The time: 1996, about midnight, Saturday night...
The place: Santa Clara, CA... Great America Pkwy. near 237, before they added the Palm exit/entrances.
My Car: My sleeper, the 81 Malibu 4DR Sedan. At that time I had just put the 375HP Sallee-Chevrolet ZZ3 in the car, with a QuadraJet and 1 5/8" shorty headers into a custom Y-pipe with one 3" cat. Boxed in LCAs, Bilsteins, 3.73 posi 12-bolt)
The Black Car: I knew it was a Buick Turbo because he had the badges on... but I didn't know what a turbo was, not really... and not what it could do. I also didn't realize (this was early in my street racing experience) the signifigance of the Hoosier no-tread (slicks) tire on the back. He was a local guy from where the scene around here was Fri/Sat nights at Weinerschnitzel on El Camino.
About 6 cars went down to GA Pkwyand pulled off onto the side of Old Mt. View-Alviso Rd. My car was running pretty good, though with a lot of 1st/2nd tire spin on the Goodyear Gatorback 245/50/16s. I had never timed it, but had beaten a bunch of IROCs, 'muscle cars' and 5.0's with the sleeper.
I think his name was Mike. We talked and I said I wanted to race. I like racing in the 1st 20 minutes after getting someplace, cause the cops usually show up within an hour. We drove and made a U-turn at the crossover road near 237, did a little burnout
and staged, with some kid on the center divider. They had another guy up at the lights watching for traffic from down there. he gives some signal with a flashlight and the kid raises his arms slowly... I hear this God-awful whistling sound, this all-black car is rising on its suspension next to me like no car I had ever raced...
and I get a good launch (for me and the Gatorbacks) but this guy is like 40 feet in front of me already... after that I held steady at about 2 solid car lengths behind... I had never, ever seen a launch like that in person. Turns out he had a TH400 w/transbrake, and all sorts of HKS electronics.
I had nightmares about whistling bats racing past my head for like a month...
Taught me a few lessons, though:
- Never race a car on slicks when you are on street tires. A quarter mile isn't very long if you're spinning and he's moving.
- Turbos can mean trouble, especially CIA-Black Buick Coupes...
- Laptops on the front seat do not mean that it's some kind of nerdy car...
- G-Bodies can be made to handle well and be quick as hell...
- I am due for a big fall everytime I think I'm really getting quick...
cuz there's always quicker cars around.
Excellent site and stories.
Jim
The place: Santa Clara, CA... Great America Pkwy. near 237, before they added the Palm exit/entrances.
My Car: My sleeper, the 81 Malibu 4DR Sedan. At that time I had just put the 375HP Sallee-Chevrolet ZZ3 in the car, with a QuadraJet and 1 5/8" shorty headers into a custom Y-pipe with one 3" cat. Boxed in LCAs, Bilsteins, 3.73 posi 12-bolt)
The Black Car: I knew it was a Buick Turbo because he had the badges on... but I didn't know what a turbo was, not really... and not what it could do. I also didn't realize (this was early in my street racing experience) the signifigance of the Hoosier no-tread (slicks) tire on the back. He was a local guy from where the scene around here was Fri/Sat nights at Weinerschnitzel on El Camino.
About 6 cars went down to GA Pkwyand pulled off onto the side of Old Mt. View-Alviso Rd. My car was running pretty good, though with a lot of 1st/2nd tire spin on the Goodyear Gatorback 245/50/16s. I had never timed it, but had beaten a bunch of IROCs, 'muscle cars' and 5.0's with the sleeper.
I think his name was Mike. We talked and I said I wanted to race. I like racing in the 1st 20 minutes after getting someplace, cause the cops usually show up within an hour. We drove and made a U-turn at the crossover road near 237, did a little burnout
and staged, with some kid on the center divider. They had another guy up at the lights watching for traffic from down there. he gives some signal with a flashlight and the kid raises his arms slowly... I hear this God-awful whistling sound, this all-black car is rising on its suspension next to me like no car I had ever raced...
and I get a good launch (for me and the Gatorbacks) but this guy is like 40 feet in front of me already... after that I held steady at about 2 solid car lengths behind... I had never, ever seen a launch like that in person. Turns out he had a TH400 w/transbrake, and all sorts of HKS electronics.
I had nightmares about whistling bats racing past my head for like a month...
Taught me a few lessons, though:
- Never race a car on slicks when you are on street tires. A quarter mile isn't very long if you're spinning and he's moving.
- Turbos can mean trouble, especially CIA-Black Buick Coupes...
- Laptops on the front seat do not mean that it's some kind of nerdy car...
- G-Bodies can be made to handle well and be quick as hell...
- I am due for a big fall everytime I think I'm really getting quick...
cuz there's always quicker cars around.
Excellent site and stories.
Jim
