lanniemalaha wrote:
When I was running wild with a hot rod heart in the late 1950s,and
early 60s.
The illegals were held on the Mt Lemmon Highway right at the base of
the mountains.
Strip faced south, of course because we could see for MILES that a
car was coming. Everyone stood still, sat in their cars waiting for
the oncoming vehicle to get close enough to tell if it was another
racer or Pima County Sheriff's Department.
Back in the late '60's, I had a '64 Jaguar XK-E roadster. A couple of friends had XK-E Coupes. Nearly every Saturday night we would drag race each other on that stretch of the Catalina highway at some point in time.
We never got caught and the top speed was only around 145 MPH but at three abreast on a two lane, it was exciting (and dangerous and stupid).
Thankfully we all matured and survived the period.
Someone mentioned Johnnies on Craycroft at Speedway. One night a couple of guys unloaded a fuelie dragster off the trailer at Johnnies and ran it to Swan. By the time the cops showed up, they were long gone and nobody knew anything! ;-)
And yes, Johnnies and KTKT was our Mel's Drive-in and soundtrack as someone else mentioned.
George Cohn
