Growing up in Chicago in the 60's

[kwhizz]

I grew up around Clybourn and Fullerton, "And"back then you had the "SUNDAY" radio ads about US 30 Dragstrip....LOL......that was cool...But.....some of the finest Drag Racing on Friday nights was right at the intersection of Racine and Clybourn......Man.....the racing would take place on Clybourn going north to the train tracks....at the time it was an Industrial area and was pretty much empty at night....but, Friday nights the crowds would show up and line the street....the crazy part was that this was just North from the Cabrini-Green housing projects.....now....lets be kind and say that you really didn't want to be in that area......(if you know what I mean)......But...On Friday & Saturday nights it didn't matter, we were all there to watch, or Race and there was never a problem.........I remember one of the Black guy's that was unbeatable down there....his name was "Big Ernie" and he had a dark blue 55 Chevy with a 327-375 hp fuel injected Corvette engine..(probably a store bought crate engine......Right!!)
This was in 66 and Ernie had no fear of any car or anyone....I remember that car when it was running had that Hissing sound...crazy,but I can still hear that thing....he never opened the hood so I assumed the air cleaner set-up was not on it....he later sold the car to the son of the guy I worked for at night at a gas station....he had the car one day and wrapped it around a telephone pole.....(Never got to see the engine)........Everything was "Crazy" down there.....cars would just line up and go with all the money stuff figured out ahead of time......
It seemed the Police would leave us alone till the crowds really started spilling into the street and then they would come and open up the Fire Hydrants to flood and wet the street down...
In all that "Stupidity"...I don't have any recollection of any major accidents of people getting hurt......
To drive down in that area now, it has been "Condoized" and nobody that lives there now would ever Imagine the Mayhem that took place there........Good Times and we were Lucky to make it thru them........

[ed mac 70 ss]

Ken
I'm sure you remember this...... how about south on Clybourn at Diversey. Joe Catalano's street ram Coronet with Mario driving.His car is shown in the original link (black) mine was a light green matching Coronet.....Southbound on Clybourn using both lanes.Mario in the wrong lane and me in the(correct) lane. Fourth gear and a cop decides to pull out and block us from getting by. Mario see's a t-bone comming and swings left to graze a parked car to help slow down and avoid the head on. He held on to the wheel and opened the door as the car spun around. He wound up hitting the cop car mostly with the rear of Joes car. I squeezed by with two wheels on the curb. As I passed by all I saw was smoke and dust in the rear view mirror. My garage was only 2 blocks away. I put the car away and ran back to see if Mario was all right. Much to my surprise Mario was nowhere to be found. As soon as the car stopped moving he jumpped out and ran over the rairoad tracks.Upon impact Joe called the police and reported the car stolen.Later we cruised the hood only to find Mario limping around with a bruised leg.I think we were very lucky no one was realy hurt
ed

[markjohnson]

Wow, that '66 L-78 Convertible is a really rare car! Anyway, Ken . . . . . . thanks for taking the time to type out the history of your '66 L-79 "Shivvy 2"! That was a great read! Anyway, those were neat cars that were a big deal when they came out and I actually know of several fellows here in STL that bought them brand new and those cars didn't survive either past 4 or 5 years. They were referred to as the "350-horse Shivvy 2" or "the little Nova with the Corvette engine" in it. They were built with a purpose that they fulfilled in spades and created their own legend. It's the cars and owners (like you) that made those L-79's legendary! Keep those stories comin'!

[kwhizz]

Orlando.....What's the status on the convert today?? Cool story......Did anyone notice the 60 Vette in the ad with the Hemi engine?? and the Hemi Coronet.......And.....LOL

Eddie, I forgot all about that incident....Yep!!....That could have been a bad one.......

Ken

[66 L78 ragtop]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: kwhizz</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Orlando.....What's the status on the convert today?? Cool story......Did anyone notice the 60 Vette in the ad with the Hemi engine?? and the Hemi Coronet.......And.....LOL

Eddie, I forgot all about that incident....Yep!!....That could have been a bad one.......

Ken </div></div>

I haven't done anything with it yet. Its in storage. Rick Nelson is doing a car for me now, and the convertible will be next.

The 60 vette with a HEMI caught my eye! Very Cool

[tabooo]

Hey Ken,
Thanks for the great stories that i remember like it was last weekend,spent many weekends it that area with my black 1969 C.O.P.O. and my good friend Mike McNamara with his 440 dart we won a few and lost a few.It was a great time for all,I was eighteen a few dollars in my pocket,a car car that was a great contender and guess what happen,Yep Uncle Sam called Gone June 7,1970 off to Ft. Brag N.C.

[66 L78 ragtop]

What happened to Joe L, the original owner of Mighty High?

[kwhizz]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 66 L78 ragtop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What happened to Joe L, the original owner of Mighty High? </div></div>

Joe is still around and lives in the western suburbs.....

Ken

[kwhizz]

I was digging around in some old picture albums and I found a picture of the 66 L-79 car when it new........We were living in Chicago (obviously) at the time and the picture was taken at Paulettes Grandparents house in Wisconsin......the odd thing is, is that we ended up 6 years later buying a new house that was built on the lot next to her grandparents house......Here's a picture of the Nova in the driveway..........




Then......I came across this poor quality picture of Joe Szabo's Psycho Gasser.....As I remember thia picture was taken on a weekend trip to Minnesota for a UDRA meet........The car was trailered and was towed by Szabo's Ford station wagon...The car never got off the trailer that weekend as it rained the entire weekend.......



Also.......my arm is getting twisted to tell the &quot;Other&quot; story.....(Stefano??).....but....maybe some things are best left unsaid.......LOL

Ken

[SS427]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: kwhizz</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Also.......my arm is getting twisted to tell the &quot;Other&quot; story.....(Stefano??).....but....maybe some things are best left unsaid.......LOL

Ken

</div></div>

Little late now! Tell it!


Can you give me some approximate dates that you guys raced in Minnesota and at what tracks? I have several hundred photos of MN drag strips and will look through them so see if either car is on them.