIR on pretty regular basis. Got to work with a few nitro FC's, a few TF and bracket cars, but mostly AA/GS & Comp cars.

Worked at a shop that painted choppers, show cars & race cars and got to work with Tom Stratton while he was learning lettering & pinstriping. After my military stint, went to work for Stratton but had leave later due to bad allergic reaction to paint.

Got out of racing for a long time and now I'm back building a top dragster altered.

Drag racing seems to be a lifelong addiction!
 
Registered member said:
Paul,
Poly Isocyinates?
Why I got out of the paint selling biz... too many times in the booth demoing without a real respirator...

d'kid
Click to expand...
Don't know about the "Poly Isocyinates", but, I didn't use the respirator very often, specially when spraying candy, we use to use Japanese bike touch-up colors that smelled like bananas, I was told they contained banana-oil.

Man I use to LOVE that smell! Might explain my mental "issues" now! :D
 
Registered member said:
Don't know about the "Poly Isocyinates", but, I didn't use the respirator very often, specially when spraying candy, we use to use Japanese bike touch-up colors that smelled like bananas, I was told they contained banana-oil.

Man I use to LOVE that smell! Might explain my mental "issues" now! :D
Click to expand...

Poly Iso is the hardener for urethanes... clear coats and two part paints... repeated exposer affects the tiny hairs that clean the garbage out of your lungs...

d'kid
 
I was born and raised in Detroit.... growing up we always had street rods, hot rods, you name it. My brother even competed on the Supercross 125cc series for a while. Dad raced several different car types when I was a kid at a track called Motor City Dragway. In the mid 1950's he and a few buddies actually started the Michigan Hot Rod Association, along with the Modifiers & Bearingburners car clubs. One kid in particular he got to be good friends with because his Dad had a propane & natural gas shop where he'd let them come in after school & work on the cars inside and use his lift, tools, welder & air compressor. Then on the weekends they'd DRIVE the cars to Motor City Dragway or Detroit Dragway, undo the laker pipes, put slicks on them & pull out the seats. Dad & most of those kids eventually got away from cruising & racing and all got married and had kids. That one kid though, he kind of stuck with racing. His name is Conrad Kalitta.
 
Registered member said:
This may be a very bad idea since they are some who live to trash others, but I would love to know some of the people on this board and their ties to drag racing.
It would just be nice to know whos opinion I'm reading. Not to trash anyone.
Click to expand...

How many even belong to NHRA, let alone racing ties?
 
Guess you could say cars & racing runs in the family for me...
My Mom's dad, Frank Copple, had a body shop in L.A.; he did coachwork for Pierce Brothers Mortuary's hearses & did repairs on guys cars who raced at Gilmore, Ascot & Carrell Speedways...

Dad's dad, Larry Auzene Sr. was a mechanic for almost 40 years in the L.A. area. He built-up early Olds & Caddy motors in his spare time and was the mechanic on my uncle Jack Dalton's '23 T lakes car that held a class record at El Mirage back in 1946-47.

My Dad, Larry Auzene Jr., co-founded the Pharoahs of Burbank back in 1952 with Dick Boyd (who went on to work with Lucas on American Graffiti); one of his favorite cars was his '51 Olds 88 coupe with a hot 303 in it that Grandpa built up...

My uncle, Tommy Garrison, ran Blown Fuel Hydro boats in the '70's & '80's...
Over at his house in Burbank, I'd run into Tommy Ivo, Rod Peppmuller and many others...

My late father-in-law, CR Holder, founded and ran Rocket Muffler in Burbank from 1960 to 1995. He worked on and sponsored several race cars over the years; I still race and show his '55 Chevy wagon, the Rocket Muffler Special.

I've been a member of the Burbank Road Kings since 1992 and the Vanishing Breed Street Machines of Glendale since 1984. I've ran at Famoso, LACR, Carlsbad, Pomona, and Irwindale (new). The '55 & I have been up at the Bakersfield Hot Rod Reunion since 1993....:D
 
My ties to drag racing start basically from the day I was born. My whole family are sportsman racers. From the late 70's to the early 90's my dad did a ton of racing and won alot. So I was raised at the dragstrip. My dad has a picture of me at 11 months old in a wagon at the US Nats with the Hurst Girls when he was running SG. (Mark "the Cowboy" Pawuk beat him in the semis). Then he sold everything in the late 90's and we raised show animals till last year when he decided to go back racing.

I have lots of friends in racing and am related to a few people who work on a few pro teams. Its in my blood, it doesnt matter if its bracket racing or top fuel, its all enjoyable to me!
 
