Anyone ever noticed that if you have a cowl induction hood and loud exhaust, that people are scared to race you? I was trying to get a guy with an '02-'03 mustang GT to race me. I pulled up next to him and threw him a couple of revs (impossible that he didnt hear me with how loud my exhaust is), and the choad turned and ducked down a side street to get away from me...

 

Yea, i have tried to race lots of people that i knew would absolutely kill me, but its like there intimidated cause of the sound of the exhaust, too bad it really isnt as mean as the exhaust

 

Maybe if I cut some holes into the exhaust and added oil injection into the headers they would race me... The funny part is, none of the fast cars want to race, but its all the people with olds alero's and **** boxes like such that want to race me

 

It's the same thing with a sleeper. No one EVER took even a second look at my car, so I started settling for any race I could get.

 

the only way people race you now adays is if you have uncle bens R!C3

i was in my friends car and everyone races him its crazy one night he raced

accord won
acura 3.5 or 3.2 lost
300zx na won(surprisingly)
civic won
a 305 tbi bird won

just anything will race him even a old *** 60's yellow pick up truck behind us was revvin away

im surprised he aint tellin me about his mini van kills and such lol

me personally my car is stock except for rims and i rarely get into races that arent aranged with my friends also i dont drive alot of racable streets

 

yeah when i had my 84 Z in blk primer with exhaust n the 3 inch cowl ppl would always try to race me i had a lightning try to toy wit me i didnt want any of it tho and now that i had my white 87 Z it got a loud *** exhasut n i had 2 races already wit it n i just got it

 

Maybe he did not want to risk getting a ticket/fines.

 

I think its because people get annoyed with them buzzing around all over the place thinking they rule the roads..so we try to put them in there place..unfortunately SOME of these ugly cars that sound like a flock of bees running from a bear..are acutally quick..which means they will continue to gain confidence and gang up on the guys with good taste

 

Maybe they were smart enough to "take it to the track."

IRP is open now, street racing should go down here...

 

or maybe the guy lived down a side street, and was going home.

 

Alot of people say "take it to the track", which I agree, but you need to keep in mind that taking it to the track involves more then most want to do / can do.

When you run your car at the local drag strip, if you have ANY brains at all, you will trailer your car. Things happen, parts break, sometimes they can be fixed there, sometimes they can't. If you trailer your car, if something breaks, you drag it onto the trailer, and go home. If you drove your car there, then your walking.

I don't like the street racing that The Fast and the Furious showed, thats just incredibly stupid. A light to light race is fun, and you know that you've done one here or there.

 

Ummm, what's the difference between launching at a light and launching at the track? You're lame if you trailer a street driven car to the track.

 

There's a few guys at our local track that trailer their 14-second cars. BBC's, open headers, sponsor decals, and they still run only 14's and trailer them. It really made them mad when a mere daily-driven truck (my co-worker's old vehicle) beat them by two seconds consistently, without any power-adders. So what Stu said, only worse - you're lame if you trailer a car that only does 14's. Go put the headlights back on and the missing seats in and the exhaust back on it and drive it every day.

 

you'll be glad u had that trailer when you live 100 miles from your house and break an axle and or something else

 

i couldnt get races with the way my car looks. sounded good with lt1 cam, slp 1 3/4s and hooker cat back, but still, its only high 13s, lt1s were scared

 

I was with spork......the guy ducked down a side street and we ended up seeing him further down the road later on......scared!


the street was empty we were cruisin about 30.

 

Ive had similar reactions as well. Having a 4 inch cowl on my car....ive seen a lot of people not wanna take a chance. Thats back with the 305 tpi too.

Haha shoulda raced back then cuz now they gonna pay!

 

^^ Exactly

Keep saying that people are lame if they trailer a car that they are going to RACE when you break something vital at the strip, and have to leave your car there / pay to get it towed home.

 

how many of you guys have a truck and trailer? i know i dont....

but my track is 20 minutes away so its all good. just call some of my friends to pick me up if i need to

but yeah, cowl hoods signal the need for more room like taller manifolds which mean, powerful motors. when i see them, i get worried, you just never know till you try them

 

All the people that I raced with that were serious always had new axles and changed them in the parking lot between rounds. *shrug*

 

all the really fast cars don't race cause they know better. they are normally driven by people who have already been caught street racing a time or two.

nobody messes with my car, and i drive like a grandma anyways on the street.

 

I have to search for people to race, not to say a few stupid people try to get me.

I found a Syclone that has alky injection that wants a piece of me I hear.....may have to take place soon

 

The point is that there is no difference between beating on your car at the track and beating on it on the street, so why trailor the car you beat up on the way there and back anyway?

