Van Nuys Blvd, tales from the street

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gassersgarage

The California Kid
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
1,694
Location
Torrance, Ca
Van Nuys Blvd was the biggest cruising street in the San Fernando Valley. I use to cruise there 7 nights a week, hanging out at the Jack'n the Box. However, Fri & Sat nights were the street racing nights. A group called "RACE ?" met every Fri & Sat at 12 midnight behind the Bank of America on Van Nuys Blvd. Every now and then, out-of-town talent would show up from Compton, Orange County, Simi Valley, etc...............

It was late and a lot of the people had gone home. A friend of mine had a 56' Chevy 2 dr wagon with a SBC and 4 speed. A group of guys from Compton approached him and asked if he wanted to race. My friend said "sure", lets meet at Glenoaks and Peoria. (Glenoaks and Peoria is an industrial area surrounding by wrecking yards.)

He arrived at the spot and waited. About 25 mins later, he heard an uncocked car fire up and drive around the corner. It was a 68' Cuda that said "SOUL BROTHERS CUDA" on the side. The Cuda straightened out then stopped. It did a static burnout, then a dry hop.

My friend told the guys, "You might as well take my money. I can't compete with that". They laughed and told him they had come out from Compton but no one wanted to race. They didn't care about the money, they just wanted to race. So my friend lined up and when the hands dropped, the Cuda yanked the wheels and took off screaming. Needless to say, my friend lost.

The Cuda had a destroked 340" and they would record each run on tape.
 
Around 76', my roomate had a 69' Corvette, 454", 4 speed and 3:73 gears. I had a 10,000 RPM nitrous unit that we put on his car. There was a guy that had a 67' Nova Wagon called "WAGON TOO GO". It was a bracket car that he drove on the street. One night, he asked my roomate to race. My roomate explained that he couldn't compete with a race car, uncocked on slicks. However, he would race from a roll. The guy agreed and the race was set-up for the next Sat.

We heard "WAGON TOO GO" was getting a tunnel ram and it had run 10:80's. We spent Sat putting a roller cam and a Dominator on the Vette.

Come Sat night, we met on Van Nuys Blvd, then went to Sepulveda and Plummer. Both cars lined up while I marked the finish. It was a 10 mph rolling start. From the start, the Vette took the lead and never looked back.

In those early days, no one had respect for the "Bottle". Only 2 people in the valley had nitrous. Me and "Bottle Bob". "Bottle Bob" or the "Old Man" or "Pony Tail" was quite a character and a story for another time.
 
What`s a "10,000 RPM nitrous unit" ??

I`ve had 150 hp kits , etc ... but .... ?
I think his name was Ron Hammel. He started a company, in the early 70's, called 10,000 RPM a few years before the other companies. His kits had these giant solenoids that had unlimited flow. The nitrous plate was 5" tall and used nozzles instead of spray bars. When N2O arrived on the scene a few years later with their spray bar technology and advertising budget, 10,000 RPM faded away.

My friend "Bottle Bob" experimented with the first N2O nitrous units before they started putting horsepower ratings on them. He drilled out the spray bars or made his own. He found the limiting factor were the small solenoids used by N2O. He would swap N2O solenoids for 10,000 RPM solenoids. He once built an 850 Holley with the spray bars incorporated directly under the base plate. The fuel/nitrous lines were hidden in the vacuum ports of the base plate making it a hidden system. It was so powerful, we called it the motor eater. If you had a street race and the money was good enough, you rented the system from Bob for that race.
 
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One night, while hanging around Jack'n the Box on Van Nuys Blvd, looking for a race, I ran into Randy and Dutch. Randy and Dutch had a 68' Firdbird. They said they heard about my Malibu and wanted to race. They wanted 4 car lengths with their 400" Pontiac. I agreed and we went behind Busch Gardens.

Dutch marked off 4 cars and we race. I went by the Pontiac in first gear and won the race. I offered to do the race again and give them 8 cars but they declined. After that, we became good friends. The Firebird actually had a BBC.

One day, Dutch went to jail on an outstanding warrant but I didn't know the charge. Another day, Randy got hurt working on his car. I picked him up from the hospital and took him home. Theres was a knock at the door and it was LAPD. They said a car was blocking the driveway. I went out to move my car when I saw all these cops lurking in the parking lot. They said they wanted Randy. I yelled out to Randy to come out. As Randy was taken into custody in told me his real name was Phillip Allen. Seems he had a RAP sheet as thick as a dictionary.

Lots of interesting people you meet street racing.
 
Thanks Gasser, i was sure there would be good stories. Growing up in the midwest i heard somewhere that the big cruise nite
was Wednesday and was something like a carnival atmosphere with many posibilities.:) Please keep them coming as long as you want. I think we all
like to hear about experiences with cars.
 
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Carnival is right. It was like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. You could walk faster than traffic flowed. Girls all over the place. LAPD would line up in the center divider inspecting cars. Lucky, we knew the manager at the Jack'n the Box so we could park there all night.

One night, a guy with his girlfriend pulled into Jack' n the Box in a black Trans Am. As he pulled in, I asked him if he wanted to race. He said he was too fast for me. I told him to give me cars lengths. He said no. I told him I would give him car lengths. He said he didn't need them because he was too fast. Now that guy is making me mad. I'm telling him to prove it. I start offering car lengths and will go with whatever money hes got. He keeps saying hes too fast.

Now I'm screaming at him to prove it. I get upto 18 car lengths cuz I want to shut this guy down. I can't imagine being insulted in front of my girlfriend without proving it, but he takes it. He just drives through the takeout. Geez, I was never so mad. After I calmmed down, I thought, Hey thats a good negoiatiting tactic to get car lengths. LOL
 
One Sat night, we were meeting behind the Bank of America on Van Nuys Blvd at midnight. It was a slow night, not any big races. Then word trickled down that a 67' Chevelle and a 70' Camaro were going to race. It was about 3 am and everybody headed out to Sepulveda and Plummer. Sepulveda if 6 lanes with a center divider going N/S. Plummer is a 4 laned street going E/W. There is a High School on one corner. An empty field on another corner. A dyno shop on the opposite side of the street and a gas station across from the dyno shop. Any races would take place N/B on Sepulveda.

So many people had shown up for the race, the racers were afraid that the cops were going to show up. We heard the race was moving to another street. Everyone headed out to the new race spot.

I figured it was a good way to get rid of spectators, so I hung around. After the crowd thinned out, I heard the sound of an uncocked BBC fire up. Out of the dyno shop rolls the 70' Z28 Camaro with a 396" on 11" slicks. From the school yard rolls the 67' Chevelle 300 with a 427" and powerglide on 11" slicks. Rumor is both cars run 11's (which was fast for a street car in 75').

Both cars lined up on Sepulveda and do static burnouts. A couple of dry hops and they move to the line. With $200 bucks on the line, the hands drop and they're off. The 67' Chevelle pulls ahead and keeps the lead. I run to my car to head for the finish to see who won. It turns out, the Chevelle now runs 10:80's.

Both cars had pulled into a Kinneys shoe store at the end of the race. By the time I show up, I see LAPD handcuffing both drivers. Turns out, LAPD was waiting behind Kinnys.
 

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