Thank you my brother! Man what a blast from the past. I still remember the ads on the radio "Sunday Niagara!!!" When I was a kid growing up in Jamestown there was a guy up the street and around the corner that ran at Niagara. Remember I was a kid, let us say a while ago, so bear with me! He had a Chevy II with a big block Chevy, 850 Holley?, Muncie Crash box, rear end setup for the strip, Fire Engine Red. About this time of the year, spring, he would get her out to start getting ready for the strip. To be kind it was LOUD, my folks hated it , I loved it! I stood next to it one afternoon and was amazed how the ground shook when he popped the throttle. I never got inside it but I can imagine it must have been a rush to make a pass in! I left town the same year Niagara closed so I never got the chance to see him run, and I think he either stopped racing or maybe sold the car.. I would have tagged along with him to the strip but my Mom wouldn't let me go when I was younger, said it wasn't safe, whatever that meant. Back then Mom's words were final! Thanks again for the memory jolt! Be well and safe peace to you and yours.

@716carguys4

Жыл бұрын

Thanks I appreciate it I love hearing those old school drag car stories the roots of it all

Thanks for that radio bump at the start. My friends and I would catch those ads on WKBW. My heroes then were Gray, McGowan and Zakia. Billy (or Willy?) Gray and his Chevy. How we loved to hear him speedshift. My friend Bob and I found an old rusted and abandoned milk truck not far from where we lived in NF, and would get behind the wheel and act out our version of Willy Gray speedshifts using the truck's shift lever. LOL. Then there was John McGowan and his red Chevy. He used to wear a funny hat while racing. The track announcer referred to it as his "Black forest gnome's hat." Lol. Hard to imagine racing w/out a helmet, isn't it? But McGowan did. Others too, maybe. IDK. Or did he just wear it on the return road? Heck, I don't recall. (I'm 79 now and I reserve the unalienable right to forget sh*t.) Jim Zakia's garage in NF was just off Pine Avenue and Portage Road, a half block away from Niagara Falls High School. One of my classes was on the side of the school building that faced the direction where Jim's shop was, and now and again he'd start up one of his cars while my class was in session. Wow, I wanted to get out of class and over to Jim's garage so bad!! Thanks again for the memories.

Thank you for sharing ...Niagara resident here, very curious of this part of our history

Thanks for posting this! Very cool.

@716carguys4

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching

My father, Don Glena was the head track photographer from 68 or 69 until it closed. Love the video!!

Great video🤙

Dad brought me here a couple times as a kid around '68-'69 I guess, because I pestered him endlessly - great memories. I can still see the Bob Banning Dodge Coronet (maybe Pro Stock?) with windows tinted deep red to match the paint scheme... thanks for sharing.

@716carguys4

Жыл бұрын

Aw that’s cool 1969 was a badass year for racing still had all the gassers and then had some muscle cars playing too

Nice trip down memory lane thanks for sharing Steve

@dragracer455

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you !

I grew up on Haseley Dr., Niagara Drag Strip was a part of my younger days.

@716carguys4

Жыл бұрын

A lot of incredible Hotrod’s raced there

We used to go back there in the 90s and race up and down the track

I raced there in 68-70, then came back later in the 80's with a friend. We rode our motorcycles down the track for nostalgia sake.

@dragracer455

2 жыл бұрын

That’s cool so many amazing cars and people raced there

Brings back memories..I used to live close to Niagara Dragstrip..used to sit at the corner of Lockport Rd. and Military Rd. and watch the cars on trailers headed for the dragstrip then rode my bicycle down to the dragstrip, snuck under the fence and watched the drag races. Oh I did actually pay to get in once in awhile remember going to a nationals meet and never forget watching Connie Kalitta smoke the hides all the way down to the time trap. One kid in our neighborhood did wheelstands on his bicycle all the way down the strip they used to have him give a show at drag races. Remember Jim Oddy, Jim Zakia, Jerry Hammam, and two fuel dragsters: 'Time Machine' and 'Probe' they were regulars at the strip. Great memories.

@716carguys4

2 жыл бұрын

Very cool I love hearing all the stories from that place a lot of great memories

I raced there in the 90's. The Air Force never bothered us, it was always the Sheriff. I'm working on the Amazon project and the track is still accessible but not for long

i raced there in 1990. some guys took me there, i never knew it was there til then. we raced every sunday for most of the summer until the sherrif came out & evicted us. we had about 30-40 cars & about 75-100 spectators every week. i knew that sh*t was getting out of hand when people started trailering their full blown race cars in. lol.

scary as to what time can do!! remember that rack like it was yesterday

@716carguys4

2 жыл бұрын

Before my time but so many cool and famous rides have made passes there

LOL, Where I "won" Y/SA in 1972. 61 Plymouth Valiant, 170ci 6, pulling a whopping 21 second quarter. Was fun when you're 16

@716carguys4

Жыл бұрын

Ha that’s an awesome story

OMG, so weird (but cool) to see this. I used to go there regularly as a kid from 1969 - 1973. I remember standing in front of that tower watching Larry Arnold's King Fish Barracuda Funny Car and Dyno Don Nicholson's red & white Maverick Pro-Stocker right up close to the starting line. Usually I sat in the pit side stands though, watching Jungle Jim (and Pam), Don Garlits, Roland Leong, Richard Tharpe, Pee Wee Wallace, Phil Castronovo, Shirley Muldowney, and many, many more. And how about Wild Bill Shrewsbury's L.A. Dart? So cool. The local stars were Jim Oddy and Jim Zakia. My dad used to drop me off at around 9AM and I'd walk around the pits looking at the cars until the racing started at noon (there were Sunday noise restrictions then). I'd stay all day and dad would pick me up at 6 pm at the Tuscarora Rd entrance. I used to be that obnoxious kid calling Dean Johnson every week or so to ask what Pro Cars were going to be there. I have a lot of photos, programs, stickers, newspaper clippings, etc. A few years ago, I emailed back and forth with Dean about keeping his website alive, even offering to manage it myself. He kept it going for years, but now, sadly, it appears to be defunct. I had such a blast at that place as a kid. Thanks for the video, and thanks for the memories.

@716carguys4

Жыл бұрын

Ha I too annoy dean here and there great guy that place has SO much hot rodding history I’m glad you enjoyed the vid now dean does a lot on Facebook with the track check it out

My son and his friends run there go carts

went there a couple times a few years ago but didn't find anything except for the tower

@dragracer455

2 жыл бұрын

It’s all Buried in the woods kinda sucks to walk through

It's over grown, it's not worth it. *Looks left* "air conditioner" lol

@dragracer455

2 жыл бұрын

There’s also a tread mill up there too ha

My son and his friends run there go carts