Your Most Embarrasing Street Moment.

[Adger Smith]

We had a 1/4 mile strip laid out on a Farm to Market road about 2 miles from our High School. Had this buddy with a Bone stock Pontiac Tempest that always wanted to race everyone and didn't beat anyone. He took a load of us guys over at lunch to run down the strip and show us how he was going to be the coolest guy there. (Show off) He had gone to the Army surplus and bought some surplus parachute. He had it tied off to the braces in the trunk and somewhere under the car. Way past the end of the 1/4 nearing the big 1'double o... He had one of our buddies toss the drone chute out. It didn't take but a couple of seconds for all hell to break loose. Windshield broke backglass shattered and we were lucky he still had some control, even with the rear suspension unhooked. Bad thing was we were meeting a big semi gravel truck with this chute deployed. One of the cops that arrived at the scene laid the chute out and that sucker was over 24 feet wide. I'm sure glad that truck didn't get wrapped up in it. Our buddy was cool alright, but had a totaled Tempest.

[Jeff Lee]

Originally Posted by Adger Smith

We had a 1/4 mile strip laid out on a Farm to Market road about 2 miles from our High School. Had this buddy with a Bone stock Pontiac Tempest that always wanted to race everyone and didn't beat anyone. He took a load of us guys over at lunch to run down the strip and show us how he was going to be the coolest guy there. (Show off) He had gone to the Army surplus and bought some surplus parachute. He had it tied off to the braces in the trunk and somewhere under the car. Way past the end of the 1/4 nearing the big 1'double o... He had one of our buddies toss the drone chute out. It didn't take but a couple of seconds for all hell to break loose. Windshield broke backglass shattered and we were lucky he still had some control, even with the rear suspension unhooked. Bad thing was we were meeting a big semi gravel truck with this chute deployed. One of the cops that arrived at the scene laid the chute out and that sucker was over 24 feet wide. I'm sure glad that truck didn't get wrapped up in it. Our buddy was cool alright, but had a totaled Tempest.

You win with this story!!!

[Paul Ceasrine]

I have to agree, I don't think anyone can top Adger Smith's parachute jump!
I'll give it a try.
1972, still in High School and have a little money. I decide to abandon
my 67' 273 Cuda and break our family's Mopar tradition and purchase a GM vehicle, a 1970 Pontiac GTO 400/350HP 4-speed.
A pretty car, tan w/off-white vinyl top, and 'Endura' bumper, Ansen mags and F-60 x 15" GoodYear tires.
The owner told me it could run in the 13.00's.
I have the car about a week, babying it and acting like 'Joe Cool'.
I spend about a week on the prowl, looking for a chance to blow someone away.
Finally I get my chance, I pull up to a red-light and who is next to me,
my mother, in her 1970 Tor-Red, 340 Duster 4-speed, with a load of groceries and my little sister in the passenger side.
I figured, I'd let my mother take-off first, then I'd punch-it out, and blow her away.
Of course, I have a deadly 400 cubed GTO.
Well the light turns green, and she launches it, I immediately floor it, and what happens.
She keeps pulling away from me, and beats me by an easy half-dozen car lengths.
Later that night, my father asks me what happened. I told him the truth, and that the GTO was supposed to run in the 13.00's.
He took the GTO out for a test drive, and came back.
Told me the GTO wouldn't do 13.00's if you pushed it off the side of a mountain.
I put it up 'For Sale' 1-week later.
Destroyed by the family 340 Duster, with my mother (all 5' 1" and 110 lbs. of her).driving.
Paul

[Frank Castros]

When I was senior in high school (1973) I had a '69 Camaro SS 350/300 and it was a pretty hot car among many in the parking lot at school and one day a pretty hot chick (among many) asked me for a ride home. Of course I said yes and we head out.
She digs the car, I'm banging gears, I have Zeppelin cranked, (I'm so cool!) and as I'm driving I realize I can no longer steer the freak'n car! Not so cool!
I manage to get to the side of the road, open the hood to see what the hell is wrong and find a breather has fallen out of the left M/T valve cover and is jammed between the steering shaft of the box and the Hooker headers. I remove the mangled breather and drive off thinking I'm still cool.
Wrong! We get to her house, she gets out of the car, slams the door and says see ya!
I guess she wasn't impressed with my trouble shooting skills!

[G Schenck]

I am not going to tell any of my stories, but I will copy one from the Comp forum that I thought was real good.

