braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Mar 26, 2020 22:31:02 GMT -5
In another thread EricD asked about my Drag Racing car so that's my excuse to tell this story:).... I retired from the Canadian military in 1996 and moved to where I am now in 1998. When I moved here I was very pleased to find a local Drag Strip...I've always liked drag racing so volunteering at the track came easy. A couple years later one of my racing friends convinced me to take his car for a run down the track and I was hooked. Shortly after that another friend gave me a 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis (1st photo), it was the slowest thing at the track but I had a blast with it for 3 years. All along I had a retirement project 1966 Mercury Comet in my garage...when I got it I wasn't sure whether I wanted it to be a daily driver, show car or what but my time at the drag strip took that decision away and many dollars and many hours later I was ready to race (2nd photo). I raced it for a few years till about 5 years ago when I quit for a number of reasons that all came together at the same time. By drag racing standards the Comet is/was pretty slow (13.52 @ 103 MPH best 1/4 mile time) but I had lots of fun...won a few trophies, a bit of money and made lots of friends. From the get go I knew I wasn't going to race forever but I also knew I was going to keep it (for nostalgic reasons) so I kept it fairly close to street legal. When I quit racing 5 years ago one of the first things I did towards making it street legal was to find the windshield wipers and put them on the hood...they're still there! (street conversion is on hold awaiting motivation ). I'm not too worried about getting it finished but I do have a timeline... a couple years ago my then 8 yr old grand niece asked "When can we go for a drive?". I told her it would be ready for her graduation so I got a few years yet 100% true story... IMG_0034 by braat33, on Flickr IMG_0038 by braat33, on Flickr
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,340
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Post by quartz on Mar 26, 2020 22:50:00 GMT -5
Racing an underdog like your big Merc is always more fun. Like the Comet.
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Post by MsAli on Mar 27, 2020 6:15:48 GMT -5
Great story and pictures. That comet is sweet!
When I was much, much younger I use street race in a 1983 Mercury Capri. God that was fun.
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Mar 27, 2020 9:28:42 GMT -5
Racing an underdog like your big Merc is always more fun. Like the Comet. You're right...it was more fun than the Comet if I'm being honest...the big Merc being so slow wasn't expected to win and less experienced drivers in much faster cars would freak out and take off too soon (red light) when they saw me way down the track. For those that don't know - drag racing uses what is called bracket racing where the slower car gets to take off before the faster car by an amount depending on how much faster the other car is...it levels the field so that rich people with fast cars can't buy the trophy. Sounds like you raced quartz ?
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Mar 27, 2020 10:04:18 GMT -5
Great story and pictures. That comet is sweet! When I was much, much younger I use street race in a 1983 Mercury Capri. God that was fun. Thanks MsAli ...I like to tell stories and how I got the Comet is another story When I retired I wanted a project car but what to buy - I considered everything from Corvettes to MG midgets but soon decided on a '66 Comet cause I liked the look and my Dad had one when I was a teen and I used to drive the snot out of it when I thought he wasn't looking . But any I found were either thousands of miles or thousands of dollars away...meanwhile my brother is telling me about this Ford sitting in a farmer's field but I blew him off because he's a Dodge guy and what does he know about Fords. Long story short I was visiting my brother New Years Eve and looking to kill time before the festivities I said "Let's go look at this thing". Soon as I saw it I said "That's it that's the one!" to which brother replied "But he won't sell it". I was ticked off and said "Then why are you even telling me you idiot!" (brothers do that) He responded "Give me the winter to work on him." Sure enough come spring the owner was willing... we made a deal and the rest you know upthread. '83 Capri was (still is) a popular platform to easily plunk in a big engine and go fast for fairly cheap. Was it your car?
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Post by MsAli on Mar 27, 2020 10:22:20 GMT -5
You're a great story teller! The car was meant to be yours
The car was mine. 1st car I bought when I was 16. I was racing BMX at that time and how I got my bike and gear in it, I still dont know. Had to laugh at what you said about not being expected to win. The boys had that same mentality about racing a girl.
Sometimes its All about timing
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Post by MsAli on Mar 27, 2020 10:22:35 GMT -5
I'll have to see if I have a picture of it
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Mar 27, 2020 10:27:31 GMT -5
I'll have to see if I have a picture of it Yes...
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braat
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2016
Posts: 350
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Post by braat on Mar 27, 2020 10:46:57 GMT -5
The car was mine. 1st car I bought when I was 16. I was racing BMX at that time and how I got my bike and gear in it, I still dont know. Had to laugh at what you said about not being expected to win. The boys had that same mentality about racing a girl. Sometimes its All about timing Yup.... some of the girls I raced made me real nervous at the starting line cause they were known to have consistently good reaction times. And as you likely know nervous means erratic reaction times which usually means you lose. Over the 10 + years I raced I lost every way possible I think
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,340
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Post by quartz on Mar 28, 2020 0:11:12 GMT -5
I had a couple rigs that purposely looked underdog, one was and one a "sandbagger". I never cheated, but as you say sometimes out psyching works, and the underdog racing doesn't have the pressure of big bucks gotta win racing. Didn't like that bracketing business, seems to me to be against everything I'm supposed to be doing; getting quicker. I got involved in helping build and maintain an off-road racing pickup, liked that better.
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