... lots of fun last Saturday - annual nostalgia weekend drag racing at '
Keystone Raceway Park'...
..."Old Glory" raised proudly... the sky spirits were generous with the cloud cover providing great diffused lighting and cool temperatures throughout the day...
... a good crowd and lots of race cars... many images this day - too many to pick and choose, so unless something really caught our eye we threw darts... all images are from the track unless noted otherwise...
... didn't caption most of the images (somethin' we don't like doin') - they speak for themselves...
... a few shots from the burn pit - always a crowd favorite...
... a few wheelie shots, another crowd pleaser...
... around the grounds...
... they had a custom car show happening as well - we didn't concentrate a whole lot on that event - we do like this "surf van" with the faux patina paint scheme....
... wow - nice Chevy CST/10... don't see too many of those...
... lurking amongst the pits...
... nice paint on this 40's 'Willys' coupe...
... can never have too many...
... a blown 390...
... in this very cool (57?) 'Ford Fairlane'...
... (69?) Plymouth Barracuda...
... staging lanes... those drag bike racers are BMF's...
... big daddy...
... how cool is this guest appearance...
... the father of drag racing, "Big Daddy"
Don Garlits along with the latest version of his "Swamp Rat" drag car...
... " the total price of my car and the trailer it was on cost less than $1,000 to make... I ran a whole year on the same engine, clutch, same tires, same everything. It was very inexpensive... That's why drag racing appealed back then to so many youngsters because it was something they could dream about and actually do..."
- Don Garlits reflecting on the "old days"
... track action from various angles...
... we usually gotta' go thru a several week period of withdrawal after attending this event - mildly battling the old addiction while usually spending a few spare hours here and there searching what's up for sale on line and thru Craig's List, eBay and such... but we recover...
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... although long departed, we owned several mean machines "back in the day" - used to buy 'em, sell 'em, trade 'em, race 'em, soup 'em up, blow 'em up and crash 'em when not cruise'n 'em... wished we'd had known their eventual worth now'days ($30k - $50k price range) - would of just put 'em in the garage and parked 'em (maybe)...
(internet image)
... we searched on line for images identical or similar to cars we owned - here's a 1970 Chevy Nova SS, black, factory 396 cubic inch engine, four barrel carb, dual exhaust, bucket seats, standard four speed on the floor transmission - fast car - paid $1,500 for it used...
(internet image)
... traded it to a guy for a 1967 Chevelle SS and $300 - acquired it gray primered and ready to paint - color scheme we had planned was identical to this image right down to the racing stripes - we wanted to go with a white pearl paint job, which was gonna cost a fortune (close to $3k - and that's in 1975)... 327 cubic inch engine, four barrel carb, performance 30-30 racing cam, headers, dual exhaust, bucket seats, standard four speed transmission, cragar mags - never kept it long enough to save up for the paint job....
... once we found a 1971 Chevelle SS built ready to race...
(internet image)
... identical to this image - red, black racing stripes, jet black interior, bucket seats, full instrumentation, three speed automatic on the floor, big block 454 cubic inch engine, dual quad holley intake, racing cam, headers, dual exhaust, 4:11/12 bolt rear differential, TH400 transmission with performance stall converter and shift kit, which was the most impressive thing about this car - would chirp the tires shifting from 1st to 2nd - that car was wound tighter than a fifty dollar watch - figured it was pushin' over 400hp and a race engine builder we knew agreed... wasn't a street cruiser, though (had to buy a sticker for it) - ran some time trials with it at the track... it eventually developed a compression issue about the time we were losing interest in this stuff so sold it to a guy for $800 (we originally paid $1,700 for it - $700 + trade for that '67 Chevelle)... the guy repaired the engine but eventually rolled the car and totaled it (we almost cried - for the car) and then later put the engine in a Corvette he bought... one car we really regret parting with...
(internet image)
... owned a 1967 Chevy Impala SS similar to this (minus the white hood striping) only because it was an SS... paid $500... bucket seats, three speed automatic transmission with floor shift, factory 327 cubic inch engine, dual exhaust - it would go but was like driving a big boat - was never that crazy about it - the gals always thought we were drivin' the "old mans" car ("Is this your dads car?")... sold it to a friend for $300 - he gave us $200 ("I'll owe ya' the rest") which we never saw - he died quite a while back, taking the $100 with him...
(internet image - Bill Truby Collection from PID website)
... last car we owned - 1973 Chevy Nova SS - was identical to the one pictured, right down to the slotted wheels (although ours were aluminum ET's)... purchased used for around $1,800... 1972 was officially the last year for the classic Chevy Nova in our opinion - not much performance option beginning in '73 - stock factory 350 cubic inch engine, two barrel carb, three speed automatic transmission, single exhaust - the air cleaner cover was emblemed 250hp, power wise it was pretty weak... bought it for a daily driver but quickly tired of wompin' on the gas pedal and not goin' anywhere... souped up the engine with a performance camshaft, Holley four barrel carb and intake, some electronics and set of headers - added some traction bars mainly for looks... was lookin' around for a four speed standard transmission and tighter rear end (we were gettin' to be half decent mechanic-wise by this time and wanted to do some building ourselves - also had a garage to work in) when the engine blew... had enough - put another stock 350 we picked up at the junk yard in it and soon traded it in for a new 1976 Dodge 4WD pickup and overnight we went from street rodders to off roaders...
... 1972 was pretty much the end of the muscle car production era (1964 - 1972 our opinion) - our personal era was 1974 - 1976, a short three years - subsequent to which they were pretty much regulated off the street - inspection stations were gettin' stricter than usual as well - guys who used to let (all but open) headers and such slide during inspection (they were illegal on the street back then) were now rejecting them altogether as well as gettin' pretty nit-picky on tire/fender clearance, rear end height and even calling shackles illegal - don't blame 'em, who needs the hassle for a couple dollar profit (was gettin' written up constantly by the state police, who would then run right to the inspection station, for the lift and L60's on the rear of that Nova)... rising gas prices were murder too when you're gettin' 6 to 12 miles per gallon... lookin' back we probably could have benefitted from a bit more maturity as well...