Greg

There are many seniors that read Comp Buzz and a lot of them still compete on the track. I am one of them but I am the only one (I think) that competes on a dragbike. I work with the Watson Boyz in D-4 and I am sure many of you know me.
The year was 1970; things were a little different then. Horsepower was growing faster than starter motors. Most motorcycles had kick-starters and those with electric starters were unable to handle any significant horsepower changes.
The “high class” tracks had powered roller starters. A devise built into the ground with 2 rollers about 8” apart, powered by a V-8 engine would start most vehicles. Most cars still had differentials, which would allow a single tire to be put on the rollers. My memory of whether the rollers were wide enough to accommodate posi is not clear, but I think so.
The “country” tracks had push to start, or in the case of motorcycles, you would hang onto the rearview mirror, be towed to about 30 MPH, let loose, pop the clutch and start the motor. A few racers built their own rollers that depended on a car or truck with a differential spinning the rollers. I just had to have my own rollers!
In the spring of 1970 I bought a magazine project bike that competed in the Daytona 200 road race. When it arrived, I just had to start it.
This really isn’t a drag strip story; it’s a home in the driveway story. I put my new 1969 Toyota Corolla wagon on the rollers with one wheel on the ground. Next the race bike, not yet a dragbike, on the other half of the rollers, and propped it up. Next I go around to the passenger side of the Toyota, climb in, start the motor and put it in second gear. Clutch out. rollers spinning exit the wagon and get on the bike.
The Toyota had a unique feature. It had a choke lever in the dashboard. By moving the lever I accelerate the motor and the rollers. Now I squeeze the clutch, put he bike in 2nd gear and let the clutch out. We used to call that “burping” the motor. The motor burped all right, but when it did, the horsepower of the motorcycle was greater than the horsepower of the Toyota. There goes my new Toyota through the back wall of the garage, collecting everything in its path.
Now that’s a funny story! I have to admit even a short time after it happened, and after suffering the expense. It was funny even then.
There’s a chapter 2 to this story but I’ll save that for another day.
Rich Gentili
__________________

[X-TECH MAN]

I remember Danny Lattimore (Olds racer) doing a wheel stand in his dads driveway a long time ago with his stick shift 455 powered SS/J Olds Cutlass coupe. Any way the front tires came down at the beginning of the garage floor and those skinny front tires slid on the slick concret floor of the garage and it slid right thru the back wall of his dads garage. I wonder if he will admit it if he reads this.....lol.

[Jeff Lee]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

I remember Danny Lattimore (Olds racer) doing a wheel stand in his dads driveway a long time ago with his stick shift 455 powered SS/J Olds Cutlass coupe. Any way the front tires came down at the beginning of the garage floor and those skinny front tires slid on the slick concret floor of the garage and it slid right thru the back wall of his dads garage. I wonder if he will admit it if he reads this.....lol.

I had a S/ST AMX with a 440 Mopar. First "real" race car. Before I even took it to the track had it at my friends AAMCO on the lift; a drive on lift. With slippery trans fluid all over. No neutral safety switch. Six foot up in the air. Started in gear and hitting the brake pedal didn't help as the tires just slid on the oil. One custom fiberglass hood and one AMX grill cracked up. Man did I feel stupid!

[Chuck Garey]

1975, I was working as a lube boy for the local Buick dealership. The wash boy brought around a 1970 GS Stage 1 4-speed a guy just traded in, I decided a little "test" drive was in order so after going down the street a bit to a connecting street that was nice and straight I revved her up and dumped the clutch-----"bang" "zing" I thought I blew the clutch until I looked out the back window and saw the driveshaft with the pinion still attached. Needless to say that was long walk back, made me fix the car then fired me.

[Paul Ceasrine]

Chuck,
Now that picture of the 'driveshaft and pinion together' would have been
a classic.

I borrowed my friends mothers Rambler American. With a promise that
I would put $5.00 of gas in it (1/2 a tank of gas).After using the car, I went to the gas station,
to fullfill my obligation. After putting in the gas, I pull-out and I try to act cool by doing a couple of power-brake burn-outs in front of the gas station employees. After rocking a couple of times, BAM! the front-end fell out, right in the road, tires jammed up within the fenderwells.
The gas station group nearly 'died of laughter'.
The station didn't have a tow truck, so we tried pushing the car into the station lot, but the tires jammed up further into the wheel wells. Everyone is laughing, finally we end pulling the car into the lot with a big Buick, by putting a chain around the rear axle. The car looked like an
Antelope getting dragged to death by a Lion.
2-days later I found out what 'trunion arms' were, and how much they cost to replace.
The same gas station did the repairs, and the owner said, 'Oh by the way, you bought that car a transmission too!.
Paul
Ramblers,,,,,,,,,

[rayfin]

A friend of mine wanted to get a picture of his Henry J gasser big block with the chute out so they blocked off the street and were standing in front of the houses with their cameras. He comes blowing down the street and the chute didn't open. Barely got stopped before the lumber yard.