INTRO:
A reply that I made on another thread brought back a memory that had long since been stored away in that giant vast wasteland that is my memory.
When I was 17 in Denver Colorado, it was 1974. We actually lived in Aurora, a suburb directly to the east of Denver. By that time, I had just bought my 1969 mach 1. My best friend (Victor) hadn't yet saved up enough money to get his dream car, (eventually to become a 69 Roadrunner w/ a 440) so he was "doomed" to be at his father's mercy, and relegated to have to borrow his F100 pick up when ever he wanted to go somewhere. It needs to be said that Victors father was a dick head, and Victors' relationship with his father was tenuous at best.
Since Denver was such a large city, and since we were kids, "cruising" was something we had yet to discover. It was happening somewhere,...but we just didn't know where to look. Bottom line,..Up until I discovered Stapleton Drive, Saturday nights in Aurora Colorado were the equivalent of being in Bug Nut Idaho.
But we looked for it.
What the Hell is that place?
We had heard rumors that there used to be a pretty major motorsport complex that had closed down some years before somewhere around Aurora. It was the topic of several conversations that I had had with the guys. One day, while I was with my dad to do some crazy sht he was doing (my dad was always doing some crazy sht) I see this complex sitting out in the middle of nowhere about 10 miles east of where we lived. From the interstate you could plainly see bleachers and what had to be a announcers' tower. I figured that that had to be the place we were all talking about.
The stuff of urban legend,now no longer a myth,....Sitting 10 miles to the east of our little burb..........I had found it. I,.....yes,....ME had single handedly discovered................Atlantis.
When I get back home after the crazy ass sht project my dad was chasing, I got in my car, and went over to Victor's house to tell him of my discovery. We decided right then and there that we had to go see the place first hand and set out that afternoon to do that. I can't remember why we had to take my car and his dad's pick up there, all I can remember was that we did.
The path to that place was a typical for the day stretch of gravel road. During those days there was no GPS, no Google Earth, No navigation system to get6 us there. I didn't think to look on a map, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway, this place only existed for three years before going bankrupt. They wouldn't be on any map anyway.
We just attempted to find the way there by driving in the direction of the bleachers.
The stretch of gravel road was probably insignificant, but because all of those rocks were slamming and banging off of my mach 1's bodywork, the distance seemed much longer, but soon and sure enough we found the entrance gate to that place. I also don't remember what they had used to keep trespassers out of that place, but I'm here to tell you it didn't stop us.
We went in.
Once inside, it was like being in an coliseum. The bleachers were made of concrete, and seated thousands. Each spectator actually had their own seat with a back rest that swiveled so that he/she could revolve as the racing cars sped past. The track was asphalt/cement and was like a 1/2 mile oval. It was banked on the ends with a "X" in the middle for probably what could have been demo derby stuff, or some other type of racing.
Along, and in front of the bleachers was a 1/4 mile straight that extended past the banked end to accommodate drag racers.
In what had to be a "pit area", there was a set of steel rollers set into concrete. I don't know what those rollers were for. I do know that I was able to back my asthmatic 351W onto those rollers, and have my friend push me off of them while the car was in high gear and the speedometer was reading about 100MPH.
The resulting smoke fest was the best burn out that that car would see for a long time.
He and I dicked around at that place for a couple of hours, we walked the facility, I drove my mach 1 around the oval,....tires screaming against the banked surface. I tested out the drag strip we had a blast.
Uhh Victor,...Your Dad's truck has a single exhaust....
Eventually we left. No sooner had we done that when a local county sheriff vehicle intercepts, and stops us as we exit the property.
" You boys know this is private property right?" Officer Dan ask us.
"Uhhhh No sir,...we just wanted to check the place out"...I say, trying to justify my criminal behavior.
"Well,..I clocked you at 88 miles per hour on that strip of road there son,...I could write you a whole bunch of tickets".. the officer informs me.
I must've looked like I was just sentenced to life imprisonment, cause Officer Dan let us go with a warning, and tells us to stay out of this facility.
