Mission Raceway Park is still alive and well in the golden age of muscle cars.
Drag racing videos from Wheels are featured here. We are always impressed by the quality of the video and the variety of cars that attend the racing action. Mission Raceway Park hosts the racing. It’s a quarter-mile sanctioned NHRA track that is located approximately 25 miles east from Vancouver, just a few clicks north the U.S./Canada border. There have been plenty of muscle cars and exotics on the track. This is also where an adorable child went completely crazy over seeing a Lamborghini.
However, this time, the Wheels The team is getting old-fashioned. Although straight-line speed contests have existed since the beginning of time, drag racing was born in the 1960s when the American muscle car era took place. We would normally be talking about the action in this video. But, it’s vintage muscle cars doing their best. There’s something for everyone here, as all three Detroit automakers are represented.
These were times when gasoline was cheap and engines were large, and bragging rights were bigger. Automakers would race prototypes on Detroit’s Woodward Avenue. Engineers would compare their upgrades to what the tuners and crosstown competitors were doing in real-world conditions. It was a great time to be a fan.
Today is also a great time for horsepower enthusiasts. Although the 1960s were a great time for muscle cars, the 700-plus horsepower, emission-compliant machines of today surpass even the most outrageous factory-built rides from the 1960s. It is quite fascinating to see these older cars race down the strip. Some of them have running times that are longer than modern sedans, and others can run in the 9-second range.
This doesn’t mean we don’t love classic muscle. So, turn up the volume and enjoy. There are worse things to do than listening to a string of vintage V8s blasting the quarter-mile.