More than half a year disappeared in several updates and an overhaul of the engine. This included testing a larger, two-inch SU H8 carburetor. Despite being easier to drive, it was not sorted out and, therefore, Weber 45 was soon back in its rightful place. During the early summer, the Corvair engine was temporarily replaced with a lightly tuned VW 1600 when the car was used for, among other things, a trip to the northern parts of the country. A lot of people were curious and we were stopped along the way to talk about the car. All in all, the delay contributed to starting the season later that year on July 29th.
The first race was in Norrtull against a -68 Camaro with 327 engine. The memories are few except that it was not a quick race. One strange thing, however, is that we raced under wet road conditions, so we must have been very eager to compete. It was a win for The Silver Gray.
Just as surprising was that even the next turn was driven in wet road conditions. It was against a -70 Chevelle with LS6: the vehicle with the muscle car era’s highest specified power (450 horses). Again, a win.
One thought-provoking lesson from one of these two runs was that on the way back to Norrtull, I got an overwhelming and idiotic whim to try something stupid. At a certain place on the racing strip where it was extra wet and slippery, I playfully applied full power to test the response of the car at speed. The Silver Gray offered a frightening skid in response that became a new lesson in wet weather driving.
This was followed by a change of scene to a completely new arena namely Isafjordsgatan in Kista. The area that is now-days described as “Sweden’s Silicon Valley” had begun to be built in the 70s, but only in certain areas of the suburb were the roads fully completed. This particular street in question was almost 800 meters long with a slightly obscured downhill the last 100 meters and ended against a T-junction. Considering that most races started a bit into the street, there were few who wanted to accelerate more than 300 meters to have a safety margin to be able to come to a complete stop before the end of the road.
My first opponent was Dagge: an acquaintance from the youth who competed in Bracket Racing with his manually-shifted Ram Air IV -70 Firebird Trans Am. My first visit to Kista resulted in another win.
A few weeks later, a strange thing happened. Yngve was a guy who invested very ambitiously in his -69 Charger 440, automatic and 4.88 rear. Later, the engine would get a 6-71 compressor and become a real eye-catcher with a great sound.
Before the run, Yngve had opened up the headers. When we lined up, my opponent was a very concentrated and goal-oriented guy. For some reason that still feels like a mystery today, I proceeded to have a mental blank from my usual pre-race ritual and became the exact opposite. In principle, all the ingenious arrangements for a winning run were forgotten. I even possibly honked during the line up to break Yngve’s concentration instead of focusing. Suddenly, we were waved away and the Charger shot away almost a car length before I woke up. As the speed increased, the Charger continued to be a little ahead. Now the desire to win had risen and you could say that it removed the last remaining barriers to my concentration. When the 440 reached maximum speed and the end quickly approached, Yngve gave way. Simple physics demanded a two-ton Charger need more than the average stopping distance to avoid flying off the end of the road. Thus, The Silver Gray could make a pass in the dying meters of the race and claim victory.
Soon the racing business was back in Norrtull and I had to beg for a race against the always equally-reluctant Matte and his `Cuda. His very neat -70 with sixpack 440, manual gearbox and 4.88 had the leaning advantage in the way of additional ballast to get a better grip on the road. Although it was not enough against The Silver Gray such that I could count home another win.
The next run was against Rolle the radio dealer who exchanged his big block Camaro for a tamer -71 with LT1. That run did not require any topping to win.
Another difficult-to-flirt acquaintance was Peter with a -70 383 `Cuda. Nor did that power measurement become difficult to win against.
Autumn was fast approaching when it was time for the season’s last run. Hasse with an ambitiously-rebuilt -67 Corvette 327 felt the urge to measure the forces. It was estimated that this was a fast 13-second car, but in the heat of the night in Norrtull, it was not enough. Race number 36 was a new victory.
It feels like the late 70’s were the beginning of a time of change around Stockholm. The muscle cars that flourished during the decade also created an increased interest in street racing. What started as occasional quick showdowns around city grew into real races on big traffic routes. The wild Stockholm Open era with 9-seconds racing would soon be born. In parallel, a simpler form of sanctioned drag racing was also created as an example at old, closed-down airfields.
Although, it was the progress on the streets and highways that got the most ink. More and more new and old motoring magazines paid attention to the phenomenon and this in turn contributed to causing some friction. At the same time, the real drag racing grew and many more serious racers did not like all the writings about “irresponsible street racing“. Just as an example, I am thinking of a group of people racing with cars from Ford. They sometimes talked about taking out a real race car and once-and-for-all putting the little boys in Norrtull in their place. Of course, it never happened, but I was actually there and challenged a guy competing in Stock with a -71 Boss 351 Mustang. A race on the street was, however, declined possibly with reference to the competition license, if I remember correctly.
One of the more famous drag racers back then, Gunne Back with the “Frighten Chicken” Corvette and later Pro Stock Vega, was also curious about us in Norrtull. He came by a few times, talked for a while and on one occasion left us with the memorable killer remark: “Maybe I can invite you to a dance one evening?”