Street Drag Racers of the 60's

Bill told him that his mill (motor) was a 327 cubic inch and had some hot stuff in it. The guy said his name was Mark, felt that his car would blow his doors in, and he had $50.00 to bet that it could. Bill said that he would drag race his car to find out which one was faster, but had to start the race with a rolling start because of his highway gears. Mark said that it was ok with him because he was running 3:55 gears and they were not the greatest for racing either. Bill asked him where did he want to race and he suggested the closest place to drag race in the area was the Shine Inn on Highway 291 near the Massachusetts Turnpike entrance in Springfield, Massachusetts. Mark said it was the most popular place to drag race for the local area street racers. The quarter mile was from the underpass of the Massachusetts turnpike to the overpass of Swannagan Drive. They all agreed to go there and race. Mark ran over to his car and fired up his 396 motor dropped it in drive, giving his motor some gas and pulled out of Abdows Big Boy parking lot, burning rubber and going like the wind heading down Pasco Road. Bill pushed down his clutch pedal, turned the ignition key, pumped the gas pedal a few times, and fired up his 427-monster motor. He shifted the transmission into first gear, letting up the clutch pedal, giving the motor some gas and pulled out of the parking space. He looked around to see some of the guys shaking their heads knowing that he had more under the hood than he told Mark. He headed out of Abdows Big Boy parking lot taking it easy shifting the transmission around 3000 rpm in each gear and did not exceed the speed limit. They also headed down Pasco Road following Mark to 291 and the Shine Inn.

A few of the others in the parking lot heard about the drag race coming up and followed them to the Shine Inn. This was the first race for Bill to participate in and he was very excited to see what his car could do after all the work he and Charlie did to it. Chet was the starting counter for both cars. The normal procedure was to go to the underpass, stop all traffic behind the cars racing and someone count one, two, three, go. In this case Bill and Mark started off about a hundred feet from the underpass and were rolling about 10 miles an hour in first gear as they approached the underpass. Chet had his window rolled down, counted very loud so Bill and Mark could hear him and counted off one, two, three, yelling "go".

Bill and Mark both punched their gas pedals to the floor, Bill revved his 427 monster motor to 7000 rpm on the tachometer, then power shifted the transmission into second gear, which broke the rear tires loose. This caused the tires to screech and burn rubber, he revved the motor again to 7000 rpm and power shifted the transmission into third gear. This time, his tires only chirped and he revved the motor again to 7000 rpm on the tachometer and power shifted the transmission into fourth gear. Bill glanced to his right side to see where Mark was and found him three-car lengths back. He finished the quarter mile first and at about 115 miles per hour. They both slowed down to the double nickel speed limit and then got off at the Page Blvd exit.

They all went back to Abdows Big Boy drive-in restaurant and parked where they could find parking places. A lot of the guys that went to watch the race and returned after the race with them came over to talk with them. Mark also made his way over and handed him the $50.00 for the bet and was yelling at Bill, "if there is a 327 cubic inch motor under his hood he would eat shit"! Mark said his car had a 425 horsepower 396 cubic inch motor bolted to a new three-speed automatic in his 1966 Super Sport Chevelle and he had a very fast car. Mark said that he beat every car that had a 327 motor in it that he raced so far. Bill out of the goodness of his heart opened up the hood of his 62 Chevy and showed Mark the 427 cubic inch rat motor. Mark said, "I knew it", that there was a larger motor under the hood than a 327 cubic inch motor as the flags indicated. He asked Mark not to tell anyone so not to spoil his sleeper surprise and he wanted to fool a lot more people around the street racing gang.