Home Track Heros (1 Viewer)

[Rich D]

I know we all like to brag on our hometowns and "I remember when", but I got to thinking about the group of racers that emerged from my home track. It is an unassuming track outside of London Ontario and it was kind of in the middle of nowhere, with Detroit a few hours to the west having its own track(s) and Toronto to the east having its own as well. But yet we had a surprising amount of talent emerge: Chi Town Hustler driver Frank Hawley, the Paton family (father Barry with sons Todd and Tony) in TAFC and later Top Fuel, Nitro FC driver Jeff Arend and Pro Mod standout and now tuner Al Billes.
What hometown hero stories do you all have in the memory banks?

 

[z28]

I spent many days at the old San Antonio Drag Raceway back in the late 60s. CKC was the local Funny Car guys and they ran many match races back then. Fritz Collier drove and J E Kristek wrenched. They were my local heroes. They had a series for Chevy bodied cars over the years including a rare Chevy II fastback. Donald Uhr and Jerry Janke were the draw for doorslammer cars, They both ran BBC Chevelles back then and battled it out many times. Janke ended up running Pro Stock off and on for a few years and ran a successful engine business until he passed a couple of years ago. Great memories. I won my first trophy there in Pure Stock.

 

[twostep]

Former C/EA record holder Al Weiss is from here - also a good friend - and of course, Former TF champion and fan favorite Eddie Hill, who lived about 4 blocks from me for years. He still lives here and now enjoys flying RC aircraft, raising championship bulls and even at age 88, blistering racetracks with his Ariel Atom. I'm famous myself for bombing our local track back in the 60s with my badass 14-second '56 Chevy...

 

[TSK]

During my time in Tucson at the original Tucson Dragway, Johnny Loper and his Lil’ Hoss A/G Anglia was my absolute favorite racer.
He then built a 1970 Maverick with an injected BBC on gasoline.
Unfortunately, he wrecked it at the April 1970 Gas Ronda benefit race at Beeline Dragway.
I’ve still got one of the injection stacks that came off during the wreck.

 

[Nick Name]

My home tracks were San Fernando and Lions... What can I say.

 

[Mike]

Santa Ana Airport, Lions, Fontana(both), Irwindale, OCIR, Carlsbad, Ramona, Riverside, Inyokern, Bakersfield, hope I didnt leave any out but heros were at everyone of them. Grew up in a great time for racing in So Cal.

 

[sutton]

My home town heroes are not only the ones I watched and started that became legends, but especially the ones we lost doing what they loved to do.
Larry Sutton--

 

[Rich D]

Not to sidetrack, but our perception of time and events is so affected by when we came up in the sport. My awareness of drag racing was born in the mid eighties. For that reason, in my mind, the heyday of the sport was the 80s and 90s (totally subjective, I know). Hearing all the stories about Lions and the great So Cal strips has opened up a new appreciation for the sport BUT since it was before my time, it seems like ancient history that is far removed from my experiences. Now that I am older I can see that I missed out on knowing Lions firsthand by only 15 years, which is a drop in the bucket. It is funny how our perceptions are skewed like this.
Do you want your mind blown? Do you realize that Bernstein's 300mph run is closer in time to Kennedy's assassination than it is to today?

 

[sutton]

Not to sidetrack, but our perception of time and events is so affected by when we came up in the sport. My awareness of drag racing was born in the mid eighties. For that reason, in my mind, the heyday of the sport was the 80s and 90s (totally subjective, I know). Hearing all the stories about Lions and the great So Cal strips has opened up a new appreciation for the sport BUT since it was before my time, it seems like ancient history that is far removed from my experiences. Now that I am older I can see that I missed out on knowing Lions firsthand by only 15 years, which is a drop in the bucket. It is funny how our perceptions are skewed like this.
Do you want your mind blown? Do you realize that Bernstein's 300mph run is closer in time to Kennedy's assassination than it is to today?

