Texas Rare Bear
(first posted 3/5/2014) It was early June in 1970. I had just graduated from college, with honors no less, and was kinda wondering what my next step in life would be.
I had a rusted out 1960 Plymouth and a clapped out 1968 (or older) Bultaco Matador. I had my job with Yellow Cab which provided me with spending green and more than enough clams to pay for my eight-room apartment (42 bucks a month which I split with a roomie) on Chicago’s south side in a neighborhood we called the Dirty Thirties. I literally hit the jackpot in the first Selective Service Lottery – #272, so Vietnam was no longer a problem. I wasn’t going to go to Canada, as a former roomie had, or to Sweden, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to Nam. I had some plans but those were no longer necessary.
But the siren song of Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! At Great Lakes Dragway in lovely Union Grove, Wisconsin (at least lovelier than US 30 in Hobart, Indiana), enticed me with AA dragsters, lower class eliminations, and Wheelstanders!
The Texas Rare Bear
At that time, drag strip promoters were still paying wheelstanding acts, such as Roy Trevino with his Texas Rare Bear, out of Corpus Christie, TX, to put on full quarter-mile demonstrations, carrying the front wheels the length of the track in the air while dragging a tailgate with plenty of spark generating excitement. McNeely’s sponsor was O’Rielly Chevrolet in Tucson, AZ.
‘61 Corvair 95 Rampside Pickup
By 1970, most 95s and Greenbriers were rotting in junkyards, the last 95 having been built in 1964, so by this time, any 95 was rare, whether it was doing wheelies or quietly rotting. So the appellation “Rare Bear” would appear to be appropriate.
For a great mini history on Corvair 95 Rampsides, check out Jay Leno’s program – http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/trucks/1961-chevrolet-corvair-95-rampside/#item=72514
Hit the brakes hard and you’ll do a “nosie”, according to Chevy
One of the better known wheelstanders at this time was the Backup Pickup owned and driven by Hollie Swindle of St. Louis, MO.
The Backup Pickup’s gimmick, if you haven’t guessed by now, was that it ran down the strip backwards while pulling a wheelie. The Econoline was powered by a Ford 427 and was a crowd-pleaser,
Hollie Swindle, owner of Hollie’s Speed Shop, died in 2006.
Blastoff!
Another popular wheelstander was The Fugitive driven by Tommy McNeely of Monahans, TX. McNeely was a former FX and Funny Car driver who had joined the exhibition ranks.
On a two-way run
On this day, the wheel standers cruised back to the starting line to give the fans in the stands another look. Roy Trevino pulled wheelies in both directions.
Check out this YouTube compilation for some of the better known wheel standing acts including The Little Red Wagon, the Hurst Hemi Under Glass, and the Backup Pickup:
AMC central
Great Lakes was just to the west and about equidistant from Racine and Kenosha, dontcha know. So there was no lack of Matadors and AMXs.
The Buran Hustler
The Buran Hustler was an AMX owned and driven by Pat Ulick was sponsored by Buran Rambler out of nearby West Allis, WI.
‘69 or ‘70?
I’m not sure what year this AMX is, but it undoubtedly ran a massaged 390.
Early on in the quarter mile
I don’t know who won this race, but the SS 396 would seem to have an advantage at this point. Not to quibble, but I’m pretty sure either one would have waxed my 318 Plymouth.
‘57 Chevy Bel Air
Things really haven’t changed much since 1970. ‘57 Chevys were popular then as they are now. I don’t know what this Chevy was running, but it was enough to lead the ‘57 Corvette in the other lane.
Gas Class
This ‘57 would appear to have been breathed upon–fat rear slicks and a flipper fiberglass front nose.
Eat my dust AMX!
This ‘59-’60 Vette would seem to have the advantage over the trailing AMX.
‘56-’57 Vette
Halibarnds up front, TorqueThrust Ds in the rear, and suckin through Hilborns. This was near to the end of an era.
Chevy II
I don’t know when the Chevy II transitioned into the Nova, and don’t really care. They were pretty crappy grocery-getters in stock form, but they were light and could accommodate an SBC. Jack up the suspension, slap on some slicks, maybe add a hood scoop. Hey! we got us a drag car!