Grew up around drag racing. My dad had a little "pro" camaro when I was a little kid, ran 11's and we raced every weekend, and at the time guys like the Snake and Big Daddy match raced once a year or so at our local track (Wichita International Raceway). When the pros stopped coming we still bracket raced locally and went and watched them run at Bandimere and Ennis. When the "super" categories came about my dad picked up an old Pro Stock Vega and made a "super gas" car out of it, I was still in grade school but loved going to the track. In 1988 HPT opened, and while there we ordered a dragster to go Super Comp racing. In 1990 I had saved enough mowing yards that I was able to buy a class at Frank Hawly's Drag Racing School, but since I was 15 I did the Mechanic corse, still a great time. The next year my dad allowed me to get my Super Comp licence, I kept working part time and instead of buying a car for the street I bought into the racing operation. We have been racing Super Comp ever since (and bracket racing along with some Top Dragster stuff here and there). My oldest son is now 9, he has been driving a Jr for 2 years, my twin sons (5 year olds) are helping us with the Jr. Motor maintance and cant wait for their 8th birthday. We are 3 generations of happy racing, the sport keeps us close and traveling together. It's always fun rolling the two cars out of the trailer with the crisp air in the morning with a full day or weekend of racing ahead. I cant immagine a better "hobbie".:D
 
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It's great to read the responses. Alot of knowledge in Mater Land. And they are no nobodies. Just somebodies that haven't been discovered. Suzie,Kelly, and PJ are Mater Legends that I look up to when I read.(how's that for sucking up)? Am I a bad judge of character?
 
Registered member said:
It's great to read the responses. Alot of knowledge in Mater Land. And they are no nobodies. Just somebodies that haven't been discovered. Suzie,Kelly, and PJ are Mater Legends that I look up to when I read.(how's that for sucking up)? Am I a bad judge of character?
Click to expand...

Legends???..............hmmmmm.............wow! Nah, not a bad judge of charachter, I guess you are crazy in the head like us!!!:D:D:D
 
I'm not a racer, just a fan. I grew up in Coon Rapids, MN, home of Minnesota Dragways (the track Warren Johnson and Tom Hoover would call home back in the 60's and 70's). My brother's best friend's dad worked at the track on weekends and he'd always let us in for free. My mom would pack my brother and I a lunch and we'd ride our bikes the mile-and-a-half from our house and hang out at the track. I consider myself lucky that my brother, who is 8 years older than me, was kind enough to let his 6 year old brother tag along that first time in 1970. Minnesota Dragways was a nice track, had one of the few Chrondek timing systems in the Midwest, and routinely booked in big name match racers from around the country. I saw the Snake & Mongoose in their Hot Wheels cars, Flash Gordon Mineo, Harry Schmidt's Blue Max (pre-Raymond Beadle), the Little Red Wagon wheelstander, jet cars, and even Evel Knievel jumped some cars in July 1972, and they also hosted a Winston Points event for Div. 5 racers (complete with TF, FC, and Pro Stock) each summer in July. Minnesota Dragways closed due to the encroaching population in 1977 so we started going to BIR in 1980, which started hosting the D5 event after the demise of MD. BIR finally got a National event in 1982 and I have gone pretty much every year. After doing that lone event each year, my brother and I went to Indy for the first time in 1996 (yep, that one). I've added Chicago and Vegas to the itinerary and now will add Houston and Dallas to my schedule for '08. Well, sorry for the long-windedness :eek:(is that even a word) but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.:)
 
Registered member said:
It's great to read the responses. Alot of knowledge in Mater Land. And they are no nobodies. Just somebodies that haven't been discovered. Suzie,Kelly, and PJ are Mater Legends that I look up to when I read.(how's that for sucking up)? Am I a bad judge of character?
Click to expand...

Good call on Suzie and Kelly but for including me you may need to get a checkup from the neckup :D
 
Registered member said:
It's great to read the responses. Alot of knowledge in Mater Land. And they are no nobodies. Just somebodies that haven't been discovered. Suzie,Kelly, and PJ are Mater Legends that I look up to when I read.(how's that for sucking up)? Am I a bad judge of character?
Click to expand...

Awwww.....aren't you sweet?! :D
 
Well I got into drag racing in the mid 70s when I worked for Hotrod Exchange in Dallas.did a long stint with a record breaking blown gas hydroas crew cheif for Gerald Johnson and the quik-n-ezy boat.that got me into working on a Mark Kinsellas top fuel car for years.I worked on Vinny Arcadi`s fuel funny car all of the 2006 season,doing the clutch.I am now playing with a cackle car. Bobby Langley`s Scorpion 5.We have been to Columbus,Bakersfield,and a neat race in Temple Texas.our next outing will be at the Texas old geezers (OLD RACERS)lunch in Sachse,texas on Dec 8, I think.pm me if you want more info on the Texas old geezers.Other than that we have been racing Jr. Dragsters for 6 years.My son is going to be in a full size dragster next year.I do have a 7.90 jr. dragster for sale if any of you have a kid that wants to run fast.
 
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