the early 70s pro stocks were badass . every car had such cool custom paint jobs and none looked alike . so much more entertaining than the garbage pro stock nhra peddles today .
10 years ago I was at Superior Automotive checking on my engine build and the Motown Missile was there for a tune up I guess. I stood there for a moment and thought, what stories it could tell.
It’s pitiful what happened to pro stock I was here in 1970 when it all got started. I tell people a couple of guys could pool together and build a pro stock car back then , can’t even think about doing that now ... great video.
I am 16 and trying to get a job to save up for a car to do an engine swap for better power and performance but I don't know if I want a 1970 challenger or a 1968 camaro
@@banjoman2957: they’re both pretty cool, it boils down to what’s available & what can I afford. The best days of my life were from 14-22, wrenching on old cars with my dad. Nowadays things are so different.
Few years ago I delivered fuel oil to a new customer. I his office getting paid I saw lots of race car photos and stuff. I saw the name on the check, LARRY LOMBARDO!! we talked for a good while 😎😎
In the early 90"s i worked for Safety Kleen as a service rep. out of Springfield, MO. Anyway, there was a MOPAR (mostly) junk yard and a fairly large service shop west of Springfield and the owner had the original unmolested Sox & Martin 70 hemi Cuda. He bought the car turn key. The engine was out of the car sitting a two tires. I can say first hand those cars were not works of art. They kind of hacked on that quite a bit, no joke. He also had a clone that was just like the original 70 Cuda, it was really cool. He also had a lot of original muscle cars like a Ford Talladega , Charger 500 and a bunch of other cars I can't remember from 28 years ago.
I literally saw almost every one of these cars and many more run back in the day at Lakeland Dragstrip...Winston Nationals...and Gainesville...Snowbird Nationals. Brings back memories.
I was fortunate enough to have watched most of these racers in person at Summer Nationals (York PA), Spring nationals (Columbus OH), and World Finals (Amarillo, TX) . Lots of great memories, but sadly my hearing has suffered as i was too "macho" (more like stupid) to use ear plugs or other protective equipment. Still, it was a great era, and will live forever in my mind! I was also lucky enough to visit Sox & Martin's shop in NC. You could eat off the floor in that place it was sooooo clean!
I have a couple of the red plastic clamps too..I have used them for every model I have ever built... they are about dead now, I retired them..lol!..I do remember the t-shirt transfer too, but that was a long time ago..I wish I would have saved some of my autoworld catalogs, I bought slot cars from them..
Kenny DeMartini great story... being a kid and old enough to know 'cool' models are where I found my love that never stopped, first car 'pro street 70 super bee. Mopar forever.
Sox and Martin vs Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins was a classic match I remember. Atco Dragway, NJ. Man, today's Pro Stock cars look like funny cars. All plastic.
nice too see old school dragsters.so much simpler back then now you need 3 hundred thousand dollar machine too set timing instead of your ear thank you for you time and hard work can't beat old school brother good times
Modern drag racing has all but been destroyed by politics and advertising, cant even watch anymore. Give me grass roots door slammers all day everyday. :)
vintage pro stocks were badass. they had the coolest paintjobs and the top drivers all had the coolest nicknames. the boss ronnie sox, grumpy jenkins, dyno don nicholsen , dandy dick landy, mr four speed herb mccandless ., california flash butch leal
I think the Cuda at 1:58 is the Motown Missile driven by the late Don Carlton after it was sold and wound up in Canada I think. The last I saw or heard it was at a shop in Star,MS. to be restored to it's Motown Missile version. It was in rough shape but it was salvageable I think.
The WIBG Gremlin, was driven by Rich Lamont. Rich manages the 422 Allstars Nostalgia/SS series, out of Oaks PA. I have raced with the Allstars for 10 years. Good show, and pays $1500 to win!
I lived in calumet city Illinois growing up. It was great my brother had a new muscle car every week seemed I was. 5 and seen 3 69 white chevells driving down my block all three were SS and were twins my block was great I grew up around alot of all original muscle cars
I was a young man when A/FX & Super stock changed to Pro Stock. Why did it take so long for Pro Stock to tub the rear ends to get in bigger tires? Rules for Pro? Not thought about? Technology? I know at many times Pro Stock had Nitros, Laughing gas sneaked in along with weight breaks for weight vs horsepower like the 4-door Mavericks with Mountian motors
Ya know, one of the most famous pro stock rivalry's out there was the snake and the mongoose cars driven by Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen and Yet Ive never seen one single video clip of those two guys squaring off in Pro Stock cars.
i would go further than that gopro,modern racing of virtually any sort now is nearly unwatchable,for a variety of reasons that include generic looking cars and no real tie in with the cars you buy at the dealership anymore,its really a shame
did u c the ford mavericks im big fan of them and mopar but they r a forgotten real racer light can accomadate bb or small n light waight n grt transfer gr8 1/8 mile car with 9 inch n spool strange 410 gears
Thad Barkett i remember Grumpy havin a lock on pro with the Vega till gap & roush milled off the exhaust side of the Cleveland head and stuck it in the 4dr.Maverick. Those cars killed his Vega every time!
In the late 60's the pros were turning around 10 with top speeds around 130-40. The arrival of the altered wheelbase funny cars with fiberglass bodies changed everything. They began to run in the nines with top speeds over 160. Times just kept going down as weight declined and horsepower went way up. The factories got even more involved in the early 70's and they all had major investments and crews to help the drivers. I will once again credit Arnie Beswick, The Farmer, with the first run in the nines and I understand he had no factory or dealership sponsor.
@Donald W Pendergast And then Joel Rosen got hit with an EPA fine for building and selling BB Vegas in 1975. I thought at the time we were destined for more outrageous cars being custom built quite easily that could top that. Didn't happen.
