Drag Racing The old street racing scenes

[Pro Stock John]

We started talking about the old street racing scenes in BOTTLEFED's build thread, Pressure Ratio was around back in those days too. Broke EF you were out there too.

I'm curious where y'all hung out back in those days.

Once I finished college I moved to the North side in 1989. By 1991 I had '68 Chevelle SS and later picked up a '92 Mustang GT. I used to check out Fluky's, Strats on Mannheim (on Mondays I think it was). I first started hearing about street racing spots from Surej (other Dr. Boost lol) around 1993. I had come across Harlem and Belmont the White Castle and also the DDs. But one time I was driving my '70 Chevelle and came up on Sureg and 4 other indian guys all driving Grand Nationals on Fullerton Ave. I followed them up to the Lincoln Village movie theater parking lot.

By this time the North side street racing scene was dying, Clybourn, Elston, nobody raced on those streets anymore. I never knew much about Back of the Yards, I'm still not even sure where that is lol. I know folks also ran at 79th at Kostner, Archer, and I'm sure there are ton of other scenes.

Up there I met Stretch and some of his buddies, and other folks (Marko, Pete who now has the green ZR1 C4, Burt, folks like that).

After the cop got f'n out of control with tickets Lincoln Village was all but dead and folks would go to gas station on Peterson. At some point folks mentioned Schaumburg, 4 corners, RT30 Sauk down South.

I hung out in Schaumburg a lot after the city scenes were all busted. Burger King, Cue Can Do.

How about you guys?

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[cap42]

Was more of a south side guy myself. doty, 4 corners lemont, Archer etc.. I would occasionally hang out at strats and cue but never street raced out there.

 

[Sprayin]

Early 00s we started way up north by us. Rock N Roll McDonald's in Gurnee. Used to be great. After that it was Streets of Woodfield, Stratford Square Mall, and then eventually Strats. Starting in like 02 or so going til like 10/11 or so.

We went to Doty at some point, don't remember when. Same with some of the Southside spots like 4 corners. Don't remember the years but early 00s for sure.

 

[frank]

I use to hang out at Strat’s on Wednesday nights in and out of high school as lived right there, other nights it was Belmont & Harlem area as it was close to home.

Depending on the day of the week, would take a ride to Ogden & 55 area, would make a visit to Doty road also.

Streets of Woodfield here and there only if we needed to go there.

Hung with a group of local guys in the Harlem / Belmont area, which later were on chi town racing days.

 

[Shawn1112]

All city spots, Doty, Incinerators, Stockyards, Ogden and Kostner, and Elston. I might be forgetting a couple. Marco and Pete lived behind me and we followed them to some spots in the burbs, but I don’t recall where. This was before the Supra, he had a Mustang.

 

[01bluesnake]

I was at all those spots, pretty much every weekend starting in '97/'98. If one was busted or dead we moved on to the next. Doty and 42nd & Pulaski is where i was at the most, but hit up Ogden, Belmont/VIP, Kostner, Strats, streets of Woodfield, etc

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Fuck im old, started back in 93 at Schaumburg train station/handy andy/super Kmart, we would make the occasional trip to doty or out to northgate, but spent a good majority in Schaumburg. then 75th and Lamont started going big so we would go out there. Had lots of fun back then. I remember Pressure Ratio and his guys being out in Schaumburg, and all the other mofos out there.

 

[Pro Stock John]

Where is Northgate?

75th and Lemont was such a haul for me I rarely went there and it was always dead when I went. I would see Marty Tischer out there sometimes.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Where is Northgate?

75th and Lemont was such a haul for me I rarely went there and it was always dead when I went. I would see Marty Tischer out there sometimes.

Northgate was out in aurora, that was the other spot back in the day that was decent.

 

[GLADIATOR]

Ogden/Kostner was my favorite. Watch the bears on Sunday then go see street racing during the day. Those were some straight up street outlaw gangstas.

