Dis is My Ride!!!

I have owned a lot of cars in my 62 years. The first one I ever seriously street raced was a '60 Impala Sport Coupe. It was red with a white top and red interior. It had the big high compression 348, solid lifter cam, 4-speed and 4.56 posi. Back in 1962 gas was cheap. I filled up with Sunoco Blue for about 5-bucks!!! The car was beautiful with its American Torque Thrusts. I lived in Mason County, KY, the town of Maysville. We had rivalries with the gear heads in neighboring Bracken County in the town of Brooksville. There was a guy there with a bad '57 Chevy convertible. He claimed it had the dual quad 270 horse 283 but I knew better. He bought the 300 horse 327 from a 62 Impala that got wrapped around a tree on highway 10! He stuck the dual quads on that after porting and polishing the heads. He even put an Isky roller cam and kit in the thing. He also ran a 4.56 on the street with Englewood tires. (anybody remember those?). Well, we had a cruising circuit just across the Ohio River from Maysville with a string of drive-in restaurants. It was the place to be seen and heard. Pretty girls always jumped in your car for a lap through the circuit and then they'd hop out and jump into another cool ride. The bad asses from Bracken County cruised the circuit too. One night after I took my girlfriend home from a date, I just wasn't ready to go home. I went back to the circuit and parked at Bisotti's Restaurant and got a chopped cherry Coke, raised the hood to show off my 3 pots and chromed valve covers (from a 409) and began BSing with some buddies. Two guys from the enemy camp came around in a Ford Starliner with a 390 tri-power and 4-speed and they asked me if I wanted to run that "piece of sh--" for 10 bucks. My buddies badgered me into accepting. Highway 52 ran all along the circuit and just east of Aberdeen, we had a quarter mile marked off with white paint. We would send a "lieutenant" to the finish line for safety in case of on coming traffic. It was amazing that when the whole event started there were maybe 10 people around and it was almost midnight. People came from out of nowhere! Both sides of the road were lined with cars and guys and girls standing outside of them to watch the race! Damn that was dumb! It was a two lane highway! I got him out of the hole and beat him by a fender at the end. Its a wonder no one got killed with all that 4-speed power shifting. We turned around and raced back. I beat him again when he lit the tires too hard. When we got out of the cars, he was really pissed and refused to pay me on the bet. Words built and a push got a shove and then I gave him a mouth full of bloody chicklets! 5 of his buddies then jumped on me and I was getting a butt wuppin' until some of my friends evened it out. I never got the money but I insulted him real good. The next night, he shows up again but he is with the guy with the '57 Chevy named Russell. He was nice enough but he challenged for $25. I had $10 on me and my buddies kicked in the rest. It was to be the best of 2, racing each direction again. In case of a tie nobody collected money. Money was really secondary - it was the glory and prestige we raced for. On the first run, I got out of the hole first and then the guy missed 2nd gear. He couldn't catch me. On the reverse run, I left on him good again but this time he didn't miss a gear and he passed me on the top end like I was tied to a tree! The lock collar on my progressive linkage had loosened allowing the two end carbs to shut down. It was 1-for-1 and we both were happy. We shook hands and showed mutual respect. He went around telling how he beat me and I went around telling how I beat him!! I later put a 409 dual quad in that '60 Chevy and nobody really wanted to race me heads up. I traded that Chevy in on a new '68 Hemi Roadrunner and that's when the street racing really got heavy. That story nextime!
Pat