 

i used to drive my car to the track 2 hours away, and i felt a sense of pride being able to drive there and back and run 12's. Luckily i never broke anything. Hauling your car does have advantages though. A nice cool motor in the staging lanes is nice, and peace of mind if you do break something.. My car has left me stranded 4 times at least 1 hour from home... I was driving it like a granny too. go figure..
My plan is to haul the car within a few blocks of the track and unload it there and drive in..

 

what are you going to do if you break something on the street?

 

only way I can see it is if the car is unstreetable. you know lumpy cam that makes it have almost low end mixed with a 5500rpm stall converter and a powerglide. but if your driving some 14 second car there is no needto trailer it I agree

and sorry didn't notice you already covered the part about breaking stuff on the street you always seem to beat me to stuff like that

 

Ya kno ive noticed that too people get scared that theyr gonna lose just b/c your car sounds or looks fast... It really bugs me when people do that...

I never really cared... ive raced (my friends car) BBC 69 camaros with tubs and open headers, 03 cobras, z06 vettes, a 69 charger 440 six pack car with one helluva roller cam (sounded like it could barely idle)... etc

i dont expect to win those races but theyr still fun to see how you compare right?

 

My favorite story was rolling up against a first gen Camaro (you know, the sweet looking ones). Anyway, it was alright looking, you could tell it was in the works, but you could also tell that it was his pride and joy because of the things that were done to it (some custom lights, primered black, etc.) Anyway, I had seen him earlier, so when I caught him while I was in my car, I was pretty excited. I saw him in traffic, and followed him as he made a left turn onto a two lane road.

Now, as I've mentioned before, my exhaust was never very loud, and my car looks completely stock, so in order for me to even get someone to notice me, I have to pretty much hold up a sign that asks for a race while at the same time insults their man/womanhood, or just drive like kind of an ***. He is cruising down this street with no one in front or behind, I knew that if anything was going to happen, it had to be here, and now.

So I roll up next to him and give him a nod, and goose the throttle a little. No bite. I mouth to him with a friendly smile, and a twirl of my fingers, "Come on" and nod ahead of us with more goosing of the throttle (all while trying not to have my BOV go off too loud mind you). No bite. So once more I get next to him and get in it a little, hopefully to display to him that I've at least got something under my hood and I'd like to try it out on him. Bite. Finally, he gets a sly grin on his face, I hear the motor cut out as he down shifts, and he steps in it.....Unfortunately for him, I was ready for him, and we were going from a roll already. His timing and torque gave him an encouraging jump on me, but not the even a car, maybe not even a half a car. Really, his car just lurched first.

So he's just down shifted and put his foot in it, and I immediately do the same, and nearly as immediately put out his firey confidence with my four cylinders of furry. I make quick work of strolling away from him down the street with ease. I really wanted to put a few more lengths on him, then slow down and see his reaction because he seemed like a nice guy (about my age, all that nonsense).

Well, unfortunately, I didn't get the chance because about the time I noticed him, a police officer coming in the other direction noticed us. The race had hardly even began at this point and I was maybe one car ahead, but I got there in such a hurry that we didn't need anymore room to project the results. So I see my friend step on the brakes nearly as hard as we stepped on the gas as the officer does the same and does a U-turn right in the middle of the street.

Now, this has happened to me once earlier in my life, in nearly the exact same situation, only I wasn't driving. When I was much younger, I was with a young man who was ahead of not one, but two cars when an officer came from the other direction and did a U-turn with lights blazing right in the middle of the street. The other two car slammed on the brakes and now we were WAY out in front. He didn't stop, not the decision I would have made but I wasn't driving, instead he made a quick turn into an appartment complex, the N/A Supra followed, and the Beretta stayed straight; long story short, we got away.

Anyway, back to my story, there was one differnce here, and that was that the officer did not turn on his lights; therefor, I had as of that time, no reason to apply the breaks. Knowing that my new friend slowed way down (admiting his guilt) I simply took my foot off the gas and continued on my way. Fortunately for me, there was a hill with a curve approaching, so once I was around the turn and at the top of the hill, I just made a turn into a large motel and visited the lobby restroom. I don't know what happened to my friend, but I hope he didn't get into any trouble since I instigated the whole thing. I felt bad about that.

*A few points that I feel are important to mention here.

1) I did not *run* from the police, as there was no indication from that officer that he wanted me to stop, had he simply turned on his lights it would have been all over for me and I would have promtly pulled over.

2) Because the race was so short lived, once I saw the police car, I just took my foot off the gas, and was shortly there after traveling at the same speed I would have been driving had I just been on my way. So I don't want anyone to think that I was going 100mph (maybe half of that) and just took my foot off the gas, and continued to drive up the hill to freedom at 90 or so mph, that would be running from the police. I don't do that.

