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When is it OK?

2K views 17 replies 14 participants last post by  GalaxieCruiser 
#1 ·
So I was sittin' in front of a buddy's house in the car, and takin' quite a bit of flak for them havin' never seen the galaxie roast the tires. Tacking up the engine I noticed the neighbor out in her flower bed doing yard work and thought to myself, "is this how I want to represent the classic car/hotrod guys and gals across the nation?". So I eased off the go pedal and and shut her down much to the dissappointment of my friends. More heckling insued, but hey what are friends for?
My question to everyone here, is when is it okay, in your opinion, to let it rip?Please sound off, as I would like to hear everyones' perspective.
 
#2 ·
You did the right thing. You do it on a country road where there is NO chance of you loosing control and hitting some one or making a neighbor mad. I makes me crazy when friends or customers leave my shop and leave rubber in front of my house. We had a Jack @#$ run by my house at 100 plus. I live in the country and at that time we had 9 kids under 10 years old on the street waiting for the bus. My buddy followed him to work and told him that was the last time or police would be involved. He lived 1.8 miles from his house to his job and never could make it to work. We never had any more problems with him.
 
#3 ·
My dad always said there was a time and place for everything,,i however have not seemed to grasp that concept ....


No really,,Even when I had my coolest cars I didnt mash it in neborhoods with little old ladys or small kids. Same way as today i turn down my tunes at a stop light cause i like them loud.

We had this 3/4 to a mile long strip just out side of town where the old factorys used to be.We called it rubber road. Go out,run her down cruze back into town.
 
#5 ·
That was a good karma decision.

I always have to talk myself down from doing something stupid in my car.
The best place to do it is far away from people.

Besides, sure as hell you drop the pedal, you light her up and you break a U-joint... the cops have already been called and they tow your car, costing you an impound fee and charge you with street racing, they sell your car off and take your license away for a year.
In the meantime, your girl leaves you cause you cant drive and you are relegated to dating a fat chic and end up living in a trailer drinking your days away talking about the ol' galaxy you once had.
 
#6 ·
When I starting driving back in Utah, the small town streets are very wide, as in 100'+. But we still went out of town. Cops didn't mind then because the locals wasn't giving them a hard time about doing something about us. That was before dragstrips were much better located like now.
Tell your friends to grow up. Neighbors will tolerate a lot, but you have to respect them too. If you had a bunch of dogs that barked all the time, then get ready for problems. Now if your dogs only barked when strangers came around, much better.
Besides, you hit a kid and you will go to jail and make the 5PM news.
 
#9 ·
you did the right thing...take it to the track- its a lot safer and the only way to get a true measure in terms that mean something...

I still cant help but shift a little quickly in the mustang- you know, even at 2000 it will still make a little chirp, and I like to 'forget' to shift once in a while just to hear the engine, but no taunting of the ricers or anything else- just last night some idiot in a little white honda with a big fartpipe was revving next to me at a light, zooming around cars without signalling...passed him three times at traffic lights he caught by speeding up, then he'd go zooming off in and out of traffic...
Idiots like that probably go brag to their buddies as to how they pulled away from a Mustang GT, yet you know in the back of their feeble brains they know in a real contest they would be embarassed badly...
Ive seen some 'nicer ricers' - really fixed up cars, not my cup of tea, but done up with more than a crooked stripe and a fart pipe, and they are usually more grown up- but not always...nobody can 'race' the idiots, as without a start/end the one who 'wins' will always be the fool that stays in it longer...

my car may do 100 in the 1/4, near 150 flat out, but I aint gonna take it up there to 'show' a 90 mph ricer, whats the point.
anyone that gives you any greif, tell them to show you a timeslip or shutup...street 'wins' even bloated dyno claims dont mean anything if the car cant hook up/go, and if they cant drive it...
go to the track, work on some decent reaction times and 60 foot times, plus the ET/MPH, those tell the true tale of you and your cars ability.

heck I recall a guy in highschool with a K-Car that could literally blow the front tires doing burnouts- yet its a safe bet it was a 18 second car with a 4 second 60 foot time :)

you know what we need- like the Kids soccer 'card' photos, with the stats...if some noisy honda pulls up revving by a light, just toss them a card with track timeslip photo -and pic of car so they cant say its their slip :)
 
#10 ·
You'd probably be hard pressed to find somebody that boils the hides more than me. I beat the **** out of my car every single time it leaves the garage. Normally I just use common sense and I don't have any trouble. Country road with nobody in sight....probably gonna get some black marks on it. Neighborhood with kids playing.....chances are good I'll idling by well under the speed limit waving to the kids. One of my favorite places to let some smoke out of the tires is the track. You did the right thing.

 
#11 ·
I gotta agree, you did the right thing. Respect the neighbours and their rights to comfort, as long as they are respecting yours;) I would love to see my neighbours light up their tires in their driveways, but I still recognize that not all people can appreciate that the same way that I do. Now, if I can find out which neighbour of mine called the city by-laws and accused me of running a mechanic shop out of my back yard, honestly only wrenching on my own rides, then I'd be tempted to light em up right in front of their house. But I am pretty good at turning away from such temptations.

Tracks are always the best option but not always the most available, so empty country roads where you can hurt no one but yourselves (if anything were to go wrong) are the next best thing.
 
#12 ·
My wifey works at Costco and is on the 4am shift. Sometimes I'll bring her breakfast at 6:30am and do a smoker in the empty parking lot to impress all her co-worker 20 year old girls. Thats impressive, eh. A 45 year old dude wanting some attention from the young-uns.:) Point is, Im not harming anyone but Costcos asphalt!
 
#14 ·
Living in the city, it takes a bit of driving to locate a real "country" road, but I get what everyone is saying. Gumboot, I feel for you man. I had a neighbor complain to the city a few years back about my trail truck sitting under a tarp for a week while I prepped and poured concrete in my garage. I guess some people don't appreciate the do-it yourselfer.
I guess for now I'll keep the tread on my tires and John Q. Law another citation shy of his quota.
 
#15 ·
Ill admit i get on it from a stop light or at intersections. But it takes one thing and one thing only. Some fat can honda toyota or other rice burner.:D
 
#16 ·
i know what your saying, but dont get caught just rev it up let them think your doing soemthing special and get there hopes up and when the light turns green just cruise out and let them make a fool of themselves and get pulled over. I will tell you when i had my 88 mustang i couldnt resist plus i was a little younger and still in highschool, a buddy or a friend would want to race so i got on it outside of the high school and next thing i know i'm in the rear end of some jeep, i hadnt broken the law besides rear ending the guy but to show off is nice, just do it at the track, i got by on that one, scared teh **** out of me and i will never do it again, got 2 citations one for operation without reasonable control (i was in control my car just couldnt handle it) and assurred cleared distance ( just defending myself the guy did pull off the highway infront of me and the exit is over a hill so i didnt see him till the last second) but still my fault and i did slow down to the speed limit before i actually hit the guy..so just keep it to the track all my buddys ask me to run them i say yeah at the track tehy call me a puss i call it smart...
 
#17 ·
That reminds me of a story my dad's friend told me about my dad back in his hotrod days. Guy pulled up to them at the light on a saturday night. They revved back and forth and waited for the green light. Light goes green, both engines are screaming at high rpm. The other guy goes flying off the line, and down past a cop. Of course he's ticketed, and my dad's buddy is sitting there wondering what the hell just happened. Turned out the ol'man forgot he had taken the car out of gear. OOPS. Makes me wonder if my dad used to smoke some of the wacky tabacky back then. HMMM?
 
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