Toyota's Irwindale Speedway Heats up on Thursday Nights! Speed Fever is a serious thing. Once I caught on, it was only a matter of time before I got interested in drag racing. First I hot rodded my Studebaker. Then I began attending Speed Week each year. Eventually I learned to do a burnout. Why not drag race!? Although it's not time for my own Studebaker to get on the dragstrip just yet, I'm sure it's day will come. First I've got to learn a thing or two about drag racing - and what better way to go to do that than ride along with a pal who's been racing his 1955 Chevy Gasser for years!? When my buddy Stan first invited me to go along with him to the Irwindale Raceway, I didn't realize we were going to actually drive his racing gasser TO the races. But yep, he built this car to drive and there'll be no trailer for him. (Read more about his Chevy here.) Thursday nights at Irwindale is a run-what-ya-brung amateur night with some professional class racers around also. It isn't a nostaglic-class night, anyone...
“Hot Rod Ramblings”: The “Calera Kids” and the “Pi...
posted by Hechtspeed
It's been too long since I've posted a "Hot Rod Ramblings" feature. For this post, I'm gonna go Nostalgia Drag and Funny Cars on you guys. But, these "hot rod ramblings" come from my Uncle, "RickyRod" Hechtspeed. These are my Uncle's memories of the "Pit" from the late 60's. The "Pit" was the nickname for the first Irwindale Dragstrip. A quick background... the "Calera Kids" were my dad (Rodger "Calera Ave burnout king" and Ford/Merc' lover and his little bro, the "Chevy Puke" (as my dad would call him) and their buddies Rick Patterson, Scott Henry, John DeGraff (sporto), Lalo Gabriel, Rob Shultz, Pat Murphy and a few kids not directly in the "hood" Scott Taylor and Steve Presley were drag fans. They lived on Calera Avenue in Azusa, California, the next city over from Irwindale. Anyway, these ramblings are taken from some emails from my Uncle. They mean a lot to me, because it is a piece of the Hechtspeed history. I thought you guys would really dig 'em too, so here goes, let the Ramblings begin! "It is possible that the four kids shrouded by the supercharger are the “Calera Kids”. That was one of...