Stories from back in the day when times were easier . . .

[kiwigtx]

This story was sent to me by a member in Canada today. Please note that this is not political and not politically motivated.

Thanks to @440 4 speed *********************************************

Around the time Easy Rider Came out, 3 or 4 guys decided to go to Florida. Somewhere in I think Alabama or Georgia one of the guy’s was running low on fuel. They had been riding on the lesser travelled highways to see the countryside. They stopped at a small general store to buy gas. Supposedly the owner came out saw the Saskatchewan licence plates and said ( We don’t sell gas to Commie’s). At that time we had a left leaning Provincial Government. They drained fuel from the other bike’s and got fuel in the next State. Stuck to more travelled roads after that.

I worked with the cousin of one of the biker’s.

Some of you rider’s would know the name of a firm called

Hannigan Motorsports.

Dave Hannigan was raised about 100 miles north of Saskatoon.

********************************************************


Please feel free to add any old stories that may be of interest to the group.

 

[Car #4]

Way back when myself and a buddy were out one night at a local fair and went to a bar afterwards to help fill the evening. I had a 72 GTO and he had a 76 Charger Daytona. We left the bar in time to catch last call at the bar in the next town on the way home. We left there hoping to get the Chinese restaurant in our home town before it closed. We’re doing a buck ten coming up to a village (that was the last I looked at my speedometer) and I could see through his car that the car we were coming up on put the brakes on. Fearing I would run into him I went around him on the left, caught the gravel shoulder, came back across the road in front of him, spun around in a parking lot and went backwards down the road ditch, one side of the car up on the cement culvert and one side over the edge. That ripped up the underside of the car including the gas tank. It slid a bit further on its side and when the car came to a stop it rolled over onto its roof. I could smell gas so I’m trying to get out the window quick and when I undid the seat belt I fell on head. I got away with just a couple scratches on my arm which I got from glass crawling out the window.

 

[dadsbee]

Sorry... there's apparently no time limit on incriminating yourself on police chase stories these days.

 

[Car #4]

I think I’m past the statute of limitations.

 

[dadsbee]

I wasn't talking about you. A few that played cat and mouse most weekends with me are retired, but still alive!

 

[Kern Dog]

This story was sent to me by a member in Canada today. Please note that this is not political and not politically motivated.

Thanks to @440 4 speed *********************************************

Around the time Easy Rider Came out, 3 or 4 guys decided to go to Florida. Somewhere in I think Alabama or Georgia one of the guy’s was running low on fuel. They had been riding on the lesser travelled highways to see the countryside. They stopped at a small general store to buy gas. Supposedly the owner came out saw the Saskatchewan licence plates and said ( We don’t sell gas to Commie’s). At that time we had a left leaning Provincial Government. They drained fuel from the other bike’s and got fuel in the next State. Stuck to more travelled roads after that.

I worked with the cousin of one of the biker’s.

Some of you rider’s would know the name of a firm called

Hannigan Motorsports.

Dave Hannigan was raised about 100 miles north of Saskatoon.

********************************************************


Please feel free to add any old stories that may be of interest to the group.

It is hard to imagine people being such ******** to others. It wasn't like the bikers were child molesters or worse.

 

[kiwigtx]

I wasn't talking about you. A few that played cat and mouse most weekends with me are retired, but still alive!

Yep...the Cobra Jet driver who couldn't catch me in my Road Runner passed away back about 20 years ago now.

I never did see that HQ Holden again (after a sharp bend by a lake) chasing me through the Tokoroa forest road one dark night about 38 years ago. That Road Runner of mine was a real beast on the open road.....wish I still had it now. The 440 in that car was so well balanced, it ran like an aircraft engine on full song.

 

[dadsbee]

2:94's and a 4 gear I never stopped to see what the guy driving the LTD wanted!

 

[kiwigtx]

2:94's and a 4 gear I never stopped to see what the guy driving the LTD wanted!

