Detroit Dragway, Super Stocks and Dyno Don by Charlie Kroll 09/11/08 Dertoit Dragway opened up in 1959 and my buddy Marty was there just about every weekend from 61-66. He first went with his brother and his friends. As his friends started to drive he went with them, sometimes hidden in the trunk because he didn't have the money to get in. He and his friends really got interested in the Super Stocks because they were the cars that you can go to the dealer and look and and see up close. In fact they knew what days the cars arrived at the different dealers and they would go watch as they were being unloaded. Some days just regular cars, other days they might see a 409 Bubble top at the Chevy dealer or a Max Wedge at one of the Mopar dealers. A lot of the neighborhood guys were fixing up their cars to be like the Super Stockers. One older guy in particular had a hot 61 Ford with headers and cutouts and was beating everything in the area, he even had some trophys from another Strip called Motor City Dragway. He started to brag around the neighborhood that he would race anyone and beat them. As the story goes one of the kids dad worked at one of the big 3 plants and told someone who raced a factory supported car about the kid and a race was set up on a very early Wednesday morning at 1:30 am on 8 mile and Meyers. So around the time everyone went to the spot and waited. Just before the start the 61 Ford showed up, a little later a very loud noise was heard rumbeling in on 8 mile and as it got closer it was a White Dodge with Red Candy Stripes on the body it was none other than the Ramchargers car on 8 mile. (click thumbnails to enlarge) They lined up and went at it right on 8 mile and the Dodge just walked away from the Ford. After that the kid didn't brag so much about how fast his car was. Putting these cars on the street wasn't really out of place. Roger Lindamood who drove Color Me Gone one told a story about a test and tune session on Woodward Ave. (click on thumbnails to enlarge) He wanted to see if the changes he made were going to work so he went out and a little while later so did the Ramchargers and the Golden Commandos then all of the sudden Bud Fabul and the Hemi Honker were there all just messing around on Woodward Ave. Marty said that when you went to Detroit Drag Way back in the 60's it wasn't like the tracks of today. You could almost stand on the starting line or the sides of the track and watch. The pits were pretty much the same you could walk around and see everything. If Dyno Don was under the hood of his Comet it wasn't uncommon for a fan or two to be right there looking as well. (click thumbnail to enlarge) If a fan stuck around long enough they got put to work. This happend to Marty as he hung around Dynos car to long and was told to hold this bolt, give me that wrench and so on. For his efforts he was given a Coke. He then got to talk to Don for a while before he had to race. Dyno won that round and after the win had Marty doing odd jobs again for him. It got to the point that whenever Dyno was in town racing Marty went to see him and usually was put to work. In 65 Dyno got a new Comet and so did Marty. He had to have his mom cosign fo him but he got a Powder Blue 65 Comet with a 289 and a 4-speed. It was a pretty fast car and he was taking it to Detroit Drag Way and going rounds but not winning a lot. Just happend one night before a big race that Marty was racing and Dyno and all they boys were towing in early and watching the little guys race. Dyno noticed Marty's Comet and asked how is the car running? Marty told him ok but could be better. Dyno went under the hood and adjusted this and that and regapped the plugs and said try that. So he did and ran his best time. He made it further then he ever did but didn't win but Dyno showed him what to do and he did eventually win a few trophys with his little Comet. Then in 66 Marty was working full time and was thinking about getting Married in a little while so the car was eventually sold and a family type car was bought and he never got to see Dyno Don again Charlie K. |
