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Houston International Speedway At 1701 FM 646


Mark F. Barnes

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Where was this? The only official drag races I attended were at Hitchcock on Sunday afternoons in the 1955 era. Otherwise, our favorite, cop-defying, highly crazy "drag strip" was right on Main Street from the light at Sunset to the light at University, right in front of Rice Institute. Zero to 60 in how many seconds?

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Where was this? The only official drag races I attended were at Hitchcock on Sunday afternoons in the 1955 era. Otherwise, our favorite, cop-defying, highly crazy "drag strip" was right on Main Street from the light at Sunset to the light at University, right in front of Rice Institute. Zero to 60 in how many seconds?

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25 miles out the Gulf Freeway right on the soon to be interstate 45, not too far from Hitchcock, don't know if I'd technically classify it as "Hitchcock", but closer to Dickinson, Called t "Freeway Drag Strip for a while.

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Edited by Mark F. Barnes
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I can't be sure this isn't the one, but it didn't seem to be that close to the Galveston Highway. We had to go by backroads to get there and it seemed very isolated, really in the middle of nowhere. I always went with a bunch of other people and never drove, so fuzzy on exactness. The gang always just called it going to the Hitchcock Dragstrip, although there was no town in sight.

Great pictures and memories, man, speed was everything and it did not come in capsules. Cars ruled. All the boys were rebuilding, souping up their cars. Many a Saturday was spent combing the town for parts at junkyards with a boyfriend or hunkered down in his garage watching them work. The things a girl would do for her guy. But, I did learn a bit about the inner workings of automobiles!

Could you look at my post on Old Amusements to see if you can answer my other question?

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I can't be sure this isn't the one, but it didn't seem to be that close to the Galveston Highway. We had to go by backroads to get there and it seemed very isolated, really in the middle of nowhere. I always went with a bunch of other people and never drove, so fuzzy on exactness. The gang always just called it going to the Hitchcock Dragstrip, although there was no town in sight.

Great pictures and memories, man, speed was everything and it did not come in capsules. Cars ruled. All the boys were rebuilding, souping up their cars. Many a Saturday was spent combing the town for parts at junkyards with a boyfriend or hunkered down in his garage watching them work. The things a girl would do for her guy. But, I did learn a bit about the inner workings of automobiles!

Could you look at my post on Old Amusements to see if you can answer my other question?

I saw that post, no clue yet but I have a lot of crap to dig through, programs, time sheets, etc. will let you know if I find something.

Edited by Mark F. Barnes
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I can't be sure this isn't the one, but it didn't seem to be that close to the Galveston Highway. We had to go by backroads to get there and it seemed very isolated, really in the middle of nowhere. I always went with a bunch of other people and never drove, so fuzzy on exactness. The gang always just called it going to the Hitchcock Dragstrip, although there was no town in sight.

That great aerial photo had it right. The Freeway Drag Strip was right alongside the Gulf Freeway just a couple of miles north of the Dickinson exit. I spent a lot of Saturdays and Sundays out there in the late 50s helping my Pasadena buddies get their cars ready to go up to the line. A lot of beer and a lot of sunburn. Even though it closed some time in the sixties, you can still see remnants of it there on the north side of the freeway. Oh man this thread is dredging up some hellacious memories. Like the day Kent Chatagnier became the first in the country to break 200 mph in a dragster.

Edited by FilioScotia
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Nope was still around after the sixties!!!!!!!!

Yep you're right. I guess I wasn't paying all that much attention by 1969 and 70. I was busy being married and raising two kids, and I just lost interest in drag racing.

By the way, if you have Google Earth on your PC, you can still see the outlines of the old drag strips, just north of Gill Road, right up against the Gulf Freeway, about halfway between Dickinson and League City.

Edited by FilioScotia
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The First 200 mph pass

There seems to be some controversy as to who ran the first 200 mph pass.

Chris Karamesines is credited with a 8.87 ET at 204.54 MPH at Alton Raceway, Illinois on 24 April 1960. He never ran close to 200 mph for years after that however.

The March 1965 issue of the "Drag Racing" magazine published in England had this to say about the run.