I was running 3.23's and a 4-gear...... (for the Kiwi's out there who know the area...) I came storming past Tongariro one afternoon on my way to Ohakune....so fast towards National Park intersection, that when I slowed down I realised I wasn't going to stop at the line. I ended up going around that 90-degree 'Stop' at close to 30mph. Luckily, I could see there was no traffic coming my way.

I would never make the America's Cup yachting team, as my judgement on "Time and distance" has never been a strong suit.

 

[BLK 68 R/T]

I had a 1970 dodge super bee back around 2000, 383 and a 4 speed. Anyways one night I had 6 friends in the car and we were out cruising around Walla Walla, a city close to where I live, about 30 minutes away. It was pretty late, around 11pm or so and we rolled up to the stoplight at the edge of town. The road from the stoplight is 4 lanes, and flat and straight for about 2 miles as you head out of town. The next stoplight is a left turn back onto the highway or you can continue straight and merge onto the highway again up the road or keep going on the road up into the mountains.

So we are at the stoplight and a fast and furious style Honda pulls up next to us. The race was on. We both leave the light on green and I start pulling ahead. Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 mile down the road we are going full bore. I’m doing 120+ and as we pass the k-mart I see flashing lights immediately come on from the parking lot of the restaurant across the road. F**k!

2 WSP patrol cars pull out and by the time they catch up to us we were almost to the next light. Both the Honda and I pulled over to the side. I shut my car off and pulled the keys from the ignition. Thinking I was going to jail I rolled the window down as the officer came up to the window. He looked in the car, looked at me, and said “what in the hell are you doing? With no good answer I just kinda sat there expecting the worst. He said we have you and the other car on radar at well over 100 mph in a 35mph zone. He didn’t ask for my license, insurance or anything. Just asked where I was from. I told him where, and all he said was “go home, and I don’t want to see you out again tonight. I said okay and thanked the officer and we drove off. The other car got let go as well.

Still glad I had a bunch of friends with me as they can backup my story as no one would believe it otherwise.

Yes, I won the race lol.

 

[Coelacanth]

I have many interesting and funny memories in the 80's driving my '70 Charger, I took the time a few years ago to write down what I could remember, for posterity. Here they are:

-We were racing a Camaro along Stony Plain Road in the west end one night when suddenly we passed a cop in the oncoming lane. Sure enough, he pulled a U-turn behind us and the cherries flashed on. I think the Camaro actually slowed down, but I immediately hung a right turn down a side street, flicked off the headlights and randomly drove back and forth through side streets and back alleys to make my escape. I have no idea what happened to the Camaro…

-We used to do stupid **** in wintertime, going down to the Valley Zoo parking lot late at night to see if there were any teen lovers making out in their cars down there. Usually there was. We’d drive up and flash the high beams at them, laughing when their heads popped up like gophers popping out of their holes. Sometimes we would do a U-turn, flooring the accelerator pedal while passing some ***** teens’ car, spraying it with snow and gravel, then fishtail it out of the parking lot and back up the street out of there.

-This one time, my buddy, driving his similarly puke-green 1971 Charger with a 340 and me in my 383 Magnum Charger, saw 2 cars lined up at a stoplight, I believe they were both ricer imports, they were clearly itching to race each other. We were positioned in the 2 lanes behind these guys. The light turned green and they began to race. The funny thing was my buddy and me passing BOTH the ricers, first overtaking the slower of the two, taking the lane in front of him, and passing the faster car next. 2 puke-green Chargers beating a couple of imports racing in front of us, starting from behind them, passing them one-by-one...it was pretty funny.

-I had to replace the original front bumper on my Charger because I hit a shopping cart driving through a parking lot at night with some buddies...another idiot moment: we were driving by some girls who were walking through the lot and I MIGHT not have had my eyes on the road ahead; there was a sudden flash of chrome and BANG! I clearly remember and it still makes me chuckle today, hearing one of my friends exclaiming "You punted it...you PUNTED it!" Anyway, the bumper had a slight bend in the bottom and tiny scratch on the top, but I'd already bought another straight one many years ago so that one got installed back on the car. I remember going back to the parking lot the next day to see what happened to the shopping cart; it was all mangled up and the rear flap part that's supposed to push forward when stacking the carts together, was pushed way out the opposite end.