Rich
You want to Know about how time flies in drag racing. when I started working at Lions at 13 years old ED ISKENDERIAN was 35 now 102 years old. Damn time flies when you are having fun. LOL
Larry Sutton---

 

[Ramjet]

I spent many days at the old San Antonio Drag Raceway back in the late 60s. CKC was the local Funny Car guys and they ran many match races back then. Fritz Collier drove and J E Kristek wrenched. They were my local heroes. They had a series for Chevy bodied cars over the years including a rare Chevy II fastback. Donald Uhr and Jerry Janke were the draw for doorslammer cars, They both ran BBC Chevelles back then and battled it out many times. Janke ended up running Pro Stock off and on for a few years and ran a successful engine business until he passed a couple of years ago. Great memories. I won my first trophy there in Pure Stock.

I Grew up racing at “Double Eagle” Drag strip out past Randolph Field in the late 1950’s and first ran E / Gas when I was 14 years old. There was a guy from Austin that ran E/Gas also. His name was August Hartkoph. They called him (HANDS). He was 7 feet tall & had a ‘56 Chevy that was untouchable (AHRA record holder by a lot). He would sit in the Pitts and drop a 1/2 Dollar Coin through his ring . Saw this guy from Florida race Vance Hunt in the Hunt & Mabrey car when I was 12 years old and decided I was going to race him some day. He beat Vance 2 out of 3 that day and many years later I got my chance and he beat me too. Think he called his cars “Swamp Rat”.
The fastest guys around there were in a club called the “Poor Boys”. Floyd Head had the best Top Fuel car in town but Vance was good when he came to town.

 

[Slowpoke96z28]

Courtney and Erica Enders from Baytown (the houston track). Érica’s birthday falls right around when the houston National event was, and there was usually birthday cake. Why I’m fat now lol.

 

[z28]

I Grew up racing at “Double Eagle” Drag strip out past Randolph Field in the late 1950’s and first ran E / Gas when I was 14 years old. There was a guy from Austin that ran E/Gas also. His name was August Hartkoph. They called him (HANDS). He was 7 feet tall & had a ‘56 Chevy that was untouchable (AHRA record holder by a lot). He would sit in the Pitts and drop a 1/2 Dollar Coin through his ring . Saw this guy from Florida race Vance Hunt in the Hunt & Mabrey car when I was 12 years old and decided I was going to race him some day. He beat Vance 2 out of 3 that day and many years later I got my chance and he beat me too. Think he called his cars “Swamp Rat”.
The fastest guys around there were in a club called the “Poor Boys”. Floyd head had the best Top Fuel car in town but Vance was good when he came to town.

Hands was well known. I occasionally see stories about him on the Alamo Dragstrip page on Facebook. I believe Double Eagle was the same location that became San Antonio Drag Raceway later on.

 

[Ramjet]

Hands was well known. I occasionally see stories about him on the Alamo Dragstrip page on Facebook. I believe Double Eagle was the same location that became San Antonio Drag Raceway later on.

Wow - That place had very little Shut Off even for back then. It went up hill at the end and made a circle. A guy went off the end one day - jumped the road and landed in a Corn field across the Road. They had to pay the Farmer for a streatch of the fence and for the corn that got destroyed before he (With Shotgun) let them take the car out. By 1960 I had my 301" Chevy engine in a T Roadster and almost rolled it trying to go around the end. "Hot" cars towed back down the track because the return road was dirt. In the beginning (1955) there were no lights so Two Kids (One on each side) stood at the end and the guy on the side that won waved his TShirt.

 

[z28]

Wow - That place had very little Shut Off even for back then. It went up hill at the end and made a circle. A guy went off the end one day - jumped the road and landed in a Corn field across the Road. They had to pay the Farmer for a streatch of the fence and for the corn that got destroyed before he (With Shotgun) let them take the car out. By 1960 I had my 301" Chevy engine in a T Roadster and almost rolled it trying to go around the end. "Hot" cars towed back down the track because the return road was dirt. In the beginning (1955) there were no lights so Two Kids (One on each side) stood at the end and the guy on the side that won waved his TShirt.