For those of you born too late, “Snafu” is a World War II term that stood for “Situation Normal, All Fu*ked Up”. Sorry I had to break it to you this way Tom.
Ah! Gassers!
Gas Coupe Sedans. One of my favorite memories of the drags in the sixties. One of these things running an SBC and shifting at 8000 rpm was one of life’s great aural pleasures. I don’t know that this Willys was running, but tests have proven that hood scoops are counter-productive.
That thing got a Hemi?
The day wouldn’t have been complete without rail jobs. I think that at the time the top class was AA. I want to say “top fuel,” but in 1970 I think that top classes were all still running gasoline, not “fuel” (nitromethane) which was still banned by the NHRA.
Three years (maybe four) previous, Chris Karamesines “The Golden Greek,” was the first drag racer to go faster than 200 mph (322 kph) in the quarter mile in his Chi Town Hustler. In those days, prior to slipper clutches, AA dragsters kept the tires lit up the entire quarter mile. Late in the day at the 1967 World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova Dragway in western Illinois, with setting sun, the smoke off of Karamesines’ car probably reached 60 feet high or more. Eye candy defined.
Front engines only
The primitive wing on the front of this digger hints at the nascent art of aerodynamics, applied not only to drag cars, but Indy and Formula I cars (not to mention the Can-Am Chaparrals). Things would grow exponentially from this point on in all forms of racing.
Whoops!
I don’t care what class you are running, this great a discrepancy at mid course means that the trailing car has really screwed up. But we have no clue, based upon my photograph (smoking tires, smoking zoomies), as to why the trailing car is so far behind.
Hemis, zoomies, and 6-71s
In 1970 two engines vied for honors in AA: the ubiquitous Chrysler Hemi and the Ford single-overhead cam (Cammer) motor. In time the Hemi would win out. Today, largely due to regulations, the Hemi is the only configuration still found in Top Fuel.
Karin and the picnic
Great Lakes Dragway is the oldest continuously operating drag strip in the US. It opened in 1955.
These slides developed in June 1970.
My companion that day was the lovely Karin. You can see from the wine and picnic basket that she had, among her many attributes, good taste. I had a healthy taste for her as well, but that wouldn’t come to fruition for another couple of years. Good times.
In 1970 Karin was driving a 1967 Falcon that her daddy had bought for her new. Compared to my ‘60 Plymouth, it was a dream car. Later she had a ‘71 Maverick, also supplied by daddy warbucks, with a 250 six, still superior to anything I drove. What does that tell you?
Again, great pictures. About that Corvair 95, I am having a hard time seeing the cutout for the ramp on the passenger side, and wonder if this could be the much rarer Loadside model that had no ramp, but only a little rump of a tailgate over the engine in back.
No disrespect to Leno, but I happen to think that we have a serviceable history on the Corvair 95 as well. 🙂 https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1961-chevrolet-corvair-95-rampside-it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time/
Finally, I find it interesting that almost all of the 2 door cars racing are hardtops. To watch Barratt Jackson these days, you would think that nobody ever drag raced anything but lightweight stripper 2 door sedans. Wrong – high end Bel Air hardtops seem to have been quite popular, and ditto the Rebel/Matador and even the Nova.
That’s because high end 2-door hardtops outsold the stripper 2-door sedans when new. And most every drag car started out as a used car. The only exceptions were factory sponsored teams. Which is, I believe, what the current market tries to emulate.
2-door sedans were more often used in drag racing because the 2-door sedans were LIGHTER than the 2-door hardtops because they needed less heavy underfloor reinforcements.
Actually, in 1957, the mid level trim model “210” post sedans outsold the Belair hardtops. Its just that no one wanted them as collectibles a decade later, so the survival rate was lower. In factory form, only the convertibles got frame reinforcement. Since glass is heavier than sheetmetal, its quite possible that the hardtops were slightly heavier due to larger glass area.
When and where did those manic “Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!!!” screaming ads start? I assume California sometime in the early 60’s, because by the late 60’s a dragstrip in the Pittsburgh area was using them. Endlessly.
