when you raced in the 80s was it like racin in the late 50s 60s and early 70s was everybody racing at every stoplight or is it how it is today cant find a race anywhere and cops always screwing stuff up

 

WHAT???? Are you out of your mind? Old people? By the way 80's rocked.

 

No different now than back in the 80s. Cops were always around. Laws might have changed for the worse if/when you get caught. Just as many races could be had now if you really want them.

 

the late 70's was ok then the early 80's the cops started picking on us oh no i think i'm showing my age

this summer has been cool though we have been at the same spot every sat. nite ALL summer with no problems . the cops say they know where we are but 15 miles out of town and have had no problems they haven't bothered us

mike

 

yea if u can remember the 80s real well your old

 

what year in the 80's? I can kind of remember 89 when i was in kindergarden...

~Matt

 

ah geez kindergarten was like 85 for me, damn I am getting old. Ive heard around here from my dad and my friends grandfather that they used to race on the pike like they do today but there was like one cop per town back then or something like that.

 

I started in kindergarden way back in 79

 

I've heard the 80's were pretty hot around Richmond, but the cops cracked down pretty hardcore and killed the car scene. It's just now starting to make a comeback.

 

I wish I could have been around for the muscle car era. That would have been great to see all the hemis and big blocks driving around, and that would be common

~Matt

 

You are living in the muscle car era...the modern rendition where you've got 9 - 10 second cars riding around the street on a daily basis.

 

Back in the late 70's/early 80's, my dad and his friend were cruising through town popping wheelies in his car (1972 Chevelle). They got pulled over eventually. the cop didn't even give them a ticket, he just said he didn't want to see them in town for a week. I wish things were still that easy.

 

Hmm, if we are in the muscle car era, then what's with all the imports? I think I would call this the "sport compact" era, and us muscle guys are trying to survive the onslaught.

~Matt

 

i got in the street racing scene in 90 when i bought my 82 Z. i was 18 and it was alittle different back then. we all would meet up at a hardee's and hang out. when we wanted to race someone we'd make the challenge then go out to the "strip" (on a local 1/2 mile strip of road or in the industrial area) but only 3 or 4 cars would go.

now you'll see 100 cars back in the industrial complex racing everything from your grandmothers station wagon to 10 second streeters. it gets too hot there and i wont go cause the cops block it off and give everyone tickets for participating in speed contests which is a 500 dollar fine and 5 points.

stop light to stop light it's pretty much the same but with more cops around shooting radar and cruising the strip like hungry sharks on the hunt. back then there might of been 2 or 3 cops at most on the cruise strip but now there is 6-10 easily and sometimes some state boys on the prowl.

definetly different cause the younger guys speed and cut in and out of traffic which causes wrecks. you can sit at a stop light and count 30 drag races in 30 mins.

i don't even run on the strip hardly at all anymore cause of the cops and the stupidity. if i want to run someone we go out on the interstate and do a 30 or 60 roll to whenever which is alot safer and never any cops and hardly any traffic. it's been probably atleas 6 months since i've actually launched off a stop light.

 

out here in the ca bay area its tough to race specially for a kid cuz were cop bait my dad said he use to be able to race anywhere in sf in teh 60s and not get a ticket now its so dif. i can go 1 mph over the limit and i will get a ticket my dad can be roastin the skins and just get a have a good nite sir.
being old certainly has its advantages

 

Ouch- this thread hurts! I was 18 y.o. when my car rolled off the assembly line! In my opinion, there is a lot more racing today then "way back then". Or maybe its my feeble old mind playing tricks on me.....

 

I just noticed- I'm a "Senior Member" now! So, I can get free refills on my coffee???? Where the heck are my keys... i wanna go racin'.......

 

i think its your feeble mind i think you have alztimers

 

Through weeks of driving, I have yet to find ANYONE that wants to race. And I rarely, ever, see a decent muscle car. Esp. thirdgens. I've seen all of two nice ones in 2 years.