-Another time, we were driving around downtown and witnessed a drunk driver hit a parked car and try to do a hit-and-run. We followed him, never letting him get away, until he finally stopped somewhere and my buddy got hold of him, we pinned him down until the police came to arrest him.

-I remember driving to a friend’s house one day, my car had an exhaust issue; one of the pipes had split in front of one of the mufflers. The car sounded like a Nascar stock car. This friend lived in a fairly posh neighborhood. Well, you know you’re loud when people mowing their lawns stop to look up and see what’s coming and making all the noise…

 

[Runcharger]

I was visiting a friend of mine in Red Deer in my 67 GTX. We stopped at a light behind a Ford pickup with ricky racer stickers in the back window and something else. They both sounded a bit worked. Anyway the light turns green and they go for it. I remember saying "gee I guess they're racing" and wooded the GTX, I flew by the car in the right lane then changed lanes and easily took down the pickup as well. I had a carfull of friends so we had a pretty good laugh about all of that.

 

[kiwigtx]

Back in the mid-eighties, my buddy Roger Haycock was a franchised Glamatex Applicator - textured ceilings - when that was all the rage in housing. His business partner was a loose unit also..... the two of them used to bash into each other's cars sometimes for fun..... old crappy cars so a dent here or there didn't matter.

One day I am driving down the Pakuranga Road (built by the Americans during WW2) and see these two guys ahead of me. They were actually playing bumper cars at about 30-40 mph on the road. It was funny as hell to me - and them....but must have frightened a few other motorists.

Roger did see me on the road, and he was laughing his *** off as usual. He was one hell of a fun guy to be around. Sadly, he passed away months before I could catch up with him again in the States while he was visiting friends in the hills around San Francisco area. But we always had fun when he was around.

Roger was the one who invited us to a House Wrecking party one night - he said "Bring your beers and a sledge hammer" It was a blast that night - we had the Club BBQ trailer parked up cooking sausages and steaks all night. Cops made a brief stop around midnight asking if anyone knew who had been skidding up the road. LOL.....nobody saw a thing..... LOLOLOL...... yeah we did, but everyone stayed quiet. . Roger was the one who introduced me to the Glam Rock music scene - in particular the band Slade. Great times.

Another night five of us cruised on down to Hamilton (about 90 miles south) in my Road Runner - just for an ice cream. Managed to hit the high notes on our southern motorway....... lucky there were no cops out that night. What a trip that was. Those days are long gone now.

Here's Roger in his Corvette driving along that Pakuranga Road another time......

Roger was also the very proud owner of a 440 powered Jensen Interceptor..... he had louvred the hood and the paint just sparkled in the sun - like a B5 blue it was.

Unfortunately, after he passed away, his family squabbled over his toys and fortune....and it was like they never cared about the man he was....just all out for the money. Very sad.


Here's the house a few days after the party...... that excavator bucket was through the roof of the lounge and served as a massive ice-bucket for the beers. BTW, it wasn't me skidding up the road....although I could have done it. And that's the tail of my RR in shot.

 

[Shenango]

Late Summer 1970, I had about 7,000 miles on my new Swinger 340 4 speed. I stopped at my girl's house to visit and she wanted to go see her brother and his wife about 10 miles up the freeway. Her 12 year old sister wanted to go so we all piled into the Dart and made the short trip. After an hour and a half we headed back to their house. When I hit the on ramp to the freeway a 69 Mustang went by us at about 60. I wasn't having any of that so I hammered the Dart and when I got beside him he wasn't in the mood to let me by. We raced for about 2 miles fender to fender well into three digits with the little sister screaming in my ear to go faster then we both let off to use the same exit. At the house we went in the kitchen door and little sis ran into the living room and yelled, " Jerry was going 140 mph and we could have beat that red car if we didn't have to get off the freeway". My girl said you better get the hell out of here and I'll call you later.
My banishment lasted 2 months and the first time I went back to her house the father gave me such an evil stare words weren't really necessary.
I married that girl and we both did a lot of growing up while I did 4 years in the Air Force.