In May, 1960, a Greek by name of Chris Karamensines (sic), was said to have covered the standing quarter mile in 8.87 secs. with a terminal of of 204.546 m.p.h. The strip was at Alton, Illinois and the officials were said to have checked the accuracy of the clocks and remeasured the distance just to make sure all was genuine. At that time Don Garlits was using Giovannoni camshafts and turning times of 8.73 secs. with a terminal speed of 175.78 m.p.h. and few could beat him. As Karamensines was using Iskenderian camshafts, Giovannoni decide to do some investigating and found out that if the timing gear blew a certain fuse, a speed of 204 m.p.h. was recorded irrespective of the actual time of the car. To make sure everybody was aware of this they publicised these facts and added that ". . . when the 200 m.p.h. is finally broken, the driver will receive the credit regardless of the make of cam he is using." By a twist of fate it was Garlits who managed this some four years later, towards the end of 1964. The Giovannoni prediction came true and everybody realised that the Garlits speed was genuine. Unfortunately, Garlits had in the meantime stopped Giovannoni camshafts and changed over to Crower!

Many sources, including the NHRA, refer to Don Garlits run of 7.78 seconds at 201.34 mph set at Island Dragway, New Jersey on August 2 1964 as being the first 200 pass.

It was the first NHRA speed record over 200 mph.

Don had run 200.44 mph in July 1964 at Detroit Dragway, but had not backed it up for the record.

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Others make mention of the little known Kent Chatagnier.

He ran the 'Kent's Speed Shop' fueler out of Beaumont, Texas, with a fuel burning Pontiac motor. Competing at Houston on June 19 1960, Kent made four runs between 197.36 and 201.78 mph on the same day. As the speed was backed up, as called for by the Drag News Standard 1320 rules, that were regarded as the bible in those days, it was recognised by Drag News as the official AA/FD speed record for some months.

In 1961 Drag News wiped the record clean, as he never went near 200 again, and instituted new rules for setting records.

2% back-up of the record the same day/same track and another 2% back-up the following week at a different track.

http://www.draglist.com/stories/SOD%20Nov%.../SOD-110700.htm

Edited by Mark F. Barnes
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I remember going there back in like 1993 or 1994 maybe ? I went with my father a few times back in the 70's then never in the 80's because, we started going to Eastex, then Houston Raceway opened in mid-80s and I had my own Sled roarin' down that track. My Uncle Ray raced at Houston Freeway throughout the 70's and early 80's with a sweet Monza. Then a Vega. Good Times !

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"Okay folks here it comes; The Green Monster", and Art Arfons the "junk yard genius".

The most famous "Green Monster" was powered by an F-104 Starfighter General Electric J79 17,500 lbf static thrust jet engine with four-stage afterburner, which Arfons purchased from a scrap dealer for $600 and rebuilt himself, over the objections of General Electric and the government, and despite all manuals for the engine being classified top secret. Reportedly, the engine's fan had broken blades. Art Arfons tested it by tying it to trees in his garden, a procedure which drew complaints from his neighbors. Green Monster #8 was painted by Arfons' mother to resemble the World War II Curtiss P-40 Flying Tigers fighter airplane, with an open mouth showing large teeth. The top speed of the car was estimated at 270 miles per hour, and it could reach 180 miles per hour in eight seconds from a standing start. We are talking 1961 people, unheard of and ahead of his time.

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That had to be 1963 or 1964 because this was the steel bodied Dart. It was just a rail with a stretched steel body hung on it. He rolled out the first true funny in 1965 with a "plastic" bodied Dart 2 in 1965. Big Daddy was so cutting edge and was always trying something new to go fast. That hearse setting next to it is the tow vehicle, the low profile trailer is what he hauled it in. I'll bet you were there for the 65 debut of the plastic bodied Dart 2 before it even got painted.

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Don Gay was such a cool cat, he did alot for the racing world around Houston. Donnie Gay started racing stockers and super stockers when he was barely legal to drive out his Dad

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You guys are utterly amazing with all your pictures. I just about fell out of my chair just now, seeing the picture of 1958 with the cars lined up and names for each one. A million years later, my best friend was married to Bob Hartig, a Pasadena guy, for 8 years. He died just last year from cancer. When last I saw him, around 2000 before we moved to Arlington, he was still tinkering with cars and helped his wife's daughter with her Art Car every year.

