The real history of drag racing in Albuquerque, NM With pics from the 50s

TOPFUEL said:

South Eubank was the shits. Friday night about 10 or so all the squirrel racers would have to go home. Then the fast cars would stop crusin Eastdale and head out to South Eubank. Street racing for hours one car after another. Have some pictures not many. Far better than monty ever has been. A good night fri or sat would have cars lined down the 1/4 mile on both sides of people watching. There were 10 real fast cars in the 74-78 era. I was one never the fastest though in the top 7 or so. Bob labatte in his love truck was looking for me beat him everytime we raced he hated it. I races my freind Don hastings who owned and built Iron Butterfly. I have a baseball card with his car on it. It was featured on the front cover of Time magazine. I could go on and on. after South Eubank got closed down we went to Digital plant a street called Singer Freden. Now it is called Jefferson between the 1-25 exit and osuna. the only problem there was the FOP(faturnal order of police) was at the end of the 1/4. Then the hang out was the park at sonic at eubank there would be 1000 people on a real busy night no BS most of the time 300-400 people. Then 98th street I guess that is about the time Keenan, Dickson started racing.

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JohnFreeman said:

What a gold mine!

I was in high school during those days and I spent a lot of time on S. Eubank as well and the dragstrip south of town.

S. Eu was great because it was a dead end, had a turnaround at the base gate , and also had lighting there all night , at the base gate. Very handy! The cops usually left everyone alone but I recall a couple times being caught there when APD would block off the whole street, take everyones license and call them in for bench warrants. After a few of those events, I just parked inside the barbed wire fence to watch, since I had a base sticker. The cops would come but I could sit and watch the action, since there was nothing they could do since I was on the other side of the fence.

It's fantastic to see the cars at Albuquerque Dragstrip. The one car I recall best, is the photo of Flash Cadillac. That thing ran in the 12s as I recall, and had full interior. Apart from the gold leaf "Flash" on the rear quarter, it was a stock looking car. He had to make most of the speed stuff for the car, since nobody made speed stuff for Caddies. It was awesome to see that big old car launch... it was one of the most reliable cars...always fast. Anyone know what happened to that car?

I also recall Guaranteed Auto...bought lots of stuff there. They were the original shop before Supershops opened up on San Mateo just south of Montgomery. Guaranteed was on Central just west of Wyoming,and there was always interesting cars out in front of the shop.

APD was pretty cool back then. The alternate racing spot was on frontage road at the north end of town, but I never went...just too far (15 miles?). Eubank had nice start and finish stripes on the pavement. The only thing at the time that was there on Fri and Sat nights was Speedway Park dirt oval, and the dump. It was a perfect place to race.

I'd really be interested in knowing what happened to any of these cars if anyone knows.

Thanks a ton for posting these . Sooo many good memories.

John

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HotRodGMC68 said:

Awesome pics! Always love seeing things like that! Bobby Davalos comes into my work all the time.. I work with his brother. Dale Shcafer comes in every now and then as well to share stories of the good old days!

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SnM Racing said:

I remember those days. I was just a lil girl and I used to be in the car with my dad all the time. He used to race the 69 Camaro that was called Mighty Mouse. Does anyone remember that car?

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