Do you guys miss your racing days?

Hi everyone

So it seems a lot of us on here used to be or still are racers, roundy round and or drag type. I have spent at least 13 season in the pits driving something around in circles. I enjoyed it for years but I thought it was time for a change and I started doing the old truck stuff but darn I still miss my Friday night runs around the local bull ring...
I live with in hearing distance of the local track too...
So how do you guys do it??

I saw a couple of guys at my second job on Saturday that both still race...it was really pulling on my insides to go back again..

Am I the only one that misses it once we hang up my racing firesuit??

Just wondering out loud thats all....

MikeC

P.S. I dont miss the 5 nights a week getting it ready for Friday night tho..

I miss it a little bit but it's still an expensive habit!

Beercan

Yeah, I still miss the roundy round even though most of my time was in the pits. I only drove one season. What I miss even more is the snowmobile racing and this....

I raced roundy-rounders for a number of years, also raced Tough Trucks, pitted for my uncle when he raced, go to the drags with my buddies and help them out in the pits. I love racing, always will. I don't miss racing my own car so much....it was time-consuming, expensive, and a whole lot of work. I even raced hermit crabs when I lived in The Keys.

YEP

massively, but due to injuries on the job and financial restraints it is no longer a reality in my world.


and as beercan said. it is a expensive habit.

l miss it

the five nights a week prep just to tear it up on the weekend is a form of insanity, but it's a good crazy[


Later

When I was in Vegas we toured Art Goldstrom's collection. My dad had been 3 times but that was my first. He has a stock car with a dodge race engine that he does the flying mile and other similar things with. When I was asking him about the engine he looked at me and in regards to racing in general he said "It's like putting a big funnel in the gas tank and dumping money in." I thought it was pretty funny and accurate.

Willowbilly3 said:

Yeah, I still miss the roundy round even though most of my time was in the pits. I only drove one season. What I miss even more is the snowmobile racing and this....

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Cool! My dad raced ice ovals on 250 and 340 snowmobiles in the 70's, all over Western Canada.

YES!

I haven't cut a light in a couple of years, but it looks like I can finally get the car back in shape for the track.

I miss racing with my late buddy Pete ( was Rustywrench on here) more than anything.

440shorty

I only miss it every day or so. You'd think I guy would get over it after 13 years, but noooo! When I gave it up, it was mostly the money but also my wife pointed out to me that when I'd wreck on Saturday night, I used to be out in the shop, limping around on Sunday working on the car. At the end, I wouldn't get out there until Tuesday or Wednesday. She said "you just ain't healing up like you used to".

Yes I miss the racing part. I don't miss the 6days working on the car to have it ready for one night. I do miss the money I spent on 13 years of NASCAR Street Stock Racing.
Now I just go to Exotics Racing in Las Vegas for my fix. It's way cheaper.

Mostly the spell of the nitro

Yes, I have to admit I still miss it. Ran mostly paved ovals, tried dirt for a couple of years and found that really tears up the cars. Been looking at the HAMB style drags ever since I quit flying. Have most of the parts saved up, maybe this summer I'll get it all together. Been awhile since I've had an adrenaline boost, looking to see if I can do it on the cheap.....now there's a laugh.

Yes, except when something like this happened
25 was my number.

yes i miss drag racing. i have been thinking about going with a 8.0 car (1/8 track) and my grandson is pushing for it too.

My unimpressive drag racing exploits began in 1958-59. Then 1965-66. As you can see, large periods of no racing. In about 2000 I started running two or three times a year. Ran a street driven glass Fiat. Now have the 406 sbc powered Crosley pictured and a HAMB early 50's style dragster. The dragster is currently being changed from a MOPAR slant 6 to a 300 Fod 6 and Powerglide. Will maintain my pace of two or three races a year.

Seems to be enough to satisfy my need for speed.

Great shot soltz! [cl

I spent 10 years (and a tidy sum) drag racing. I miss it... but not nearly as much as my best friend and partner, Charlie. (Lost to a freak non-racing accident in '02.)

- RIP CMM -




12 years later, my love for racing remains and I hope to return with my son and our Mustang project, tentatively dubbed "Blue Streak". (As always, life, money and time will tell. [S )


.

I think the smell of CAM2 and the actual sights and sounds that go along with being in the "pits"...

This everynight cutting and grinding and the snails pace that these projects take...something about getting everything ready and throwing all your cards on the table Friday night and letting it rip as they say...strapping on that helmet...the stweaty palms....accelerated heart beat....the culmintation of all week working on it...leaving the track exhausted at the end of the night...

I don't get that same feeling with building rat rods...it is such a slow tedious process...

Maybe the slow lane is better...I dont know????

Just my smelly old 2 cents...

MikeC

i am and always will be a drag racer

i am always amazed by people singing the blues about how much they spent on racing. it is all relevant to what you race. i have been racing my '32 bantam altered for about 20 years and have only replaced a starter, rebuilt the carbs and replaced the battery, in all that time. drag racing is all about weight to horse power. if you can't afford to make big power, make it lighter. i am not a door car racer for just that reason. they make great street cars but expensive race cars. the heavier the car, the more money it takes to make it go. with altereds and dragsters you don't have rear suspension cost, it weighs next to nothing and with less than 400 hp, your in the tens or as slow as you want to go. also at those numbers, you don't have a lot of the cost that a fast car needs, to tech. i always say "build an altered and just have fun". if you are running brackets, you can use whatever kind of motor you want to. be different. the one indisputable fact of racing is, someone will always have more money than you and go faster. besides, if you don't use them, that's ok. they don't eat anything or cost anything to sit on a trailer or have to be insured or registered. it's a win win for me.

flatheadgary said:

i am always amazed by people singing the blues about how much they spent on racing. it is all relevant to what you race. i have been racing my '32 bantam altered for about 20 years and have only replaced a starter, rebuilt the carbs and replaced the battery, in all that time. drag racing is all about weight to horse power. if you can't afford to make big power, make it lighter. i am not a door car racer for just that reason. they make great street cars but expensive race cars. the heavier the car, the more money it takes to make it go. with altereds and dragsters you don't have rear suspension cost, it weighs next to nothing and with less than 400 hp, your in the tens or as slow as you want to go. also at those numbers, you don't have a lot of the cost that a fast car needs, to tech. i always say "build an altered and just have fun". if you are running brackets, you can use whatever kind of motor you want to. be different. the one indisputable fact of racing is, someone will always have more money than you and go faster. besides, if you don't use them, that's ok. they don't eat anything or cost anything to sit on a trailer or have to be insured or registered. it's a win win for me.

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i agree, i never whined about the money spent to race, but i don't whine about not having the money to race either. that is why i'm thinking about a 8.0 car for my grandson and myself. i have a couple old ramblers in the back yard and they are as light or lighter then a nova. a decent small block of some kind should be plenty to keep him interested and out of trouble. the cheaper to build is the chevy, but i have a amc, olds, ford, and a buick to play with to be different, then i have a few big blocks too.

I've ran in all kinds of motor sport events, tuff trucks, auto cross (dirt oval, basically a bump to pass race), trailer racing, and demolition derbys. I miss the derbys and trailer races the most. A lot more work and money goes into the derbys then what most realize and that's what burned me out on it. My wife and my son still run a couple stock shows a year and for the most part that's good enough for me. I have a 49 Plymouth 2dr sedan that I will eventually build into another trailer race car. Until then I will just watch my wife and son run. For me it's more fun to watch them run then it is to actually run.

Here's one of my last trailer races, it's at southbend speedway in Northern IN. I'm the red two door car. My number is 2x but you can't hardly reed it.