"No problem sir!" We shake his hand like he just gave us the deal of a lifetime.
He goes one way, we go the other,....towards home.
Victor did not get to play at that track He only had his dad's green and white F100 w/ a small topper. Not exactly your typical "fun car". Needless to say, he did not have as much fun there as I did. However, That did not let that stop him from having fun with it on the way home on that gravel road.
I was leading us out, so all I could see what was was happening in my rear view mirror.
Victors idea of fun was to fish tail that truck in the gravel. As he gets more brazen, the fishtailing actually starts to become more of a drift. Looking back in the rear view, I'm seeing the entire sides of Victor's dad's truck sliding, as he slides from side to side of that gravel road.
This goes on for awhile until finally the thing slides off the road, he loses control, it spins the wrong way, and it flips over on it's side. Again,...looking in my rear view mirror,I see the full bottom of the truck, and slam on my brakes. Just as quickly as it had stood up on it's side, it mercifully slams back down on it's tires.
When I get back to the truck, and after making sure that Victor wasn't dead (which he clearly was not) he gets' out and we survey the situation. No real damage, other than some scratches, save for one glaring problem....
The topper that used to hang about 2" off of the sides was now flush on one side, and hanging off about 4 " on the other.
"What ever are we gonna tell your dad?" I ask. "We gotta make up something,..He'll kill me if he knows I was out here and rolled the truck" Victor replies.
We come up with some story about how he got forced up against a wall by some drunk guy, and Victor takes that story to his dad. Who doesn't believe one word of it. I call Victor later to see how it went and he tells me that I wont be seeing him for a long while as he had been grounded until he coughs up the truth. "Tell him the truth" I tell him,..."I did!" he says,..."he still won't believe me!!"
It's a damn shame when the truth won't set you free.
That track still exists. and bears worth looking. If you have Google Earth, search Century 21 racetrack in Aurora Colo, and see what has become of it.
It's a ghost town,.........But if you listen real closely,............You can still hear us laughing that day.
A reply that I made on another thread brought back a memory that had long since been stored away in that giant vast wasteland that is my memory.
When I was 17 in Denver Colorado, it was 1974. We actually lived in Aurora, a suburb directly to the east of Denver. By that time, I had just bought my 1969 mach 1. My best friend (Victor) hadn't yet saved up enough money to get his dream car, (eventually to become a 69 Roadrunner w/ a 440) so he was "doomed" to be at his father's mercy, and relegated to have to borrow his F100 pick up when ever he wanted to go somewhere. It needs to be said that Victors father was a dick head, and Victors' relationship with his father was tenuous at best.
Since Denver was such a large city, and since we were kids, "cruising" was something we had yet to discover. It was happening somewhere,...but we just didn't know where to look. Bottom line,..Up until I discovered Stapleton Drive, Saturday nights in Aurora Colorado were the equivalent of being in Bug Nut Idaho.
But we looked for it.
What the Hell is that place?
We had heard rumors that there used to be a pretty major motorsport complex that had closed down some years before somewhere around Aurora. It was the topic of several conversations that I had had with the guys. One day, while I was with my dad to do some crazy sht he was doing (my dad was always doing some crazy sht) I see this complex sitting out in the middle of nowhere about 10 miles east of where we lived. From the interstate you could plainly see bleachers and what had to be a announcers' tower. I figured that that had to be the place we were all talking about.
The stuff of urban legend,now no longer a myth,....Sitting 10 miles to the east of our little burb..........I had found it. I,.....yes,....ME had single handedly discovered................Atlantis.
When I get back home after the crazy ass sht project my dad was chasing, I got in my car, and went over to Victor's house to tell him of my discovery. We decided right then and there that we had to go see the place first hand and set out that afternoon to do that. I can't remember why we had to take my car and his dad's pick up there, all I can remember was that we did.
The path to that place was a typical for the day stretch of gravel road. During those days there was no GPS, no Google Earth, No navigation system to get6 us there. I didn't think to look on a map, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway, this place only existed for three years before going bankrupt. They wouldn't be on any map anyway.