 

First of all, why are you guys street racing? Thats just plain stupid to begin with. Everyone gets caught in the heat of the moment with a light to light race. The difference being that a light to light race is not planed, and it usually lasts less than an 1/8th mile.

When you are doing a light to light race, if you are smart, your not going to push the car to its limits, there is ALWAYS the chance that something will break. If you have respect for your car, you would know things like this, its in the same catagory of dumping the clutch, or doing uncontroled donuts.

Also, if caught street racing, light to lights included, you get your car impounded and you spend time in jail. Now is it worth it to race on the street? Does it give you a false sense of "being above the law"?

There are no disadvantages to trailering your car to the strip, only advantages. You might not need those advantages, but the time will come when you will.

 

I wouldnt race you either, would I be intimidated, not a chance, but I dont street race, and there are a Lot of people out there like myself! They all arent scared, some just dont participate in such activities...

Now if they are known street racers and back down, then sure they are intimidated, but then again from the outside all there is to go by is looks, and sound, and your car seems to have both!

As far as trailering, If I have my dads truck and trailer, I would probably use it. But I usually dont (actually have NEVER used it to go to the track). I have only trailered it once, and it was because the car was running like crap, and I didnt want to risk being 2 hours away with no ride. I drive to and from the track, bolt on the tires and short belt and go from there. Then its soo much more fun to drive the car home, especially after some good track passes!

 

everyone is aware of street racing being illegal. I am fully aware of it, but back in the 60s thats how muscle cars became popular.

The car companies brought there factory vehicles out and tested them on the streets (Woodward Ave.) to see what they were up against.Living in a house with my step father that was a part of the era I know quite a bit about it. Now I know its getting more and more dangerous, but right now its all history to me. Following some footsteps of how it all began.

 

As long as we have cars there will be street racing. I think any race that gets over 70 mph needs a nice no traffic shut down distance for safety sake. We have a perfect county road in my area that's in a valley with fresh blacktop, and 1/2 mile of flat, straight road with a slight upgrade to the next hill. At night you can see the headlights of any traffic coming for 1/2 mile away in both directions. We even have markers for the 1/8 and 1/4 mile.
Im guessing traffic would be about 5 cars driving down this road every hour after 10 pm...
i feel sorry for the big city-guys.

 

You guys reminded me of a funny scene at our local 1/8th mile track a few weeks ago.

I was taking my Mustang for its initial runs. Im in the staging lanes and chatting with a few guys. I see this guy pull up in Lane 3 AKA Left Lane. I look at it and nearly bust out. Theres this guy, probably about 25 or so, short gelled hair, OCC sunglasses, OCC shirt, shorts and such probably around 240lbs or so. He has the chest thrown out like hes all bad. He is driving a 2000 Chevy Cavalier 4 door with a bodykit, ugly *** chrome wheels, fart cannon, racing seats with harnesses, 1 small dash mounted screen for Fuel or something, a laptop in the passenger seat, and all kinds of stuff under the hood including MSD ignition box, Optima battery, strut tower brace, etc. in mods, ALOT of money in this car its a 5 speed by the way. He gets out and opens the back door and unhooks his NITROUS bottle!!! He slings it on his shoulder and goes to fill it up. I look at my buddy Bryon and almost fall to the ground laughing. I listen to the dudes motor, hwich he left running because his Optima was supposedly "dead" So, Im looking at this car and even snap a few shots. Then I notice he has a piece of plastic covering behind his back tire to catch the burnt rubber...on a FWD car!!! By then Im laughing so hard my sides are hurting. He gets back and hooks his Nitrous up and fills the lines, he's all "Paul Walker" like and stuff and serious looking. They call our lanes to "suit up" and we all do so and after a few seconds, I realize Im running this Cavalier.

We get into our respective lanes and both of our windows are down. Im waiting for the previous 2 cars to pass the line and hes all revving his motor as the poor lifters tick away loudly. They pass the line and then the dude doesnt even wait for the signal and does this real crappy *** burnout followed by about am inute of purging in bursts. I roll my eyes and my buddy is over there crying he's laughing so hard. I do a small burnout/spin to clean my tires off a little. I get up to pre stage and he looks all hard at me. He points 2 fingers at his eyes then at me and gives a thumbs down mouthing "You're oging down sucker!" I chuckle and roll my window up as we stage up. The lights go down and I launch hard and hook fast as I pull an impressive 2.11 60ft. I pull an immediate car length and then he starts spraying and pulls up about half a car behind me and I slam into 2nd chirping the tires and then start walking away pretty bad and ened up winning by numerous car lengths not sure how many really but I know I ran a 9.41 as he ran his best pass of the night, a 10.37...the rest of the night he ran 10.80's-11.30's.

the best part was about 2 hours later I see him Loading it up on a trailer and driving off. This was EXTREMELY funny as the tow truck was a new Dodge Hemi extended cab....the fact that the tow vehicle is faster than the race car had me literally on my knees holding my sides with laughter....this was a car that did NOT belong on a trailer!

