Towed to Detroit Dragway, Not Home?

It was sometime during the late summer of 1965 when a group of local Detroit teenage hot rodders were talking about setting up their cars for a trip to Detroit Dragway on the following weekend. There was going to be a big meet there Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- three days of drag racing. One of the fellows in the group had a 1961 Ford Post Car with a 352 that he had run in the ‘D’ Hot Rod class and he wanted to see if there was a way that he could have his car set-up during the day (say on either Friday morning or early afternoon) and get it towed to the strip later that same afternoon for the evening event; he had always driven to the track, made his runs and then drove home after the day or evening’s racing was completed. This time he was hoping to have that “extra” edge like the pros by not having to mess up the tune by driving it prior to the time trials.

The group decided that he would approach their older friend who did the tuning and was a sort of their mentor and ask him if he would be willing to super-tune the ‘61 and then tow it to the strip for him. The older fellow told them that he would be willing to do the tune up, but would be unable to tow the car to the track. He said that he would meet them there later that evening. He told the owner of the ‘61 that he would be able to use his tow-bar, provided they were able to come up with a tow vehicle. One of the fellows in the group had a big Desoto sedan that they all knew would make a fantastic tow vehicle, they just had to convince him that he wanted to use his car for this purpose.

Well, comes the day in question, the owner of the ‘61 drives it over to a mutual friend’s house to leave the car there for the day so that the “tuner” could work his magic. It was agreed that the owner of the car would return with his friend and the tow vehicle by around 4 p.m. and hook up the ‘61 for the ride out to the strip. Here’s the logistics of this event: The car owner lived in the area of 7 Mile and Evergreen, the ‘Tuner” lived in Commerce Township, the “mutual” friend lived near Puritan and Schaefer and, well I’m sure that you know where the Detroit Dragway was located. By the way, the fellow with tow vehicle lived not too far from the owner of the ‘61.

All goes well with the drop off and the two guys (the owner of the ‘61 and the driver of the tow vehicle) spend the day just hanging out and staying out of trouble. Somewhere around 4 p.m., they show up at the mutual friend’s house to hook up the ‘61 and head out to the strip. SURPRISE! No car keys and the tools are locked in the trunk! Nobody is home except the fellow’s mother, but she can’t help because she’s been gone all day and really doesn’t know anything about what’s been going on other than the note that her son left her saying that two fellows would be over to pick up the ‘61 Ford. They then asked her if they could use her phone, she agreed and the owner of the ‘61 called the ‘Tuner” to find out where he had put the keys to the ‘61. All he could say was “Oops, they’re in my toolbox along with your collector caps. I’ll see you at the track in two hours.”So, the short version goes like this: The owner had to remove the rear seat and climb through to the trunk to pop the deck lid so that they could get access to his tool box to hook up the tow bar. They were glad that he hadn’t locked the car. Once they had “hot-wired” the car and gotten it out to the street, they were able to hook up the tow bar and head out. Somewhere around Puritan and Southfield, the tow bar decided to go on strike, leaving the two fellows a bit stranded on the southbound Southfield Service Drive. Nothing left to do but remove the tow bar, fire up the ‘61 and drive the beast to the track!

All the way to Detroit Dragway in rush hour traffic: down the Southfield Expressway to Michigan Ave., across Michigan (in front of the Calvin Theater, seeing the glass rattle in the ticket taker’s booth as the car idled by) on over to Telegraph and then on down to Sibley and finally from Sibley to the track (a piece of cake) hot wired and with the headers wide open! The joys of hot rodding. Think about it -- this was at a time when any loud pipes were deeply frowned upon by the local constabulary (and they didn’t like it much either). The driver just knew that an officer of Dearborn’s finest was going to be waiting for him around the next corner! Fortunately for him they were apparently busy elsewhere. With the tow car behind him, he pulled onto the strip property and breathed a huge sigh of relief. They had made it! They would worry about getting back home when the time came, for now all that mattered was to get through the tech inspection and the time trials so that they could get the car into the eliminations.

They did manage to hook up with the “tuner,” however, he told them that he had left his tool box at his shop and with it were the collector caps and the keys. It looked as if the ride home from the strip would be as much, if not more fun, than the ride to the track! Headers wide open at one o’clock in the morning was a sure way to get attention -- and still is for that matter! Well, after all of the bench racing was said and done and the real races were over win, lose or draw, it would be time to point that old ’61 Ford north and head for home.

For now it was time to get that old Henry into the final round of eliminations and then on to the eliminator round if possible. He did manage to get a class trophy that night, but lost in the competition eliminator round. So much for a “pro tune up” and being towed to the track! Because he had stayed for the eliminator rounds that night, it was really late, maybe two in the morning when he left the strip and headed home. It seemed like he was the only car on Telegraph Road as he drove on in the darkness. He only came across one police car on the ride home and was able to take some side streets to avoid it. When he got near his folks’ house, he killed the engine and coasted to a stop in front of the house so as not wake them.

He spent the remainder of the night sleeping in the car until his father woke him up as he left for work about 6 a.m. He then went into the house, said hello to his mother and crashed until late afternoon. After all, he had to do it all over again that night and also on Sunday – this was a three-day event and he was going to be there for all three days.

• Login or register to post comments