 

[kiwigtx]

My banishment lasted 2 months and the first time I went back to her house the father gave me such an evil stare words weren't really necessary.

I know that feeling very well.....similar thing happened to me many moons ago.

 

[SlingLow]

One night in my high school days I was cruising around in my 69 Chevelle SS when I came up behind my girlfriends 70 Camaro. For reasons I don't remember, I knew that her little sister was driving the car that night. We were on a through road that had intersections every few blocks instead of every block so I pulled into the oncoming lane and pulled up next to her and paced her until she figured out that we were 'racing'. She nailed the throttle but it was one of those lame 307 cars so I just continued to stay next to her until I decided it was time to pass. When I dropped to 3rd and nailed it, we passed a county sheriff who was one foot in and one foot out of his car in a driveway on our right. I checked the rearview and he came blasting out of the driveway in reverse, all lit up, and little Sis was pulling over to the side of the road. I figured the cop would stop there so I kept the throttle down to make my escape. The problem was that I forgot that the road ended at a stop sign just past my location and I ended up hitting the binders at speed and slid across all 4 lanes of the crossroad at the stop sign. I was sideways when I figured out I wasn't going to stop or turn in time so I straightened it out, jumped the curb across the road, slid up a vegetated embankment and down the other side onto a road that was not directly connected to the road I just left. I ended up idling in the road until the dust cleared, dropped her into 1st and drove slowly away. I never did see the cop who did stop at the Camaro, and little Sis gave him a story about how I was chasing her and she was just trying to get away from me. She was a looker and didn't get cited for the 70 or 80 we were doing in a 35 zone. No harm, no foul!

 

[DeltaV]

 

[Budnicks]

here's one
not me, but a Buddy of mine Jeff B. in Concord, I was there
instigating
with a 70 'cuda Gran Coupe, beautiful T7 (?) car, black top/interior
0.030" over 383/727TF
built up a lil'
Venolia flat top forged piston, plenty of valve relief,
good rods/bearings Clevite Tri-metal IIRC
machined & balanced by Manuel A. at Tri-City Machine Pacheco
the top end was redone, good valve job, garage pocket porting,
H-S rollers (1.6:1 IIRC) on a tried & true Racer Brown 292*/.509"
makes it like 0.542" gross lift, Rhoades lifters
we had to take heads back
& have them cut back/down the valve-guides at the top
so it wouldn't interfere with the retainers/keepers
installed proper springs so it wouldn't bind

Old trick was
He had the block squared & decked like 0.040-0.050",
had to double up the intake gaskets, get really good compression
that decking caused a few problems, with pushrod lengths too,
all stuff I helped him figure out
we took a B&M 3500 Super Holeshot (this was back in like 1980-ish) off my shelf
we did the Art Carr tricks to the valve-body/shift kit

I loaned him IIRC a set of 4.30:1 (489 gearsets)
He had (IIRC) a Street Dominator Holley single plane intake,
we gasket matched to make it fit better to the decked block,
misaligned ports, when we looked down the runners (PITA to make right)
with a 800cfm Holley dbl pumper with annular discharges off my shelf
jetted up & added like 35-37 squirters & the brown cams
Holley blue electric fuel pump & regulator, set at 7psi
he had some shitty Hooker Headers,
like 4 piece design headers PITA (*this will be a footnote)
1-7/8" to 2" (IIRC) longish tube midlength style, with a 3-1/2" collectors
& 2-1/2" Flowmaster mufflers/exhaust, dumped at the axle

We did (IIRC) Rancho shocks 90/10 front & 50/50 rear
it was low, I think he cranked the TB down quite a bit (*this will be a footnote)
he had the same M/T Sportsman tires L60/15 supposedly sticky street tires
& some cheap narrow **** on the front
(IIRC) he had Daisey Style American Racing wheels
the car did have discs upfront, power Brakes & power steering, power windows etc.
It really was a pretty sharp car...