God, they got tiring after awhile.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!! was the iconic intro written by Steve Cronen in 1968 for Ben Christ, owner of US 30 Dragstrip in Hobart, Indiana, who wanted fans to know that US 30 was open on Sundays. The voice was that of Jan C. Gabriel (1940-2010). It didn’t take long for this ad stylization to become associated with drag racing as strips across the country adopted it.
Sunday, Sunday Sunday…. New England Dragway! Heard that on the radio well before 1968.
New York New Jersey was Sunday ,Sunday ,Sunday at national speedway in long island by and raceway park Englishman nj
Imagine growing up in Kenosha in the ’60s; US30 ads from WLS and Great Lakes ads from WOKY. Incessantly.
“Broadway Bob” Metzler, owner of Great Lakes Dragaway for 40 years (1954 to 1994) passed away in July 2012 at 83. He was the Promoter Extraordinaire.
We had that tag line for Thompson Drag Raceway in Thompson, Ohio as well. Remember it well.
I was born in 1964 in Kenosha, Wis home of Great Lakes Dragaway and I definitely grew up hearing Jan Gabriel on WLS and on Super CFL AM 1000 with Larry Lujack! I grew up actually hearing the top fuel cars making runs at the track while we would be having our Memorial or Labor day picnics in our backyard which was about 15 miles away! I remember begging my mom to bring me out there instead of being at the picnic! We are so lucky to have such a historical drag strip in our area and I want everyone who reads this to spend a full day at Great Lakes Dragaway (or their local strip) during one of the big events like memorial day weekend! Drag strips are not only excellent good clean family entertainment but they also drastically reduce illegal and often deadly street racing by getting them off the streets and onto the track instead! Support your local dragstrip!!
“AA” Doug
The “Sunday, Sunday, Sunday” catch phrase advertised races on television and radio when I was a kid in the Philadelphia PA area in the early 70’s and has stayed with me to this day.
It must have been for events at either Raceway Park or Atco, the big tracks in the area.
One additional snippet that I recall was “we’ll sell you the whole seat, but you’ll only use the edge,” with “the edge” drawn out in a deeper voice for dramatic emphasis.
And, how could I forget, “nitro burning thunder” a phrase that was later modified to make a popular novelty song by the Dead Milkmen.
It tells me Karin’s dad owned a Ford dealership, maybe?
Even as a kid looking at car magazines in the ’80s it seemed like most ’55-7 Chevys were Bel Air 2-door hardtops, convertibles and Nomads. The more basic models didn’t really come into their own until the first old-car-as-investment fad in the early ’90s.
Better still, he owned the bank in northern Indiana that financed those Fords. The Buick dealer delivered a new black Electra 225 to him every two years without him even having to ask.
“For those of you born too late, “Snafu” is a World War II term that stood for “Situation Normal, All Fu*ked Up”. ”
I did not know this. Snafu is such a part of the lexicon that it is commonly used just about everywhere.
I hesitate to use, and don’t typically hear, FUBAR (F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition) in polite company. I don’t use it around my kids as I know I’ll get the “look” from my wife.
My guess is that some people that saw this “Snafu” car in 1970 did not approve!
It would be fun to go back in time and be there.
For Dave B and Tom. In mixed company use the other f word when explaining. The magazines of WW2 translated as fouled up.
Interestingly enough Keven I was in Great Lakes Naval Hospital in Jun 70. Returning from a vacation spot in SE Asia. If you were shipboard it wasn’t so bad over there. Warmer than Canada. I had found that dragstrip but don’t remember that particular show. Time flies. So does Memory. I was just temporary there and when I was released it was on to Maryland.
My mother began her career as a Navy nurse at Great Lakes in 1941 or so. She eventually became a full lieutenant. My dad was always proud that she outranked him. He was a lieutenant jg but was awarded a bronze star for clearing mines in the inland waterways of Japan after the war was over. Out of the three ships in the Guinea Pig Squadron, his was the only one that didn’t sink. He was the navigator and 23 at the time.
Great pictures. Love the Wisconsin scenery. Never made it to the track but growing up in Milwaukee I heard the radio ads for the “fabulous nitro burning funny cars!”
