From the Archives!

One of my best memories of drag racing occurred in summer of 1964 - I was 17.  My uncle was curious about the trophies I was accumulating at his Gulf service station (lack of competitors in my class H/SA – hey, I wasn’t proud!).  He asked me “What’s this drag racing thing all about anyway!”  I explained the basics to him and he said “How about if we tell your parents and my wife that we’re going fishing next Sunday in Cape May, New Jersey.   But instead, let’s take my new Cadillac to Maple Grove, you can race it and let’s see what it can do!”  Talk about me being a happy camper!

My uncle’s car was a light blue metallic 63’ four-door Coupe de Ville – a real land-yacht!  We unloaded the spare in the Maple Grove pits, took off the air cleaner, loosened the fan belt, popped the hubcaps, but we left the mufflers on.  NHRA put the Cadillac in “G/SA” with four other cars (we had a 390 CI motor).  As I pulled to the line – with the door open, of course - the Announcer said "Here comes Governor Scranton to the line” (the current Gov of PA)!  The next time I pulled up, he piped, “Son, does your Father know what you’re doing to his Cadillac today?”  It was hilarious

The first round I ran heads up, four across.  I came in second behind a 62’ Impala (white with silver-blue bottom – its funny how you remember things like that!).  He was the G/SA class champ just about every week.  My uncle and I had a ton of fun and I made several time trial runs to boot.  I recall we were running in the mid-16s?   Oh, and “Unk” said, “Lets leave the shoe polish class markings and numbers on the windshield.  We’ll surprise your parents when we get home!”  I was petrified!  But because he was the “Auto Expert”, he smoothed things over – no harm no foul!  Whew!

Here is the 8MM home video we shot that day back in 1964.  It's only about 3 minutes and pretty shaky but worth a laugh!  Maple Grove had been open for 2 years when this was taken.  We were there during a "Super Stock" meet - check out the Thunderbolts, Mopars, and even George Weiler's A/FX Comet!  And some really neat cars in the pits too!  Check it out, and Enjoy!

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