 

[Pro Stock John]

BOTTLEFED we ever met? Also if you are a long time stangbanger did you know Ron Matula and Fat Jason? lol

I'd say I was hanging out mostly North side 92-99, and then when it was all a bust I'd be out out in Schaumburg. I went to RT30 McDs Sauk Trail once, sheesh that was a drive. Killer scene though.

 

[NOMIEZVR4]

I didn't start going till later but I went to 43nd and pulaski, that was near burger king right? Then you would drive out back somewhere in the industrial area. Went to the stockyards once, doty once, 4 corners once, strats, Irving and Barrington, woodfield..but by that time cops had started busting spots and it was getting tough to find legitimate spots especially since I didn't have too many racer friends.

 

[frank]

BOTTLEFED we ever met? Also if you are a long time stangbanger did you know Ron Matula and Fat Jason? lol

I'd say I was hanging out mostly North side 92-99, and then when it was all a bust I'd be out out in Schaumburg. I went to RT30 McDs Sauk Trail once, sheesh that was a drive. Killer scene though.

Good ole Ron and Jason! Had some good times with them both.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

BOTTLEFED we ever met? Also if you are a long time stangbanger did you know Ron Matula and Fat Jason? lol

I'd say I was hanging out mostly North side 92-99, and then when it was all a bust I'd be out out in Schaumburg. I went to RT30 McDs Sauk Trail once, sheesh that was a drive. Killer scene though.

Probably at some point over the years, and yes I remember both of those clowns, I just saw fat jason not long ago he works for lopez at Illinois lift. Hes defiantly gotten ALOT fatter lol

 

[Pro Stock John]

Good ole Ron and Jason! Had some good times with them both.

Frank you an old Harlem guy? You know Rob Vick and Brian Vida?

 

[Pressure Ratio]

Where is Northgate?

75th and Lemont was such a haul for me I rarely went there and it was always dead when I went. I would see Marty Tischer out there sometimes.

When I was 16 in 1991, the first spot and street race I ever saw was out of Northgate Mall on Lake Street (RT31) in Aurora. Aurora had two drive-inn places. An A&W and Swony's Drive Inn (Later Doggie Diner). Those would be the early cruise night spots. When the closed, people headed to Northgate Mall. Swony's was amazing as only serious hardware was allowed in their small lot. And when people left, everyone did a rolling burnout when they left. Was a blast.

I think through the two decades, Northgate had the fastest cars. Most were older guys with cars that were just missing decals and stickers to be race cars. And just a few minues west of the Mall was open roads and corn fields. Like Orchard road had nothing on it. Wide open. The cars in Aurora were fast. But those guys never left that area. They never traveled to other spots in the Chicagoland area. Occasionally guys from the city would head out there. You'd see them driving in the RH lane on 88. Doing 50-55 mph. No overdrive found. haha Some of the fastest passes I have seen on the street were in Aurora.

 

[frank]

Frank you an old Harlem guy? You know Rob Vick and Brian Vida?

I’m 44, but started hanging out there when I turned 16 in 94’. Not sure on the name all depends on what they drove.

 

[Pressure Ratio]

The second spot I ever went to was the Burger King on S Roselle Road in Schaumburg. This was the only spot before all the other Schaumburg spots. Across the street from Burger King was another huge lot. Sunday night was the night to be there. It would fill the Burger King lot and half of the lot across the street. We are talking about a couple hundred cars there on a good summer night.

But we traveled around and hit all of the spots mentioned. I think the Naperville Riverwalk and Taco Bell are the only place that hasn't been mentioned. I don't think we went to the city much at all. Doty road a few times. At the stockyards we had a gun pulled on us when they didn't want to pay. So weren't too interested to go back there.