For those who remember it, organized drag racing in the sixties and early seventies was a glorious time. The ‘Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!’ radio commercials and wheelstanders were a big part of it.
Then, seemingly in a blink of an eye, it was all but gone.
Today, for most, sitting behind a monitor with some sort of driving simulator is about as good as it gets. 🙁
I wish I could go back to see drag racing in its heyday. I tried to watch it on TV recently, and it really wasn’t very interesting. All of the cars pretty much look the same, except for the decals. And it seems like they push everything too far these days. It’s more like a controlled explosion than an actual automotive race. Maybe they were just having a bad day, but it seemed like 85% of the races weren’t even close. One competitor or the other would lose traction, flame out, or just straight up explode, leaving the other guy to cruise across the line uncontested.
I agree, the NHRA “Pro-Stock” cars of today are like NASCAR racers, far from factory stock, and borrrrringggggg looking. There is a new Dodge Dart bodyshell coming out, and it has two doors, not ‘stock’ by any means.
What’s interesting to me in the first photo is the Cadillac peaking out from the right side of the photo. I believe it’s an ambulance, and recalls a time when virtually all ambulances were modified Cadillacs. For years our small town had a 1969 Cadillac ambulance.
Back in the day, ambulances were station-wagon-like cars, such as the Cadillac because the emergency medicine theory of the day was “rush to the injured and rush them back to the hospital for treatment. That’s why they would run those cars with lights and siren all the way to the pick-up site and back to the hospital.
Today, the theory of emergency medicine is “bring the emergency room to the injured.” So, they have big box-bodied trucks that can haul a lot of gear. Today, the only times an ambulance turns on the lights and siren is on the way to the injured. On the way back to the hospital there is no rush because the patient is getting good treatment in the ambulance.
Remember the TV show “Emergency”? The theme of the first season was the fight between the crews and the doctor at the hospital as to whether it was appropriate for the paramedics to deliver treatment. The early ’70s is when the big shift in treatment happened.
In Fort Wayne, Indiana, up until the mid 70s, ambulance service was provided by one of the big Funeral homes. They used to run two fully equipped white Cadillac ambulances and two additional silver ones that were designed to be used as either ambulance or hearse, depending on need. By 1978 they were out of the ambulance biz, but still had a 1977 combination vehicle that still had the old mechanical siren hooked up. The new EMS units with Dodge vans took over about that time, and were operated by someone else. I think this was the same timeline pretty much all over the country, at least in the cities.
If I were deathly ill or seriously injured, I would not be comforted if an ambulance that doubled as a hearse showed up…
One stop shopping? 🙂
wonderful pictures from the Peak Years of America. yes, Sunday Sunday Sunday ads were a sound of summer….
Great Lakes is a great place just needs to fill some holes on the track.
Thanks again for a great read Kevin.I remember building a model of a Willys drag car like the feature car.Sure it was by Revell
Thanks for the excellent pictures, Kevin. In our neck of the woods, “Sunday, Sunday, Sunday” came courtesy of Kansas City International Raceway (cue the accelerating Hemi sounds), probably over the Kansas City AM radio station whose calls letters I cannot currently recall. Or, maybe KOMA, Oklahoma City, or KAAY Little Rock, our summer night companions-doesn’t matter, those ads were all over the country. I lived too far away to take in any of the races, so this helps to make up for that.
“Then, seemingly in a blink of an eye, it was all but gone.”
The 1st Gas Crisis hit the car hobby very hard, cost too much to run premium fuel cars. But also, urbanization gobbled up race tracks for housing/malls, etc.
Great Lakes Dragway is still running, far enough away from Chicago and Milwaukee burb’s growth, but who knows?
That caption of the truck doing a “nosie” was inaccurate. If you look very closely, you’ll see that the skinny tires, that are up in the air are mounted on the “back” of the truck and the slicks are on the “front”. Notice that the headers are angled towards the cab/front of the truck.
This truck was built to go down the track “backwards”. Take a look at the tailgate, it seems to have a lot of holes in it for visibility. I’ll bet the driver was sitting right behind the tailgate driving the truck, backwards, down the track.
