Castlereagh Drags Sydney!

slowsnake · 06-07-2018, 11:22 AM

Hello,
Anyone of the older members remember going to the drags at Castlereagh back in the 60's-70's?
Best Saturday arvo and night entertainment around at the time,Ford, Holden and Valiant...or Ford, Chevy and Mopar.

I remember seeing some crazy Yank called EJ Potter, he looked like a drowned rat with glasses,a real nerdy lookin dude,but when he got on his 350ci motor sickle and blasted off his looks were forgotten,what a big buzz we got,had never seen a V8 bike before,blew me away,and Bobby Dunn in his "Terrifying T",and Jock McCloud in his AA fueler funny car Cortina,he called it "Mayhem"..the good old days..

Cheers Billy.

11ford11 · 06-07-2018, 02:04 PM

First date with the now wife.
6 sec. In top fueller was considered fast.
Big Ed and Joe Polito etc.etc.

slowsnake · 06-07-2018, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 11ford11

First date with the now wife.
6 sec. In top fueller was considered fast.
Big Ed and Joe Polito etc.etc.

Hello,
Yes they were crazy times,I stopped going about 1975,moved to Qld for work,but Castlereagh was the place to be,besides " Brickies " at Homebush of course.

Found a still video of EJ Potters Widowmaker 7, was sold after his Death in 2012 he was 71 and still racing.
Hope you enjoy the bike pics/stills,and yes he was mad,in fact he was nuts,lol..

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=34R6fNCH8rE

Cheers Billy.

stevesgt · 06-07-2018, 08:50 PM

We moved to Camden in the early 70s. Parents friends took dad and I to the track. As a kid it was at the end of the world. Omg I was hook. Name excepted me at present but was a torna with a huge blower. Detroit connection I think was te cars name. In later years he crashed it and he retired from the sport. The days of the flaming burn outs. Later on we built our own car. Racing at night over the end at 140mph into the darkness of the obiss then trying to brake on the marble stones. Rrrrr memories removed by John slingelton and his horse stud.

JK47 · 06-07-2018, 10:06 PM

Yes still remember,some good times were had ,all those GTs and Torana's,Valiants parked all over the place in the dust,people today would go nuts over the cars. If only we new then what would happen to the prices,
I started up there in the late 60' and I run my car at the creek about twice a month still, and my daily is heaps faster than my race car back than. JK

slowsnake · 08-07-2018, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JK47

Yes still remember,some good times were had ,all those GTs and Torana's,Valiants parked all over the place in the dust,people today would go nuts over the cars. If only we new then what would happen to the prices,
I started up there in the late 60' and I run my car at the creek about twice a month still, and my daily is heaps faster than my race car back than. JK

Hello,
Yes you could park your car or van on the little rise near the track and some even had ladders to the roof and table and chairs to watch the action,it was "cool bananas" and we loved it!

Cheers Vilim.

Sox · 08-07-2018, 05:25 PM

I went a bit in the late 70's and early 80's.
I was actually there for the last meeting and in fact won (raffle on the day) a seat on the very last race ever which was Ben Gatts bus VS another which I can't remember.

I was in the winning bus.

That night immediately after the buses finished, we started digging up the track and we all took pieces of the bitumen home.

This is perhaps one of my greatest memories there...

**FTE217** · 08-07-2018, 10:32 PM

I was coming into my teens '73....just cruising parramatta rd was a hoot for starters having street light drags lol.....
Brickies and Castlereagh were purely great times to live period !
Free as a bird to a degree.

JK47 · 09-07-2018, 11:02 PM

How many remember where the key to gate was hidden ,so you could get on the track any time you wanted, come on own up.!

slowsnake · 09-07-2018, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JK47

How many remember where the key to gate was hidden ,so you could get on the track any time you wanted, come on own up.!

Hello,
I arrived in Sydney in Dec 1968 and first hit the drags in 1969 as a 16 yr old,all I remember at the gate was an old bloke collecting money from memory,I don't even remember how much it was,never mind a hidden key!..lol
Or they may even of walked around collecting money?..I honestly do not remember!

Cheers Billy.

Fed · 09-07-2018, 11:29 PM

I think we picked up the key from the concrete batching ? joint down the road where you got your car weighed. Could be wrong though, it was 50 years ago.

slowsnake · 09-07-2018, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fed

I think we picked up the key from the concrete batching ? joint down the road where you got your car weighed. Could be wrong though, it was 50 years ago.

Hello,
I was a kid,a spectator not a competitor,so its lost on me,but I believe it,some folk left keys in odd places in those days!

Cheers Billy.

F6BF · 10-07-2018, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTE217

I was coming into my teens '73....just cruising parramatta rd was a hoot for starters having street light drags lol.....
Brickies and Castlereagh were purely great times to live period !
Free as a bird to a degree.

Remember those days very well

Joe polite was my favourite back in castlereagh days in his xw and xy ...will never forget the time he smashed the 9inch housing and the pinion was on the floor still connected to the tail shaft

**FTE217** · 10-07-2018, 04:17 PM

Buying avgas in 20l drums at the shell refinery....the green goanna.
Hey we could outrun any horse lol......

stevesgt · 10-07-2018, 07:01 PM

We were involved with a movie that was being made at the track. I remember driving up into the track and not having to look at the camera on the side of the road, omg that was so hard.
Get the car of the track and done a free runs and by memory whe had dropped a valve i still thave the piston and the valve inbeaded in in at 90 degrees to the top of the piston.
Movie never ever got finished.

Many will not no or remember that it was free for kids and it probably was the first sporting event to ban acahol from the spectator area.

XByoot · 17-07-2018, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTE217

I was coming into my teens '73....just cruising parramatta rd was a hoot for starters having street light drags lol.....
Brickies and Castlereagh were purely great times to live period !
Free as a bird to a degree.

I remember cruising Parra Rd. I was a bit too young for a licence but my uncle had a big bock Phoenix that went decent. He had a Windsor powered Model A roadster in later years, he got me my XM Coupe and we put a hot Windsor and top loader in it as my first car! Went decent for the day, man the old XT non vented discs worked hard! Back then the fuel prices didn’t hurt, but tyres kept me poor! R.I.P. Billy Boy, I miss ya.