[GTOGEORGE]

Originally Posted by johnta1

That probably is one reason they put it in.
The other is a lot of racers that went through the lights, backed up and forgot to put it in a forward gear. (why it must be forward)


It is a relatively new rule. 20 years old maybe?

Yea well I was doing it some 40 years ago ! LOL!


GTO George

[johnta1]

1975 1st time at the strip for me!

[GTOGEORGE]

Originally Posted by johnta1

1975 1st time at the strip for me!

Actually 1970 I use to sneak my Dads car out to the Strip!


GTO George

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by johnta1

1975 1st time at the strip for me!

1978 for me*, but I didn't care too much about rules back then.

The track I went to you had to bring your own water for the burnout box!

K

*this year is my 40th year racing the same car.

[johnta1]

The track I 1st went to had rollers in the ground to start the dragsters (and other cars probably).
They would spin the tires and the car would start, then they rolled to the water box.



I actually had a late start in life before I knew anything about cars.
(into motorcycles)

[ponyakr]

My 1st race was in the spring of '69, at our local airport. Only had 500 miles on my new '69 RA3 Goat. TJ & I were parked on the side of the runway, just to watch. But, several of the local Chevy guys called me out, thinkin their big block Chevelles would easily embarrass me in my Pontiac. WRONG !

Won my 1st class trophy, beating a 442 with cheater slicks & headers, in the final. Flag start. I think I had H-70-15 street tires, & full factory exhaust.

Airport trivia:

TJ also gave me my 1st airplane ride at this airport, when she was 17. I was very surprised at the acceleration of her little Piper Colt. I was expecting it to accelerate very slowly, just barely lifting off the ground, towards the end of the runway. Not so. It pinned me back in the seat & blasted off into the sky. At least that's how it felt to me. Was a big surprise.

So, by the time TJ started drag racing, she was accustomed to mashing pedals & experiencing rapid acceleration. She had no problem adapting.

[Keith Seymore]

Other airport triva: my dad started racing at Central Michigan Dragway (then known as "Stanton", or "McBrides", now known as the "Mid Michigan Motorplex") back in 1956.

At that time there was a concrete launch pad with the rest of the surface being grass.

Occasionally you would have to suspend the racing to allow an errant airplane to land.

K

[ponyakr]

"...Occasionally you would have to suspend the racing to allow an errant airplane to land."

Yeah, we raced at the Haynesville, LA airport for about 5 years. Had to halt the races MANY times for planes to land & take off. But, we had lots of fun & won lots of races there.

And , our Pontiacs also had lots of loyal fans there. I suppose it was the only track we raced where the fans actually applauded us for winning a round of bracket racing. At most tracks there were no fans at all. Usually the crew and family members were the only folks watching their car make a pass.

There were a few fans at the Hallsville, TX track that would bet on the cars, in the time trials. Sometimes they'd pick a car because of brand, color, name, or just because the other guy had picked the car in the opposite lane. They didn't really care. They were sharing the beverages in their ice chest. I think many times they had more fun than most of the racers, especially those that lost in the early rounds.

Other runways we ran on were in Forest Hill, LA, & Greenville, MS. The runway in Greenville was on an old military base.

Below is a pic of TJ driving her '68 E/SA Bird, at Forest Hill. The car was still in primer. She won the 1st two races there that year. You can see by the tall weeds that the place was not kept up. And spectators could just back up to the fence and set up camp. The 2nd pic is my Goat at the Haynesville airport. Notice the portable timing/concession trailer.