chicago street racer names and reputations, late 60s

[Andy]

This isn't Chicago related, but my dad tells me stories all the time about when he was 16-20 years old (1968-72) and some serious racing here in the south. A lot of his friends were into the top end stuff. His first cousin bought a 68 GTX brand new, 440 super commando 4 speed, and a local guy with a 66 Chevelle with an 427 tunnel ram, kept talking smack about how he would walk him. So the other day we were driving through the southern part of the county and my dad is like, here is where the race happened. "They started here from a dead stop and were in 4th about a 1/4 of the way through the straight. They were even, but the GTX started pulling on the Chevelle. He said the Chevelle dropped in behind the X at about 130 or so and stayed there til the 150 speedo was pegged in the X. He said that Chevelle tried to pass the X about 3 times but every time he came out from behind the car, the wind would blow him back.
Another story relates to some 2 AM runs on I-85 in a 68 Coronet R/T, Hemi, 4 speed. He said a 69 L-88 Vette pulled up beside them, they were both running about 70. The Vette just nailed it and dad was like, well, you gonna let him go? The coronet driver was like hell no, so he put it back in third and and started reeling the vette in. As they both shifted into 4th they were hanging side by side. Dad said big mopar was starting to float in the front and the wipers were starting to blow up on the windshield. 140, the vette is starting to fall back. At about 150 they had the dodge maxed out and had put about a car length the vette. Man, if I could only have grown up then.

Racing was still dangerous then though. The guy that bought the 68 GTX from my dad's cousin had a thing for top end speed/betting and he got killed in it. He was making a top end run from the next town over and right when you come into our town, there is a truck stop. Dad said a loaded 10 wheeler pulled out in the road that had a 20 ton granite block on the back of it and by the time he got straighted out in the road the GTX hit the back of it, knocking both axles out from under it. 3 guys in the car, 1 guy lived. The front two passengers were both decapitated. Sorry for the sad ending but its just a reminder of how dangerous this stuff is.