we took it out for a beat run, it was a beast, 'felt good'
I figured we would have some takers that night

Walnut Creek cruise 1st,
then out to Encino Grande shopping center in Concord
off Concord Ave. & Willow Pas rd. where we all hung out & bench raced
& got others to go race
it was a relatively busy night, lots of cars lots of races
we waited till later like 1:00am
quieter cars ran up or down Willow Pass rd., louder & faster cars went out to
Ygnatio Valley Rd. a couple miles away, (by my house)
to race to not have the LEOs on top of us too quickly,
because of noise or complaints from the housing developments

another friend of mine Jim C. (later one of my racing partners)
had a quick gold colored 68 ElCamino
with a typical BBC Rectangle Port, solid roller built 396/TH400,
12 bolt 4.11 gears,
it'd run an honest mid-hi 11's on slicks at Fremont, he was on M/T street tires too
still a formidable street car

we wanted to see how Jeff B.'s 'cuda would stack up against it
typical banter Chevy against MoPar stuff, all in fun

we go up to Willow Pass, square off, I get out to flag
Jim's wife gets out to watch too
both cars are sounding really rowdy, with exhaust tones bouncing off
the sound walls run all the way up the hill on W-P rd...
Drop my arms, away they go, pretty even upto about 330 ft or so
Jim was spinning the tires a bit Jeff was hooked & doing well
car ran great
Jeff pulled ahead, at about 600 ft, Jim was running him down & coming fast
at like 120+ to Jeff's maybe 105+, about 1,000ft
right when Jim started to hook up again
a German Shepard ran out into the street,
we never even saw it until it got spooked,
we always send someone down the lanes to make sure (safe)
Anyhoo;
Jeff tried to avoid hitting it
he was a total dog lover as so was Jim, all of us had big dogs
Jim goes sideways, locked em' up,
Jeff was a lot closer to the dog, rt lane
tried to avoid the dog, hit a bump in the road, in the bike lane
but missed the dog (thank god)
but that was a point **** hit the fan, *those fucken 4 pc headers
for some reason, I don't know why started to fall apart,
car so damn low because *Jeff turned down the T-bars,
I think a lil' bump upset it bad
& I think an expansion joint that was puckered up, in the bike lane
car bottoms out bad
pieces of header pipe shoots over,
goes under the tires & pops 1 left/frt tire...
Jeffs still going probably 100, and Jims not far behind going even faster
Jeffs all sideways, we could see light going every which way
sparks flying everywhere & tires smoke from them locking em' up/braking...
Jeff ended up on the divider, crossed both the lanes
(dogs fine & running up the hill)
cuda' had 1 broken wheel that had a popped tire
pass-side header all in pieces & the exhaust dragging a couple hundred feet
Jim barely avoided Jeff, and almost T-boned him at one point at 120+
Jim's car was fine a couple flat-spotted tires...

Jeff won, crossed 1st... but it was a crazy night

a lot of work, it was a runner
I went with Jim back to my house, to get my truck & my open trailer
hopefully get back before the LEOs show up
loaded the car up winched it on, took it to Jeff's (parents) house
his dad is the local Martinez, CHP Lt. 'he gives us the once over'
asked is everyone OK ?, & just went back to bed...

we got the car back together, like 2 weeks later
took it to Fremont put a set of my old 29x9" slicks on it
really tight fit front & rear of the slicks/tires
but ran a solid 12.60-ish @ like 111 (? IIRC), needed more gear, big tires
not bad for a 0.030" bore 383 with a few tricks, 3500+# street-car

to be continued
more antics, as I remember them
View attachment 1423307

Here's one
I had a 71 (IIRC) v8 Vega "I know shock & surprise "
I was like 18 to 19-ish (1978-ish), it had shitty mismatched parts,
crappy 283cid/th350 crappy converter stock like 9.5" 4 or 6-cylinder converter
& a rear end with 4.88:1 gears from another car, a 304cid Gremlin, in it
& a L88 fiberglass hood, pinned down, in gel-coat black...
It had the full v8 conversion kit (don't remember which) done to it
had headers, exhaust, VW Scirocco radiator (not enough)
& some nice Cragers, with fatty street tires L60s in the rear, skinnies up front
homemade ladder-bars & floaters (junk) & coil-over rear shocks
Coil springs & trailing arm style top bars
(shitty shocks/with overload helper springs, not real coil-overs)

