Why I Street Race

[1993_GT]

I was reading the other thread that asked "Just Curious" and it got me to thinking as to why I street race.

I guess I am something of an anomoly... You see I am 39 and I love to street race. When I drive anywhere whether it be from work, the store, the range where ever. I am constantly looking for races. My car is not the fastest but it is respectable.

I am married, with a house , three kids, the works... I race and build mustangs now because when I was younger I had not time or money and because I was always working trying to support my family. I am living comfortable now and make a good living and I have more time now.

I actually got started into street racing when my 14 year old son who is 15 now, came to me and asked if he could buy a car. I first said no that school should come first... Well that did not work, so I told him when he got his learner permit we would get him a car. So he got it and me and him went out looking. Of course he wanted an import rocket, so we spent the next few weeks looking until we came across the GT I am driving now. Me and my son looked at each other and said that was the car. I bought it and my son and I are fixing her up together.

We have already redone the interior, including a new stereo, carpet, ulpoststry, and a headliner. We smoothed out all the dents together had it painted the original factory color and now we are building a 331 stroker motor that is sitting on an engine stand in the garage. It has been a good time so far and I am really enjoying the time my son and I are spending together.

My son spends a lot time reading about mustangs working on the car assembling the motor, washing and waxing it. He orders all the parts, and looks forward to every weekend when I take him out and let him drive it. He pays half the price for the parts and I pay the other half, so I am teaching him how to save money and spend it wisely.

As for Street racing, I do it and my son loves to hear the stories I tell about my wins and losses. He is always asking me if he can street race. I tell him no, not until you get some wheel time in. I take him to an abandoned industrial park and let him run it fast with me in the car sometime, his face just lights up like a drag strip christmas tree. I also take him to Moroso on Friday nights and let him ride shotgun when I race. I tried to let him race a couple of times by himself but the track officials said no way... So he races with me. I think he will be a great street racer one day and maybe a prostreet racer at the track as well. He already drives that stang as well as I do. When we finish the new motor it will pushing close to 400 RWHP and it makes my wife a little uneasy that her baby will driving such a fast car soon. I tell her not to worry that I know he will respect the car and not endanger himself or others. I know this to be a bit untrue as a teenage kid is bound to show off for his friends or a girl and do something stupid, lord knows I did alot of stupid things when I was a kid. I just hope he knows when his limit has been reached and know when to say stop.

My biggest problem is when he turns 16 next Febuary I am going to have to give the car to him... LOL oh well I will just have to get me a 1993 Cobra then...

[-Jayson-]

ok why dont you write an autobiography then? doh u just did. lol im j/p. But seriously i doubt many people care, and this should be in the Non specific forum.

[PearlGT]

Originally Posted by -Jayson-

ok why dont you write an autobiography then? doh u just did. lol im j/p. But seriously i doubt many people care, and this should be in the Non specific forum.

so the title "Why I Street Race" doesn't belong in the street racing forum? The thread looks fine to me and I care because what he's doing is great for his son. I'm 16 and raising myself on self taught information and respect my car but wish my dad would have been into cars as much so as he could teach me certain things as well. As it stands now I know about 20 times what my father knows about cars (currently weighted more towards imports but I'm trying to learn up on domestics too) but had he taught me what this guy is teaching his son I would probably be able to do most of the work I want done on the car myself.

[akaSpydaa]

Originally Posted by PearlGT

so the title "Why I Street Race" doesn't belong in the street racing forum? The thread looks fine to me and I care because what he's doing is great for his son. I'm 16 and raising myself on self taught information and respect my car but wish my dad would have been into cars as much so as he could teach me certain things as well. As it stands now I know about 20 times what my father knows about cars (currently weighted more towards imports but I'm trying to learn up on domestics too) but had he taught me what this guy is teaching his son I would probably be able to do most of the work I want done on the car myself.

yea man i feel u on that one, im 16 myself and wish my dad was into street racing and fast cars himself, but he's not, he thinks its stupid and dangerous like every other dad, IMP. oh well, thats 2 bad, but like u said i wish he would b able 2 teach me something about cars but he doesnt kno anymore than me.

[JekylandHyde]

Moroso allows passengers? .... a minor at that?

[1993_GT]

Yes as long as they have the proper safety equipment. I really have had no issue with track officials regarding this matter. The only thing they won't allow is him to race by himself...

[-Jayson-]

the non specific forum was created just fot threads like this. But anways whatever. The track near my house allows for passengers.

[xXx=BioHazard=xXx]

I think this is a good thread because im only 14 but my dad and i talk all the time about street racing and wut car im gonna get and how we're gonna fix it up.

