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Five Oh Two
Sorry for bein' gone so long - it's been really busy at work.
This story is from Dream Cruise Week:
I'm on my way to the airport - buzzin' down M5 mindin' my business. Had Max in Dream Cruise trim - a pair of dumps right after the crossover - no tailpipes, no muffs. Makes him sound pretty righteous at 7 grand while droppin' a few pounds. Have not had him back to the strip with this mod, but fuel mileage took a big jump - 2 MPG!
Downside is you gotta feather the snot outta the throttle or your ears start to bleed...
So - I'm mildly perturbed I'm gonna miss 90% of the pre-cruise action, as I'm scheduled out of town until late Friday PM. All this drama under the floorboards and no one to unleash it on. I look up ahead and see a shoebox Chevy - '55, to be exact. Salmon pink with biig Mickeys fillin' up a tubbed rear end....
A pro streeter.
We catch the next lite side by. I call over to the guy; give him props for a sano ride. The car was REALLY nice lookin - minimal chrome, custom interior. Sounded mean, so's I asked him what he had on tap...
'502 big block', he replied matter-of-factly.
Big iron, but...
No roll cage.
Quite a few pro streeters were built for show and not for go. While he had the hardware to go deep into the 11's - he hadn't the time slip to back it up - otherwise, there would have been a cage present.
I complimented his choice of motors while keeping an eye on the lite...
It went green; I rolled out ahead of the salmon shoe. Not hard, mind you, but quick enough to let the chevy driver know I was good to go. A split second later, I hear the throttle plates open on the 502, and in an instant we're even up. I stab Max's clutch, hammer the throttle, and sidestep the left pedal. The idea is to get the revs (and HP) up, plant the tires, and go.
WHOA, NELLY! M5 is clean, hard, fresh concrete - not at all like a grubby strip launch pad - Max's front end came UP! I could feel the suspension limit out on the upper stops as the tach spun towards redline in 1st...
After recovering from the shock of good weight transfer (I really gotta go to a better strip) I heard the sound of tires breaking loose off to the left. It was the '55 blowin' over the gumball Mickeys, losin' ground in the process. I banged off second, and waited for the '55 to blow on by...
The '55 catches second gear a heartbeat or two after Max did - unlike Max, who stuck his nose up once again, the shoebox pulled a repeat of 1st by blowin' the tires over. By the time he had it sorted out and hooked up, Max had put a length on the big block streeter. Rather than go again, the Chevy aimed for the turn around lane at the next lite. I tried to prop the guy again, but he gave me a 'yeah, whatever' wave-off as I rolled on by.
I didn't expect that. Just goes to show ya displacement ain't everything - you gotta stick it to go as there's no such thing as spinnin' and winnin'.
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Tennis Challenge Champion!
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