Looks like my attempt at irony failed big time!
Some comments about those rail dragsters. The NHRA fuel ban was lifted in 1964 so unless they were specifically gas or alcohol class dragsters, they would have been AA/FD (Fuel Dragster) the class that eventually became Top Fuel.
The Ford SOHC hemi V8 was legislated against by NASCAR, that’s why it found a home in drag racing. It probably died a natural death as Ford really didn’t make that many of them. Rumors say only about 500 engines plus spares, so what does that mean, 1,000? As the engines wore out, it became harder and harder to find parts for them. Since the hemi’s were more popular in the first place an aftermarket of parts sprung up so in the long run, it was easier and cheaper to run a hemi.
Oddly enough, you can buld a replica Ford 427 SOHC hemi V8 from brand-new parts all manufactured by the aftermarket.
I’ve raced my Thunderbird at Great Lakes Dragaway. It really is a throw back to the early days of drag racing. It’s a neat place to run but no where near as nice as Route 66 raceway in Joliet, IL. I usually run at 66 because it’s a shorter trip for me but Great Lakes is fun too. 66 is full of 11-12 second modern street cars. When I go to Great Lakes I’m sure to see plenty of 14-16 second street cars such as old Camaros, Malibus, Cutlasses, Fairmonts, and Mustangs. Much more fun than watching a bunch of shiny new Mustangs and Camaros run 12 second passes, at least to me.
Great pictures! I spent far too much time (and money) at dragstrips back when, and rarely thought to take pictures. I made my last run in 1985 or so and it was a slowly dying sport even then. A cute little redhead came along and that was all she wrote for that hobby.
Last year I took her to Spokane to see Martina McBride, and the venue was right next to the still in business drag strip. Hearing those open headers running down the same strip I had run so many years ago, on a warm Saturday night, was almost as much fun as the show.
Great pictures Kevin, thank you for sharing
I caught the very tail end of drag racing’s heyday in the late 70s. I have 3 major 1/4 mile tracks within 2 hours of my house and I run my cars at the track a couple of times a year and go to some of the big races and shows but its nowhere near the same excitement as it was back in the day. Although there has been a bit of a spike in the last couple of years with the new RWD musclecars from Detroit.
The rear-engine dragsters became the norm after 1970 when Don Garlits had the transmission explosion that almost killed him and he pioneered the rear engine rails.
And the Buran Hustler is a 70 AMX.
What tracks do you run at?
Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie, VA
Richmond Dragway in Richmond
Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek, MD
both VA tracks are IHRA-sanctioned, Budds Creek is NHRA and the nicest of the 3
I also have Northeast Dragway in Elizabeth City, NC but that’s an 1/8 strip
I’ve been to Budds Creek a number of times. It takes a special type of person to deal with the humidity there in the summer. I imagine that tuning can also be a challenge.
Budds Creek is the farthest away so I usually only go to the big Mopar show and race which is always in late October or early November and its normally perfect racing weather. Ive run a couple of cars there over the years and its the only track Ive been able to get my bone stock late model 6 speed Challenger into the very low 13s. Its a very grippy track and the track personnel there are very cool. One year there was a thunderstorm before the race and they were able to get it completely dry in about an hour. And yeah, running in southern and central VA in the summer can be challenging, I know some guys’ cars that have as much as a difference of a second in between running in July and October. So yeah, your car is slower but so is the car that youre running against.
Richmond is my favorite though, its a nice local track. You can run your car all night on a test and tune for $15 and their tech is usually pretty lax.
My local track was 75-80 Dragway in Monrovia, MD. I only did time trials since to do eliminations meant spending a lot of boring time at the track. I was happy if I got three runs for my nine bucks. And it was Sunday.
I was very skeptical when some of my fellow time-trialers came up to me in the staging line and asked what I was running. I thought that they were putting me on. After all, I was running a ’78 Rabbit with a 1456 cc engine with minor mods and my fuse panel (I sh*t you not) limited me to 5300 rpm and 3rd gear through the traps, which equated to a 17.3 @ about 79 mph. I told them it was a VW Mountain Motor. The humor was lost on the dudes running 305 Novas and such as they couldn’t do any better than 18.5s. Before I fixed the fuse panel problem, I blew the tranny on the street in a spectacular fashion. That really pissed me off since I knew I could run a sub-17 second quarter. End of my drag racing days and thoughts of quarter-mile immortality.