When we were 16-18 doing this, most were much older than us. Which was a problem. As the car we raced the most was a 1987 Mustang GT. Every time we went out, we won money and put it back into the car. So every week or two, the car got faster. Plus all these old guy most had carbs and nitrous. They would pop the hood of the car and see injection and a hundred rubber hoses all over the place. They had no idea what to look for. But it was very obvious when Charlie would spray the car. It got ran on radials and as a "n/a" car. Charlie would leave soft, short shift into second, then spray it in second. You could hear the difference in the car screaming up the RPMs on the nitrous. But we always told Charlie that no matter what, after the race he was to just go home. No going back to the starting line if there was another way out. So the rest of us had to collect. And in a few cases, avoid and get into fights. hahahaha Those old guys didn't like losing to us young kids. We lost a couple of times. And threw a few races to get a sweater race from someone else. But no matter what, it was a blast!

But when Schaumburg McDonalds, Handy Andy, and such were popular, the older guys we had raced earlier on were mostly gone. It was a much younger crowd than when we had started.

 

[Pressure Ratio]

Charlie with the Mustang was a nut too. He lost his license on his 16th birthday doing burnouts on the Riverwalk. lol For years he had tickets on top of tickets. He lost his license and kept driving and racing. One time he got caught street racing and ran from the cops. He had no idea of the area. We kept trying to find him. As we were driving around, we would see him pass us in one direction with the cops behind. Then see him again a few minutes later in the opposite direction. They finally caught him and he went to jail that night.

His dad got a big lawyer and he avoided jail. When Charlie explained to his dad that if he had more power he could have gotten away. His dad gave him money to have DSS build him some big dollar, 8,500 rpm 302. We didn't hang out with him much by the time he got the car back together. But he ran it N/A. He would be racing bikes on Doty road all the time. The car was moving insanely fast for a street car at that time.

 

[Milhouse]

I was a Schaumburg Burger King kid. Probably 1999. Had a 91 foxbody that wasn’t much. FBO. 150 shot. Converter and some gears.

Weekends were great and I remember another night during the week being pretty solid as well. Lots of nights rolling into bed at 4 or 5 to be at work at 6:30.

We hung out at Ralphies shop and watched the races from his side dock door. Cops would come and we would just step back inside, close the door and act like we were “working”.

Don’t really remember too many people from those times. The partying got pretty hard and heavy in the early 2000’s.

Those were the days.

 

[frank]

I remember the bk on roselle road, had a few good times there. That would be the place for us to go to when nothing was happening by us. Was a haul back then, now it’s nothing.

Pressure Ratio getting a gun pulled on you is an experience in its own, had it happen a few times back in those days, some times it was racing, other times wrong place wrong time.

 

[b00sted]

Running my Mustang on motor in 2006. It was just an iron-headed 306. Old Harlem and then Weber Road:



And then on the Indiana road. Excuse the crackheads that followed us to the spot:

 

[SpeedSpeak2me]

When I was 16 in 1991, the first spot and street race I ever saw was out of Northgate Mall on Lake Street (RT31) in Aurora. Aurora had two drive-inn places. An A&W and Swony's Drive Inn (Later Doggie Diner). Those would be the early cruise night spots. When the closed, people headed to Northgate Mall. Swony's was amazing as only serious hardware was allowed in their small lot. And when people left, everyone did a rolling burnout when they left. Was a blast.

I think through the two decades, Northgate had the fastest cars. Most were older guys with cars that were just missing decals and stickers to be race cars. And just a few minues west of the Mall was open roads and corn fields. Like Orchard road had nothing on it. Wide open. The cars in Aurora were fast. But those guys never left that area. They never traveled to other spots in the Chicagoland area. Occasionally guys from the city would head out there. You'd see them driving in the RH lane on 88. Doing 50-55 mph. No overdrive found. haha Some of the fastest passes I have seen on the street were in Aurora.

Swony’s! Holy crap that brings back memories. We’d be on our bikes there (mid-late 90’s), and four wheelers were always looking to race. I remember people flying out of there, both bikes and cars. Aurora PD kind of turned a blind eye, until a rider went full-send and crashed going 100+. That shut it down for a while.