I had a good 4 bolt 400 block 4.125"+ bore (I know another Chevy),
a good 350 forged steel crank & Howards alum rods both from my altered
some domed pistons, no idea what compression ratio (now) it was above 12:1
all used parts from other combos, not the best match or balance even
& bearing spacers for the 350 crank, 372-377cid-ish IIRC
a way over-cammed roller (like 0.770 gross lift)
w/a rev kit/springs under the heads to keep the lifters in the bores
& Crane 1.6:1 roller rockers & a valvetrain girdle to stabilize it,
some "peanut angle plug heads" garage ported, 2.02" int. 1.60" ex.
decent iron heads
I had a 'smokey-ram' single 4 bbl GM box style ram intake ready to go on top,
830cfm Holley dbl pumper, blue electric Holley pump & bypass regulator,
w/dual points Mallory dist. & Acell coil, low ohm wires...

The car I bought from a friend, had it sitting for a while (years) behind his garage
in Antioch Ca., 'Bill' had a bunch of racecars & parts over the years
mostly GM/Chevys & Pontiacs, anyhoo...
We knew each other for a while I'd go over & bs with him while he worked on his cars
he was sort of a friend of a friend, of my stepdad Bob's (another Pontiac guy)...

He had this orangy/yellowy brown mustardy, fugly *** yella' (butterscortch)
Vega with a nice black bucket seat interior, clean body no dents, nice glass
just sitting there, $250 for my taking...
I had an extra engine ' in parts' (above)...
We struck a deal, a buddy of mine Jim C. came over, from Concord to Antioch
& helped me push the car to my parent's house, only a couple of blocks away
the car was a POS, but as a kid I could see the potential...
Light car, good engine, decent trans & good gears, subframe connected
(done wrong, but had it) would be a freaken' road rocket
we literally threw that lil' car together in an evening,
fired it up the next day, too late to fire the night before...

Then off we went to 10th street Antioch cruise...
It was a moderate cruise,
lots of mini-trucks & HS kids mostly, good rock & roll blasting everywhere
not many muscle cars/mostly just street racers, daily drivers, jap crap...

Mind you, I still haven't even put the car in my name yet...

We found a couple guys with 67 Barracuda Fastback nice lil' 318 4 speed,
down by the boat launch the typical Camaros, Mustangs
& a nice pearl white 62 Impala with 409 badges...
We stopped & talked with, and asked about 'any street racing' ?

I already knew a place where there was street racing out there from prior...

They said yes they were going out to a place by the
Antioch, Contra Costa PG&E power plant
(knew it well I worked for PG&E at a time)
near the gypsum plant (I know another power plant) in Antioch,
down by the Sacramento River, by the boat loading ramp near the hwy-4 Antioch bridge,
right near the drive-in theater...
On a sideroad (I hadn't been to this place yet) & I knew Antioch well...

We all hung out until the cruise died off & Antioch PD/LEOs started
running people out about, midnight-ish...
We just followed them out...
The 62 Impala sounded pretty damn good...
My lil' Vega was thumping like crazy, **** was rattling everywhere
the whole dash was barely attached, we had a 3 gauge cluster oil water volts
under the dash, only gauges that worked or had a light too
had a shitty Sun-tach on the column hard to see light didn't work...

Typical deal people started checking each other's cars out...
The guy with the Impala didn't open his hood...
the guy with the 73 Camaro 'his mommy bought him' paid for his gas etc.
was a real dick, and wouldn't open his hood either...
I was NOT afraid of that thing...
The Impala I was curious, we talked a while...
Nice guy sort of small in stature...
I'm not so small guy...