Im pretty sure I have some old 75-80 decals stashed away; if I can find them, theyre yours. Now you’ll just need to find a 78 Rabbit to put them in.
Oh, God… My ears are still ringing from radio ads that I last heard about 20 years ago:
SUNDAY AT SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY!
SIXTY-FOUR FUNNYCARS!
BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!
Don “The Snake” versus Tom “The Mongoose” and other titanic battles…
Great Pics. I remember the Back-up Pickup and the Hurst Hairy Olds from Hot Rod Magazine, but this is the first I’ve ever seen of the Rare Bear Rampside.
Kevin, thanks for sharing and the remembrances. I was a young kid in those days, in love with the muscle (super) cars of the day. Avid reader of Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Road and Track, Super Stock & Drags Illustrated and Popular Hot Rodding. I’ve no interest in the hot cars and the drag racers of today; but something, anything from the Golden Age of the 60’s and 70’s and I’m at attention!
I’m picturing you, the ‘stache and Karin. Really, was there room for the three of you in that relationship?
Great, great pics. Can’t believe the balloons under that AMX. My fave is the Caddy ambulance.
I missed this article the first time around so thanks for the repeat. For me drag racing was much more interesting back in the sixties because the “run what you brung” ethic was still in play so the cars didn’t all look the same. I’m sure that a good number of these low budget racers were unsafe but they put on an exciting show nonetheless.
Where I grew up in the sixties there was one AM station that played rock and roll, and it signed off at midnight. I spent many a late night listening to the clear channel signal of WLS in Chicago and still remember the “screaming drag race” commercials. I’m fairly certain that WLS was using the “Sunday, Sunday, Sunday” ads in the mid-sixties for sure and maybe before that.
My good buddy went drag racing in the 70s and 80s at Dragway Park, Cayuga Ont. It’s still there today as Toronto Motorsports Park. As I recall he won a championship in bracket racing one year. He raced three different cars at different times, starting with a 4 door 1969 Cutlass, then graduating to a 1975 Dart 340, then a second 75 Dart 340. Here are a couple of photos I took back at the track. I wish I had taken more.
The other Dart. He still has this one, but hasn’t been racing in some time.
I can only find a photo of the Cutlass from the rear. I got to drive the black Dart and this Cutlass, but never down the track. The Olds has a bit of a signature on it.
Great photos Lee. I went to Cayuga regularly in my high school years, and used Dad’s Impala to flat tow my friend’s Nova home once when he blew the Saginaw 4-speed.
I was a very poor bracket racer, but it was fun…
A couple of glaring errors in an otherwise nice article:
1. The NHRA nitro ban was over in 1963, by ’70, it was a bad memory. 1970 is about the time I started going to races, and it had been over with for about 7 years before that:
https://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/everything-you-know-about-the-nitro-ban-is-wrong-the-real-history-of-the-infamous-nhra-nitro-ban/
2. Chris Karamasenes drove the “Golden Greek” car NOT the ChiTown Hustler, which had several drivers over the years.
Great Lakes Dragaway is still open. Also still nothing but farm fields around it. Not much risk of development moving in.
The AMX in question is a ’70. AMC did offer owners of the 52 Hurst prepared 1969 AMX’s all the necessary parts to change the front sheet metal and grill over to the look of a ’70 (one of those marketing things to try to show your ‘latest’ model on the track). But to change the rear taillights would have required a new rear panel to be welded in, so I’m betting this AMX started out life as a ’70.
An announcement of the (Sunday) 6/14/70 program, with the big dragsters as the feature. Possibly Kevin Martin’s visit? (BTW, “Dragaway” seems correct)
Thanks for this. I have been looking for pictures of some of these cars I saw when I was 9 years old at the drag strip. Especially Tom McNeely ‘s blue vette.