Other spot was the frontage road on the south side of 88, east of orchard (before it went through to Randall). The cops would come out and watch the bikes doing stunts and cars doing smoke shows. When they left the bikes would race.

 

[Pressure Ratio]

I remember the bk on roselle road, had a few good times there. That would be the place for us to go to when nothing was happening by us. Was a haul back then, now it’s nothing.

Pressure Ratio getting a gun pulled on you is an experience in its own, had it happen a few times back in those days, some times it was racing, other times wrong place wrong time.

No doubt. They didn't point it at us. But the had it out to show us they had the upper hand.

Swony’s! Holy crap that brings back memories. We’d be on our bikes there (mid-late 90’s), and four wheelers were always looking to race. I remember people flying out of there, both bikes and cars. Aurora PD kind of turned a blind eye, until a rider went full-send and crashed going 100+. That shut it down for a while.

Other spot was the frontage road on the south side of 88, east of orchard (before it went through to Randall). The cops would come out and watch the bikes doing stunts and cars doing smoke shows. When they left the bikes would race.

Swony's was a good time back then for sure. The cops would sit by the exit. They didn't want anyone doing a standing burnout. But rolling burnouts and launches were ok. And the whole trailer park across the street all came out with lawn chairs to watch the show. haha

They would roll through Northgate and occasionally hang out for a short while. They would tell us that they have worse things to worry about than us in a parking lot or out street racing in the fields. They would once or twice a year try to bust up a street race. Probably to show the community they were trying to do something about it. But overall they were cool.


Schaumburg was the same way until the early 2000's. After the motorcycle crash at the train station and us running from spot to shop, they allowed us to use the Woman's Workout World parking lot. As it was off the main drag and abandoned. But that was short-lived as there were two accidents in a week. Cars were coming back from racing. All in the RH lane to make a RH turn into the parking lot. Well, a bunch or ricers and young kids in their parent's cars saw the group and wanted to follow. They all wanted to stop and cut over from the LH lane to make the RH turn. And sure enough, they had a 3-4 car accident. So cops told us we ruined it and we were back to running from spot to spot. The area was pretty much done at that point. Cops got more aggressive with chasing us around and giving out tickets for everything.

Cops weren't always bad. We even had a video of a cop flagging a race haha

 

[SpeedSpeak2me]

No doubt. They didn't point it at us. But the had it out to show us they had the upper hand.



Swony's was a good time back then for sure. The cops would sit by the exit. They didn't want anyone doing a standing burnout. But rolling burnouts and launches were ok. And the whole trailer park across the street all came out with lawn chairs to watch the show. haha

They would roll through Northgate and occasionally hang out for a short while. They would tell us that they have worse things to worry about than us in a parking lot or out street racing in the fields. They would once or twice a year try to bust up a street race. Probably to show the community they were trying to do something about it. But overall they were cool.


Schaumburg was the same way until the early 2000's. After the motorcycle crash at the train station and us running from spot to shop, they allowed us to use the Woman's Workout World parking lot. As it was off the main drag and abandoned. But that was short-lived as there were two accidents in a week. Cars were coming back from racing. All in the RH lane to make a RH turn into the parking lot. Well, a bunch or ricers and young kids in their parent's cars saw the group and wanted to follow. They all wanted to stop and cut over from the LH lane to make the RH turn. And sure enough, they had a 3-4 car accident. So cops told us we ruined it and we were back to running from spot to spot. The area was pretty much done at that point. Cops got more aggressive with chasing us around and giving out tickets for everything.

Cops weren't always bad. We even had a video of a cop flagging a race haha

We ended up taking it out west, somewhere just south of 72, west of Burlington. Billiard table smooth blacktop, no cross streets, no driveways, no culverts, no houses. Was a good 45-60 minute ride, but worth it.