 

i also have to say that i cant agree with the trailer idea. I myself say if its a TRUE street car, you drive it to the track. If a car comes in on a trailer, no matter what you say it isnt a street car. Like OSCA cars, they are not street cars in my eyes because the guys trailer them in and out.

A part of racing is breaking htings simple as that. You take risks. I take a risk running a 5.0 5 speed Mustang with over 220k miles on it at the track and such but I understand the risks and know stuff breaks. I refuse to trailer my car. If my car gets to the point I have to traielr it everywhere, whetehr it be my Camaro or Mustang, Ill sell it in a heartbeat. I want to enjoy my car, drive it to the track, run it and drive it home, not load it off and on trailers, thatis no fun to me, thats what i call a trailer queen. Having someone with a trailer go to the track with you is fine as a backup because stuff does break but why trailer your car to the track if you can drive it? Thats all I have to say because if you cant drive your car on the streets without constantly worrying about breaking stuff, then its no loger a Street car in my eyes and in many other true hot rodders eyes.

 

 

Very true...but lets say you got some slicks,and a floor jack. where you gonna throw those while driving out to the track in an F-body?

 

Good point - if you can fit slicks, a jack and whatever other support equipment in an F-body, I need to take packing lessons from you... Another vehicle to haul that stuff would be good to have, but at that point, I'd probably trailer it - but it had better be running faster then 11's at that point, I hope...

Man, you have got to love the racers who rag their car out to the absolute max. 10.37 is pretty respectable, but I can't say the same for the dude, though. Why do people get such an attitude, sometimes?

 

Street car or not, your not a perfect driver, none of us are. And if you think you are, your are pretty ignorant (not calling your ignorant, just anyone who thinks they are a perfect driver). When your at the track, you tend to push your car to the max, farther then you would when doing a light to light, or even a street race, and things can break. If you break something vital, something you cant simply throw into the back of your car, what are you going to do?

Now I know some of you live near the strip, but in my case, the nearest strip is 30 miles away, and the nearest GOOD strip is over 50 miles.

And your comment about how "Street rodders" think is opinionated, there is no fact to it. That might be how you think, but not nessesarily everyone thinks.

 

and what are you gonna do when a family in a van pulls out of a side street in front of you when the two of you are youre doing 100mph. here in new york, if someone is killed in a street racing related accident, you're a murderer. and personally, most people my age cant afford to pay another 50% on their own insurance policy, and that's just for a speeding ticket.

take it to the track..enough said

 

see there are two types of street racers

people that do it on crowded streets and pretty much anywhere...


and


people who take it out on abandoned roads or cleared roads with no other connecting driveways/or roads on it. Perfectly safe.... only threat is you messing up somehow and wrecking.
thats the kind of person i am..

and you can put slicks in the back seat area. i put 2 full tires back there after i wrapped them in garabage bags
so full rims and slicks would be NO problem what so ever

 

my reason for a trailer is that the hoe twoing the trailer gets better gas mileage than my elco does towing nothing. and the hoe can haul 5 people the elco 2 those are my reasons
and yes i do race on streets that are abandoned or closed off.

 

I remeber this guy at the local rx7 club we have here in boise he trailered his car to the drag strip one of the times he ran it. it only ran a high 13 I think but it was fairly streetable. nice smooth idle and could handle it. the problem was the tires are expesive auto-x tires, the rims were close to 1000 a piece 3 piece light as hell 18 or 19" rims running on heavy *** springs. well heavy for the car 550 I think at all 4 corners. and while you guys might laugh cause some of you are running 700+ in the front different suspensions based upon where the spring is located makes a difference as to how stiff the car is, plus the car was only 2700lbs or so. so it wasn't a nice ride by any means and more or less would jar you teeth out if you drove it around too much. plus I'm sure he didn't want to damage those nice rims he had.

i could kinda understand tht situation and he did drive it on the street sometimes but more often then not he didn't being it was his race car and had sponsers and stuff like that so didn't want to break anything outside of racing.
still think he could have drove it to the track though :-)

 

The Cavi ran a 10.37....in the 1/8th mile...which is not very respectable...well not to me anyways lol.

 

Wow, I thought street racing was completely legal and safe and that everyone was required to do it by the Law of the Streets if a rev is thrown their way.

I'm going to have to get some RAID to take care of this troll problem if things don't settle down soon.