We just attempted to find the way there by driving in the direction of the bleachers.
The stretch of gravel road was probably insignificant, but because all of those rocks were slamming and banging off of my mach 1's bodywork, the distance seemed much longer, but soon and sure enough we found the entrance gate to that place. I also don't remember what they had used to keep trespassers out of that place, but I'm here to tell you it didn't stop us.
We went in.
Once inside, it was like being in an coliseum. The bleachers were made of concrete, and seated thousands. Each spectator actually had their own seat with a back rest that swiveled so that he/she could revolve as the racing cars sped past. The track was asphalt/cement and was like a 1/2 mile oval. It was banked on the ends with a "X" in the middle for probably what could have been demo derby stuff, or some other type of racing.
Along, and in front of the bleachers was a 1/4 mile straight that extended past the banked end to accommodate drag racers.
In what had to be a "pit area", there was a set of steel rollers set into concrete. I don't know what those rollers were for. I do know that I was able to back my asthmatic 351W onto those rollers, and have my friend push me off of them while the car was in high gear and the speedometer was reading about 100MPH.
The resulting smoke fest was the best burn out that that car would see for a long time.
He and I dicked around at that place for a couple of hours, we walked the facility, I drove my mach 1 around the oval,....tires screaming against the banked surface. I tested out the drag strip we had a blast.
Uhh Victor,...Your Dad's truck has a single exhaust....
Eventually we left. No sooner had we done that when a local county sheriff vehicle intercepts, and stops us as we exit the property.
" You boys know this is private property right?" Officer Dan ask us.
"Uhhhh No sir,...we just wanted to check the place out"...I say, trying to justify my criminal behavior.
"Well,..I clocked you at 88 miles per hour on that strip of road there son,...I could write you a whole bunch of tickets".. the officer informs me.
I must've looked like I was just sentenced to life imprisonment, cause Officer Dan let us go with a warning, and tells us to stay out of this facility.
"No problem sir!" We shake his hand like he just gave us the deal of a lifetime.
He goes one way, we go the other,....towards home.
Victor did not get to play at that track He only had his dad's green and white F100 w/ a small topper. Not exactly your typical "fun car". Needless to say, he did not have as much fun there as I did. However, That did not let that stop him from having fun with it on the way home on that gravel road.
I was leading us out, so all I could see what was was happening in my rear view mirror.
Victors idea of fun was to fish tail that truck in the gravel. As he gets more brazen, the fishtailing actually starts to become more of a drift. Looking back in the rear view, I'm seeing the entire sides of Victor's dad's truck sliding, as he slides from side to side of that gravel road.
This goes on for awhile until finally the thing slides off the road, he loses control, it spins the wrong way, and it flips over on it's side. Again,...looking in my rear view mirror,I see the full bottom of the truck, and slam on my brakes. Just as quickly as it had stood up on it's side, it mercifully slams back down on it's tires.
When I get back to the truck, and after making sure that Victor wasn't dead (which he clearly was not) he gets' out and we survey the situation. No real damage, other than some scratches, save for one glaring problem....
The topper that used to hang about 2" off of the sides was now flush on one side, and hanging off about 4 " on the other.
"What ever are we gonna tell your dad?" I ask. "We gotta make up something,..He'll kill me if he knows I was out here and rolled the truck" Victor replies.
We come up with some story about how he got forced up against a wall by some drunk guy, and Victor takes that story to his dad. Who doesn't believe one word of it. I call Victor later to see how it went and he tells me that I wont be seeing him for a long while as he had been grounded until he coughs up the truth. "Tell him the truth" I tell him,..."I did!" he says,..."he still won't believe me!!"
It's a damn shame when the truth won't set you free.
That track still exists. and bears worth looking. If you have Google Earth, search Century 21 racetrack in Aurora Colo, and see what has become of it.
It's a ghost town,.........But if you listen real closely,............You can still hear us laughing that day.
