Future Mopar Man

[joewhite440]

Nice pictures, I wonder how many others on here have been or are still racers? I love the Darts. I never had as many of them as Dusters but I had a 1968 GTS with the 383. Sold it to my now Brother in law in 1977 for $200. I had a 1972 Swinger when I graduated in 1977. My first all out race car was a 1969. Here is a picture of it after I painted it in 1985. It only ran 11:30 with a Hydralic Cam 440 I built for it. Were your 2 darts BB or SB. Do you still have them?

 

[moparchris]

Joe, thats a great Dart there. I know we all have pics of our old cars and some we still have. I love to see what everyone has other than the cars we talk about here. Anyways, the 68 had a 360 in it and when I went turbo I put that 360 in my Swinger. Its a basic 360 with just over 11 to 1 compression and some X- heads that I ported myself. Mid 550s solid flat tappet, single plane, 750 holley. My best with the 68 was 11.15 at 115mph on the motor and 10.10 at 130 on a 150 shot of nitrous. When I put it in the Swinger it had ps, bench seat and steel wheels. It ran 11.68 at 116 on the motor and 10.90 at 128 mph with the nitrous. I changed torque converters which would explain the mph improvement even though it was heavier. The 68 in turn got a twin turbo 340 with w-2s. It ran a best of 9.55 at 145 mph all over the track. I never did make a full pass on the throttle. It really scared me and i had a lot of trouble getting it reigned in. To say I had a few wild rides was an understatement! I gave up after narrowly escaping a horrible crash at the track. Now it has a round tube back half and hopefully a new lease on life. To give you an idea of the power of the turbo motor, we stuck it in my buddies tube chassis chevy luv and it went 8.60s at 168mph! I do own both cars still and I plan on having them running again in the near future.

 

[joewhite440]

All I have is my Road Runner. I never could really afford more than one car at a time. Still cannot. Just the way my life, finances and other things played out. I will not complain because I still had a lot of fun. I never seen a Twin turbo 340. I know there out there I just never paid attention. Great Pictures. Keep in touch as you get it done and run it again.

Joe

 

[Big John]

My racer from back in the seventies.

 

[moparchris]

Nice John, that thing is dangling the hoops big time! Tell us more about it.

 

[ACME A12]

All of my racing was done, ahem, in a slightly less "organized" forum... There was action every Friday and Saturday night, but there was no tree, seldom any prize money, and you always had to watch over your shoulder in case Elliot Ness and Company decided to crash the party... :leave:

We ran for years (it was going on long before I got there and long after I left) at a place called the Gandy Bridge. Got caught one night running my red Duster against a Cleveland-powered Torino. I walked away from him so badly that the Cop asked me to confirm that we were racing. Responding "yes sir" got me an "Acceleration Contest" ticket rather than the much worse 121 in a 55 speeding ticket that he could have given me...and he obviously appreciated my attitude as he opted to ignore the empty tall-boy Bud cans in the rear floorboards... Still messed up my insurance rates for years... :loco:

:jester:

 

[Roadcuda]

All of my racing was done, ahem, in a slightly less "organized" forum... There was action every Friday and Saturday night, but there was no tree, seldom any prize money, and you always had to watch over your shoulder in case Elliot Ness and Company decided to crash the party... :leave:

We ran for years (it was going on long before I got there and long after I left) at a place called the Gandy Bridge. Got caught one night running my red Duster against a Cleveland-powered Torino. I walked away from him so badly that the Cop asked me to confirm that we were racing. Responding "yes sir" got me an "Acceleration Contest" ticket rather than the much worse 121 in a 55 speeding ticket that he could have given me...and he obviously appreciated my attitude as he opted to ignore the empty tall-boy Bud cans in the rear floorboards... Still messed up my insurance rates for years... :loco:

:jester:

You were a lucky boy Ray, in more ways then one! :banana:

 

[Big John]

Nice John, that thing is dangling the hoops big time! Tell us more about it.

Geez... So long ago...

That pic was about 1978. I had tried racing in C/SA for a couple years and didn't have much luck. About then bracket racing started to get big and I made the change. In that pic, the car is pretty much in C/SA trim except for 10.5 tires and the front bumper is obviously gone. Engine is stock with a "cheater" stocker cam. It would click off consistent 11.7 in that mode. Looks like I was playing a little game with the times in that pic.

BTW, the short block (with a different cam) and hood from that car is in my A-12.

After a year or two of bracket racing, I decided to go faster. I mini tubbed the car, built another short block with a roller cam and more compression, added a shortened Dana and started going some low 11's and high 10's. I was planing some head work when tragedy struck.... I got married.... The car got sold for a down payment on a house... I'm still living in the house, but that wife is long gone.

The new owner painted it black and bolted on a killer nitrous system. He got it into the high nines! The car also got a little bit of a reputation as a street racer with him. He stood it on the back bumper once and tore the front end up when it crashed back to earth.

The engine I built had about 100 nitrous passes and some street racing on it before it started getting tired. He was having a local guy build a killer engine, but I don't believe the car ever got back to the track after that. I lost track of the car after that. I heard its sitting in a garage somewhere in Syracuse.