A Bunch of races go off, that lil 67 Barracuda fastback worked well,
the lil' teen ran a solid probably low 13s maybe,
pretty damn good for a manual car...
He beat everyone except for me & the Impala,
he didn't want to race either of us...

So I ask the guy with the 62 Impala does he want to run
he says sure, no hesitation at all...
We'd just do it for shits & giggles no $$$ on the line, just for fun...
I do my burn out it seems to be doing well
mind you not much if any real tuning or jet changes etc.
He does his burnout, it smoked the whole place up
I looked at Jim, with that we're in trouble look,
he said;
nah don't worry about it, he's 1,500#s heavier...
but I said he will hook, I may not...
Jim C. starts us & drop his arms, off we go,
1st I'm out on him like a car for 200'
already in 2nd gear starting to top it out already, short shift to 3rd & let it eat
he comes up on the side of me & stays right there
I got him by a fender "barely"...
We stop & pulls up rolls his window down & says:
"it's the 1st time he's ever been beaten on the street"
I asked him if he wanted to run it back & he said;
"sure, why not"
We putz back down to the starting area & do another burnout
get lined up again, same deal arm drop
I got him covered until about 330' this time, he comes up beside me
& I win again, still barely by a fender...
Vega is getting hot now, 220*+
he asked me; "1 more time"
I said;
"what the heck why not, I have to let it cool down a bit
that it was a fresh build & didn't want to burn it down"
he said;
"no problem lets go back & bs & watch some other races"

Now an hr or so goes by 3 or 4 races goes down,
bunch of `hi-13 - low-15 sec. streetcars really
He said;
"this time he wants the right side, I had it both times, prior"
I said;
"OK that's fair"
we line up after a smoky burnout again, his car sounds like a beast
I can hardly even hear my lil' mouse...
Jim drops his arms, off we go I got him off the line again, got him covered
1/2 track at a min. he's pulling hard, I'm losing ground
he nudges me by almost a whole car...
We roll down the windows & he tells me that's the fastest he's ever gone in his
& now my Vega is hot as hell now...
We drive back & start talking, he claimed his Impala
would run 11.60s to 11.70s at like (IIRC) 117-120, at Sears Point
& he claimed, that he just did a better run, there that night...

I told him about;
'all what we did & went threw in the past 24-48hrs'
he said he was impressed, told me he had a
Mark IV offroad crate engine GM Performance LS7
Iron 454/0.060" over 468cid rectangle port, roller iron engine,
(I know the engines very well)
(IIRC) a 0.690" lift solid cam, Victor singleplane & 950 Holley/Powerglide 4400 stall (?)
12 bolt 4.11:1 gears/spool in the Impala...
I never saw the guy ever again, after that night...
Too bad he was a stand-up guy...

So; (I know some people hate it when you start a sentence like that)
I think the lil' Vega thrown together was maybe a mid-high 11-second car
the damn dash almost fell off on the last pass,
I was bracing it with my right hand after shifting...
I never did take that specific V8 Vega to the track, I did a few others...
I drove the piss out of that car, went to JC Diablo Valley College in Concord
in it for 2 years, never worried about it out in the parking lot etc.
I put like 12k miles on 'as it was', a few lil' fixes like the dash & lights, gauges
& a speedo, along with a fuel sending unit finally, plugs & cap/rotor, points reg. ****
& reg. & insurance etc.

as I remembered it

to be continued
View attachment 1427713

all old from another thread
I had like 8-9 of them (stories) on here from back in March 2023
"Street Racing confessions" (Check it out if you can find it)
would only let me post this

 

[Runner 68]

If I had to guess Kiwi, I would say you were in Alabama. Those f@ckers are still crazy these days.
Georgia has become more "enlightened" over the past 150 years.

 

[Kern Dog]

Back in the mid-eighties, my buddy Roger Haycock invited us to a House Wrecking party one night - he said "Bring your beers and a sledge hammer" It was a blast that night -

I got stuck on the "House wrecking party" part of this post....

A couple of questions, please......
Where was this and why? Did he have plans to build another house on the plot?