Funny Car racer does Burnout Protest??? (1 Viewer)

[Toejam]

True story, apparently back in 1978 a racer protested a lack of Drag racing facilities by doing 3 Burnouts on a Main Street before getting shut down!

Funny Car busted at City Hall for doing burnouts - Yellow Bullet Forums

 

[Randy]

When I think of Terminal Island, I always think about a qualifying run where Jim Rizolli and I raced each other at a Top Gas West series event. Jim crashed his dragster right beside me and Big Willie was yelling "The dragster hit the altered!" over the PA system. Jim was shaken, but OK. And we didn't crash into each other.

For the speed of our cars Terminal Island was a little short, but it was still a place to race after the closure of Irwindale and Lions.

RG

 

[d'kid]

Big Willie Robinson and the International Brotherhood of Street Racers...
Saw their Colors At Lions, The Dale, and the County... Willie was all about getting Racers OFF the Street, well spoken and a gentle man and dang close to the size of Wilt Chamberland...

Terminal Island was a promise made, but by the same Harbor Commission That Pulled the Plug on Lions with one weeks Notice, then let it sit as an empty field for YEARS.

Some of the 'After Hours' racing at the County was unbelievable... you haven't really 'lived' until you watched the "Scrape Racing", dumping the Hydraulics at the tree and making the pass on titanium blocks... heck it was as cool as any fuel show...

And when the Brotherhood was around, you were sure there would not be trouble...

d'kid

 

[Toejam]

Are these guys from the Same outfit?

Kingnitro : photos : NHRA Winter Nationals '08 : Is this a Biker club??- powered by SmugMug

 

[d'kid]

Yepper,

d'kid

 

[ColeCoonce]

Brotherhood Raceway at Terminal Island was the *best*.... "10 dollars to race or watch"... the only place nitro snobs could actually be bothered to go to the drag races to watch doorslammers because it was so outrageous and entertaining... A not untypical high-dollar grudge race would feature a hot chick in a souped-up muscle car vs. a soul brother from South Central in a badass grocery-getter, racing for a ridiculous amount of money they had bet... "Big Willie" Robinson would work the microphone, bellowing: "Females Power vs. the Macho Man! For 10,000 'hot dogs'! Top Secret CIA race! NTA! No Times Announced!"

The high-dollar betting racers would scrawl "NTA" on their windshields, meaning that the clocks be turned off so the rest of their potential matches didn't know what kind of times were being turned...

"Pinks" has nothing on the memory of Brotherhood Raceway...

CC
Top Fuel Wormhole
Infinity Over Zero

 

[d'kid]

Cole

Loving Zero to I... about 1/2 way through.

really glad Joe brought up 'the good old days' with this thread.
I loved Willie's Daytona...
and his Lady was FINE and so was her 'matching' ride

d'kid

 

[Toejam]

Is Big Willie still alive?

'BIG' WILLIE ROBINSON AND THE "BROTHERHOOD OF STREET RACERS" - a set on Flickr

 

[Toejam]

Found this Youtube Clip:

YouTube - Terminal Island's Brotherhood Raceway

 

[ColeCoonce]

Found this Youtube Clip:

YouTube - Terminal Island's Brotherhood Raceway

"This raceway represents peace." Genius.

Every once in a while, you find a place that fills you with optimism for humanity. Then you leave the drag strip.

CC
Top Fuel Wormhole
Infinity Over Zero

 

[Nick Name]

Is Big Willie still alive?

'BIG' WILLIE ROBINSON AND THE "BROTHERHOOD OF STREET RACERS" - a set on Flickr

Yes, but his wife, Tomiko (sp) passed away recently. Both of them had been to my shop when we were in Burbank.

The whole Terminal Island deal was a huge blast. Speaking of blast, when they would run jets, the flames would almost reach the street when they would pop the burner.

Jay

 

[Draw 3D]

First and foremost, Bill Willie, and his girlfriend Tomika, were STREET racers hence the name of the "Big Willie and the Brotherhood of Street Racers".

I used to go to Big Willie's STREET races where we used to meet up at the back of the Pomona Mall where a few hundred people would show up, sometimes a funny car, a dragster or an altered would show up and fire them at the parking lot.

Most of his STREET races I attended were around the old OMS and Ontario Airport where there were a lot of long STREETS where they would run with Big Willie himself leading the parade in getting there. They would setup sentries at both ends of the STREET to keep an eye out for the "man" which usually turned out to be County Sheriffs.

Like I stated before, he was a STREET racer, and, he liked to pull stunts to get press for his STREET races.

 

[d'kid]

Gee Paul,

You're saying STREET RACER like it was a Bad Thing...

d'kid

 

[Randy]

Here's a Big Willie classic true story.

Back in the early 1970's Big Willie used to meet in the old Ralphs Supermarket shopping center parking lot in Fullerton at Brookhurst and Orangethorpe on Sunday nights. Several street racers would show up to find out where the nights races were to be held. They, along with many spectators, waited to find out where the action was going to be.

The one night I went, Big Willie around 10:00 PM stood up on a light stand and yelled out the location of the street race in his trademark high pitched voice. It was going to be in Compton in an industrial area. The tires screeched, lots of cars did doughnuts and burnouts as they left for the location and the parade of nutcases along with them all left the parking lot heading west on the 91 freeway to Compton.

About 5 minutes later still in the same parking lot, Big Willie, who had disappeared, climbed out of a car and got up on the same light stand again and yelled to the handfull of hard core regular racers "Now that the nutcases and drunks are all gone...along with the police who were here to see where we we supposely going... we are really going east to Orange!"

Classic!

 

[HotRodCrazyBob]

I used to go to Big Willie's STREET races where we used to meet up at the back of the Pomona Mall where a few hundred people would show up, sometimes a funny car, a dragster or an altered would show up and fire them at the parking lot..

Went there a few times !

On the night before I left for Basic Training (Sept 5th 1969), Willie held a 'Organizing Rally' right across the street from the Thrifty parking lot (down the street from Henry's = Foothill /Garey Ave)

A night I'll never forget!

 

[none]

Ok now I have a film question. If you look at the opening scenes in Two Lane Blacktop, there is some street racing that includes a White Daytona. Was that Willie??

 

[Toejam]

How come after going to Pomona about 30 times I've never seen Big Willie? You can't miss a guy like that!

 

[ColeCoonce]

Ok now I have a film question. If you look at the opening scenes in Two Lane Blacktop, there is some street racing that includes a White Daytona. Was that Willie??

I can't remember if Willie was in the opening sequence, but the film definitely featured his Brotherhood of Street Racers.