Ranman

Rob and Scarab, Friends of mine are in those video tapes and were at the scene that night. One of my buddies sold parts to Aaron Reynolds (charged with murder) and helped him with his car. I used to street race a sprayed Mustang back in 98 and 99. Plymouth and Outer, Joy and Evergreen, Lynch Road, French Road, Northline, Grand River and Tele, you name it. It was a crazy scene. 8 and 9 second cars were not unusual and 10 & 11 second cars were the norm. I have hours of videotape. I remember if someone showed up with anything other than a healthy V8, they get laughed and booed off the scene. Tthese Cali punks wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes in the Detroit scene. I'm not claiming to be tough, but you'd better know what the F your doing down there and you'd better have some backup. I've seen cars get shot at, fights break out, all kinds of **** go down on the streets.

I never understood why the spectators thought they were immune on the streets. I'm surprised I didn't see more people hurt. Street cars aren't required to have c-clip eliminaters, drive shaft loops, roll bars, etc.. Then youd see people standing right next to or across from the cars as they launched. You didn't know who the driver was. How stupid.

I know it doesn't make it right and she didn't deserve to get killed, but here are a few other points to that story. The race took place around 4am on an otherwise deserted street. The girl was with the racers and not an innocent bystander like the news makes her out to be. She and a few others decided to go to the end of the "track" to see the finish of the race and was thus standing right at the curb as the cars were coming. Doesn't make it right, but she knew what was going down and chose to place herself there. Word on the street (although it's hard to believe) is that Aaron was looking back at the other race car behind him and he somehow lost control. The car did not break. and cause the accident.

Anyway, if you get caught street racing in Detroit, they now have the power to confiscate your car. You do not get it back. After this and acquiring 3 drag racing tickets in 18 mos., I gave it up. Sold the car and bought my Donzi. Havent had a ticket since and the Donzi is way more fun.

Ranman

Iggy

I laugh at these kids with their Honda's and Mitsubishi's.
If I still had my '66 Shelby I'd show'em what racing's all about. I've watched a few race and they don'tr have the poff the line torque that I'm used to. My friend would rev the engine then side step the clutch in his '71 Chevelle SS 454 and plant your brian in the back window.
I've done my share of street racing in the 70's. If the local roads were busy we'd drive about 8 miles to a deserted road that we had marked off for a quarter mile. The road was about 4 miles long and straight as an arrow. On Saturday nights the cops would stand by and watch, but no tickets were ever issued.
That was fun!

sha- mat

We used to have some killer street cars here in northern VA. I remember the "boy's from MD" would come down on a hunt. They would want to run 1/4 mile on slicks, and we would want to run 1/8 on D.O.T's. We had cars that would hook on snot. They were big inch small blocks or small inch big blocks with lots (and I mean LOTS) of nitrous. Those MD boy's always had big inch motors and they would never hook, then they could never catch us in the 1/8 (we got our share of butt kicking though). If they got us to agree to a 1/4, we would say "you have to give us something, say......2 cars and the boot"? What a rush to pull off a high 5 or a low 6 second 1/8 mile pass on the street, a fender length in front of a rival.

Then, the rice burners started to hang around. They would follow us to a place to race and while the fast cars would be getting ready, they would be non-stop racing. Sometimes 3 at a time. The cops would show up, and the big race would never get off.

Then, we got old, some of us got married, some of us had kids, some bought houses, and some BOUGHT A POWERBOAT.

Still have my street car, but it's just a slow bracket racer now, and my Pontiac GTP will out run the rice burners at a stoplight.

Sometimes change is good, sometimes change sucks
Hopefully no one puts one of those stupid mufflers on a 4 cylinder boat.

mxz800

i have done more than my fair shair of street racing in the past. D.C. used to have some of the best street racing around, i have personally watched plenty of times cars get ready on the entrance ramp while people stopped traffic on i495 (YEAH!) and they pull up on the interstate and race. i had a low 10 second street car and was considered SLOW by those guys over there. i just cant relate to these ricers, i think it is actually more the people than the cars i really cant stand. in my eyes real race cars are built, not purchased on mommys credit card.