 

Hahaha, I was in Pre school I think in 1989. So I have no real stories from that era, but I used to love hearing my dad tell me about how they raced. When he was my age they used to cruise around the strips, and then bait others into races. Two cars would run, and the faster would lose on purpose. Then two other cars would run and the faster would lose again, then when the slowest which had won wanted to race the other guy for money, it was in the bag! I wish we saw things like that today, but where I am all the racing is just lame stop light runs, or morans at the local street racing area lining up their cars to race where 500 people watch! It sucks around here.

 

At least where I was, there was a lot less organized street racing. But it seemed like every stop light you pulled up to there would be another car at the light ready to roll. Lots of black buicks with lumps in the hood, and more mustangs than you could ever count.

And the cops would just scare you and tell you how dangerous it was. No talk of impounding cars or throwing you in jail.

But of course a mid 14 second car was fast then. Now that mid to low 13 seems to be the standard and the whole fast and furious lets run everyone else off the road while racing has happened, I guess they have had to get stricter.

 

my dad told me this one story where his brother who had a 69 400 bird m22 the whole thing. anyway he got caught racing this 69 ss396 4spd and teh cops caught them threw them in jail for 5 hrs and let them back out and said go ahead and race now theres nobody out and i can careless what happens to your cars. so all my uncle missed was dinner because he was in jail from 7-11pm my uncle won of course but sure goes to show you how cops can be cool one generation and dicks the next

 

not sticking up for the cops from generaion to generation, but in my area in the late 80's their was probably 100k less people easily. and that's in a college town, where the seasonal people leave!

anybody remember when motley crue first broke?


or thinking metallica was washed up when they made the video for "one" in late 80's

remembering who actually came up with metallica'a name.....
Dave Mustaine, (started Megadeth, cuz he was pissed at Metallica)

damn im old.

 

kindergarten ummm the 60's got my lincence in 75 and raced autocross , racing on the cruise in 79 with a 64 GTO (yes the one in my sig. ) in 83 i ran a 69 chevelle 396 w/ NOS and 4:88 gears. now in a town of 50k we have 5 cars /truck in the high 10's in street trim playing every sat. nite 4 of us run NOS and 1 pro charger. it has been a fun summer . whoever gets the good launch is going to win .
early music ummmmm do you expect me to remember that far back?Dr. hook comes to mind three dog night too . the 80's are a smoke induced uh fog i think i better shut up now, i'm really feeling old. not that that's any diff. than every sat. nite

mike

 

I was in high school in Arlington county and there were many races on Rt. 50, but on the Fairfax county area of it. Every Friday night after leaving multiplex theaters we would hook up with people to race. The fastest car in the area was a '68 Camaro owned by a Harrison boy. I did get plenty of tickets whenever in Arlington, though.

The '80's ruled. The best time of my life thus far. Yeah, I'm old...born in '71.

 

geeze u guys are geezers i thougt most 3rd gen owners were like 20 or 30 not 80 or 90

 

I used to have more fun in the 80's racing than I do today. There used to be alot of crusing spots around here and the cops weren't bad at all (I've been in countless street races and 0 busts ) but around maybe the early 90's they started cracking down and pretty much killed the cruise/racing scene Boy those were some great times......we'd get together at dusk and wouldn't go home till at least 3-4am with lots of races Now it's really boring around here ....only racing I see nowadays is at the track

 

Oh yeah.....Motley Crue As far as I can remember they started in the early 80's with "Too Fast For Love" but really busted out with "Shout At The Devil" a year or 2 later.....
Metallica ain't nowhere near as good as they were with "Kill 'Em All" "Ride The Lightning" "Master Of Puppets" and "And Justice For All" to me at least...... they started the long road to mainstream acceptance after that although the "Black Album" was their last great cd......then bye bye Metallica, hello Poptallica


and the same thing happened to Megadeth


I miss the old Heavy Metal

 

I was in High School in the 80s. At the time I lived in NJ and you could find a street race without even looking. Route 130 a/k/a Raceway 130 had stoplights roughly a quarter mile apart. All of us would get together and race. At the time we had some hot cars. I had an 85 T/A H.O. 5speed, Dan had an 87 Grand National, Tommy had an 86 Mustang GT, Mark had an 88 Formula and there were other people that had awesome cars. One guy I can't remember his name had an 86 Vette with NOS among other mods. It would pull the front wheels off the ground. But anyway, I live in FL now so I don't know if the scene is the same. It is definately slower down here. Although, it may be the same down here only I don't notice it because I'm older, wiser and more mature and don't feel the need to drag race from every stoplight like I did back in the day.