[drftk1d]

^haha i respect your dreams, but the fact that you are 14 and hang out with high schoolers means nothing.

[Robs71Nova]

Nice thread, and very well written. I only see one thing that I must question you about.

Why on earth would you want a 331 stroker powered mustang to be your sons first car? That seems WAYYY to extreme for a first vehicle. My first car was the Nova in my signature, but it had a shitty 307 in it. When I got use to that after a few years I moved up to a 355, then to the motr it has now, ect.

I just don't understand the reasoning behind cutting a kid lose with a powerful car like that. You might say "oh, he is responsible, he is a good driver, whatever, whatever" but when it comes down to it he is still a very inexperienced kid.

Don't take this the wrong way, but this situation is setting itself up for disaster, and when the kid wrecks (which has a high possibility of happening) it is going to be your fault.

Please don't take offense to this post, because in all honesty I really don't care. I'll naver see your kid on the road in his 400 HP mustang at 16 years old, so it really doesn't matter to me either way. I'm just saying this objectively as I see it.

Rob

[chexmixa]

My dad used to be a HUGE street racer back in the 60s. He used to spend all his money building up cars from the 60s and then break em and build another. So i know where i get my street racing needs from. My pops and i have a mutual understanding when it comes to racing on the street. He knows i do it but if i don't talk about it regularly he doesn't mind. My dad has allways been into big muscle american made v8s and i have allways been into any car with boost. We both like speed but we differ on how to make that speed.

When i first turned 16 i got the hand-me-down 98 toyota tacoma 5spd inline 4. I used to drive that thing as hard as i could. getting every lil bit of speed i could out of it. I loved driven it cause it was RWD and the tires were bald so i could drift it around corners and spin the crap outa one of the tires. After i got my first job i started making enough money for my own car. about a year l8er down the road i started to crave speed. This was when the Scion TC first came out so i had to get my hands on it. I saved up 6k from working, and sold the truck for another 7k. This left me with 13k that i used to put a down payment on my TC. It was quite a bit faster then my truck, but not fast enough for me. Also that motor that is in there is a HUGE pain in the ass to mod. They way they set it up its an arm and a leg just to instal and maintain basic bolt ons. After a lil over 6 months with that car i ended up selling it and went looking for cars. I was leaning to the SE-R spec V cause of its awsome handling and decent power. The one i was looking at had been beaten to hell and was def not worth the asking price. So kept shopping, checked out a WRX but 50k on the ODO and when i took it out for a test drive it didn't seem much faster then my old TC. I get around to the dodge dealer, a friend of mine was raving about how fast the Srt-4 was so i thought i would check it out. when i got there the dealer came out greeted me and asked if i have ever heard of an srt-4. I said yeah and he went back inside and handed me the keys. 15 mins of pure adrenaline pumping action i was back at the dodge dealer signing papers. I'm sad to say i have allready gotten used to the speed, so now i have a few plans to make her a lil faster. I am looken for the throw you into the back of your seat and not be able to move forward speed. Luckly i have a car that can get me close. But i know 5-6 years down the road i will be behind the wheels of some chevy v8 sports car.

When i first came home with the car my dad didn't think much of it.

Dad: whats that?
Me: dodge Srt-4
Dad: a what?
Me: neon with a turbo
Dad: ohh pfff. inline 4?
Me: yeah 2.4L
Dad: <laughs> ohh

Couple days l8er he asked to test drive my car cause a few of his work buddies were amazed when they found out i was behind the wheel of an Srt-4. When he came back from the test drive he just looked worried.

Me: whats wrong?
Dad: whoa... i didn't expect it to be that fast. It is a firebreathing monster compaired to your TC
Me:
Dad: Just don't get in trouble, and make sure you let me take it out every once and a while.
Me: sure dad

He then told me about a few 40-120 mph pulls he did in my car and was just amazed on how fast a neon could do that.

Dad: don't tell your mother how fast it is. and don't get on it at all with her in the car.
Me: sure dad.

[PearlGT]

Originally Posted by chexmixa

My dad used to be a HUGE street racer back in the 60s. He used to spend all his money building up cars from the 60s and then break em and build another. So i know where i get my street racing needs from. My pops and i have a mutual understanding when it comes to racing on the street. He knows i do it but if i don't talk about it regularly he doesn't mind. My dad has allways been into big muscle american made v8s and i have allways been into any car with boost. We both like speed but we differ on how to make that speed.