Rob

26scarab

Hey Ranman,
I'm sure we know some of the same people , and what you say is the it was /is down there. I didn't see too many guns back in the early ninties, just in the past few years. Back in the early ninties everyone seemed to get along (somewhat), sure there was arguments but it didn't alway resort to gunfights.
From what I hear allot of the people that had REALLY fast stuff are either in prison or dead.
Do you remember the 69 Camaro (survivor) that used to have small tires and a big inch Rodeck motor ?
How about Averys GN or Dart ? Remember Mike Morans 8.50 wheelstanding Pinto station wagon ?
That was some street racing !
I remember a street race were they blocked off I696 , It was a 69 Hemi roadrunner and a B1 motored Duster. Just awesome !

But yes the boat thing is better you can race all day long and not worry about cops !

wilerty

13 years ago ... how about 36 years ago. Great memories. I started with a 427/425 from a 66 Vette ... and put it in my 64 Chevelle. 13.5 to 1, Crane, Hooker etc Anyone remember a Holley 3 Barrel carb? Drove it every day on the street to college and work. Could only fit 7" slicks. Pulled the wheels about a foot turning 11.83 @133, which wasn't bad at that time.

For those of you in the Northeast, there is an event held every July called the Syracuse Nationals. This last summer we had 6,000 muscle cars and hot rods show up for the event ... and it was fantastic. It's held at the New York State Fairgrounds.

They stay on the Fairgrounds during the day and go "cruising" at night. On my side of town is a regular cruising place called Erie Boulevard where, that weekend, about 5,000 people line the road with lawn chairs until lilke 2AM just to watch the cars go by. There isn't any racing going on, but it's still a great show. Here's a web site:

http://2002.syracusenats.com/

Flyinbrian

I'm still in the scene in Central Ohio. Just like someone from Detroit said earlier, the ricers get laughed at by us V8 guys. In fact, most of the time we just ignore them. When we set up race between a couple of the heavy hitters, we send a set of decoy fast cars out with a group of others to draw the ricer kids out of the parking lot. The decoys will take them to a spot that we would normally race at, but no race would happen. Sometimes two sets of decoys are sent out. It helps with the cops too. I think the ricers are the best thing that ever happened for the cops, they make such a frigging scene wherever they go, with the strobe lights and fart pipes, always drawing attention to themselves by acting foolish in the wrong place. There have been times in the past where the older, more established guys have chased some rice boys out of the lot, sometimes by force. This has happened when they start doing stupid **** around parked cars.

I choose not to race on the street anymore. I'll watch and help out, but when approached to race, I tell them to meet me at the strip anytime. It's $8-$10 depending on the day and legal. My car is in the 10s all small block motor.

Here's a pic of a major "FART PIPE" on a ricer.

Iggy

Holley 3 barrel?
Yep, I remember them. MY Dad's 36' ChrisCraft had twin 327's that had them for carbs.

A friend and I were partners in a '71 Dodge Dart that ran SS/IA in NED 1 back in '74. This car had no title, serial numbers, tags, etc. We used to slap a false tag on it, a set of header mufflers and drive it to the Saturday night races, on slicks. Run a few guys, blow their doors oof and go home. Sunday morning we'd load it on the trailer and run up to Raceway Park in Englishtown for day of "legal" racing.

Ranman

Hey Scarab, I'm sure we do know some of the same people. It's not like there were gunfights every weekend, but I've seen em, especially on Lynch and Joy road. In the early nineties, I was 16 or 17. I had a 4cyl Mustang coupe that was converted to a 302. It was fun, but I didn't understand (or have enough $$$) to really tune it well so it was pretty slow I remember a distinct Pinto that was tubbed with I think a 460 with the dual quads. Maybe that's who you are talking about. I also rember a rather quick GN that had "all throttle, no bottle" in the back window.

If your into the Mustang scene, you'd know one of my buddies Eric Paurazes. His latest car is in the middle 7's. He's getting more into the Pro 5.0 stuff now though. He also runs a shop in Redford and sells Mustang parts all over Detroit. He's pretty much (in)famous.

It's too bad I never got to meet up with you and some of the other OSO'ers on LSC. There's so many people out there in Muscamoot, it's hard to weed through all the boats, plus I kind of hang back and watch from a distance. Oh well, maybe next season.

Wally

iTrader: (1)

damn ricers!