I sent this picture on to my girlfriend and she said Bob raced until he married his first wife and had 2 daughters to raise. After they divorced, he went right back to it. By the time she married him, he was retired.

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  • 2 years later...
Where was this? The only official drag races I attended were at Hitchcock on Sunday afternoons in the 1955 era. Otherwise, our favorite, cop-defying, highly crazy "drag strip" was right on Main Street from the light at Sunset to the light at University, right in front of Rice Institute. Zero to 60 in how many seconds?

holy smoke...I was at the Hitchcock (abandoned airstrip) drags in 1955..was 9 years old

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They are currently building a Wal-MArt on that site. Its right where Victory Lakes is now, across the freeway from the HEB. For years you could still see the stage lights.

It was directly behind where "The Car Spot" a little used car dealer is now between League City and Dickinson on the northbound side of I45. Until a couple of years ago you could still see the poles and lights that lined the strip along with the observation stand you see in some of the pictures. I was there in the early to late 70s.

joe

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In posts #8 there is a picture of dragsters in 1958 at Freeway Dragstrip. In the front row left is Buggs Threadgill's Oldsmobile

powered A/Fuel Dragster. Well, Buggs is still around , I saw him Sunday, and still fooling around with fast (street) cars. Not many people stick with a hobby for over 50 years. He drives a somewhat? modifed black Olds 442 convertible. Beautiful car.

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I remember my Mom dropping my brother off at the raceway on weekends; I never stayed, myself.

But I did get to go with him & my uncle to see the Rod & Custom Show, a couple of times. In the Coliseum? I'd already been reading his hot rod magazines & still have a Rat Fink! Some of the artists involved showed up doing underground comics & psychedelic posters a few years later.

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  • 1 month later...

My Dad used to take me down there in the early 70's, I was about 4 yrs. old my first visit. What I thought were loud jalopies my Dad said were gasser Willys' & 55 Chevys. He took me to the Autorama & the Tractor pulls at the Dome. The first car I remember was his 66' GTO with the 4 speed and 3 "shiny" air cleaners. He'd sit me on the fender while he fiddled with the carburetors. Well all that wore off on me I guess, I make a living wrenching and restoring old cars. Thanks to my Dad, Mike Sinclair Sr. & Houston.

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  • 4 months later...

Bringing an old topic back to the top . . .

Here are a few old photos from the 80's at Houston International. Though these pics show all brands of older cars, these were shot during one of our semi-annual Gulf Coast Trans Am Club drag races.

My car this day was the Bucaneer Red 1975 Trans Am.

My buddies and I raced our street cars there from the early 70's through whenever the track shut down. Ah - the memories . . . and the haircuts and clothes, LOL!

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Bringing an old topic back to the top . . .

Here are a few old photos from the 80's at Houston International. Though these pics show all brands of older cars, these were shot during one of our semi-annual Gulf Coast Trans Am Club drag races.

My car this day was the Bucaneer Red 1975 Trans Am.

My buddies and I raced our street cars there from the early 70's through whenever the track shut down. Ah - the memories . . . and the haircuts and clothes, LOL!

I started racing there @ 1967, with my '64 Baracuda I called "Captain Cuda". It ran really hot just stock, but I souped it up as I went - and as I could afford it. That little car was pretty fast. Had some great times there. I kept one of my old ET cards, and have a photo of me with the old 'Cuda as well. I always enjoyed cruising on the hottest road in the U.S. - Texas Avenue in Baytown! That was a hot place in the late '60's, and heard the roar of many a cut out header, as well as hot babes too! Anyone remember the "Mongoose & El Rat"? Trivia question: What happened the first time the "Green Monster" fired up at the speedway? Hint: There were some cars nearby that got damaged.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Looking forward to it...thanks!

The digitized footage arrived today (late) and it's going to take a bit of work. I'm searching high and low for free drag race sounds to fill out what I have for the '62 portion. That year I shot the Burris Huett fuel dragster and I'd really like to track all of what I have before uploading. The 1968 Ivo-Jet car race has sound I recorded while filming; no problem there...but I'm a struggling video editor. Any suggestions or links for sound would be appreciated.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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