When i first turned 16 i got the hand-me-down 98 toyota tacoma 5spd inline 4. I used to drive that thing as hard as i could. getting every lil bit of speed i could out of it. I loved driven it cause it was RWD and the tires were bald so i could drift it around corners and spin the crap outa one of the tires. After i got my first job i started making enough money for my own car. about a year l8er down the road i started to crave speed. This was when the Scion TC first came out so i had to get my hands on it. I saved up 6k from working, and sold the truck for another 7k. This left me with 13k that i used to put a down payment on my TC. It was quite a bit faster then my truck, but not fast enough for me. Also that motor that is in there is a HUGE pain in the ass to mod. They way they set it up its an arm and a leg just to instal and maintain basic bolt ons. After a lil over 6 months with that car i ended up selling it and went looking for cars. I was leaning to the SE-R spec V cause of its awsome handling and decent power. The one i was looking at had been beaten to hell and was def not worth the asking price. So kept shopping, checked out a WRX but 50k on the ODO and when i took it out for a test drive it didn't seem much faster then my old TC. I get around to the dodge dealer, a friend of mine was raving about how fast the Srt-4 was so i thought i would check it out. when i got there the dealer came out greeted me and asked if i have ever heard of an srt-4. I said yeah and he went back inside and handed me the keys. 15 mins of pure adrenaline pumping action i was back at the dodge dealer signing papers. I'm sad to say i have allready gotten used to the speed, so now i have a few plans to make her a lil faster. I am looken for the throw you into the back of your seat and not be able to move forward speed. Luckly i have a car that can get me close. But i know 5-6 years down the road i will be behind the wheels of some chevy v8 sports car.

When i first came home with the car my dad didn't think much of it.

Dad: whats that?
Me: dodge Srt-4
Dad: a what?
Me: neon with a turbo
Dad: ohh pfff. inline 4?
Me: yeah 2.4L
Dad: <laughs> ohh

Couple days l8er he asked to test drive my car cause a few of his work buddies were amazed when they found out i was behind the wheel of an Srt-4. When he came back from the test drive he just looked worried.

Me: whats wrong?
Dad: whoa... i didn't expect it to be that fast. It is a firebreathing monster compaired to your TC
Me:
Dad: Just don't get in trouble, and make sure you let me take it out every once and a while.
Me: sure dad

He then told me about a few 40-120 mph pulls he did in my car and was just amazed on how fast a neon could do that.

Dad: don't tell your mother how fast it is. and don't get on it at all with her in the car.
Me: sure dad.

Good story and nice car. Though my dad isn't into cars the way I am, my stepdad used to build those quick v8's with pretty much just a small bench and a frame weighing probably around 700 pounds or so altogether (rough estimate) and race those. He's a straight up domestic guy though so we clash at times about interests in motors. He tried to show me how to change the spark plugs on the old 3000gt once and started swearing once he realized how much of a bitch it would be to get back at the last three.

Are there srt-4 owners out there who take off the srt badging and replace it with neon badging? That would be a cool little sleeper to mess with people in though you'd still have the dual exhaust and agressive front end.

[chexmixa]

Originally Posted by PearlGT

Good story and nice car. Though my dad isn't into cars the way I am, my stepdad used to build those quick v8's with pretty much just a small bench and a frame weighing probably around 700 pounds or so altogether (rough estimate) and race those. He's a straight up domestic guy though so we clash at times about interests in motors. He tried to show me how to change the spark plugs on the old 3000gt once and started swearing once he realized how much of a bitch it would be to get back at the last three.

Are there srt-4 owners out there who take off the srt badging and replace it with neon badging? That would be a cool little sleeper to mess with people in though you'd still have the dual exhaust and agressive front end.

Yeah, my badges are removed by the dealer. Mine used to be a Srt-4 they would take and put on display at car shows. Makes no sence why they took off the badges, but hey, i don mind. Its really hard to make the Srt-4 look like a neon mainly because of the front end is larger for the intercooler and the stance. Even if you were to lower it, it still has the stance. 99.9% of Srt-4 owners want you to know what it is and def do not want to be confused with a reg neon lol. So not many people try to make it a sleeper. Your average joe has no idea what an Srt-4 is, so it pretty much is a sleeper.

[drftk1d]

just wondering why a wrx didnt feel faster than a tC?

[chexmixa]

Originally Posted by drftk1d

just wondering why a wrx didnt feel faster than a tC?

From a roll it felt like a slug. it has almost no pick up, its only strength is the launch. The Wrx is only putten down 170 WHP My TC puts down 150 whp thats not much of a diff.