 

[Big John]

A couple pics from the C/SA days. First one is at ESTA in Cicero, NY . Second is at Utica-Rome, near Vernon, NY, an 1/8th mile track that's long gone.

 

[Basketcase]

nice Darts! :drive:
Sweet Big!

 

[joewhite440]

Great stories!!!

Big John
That is a nice car and looks like it ran good with that combo. Takes some power to lift that front end with that suspension and tires. Is that original green paint? Looks good!!!

 

[roadrunnerh]

nice cars! I would love to work on a strictly race car. I frequently think about finding a Duster to toy with.
I have a spare '68 383 on a stand in my garage, looking for a home.

 

[george68hemirr]

COOL STORY BIG....the good old daze

 

[69hemibeep]

All of my racing was done, ahem, in a slightly less "organized" forum... There was action every Friday and Saturday night, but there was no tree, seldom any prize money, and you always had to watch over your shoulder in case Elliot Ness and Company decided to crash the party... :leave:

We ran for years (it was going on long before I got there and long after I left) at a place called the Gandy Bridge. Got caught one night running my red Duster against a Cleveland-powered Torino. I walked away from him so badly that the Cop asked me to confirm that we were racing. Responding "yes sir" got me an "Acceleration Contest" ticket rather than the much worse 121 in a 55 speeding ticket that he could have given me...and he obviously appreciated my attitude as he opted to ignore the empty tall-boy Bud cans in the rear floorboards... Still messed up my insurance rates for years ... :loco:

:jester:

Thats how most of my racing was done but never got stopped :cheers: Neat story Big

 

[moparchris]

All of my racing was done, ahem, in a slightly less "organized" forum... There was action every Friday and Saturday night, but there was no tree, seldom any prize money, and you always had to watch over your shoulder in case Elliot Ness and Company decided to crash the party... :leave:

We ran for years (it was going on long before I got there and long after I left) at a place called the Gandy Bridge. Got caught one night running my red Duster against a Cleveland-powered Torino. I walked away from him so badly that the Cop asked me to confirm that we were racing. Responding "yes sir" got me an "Acceleration Contest" ticket rather than the much worse 121 in a 55 speeding ticket that he could have given me...and he obviously appreciated my attitude as he opted to ignore the empty tall-boy Bud cans in the rear floorboards... Still messed up my insurance rates for years ... :loco:

:jester:

Thats how most of my racing was done but never got stopped :cheers: Neat story Big

I have been known to partake in some street action back in the day. Walnut St. and Watson Center Dr. in Compton Ca come to mind. I got caught right in the middle of my burnout on Watson Center when a cop car pulled up behind me and a Camaro I was racing. When the smoke cleared and the starter could see the cop car he ran off and I thought to myself this is not good. I look at the other guy and he launches and runs! Well, the officer tells me to throw my keys on the roof and he will be right back. He goes after the other guy, meanwhile I take my keys out and set them on the roof and take my helmet and fire jacket off and wait. About 20 minutes later another cop shows up and comes up to me and say WTF are you doing here? I told him why and he laughs and tells me to beat it! So I gingerly drive around the corner and put it on the trailer! Whew too close.

 

[Big John]

Great stories!!!

Big John
That is a nice car and looks like it ran good with that combo. Takes some power to lift that front end with that suspension and tires. Is that original green paint? Looks good!!!

It was painted with a 68 Mopar green. I can't remember what the code was, it was a light green metallic.

 

[Roadcuda]

Great stories!!!

Big John
That is a nice car and looks like it ran good with that combo. Takes some power to lift that front end with that suspension and tires. Is that original green paint? Looks good!!!

It was painted with a 68 Mopar green. I can't remember what the code was, it was a light green metallic.

The code for light green metallic is F3, that's what Dodge called it, Plymouth called it frost green.

 

[Big John]

I'll tell my race car cop story....

I never did any serious street racing. There was some going on in the Syracuse area, but I stayed away from it.

I did have a little run in with the cops though.... I was having a small problem when the car launched. An occasional stumble. I honestly don't remember what the issue was, but it was something simple. I wasn't convinced that I had fixed it and was talking to a friend (the late Nitrous John Gosson!) and he said "bring it down to the shop and try it on the service road out front" Sounded good to me, so I trailered the car down there.

A couple quick blasts down the road and I was happy. John used to do shake down runs there all the time and never had a problem. As I pulled back into the lot, a Syracuse police car pulled in behind me. As I opened the door, he started with "license, registration etc" and I started to climb out over the side bar. He got a little ticked and yelled "I said license and registration!!!" I told him to give me a second to get out and I would give him my license. By then John came walking out of his shop. John knew all the local cops... except this one.... I gave him my license and told him "I've got nothing else to give you, the car isn't registered" He frowned and snatched it from me.

I figured I was screwed. He called in the license and started talking (well, more like yelling) to me. It seems the mayor and chief of police were a few blocks over overseeing the search for a missing kid that had drowned in the creek that runs through the city. They heard the noise and sent this guy over to investigate. He figured out I was OK, and handed me my license with a warning not to do it again. He then looked the car over and said "this is pretty cool"

 

[george68hemirr]

well at least the prick let you off and liked your car....good story.....

 

[peresvet24]

That's a great pic! And that's the best way to start them off, when they are young!