 

If it went from great races in the 80s to cops everywhere now, I am dreading what it will be like for me when I am 30 in 10 years. I will still probably want to race, I will still own my car, it still won't be done (never will), and I still will speed everywhere. Can't wait to see the racing scene then I'd better get my street racing in now.

~Matt

 

i hear that. ill be 28 in a decade. to bad if i get caught racing now ill be in teh sh!thole with my parents. why cant they just build more strips or reopen all of the old ones or close off streets so we can race. they should get it through their thick heads we are gonna race no matter what and so they should try to make it at least safer for everybody,sorry just venting but i do have some good points i must say

 

"They" already know this, which is why speeding/racing/most traffic laws are in existance/inforced. That's what generates (alot of) revenue for a city, writing tickets.

 

i know and it sucks that they take advantage of us like that

 

Please tell me that you're not serious? How are they taking advantage of us by enforcing the law?

 

Nic,
The thing with that is, traffic laws are designed to provide the greatest monetary return. Safety is secondary. Look at Montana. They had no highway speed limits for about a year, the death toll halved, and then speed limits were reinstated. The death toll climbed to its previous number.

Was that for your safety?

They're cracking down on drivers because
a) it's profitable,
b) they're mostly kids
c) It's politically correct.

It's easy to sensationalize, especially after dumb car movies come out. And especially with the help of all those groups that end in -ADD, programming you into thinking that falling-down-drunkeness starts with the first drink. By the way, there's a big difference between "alcohol related" and "alcohol caused." But that's a secret.

The bottom line is, kids have to do something. Insurance companies and the EPA (neither of which are elected by ANYONE, mind you) took away the muscle cars years ago. Now kids are trying to race whatever they've got left. Imports, compacts, whatever. Take away their cars, they'll skateboard. Crack down on cigarrettes, they move on to dope. Kids have to have something to do. And they're always seen as the enemy. We've chased them back into their homes and now that's not even good enough. Now we want to stick our noses in to regulate what kind of video games they can play.

 

exactly what homer said thanks homer.
its also unfair that they took away all of the strips so there is no place to race safely and thats complete bull**** if u dont want us to race on the street then build a track. they had lots out here in cal but tore them down because people didnt want to hear noise. to bad the tracks were already there before they moved in. so if they didnt like noise they shouldnt have moved there.

 

I agree with the "quota" thing you guys are arguing about. I live in a small town in a NJ suburb where police have nothing better to do besides pull over teenagers for no reason and then come up with a reason for a ticket. I have heard it happen soooo many times and it's annoying. They only do it to meet their quota for the month because the town set it so high. Cops don't make the quota, and they don't get raises. So they say, "Screw the teens, they are easy targets. They won't complain as much as adults and a lot of them drive like assh*les anyway." The problem is that not all teens drive like that. Just my $273 and two cents.

~Matt

 

1. I'm not old because I remember the 80's

2. Cops don't have quotas because those are illegal

3. Street racing still goes on today...trust me

4. One of the problems with no light to light racing anymore are the car are a wee bit faster than long ago.

5. 12's aren't fast anymore.

6. The cars they make to day are FASTER than the cars in the muscle car era.

7. In the 80's if you had a mid 10 second car you were untouchable. Now you have to run high8's or low 9's to really get cocky.

8. where I live we have events that have a street raceing format. Loose tech rules and you can spot out cars as much as needed.

9. Pull up next to my Pace Car at a light.....I'll race you

 

In the 80's we could cruise MetroCenter, Central or Mill. It was like a scene from american graffiti. Now they crack down on cruising and racing. There are still alot of racing going on but it's much more on the down low. The cars are definately faster now. Fewer lowrider minitrucks now too.