I don't recall how much shutoff was there but the fuel cars ran 1/5 mile instead of 1/4 to give them a little extra stopping or maybe just to make the times look better!

 

[Burnnitro1320]

I don't recall how much shutoff was there but the fuel cars ran 1/5 mile instead of 1/4 to give them a little extra stopping or maybe just to make the times look better!

They should've just called it 1/5 mile racing instead of 1000 foot...some people would've never known the difference.

 

[Slowpoke96z28]

They should've just called it 1/5 mile racing instead of 1000 foot...some people would've never known the difference.

true, but since it is shorter than 1/5, i dont want people thinking we're a bunch of unintelligent hillbillies. well, thinking it more cause they already do, even though any of these top tier minds could teach physics and/or chemistry at MIT.

 

[Ramjet]

true, but since it is shorter than 1/5, i dont want people thinking we're a bunch of unintelligent hillbillies. well, thinking it more cause they already do, even though any of these top tier minds could teach physics and/or chemistry at MIT.

I have always believed that Math & Physics, (and Money) not Magic are what makes these things go from A to B. Along with that you need to know all the parameters involved that you have to work with. The constants at this point on a pass are pretty much the fuel and possibly the total static weight which is very different than what the vehicle feels at different points along the track. The fuel changes with ambient temperature and the compound changes if you add more methanol and/or the water grains in the air so I guess there are no constants. It is like Austin Coil once said "Their is NO such thing as a perfect Run". Along with Math - Physics - Money the Magic is probably having a little Common Sense.

 

[Cliff]

I wonder if Jay & I were at Fernando or Lions at the same time? San Fernando in 1961 & Lions 1963 is when I started going to those tracks. Worst race I went to was Lions Last Race and that was because it was closing. Man, I hated that.

 

[cknight]

I Grew up racing at “Double Eagle” Drag strip out past Randolph Field in the late 1950’s and first ran E / Gas when I was 14 years old. There was a guy from Austin that ran E/Gas also. His name was August Hartkoph. They called him (HANDS). He was 7 feet tall & had a ‘56 Chevy that was untouchable (AHRA record holder by a lot). He would sit in the Pitts and drop a 1/2 Dollar Coin through his ring . Saw this guy from Florida race Vance Hunt in the Hunt & Mabrey car when I was 12 years old and decided I was going to race him some day. He beat Vance 2 out of 3 that day and many years later I got my chance and he beat me too. Think he called his cars “Swamp Rat”.
The fastest guys around there were in a club called the “Poor Boys”. Floyd Head had the best Top Fuel car in town but Vance was good when he came to town.

Hands could also hold a 4-speed in one hand.

 

[mick]

Not to sidetrack, but our perception of time and events is so affected by when we came up in the sport. My awareness of drag racing was born in the mid eighties. For that reason, in my mind, the heyday of the sport was the 80s and 90s (totally subjective, I know). Hearing all the stories about Lions and the great So Cal strips has opened up a new appreciation for the sport BUT since it was before my time, it seems like ancient history that is far removed from my experiences. Now that I am older I can see that I missed out on knowing Lions firsthand by only 15 years, which is a drop in the bucket. It is funny how our perceptions are skewed like this.
Do you want your mind blown? Do you realize that Bernstein's 300mph run is closer in time to Kennedy's assassination than it is to today?

rich, you're rite on with everything you say here. although i only went to cordova as a youth, i was able to see almost all the FC greats of that era, and bought all the magazines as a kid,
so knew the names of the famous dragstrips and events, not to mention a shelf full of revell models ....... went to first nat. event in '88 and never looked back, so like yourself i have an affinity
for the late 80's and 90's. the other night i watched the inaugural 1988 supernationals from the brand new houston raceway park (on nhra channel) honestly, i couldn't turn it off, even though i could still remember who was going to win. eddie hill running 4.93 in the final to beat amato. joe had completely rebuilt the motor prior to final, eddie had not even taken heads off. glidden over WJ, m. dunn
over m. oswald. records were dropping. innovation was alive. the bleachers were packed. mac and steve on the mics. what a race. what a time.